Christmas Chaos

With just 21 sleeps until Christmas, I feel the chaos of getting things done!

I just have one more pair of PJ bottoms to make, Christmas cards to finish, a guest room to make up in a Christmas theme...photos to follow, and half a dozen more loose ends to tie up.

Each day a bit more gets done though & I start to feel sad knowing that after Christmas all these beautiful decorations get put away & it looks so bare, like someone has moved out & taken their things. lol

Only to return again & again each year at the same time. Time, it's moving faster than it used to or I'm slower. Bill says I do too many things of interest to me & he may have a point. I try to learn a new skill every year & I've been on this earth for 66 Christmas Days & that is a lot to do with too many things to do but I am getting around to them!

Here is a gingerbread garland that I made this year from felt cutouts from before COVID-19, and they turned out perfect, so worth the wait! 

They were a lot of work with the ricrac sewn on & the pompoms then buttons as I ran out of pompoms, the beaded eyes that I highlighted with paint & then painted all the brown stitching that went through my white ricrac, the bowties & then I wanted them puffy like a cookie so I cut batting & put it between the backing before sewing the buttonhole stitch around them. They were then joined with a red bead, a peppermint swirl, and another red bead and sewn to the hand of the next gingerbread man. 

It was a lot of work but I love how this project came to life!

I follow a vlog on YouTube called Oleysa & house, Oleysa's channel is dedicated to looking after her house & family & she loves to sew. She has free PDF patterns when she does tutorials. Oleysa lives in Belarus so she uses a translation caption to keep you engaged.

I've made her mushrooms & want to do the red Christmas ones when I have some time. lol

They are called gnomes & I call them elves. I made two sets, one for the great room & one for the guest room.

The two sets were made from fat quarter fabric & the red wool hat & boots were from recycled red wool pants washed & put in the dryer.

The shirt buttons are glass beads, and the hair is Briggs & Little yarn scraps unwoven.

Doing two sets at once was a bit of work & easier since I worked in a production line for days doing them. They are impish characters that I will enjoy bringing out again next year!

 The other new addition to our Christmas decor was the making of two tree skirts!

This one was mine with the ruffle going around the outside. It is reversible with the provincial New Brunswick plaid on the other side, I love how that fabric went so well with Dr. Suess!

The longarm quilting was done by Rose a fellow villager here in Hardwicke & she does amazing work!

Nick did not want a ruffle to go around his tree skirt & I was happy to hear that as it is a lot more work!

Dr Suess wrote How The Grinch Stole Christmas in 1957, the year I was born. 

It is a timeless story of Christmas and what it means to have each other. Funny how Cindy Lou was a character in that story & my grandma always called me Cindy Sue. I was named after the song Cindy Oh Cindy as my 4yrs senior brother would sing that song to my mom's big belly to me.

The quilted pattern reminds me of blowing wind but it has a water-based name, it could work for land or sea!

And here is Nick & Leslie's tree, it is the tree that Leslie had from her college days. I think it is very festive & not overpowering to their living space.

I carefully cut out the tree skirt centers & made them into mug rugs!

Yes, they too are reversible!

Since I put it down I've been lucky that Gordo no longer goes under the tree to sleep!

The tree is not fully decorated but you can tell it is a large tree with year with all the boys home for Christmas!

The coffee bar is now cozy with the draft gone from the French doors, the wool quilt has more than one function, not just fun to look at & sing the songs but it also cuts out the drafts!

On an elves note, I'm going to thank you for stopping in for a visit!

I must get back to getting things finished up & it's a perfect day for that with the snow blowing in the wind and no sunshine. 

I will go room to room & take photos for you to put you in the Christmas spirit with all the decorating this year. See you next Monday! Merry Christmas. xXx

Hugs, Cynthia