My Tree Skirt

I am inspired by my friend Tommye at I'd rather be stitching. Tommye blogged about the lovely tree skirt she made and the great process and memories which brought it all together. Stop by Tommye's blog and see her beautiful stitching on her lovely tree skirt.

After putting away my decorations yesterday I got nostalgic and I've decided to share my own tree skit with you. I got the best compliment a couple of weeks ago when my daughter asked me if I would hook one for her one day for when she has her own place or gets married!


(click on the picture for a better view of the entire rug)

Over 10 years ago I decided after running out of wall space and floor space in my small house that I should hook a tree skirt. What an undertaking it was and I have to laugh and say since completing it I went in the totally opposite direction and only hook small things like ornaments and pillows!

My creation and pattern came together easily with thoughts of Christmas and seasonal objects dancing in my head. The year of blood, sweat and tears which followed came with my level of frustration and much wasted time and lots and lots of hooking. I spent a lot of time obsessing over a decision on a background color. Nothing seemed to work and I realized my problem was focusing on using traditional colors. Once I could get beyond that concept something clicked. I chose a shade of red, almost a fuchsia, that I think ended up looking so wonderful.





The background of the rug, quite an arduous task due to the size of the rug, could have been very tedious, however it turned into a little creative magic and I actually had a tremendous amount of fun hooking the background. The background was a combination of 4 different textures of wool. With the help of my children we all drew different designs throughout the background to make it more fun for me to hook. If you look closely at it you can see these designs.
I would hook these drawn-in designs and then go back and hook around them combining the other textures of wool. I also decided to make it “snowing” throughout the rug adding white dots for my snow flakes making the background really come alive. I love the background – it’s my favorite part of the rug!
I completed the rug in 2000, and it is 43 x 46 inches.