I cannot count my day complete
'Til needle, thread and fabric meet.
~Author Unknown

Sharing a common thread with those who love the art of hand embroidery

Thursday, December 14, 2017

From the backyard.........to our Christmas table

I gathered the fallen pine cones that had blown from
the trees here on the grounds and created little 
Christmas trees to decorate our table with. 

They were quick and inexpensive to make. If you would like
to do the same,  and you use your backyard pine cones, make  sure you bake the pine cones in a 250 degree oven for about an hour. ( place them on a lined cookie sheet)  
This gets rid of any bugs and sap that is inside of the cone.
----you can also purchase pine cones in a bag----
I used tiny terra cotta garden pots for the base, and just painted them with craft paint.
I then used a permanent glue......not super glue....but E6000® Permanent Craft Adhesive, 3.7 oz..
It holds the pine cone and each bead into place and dries clear  and strong.
I used craft/jewelry beads and just used a spot of glue on each pine cone
petal.

This year, for our Christmas dining, I have decided to use a vintage kitchen tablecloth
draped over our dining room table. 
It does not have a Christmas design, but the flowers in muted 
shades of red and green give a perfect nostalgic charm to the table.


I placed the pine cones straight down the middle of the table,
this way, each guest can see one,


I am using vintage dinner plates, and different homemade
cloth napkins made from Christmas fabric



as well as a few newer Christmas dinner plates. 

I also  made a few pine cone trees to sit along the back  door
window.  They look so cheery!
So tell me.............do you use a lot of linens at your Christmas table,
or is it easier to use the lovely decorative paper and plastic holiday
plates and napkins?
Do you have any great ideas in creating things from pinecones?
I would love to hear!

8 comments:

Debra said...

Once I had a pine cone man a friend made for me. She made a clay head and clay boots, and hooked 2 cones together at the base of a bigger cone that was the body. The 2 smaller cones were his legs. She used wire to hook the head, boots and cones together. She cut off a toe of an old sock for his hat. He was wonderful! I had him about 25 years, then the cones got flaky, so I had to dispose of him!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

We just got back from a hike and I came home with a bag filled with huge pinecones! I'll probably just put them in a basket but I love this idea! Holiday hugs, Diane

lil red hen said...

How sweet!! I would never have dreamed these were pine cones! Yes, I use vintage Christmas tablecloths, purchased from eBay, but we eat from styrofoam plates. My good Christmas dinnerware set only has service for eight. False plates are not near as pretty for sure.

happyone said...

What a clever idea with the pine cones. I have lots of pine cones in my back yard and I for sure will try to make some of these. Wonderful little gifts. Thank you so much for showing them.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I LOVE these pine cone trees so much. thanks so much for sharing this cute idea. Your table looks great and really quite festive. You guys got some crazy weather down there recently. Crazy seems to be in the air in the USA right now.
xx, Carol

Unknown said...

Your table is lovely. I like the vintage table cloth. It's the perfect colors for the season. Your pine cone decorations are adorable. Unfortunately, I don't have any that size in my area. More like the size of a cigarette lighter. If I did, I sure would use your idea and make several 'trees'. Enjoy the holiday!

Sandra said...

The decorated pine cones make wonderful Christmas Tree decorations for your home!

Gina E. said...

Love your table setting and the pine cones! And is that snow I can see through the window? What a stark contrast to our Aussie Christmas - 35deg.C in some places here.
I had trouble finding a nice Xmas cloth for our round kitchen table for the two of us, but I found some Xmas cotton 'tablecloth' fabric in one of our bigger fabric stores, and bought enough to make myself a cloth to fit the table.