Quilts & pillows for my boys

Last Christmas I made quilts and pillows  for my boys.  We had gotten them bunk beds earlier in the year and painted their room the color of their choice so I thought they needed some matching bedding.  I usually like Pottery Barn stuff so I got some ideas from this set.  I also had some really cute fabric from Joanne's with a Route 66 theme and since my boys love the Cars movies and anything related to cars, I thought I could incorporate that into their decor.  To top it all off, my Mom had an embroidery pattern for classic cars that fit right in with the fabric.  So I put it all together and got this:

I mixed in about 4 or 5 of the embroidered cars.  My boys thought they were really cool!  I got the pattern from Hobby Lobby.

Then I used the Route 66 fabric for the extra pillow.  I didn't get the second pillow done in time for Christmas so I told them I would finish the second soon.  Well...I just finished them this week.  I know, pretty pathetic.  But at least I finished them before this Christmas!  

My Mom taught me how to make pillows by covering piping with fabric and sewing it around the edges of the pillow.  It's really pretty simple and there are a million tutorials online about how to do it, like this one, so I won't go into much detail.  I also knew that I would need to wash the pillowcase every now and then so I used a pillow form and made the outside like a pillowcase with an envelope back.  The two pieces connect with velcro.

When they opened the boxes on Christmas morning they were so excited!!  It kind of surprised me.  But I love sewing for my boys when they like it so much!

How long does it take to decorate for Christmas?

My kids were so sad to leave Nana's house and all their cousins after Thanksgiving. :(

But then they realized that we could go home and decorate for Christmas! 

My five year old asked MANY times during the five hour drive home if we could put up the tree THAT NIGHT.  [She likes to repeat herself to make sure she gets her point across.  :)]

I'm just as excited as they are, but I'm also really loving the fact that we have had this whole week before December!   Isn't it great?!

Life with little kids means everything takes longer than normal.  So having more time to decorate and get everything ready is SO NICE! 

Here are my $6 (approx) stairway decorations. I think the two fake garlands cost $2 each at Hobby Lobby a few years ago, and the little red jingle bell ornaments were probably about the same.

Martha Stewart

Ok, no, I didn't quite achieve this look.  So pretty!

Country Living

 

 I'd love to have real, big, fluffy garlands, but I don't want to pay for them when I've got so many other things to spend my money on at Christmas time.  

 

And guess what?  My kids have no clue who Martha Stewart is and don't care that our house isn't ready to be featured in Country Living.  They love my $6 decor! And I do too.  :)

How are you doing with your holiday decorations?  Do you like to make a big push and get the whole house decorated in one day or are you enjoying having a little extra time this year to get everything done?

Acorn Candleholders

I love fall! 

Down here in the southern most reaches of the southern United States, we generally only have two seasons:  summer and not summer. 

By the end of October, when the rest of the world has been enjoying apple cider, pumpkin patches and watching the leaves change for a month or two (that's what you do in fall, right?) we are just barely getting a break from the heat. 

I know I can't complain that we are still wearing flip flops (and maybe a wind breaker) at Christmas, but I do kinda miss the whole fall/ winter/ spring thing.  We sort of get them, but its all at the same time.  We rake leaves at New Years.  And our world looks almost exactly the same when we trick or treat as when we hunt for eggs. 

Oh well, even though my seasons are goofy, I still like to do what I can to experience a little of the traditional fall feeling in our home.  And what better way than to bring some of the traditional natural fall elements indoors. 

This year we decided to take advantage of the plethora of acorns in our front yard and make something pretty out of them. 

My kids love collecting little bits of nature so when I suggested we collect acorns for a special project they were all over it.  (My two year old is just about to make an acorn discovery in the crack of the sidewalk above.)

Gather a bunch of acorns.  Dump them in a wide mouth mason jar, and stick a fat candle on top.  I'm sure this isn't an original idea, but it sure was fun and easy to do with the kids!  And I think it turned out quite pretty.

For those of you who have been to my house, you will be suprised to see that I've changed my normal decor from piles of clean laundry on my dining table to acorns, candles and pumpkins.  :)

I love how these acorn candle holders turned out, but I must say that pumpkins are my favorite! I love how plump, orange and happy they are! And when you are done decorating with them you can cut them up and make a pie! It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

So what does fall look like where you live? 

Do you love to decorate with natural elements as much as I do?