Santa's Workshop Tree Skirt

In which I learn the importance of double, and indeed, triple-checking one's math. The fabric is Jim Shore's Santa's workshop, and the goal was to make a hexagonal tree skirt. I started with what I THOUGHT were six equilateral triangles, but when I laid them all out, this is what I got:

Notice how something doesn't quite close in the back? Yeah. No amount of cute kitty distraction could change the basic fact that as constructed, my tree skirt was not going to go around a tree.  Not all the way, anyways.

I was afraid to change the angles on the triangles and come up with ANOTHER unforeseen mistake of geometry (or a much smaller tree skirt), so instead I elected to just close the opening with like fabric. This also proved a challenge because I had based my dimensions on maximum usage of fabric and the trees were directional, so in order to close the space, I had to take sections from three "upside down" triangle cutouts to make two small triangles that each halved the gap. It was not my most efficient moment ever.

So mom did make my day when she said "why don't you just make it a circle and sew it, then turn it?" MUCH less hassle than binding the whole thing.

I did that, and then I blanket stitched Santa Scenes from the collection onto each section of the tree skirt instead of quilting. It was my first experience with Applique.

I completed this in November 2010, and it went under our Christmas tree that year.