Christmas Decorating Santa Style

     This is a repost from a couple of years ago.  I finally finished my baking last night.  I am still frantically working on finishing a large job for a client so cheating here a bit by copying an old post.

     When I decorate I do every room in my house including the bathrooms.  My collection of Santas are in my powder room.  The centerpiece of the display is a Santa from my grandmother.  I remember it standing in her living room every year.  I have no idea how old it is.  Surrounding him are some inexpensive potted silk poinsettias and a small tree that I bought when I went away to college.  The tree is falling apart but with some poinsettia blossoms and bows tucked in it looks fine.

     On the shelf where watering cans and birdhouses normally reside I have placed some more Santas.  There are a couple of pairs of salt and pepper shakers in the mix.

     Even the window gets a few Santas.  The one sitting on the window is soft so if he falls when opening or closing the shade no harm will be done.

     Here is the sink all decked out with a Santa soap dispenser, towels, tissue box cover (that my husband's aunt made) and some door knob hangers on the drawer pulls.  I also am sure to include a nativity set in every room, this one is just a small plastic one that won't be harmed by soap and water.

    

     And last but not least is the toilet.  A fun lid cover and rug dress it up while another Santa perches on top.  My friend Ellen made him for me.  A few more Santas are perched around the room also.  Just a fun way to display my collection of Santas.  How do you display your holiday themed collections?

Christmas Decorating with Teddy Bears

Entry with Santa and Mrs Claus

     This week I am showing a few photos from my entry and foyer.  The theme for these areas is Teddy Bears.  In our previous house these were the family room decorations.  In this house the family room, eating area and kitchen are all one big room.  This meant finding a new home for the bears.  

     The first photo is from our entry.  When you come in the front door there is a wall with the mirrors (that is me reflected in the photo) and a set of 3 wood file cabinets with a top that goes over all three.  I have a set of lamps on this credenza.  We removed the ceiling fixture in this area and just use the lamps.  To the left is our den and to the right is the foyer that leads to the living room, dining room, kitchen, stairs and master bedroom.  We have often joked that this is our 'ballroom'.  

     In the entry I have a pair of bears dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus.  They have a tree and packages.  The runner has teddy bears on it also.  A small wreath on the mirror completes the room.  

     Since the entryway is the first thing people see, make it attractive and welcoming by adding a few decorations without adding clutter.  I think this sets the tone that our house is fun at holiday time.

Teddy Bear Tree

     Here is the tree for the foyer.  It has teddy bear ornaments and is in the traditional red and green of Christmas.  I even found a bear angel for the top of the tree.  I would love to find some more teddy bear ornaments but I haven't found any I like lately.  The tree skirt belonged to my husband's aunt.  I think she made it.  There is a collection of bears at the base of the tree and more at the base os the table where the teddy bear nativity set is displayed.

Teddy Bears Line the Stairs

     To complete the foyer there is a collection of bears and pillows lining the stairs going up.  Our grandson has discovered the bears here but finds them more of an annoyance I think because he loves to go up and down the stairs.  They are just in his way :-)

Teddy bear creche

     What he does like though is the teddy bear nativity set in the foyer.  He likes to take Baby Jesus and the lamb and play with them.  Of course the little lamb has to make a lot of baaing sounds.  When he out them back after playing with them, he made sure that the lamb was right next to Baby Jesus.

     Usually the foyer has an oval table in the center of the room with a light hanging over it.  For Christmas we remove the table and hang the light higher so no one hits their head on it.  Since this room is open to the dining room I have occasionally used it to set up another table so we can be all together for our Christmas meal.

     Wishing you all a Beary Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas Decorating with Pink and Angels

    This is a repost of a blog from a couple of years ago.  I did a slightly different arrangement of the angels on the mantel this year.  I am also trying to downsize some of my decorations but I am finding it very hard to part with some of them.

    To keep things from looking overdone I always remove the everyday items and pack them away.  Here is my living room mantel.  My living room has yellow walls with blue and yellow window treatments and a couch with a pink, yellow and blue floral print.  Red and green would be quite distracting in this sunny room so I have chosen to decorate with pink poinsettias and angels.

     The mantel scarf is actually four embroidered napkins I found on sale after Christmas one year.  The back edge is folded under and they are just laid on the mantel, slightly overlapping.  A small wreath with pink flowers and a bird hangs from a small nail.  I only have five angels on the mantel but with a couple of large poinsettias and a couple of small wreaths the whole mantel is filled in.

     On the hearth below I have arranged a lush garland around the base.  Another angel, this one much larger and a couple of silk poinsettia plants, one placed on a large book, and I have another focal area.

