Quilted Christmas: Crafting a Doorscape

When I think back on this week, perhaps I'll think about the two sketches that I did or the poem that I wrote about Jesus going to the Black Friday sales.  Or maybe I'll remember creating this--what shall I call it?  This doorscape:

One of my colleagues wanted to have a door decorating contest, and she went all out, even creating a small roof over her door:

Not to be outdone, one of my other colleagues got busy creating with styrofoam cups.  Eventually his door looked like this:

I spent a good deal of time over the week of Thanksgiving wondering what I should do. I don't particularly want to win the contest, but I am happy creating library displays, calendars, and bulletin boards.  Perhaps a door would be the same sort of thing.  I thought about mermaids or something spiritual/religious.

But as I sat in my office, I thought about how much of my office space is devoted to textures, colors, and fabrics.  I came up with the concept of a quilted Christmas first.  I thought about doing all kinds of quilting, but time grows short.

Long ago, one of my colleagues at a different school gave me an unfinished quilt saying, "You'll know what to do with it."  I'm not sure this display is what she had in mind:

I thought about a variety of techniques for the door itself, from actually quilting every word or gluing fabric scraps to approximate a quilt.  The process for the letter Q took so long that I abandoned this idea:

Later, though, the idea of a wreath came to me, along with more possible ideas than I could use.  I wanted to quilt something new, but in the end, I went with what was quick.  I had some panels of strips in holiday colors already sewed together, and I wrapped them around a paper plate with the center cut out:

I am most proud of the bow.  I know that it's a ridiculously easy thing to do, but it's one of the few bows like this that I've made.

The trees at the base of the display answer the question:  "What should I do with the trees that don't light up anymore?"  The lights that you see are a battery operated string of fairy lights that came separately.  I love the chance to display some of my favorite ornaments.

The tree skirt was not made by me.  My first Christmas in grad school my mom sent it to me; she got it at a craft show at church, and I crocheted the stockings to go along with it:

For years, I resisted decorating an office--but in later years, thinking about how much time I spend in my office, I usually have something seasonal decorating this space.  Still, I've never gone as all out for Christmas as I have this year.

In my younger years, I worried about offending those of different religions--which is funny, because in my younger years, I wasn't living among anyone who didn't celebrate Christmas in some fashion.  Now I'm in a much more ethnically diverse place, and I've decorated my workplace to the hilt.  I've not tried to be ecumenical at all.  I feel a smidge guilty.

But I am surrounded by items from my past which bring me contentment and joy--and I still don't have space at home for all of them.  So let me take my joy where I can find it, and let me trust that I'm not offending anyone by my offering of a Quilted Christmas.