If It's The Last Thing I ever...

Do...

This being said with raised fist in the air...shaken at the heavens above.

In reference to a tree skirt...

(of course)

Oh...a couple of years ago, my mother and I were out thrifting and I ran across a crazy quilt made with wonderful vintage fabric pieces...a very used and mostly thrashed crazy quilt, but with the most beautiful little pieces of fabrics. And on the back? Oh...only the most amazing vintage Santa fabric ever printed, complete with sweet jolly St. Nick and little sprigs of holly...

I gently took the old quilt apart, threw away the unsalvageable batting, and the pieces of ruined cotton fabric...soaked and cleaned the fabric...some of which had holes and rust stains on it...but, I was super careful and I was able to work around most of that...I also have the crazy quilt patchwork parts that are usable around here somewhere. So, a tree skirt is what I had in mind for this particular bit of fabric...and it took me a little while to collect just the right materials to use...

Which is where the fist raising came in...early on Saturday morning, as I rolled out of bed...faced with a weekend of absolutely NO PLANS...Yup, you heard me right, not plan one...Two days to do just as I please (except for the obvious things like laundry and writing my holiday cards) Which is good, because it took me quite a few hours to piece the tree skirt together. I had a rough pattern from another tree skirt I had...and used that as a template for this one...I laid out all the fabrics, and realized that I didn't like all of them...so, back into the studio I went, rooting around for more...and I found just what I was looking for, to compliment the project...the black and red plaid taffeta style fabric.

I cut 5 panels and used the Santa fabric for the front of the skirt...and the other fabrics for the back panels...I quilted them together, and then turned up the fabrics from the back and used them to baste the front...that way I have a lovely border for the ends...and the middle of the skirt. Now...my tree is a tall skinny one, so that I don't have to move more than one chair and still have the tree sit in the front window...so, the skirt is a little squished...but, I have fantasies that some day I will have a bigger space for the tree...and I'll be able to stretch the skirt all the way out...



And...here I was, finding myself a bit jealous of the festiveness and beauty of the tree...I felt I just had to make a little something for myself, to celebrate the season as well...you see, my mother and Rozz and I went to lunch and then to a showing of Enchanted at the theater...so, I wanted to look a little the part of the Holidays...without going too overboard. Plus, winter has officially hit Prescott, and it's finally starting to feel cold here...and I hate to have a cold neck...

Out came the fabric scraps left over from the tree skirt...and onto the cutting table they went. And by cutting table, I mean the ironing board...I use the ironing board for small projects...or crawling around of the living room floor for the bigger projects. I backed the scarf with the same linen I used for Megan's scarf...which, incidentally, was cut from an old linen dress...I used the last of it today...this scarf is a skinnier however...


Enchanted was hysterical...and had us laughing the whole time!

I still have ton's of the fabric left over...but, all in strange shapes, and some of the Santa fabric is quite damaged...but, I can't seem to bring myself to throw it away...

I think I shall make a garland for my mantle...

Then we shall all be matchy-matchy...

Indeed.



PS I also want to thank all the people who have been delurking themselves around here lately...I am so excited to meet you all, and welcome you all in person!