Remember stringing popcorn and making ornaments for the Christmas tree when you were young? Or, helping your children or grandchildren make ornaments? I’ve thought of those times and designed an easy way to make those colorful round balls that hang from the branches and I wanted to share it with you. I have two different designs, but basically the same directions.
You can print the 8 1/2 x 11 page onto card stock and have the children (or you) color them and add glitter or sequins or whatever will make the sparkle. Or, you can work with them with fabric. I’ve given directions on the page for working with fabric or paper. Just hang a ribbon on them and let them dangle from the tree branches.
Think of how proud they will be by making their own ornaments. Save them from year to year to remember the fun you had putting them together.
If you’ve never been to the Great Smoky Mountains for a fall leaf peeping trip, you have to go!! Of course, there are many beautiful places in the US to view the fall colors, but eastern Tennessee has to rank as one of the all time greats.
You must plan your trip to reach the mountains during peak color and sometimes that is a challenge. This year, peak color and rain hit at the same time, at least for our trip. We drove 800 miles before we began to see any color in leaves and the sun only peeked our occasionally during that timeframe, so we knew we were in for a rain event.
The rain did provide time enough to visit quite a few quilt shops though; I would have to say The Cherry Pit in Sevierville, TN was my favorite. I came back energized to develop a BOM (which is almost complete).
We drove into Gatlinburg and turned left onto a side road and ran across a sign for a motor tour, so we took the trail. It was a loop of a little over two miles that went through a heavily wooded area and back to Gatlinburg. Just before we turned to go back we found a second motor trail which indicated it was a six mile trip with many steep and winding turns…so we took it! What an adventure!!
When you travel in the mountains the road winds around the edge of the mountain, but this motor trail went more within the mountain. It was a narrowly paved one-way road within a canopy of trees. You were totally enveloped with the beautiful colors. This one road is worth the 1,000 mile (one way) trip to see the trees.
We didnt’ realize it at the time but we were on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Please click this link to read about the area and to see the photos from the trail. We crossed over beautiful streams, experienced the rustle of the leaves in the breeze, stopped for photos at old cabins along the trail, and the colors just can’t be explained!
Because of the rain and the fog, I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked, but there were enough for my husband Phillip to make the movie below. Enjoy the beautiful colors and our leaf peeping tour!
There’s still time to make these two quick Christmas quilts. They go together very quickly and serve nicely as companion pieces. You could probably get both of them completed in about ten hours or less, so you still have time.
I wanted these quilts to reflect the true meaning of Christmas, so I opened my Bible to the second chapter of Matthew and designed Thee Guiding Light. The light shining on the stable and manger is the focal point of the quilt, so the Wise Men on camels are in shadow in the left block.
Thee Guiding Light is 35.5” x 17.5”.
I thought it would be fun to create a bookshelf or mantle quilt and followed a similar theme, but this time I went to the second chapter of Luke to design Good News (from above). The shepherds are watching over their flock…and you know the rest.
Good News (from above) has two sizes included in the pattern. For the bookshelf size you might use the three block version. The five block version has one blank block on either end and will fit nicely on a mantle. This quilt has an overhang area and a shelf piece.
Good News (from above) is 22.5” x 10” or 37.5” x 10”.
For a closer look, go to my website and click on applique patterns. Then, click on the pattern itself and a larger version will appear.
