Christmas Baubles and Bubblelights

Christmas Baubles and Bubble Lights

A Table Topper

Hoffman fabrics with silver metallic highlights caught my eye at my favorite quilt shop earlier this year. This table topper is an easy and quick project to make for the Christmas holiday table and could easily be adapted to make a tree skirt (I have one of those in the works also). I didn’t make a pattern but want to share directions for how you can make it your own. I started with the background square of fabric cut 39” (1 ¼ yards), seven fat quarters of coordinating prints and 1 ½ yards for backing and binding. The small baubles are 3” in diameter and the larger baubles are 6 ½”. The Clover yo-yo maker (one of my favorite tools) was used to make three different sizes of yo-yos that resemble the old fashioned bubble lights reminding me of Christmas past.

Below is a photo series to show how to make the decorated ornaments. I cut patterns free hand for these. A glass works well for the circle and the elongated bauble I cut from a folded square of paper to get the shape I wanted.

Cut (8-10) 7.5″ squares from fat quarters

Stack  squares in groups of 2 or 3, aligning the edges

Cut a slight curve through the middle of the square.

Rearrange the sliced pieces

Stitch using slightly less than a quarter inch seam allowance for ease in joining the curved edges.

Ready to cut the ornament shape of your choice.

Additional embellishment is done with metallic thread and decorative embroidery stitches. Decorative threads, beads and hand embroidery stitches would also be fun to use. Arrangement of the ornaments is best done by thinking of the background square as four quadrants. Placement of yo-yos was done around a 6” center circle so a small poinsettia plant could be placed in the center.

Tree skirt ready for quilting, done in festive colors with gold metallic highlights and embellishments.