Saturday, December 15, 2012

Christmas memories

Here we have the latest in 1970's Christmas tree decorating.....


made by me when I was in Junior High or early High School (can't remember).  I used whatever my Mom had on hand left from sewing and crafting. It contains green corduroy, white denim, cotton/poly and regular cotton.  I remember cutting squares, sewing them in strips and just sewing the strips together.  Then for the circle I did the pencil and string thing. 

I remember thinking that it was pretty cool to iron on the letters that spelled "joy".  I think I was going to iron words into the other white squares but found that the letters didn't fit.  Oops. Also, we probably weren't going to go out and buy any more letters - whatever we had, we had.


There is elastic around the center in case one has a really big tree. :)  I put a red and white print on the back that works for those who prefer a little less patchwork and classy ball fringe around the edge to dress it up either way.

Now, for the best part?  We have used this tree skirt every year since we have been married!  The first few years we couldn't afford to buy a lot of Christmas stuff and by the time we could I had grown rather fond of it.  Now, each year I smile when I get it out and I just flip it over to the red side and tuck it around the tree all bunched up like a quilt. 

5 comments:

Diane Wild said...

That is very cool, Judy. I don't have anything from our trees when I was growing up. I wonder what happened to that stuff. Wait, I think our tree skirt was the sparkly batting stuff to make it look like snow. I'm sure it was pretty icky when my sisters were cleaning my mother's house out and it got pitched. Glad your tree skirt got saved.

Judy Hansen said...

Everything old comes around and is new again if you wait long enough! I think the pieced side of your Christmas tree skirt would look nice with some of the current "Primitive" Christmas decorations and quilts. I like it!
Judy

Barb said...

Loved your story - now that is what Christmas is all about! The lettering is great and at the time pretty innovative!
Like you, I can't seem to part with my older decorations either :)

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

Love that you have something from your childhood which you made yourself and still use! Isn't it amazing that we can recall what we were thinking about when we bring out some of these old projects so many years later? Some things just make an impression. We must remember that when we attempt to teach another to sew or quilt - it's not about perfection but inspiration.

AnnieO said...

That is a 70's treasure, indeed, Judy :) We never had a tree skirt growing up--my mom just used a old white sheet to wrap up around the bottom of the stand--now Mom has been using a clearance aisle find of a Martha Stewart tree skirt she and I found some years ago! Thrift and make-do are never out of style--and neither are great sentiment :)