Hearts Full of Joy

all is calm, all is bright

i love this space between christmas & new years. it may be my favorite time of year. the rush and hustle are over, all is calm, all is bright. time isn't over scheduled. kids are at home and relaxed. there are new games to play and new puzzles to put together, and new books to read as a family. the warm glow of christmas lingers the newness of a new year beckons.
i learned to love this time during our life in japan when everything would shut down for a week or more before and after new years. our first year there, '95/'96, we were shocked to find that everything was closed: banks - including atm's!, grocery stores,post offices, every type of store, absolutely everything. we were shocked, and we liked it. we spent time together as a fmaily, without any outside pressures. msot of our american and foriegn friends went back home for the chrismtas season. our japanese friends went to their grandparents' inteh countryside. we were left alone in tokyo. and we learned to treasure it. the pollution subsided, because there were no delivery trucks on the roads. we could see glorious views of "mountain fuji", as tiny tashi called it, without the pollution clouding our way.

i did get to some of my sugar plum sewing, finishing two projects up after christmas, so they well be ready to be enjoyed next year.
i have wanted to make this little gingerbread guy since i first saw the pattern in American Patchwork & Quilting, dec 2004. i did make one last year, but gave it away. this one stays with us. just as with the pillows, the felted wool works up to quick and easy. the red heart was a wool skirt that someone gave me and i felted in the washer & dryer. all but one of the fabrics in the patchwork border were in the big bag of fabric that landed on my porch. i love that. the eyes are tiny antique bone buttons - i collected some of the funnest things while i was running my antique quilt business.

the quilt is a printed panel, cheater cloth. this isn't me preferred method of making quilt, but it is fast and easy. and i can assuage my conscience by remembering that cheater cloth existed even in the mid 1800s. i love that this panel focuses on christ, not santa or snowmen (or gingerbread men). i made and sold two of these last year. and cut one apart to make christmas pillows. this one stays with us, for now.

thunderstorms that shook & rattled our cupboards like an earthquake on saturday washed away all of the snow and ice, leaving green grass and clear blue skies. it is difficult to believe it is the same landscape we looked out on and photographed last week. i went for a walk today, and felt like it was early spring. but i'm not fooled... the ice and snow won't stay away for long.

cozy christmas

we are settling in for several cozy snowy, icy days at home as a family, through christmas. my perfect dream come true - snow falling outside, and nowhere we have to go. we have a few gifts to deliver, a few to wrap, some yummy baking, and lots of enjoying each other to do. and we're looking forward to it.
i'm catching up on some christmas sewing projects. i took these pillows (supplies purchased last year & left untouched) on my trip to utah and was able to whip them up by the time i returned. wool felt is so fast and easy. now i have other visions of sugar plum sewing to do, but only if it doesn't interfere with enjoying my family & feeling the spirit of christmas.

savoring the season

this year we are enjoying our christmas decorating more than ever before. we think that it's because we feel so happily at home.

and our tree is here.

i love having our nativities up and and the continual reminders of the savior's birth. the first presidency christmas devotional was everything it should be and even more. i am so grateful for this season and the opportunities to draw closer to the savior.

merry christmas from our house to yours.

beginning to look a lot like...

we awoke on sunday morning to our first snow in nauvoo, and a power outage. so we started our first fire in the fireplace, and decorated our tree while snow fell quietly outside. our church meetings don't start until 2:00 (!), and so we had a wonderfully cozy morning at home.

some of my favorite antiques are gathered 'round the tree... 1850's princess feather quilt and 1890s nine-patch snowball baby quilt on the quilt rack, green baby cradle full of christmas books, and 1890s red & white drunkards path quilt wrapped around the tree. this year's tree is our all-time favorite, we all agree. it's warm glow lights up the house and almost takes me by surprise every time i come up or down stairs or walk in the room. the tree itself was my christmas present last year.
tashi took this photo of the tree in the foreground, and snowfall through the window.

and we enjoyed the "little people" thanksgiving set so much....

that we got the nativity set, complete with the inn, the stable, and the wise men. the kids are loving it, and i am too.

bedroom makeover

mia & gracie's bedroom has been an enjoyable project. i've especially had fun using some of my favorite antiques from the depression era.

