My home made Xmas Tree

I only have a small one bedroomed flat so don't really have the room for a traditional Christmas Tree and looking around the shops I was uninspired by the small artificial trees on offer. I saw a long time ago a Christmas Wreath made from oddments of material and thought why not make my own tree! I had lots of scraps of green based materials which on their own were not really viable for projects but together would make some sort of project.

After much brain searching I came up with the idea of using the Rag or Peg Rug technique to make a ragged looking patchwork of scraps. This involved buying a piece of hessian which I then cut into a quarter circle which when folded round would make a cone. Then came the process of pegging all the scraps into the hessian.

 

This is done by poking holes in the hessian with a prodder, mine was the traditional half peg, sharpened to a point. The scraps are cut into strips and poked through the holes with the peg.

It took a while but it was a handy thing to keep me occupied whilst watching TV at night.

Finally the whole of the hessian was covered.

I included a few bits of red and gold coloured scrap material to give the effect of berries or baubles. I then stitched the edges together to make the cone shape and put some old cardboard inside to help it hold it's shape and added a cheap star decoration on the top to finish it.

 

Hey presto....my own artificial tree that will hopefully last for many years....

 

 



 

MERRY CHRISTMAS



Armchair Tidy or Table Scrap bin???

Happy December to one and all......

Just a quick posting to show one of my makes that has proved quite popular recently. I have made - and sold!!! - a number of these but never took any pictures. This is one I have made today (to order). Most of the others I had made previously were, not on purpose, more suited to ladies as the materials tended to be floral so while at a fayre over the weekend I was asked if I had any in more manly colours.

The idea of these is to drape them over the arm of your sofa or armchair to keep your remote controls, spectacles or other such items to hand.

 

 

The opening of the bag is kept open by a ring of plastic boning sewn in between the outer and the lining.

 





To balance the weight of the items placed in the bag the other end of the connecting straps has a small bag filled with dried rice.

Another use for these is as a small bin for scraps when crafting. The weight can be put on the table with the bag hanging over the side and all your scraps or off cuts can be put in the bag instead of (if you are anything like me) all over the floor.

 

Well off to find some more manly material to make a couple more of these handy items....