2016: Christmas Living Room Decorating

Since I was mixing it up in the family room, I boldly had my husband set up the big Christmas tree by the front window in the living room. We haven’t put this tree up in years and I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it. Sometimes we get busy and just run out of time to get everything out every year. I had been making do with the white tree full of Steiff ornaments in the family room, but I really missed my treasured ornaments that go on the big tree.

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Polar Bear Extraordinaire

The ornament that thrills me the most is this blown glass polar bear head. It was made in Poland by Slavic Treasures. They make incredible ornaments. I found this one years and years ago at Tuesday Morning. I remember looking in all of the boxes at the store because nothing was actually displayed out of the box. When I opened this one, it took my breath away. It’s as big as my hand.

If I could have found more, I would have bought more, but this was the only one they had. Of course, by the time things make it to Tuesday Morning, they are at least last year’s stock, so I never found another. I wish I had one for back-up. I have carefully wired this to the tree so there is no chance of it falling and I even set it back from the edge of the branches so it would have some cushion if the tree actually toppled over.  I am so careful with it that I pay attention to the placement of furniture and rugs around it, calculating the risk if anything should happen. Okay, I am obsessed with this ornament.

Another treasured ornament is this star I made when I my children were little. I took a wallet-sized print of the three of them together and ma20161230_135008de the star from some scraps of dance costumes I was making for a studio at the time. (Yes, I used to take in sewing!)

A Dog-Friendly Tree

I like to use 20161218_162301an old quilt for my tree skirt because Rowdy loves to sleep under the Christmas tree. Even though it has been a few years since this tree has been up, he remembered and went right under for a nap! Here he is “helping” me decorate!

The dogs are really good about not disturbing the tree. On the other hand, I loaned a tree to my son, and his two kittens have already destroyed it! They have knocked it over trying to climb it and batted the ornaments right off! I’m glad I chose to loan him unbreakable ornaments for those silly boys!

 

Waiting for Swaiting for santaanta

The big tree is happily shining in the front window this year. Bruce put the lights on a timer so they come on right before I get home in the evening and turn off after I go to bed. Then, they turn on in the morning when I get up and off when I leave for work. So nice to have the Christmas cheer of a tree in the window!

 

 

 

2016: A Prim Christmas in the Family Room

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I haven’t done counted cross-stitch embroidery for many years due to a problem with my wrists and not being able to see where the stitches go anymore. My vision has been improving lately, and my hands aren’t as bad as they used to be, either, so I decided to try a small project. I discovered that I can do it as long as I don’t work too long in a session. I made this little pillow tuck using a pattern from a magazine and altering it a bit. It kind of set the tone for the family room display.

Feather Tree

I mixed it up a bit this year. Usually I have a tall skinny white tree in the corner by the fireplace that displays my collection of Steiff Christmas ornaments. Alas, the Steiff ornaments never made it out of their baskets, but maybe next year I will figure out a place for the white tree.

Bruce finally fixed my four foot tfeathertreeall feather tree which had somehow had the trunk broken and had been out of commission for awhile.  I started to paint my picture with that. I love feather trees and have since I used to play with the one in my Grandma and Grandpa Tanner’s attic. Mostly I have reproductions, but they are artist-made, as I like!

I placed the tree in a chippy white galvanized jardiniere that I purchased from Joe Carter at Broad Street Market in Story City, IA several years ago. I had been using it to hide the plastic pot of my amaryllis each year at the office, but it was flaking off all over and I decided it needed to go home!

Around the Tree

I chose a quilt with a primitive palette to cover some small trunks for elevating the feather tree. This coordinated with the big sitting Arnett’s Santa who took up residence on a little off-white metal stool. I love these little stools with the curved backs for supporting teddy bears and cloth dolls. This one was a purchase from The Picker Knows.

Handmade or Vintage Ornaments

I started decorating my feather tree with only spun cotton ornaments. I added two this year – a Westie and a little girl bear from Trish Lewsader of Lucky Duck Art. Still I didn’t have enough. So I added a candy container bear by Terri Larson, some cross-stitch ornaments I had made years ago, papier mache ornament by Janny Miller and some vintage mercury glass balls.

cubbies with sheep

Christmas Cubbies

An old cubby piece that I got years ago from the Rusty Pumpkin and you have seen me use before came out of hiding and I filled some of the spaces with German stick-legged putz sheep. A favorite feather tree design pillow tuck filled one cubby and I used LED candles in others. A small green feather tree, some books, and an LED candle in a silver bowl topped the cubbies. Since I had used red bound copies of Hitty and A Child’s Garden of Verses, I included a little bisque jointed doll. Like Hitty was at times, she is naked.

Adding some dimension are a candy container Santa and a papier mache angelby Janny Miller. I got the candy container Santa and the little bisque doll at the Des Moines Doll, Teddy Bear and Toy Show.

I brought out my mercury glass bead garlands and used those to dress up the cubbies also, allowing them to flow out over the edges. The multicolored ones were used on the big feather tree.20161230_132214

More of the sheep flock and assorted candles inhabited another set of cubbies on the mantel beside a large Santa by Christy Robb that was a new addition this year.

The Stockings Were Hung

stockings on mantelInstead of cloth stockings, I hung a group of wooden stocking stretchers that I collected from an estate sale. The Arnett’s Santa is holding three little dolls: A dollie bear by Joel Hoy, an Izannah repro by Judi Hunziker, and a Robert Raikes Hitty.

Those Little Red Santas!

Finally, on the mantel, I used my chippy white medicine cabinet to display my little 1940’s Japanese Santas. I hung a red berry candle ring wreath on the knob and a red prim bear by Judy Mathis stands guard. The grungy electric candle that I bought on a trip to Winterset, IA has a built-in timer! Best candle innovation ever! I set them to burn 5 hours in the evenings and they have lasted for months without a battery change.
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Embracing Imperfection

REDWhiteBasketQuiltinBoothLast month I went to possibly my favorite antique show – Midwest Art and Antique Show and Collector’s Eye in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with friends Linda Dorr and Pam Bostwick.  I bought a salvaged quilt piece that I intended to bind and use with my bears and baskets as I decorate my house.  I collect doll quilts, and even though this is probably a piece cut from a larger tattered quilt, it is the right size.

That very same day, I went to the fabric store and bought red double fold tape to bind it.  Then they sat forgotten while I did other things.  Why didn’t I just go right up to my sewing machine and sew the binding on?  Well, because I always want to do everything correctly and perfectly.  That’s how I was raised. Whoever cut this piece from the quilt did not cut exactly straight.  I would surely have to lay the piece out on a table on a big cutting mat and use a see-through ruler and a rotary cutter to straighten it out so it would be perfect.

Who am I kidding?  My table is always covered with half a dozen projects.  I am not sure where I have stashed my cutting mat or my rotary cutter. Shocking, I know.

A few days ago, I listened to a speaker, Suzanne Hull, who has branded herself the “Get It Done Girl”. She helps people and companies with their social media and things like that and was speaking to my AWC group about making the most of our LinkedIn profiles.  But later, that “Get It Done Girl” seed sprouted. Maybe it’s not what the presentation was intended to inspire, but I realized it’s time to “Get It Done”.

I took PTO on Friday so I would have a long weekend and I started to get it done.  I am tackling project after project to set my house in order.  The closer I get to retirement age, the more urgently I feel the need to get it done.  And I need to let go of that instinct for perfection.  It’s an excuse that has bogged me down for years and prevented me from moving forward.  Not that I want to be sloppy or substandard.  I still want to do things well.  But they don’t have to be so perfect that I set them aside.

QuiltBindingonMachineSo here I go.  The binding is sewn on and I am ready to wrap it around the edges and whip stitch it to the back.  After all, this is a decorative piece.  It will be hung on the wall, draped over a table, used on a doll bed or maybe it will just be peeking out of a basket. It doesn’t have to be perfect to give me joy and it will be DONE!

Then on to the next unfinished project!

2015 Easter/Spring Decorating Part I

BunsChicksToday, I share my spring-time decorating with quilts and antiques and teddy bear friends.

On the cabinet by the hearth, I have my big dolly-bunny by Joel Hoy. She is sitting in a wonderfully aged little chair that I got at the Valley Junction Antique Jamboree last year. On her lap is a bunny that I made this year and a ducky by Cindy Hom.

At her feet is a wonderful Lori Ann Corelis bunny wearing a cute cardigan repurposed from a child’s sweater with a Westie motif. This bunny holds a mohair duck with clay beak and feet by someone I used to see in Kansas City. Beside her is an old Dralon Steiff black and white bunny munching on one of a bunch of stuffed cotton carrots that I got recently on my birthday antiquing trip to Kansas City with Linda Dorr.

I love the crib-sized patchwork quilt underneath. Not sure where I got this one, but they are getting harder to find.

PoultryI am drawn to anything with cubbies and here I have used an old desk drawer with dividers turned on its end to display even more of my poultry collection. From the top are 2 Chickies by Martha Burch, a Susan McCay sailor duck, a duck by Martha Burch, a mohair Steiff duck and a Steiff pom pom chick, a duck from Alan Clark and Steve Orique, and a duck by Serieta Harrell. Beside is a vintage Steiff duck. In front are two chicks by Once Upon a Barn in Albia, Iowa (artist Jami Boldy). The GARDEN sign is also by Once Upon a Barn.

SpringQuiltsMy ladder is festooned with spring-colored quilts. The newest acquisition is the one with the purple background that I got awhile back at Found Things in Des Moines. Sadly, Found Things has lost the lease on their building and is now closed. The shop was a local favorite and will be sorely missed.

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On my favorite blue metal stool from the Henkes of Rescued Junk in Earlham, Iowa sits one of my favorite bears by Craig Bottiger. By that I mean of he’s my favorite of all the bears Craig has made as well as a favorite from my collection. I am pretty sure Craig used a darling antique Steiff from the Betty Blanche collection as a model. If I had to downsize my bear collection, this guy would be safe! He has an armload of vintage Steiff Chicks.