Handquilting hasn’t been my only project this week, but the other project comes with a backstory.
Years ago, I sewed a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. At the time, we had a hand-me-down tree stand for a real tree, and I made the skirt to fit over that stand. A year later, the stand decided it didn’t want to hold trees upright any longer. The new tree stand was taller to give the tree more support; it pulled the original tree skirt up so high that there wasn’t much “skirt” left so I made another one in a different pattern. A few years later, as the price of real trees skyrocketed in our area, we switched to an artificial tree and I made our third tree skirt. The pattern is an adapted version of Crazy Heart Tree Skirt from the book “Merry Christmas Quilts.” (I'm not affiliated with any companies linked in this post, by the way.)
The stand for the artificial tree has a motor inside for some subtle fiber optics, which means that the tree skirt cannot cover the stand due to the risk of fire. After making so many tree skirts I was happy to finally make one that would fit any tree and stand combination; the current tree skirt doesn’t have a hole in the middle and it sits under the tree stand.
As our children were born, I embroidered each of their names by hand onto the tree skirt. Last year, I decided that my name and my husband’s name should be on there as well. This week, I hand-stitched our names. Now it's truly ready to go under the tree.
I also picked up a new quilting pattern recently. My husband is a big fan of University of Alabama football, whose mascot is an elephant. I couldn’t resist the Elephant Abstractions quilt pattern by Violet Craft.
Next up will be searching out just the right gray fabrics. I also have a fun idea for another version of this quilt, but I’ll need to get through it once first before I commit to a second round.
As a final note, I was at a holiday market this weekend and this baseball cap made me smile. I love the contrast of the frayed hat and the bling inside the oval. This could almost turn me into a hat person!
I have not yet made a tree skirt even though it has been on my mind to for years. I think part of my problem is the idea that it must be perfect. If I decide I can make another one if it doesn't work might take some pressure off so I can actually make it. Your is lovely and I like the personalization of adding the names. Eventually adding grandkids too. It will be a treasured heirloom.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Heather. The first two tree skirts went to family members who didn't have one already, so I think it worked out well in the end. I look forward to adding names to this one over the years!
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