Happy holiday greetings from Farmhouse Quilts!

 Hello and happy holidays to you!

Are you all ready for the holidays?  I still need to wrap and would like to do a little baking, but other than that I have no pressing matters. It certainly helps that I am not making handmade presents for all our kids anymore each Christmas! That seemed like a great idea at the time, but coming up with a brilliant idea AND executing it was often stressful. So no more. And you know, our kids never even mentioned it so I think they don't even realize I have stopped ;). 

So I have been working on some fun project just because...and not all of them quilting related!

In the summer I picked up an antique door. I planned on using it in my garden somewhere, but that plan never materialized, but then came up with a brilliant plan for it. Luckily I have a very clever, handy, and patient hubby, who is (mostly) always willing to listen to my ( sometimes crazy) ideas! You see, we had a stocking hanger that we bought years and years ago that really was getting very crowded with not only the stockings for our own family members, but also those of girlfriends. Not to mention the fact that it was hung by a wire, which meant that as soon as one stocking had something heavy in it, the entire thing would start being lop-sided! 

So, I suggested that we use the antique door as the base for a new stocking spot and here is the end result: 

( no worries, the last knob is now in use, after locating the missing stocking, which was at our son's apartment ;) )

This door is HEAVY and we had some fun hanging it, but I love it so much with its "antique-y" knobs ( found at Hobby Lobby) that I might just leave it up all year round and hang other seasonal items or small quilts from it, especially because the greenery at the top is removable. 

On a more quilt-related theme, I decided we needed another Christmas pillow so I pulled out my Christmassy quilt books and settled on this cute little reindeer designed by Gail Pan ( see her book here- click and please note this is an affiliate link-see my disclosure in the sidebar)

I have a sneaky suspicion he might not make it in time for this Christmas, but there is always next year ;).

I did finish the top for the tree quilt that I shared in my previous post. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to tackle all those different sized blocks ( 19 of them in total!) but just started sewing and piecing trees and filler pieces and I like how it turned out ( although it is quite a bit longer than I anticipated!) 

This one will not be done for this year's Christmas either, but the top looks pretty just hanging there so I am happy.

One final project that I WILL ( oh yes, you can all hold me accountable now!) finish in time for this year is this quilt that I started a few years back. It was a free pattern by Jedi Craft Girl ( you can find it here~click) and I adore the scrappiness of it! It is so close to being done. Just 2 more corners to go around with the binding, and then it can be a great cuddly quilt to throw over the sofa! 

Well, that is about all from the farmhouse. I will leave you with a few more Christmassy photos.....

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or just simply Happy Holidays! See you in 2023!

 Monique

P.s. If you happened upon this blog and would like to receive it in your email inbox, please contact me and I will get you added!

Christmas at Farmhouse Quilts

 ( please click on the title to read this blog post in your browser)

Happy almost Christmas, friends! Are you all prepared? I'm not quite ready...I still need to wrap some presents and do some baking for our family, but other than that whatever is not done is just not going to get done this year. How is that for a laid-back attitude?

Today I wanted to share some final photos of our house all decked out for Christmas....

I love adding wreaths to the windows!

Santa greets us in the hallway..

                                               ...and Frosty joins us in the family room!

Christmas trees everywhere....from the quilt room...

....to the living room.....

....to the kitchen....

...and the bedroom.....

.....and the hallway!

Our bed  has some stockings and a little wreath this year, as well as small quilts on the nightstands. I have to tell you that it is a really cozy place to retreat to in the evening!

And then there are the special items that simply MUST go on display every year!  

My mom made and gifted us this wreath made from pinecones the first year we were married, 33 years ago( she also gave us a bigger one that hangs on the wall), and it is still in great shape ( and do you know that those pinecones are STILL losing their seeds!?)

 

And my dad made us this church a few years later, so it has been around many years too!

These Christmas items are of course always going to be so special to me because of who made them.

And then there are a few other decorations that I treasure...

My collection of Jim Shore Santas ( I'm up to 13 of them, but just took a photo of some of them)...

And finally, my pretty glitter houses...

