A Little Bit Of Christmas

I have been spending a lot of time in my sewing room, preparing for the holidays.  My Christmas quilt top is done, and the backing has been purchased and prepared.  Here I have it laid out on the sofa with the batting cut beneath it.  I will baste it this weekend, and begin the process of machine quilting.

This is the cute label that we made for the back of the quilt.  Lori Holt's designs are just adorable.

Speaking of cute snowmen, I turned two plain white pillar candles that I had in my cupboard into Mr. and Mrs. Snowman.

I went into the yard for their twig arms.  It is hard to see against the fireplace.  Mrs. has some earmuffs, and is holding her pink wool mittens.

Mr. has a crochet hat.

I have made some more of these nifty heat saks.  These are made with holiday finger tip towels and filled with rice.  I put some ric rac around the edge.  Pop it in the micro for three minutes and then place it behind your back, or whatever ails you, for some soothing heat.  I also like to heat mine up on cold nights, and then put it in the bed underneath the covers while I take my shower and then when I get into the bed, it is roasty toasty.

I have been cutting squares of Christmas fabric with my pinking rotary cutter for the tops of my homemade jams.  These will make nice little gifts for my holiday giving.

We haven't even taken a single box down out of the rafters to do our Christmas decorating, and I am liking the little touches of Christmas I have added, even without them!
This is a little corner of our kitchen all set up for some Hot Cocoa drinking.  I have it all sitting atop a large wooden lazy susan that my Mom gave to me.

I have been collecting Santa mugs for a couple of years now.  These three are my latest acquisitions.  The red plate with bike and gifts on back I picked up at Target the other day.  The red thermos with green Christmas tree is a thrift find.  I put any leftover coffee in it in the morning, (rarely have any leftover!) and then when I am making hot chocolate, I make mine with  half coffee, for a cafe mocha.  The glass jar holds mini marshmallows, packets of hot chocolate mix in the middle, and a red sugar bowl holds candy canes.  The wire basket with moose, bear and canoe were a thrift find in one of my favorite shops in Big Bear.
The cabin scene trivet, also a thrift find.  It reminds me of  our beloved Big Bear.
My red ceramic egg keep is sitting on my dining table in the family room, filled with Christmas Kisses.  The girls are only laying a couple of eggs a day, so I thought it would look cute sitting out with something else in it.

Last year my daughter Gennifer gifted me with this darling holiday pillow from Target.  I had seen it at her house and loved it, and she went out and bought one for me too.

I saw this one with the Santa on it when I was in Target the other day.  Had to have it.

Two holiday pillows from last year came out of storage too.  The first one is a ski sweater just like one that my husband wore in the 70's.  Greg's was navy blue.  I found this one in a thrift store, in perfect condition.  It is 100 % wool, and oh so cozy.

I slipped it over a comfy down pillow, then slipped the sleeves inside the arms and tied them to secure.  I sewed the neck closed using several strands of red floss, and did a blanket stitch.  I did the same thing on the bottom, by tucking the sweater ends up inside the pillow, then closed with a blanket stitch.
The next one is also thrift find.  It was another wool sweater that had been accidently washed in hot water, and felted.  But the felting process really made the beautiful cabled stitches stand out.  I cut the sleeves off, and made this pillow.
There was one small stain on the front that I could not get out, but I still love this cabled sweater pillow.  I put some vintage Santa buttons on the front in place of the ones it had, and closed the bottom with a blanket stitch in red floss.  I tucked candy canes in the pockets.
Last Christmas, I had seen a beautiful blanket in a Gooseberry Patch book that I had bought.  It was made using thrifted sweaters of different greens and reds, and unique designs and cabling on them.  I scoured thrift stores for weeks, collecting sweaters to make one of my own.

I backed it in red flannel polka dots, and quilted an X through most squares and stitched in the ditch in others.  It is the coziest blanket we have!  I saved all of the sleeves that I cut off, and have used them for various different projects.  I made wine bottle cozies with some to gift a bottle of wine.  The other day I saw these sweater trees on Pinterest.  I grabbed my sweater sleeves and a large sturdy cardboard box, and began to trace out trees.  I cut them using my dull rotary cutter, the one I use for paper only.
I made several, using some of the green and sweater sleeves in different shades, as well as the felted wool sleeves with the heavy cabling.  In the Pinterest photo there was no bling added to the sweater trees.  But I was feeling blingy.  I lined them up on this shelf in my kitchen.

The off white cabled trees are my favorites.  I topped one with a vintage star earring, and left the other one plain.

This green tree I studded with various sizes and shades of white beads.  I used some baby ric rac as garland on one tree, and then some other snippets of sequined trims I had on  hand for a couple of the others.  I dotted one with red pom poms.  I think they are darling.

Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at our house.  And the decorations haven't even come down!  We will put our tree up this weekend, and I know I won't be able to resist putting some of my favorite things up as well.  

This afternoon about 4:00, I was hit like a ton of bricks with a strange bug.  It took me down, and took me down hard.  I slept for several hours, and woke up feeling restless.  I decided to get this post up.  Spare time seems to be at a premium lately.  I will have to take it as it comes.  Hope my tummy settles so I can sleep.

Tootle Loo.

XO  Kris