christmas in virginia

Last Tuesday, sans hub or Britton, I flew out to see my family in Virginia and celebrate Christmas with them. Last year I went at Thanksgiving, but this year it worked out better that I go right after Christmas, and it was fantastic. My flight out was delayed because the cockpit had a loss of cabin pressure, so they had to find us a new plane. Luckily American Airlines is headquartered in DFW, so it took all of ten minutes. But I arrived an hour late in Richmond. No problem - Jessica was there to pick me up and take me back to King George! Our mom spent Christmas at Jessica's house, so she was already there. First things first - opening presents!

I got a mug for my mom at the Salt Lake City airport that says, "Always speak your mind, but ride a fast horse." It's so her.



Yes that book says "Busy Timmy!" I have a copy that Britton loves (belonged to the hub as a child), and I wrapped it with Tim's Home Depot gift card since Jessica's house project wish list keeps Tim busy!





I made this quilt for Jessica's family for her living room. The pattern is "Road to Tennessee" and the colors were a great coordinate to her room.



Jessica's kids have always been able to tell the difference between me and Jessica. Emily was no exception! But not being her momma didn't stop her from holding on to my legs or wanting to be held, and I can't even remember when Britton was that little.



On Wednesday we ran some errands together, including taking Garrett to Pet Smart for some fish. Jessica had told me she was getting him a big tank for Christmas, and suggested a gift card for him so he could get fish. Perfect! It took him a while to decide (the selection is ridiculously overwhelming) but we came home with fish and a snail named Gary.

On Thursday we set off for Virginia Beach. Last time I even saw this water I was eight months pregnant with Britton, and I really needed to see water with no land on the other side. I needed to see my beach.




That night we had dinner at Bubba's with everyone! It was great to see Stephanie, Kevin, their kids Gavin and Alexandria, my aunt Jill and my cousin Kristen, and of course Jessica, Garrett, and Caroline were there too! You can't beat seafood that hasn't been frozen. I miss really good seafood so much, and my mom knew that and treated us to an amazing seafood dinner.







On Friday Jen DeSantis came over for lunch to visit and catch up! Jessica made chicken caesar salads and I made some pretzel bread. We hung out for hours, and her little boy Adam came over to play. Then it was off to the airport for me to catch my flight home. I had a great time and loved getting to see everyone! Thanks for everything Jessica!

merry christmas y'all!

We had a great four day weekend, minus Britton's virus-induced cold/hacking/hoarseness/general miserableness, though she was unwilling to let her green-flowing nose ruin her Christmas! We started off Saturday morning with some clip art print outs, gluing cotton balls to Santa's beard and coloring all over Rudolph.




Then, and I'm not even going to lie about this, we watched the Dora Christmas Carol special at least six times in a row. It got to the point where the hub was going into a saccharine-induced Christmas song seizure, but we got through it. We tried to get Britton interested in "A Christmas Story" but she wasn't impressed. Seems she is still too young to understand the genius of that movie! So we made some Christmas cookies for Santa.




Sadie was obnoxiously morose all day.



We didn't have a traditional Christmas Eve dinner - we like to put together appetizers and nibbles, and just graze all evening. We had pretzel bread, lil smokies, assorted cheeses, a cheese ball, crab dip, and tons of other yumminess. Then after Britton went to bed Memaw, PawPaw, the hub and I finished wrapping up gifts (and the hub put together "Santa's surprises"). Then off to the tv room to drink prosecco and watch "Christmas Vacation!"

Here is the living room after Santa has visited, but before Britton has woken up.




And the Disney tree in the family room got some love too! We open stockings in the family room, so we knew we'd move into that room eventually!



Memaw, PawPaw, the hub and I got up early Christmas morning, and waited for Britton to finally wake up. We were so excited about her seeing her gifts, especially since this is the first year she gets the idea of Santa. And you must forgive me, because after downloading these pictures I noticed that there are no pictures of Memaw, PawPaw, or me! And only one of the hub. I can only assume we're on the video I took, and I hope so or else it looks like Britton was the only one at home Christmas morning!




Her "Ariels" doll - she kept telling us that she wanted Santa to bring her an "Ariels" (yes, with the "s") doll and we found these amazing Disney princess dolls that were designed by the animators of each movie! We'd have bought all ten if the hub had his way!



The only picture of her cowboy boots, which she has since ignored. I kept the receipt...



Unlike Britton, the hub loved his new shoes!



Say cheese! Memaw and PawPaw got Britton her own camera, and it is hilarious watching her take a picture because she smooshes her hands in front of the camera and yells, "SMILE!"



Memaw and PawPaw got Britton a Barbie Jeep! She loved it, and was not afraid in the least to jump right in and drive it. She didn't grasp the whole steering thing, so we had to follow her and adjust the wheel, but she got such a hoot out of driving it. She calls it her "truck" and insisted on taking "Ariels" on rides!



The aftermath...



Orange lollipops in stockings? Yes please!



Not the best stocking stuffer on my part? Moon dough. That stuff got everywhere. So it went in the trash.



