The First Christmas Post of the Season

[teddy_radiator]

Happy Holidays! We've had a lovely break from work - over a week, in fact. It was awesome. Work load is very light right now, which is strange - I'm praying it will pick up over the next few weeks, or we will be in trouble.

We've finally got the house decorated completely, and I'm really enjoying it. I've made myself a promise to have all the lights twinkling while we're in the house, which is one of those conditioned things I have to re-learn. It's a year of re-conditioning all over the place for me. But the house looks warm and inviting, even with a few things out of place.

I've got the Christmas cards ready; not so many this year as last, but that's how it goes. I'm sending out more presents this year, so everything balances. And I'm making more presents this year, which is fun. I'm taking the month off writing, but lemonade8 told me yesterday she has another illustrated story in mind, so I'm hoping we can start that at the first of the year - I'm very excited about that. I had a ball working with her on The Slave. And stgulik and I agreed that the novel must be done this spring, so that's a big push. And the Promptfest!! I had such a fun time writing my submission for that. I can't begin to tell you! So there's loads to look forward to after the Christmas high fades.

In the meanwhile, here are loads of pictures of Christmas and Quilt pron. I am just a block quilter, not a piece quilter like Jules, and I haven't made one in years, but we had Quilt Show and Tell yesterday, and I hate to waste good pics:

I always called this a Honeycomb Quilt, but Jules called it a Grandmother's Garden Quilt, which sounds much more folksy and quilt-y. I made it for my mom, but it is extremely heavy, and she gave it back to me because she really didn't have any use for it.


This is our Christmas Quilt, but it really isn't. It's actually a duvet cover, but I made it for our UK Queen-sized bed, and we have a King now. We just drape this over the end of the bed for decoration now.



This is our little kitchen tree. It's covered in food-related ornaments.


The mantle doesn't change much year to year, but I still love decorating it. That's my grumpy little Bosco in the box, the one who had a stroke. Bless him, he's very insecure now, and sitting in a box makes him happy, though you wouldn't know that from the expression on his face.  He's not the same cat since the stroke. He's very withdrawn and reclusive, but he is more outgoing with company now.



This is a little patriotic lap quilt I did years ago right after 9-11. I never really use it for anything, but I like it. It also reminded me that I have another little lap quilt in storage that I really ought to drag out as well. Maybe today if I remember it.



Here is a closeup of the big tree. The 'elf on the shelf' was a Christmas present from my kindergarten teacher when I was five years old. He's so faded, poor dear, but I can't bear to part with him.



This is the full tree. You can see the Mad Hatter topper reflected in the mirror over the mantle. All of our bears sit under there. Our newest addition, Seymour Rhodes (thank you Lemonade) .


This is our new sideboard/massage table in the kitchen. The little red birds belonged to TheHubs®' dad, and the baubles belonged to my grandmother and my mom. They are all over 50 years old and very fragile. I'll be tidied up and food stacked on it Christmas Eve.



It seems a lot of work seeing as so few people will actually see it, but somehow showing it to you makes me feel like more people will be visiting us.

Comments

[stgulik.livejournal.com]

Seymour Rhodes! Love it. Your little bear has seen more than his share of road, for sure.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful quilts! Now that I think about it, Grandmother's Flower Garden might not be the right name. It does start with hexagonal blocks but the overall pattern is different. I will look it up.

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

Beautiful quilts! I wouldn't have the patience for something like that. I was heaving dramatic sighs while just hemming some bloody trousers last night. Quilting would be the Mimi-equivalent of wearing a hair shirt. Oddly enough, my favorite is the Christmas quilt. The patterns just look so cozy.

It doesn't matter how many other people see it. YOU see it and enjoy it, and what pleases you in your own home is the important thing. I think it's great that you light up everything when you are home to enjoy it. So many people only do it for "company". Just like some people only use the "good china" for company, or only shave their legs if they are wearing a skirt, or put on makeup if they are leaving the house. I think that treating yourself as well as you do "company" is important to your well-being. It makes you feel special, because -- damn it! -- YOU ARE!

[toblass.livejournal.com]

*reluctantly agrees that Seymour Rhodes is an excellent name*

[irishredlass.livejournal.com]

Sorry honey I just can't see it happening. There is no way Teddy is taking an ENTIRE month off from writing. I see drabbles in your future!

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

First of all... pretty quilts!! Those look like a lot of hard work went into them, nice job.

Second, love your trees. I have tree envy as I only have one and it is gold, not red and white like I would like.

Third- awesome mantle setup. LOL at the cat in the box. Where there are boxes, there will be cats.

Fourth- you really spruced up that bear! He's got a nose, hat and bow, so cute! You went for the pun, good choice ;D

Fifth- I also have an ornament cookie jar! Mine is red with silver glitter starlight mint stripes instead of red glitter swirls, but otherwise exact size etc...

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Actually, my ornament cookie jar was last year's gift from irishredlass, and it had a flower arrangement in it - this is the first year I can enjoy it as a cookie/candy jar!

[laralee88.livejournal.com]

Such lovely trees and three of them to boot! I love the topper for the large one. How do you keep them in one piece with cats? Perhaps it is just my two hellions that cause trouble when the decorations come out considering they have managed to fell the tree twice already.

And those quilts! I’m always in awe of people who can create such pretty things! The hard work certainly shows.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

You know, our cats have never bothered with the tree in their lives. They totally ignore all the Christmas stuff. Even Sevvy, who was such a nutter as a kitten we didn't even put up a tree that year, doesn't even think about it. He is the only one in fact that even acknowledges it; he will occasionally sleep under it - I guess it's warm and cozy under there with only the bears to keep him company.

[lynnylou.livejournal.com]

Just love the name Seymour Rhodes it is perfect name for you new bear.

Your decorations look great! I really don't decorate since it only me that lives here. The quilts look amazing you have a real talent for it. I would never had the patience to do something like that.

[clairvoyant.livejournal.com]

Your lovely home is lovely and inviting. And those quilts...! Fabulous. I love me some quilting, but who has the time these days. :D

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying the decs this year. It's cold and yucky outside, so the lights make everything much more comforting.

[subversa.livejournal.com]

It's beautiful, and it would make me happy to be there and to see it each day.

*hugs you*

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

My dear friend, you are always welcome in the Radiator house! ♥

[dyni.livejournal.com]

It all looks beautiful and warm and inviting! I'm in love with the Honeycombe and Christmas quilts <3 Quilting is amazing! How long does it take you to make something like that?

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

As for how long the quilts took to make: to tell the truth, they are both so old I can barely remember! LOL

I know the honeycombe quilt took quite a while, because I was having to cut out the hexagons individually from different pieces of cloth I had at the time. I actually found a threadbare quilt at a thrift store and used it as the backing. It's very heavy and warm. I've never used it because it's never been that cold - the one time I could have used it, it was in another country from where I was.

The Christmas quilt didn't take nearly as much time because I bought the squares pre-cut. It was just a matter of deciding the pattern - in spite of how it looks, there is actually a pattern to it! I made it into a duvet cover, but I made it for a Queen, and our bed now is a King, so it's just there for decoration now.

I have another quilt that I really like, but it's in the spare bedroom (otherwise known as the Pit of Despair) and I can't get to it, but after Christmas we are being visited by TheHubs®' daughter so we're going to get that room into shape after the holidays are done. I'll take a photo of that quilt then.