Sunday, May 8, 2011

Tree skirts: penguins and Mom's

Believe it or not, I finally got the last of my Christmas tree's down yesterday. It's in a rarely used room, so it  was easy for me to procrastinate. The blue skirt at its base came from Home Depot. I didn't buy it right away, because I though $20 was too much. But I worried that it might be gone if I waited for markdowns, so I went back a couple of days later to buy it at full price. Surprise! It was 50 percent off.

The skirt with a penguin, Santa  and snowman came from JC Penney, where I thought I was going to have to crawl on the floor to get their dirty display model. At the last minute, I spotted one on a hidden rack.

The last skirt looks very ordinary and has no penguins, but it's very special, because it was made by my mother, Jeanne Parsons. It's four simple red felt quarter circles stitched together with green thread in a curvy zigzag pattern. There were some pins in it when I found it, and that makes me wonder if she was planning to decorate it.

Blue tree skirt with penguin
Acquired: December 2010, Home Depot, Stroudsburg, Pa.
Size: 48-inch diameter

Penguin, Santa and snowman skirt
Acquired: December 21, 2008
Size: 54-inch diameter

Red felt tree skirt with green stitching
Size: 30-inch diameter
Made by my mother, Jeanne Parsons