Today, December 21, 2023, is the Solstice—a celebration of light. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year for us. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Summer Solstice, and the longest day of the year for those of you in that part of the world. Either way, it’s all about the sun, and if our daylight hours start to grow longer from here out, or if daylight and the warmth it brings has reached its peak for another cycle—seasons of light for all of us—unless you live on the equator. 😉
So this week, as I suppose for many of you, I’ve been hanging lights and lighting candles as I savor our longest nights. I appreciate strings of lights where one bulb can burn out and the rest stay on. Remember those days when that wasn’t the case? However, from year to year, there are always a few strings that have decided that they are done with lighting up at all. And one year I had an armload full of wires of mini-bulbs to throw away. What a waste.
But wait! My fabric scraps came to the rescue! And that story of double re-purposing, is today’s Throw-Back Thursday post. I wrote it back in 2016, but tend to re-post it every year ’cause I like the idea to slow down and make something with what you may have on hand. You may know that I believe that no fabric scrap should be thrown away. I find it similarly difficult to discard other items, such as burned out Christmas tree lights. Yeah, it’s true, just ask Tom.
However, over the years I’ve come up with a few of ways of altering and re-purposing defunct strings of lights, and even pre-lit Christmas trees! Yeah, that one Tom thought was my best idea ever. So, from garlands to weird spiky balls and more, you too can turn trash-bound items into decorations of color with only a little glue and fabric. Hey, before you scoff, for those of us that aren’t handy with other fiber arts such as knitting and crochet, this fits the bill for a little bit of creativity while hanging out on a long dark night watching TV, cuddling with the pups, or entertaining company. Anyway, you can read all about it below.
And I hope you have a lovely, warm, and sparkling holiday Season of Light.
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Susan Carlson Fabric Collage: Spiral eWorkshop
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