For Christmas Day dinner, Memaw fixed us a brisket, cole slaw, potato salad, beans, and the whole nine yards! Then we all sat around for the rest of the day, taking Britton on walks with her new stroller, chasing her around the back yard in her "truck," and reading her new books.

This year, I flexed my sewing skills and made some gifts. I made Britton a new nap mat out of necessity, as every mat I could find was so thin! She's worn hers down to the threads, so she needed one pronto. The pillow is removable, so the stuffing doesn't get all wonky. It's an owl print and she really liked it!




And I tricked the hub and told him I'd make him a tee-shirt quilt after Christmas! He never suspected I had actually made it. It has all his shirts from when he was a kid, with John Deere fabric in between.



For Memaw I made a string quilt out of her and her mother's scraps. Memaw's mom (also called Mema) passed away in October, and I inherited a lot of her scraps. She had some beautiful old-fashioned prints I loved, and I wanted to incorporate them into a quilt for our Memaw. And I also used our scraps, since Memaw and I pick out all our fabric for quilting together. it's lap-sized, and my first foray into machine quilting. She loved it.



Tomorrow I am off to Virginia to visit my sister and mom until Friday! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

her future's so bright...

She's got to wear shades! Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers that horrific 80s song. When I went to pick up Britton yesterday from daycare, she had a bag hanging off her arm and her Texas Rangers red sunglasses on. Her teacher and I laughed about her sunglasses being upside down, but really, who cares? I am completely relishing this time in her life when she's not self-conscious, doesn't care if her sunglasses are on correctly or the "right" name brand, and thinks it's funny when her mommy insists on taking a picture at the first stop light.

strawberry fields is finished!

I usually name my quilts after the person receiving it, but in this case I don't know the person. Memaw has a good friend in Florida who is any day now expecting her first granddaughter, and this quilt is for that granddaughter. Memaw has a soft spot for the excitement of a granddaughter! So, I've been calling it the Strawberry Fields quilt because that is the name of the fabric line.

Memaw was going to tie it and finish it off, but the quilt top got put in a drawer and forgotten. And that's ok, because I got to try out some free motion quilting for the first time. Free motion quilting is when you sew a pattern (in my case, loops) instead of hand-sewing or even straight lines. It takes some practice and a lot of reading of quilt blogs, but I tried it out and liked it a lot. And the little loop pattern is so sweet for the baby girl quilt.

I have no idea why I did just six blocks (I did this quilt top back in September, so I was probably scared to make it bigger!), so I added white borders on two sides to square it out a bit. I couldn't make more blocks because I didn't have any fabric left. I don't know what the pattern name is, but I copied it from my "September" block of the Calendar quilt I still haven't finished.

I have to admit, it is hard for me to appreciate the quilts I make. I look at them and see the flaws - the corners that don't match, the missed seams, the wayward stitching. And I need to be better about that, because in all honesty, if people wanted perfection they'd just order a quilt from Pottery Barn. So I'm starting with this quilt - I absolutely love it!




High contrast photo (the fabric here is white, not blue), so you can see the stitches. It's far from perfect, but any little mess-ups get lost in the patterns of the fabrics.



Close-up of the block pattern.



This binding isn't even from the same fabric line. I happened to notice it at Jo Ann's, and figured it would match close enough. I am thrilled with how it pulls everything together.



It's crib-sized.



The back. Because I added on the white borders, I didn't have enough backing material. Again, to Jo Ann's where I found this sweet pink and cream damask. The pink isn't a direct match to the pink on the front, but it's close enough. And very sweet.



And my friend Allison has just informed me she is expecting a new bundle of joy this summer, so once I find out what they are having I will begin a new baby quilt!

christmas cards are out

We got a jump on our Christmas cards this year, mainly because we were switching it up a bit. Last year Memaw had received a Christmas card from a friend, and it had the woman and her entire family in it. We thought it would be a great idea to do the same this year, especially since over half of our card mailing lists overlap. Yes, the hub's family is about half of the mailing list. So I found a great photographer who I used to work with (she does photography on the side), and we headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards the first weekend of November.

Now, every year we go with a "theme color scheme." This year it was turquoise and brown. And the cards turned out amazing! And since I sent them out over a week ago, recipients should have them by now and won't be disappointed that I'm revealing them here.

But first......a look back. When looking through my pictures, turns out the hub and I didn't send out Christmas cards our first year of marriage (2006). Which seems odd, because why didn't we take advantage of using a wedding picture for the card?! Oh well - here are the others.

2007: Sadie begins the trend of appearing in every single Christmas card by first being the only one in the card.



2008: Taken in Virginia Beach at Thanksgiving.





2009: First year with Britton. Neither Sadie nor Britton want to be in the picture.



2010: I had an entirely different card planned, but Britton didn't want any part of it. So when she seemed likely to cooperate, we just ran outside and got a picture. Hence, the pink pants.



And.........without further ado......................

2011: Us, Memaw, PawPaw, and the dogs! Here's the front...



And here's the back. These are the boots Britton is wearing in the picture - the same boots the hub wore as a child. If you can place the quote, you're a Christmas fanatic as well.