Christmas at Our House

Hello!  I'm so sorry about the long absence--with Thanksgiving being so late this year, it seems like the last three weeks have been a blur of preparation and work.  As of last night, though, I'm done with my full-time job until January 6th and all the presents are wrapped!  I have one more stocking stuffer to buy but that's it.  It's such a good feeling to know I can spend the next two weeks knitting and watching Christmas movies and lots of Netflix!

Because everything is officially done, I have lots of time to blog now!  I have about four posts coming at you in the next week.  Watch out, world!

First up, I wanted to talk about some Christmas decorations at my house.  Most of what we have (outside of ornaments) is handmade, either by me or my friend Elizabeth.  Elizabeth and I swapped Christmas pillows this year which really livened up my living room!

Aren't they adorable?  Elizabeth is an awesome quilter and her skills really came through with these pillows.  I wish I could capture her FMQ skills but you just have to see them in person!

Also, that's our new couch!  No more sad back cushion, which makes me ecstatic.

I sent Elizabeth two pillows as well!

This pillow was made with a mini charm pack of Aspen Frost by BasicGrey and some neutrals.  I used this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop and an Aspen Frost print for the back.

For the other pillow I used a tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and Winter's Lane, which is easily my most favorite winter/holiday fabric line ever.  I also used Quilter's Linen for the first time ever and I can't recommend it enough.  I love the look of linen but Essex can sometimes be a pain in the butt.

I also sent Elizabeth some homemade gifts!  Like this drawstring bag...

...which had a Honey Cowl inside!  I used Madelinetosh DK in Mica for her cowl.  I love the way it turned out!

So of course those two pillows aren't our only Christmas decorations.  We have our stockings from last year, too:

I don't remember talking about those Swoons before, but I painted them in August.  Right now they're resting our mantle because Nick won't hang them.  Oh well, two fewer holes to patch when we move!

The little birds on either side of the Swoons are from Target.  My brother and his fiancee bought the other two in the series without talking to us first--quite a coincidence!

Here's our tree, with the treeskirt I made last year:

We bought this tree at Home Depot this year and I love it so much.  I'll miss it when it's gone, actually.  It smells great, it's super healthy-looking, and it was $30.00.

I also made a little runner for my quilt cabinet, which had the pumpkin runner on it during the fall:

I used the Jingle block from Thimble Blossoms and a bunch of red and aqua scraps from my stash.  Red and aqua are the colors of the holidays now, it seems.  I used red gingham for the binding which is just about the best thing ever, I think.  The little owl jar is from Target this year, while the knitted tree is from Target last year.

How do you decorate your home for the holidays?