Showing posts with label tree skirt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tree skirt. Show all posts

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Quick and Easy tree skirt

Do you know the very first thing I ever pieced was a Christmas tree skirt?  About a zillion years ago when I was around 20 years old(ok only 22 years ago), my mom asked me to finish a project for her.  She had bought about 10 or 12 yards of Christmas prints at Piece Goods to make a tree skirt.  Mom had cut out 5 inch squares(probably with a cardboard templete) and had stopped there.  So on Christmas vacation home from college I assembled a tree skirt.  She had cut so many squares that I had enough to make two!  One for home and one to put away for me!  It was the easiest pattern ever that I figured out. 
Just piece a large square.
 
Here is a tiny version I made this week for a tree I put together for my sister's boyfriend. When I opened my Christmas scrap bin I saw I still had lots of that old fabric.  So some of the scraps used above were from the old tree skirt.
  The secret to making it is to keep the rows at an even number and leave the center seam on one side halfway open.  I dont use batting or quilt it, though you could if you wanted to.   I sew the backing on like making a pillow. 

 Make sure to sew around the backing at both sides of the open seam being careful not to catch the edge of the fabric on the opposite side.  Cut the backing fabric to create the opening before turning. 

 If you are sewing for a real tree with a thick trunk create a square with an odd number of rows.  Leave out the center block.  That was how I made the larger tree skirts. 

It is a fast and effective way to make a tree skirt of any size.  You could cut the top into a circle to make it round as well. 
I have one for my tree at school that was not scrappy.  I tied red buttons at the intersections of each of the squares.

keep dreaming...Colleen
My October black for my partner.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Happy Birthday Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
Today my mother turned 29, again.  Really.  She has an apron and everything to prove it.  I t says-"29 and Holding".
So in addition to the yoga mat bag I posted about yesterday I gave her a few other things to go in it.
Two towels and a matching bag to put her yoga strap and other odds and ends in the bag.

I also added one of the two needle cases I made from the Be Mine Blog tour.
I made two because of printer issues I had to hand draw my patterns which ended up smaller then the original. 
I loved the large red buttons I found in my button stash.  Most are form my grandma's house.  Mom thinks they may have been on a little red coat.
I used a little chick retro print and added some cute heart pins.  My new little Gingher embroidery scissors fit perfectly.  I gave mom a pair for Christmas. 

I still have some Gingher embroidery scissors in 4 different styles in my Etsy store if any one is interested.  Use the coupon codes BMBT2010 for a 20% discount.

I also finished the pillow from the blog tour.

When I posted my pics in the Be Mine Blog flickr group I saw Kim's Big Quilting Adventure had posted a pic of an awesome Valentine tree skirt.  You can find pics and instructions for making it here.  One more thing for my list to make.

Tomorrow hopefully we may take a day trip and antique along the way and may be a quilt store too!

Keep dreaming…Colleen

My patio in the Christmas snow.