     Behind the couch I have a refinished cedar chest that belonged to my grandmother.  Here I display a paper mache  nativity set.  Every room in the house has a creche.  The coffee table, which is an old sled, has a small pink poinsettia floral arrangement on it.  Next to the cedar chest, on the floor I placed three Santas.  They aren't angels but they fit the color scheme and feel of the room.

  

   Right now there is no tree as we are waiting until a little closer to Christmas to get a real tree for the room.  The other rooms in the house have artificial trees.  The living room tree gets decorated with the ornaments we have collected over the years including ones we but when we go on vacations and ones the kids have made.

     I have added a photo of the display bookcase that is on the wall to the left of the fireplace.  More angels, pink and blue poinsettias and a couple of candles decorate this area.  The three straw angels on the right are from my mother-in-law's house.  They look right at home here with the rest of the angels.
    In the next weeks I will post about some of the other rooms.  I hope these photos help show you how holiday decorating doesn't have to be all Santa Claus and red and green. 

Thanksgiving Meal 2014

Apple Pumkintini

     We celebrated Thanksgiving this past Sunday.  Our son came in from Iowa Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning we all met at the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot.  My husband and I ran the 10K, our youngest son and his wife ran the 5K, our daughter, her husband and son played in the park and the older son took photos.  We then headed to I-Hop for breakfast.

Cranberry, Pecan & White Cheddar Cheeseball

     We started the meal with Apple Pumkintinis, Cranberry, Pecan and White Cheddar Cheese Ball and an appetizer bread from Market Day.  The drinks were delicious and the cheese ball very yummy.  Our grandson loves Craisins and crackers so he loved picking off the cranberries and eating them with the crackers.

Harvest Pumpkin Soup

     Dinner started with Harvest Pumpkin Soup.  I used pumpkin puree made from the pumpkins we grew in our garden.  We made a double batch and had lots left over, should have only done one batch.  It is tasty but not sure if it will freeze so we can eat it slowly.

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

     I made these delicious Pumpkin Dinner Rolls.  They looked almost as cute as the recipe photo.  Again the pumpkin was from our garden.

Butternut Squash

Quinoa, Sweet Potato Stuffing

Honey Glazed Carrots

     The side dishes were Butternut Squash with Candied Pecans, Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Dried Cranberry Stuffing and Honey Glazed Carrots.  The butternut squash was good but my hubby had some problems with the grill so it was behind in cooking time.  Wound up putting it in the microwave to finish cooking.

     I doubled the Quinoa recipe and again had way too much left.  It was very tasty with a nice mix of textures.  The carrots were from our garden also.  They were only so-so.

     This was all served with a nice beef roast as I don't like turkey or ham.

Chocoflan

Pumpkin Cheesecake

     For dessert we had Chocoflan and Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce.  I made the chocoflan because flan is one of my favorite desserts and I love chocolate.  The flan part was very good but the cake was only so-so.  Not my cup of tea but others might love it.  My hubby made the cheesecake.  He has gotten really good at making cheesecakes ever since he had to make one for Christmas one year because I was working.  This cheesecake is so light and oh so yummy.

Thanksgiving Dinner 

     My younger son did complain about too much pumpkin which when I did look at everything it was kind of true.  All in all it was a tasty meal though way too much food as usual.

Embroidery Project October 2014

     A client wanted some hankies embroidered for an upcoming wedding.  Fortunately she bought some extras so I was able to do a test stitch out of the lettering.  Small lettering can be difficult because it needs to have enough stitches to cover the fabric but not so many that it becomes illegible.

     In my embroidery software I have a few different small alphabets to choose from.  The client wanted script on the ladies hankies and block on the men's ones.  I chose what looked good on the screen and then stitched them out.  The script looked good but the block one I thought was too full making it hard to read.  I chose a different font and test stitched that (on the top in the photo).  Much better.

     Then it was time to do the actual hankies.  I sprayed them with Mary Ellen's Best Press and pressed them.  I did that a couple of times to give them a little more body.  Then I hooped a sticky stabilizer and using templates I had printed out I pressed the hankie onto it.  I added a few pins and then stitched it out.

     I removed the stabilizer and then pressed from the wrong side to smooth it all out.  They turned out great.  So glad to have the extra hankie because it really showed the difference in the fonts.

Professional Pillow Fabrication

My pillows

     A couple of weeks ago I went to Custom Home Furnishings Academy (CHF Academy) to take a class, Professional Pillow Fabrication.  They are located in Roswell GA, not too far from the Atlanta airport.  I flew in on a Tuesday evening and checked into my hotel for the night.  The next morning we met in the lobby and took a short van ride to the academy.

