Nice tops. I love your fabrics. On the tree skirt I would SID around the outside and inside of the yellow border to highlight the nice shape and then a crosshatch in the body. Not too far apart though and it will give it a nice look without being too hard.

I probably would not do snowflakes on this particular skirt because you have alot of patterns. You wouldn't want to lose all of your hard work.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice! I will post pics when I get these done. (I have gotten sucked into another top - the BOM from 2012 on Craftsy!)

Lovely quilts - i know that stitch in the ditch is what everyone is saying, but i find that i meander in and out of the ditch and to me it looks messy (we are our own worst critics). If that is the way you want to try, use a larger stitch than normal, go slowly.

If not, the batik blocks, I would draw a simply X in each block, and then stitch another horizontal line hitting the center of the X. I would sew right down the center of each lattice. Just my suggestion. What every you do, your gift recipient will love it. Remember to sew in a label!!

BEAUTIFUL WORK. You sure don't look like a beginnner..can't help with the quilting ?? I hand quilt everrything

I have both hand and machine quilted. Hand quilting takes a loooooooong time, so at this point you probably want to machine quilt them. And yes, perfect stitch in the ditch first then go for more complex designs. You're doing great! Keep up the good work!

I do a lot of SID, and stitching diagonally across the squares using a slight zig -zag stitch. For the tree skirt I would use a red or green rayon thread on top. It would also work on the four square quilt as well. I haven't mastered FMQ yet, still struggling, so when I do simple SID or cross hatching, I like to use the rayon thread as it gives a somewhat plain quilt a little zip so it can glisten.

really nice work! Keep it simple and learn to stitch in the ditch to begin with. There are many tutorials online that will help you, too! Remember to start in the middle and work your way outward. Then post another photo and show us how it all come out!! Happy Holidays!!

great tops. post when you have quilted. would lve to se how you do

Pretty! Don't torture yourself trying fancy quilting so close to Christmas. Secure it simply and, if you have time, pick one visible square and hand sew one snowflake as a signature!

It was very hard for me to SITD in the beginning. I think cross hatching would be much easier. Does your machine's walking foot have a metal rod that you can use to measure the distance between rows? If not, just use a long ruler to mark your rows. I've seen them anywhere from 1" apart to a simple "X" through the block. Play with it and have fun!