Necktie Christmas Tree Skirt

A couple of months before Christmas I was reading a magazine and saw a pattern for a tree skirt made from men's neckties.  I didn't keep the pattern or remember where I saw it.  But how hard could it be, I thought.  I have tons of neckties, a good little sewing machine and ingenuity soooooo.....

I started by cutting a circle about an inch and a half wide out of tag board.  I folded the ties around the circle and pinned them.  When the circle was full I sewed the neckties to the tag board.  It got quite clumsy as more ties were added.  Additionally, the ties wouldn't stay straight!

But I did get them together and laid the circle over the tree base (and stuck the tree top in the base).  My favorite critic, Roxy, contemplated the result.

After a few minutes, she decided that it looked O.K.  I thought that it needed more ties but didn't feel like grappling with the mess anymore.

We finished putting the tree together and you can see the results of this little experiment below.

We sit and look at the tree all the time and discuss ways to improve on this (pathetic) tree skirt!  Stay tuned, more to come - next Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

Quite by accident we found this lovely 8 foot artificial tree at the Salvation Army store. As is usually the case, we weren't shopping for a tree. But it was there, The Big Guy talked the clerk down to $38 and we went home with my pick-up bed full of greenery.


It was relatively easy to put together. The only problem was that we couldn't find our decorations! I lent them to the grandchild's household last year but didn't leave them there. I made a(nother 82 mile, $11 in tolls) trip to storage to look there. After going through about 20 boxes, I found two that said 'xmas decs' and took them home. Roxy and I posed in front of the tree when Big Guy finished getting it up.

In those boxes were some of my candlesticks, which I put up on the mantle.
I had previously found my two Christmas lego sets - Santa and four reindeer (no Rudolph!) and the Nativity scene. There was also a little, wind-up train set. I drug out an old chest and covered it with red felt and set up the legos there. SB daughter came by for dinner and brought flowers. I put them on the chest, too.

I really enjoyed decorating the tree this year. It has been eight years since we have had a tree. We were going to put the train around it, may still - it is only the 13th after all!



I think beginning my Christmas shopping would be a good idea, now!