I picked up some fabric at Hobby Lobby today that was 75% off. It was their Fall fabrics that were marked down and I thought there were a couple pieces that might work for the centerpieces of our tables for the church’s Thanksgiving dinner Saturday evening.
I could have just used one of the fabrics but decided to go for two and have a little more variety. I am on the “decorating committee” (two of us) and we have tablecloths and pumpkins and little things to set on the tables, but I thought it would be nice to have something to set all those things on.
I bought 3 yards of each and came home and began cutting out some large circles. I folded the fabric over so I had 4 layers… and then used my largest pizza pan to lay on top of it… Then I put a bag of sugar on top of the pizza pan to hold it in place. It looked like this.
I had enough fabric to make my circles about one inch bigger all the way around, so I took a spool of thread that was still wrapped in plastic, and taped my chalk marker to it… so when I rolled the spool around the edge of the pizza pan, it made my chalk mark about 1″ farther out.
I used my pinking shears to cut on the chalk line and viola! I had cut out 4 circles at one time… I did that 5 more times with the 2 different fabrics…
They were nice and big and will help tie all the pieces on the table together… I made 24 of them.
The edges are pinked so they won’t ravel, and it was really a pretty quick way to add some extra color to the tables.
Okay, that was the Thanksgiving part, and here’s the Christmas part.
Yes, I’ve started on the next dress… my first one for Christmas… but I’ll keep it a surprise one more day before revealing who it is for. This was as much as I got done…
Any guesses?
I’ve got to get to bed…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a clever way to draw a large circle, Jeanne–no compass needed, nor a string and a tack!!
Hm, I am guessing the dress is for a smallish doll, since I seem to remember the leaves on that fabric are fairly small, and yet they look “big” on th bodice! So I will say either Little Darling or Boneka for the doll.
Linda asked about my Copper Pennies. It’s a salad (or a veggie dish, as it can be served hot or cold) that calls for two pounds of carrots, peeled and sliced, the cooked until still somewhat firm; you make a dressing sort of like a French dressing, and stir it into the drained carrots along with a green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced, and thinly sliced raw onion. Let it marinate for 24 hours before serving. I’d be happy to send my recipe to Jeanne to share if she wants, or she can give you my email address and I can just send it to you directly.
What pretty fabrics for the Thanksgiving table, Jeanne! And what a clever way to cut those circles! I hope you take a picture or two of the finished table for us to ooh and ahh over!
Yes, I too, think this dress is for a smaller doll, Little Darling or RRFF doll. It is giving me Christmas caroling vibes!
Thank you Charlotte for explaining your Copper Pennies recipe! I see now that the carrots are the Copper Pennies! I do have your email address from when you mistakenly had it shown on your comments. (if it is still there) and will contact you.
Well now, I can’t find your email address, Charlotte! Maybe Jeanne can help or show the recipe.
Hi Linda, I sent a note to Charlotte with your email address…
It looks like rain or snow out there. Or maybe a wet fog.
On the circles — that’s what my mom called “a woman’s solution,” simple, easy, effective, but something a man would use a specialized tool for.
As for the dress, remember the set of 3 Christmas dresses you made for the Little Darlings? This looks like those, and a repeat performance would be welcome.
Got my laugh for the day. With my groggy squinty eyes while reading your first sentence, I saw “Or maybe a wet dog.” I thought, woe, that must be a very bad storm/day. 🙂
Thanks Charlotte, for explaining the copper pennies. 🙂
Very clever table designs, Jeanne. I sure hope that there can be a couple of pics of the table settings. Hope you can also grab the circles after the dinner and bring them home to make a cute plaid outfit for some dolly at your place. I like that plaid a lot. 🙂
Here, there are pilgrims expected today. Well, that is if other person doesn’t get to the mail delivery before I do. Two RRFF kids are coming to help with the holiday decorating festivities, and they are dressed as pilgrims. 🙂
The Thanksgiving dolls are adorable and I was tempted. But with buying my L’il Dreamers and finally deciding to purchase Siblie Callie I’ve pretty much spent my dolly bucks for awhile.
Oh, I know how that goes. Wish I had more control. 🙂
No matter who gets this Christmas dress it will be so festive. Love the colors and the print. So traditional and pretty.
The Thanksgiving gathering will be great and the tables so pretty. You always find clever ways to make tools to help you. You would have made a clever engineer or actually you are!😉
Your Copper Penny salad is yummy Charlotte. We have a locally made dressing called Dorothy Lynch that is perfect for it and so easy.
I just sent a reply to Joy and it seems I’m able to send again so I’m going to comment on today’s post and then paste what I wanted to send yesterday and couldn’t.
Very clever way to do circles and I love the fabrics. I find myself buying all sorts of tools and gadgets but when it comes down to it I seem to go back to the “old ways”. Probably because I can’t locate the tool I need. Too much stuff. Hoping to see pictures of the tables too.
I’ve been away from the blog for a few days and when I checked in yesterday I was amazed at all that had taken place over the past few days. Felicity’s outfit was perfection and I’m so glad the auction was so productive. When I pulled up the blog I expected to see her ensemble at the top. Imagine my surprise when Bailey showed up at the top. I love Bailey in all sizes. For me she’ll always be the one that got away. I was blown over by the suitcase. Absolutely adorable and looks so real. I love the picture of Bailey sitting on the bench. To me it looks like she is waiting for the train to take her to grandma’s or, as someone else said, waiting for someone to pick her up. One of the things I always enjoyed when we were on trips was visiting train museums. Bailey’s picture on the bench reminds me of so many of the pictures I’ve seen there. Gunnison, CO, and Cedaredge, CO, have some of the best train museums I’ve been to.
I’ve been avoiding the blog and most anything else until I finished cleaning up my computer. I had 45,000 unopened message and probably that many more opened ones that needed to be deleted. It took me four days and a lot of hours to do the job. Unfortunately I could not just delete them all because I did need to keep some of them and either added to or created files for them. Often I need to look back to find information on things we ordered, especially where we ordered things from, so I needed to keep them but most were just newsletters I had stopped at one time or the other but never deleted them. It was an arduous task and my right shoulder was giving me grief at times but it needed to be done. I feel somewhat back in control now.
We will be going to Sean and Dionne’s for Thanksgiving again this year. It is easier for them to have everyone come there and they do most of the cooking. We have an added plus this year in that Jason’s girlfriend likes to cook so she will be bringing one of her favorite stuffing dishes. David will make the cherry and pumpkin pies and I will just go and eat the food and enjoy the company. Considering that for many years I did it all, I’m more than content to just sit back and relax and let someone else do the work.
Now that my computer is tidied up I’m going to spend some serious time in my sewing room, sewing and tidying up. Once again I’m going to use Jeanne’s idea of lining things with tuille. I’m making two tops for my Siblies. I’m lining the ruffles with the tuille so I don’t have to narrow hem them. I love the way it makes everything look so smooth.
Hi Barbara,
I updated your name in my blog contacts yesterday… I’m glad it seems to have worked.
Dear Jeanne, sorry I have been missing for a while. I hope you and the Sofa Sisters have a great pre-Thanksgiving weekend.