Tag Archives: christmas craft

A Quilted Christmas

The holidays would not be the same without quilts. There are quilted items all over my house, but we have the special Christmas ones out just once a year.

My hubby and I have been using this Christmas tree skirt, made by my mom, since 1994. It’s adorned every tree, each year we’ve been married.

This Christmas tree wall hanging was also made by my mom and given to us the same year as the tree skirt. Here it is hanging in or downstairs.

This is the one and only Christmas quilt I’ve made that is larger than a wall hanging! We put it away during the year and bring it out at Christmas. This is our third year to enjoy snuggling under the quilt I dubbed “Homes for the Holidays.”

This awesome stuffed Santa being snuggled by Marie was made by my mom for the first Christmas my hubby and I spent together.

His place of honor is the rocking chair. He proudly sits there every year, often with a kitty in his lap. He looks pretty good for a 19 year old Santa!

Speaking of Santa, he took a ride down my street earlier this week!

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to me and my family.

Do you have special quilted items just for Christmas? Tell me in comments, I’d love to hear!

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Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Have Yourself A Fandom Little Christmas

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So, I got a little carried away with this post.

Someday, I will have one tree dedicated to fandom (let’s face it, mostly Harry Potter!) themed Christmas ornaments. The ones pictured here are just some of my favorites.

A small disclaimer: I did not make most of these. They were gifts from fandom friends, all of whom are very talented!

There are FOUR snitches!

As you can see, I’ve been extraordinarily gifted by my very talented friends over the years. I love pulling out these extra special handmade ornaments each year and taking a moment to reflect on how lucky I am to have so many wonderful people in my life!

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to me and my family.

I’d love to hear about your special decorations, too!

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

A Very Special Gift

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Once upon a time, I was a Girl Scout.

It was, oh, 1984 or 1985 when the troop I belonged to made these gift ornaments.

This particular one was made by me for my parent’s Christmas tree.

So yeah, this little guy is close to 30 years old.

Many years later, when I had my own family, my mom let me take ornaments that were special to me for our tree and it became part of my family’s collection.

This little gift has always been extra special, not just because I made it when I was a child, but because I remember very clearly understanding what the poem meant.

Giving a handmade, heartfelt gift was a very potent and powerful thing because it was something I could do, a gift I could give without spending money or being able to drive or having a job or any of those other “grown up” things. This has remained so for me during my entire life.

The love inside that tiny parcel is absolutely and completely real.

Want to make your own very special gift ornament? Wrap up a tiny parcel and include this poem:

This is a very special gift
That you can never see.
The reason it’s so special is
It’s just for you from me.

Whenever you are lonely,
Or even feeling blue,
You only have to hold this gift
And know I think of you.

You never can unwrap it.
Please leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close to your heart.
It’s filled with love inside.
~Author Unknown

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to me and my family.

Do you have special ornaments or decorations that bring back memories for you? I’d love to see: feel free to leave photo and blog links in comments!

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Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Two Little Reindeer

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Once upon a time, I had two little reindeer.

This is a photo I’ve had on my fridge for about 13 years. The little reindeer are teenagers now, but still just as close as they look in this photo.

The reindeer antlers were made with my daughter’s class. I will take credit for this one because I was the room mom at the time and several moms mentioned how much they liked crafts that incorporated their kiddos handprints.

The antlers were made by tracing and cutting how the kids handprints from craft foam. These were decorated and put on a band (also craft foam) that we’d made ahead of time. It had about a 3″ piece of elastic in the back so it would fit any of the kids.

Thirteen years later, and these guys are a little worse for wear. Each year, we put them on a shelf as part of our Christmas decorations and remember when we had our own little reindeer!

If I were to make these again, I think I would make the band out of fabric or felt and the antlers out of stiffened felt or possibly even make antlers that could be stuffed.

Made as a class activity with the effort of several helpful moms, hindsight and lots of years of room-momming experience now behind me, I’d say this is a craft best saved for home or small groups!

Pre-registration for Paper Piecing Vintage is half-price during December!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Stop back by every day between now and Christmas as I share crafts and ornaments that are special to my family.

Do you have special ornaments or decorations that bring back memories for you? I’d love to see: feel free to leave photo and blog links in comments!

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Learn to Paper Piece Sweet Skating Sue, just $3!

Blanket Stitched Christmas Stocking Ornament

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December is almost here and that means a couple of things for my family.

We eat too much, get to see family we haven’t seen for ages, and we craft. While crafting in itself is a daily thing for us, December crafting is different. We make ornaments for friends, family and ourselves. Just something about the cold weather, hot chocolate and waiting for Santa makes the crafting a little bit more special.

On that note, today’s craft is an old favorite of mine. It was originally designed to be an easy ornament to make during my kiddos’ elementary school days. I wanted something that was inexpensive, took few materials and would be easy to teach kids how to do.

This simple blanket stitched Christmas Stocking is all of these things. The knots might take a little adult assistance, but other than that, it’s a craft easy enough for anyone old enough to thread a needle!

Make it as is and you’ll have a 4″ stocking ornament. Enlarge for a larger stocking; personalize, decorate or embellish!

Supplies:

felt stocking pattern (free to print or save)
felt in two colors (I used red and sparkly white)
scissors
pattern
embroidery floss
needle with a large eye
ruler or ruler and rotary cutter

Cut pattern on the fold of red felt.
Cut a strip of white felt 1 ” wide by long enough to go across both sides of stocking (4″ shown).

Align white felt across top of red so that the tops are flush.

Attach the white felt by stitching across the bottom with a blanket stitch.
(How to blanket stitch from futuregirl.com)

Optional – personalize or decorate while the stocking is still open. I’ve left this one plain.

The back should look like this.

Fold stocking so white felt is outside. Pin in place.

Starting on the open side of stocking, stitch using a blanket stitch. You can hide the knot by starting under the white felt. Push the needle through the three layers of felt and then take another stitch through all four layers before beginning the blanket stitch.

Continue around all the way around.

This is what we have so far!

Continue blanket stitching around the top of the stocking, catching both the inside and outside layer in the stitch. Make sure to leave the stocking itself open.

Once you’ve made it all the way around, knot off the embroidery floss then make a loop about 1 1/2″ – 2″ long. Make a knot inside the stocking. Take a stitch and knot again.

The pattern is for a 3″ stocking, but it can easily be sized up or down depending on your needs.