"What's on the line?"

There's just a little Christmas tabletopper on the line today. And, yes, it's not really on the line today because along with being too snowy here in Minnesota, it is also very cold!! Only going to be in the teens today so it's a good day to stay in and do some more Christmas decorating. I am still working on my tree. Half the fun of putting the ornaments on the tree is remembering the memory behind each ornament. :-)
Let's say that you have all your decorating done and you'd like to make a tabletopper similar to the one in the photo above. It's super easy! I taught this little project years ago in a community ed class and this is a sample from that class. We made a lap quilt from several blocks of this size but just one of the blocks can easily be made up as a tabletopper for any holiday or occasion. The thing that makes this tabletopper unique is the doily in the center. I bought mine at a gift shop, but any doily will do. This might be a nice way to highlight an antique doily from mom or grandma. I did all the piecing and the hand-quilting and then when that was all done, I lightly hand-stitched the doily to the finished tabletopper. To make this tabletopper.......
Here's all you do.
1. Choose two fabrics - a solid and a print - and cut two 9" squares from each fabric.
2. Place one solid and one print with right sides together and mark with pencil from corner to corner so that you are creating two triangles. Repeat with the second piece of solid and print. I'll bet you've figured out that you are going to make large half-square triangles. :-)
3. It's time to stitch the triangle together. Sew a 1/4" seam to each side of the line you drew on each set of blocks.
4. When sewing is complete, cut along pencil line and fold open and you will have a square!
5. Press all four squares (light to dark) and then sew them together to create the tabletopper square.
6. You can cut a square of fabric that is larger than your topper and just fold it over for the binding......or.......cut a square of fabric the same size as your tabletopper and then add a bias binding to the topper.
7. Optional............Add center doily and hand-stitch in place.
If you try this and have questions, just send me an e-mail. I would have done a photo tutorial but I can't fit that one in right now. For a variety of reasons, I'm a bit behind in getting my decorations up so I need to stay focused on that and can always do a tutorial in some other holiday colors at another time. :-) So are you all done decorating or, like me, you are still in the midst of ornaments, garland and tree lights? I'm hoping to finish the tree decorating later today and then I'll post a picture.
My week is off to a good start. Our son, who has had pneumonia, is getting better and I'm glad to say, he'll be back at work this week. Of course, like a typical mother hen, I reminded him to be very careful and not overdo. It is hard not to be a mother hen. :-)
Here's wishing you a good Monday!
Sandi