Tree Skirts and Stockings and Whiskers on Kittens

OK, there are no pictures of whiskers on kittens. I admit it - I am a quilter without a cat.

I'm linking up with Heather at Books and Quilts to show you my Christmas Tree skirt.  When I was a child, my mom had a roll of "cottin battin" that we used for a tree skirt.  That's how we pronounced it - cottin battin.  I had no idea that it had any use other than looking like snow under the tree.  We had a little cardboard village, with sparkly walls and waxed paper windows that we set out on the cottin battin each year.  My sister had, when she was about three, poked out all the windows.  So, for ever after that, the houses had no windows.  We also collected various plastic farm animals - of various sizes, so the chicken was as big as the cow, and spread them around the village.  There was also a plastic moose, as I recall.  What a Hallmark scene we created!

It wasn't until I made my first quilt, and opened up the package of batting, that I thought, "This looks an awful lot like the cottin battin that we used to... Doh!"

My tree skirt today is slightly more professional.  Here is the flat view:

And here it is around the tree:

I'm also linking up with Quilting Lines to show you my Christmas Stockings.  There isn't anything special about these - they were one of those panels you buy at Fabricland that has the stocking printed right on.  I just cut them out and sewed the two halved together, then finished the top and added a loop to hang them.  But, Mr. CQT loves them because they are pretty big.

And finally, one more little crafty item - well, six of them:

These little guys are each about 2.5 inches tall.  They are ceramic, and I painted them - back in the pre-bifocal days when I could actually see to do this kind of thing.  Sorry the picture is a little washed out.

To all that celebrate Christmas, have a Merry Christmas!