i was hoping that this photo would better show the brilliant golden glow coming through the windows from the maple tree in the front yard. the quilt above gracie's crib is an antique double wedding ring from the 1930's. the scale was miniaturized, rather than just making a small quilt from a large scale pattern, and only small scale prints were used. it is precious. i made her baby quilt hanging on the crib rail. see it's beginning here and here.

antique baby dresses hang from the shelf that mia has insisted on decorating herself with her prized objects. the baby dresser was brock's, and he painted over the painting job i had done during lexi's pregnancy. and antique elephant hankie and bunny clothespin bag rest on its top. brock also repainted my childhood desk to match the dresser.

the adoption pillow i made for mia for christmas last year rests on a pile pillows i made from antique "cutter" quilts. the quilt on mia's bed is an antique pickle dish quilt made in the 30's.

the quilt above mia's bed is and antique baby trip around the world quilt, made in the 30's.

i made this tiny wall quilt in 2002 to commemorate mia's temple sealing.

 this posting is about painting the room.

happy thanksgiving

i love thanksgiving. the cozy, warm, happy feelings, shared with friends and family. we plan to be in bloomington, illinois with the smiths, friends from japan, on thanksgiving this year. then on to quincy to join the rodenbergs for the second half of the weekend.

i hadn't planned it, but i'm loving the way the green entryway walls coordinate with my seasonal decor - autumn, halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, and easter all work well with green. the 4th of july may not work as well.....

october is my favorite

 

 

 

i made a quilt just like this and sold it at the craft bazaar last october. i liked it enough to make another one for us this year!

before & after

BEFORE:
lexi & tashi's room while stripping wallpaper in july - we had gotten rid of all but the borders. for a reminder of how i feel about wallpaper borders, refer to this post:

 
and the low boy from the dresser & mirror set we found while thrifting with gloria (she had to talk us into it, because she could see the hidden potential that we had yet to grasp):

DURING:
painting the room with the rodenbergs in august (remember this photo... when i promised the "after" photos?) well, it's taken some time, but here they are:

AFTER:
the room & dresser set now:
the framed puzzle is from a modeling job that lexi & tashi did in japan when they were 4 & 5 years old. the hot pink night stand used to be that scary late 60's cream & gold (as seen above).
here's the low boy with it's mirror. the final step in this room make-over project is to get some black & white photos into those darling frames on the dresser. we have some fun ones in mind, like my grandma as a baby with her 5 year old sister gracie, and my grandparents as newlyweds riding a tandem bicycle....and some fluffy white rugs on the floor. the carpet isn't our favorite, but it stays for now. because if we replaced it with the balck & white tiles we would love, our inexpensive thrifty room re-do would no longer be thrifty & inexpensive.

now, here is how lexi's photos essay of her room differs from mine (you choose the version you ike best, and picture their room looking that way):
 

decorating

i found an unusually unique moroccan style console table on a 60% off sale online, just what i was looking for to put in my entry. tashi & i, and numerous little helpers, spent an evening assembling it (it was broken down into a ridiculously large number of tiny pieces - i was quite alarmed when a shockingly tiny box arrived, supposedly holding the table - now i know why i got such a good price) while brock was in japan. and now i have a base, a beginning, a foundation for decorating my entryway.  i also have some fun vinyl lettering to put on the wall, i'll have to take another photo after i get that up. i am busily making curtains for lexi & tashi's room - the final step to getting their room done, and enjoying my new, large sewing space, with room for the little ones to run & play alongside me. lexi started the curtains diligently, but there they have been sitting, and i'm finishing them as a surprise for her birthday (17!!!!) on sunday. i'm not concerned that she'll read about this before then, because she is away for a fun weekend in quincy, which involves a homecoming dance. plus, this is her mother's blog. who has time for their mother's blog? i took some photos of their room without the curtains, but decided i will wait for the curtains and re-take the photos before i share. and check out this amazing painting & decor job by gloria - my personal decorating guru.

home improvement

and finally some photos of our painting & remodeling

"lafonda tortuga" green with the wainscoting we built in the entryway

"nostalgia" blue in the living room - it is actually much deeper and grayer than it appears in this photo
 
"schoolboy" blue & wainscot in the dining.

we still need to hang things on the wall, paint many more rooms, etc, etc, but it's a start, and it's been so fun.