Decorating for Christmas

Decorating for Christmas took on a whole new twist this year, with the redecorating of the living room/dining room over the past year.  Started with new windows (boy, have they made a difference in the heating bill) followed by a new gas fireplace insert.  Then new carpeting, out with the 20 year old stuff!  New furniture was next.  Still need to get some sort of window treatments, haven't seen anything that just hits me right.  Also, still waiting for the entertainment center.  The one in the picture is a temporary one from IKEA.  It is nice, but not quite big enough for the record player that I have and want to use.  Anyway, it does look nice and the new one will be very similar in color and style.

So, can't put the tree where it used to be, no room there.  Couch is in the way.  Can't put the Santa collection by the fireplace, too hot now with the new insert.  The tree is 9 feet tall, so the only place that it will fit now is between the fireplace and the wall and the Santa's will go on the sofa table.

The santas are a story in themselves.  When I was in my residency in Nebraska, I purchased the first one of my tall Santa collection at our church bazaar.  It was followed closely by a second tall Santa that I received as a thank you gift.  I took that as a sign, need to collect tall Santas.  I have added a new one every year, sometimes more than one, but I have to slow down now as I have a bunch.  I am looking for ones that have interesting details or are a unique color.

Anyway, here is the finished product for the living room.  Pictures of the dining area to follow as soon as it is finished!

As you can see, there is not much room for any more Santas.  That is of course, unless they are small.  A couple of short Santas made it into the collection, but they were gifts.

The quilt on the wall is actually my daughter's, but it's here and she's not so I'm using it because it has a hanging sleeve.  I do have another one that I can put there when she decides that she want this one back!

All in all, the room looks rather festive, I think.  I hope to spend some evening time enjoying it!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Quiltville Mystery Time Again!

Well, another year has swept past and it is time again for Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery.  She is calling this year's quilt Easy Street.  Bonnie's initial information about the color of the fabrics and the amount that you need is in this post.  The first clue came out on Black Friday, so as soon as I was up, I printed it out.  I have a new printer that does a very nice job of doing two sided printing and so I will be using that and cutting down on the amount of paper this year!

I did need to make a shopping run to the local quilt shop, The Quilted Forest.  The shop was featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Patchwork and Quilting Quilt Sampler this fall!!  I had used up most all of my black on white prints in the Orca Bay quilt that was the mystery last year.  Oddly enough, although I didn't think that I would find much apple green called for in the pattern, I did find quite a pile from my scraps and from fat quarters.  Who'd a thunk it, I don't recall making much of anything with that color but seemed to be collecting it.

Back to the sewing room to work on the four patches called for in the first clue.  The picture shows the four patches grouped into four groups.  I had a very few patches of some of the black and white prints and in order to keep them from all showing up in the same place in the quilt, I split them up.  Now there will be a few patches of the 'rare' prints in each quadrant of the quilt.

I saved about 16 of the squares back to use as leaders and enders for the rest of the clues.  The stacks of blocks are held together with a long pin with a small piece of eraser on the point of the pin.  Quick and easy way to hold them all together!

I have been looking at other blogs and it looks like a lot of people are changing the colors this year.  I decided to stay with the original color suggestions, mainly because it a little outside the box for me.  Thought that I would stick with the 'retro' color scheme (that's what my daughter called it) and run with it.

 After getting all the four patches together, I had some time left, so decided to work on a couple of Christmas presents.

My daughter has a 1950's bungalow and I thought that these would look great in her kitchen.  If you are reading this dear, try to act surprised when you open the box on Christmas!  That yellow is a real eye popper.

I am looking forward to the Monday link-up to see what everyone is doing with their quilts.  Happy sewing, everyone!