Quilt re-do times two.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For some reason I wasn't happy with this as a quilt.  It needed more of something.  I also needed a new tree skirt.
 So I cut an opening (it felt weird to purposefully cut into a finished quilt) and then traced a circle at the top of the slit using a bowl as a guide.  Then I bound it with red and white binding and threw it in the washer and dryer.  When it came out I was still disappointed.  My binding was horrible.  I did not cut it on the bias (to go around that circle) and I knew it wouldn't look good but I went ahead anyway, thinking I could fudge it and it's just a tree skirt not a wedding dress, and who is going to see it when it's covered with presents anyway, and I'm in a hurry! Gaah!
So I went back to the sewing table, where I cut off the white outer border and the red crappy binding, and added white on-the-bias binding, red ric-rac, and wide red grosgrain ribbon, (saved from a present last year).  I think I like it now.

I would really like to add some pom pom fringe around the outside, but that would take another trip to Joann's, and if I step foot in there one more time this week they are going to add me to the payroll and put me to work!
Now that I'm done obsessing about this tree skirt, I can finally focus on the holidays.  We have been hovering in a barren decorating wasteland between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with nothing on the mantle, shelves or tabletops, besides a fine layer of dust.  Time to get my Christmas on!