Raggedy Tree Skirt

Ok, so this was one of my last Christmas crafts... and I love it! I got the pattern from a lovely lady named Margaret Lanti of Quilt Addictions. If you would like to purchase a copy of the pattern, please e-mail me for her phone number and I will send it to you, as I don't think she has a website. I had been searching for a pattern for over a year now, and she was at our local farmers market craft fair, and I saw her tree skirt and purchased the pattern from her. I think it was around $8. It's done like a regular rag quilt, layer your pieces, quilt them and then piece them together... It's done in 8 sections, and I actually had an idea to maybe use the pattern and one section and maybe sew pockets on it to turn it into a Christmas tree advent calendar, but maybe next year.

Some of the material I purchased from Quilt Taffy (the striped, polka dotted, green and red Christmas words and the red snowflake), although I didn't purchase enough as I bought it last Christmas before I had the pattern, so I managed to match it up with a couple flannels from my local material store.

I also put a solid white flannel in the middle for batting and a black "holly" flannel for the backing, which shows through nicely once it's clipped. And ohhhh the clipping. I almost thinks it takes just as long to clip the whole thing as it does to piece it together. And it's so messy!

Thank goodness for the random lady that talked me into purchasing these rag blanket snippers, they are spring loaded, and are designed for cutting through several layers at once, and are extremely sharp!

After snipping for a while, my hand still gets sore, but I can't imagine using regular scissors to do this! (They were around $45 so I was hesitant to splurge but am so glad I did!)

I used a narrow, fairly tight zig zag stitch to finish around all the edges, although my machine was giving me some grief over it! And once it was all stitched, I washed it...

And voila! I think it turned out really well! On the pattern, they actually used plaid fabrics and appliqued stars onto the large squares where I have the Christmas words, but I imagine there are all kinds of different ways you could do this!

The finished project... I'm so glad I got it done this year! It's almost a little small as our tree is extremely full, but that's ok, it's homemade, like everything else on our tree! We finally put the tree up on the 16th or 17th I think.

Chase was so excited to hang that first ornament! And all the ornaments have some meaning (mostly to me, but now to my family as well).

This one I had purchased for my husband last year, as he is a hunter, and when I saw this I just couldn't pass it up!! (Again purchased from a stand at the local farmer's market).

This one I purchased for myself this year, as I have a thing for the "Grinch" movie, I have watched it every year at Christmas for as long as I can remember! My sister bought me the Grinch snowglobe last year (I collect snowglobes) and when I saw the ornament I had to have it. I love the "who-lectric" sign on the top of the fridge, and it has a button to push and the fridge lights up and plays a verse from the movie.

This one, I had made this year, as our family is completed with the birth of our daughter, so it was to commemorate the year and our family, and this one was honored with the spot at the top of the tree!

So our tree is done... we're waiting for Santa, the countdown is on. We have pine needles on the floor every day, and the scent is filling my home.

I need to fill my home with the scents of baking as well, and I used my air miles to get myself a fancy Kitchen Aid standing mixmaster. I can't wait to test it out and make mega batches of cookies!

I'm not sure if I will have time to post again before Christmas, so to all the visitors to my blog I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas!!