Wrapping Up The Holidays

For the most part, I stuck with her color scheme, but tried out some variations here and there

One last post pertaining to the holidays. These are so absurdly adorable though, I hope you won't mind!

I love giving handmade gifts and try my best to make special and personal things that people will actually appreciate or use. This year, along with some homemade marshmallows, caramels, and spiced bourbon, I picked out one of Alicia Paulson's felt ornments to make and include for each family's gift. It was one of those projects way down on my list that I'd always wanted to try but never gotten to before. Then, just when I was looking for something handheld to work on as I studied for finals before the holidays, I remembered them!

The red coat is by far my favorite. Now I just need one in my size.

I've got to say, I invested a lot of time in these little ornaments as each one progresses in a number of steps, but in and of themselves, no one technique is too complicated. Because of that, I think a beginner or more advanced stitcher could make and enjoy them. I drool over just about everything Alicia Paulson puts out into the world and have to give her big gigantic props for writing such clear and full instructions for these! Job awesomely done.

The key is really in having some patience and working on them a little at a time. And if you're making a ton of them like I did, you may also need patience from the rest of your household for overlooking the little pile of supplies that appear and grow next to your spot on the couch...

It's Christmas in July! (+ A Giveaway Announcement)

60x60 inches of machine pieced goodness

Finishing a big project seems to spur me on to crossing other things off my list, it's just addictive once you get a taste of that satisfaction. It is perhaps the most pleasant part of being the kind of person who starts a lot too many things at once—you also get to finish a lot of things at once and the giddiness that causes is more than enough to keep me adding things back onto the list. Yup, it's a vicious cycle!

I finished this quilt top when I got back from Michigan and—gasp!—it's actually a quilt that I will be keeping to use in our very own home. I wanted to have something special to put out around the holidays each year that would become something of an heirloom. Yes, it's a bit loud. But, as I've mentioned before, this fabric instantly reminded me of the childhood classic "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and all the crazy colors the animators used to depict Whoville. It is, therefore, our "Whoville Quilt" and keeps alive all those memories of childhood christmases. I definitely like the idae of snuggling up under all of that!

I have this draped across the couch in my studio now as I'm not quite sure how I want to finish it. I *think* I want to add a 2 inch white border all the way around and bind it in the red snowflake fabric. On the back, I'd like to repeat the LeMoyne Start block (aka my poinsettia/christmas star) and a block with embroidery noting when it was made and all that good info. As a nerdy museum person, I love finding any bit of information attached to a textile that's been handed down so I think incorporating that with embroidery is something I'd like to keep up on all my quilts in one way or another.

P.S. I have an announcement about the giveaway my last post! I want to give more people the chance to enter so I am extending the deadline until tomorrow at noon. Please enter and pass the word along and I will announce the winner tomorrow afternoon. Good luck!

To Grandmother's House We Go...

We had a lovely little Christmas here and I hope you and your family enjoyed your holiday celebrations as well! We are off to visit family in Michigan for the next week and will be sans internet so I just wanted to pop in before taking off and thank each and everyone of you for being a part of my blog and my life this past year. It has meant so much to me and I am looking forward to sharing much more with you in the new year.

One last project for 2011 though before I go: homemade marshmallows! I tried a new recipe this year and really love the way they turned out more so than the first ones I made last year. I love melting them in a mug of hot chocolate although they are so good, very springy and fluffy, that you might end up just eating them one by one...not that anyone in this house did anything like that! The taste is so much more incredible than store-bought which I don't really go in for much. I got the recipe over on Smitten Kitchen and it's got great step-by-step instructions and insight which I found really helpful since I've only been dabbling in candy making for a year or so. Last year I made caramels all wrapped up in wax paper and decided to continue the food giving trend with these—a sweet and simple gift that, for me, speaks to what the holidays are really all about. And on that note...

Wishing you warmth, health, happiness, love, hope, peace, and all awesome things now and in the new year—see you back here in 2012 friends!

a few of my favorite -christmas- things

i wanted to be productive yesterday but then i decided to be completely lazy instead and it was a beautiful thing! it felt so good to just have a day of no responsibilities and to wrap presents and soak in the magic of the first snow of the year. crazy that it took this long to get any here but we now have a good inch on the ground which definitely qualifies as real snowfall in my book. today though, i want to dive right in and share with you some of my favorite christmas decorations and traditions:



we tend to get a little competitive in our house with the decorating of sugar cookies. i don't have  any fancy tools..we really just decide what frosting colors we want and do what we can with a butter knife and everyone sits around the table to decorate them together. i use my nana's recipe that her nana used before her every year...it just wouldn't be christmas without them!



this knit advent calendar of little hats and mittens has to be one of my favorite decorations. if i was a more accomplished knitter, i would have made it myself but i'm still learning so when i saw it in a catalog (i think it was garnet hill a few years ago) i snatched it right up. after gaining a few pounds the first year we filled it up, i decided to start using the same (perpetually unwrapped) mini candy canes each year...shh, don't tell!




the two photos on top are some of my favorite vintage christmas decorations. some of them are so fragile like the little stocking that i still have not quite figured out the best way to display them. i am definitely a classic-retro christmas kind of girl though when it comes to decorating: big bright lights, celluloid, brenda lee, sparkly old icicle ornaments, you name it.

many of our family's decorations that haven't been passed down come from a place called bronner's in michigan, like the advent wreath there in the bottom right. it is in a town called frankenmuth, not far from where i grew up, and is where many german-lutheran farmers settled back in the day (i.e. my family ancestry). if you haven't been there or heard of it i should warn you that it is kind of crazy and the whole town has gotten really built-up and commercial over the years, unfortunately. it's still amazing though and i cherish it..it's basically a winter wonderland, a christmas city. the first time i took my husband there a few years ago he got a little freaked out by how over-the-top it is and i, having grew up with it as a normal thing, just didn't understand why it was weird. i can kind of see it now, haha, but i still love the place as the old lutheran church, the biergartens, and zehnder's restaurant have a lot of family history attached to them. goodness, i am getting hungry now just thinking about it!

i hope you've enjoyed this little peek into our home, it's fun to share all the little things that make the holidays merry and bright.

p.s. i almost forgot...saw this index of free gift tags on odeedoh the other day. there are some new ones and others have been floating around the internets for a while, but they are all pretty sa-weet!