The Quilt

Ever have a present that you wanted to keep for yourself? This was mine. After it was pieced, quilted, washed and dried, I wasn't sure I could part with it. But it was less than a week before we were leaving for my parents and what else would I get them? So gift it, I did.

 

Here's the front. It was supposed to be this quilt. But I switched it up a bit. I used an old bundle of fat quarters that I got on clearance. I love them. But that was also part of the reason I hated to give it away...it's not like I can go out and buy more fabric to replicate this quilt! It's a one of a kind for sure.

 

Thanks to my friend Diana, who JUST started quilting (crazy mad woman made 3 quilts in about a month!), I had to add a cute strip to the back. Extra work, but I love it!

 

It got plenty of use this trip. Especially because it was winter. And we got snowed in. And lost power. It really was fun, but I sure was grateful for any extra blankets :)

And I still think it would look awefully nice in my house.

Oops

I forgot to post this. Guess I was enjoying whisking my kids off for a surprise ski trip & failed to click post. But here it is anyway, albeit 2 weeks late!

Merry Christmas!

 

Love designing my own holiday cards. Love Vistaprint sales. Love how cute my little girl's flower girl dress turned out. And LOVE this picture of my darling kiddos. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Scrapbook Paper Ball Ornament

 

I'm actually surprised that I have "followers" besides my friends and family. But I do. Just a couple, but they are out there :) And I went to one of their blogs the other day & found this on their front page.

Last year at Hobby Lobby, I bought a few glass ornament packs on clearance. Not that they are expensive to start with, but at 90% off, why not? So, I need to now do something with the & this just seemed perfect for me. Next time I'll add some more paper, but I think they turned out super cute. Thanks for the idea!

Luggage Tags

We have some good friends moving to the land down under next week. Our family is so sad, but at the same time, so excited about all of the great adventures they will have! Their girls have been big sisters to my kids & Teagan sometimes even prefers "That Daddy" to her own (and old term...now she just calls him Adam). No offense to Ryan...it's just that Adam is a package deal that includes three fun girls and a dog. What's not to love?!

So, since they're travelling during the holidays, and hopefully doing lots more travelling once they arrive in Australia, I thought I'd make them something to help them out during their trip(s). Luggage Tags!

 

I used the tutorial at Skip to my Lou. I used ribbon instead of fabric...less steps, just as cute.

 

Hopefully, this will make their bags easy to find as they sit waiting at the baggage claim. No lifting huge bags just to find they belong to someone else!

My Mantle

 

Ta da! Here's my finished mantle. I made a total of six stockings...just in case. Four will work splendidly for this year! The two other stockings I had to tuck back into storage before I could take pictures... Teagan was dragging them around the house and stashing things in them. Cute...but I'd like them to be useable for the next 20 years at least?!

I love adding to my Santa collection, or should I say, my mom likes adding to my Santa collection & I'm grateful that she does! One of those is even hand made by a childhood friend's grandma!

Now if only I'd found the motivation last January to make a tree skirt & advent caledar...

Hourglass Stocking

 

There's a tutorial for an hourglass quilt here. I'm pretty sure that's NOT how I did mine, but at least you have something to go by. Since I couldn't clame the Ticker Tape as my own, this one will have to do as "my" stocking.

Scrappy Stocking

 

Inspired by this. This one was chosen by Teagan for Ryan. It actually drives me a bit nuts that the cuff is so like the color scrap right below it, so I might have to switch it out!