Just About Done!

My Christmas decorating for this year is almost done!  

Because this is the first time that we're decorating for Christmas in this house, it has taken longer than I thought it would.  Next year will be a piece of cake now that I know that each of our treasures has it's own special place.  I still have a little tweaking to do in the pantry, our bedroom and my studio which shouldn't take too long leaving just the outside to do but that will be easy.

So if you'd like to go for a little tour, just follow me!

First is the mud room as you enter our home through the back door.  That is a live holly bush which will be transplanted into the garden in the Spring.

From there we enter into the kitchen area.  This is a little vignette I created on the top of our stove.  Everything is sitting on a dough board which makes it easy to remove when I have to cook.

This little grouping is on top of an antique dough box which sits in front of the window overlooking the front yard.  The candle on top of Santa's head is a battery operated one that is set to come on daily at 4 p.m. and then shuts itself off automatically four hours later.  It looks so real!

From the kitchen, we step into the sitting or family room.

This next photo is also in the sitting room directly opposite the above photo.

Just off the sitting room is the dining room.  The picture is a little dark but can you see the feather tree sitting in a trencher filled with "never melting snowballs" and rusty bells?

This photo is of the dining room as well but taken from the other side of the room.  The green vase in the background on the right contains fresh holly and fir boughs pruned from shrubs and trees on our property.

The downstairs bathroom at night with just the mini lights illuminating the room.

I'm really pleased with the way the living room came together.  We tried the tree in a couple of places and this is what we finally settled on.

Panning over to the left of the tree is the hunt table which overlooks the front of the house.

This next photo was taken from just inside the entrance to the living room looking towards the opposite end of the room.  

Can you see my Wish quilt hanging on the wall on the right side?  It's perfect there and I love it!

Follow me upstairs now.  There's some Christmas stuff happening up there too!

First, the upstairs bathroom.

And from the doorway.

Next is the guest bedroom or what I refer to as "Emily's room".

Did you notice the Comfort & Joy quilt on the bed?  You didn't?  Then let me show you a few more pictures.

Ollie and Frankie were a big help but they preferred chilling in front of the fire.

Poor Ollie.  He was just plum tuckered out from all the work.  I wonder if he is having visions of sugar plums dancing in his head...or a French poodle perhaps?

Bonjour, ma cherie.  Ooh la la!

I hope you enjoyed visiting our home.  

Remember, the kettle is always hot and if you'd like to come and stitch for a while, do stop by.

Christmas Decorating - Phase 1

We moved to the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia in December of 2010, just two weeks before Christmas.  It goes without saying that our Christmas that year was a very sparse one.  We unpacked only the bare necessities, knowing that we would be knee deep into renovations as soon as we could line up some contractors.

Last year it was difficult to get into the Christmas spirit because it was just a couple of weeks after the holidays that I began my cancer treatments.  And of course Frankie was still a very inquisitive and neurotic kitten at the time who had a hard time accepting new and different things into HIS environment.

Well, this year, I'm pumped and soooooo ready to decorate.  It's been three long years since I've unpacked all my treasures.  Before moving, I purged and considerably downsized my Christmas stash and kept only my most very favorite things.

So yesterday morning, Mr. Painted Quilt brought in the first three bins marked "Xmas" from our workshop outbuilding.  

Ollie was there to supervise.

I wonder if there are any toys in there...or food maybe?

It felt like Christmas morning.  Each item brought back memories of friends, family and places that I/we have visited in our travels and at times, I became very sentimental.

I decided to tackle downstairs first and started with the dining room...

And then moved on to the bathroom.

Next up was the sitting room...

And then the living room where I still have a lot more to do, including the tree.

And lastly, the kitchen...our favorite place to hang out.

The cooking corner with freshly baked banana bread cooling on the stovetop...

And the cozy stove to keep us warm and toasty.

Are we done yet?  All that work made me hungry!

Phase 1 is done but there's still lots more to do.  Today I'm hoping to haul out the tree and boxes of ornies that are stored under the dormers...and I haven't even started upstairs!

Fresh pine boughs and holly from the woods at the back of our house will be cut and added to the mix.   

My goal is to be finished by Wednesday or by the end of the week at the latest.  

Stay tuned for Phase 2!

*Note to Janet*

You came up as a "no-reply" blogger so I was unable to contact you directly to answer your question about the thread that I used to complete the stitching on my Wish quilt.  I used DMC #115 which is a variegated red and it's one of my favorites.

Comfort & Joy - The Reveal!

I've gone from no Christmas quilts to TWO Christmas quilts in a matter of months and I'm over the moon with both of them.

I fell in love with the Comfort & Joy quilt when I first saw it on Anne's blog.  She invited her readers to join her quilt along by doing a block a month.

  
As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to do the majority of the appliqued elements in wool...with a little cotton thrown in for good measure.

I joined the group about three months late and had a lot of catching up to do, got caught up, then fell behind again.  

When Mr. Painted Quilt and I decided that we were going to get a new puppy, I knew that I would not have any free time to devote to working on the quilt once he got here, much less finish it.  I really am not into UFO's so my plan was to put the pedal to the metal and get 'r done before he arrived.  

And that's exactly what I did!

Once again, Alice did an incredible job of custom quilting this baby.  The photos do not do it justice at all!

Some closer looks...

I wanted this quilt to have a "scrappy, home-y" appearance and by using a variety of homespun fabrics, many of which were gifted to me by Mary of Quilt Hollow, I achieved the look that I had envisioned.  Thanks again, Mary! 

I stuck pretty much to the design layout this time but did end up adding a few different elements as well.

I don't know about you all but the spirit of Christmas is starting to present itself in the Painted Quilt household...so much so that I just might have to begin decorating sometime this weekend...starting with my two Christmas quilts, of course!