| A festive Yuletide spirit can still fill your home or | | | | effect is charming in the kitchen or laundry room!* |
| apartment, even if it seems all of your spare cash is | | | | Make a Faux Christmas Quilt for HangingThis is a |
| being pumped into your car's gas tank or your home | | | | great family activity and can even be framed for |
| heating bill this year!Old socks ... pieces of fabric ... | | | | seasonal display!Gather up all the bits and pieces of |
| home-made baker's clay ... felt and old buttons ... torn | | | | fabric in your sewing basket, or the old clothes in the |
| and tattered table linens ... stored Christmas cards and | | | | closets ... the more colorful, the better. Cut out |
| wrap ... bits of ribbon and lace and bias tape ... with a | | | | color-based fabric squares about six inches square |
| little imagination and time, you can turn a ton of | | | | and set the stack aside, sorted into solids and patterns. |
| ordinary household items into enduring Christmas | | | | Make a separate stack of pieces from solid whites, |
| treasures. Here are three family-style projects to get | | | | yellows, pastels and other light colored materials and |
| you started -- two easy garlands, and an quick and | | | | trim them to about five inches square.Keep any |
| lovely quilt!* Garlands galoreIf you think that crumpled | | | | smaller or odd-shaped remnants separate.Use pieces |
| but still-shiny foil gift-wrap is just too pretty to toss | | | | of cardboard to draw and cut out a variety of simple |
| away, you're right! Cut it into strips about an inch wide | | | | holiday shapes about three inches high -- trees, angels, |
| and three inches long. Use any colors you have handy, | | | | candy canes, hearts, stars, whatever says "Christmas" |
| and mix in other less-than-perfect wrap as well. When | | | | to you. Trace the patterns on the backside of the |
| you've got a bagful of foil strips, glue the ends together | | | | smaller or odd-shaped pieces, and cut out. Stitch the |
| to form a glitzy new garland for your tree!For homey | | | | Christmas shapes onto the five-inch white or pastel |
| appeal, trace your hand, mitten-shaped, on a piece of | | | | squares, then center that piece on a complementing |
| cardboard and cut out the pattern. Transfer the | | | | color panel and stitch.When you've completed a dozen |
| pattern to pieces of red, green, brown and burgundy | | | | of these panels, line them up three across and four |
| felt, then cut out. Decorate the felt with snowmen ... | | | | down, approximately 18 inches wide by 24 inches long. |
| button figures ... glitter-and-glue designs ... gingerbread | | | | Stitch them to a piece of plain unbleached muslin, |
| people ... angels and stars. Do a primitive straight stitch | | | | leaving three inches of space at the top. When your |
| in a contrasting color, all around the outer border of | | | | panels are sewn onto the muslin, fold the top over and |
| your felt "mitten." Turn your creations into a sweet and | | | | stitch across to form a pocket, through which you'll |
| simple hanging garland by securing the felt designs with | | | | slide a plain wooden dowel or even a sturdy hickory |
| old clothespins to a length of raffia or twine ... the | | | | stick.Hang and enjoy! |
