and, without further ado...

...the tree skirt!!! FINALLY. this is probably the longest project i've ever undertaken. and it only took just over a week, so that tells you something about my attention span. note to self: stick to short, relatively easy projects. part of the problem is that i almost never use any sort of pattern with my projects. i prefer to make up my own, which allows for freedom to change things around but makes it tricky when you get stuck: nothing to turn to when in need of troubleshooting. so, the above picture was the first lay-out, after having drawn out the ideas i wanted.

starting to cut out the felt. yikes, this took a while.

don't know why this won't load properly but i'm too lazy to fix it and too eager to get these pictures up. ok, so all the felt was cut out for this side, ready to be sewn together and then sewn onto the skirt.

and all sewn on! i had to sew the individual pieces together first and then sew them to the bigger piece of felt. the trees? yeah, they were hell, let me tell you. cutting out AND sewing on. but more the sewing on part because there was A LOT of backstitching (backsewing? i'm such a rookie) involved for all of those branches.

second side all sewn on. as you can see, by the time i got to this side, i stopped caring about documenting every step. i just wanted to get. it. done.

and TA DA!!! if i could make the font any bigger i would, because MAN! it's done! HU-freaking-ZZAH!!!

the back side.

the front side.

when you look closely, you can see what a novice sewer i am. the detail isn't perfect but it's good enough for me.

goodbye sad-sack little tree skirt that wrinkles way too easily, is falling apart, and doesn't velcro together anymore. hello bright new tree skirt that i made myself! yes, i'm gloating. but really. hours and hours of sacrificed naptimes, people! i believe that deserves a little gloatage.

and there she lies. for the little bit of the season that's left. hooray!

by the way, i totally stole this idea from the garnet hill catalog. see theirs below? i feel no shame about this. in fact, most of my good ideas come from other people and/or places. i read something on etsy once, in someone's profile, that said "a little plagiarism never hurt anyone". here, here! that person really knew what they were talking about. and they apparently knew me too. i saved myself $168 smackers on this baby. all because my mother showed it to me and told me she thought i could do it myself. thanks, mama. i did.