Christmas Eve, the stockings are hung and gifts are wrapped under the tree. Lights twinkling and eyes sparkling, cookies and milk by the fireplace. Living in a hundred and seventy five year old house Santa has many choices of fireplaces. We think he will choose the one in the library, our favorite.

Relaxing for a few minutes by the fire as the snow softly falls, my sewing basket still holds some strips of felt. I cut a few of the 12” long strips into ½” widths and begin braiding three together. Formed into a circle they are now a cute wreath ornament. Buttons added and a bow at the top, only ten minutes to make! A few ornaments would be nice to have on hand to give out. I always keep a basket by the front door filled with little gifts and treats.

Growing up in the town, home of the Ganong Candy Factory, early memories are of barley toys, chicken bones and ribbon candy at Christmas. Of course there were always peppermints and candy canes filling crystal dishes at my grandmothers. Her father, my great grandfather had been Ganong’s first candy maker brought over from Germany. He worked for them over fifty years. Ribbon candy was my favorite; my grandmother would often tie colored thread around the top and hang them from the tree. Remembering her fondly as I tied my felt version on the family tree.

To make the ribbon candy you will need three strips of 1” wide felt layered. Fold back and forth four times; sew through the center of all the layers. Tie a loop at one end to hang and a knot at the other. Mix up the colors, I did stay with the traditional red, white and green but punched it up some with the neon green, it is such a bright happy color, very festive!

For the peppermints, just roll two strips of equal width into cylinder and glue at end. For smaller peppermints use ½” width and 6” long strips. For the larger ones, 1” wide and 9” long strips. These would also make a pretty garland strung together but that may wait for next year and a little earlier than Christmas Eve.

My last quick and easy project is a gift envelope created from a single piece of felt. Just fold the 9” by 12” piece 4” from bottom and overlap top 3”. The bottom can be glued and the folded top fastened with a hook and loop dot. I opted to do a simple straight stitch to enclose the side seams continuing it through the single layer of the folded top for a decorative finish.

What you will need for these projects:

9” x 12” sheets of Kunin Classic, 1 red, 1 white, 2 neon green
6 red buttons, 1/2”
1 hook and loop fastener
1 yard red craft thread
Fabri-tac or Aleene’s Turbo Tacky glue
Scissors, ruler, pencil, embroidery needle

Wishing all of you a very special holiday season filled with family and friends, meaningful moments and memories.
Debra