Thanks for visiting Farmhouse Quilts. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year. See you in 2022!

Monique

Falalalala.....

 ( please click on the title to read this blog in your browser!)

Please note that my posts contain affiliate links, meaning that if you buy something through one of my links, I will receive a small commission. This helps support my blog and doesn't cost you one penny extra.

Hello friends, 

I'm back with some more Christmas cheer! Last week I promised to share some more pics of my decorating so here goes....

Our front door is decorated with an evergreen wreath. The wreath was nice, but pretty plain, so I added some ribbon and that Gingerbread girl, as well as dried clementines ( that's what I had on hand!) and some anise stars...it smells so good when you open the door! 

Our banister is decorated with a garland that I stuck little wooden spools, as well as metal bells, little toadstools, and fairy lights in ( I found my items here  and here) . If I could only decorate with a few items I would always choose greenery, fairy lights, and toadstools, because they are easy to get, not expensive, but super hygge! 

In our hallway we also have our stocking hanger. It's a funny place, I know, but one that is not accessible to chewy bunny rabbits or curious puppies! And do you notice the finished stockings for the girlfriends? They turned out pretty cute! I found the pattern in the Night Before Christmas book by Art to Heart, but this one has some of those same style of appliques ( all her books are cute!) .

( and p.s. we know we need a bigger hanger! ;) )

In our living room we have a beautiful antique mantle that surrounds a fake fireplace. These items have moved with us a few times now and I will never give them up! They add so much warmth ( figuratively and literally) to any room we use them in! Plus it makes for a great place to add some Christmas decorations! Our daughter decorated this one in a woodland theme. 

Our living room is also decorated with some quilts...of course! 

This one was so much fun to work on, with all those different colors. And I bought the kit in Montana so this quilt will always bring back memories of living there.

This quilt was made with Bee in My Bonnet Christmas templates and it was super fun to make ( as are all Lori Holt quilts!) and if you are looking for a project that is not too complicated I can highly recommend any of her patterns. ( If you are especially interested in Christmas patterns, check out this book!)

Now onto the family room, where we have a REAL wood burning fireplace, and ahh, how I love that! When we moved into this house the walls were brown and there was no mantle, so I painted the bricks a creamy white and we added a mantle Actually a surprisingly easy thing to do...says she whose husband is very handy ;). But all kidding aside, the mantle we ordered online and it was delivered to our doorstep and all we had to do was drill some holes into the brick, hang a cleat and install the mantle, so in reality it was super easy. And of course it gets decorated for Christmas, with some green garland, candlesticks, fairy lights, pinecones, and some other fun Scandi inspired finds! And little red toadstools, can't forget about those! The quilts on the ladder were both made by my quilty friend Colleen, and I think they go perfectly with my Scandinavian theme!

Next week I will share some photos of the different trees in our house...yes, you read that right! We usually have 1 real tree, and then I add fake trees in lots of other rooms, ranging in size from a few inches to 6ft tall. The more, the merrier, in my opinion!

I hope you are enjoying decorating and doing all the other special little things that can make us so busy these last few weeks before Christmas. Just don't forget to take a break once in a while, make yourself some hot cocoa ( with whipped cream!), and just sit and enjoy the twinkling lights while listening to some Christmas carols!

Until next time~ happy creating!

Monique

A Happy Christmas from our house to yours!

 Merry Christmas, friends!

One last blog post this year, filled with some Christmas pics, of course. I simply love this time of year and am sad at how fast it passes...it is really important to savor every last minute...

In past years I have always figured out a spot for my various decorations and so I place them there every year. This year I mixed things up a little and placed items in new spots...a bit of a metaphor in this year, I think, when we are all having to do things a little differently than we are used to!

I know that some people felt that there wasn't much to celebrate this year, but I felt like we needed even MORE cheer to make up for 2020! So even though this year probably won't look the same for many of you, I hope you can make the best of it and let's hope that next year we will all return to normalcy!

Ready for some Christmas cheer? Welcome to our home:

Merry Christmas friends....see you in the new year!

 And as always~happy creating!

Monique