Christmas Crafts

   One of my favorite quick holiday crafts is making a pillow from a holiday place mat.  I used to find Jacquard printed place mats in the dollar store.  Or I would buy them at "after Christmas" sales and save them for next year.  Sometimes the place mat will have a front and a back that is stitched together.  All you have to do is rip about 3 or 4 inches to make a hole and put in the stuffing and stitch it back up.  Done!  Also, instead of buying pillow batting, I use the stuffing from a pillow that has seen better days.  This year I wasn't so lucky to find the two-sided place mats so I had to find whatever I had around the house.  Luckily I had a muted green gingham fabric from curtains that I made.  The gingham was the perfect compliment to the holiday scenes.

  On Christmas Day at my friend's house I was attracted to her country plaid hot-plate mats.  She said they were from her husband's mother who stitched them up when her eyesight was starting to fail. Later I showed the little handmade treasure to my sister and she was intrigued by it. She asked to have it. I wasn't letting go of the little mat so I decided to make one for her and trim it with a blanket stitch. It was not as precise as the stitching that I had done when I was young and in the 4-H Club. I will make up another one and improve my technique. Back then in the fifties, needle work was still a bit of an art form even if you were just hemming a skirt. I admire that precise stitching but it is not something that comes naturally for me. I am a "git it done" old lady.
    I have included a photo of red long johns. I have had them a few years and I got them out with the intent of wearing them and I was suddenly inspired to hang them on the wall. I added a bit of greenery, and a Santa Hat. Then I stepped back to admire my own creativity. Also, took a photo of the little table with an old hat. I think the hat was a prop that my son might have worn when he acted in high school plays.
    The colorful crocheted afghan was another fast craft. My mother-in-law had been in a nursing home before she passed away this year and she had a number of lap blankets.  I took one and just continued on in the same design with shades of red.
  I found some sequined yarn on sale and I couldn't resist making a scarf with it.  Just double crochet 20 stitches across in a network pattern.

Hot-plate mat that I used for a guide: