December Fun!

Buddy the Christmas Elf!  Buddy is actually our daughter, Genevieve's dog, but he has become a permanent resident at HQ (what our daughers call our house) due to her boyfriend's dog allergy.  Buddy is a lot of fun to have around!

Our yearly St. Lucia breakfast at Tre Kronor in Chicago.  This charming Swedish bistro serves a delicious St. Lucia Day breakfast, and the servers double as singers, singing traditional Christmas carols.  Note the crown of lit candles!
We see the same people at this breakfast every year.  It's part of our Christmas tradition, and many others as well.

Another Christmas tradition - my piano students' Christmas "recital" and party.  The kids each play a Christmas song for each other (no parents are invited!), then we make a small craft and enjoy some cookies and juice.  They look forward to this every day, as so I.  Such nice kids!  I have a great job. 

Scott's Christmas gift was tickets to "Not So Silent Night", a jazz version of the Nutcracker, and other Christmas selections, performed by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.  They really cooked!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas quilts, the best gift - baby Liliana!

Christmas quilt tour! This is a favorite, made with a bee group I used to belong to, round-robin style.  I made the angel center with its pieced border, then 4 friends added the next borders, and I finished with another pieced border. Love the touches of gold lame for some holiday sparkle.

On the left is my Swedish Christmas tree.  I found a book on the technique years ago, made the tree and we have enjoyed it every year since.  The wall quilt was made by a friend after we co-chaired our guild's quilt show together.  

Another oldie but a goodie.  The center block was made at a bee meeting, we drew names and I won it! 

Here you see our dining room and family room, all decked out for the holidays.  I made the Believe quilt as part of the Labor of Love quilt competition in 1991.  My quilt hung in the show in Houston, and was featured in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.  Not a winner, but I love it and had fun making it.
I added the hanging banners this year, to mimic those I see in our favorite little Swedish bistro in Chicago.  I love how they turned out!  I cut triangles with a ruler, two layers at a time, with wrong sides facing.  I topstitched two of the sides together (raw edges exposed), then enclosed the third side in some dark red bias tape.  Easy peasy, it makes the space so festive!

Not a Christmas quilt, but we have this quilt up every day.  I made this quilt out of pure gratitude after my husband totaled our car driving home from work six years ago.  He walked away from it, no injuries to him or anyone else.  A good reminder to be grateful every day for life's blessings!

The best gift!  Born Christmas morning, our first grandchild:  Liliana Noelle, 5 #, 12 oz, a tiny nugget of love!  Baby and mother are doing great, we love her so much!!!

Merry Christmas!