Decking the halls and the walls and the tiniest of places. PART THREE: the Living Room and hall

Although we do more “living” in the rest of the house, this largest of our rooms is where our grandest Christmas tree and more over-the-top decorations live in this winter holiday season. The colors of our majolica collection in this room give a jumping off point for some unusual Christmas color themes, always, however, coordinating in one way or another with the painted hallway that leads into that room. It’s as tho it was planned this way…. I am laughing our loud right now because I am accused of being a person who “matches” everything!

The hallway was painted by muralist Judy Dibble and features Canterbury Shaker Village in the 1850’s. My framed cut-linoleum block-printed cotton quilts are of two of the buildings there completed with digital prints of my sketches. A molded and stenciled felt quilt hangs on the door. I decided against a wreath this year and instead placed simple greens on the lights.

We went vintage this year with a flocked tree; first time ever. I like how the ornaments show up on it, mimicking the majolica above our faux fireplace. My hand appliquéd tree skirt and pillow on grandmother’s chair were motifs I picked up from the rug.

A “fire” video playing in the faux fireplace. David and I built this cabinet around our TV so it would be somewhat disguised. Notice the lit tree outside the window on the right; white lights strung on my garden obelisk.

I borrowed some Botanica Vessels out of my shop to amplify the color and floral theme.

The ornaments on the tree were made just for this year, a project I have wanted to do for a while. I couldn’t find jade green ornaments (maybe because I waited till the last moment) so I squirted spray paint in the color I wanted inside clear glass ornaments. I did a couple squirts then turned them upside down into their packaging tray to drain out the excess.

The hellebore flower is sometimes called the Christmas Rose or the Lenten Rose because it blooms in the winter. It is the flower that songs have been written about and, to some, symbolize the virgin Mary. I love these plants and have many growing in my garden so wanted to make a stylized version from fabric for my tree. This is how I made them.

1. Choose any solid or printed green fabric to represent the outer leaves of the rose and a couple reddish, burgundy or mauve colored fabrics to represent the rose. Using a fusible web, fuse two layers of each fabric together–backside to backside–into a strip the corresponds to the size of circles you will cut out.

2. Trace the circles onto the fused fabric strips and cut out. Use graduating sizes with the largest size for the green leaves at the outside, the medium size in the darkest rosey color letting the lightest shade be the center smallest circle. Trace a smaller still circle in the center of each to serve as a guide, then randomly sketch 5 lines leading from the circle to the outside edge. These will be your sewing lines. NOTE: the more random the sizing the more natural the rose will look.

3. With the sketch lines facing you, pinch the fabric together along the lines and stitch starting at that small center circle widening as you go to make a 1/8″ seam at the edge. Back stitch at the beginning and the end to keep it from unraveling. This will be the underneath side of the flower. Use matching thread.

4. Once you have completed the three different sized layers, stitch them together by hand with a couple stitches then knot it off. Embellish it with long beads–I used 1″ glass beads–securing them in the back. These are just sitting in my tree but ornament hangers could be added. These also make beautiful toppers for gift packages.

Thank you for reading; please leave a comment. Happy holidays!