Wanda and her pillows

     There were five students in class, Wanda, Michelle, Annette, Cindy and myself.  Donna Cash from Designs by Donna was our instructor.  Donna was great.  She first talked about some of the basics of pillow construction and then patiently helped us learn how to use the industrial machines.

Michelle and her pillows

     We made a basic knife edge pillow first with covered cord and a zipper inserted above the bottom back seam.  I learned a new technique for joining the ends of the covered cord that looks so much better than the way I have been doing it.

Annette and her pillows

     We then made a bolster pillow with an invisible zipper.  I made two different ends, one flat and one gathered so I could learn both techniques.  We then put a button on each end using a long needle to thread the cord through.  That was difficult as the needle wasn't quite long enough and we had to smoosh the pillow to get it through.

Cindy and her pillows

     We then made a round knife edge pillow.  Wow!! I got a round pillow that didn't look like a pancake.  A bit of hand sewing involved with it but it turned out great.

Me and my pillows

     The last pillow we did was a mitered flange pillow.  I opted to add some covered cord between the flange and the pillow front.  That did mess up my ability to make nice tight corners.  I had to sew it several times to get it to look nice.  Don't think I will be offering that as an option :-)  It also had the zipper in the seam.

     I wish we had time to make another pillow, like a boxed pillow or one with turkish corners.  All in all it was a great class and I learned so much even though I have been making pillows for a while.  I hope I can go back soon and take the other course to earn my Professional Bedding Certificate.

After School Sewing November 2014

Elise and her back slit skirt

Bella and her shorts

Grace and her sewing bag and belt

     On Mondays I have Elise, Bella, Aviva and Grace.  Elise finished her back slit skirt even sewing on the buttons with the sewing machine.  She thought that was pretty neat.  Bella finished her shorts that she started last spring.  She added a pocket to the back.  We drafted the pattern for it based on a pair of jeans she was wearing one day.  Aviva is almost done with her peasant nightgown while Grace finished her first two projects, a sewing bag and belt, and has started on a peasant blouse.

Nonie and peasant nightgown

Christine and her sport shorts

Ellen and her hanging organizer

Ellen and her sport shorts

Cara and her capris

     On Tuesdays I have Nonie, Christine, Ellen and Cara.  Nonie just finished a peasant nightgown for her sister, Christine finished her sport shorts and is working on the purse for the purse challenge, Ellen finished the hanging organizer from summer camp, a pair of sport shorts, did some work on a Halloween costume and just started cutting out a dress from Simplicity 6020.  Cara finish her capris and is also working on the purse.

Lindsey and her pajama pants

Nick's fabric

Nick's new project

     On Wednesdays I have Lindsey, Natalie and Nick.  Lindsey finished a pair of comfy flannel pajama pants and is now working on a sport shirt from book 2.  Natalie is almost done with her square neck blouse and Nick was working on a quilt but changed over to making a cool pincushion that will be filled with crushed walnut shells.  He decided to make his pincushion more of a pumpkin pie slice.

Sarah and her sewing bag

Claire and her sewing bag

Greta and her tote

     On Thursdays I have Sarah, Hayley, Claire and Greta.  Sarah and Claire are both new and they have finished their sewing bags and belts.  Hayley is working on a nightshirt and Greta finished her tote which is a Simplicity pattern.  She was a bit disappointed with the flimsiness of it but really like the zipped top technique.

     The kids have been very busy, all working hard on their projects.  Some days I feel like a juggler trying to keep all the balls in the air as they all are doing something different.  I find it a fun challenge though.  Soon we will take off a few weeks over the Christmas holiday but they will be sewing strong until then.

Fun T-shirt Pillows

Pillows from old T-shirts

     I recently had a client that asked me to make some pillows from a couple of T-shirts.  She originally wanted two smaller square pillows but when we laid out the square she realized she would be losing a lot of the logo so opted to go with a slightly larger square.

     The orange T-shirt had the logo printed near the neck edge so it would have been quite top heavy, image-wise so we opted for a rectangular pillow instead.  Even then the logo was so close to the neck edge it was somewhat off-balance.  I chose to take the small team logo from the back and fuse it to the front piece to balance it out visually.  I used the heavy duty Wonder Under so no stitching was necessary.

Overlap closure

     I opted to use the overlap closure for the back for such a casual pillow instead of the normal zipper closure I usually do.

Overlap closure

     I fused Shirtailor to the back of the T-shirts after taking them apart, similar to the same thing I do when makingT-shirt quilts.  I then cut out the size pieces I needed, and angled the corners to eliminate the dog ears.  I sewed the flap closures down and then overlapped them and sewed to the front piece, serging the edges for a neat finish inside.

Showing your team loyalty

     A fun project to show off your team loyalty!