Nesting Santas

Every year I try to come up with a new and fun project for Christmas.  Nothing too heavy, or involved - just cute, fun, and happy.  It's no secret I have a "thing" for the jolly fellow in the big red suit, and it seems every year my Christmas offering involves him, like these Santa Sacks...

...or this Santa runner:

...and these personalized Santa ornaments...etc.  You get the picture :)  So this year I decided that my Christmas project would not involve Santa; I was going to make something with trees, and lots of greenery.

I headed down to Mrs Pugsley's Emporium and chose this elegant, rich green print.  Perfect!  I set about designing in my new EQ8 program, excited with the possibility of what I would create.

I ended up with these!!!  Nesting Santas! They remind me of the Russian Matryoska dolls that are so fun to play with.  Since these are just cloth - and unbreakable - I think they'd be great for  little hands.

The Santas are 3 sizes:  12", 8", and 6", and I also made a runner using the 12" foundation. (Note the boots: my favourite holiday salt & pepper shakers!)

The fabric I used is a gorgeous red and gold from Hoffman called Berries and Blooms.  The background green is from the Hoffman "Merry Birds" collection.

I quilted the runner using Aurifil gold metallic in the background, and 50 weight white cotton for the beard. It's got lots of sparkle.

The eyes are a simple straight stitch made with Aurifil 12 weight thread.

I took the Santas outside and posed them in the holly bushes. We had had snow that morning, but by the time I got outside, it was long gone.

This next shot struck me as funny;  I was trying to get a group photo, but it ended up looking like Santa is hanging upside down.  I expect this is the way he looks coming down the chimney.

The funniest picture is this one, below.  My elder son mischievously set one Santa on top of the salt and pepper shakers, to make it look like he is wearing boots.  I am not sure why this is so funny, but...it is.

I hope you enjoy this latest addition to my Santa obsession.  (Even though I didn't get a tree, I did get a TRI-O so that counts, right? :)My sincere thanks goes out to pattern editor Cheryl Coville.
The "Nesting Santas" pattern is available as an instant download, or as a printed version from my website.  It includes the pattern for the 15" x 29" runner/wallhanging.