Since we moved full time to our downtown Chicago condo, about 5 Christmases ago now, we have changed up our holiday decorating game. No more 6 foot tree. We still get a real one, but we usually get it from in front of the liquor store a few blocks away, carry it home it a grocery bag, and set it up on top of our media cabinet. I’ve adapted the scale of the ornaments, though the color scheme is still a little random, but the tree skirt just hasn’t been right all this time. It’s a quilted version from several years ago, but every year the colors just don’t look quite right.
Well, I didn’t get around to it BEFORE we set up the tree, or even WHILE the tree was set up, but for some reason as soon as we took the tree down, it became a real priority for me, so here it finally is. It will be a real treat next year.
Holiday sewing has been a pre-occupation for years. I guess it started when my aunt hand-crocheted Christmas Stockings for my brothers and I. Later, when they married and had children, someone had to carry on, so I started to make ribbon-woven stockings.
Then, some years later, a hairdresser I went to in Atlanta took on sponsoring a holiday party for a kid’s residential treatment center, and for several years I sewed 50 Christmas stockings every year. That has led to a huge stash of scraps, which I’m now working my way through to using as table runners and assorted other items that will likely get into my Etsy shop this year. Here’s hoping!