Some cook, I sew: creativity brings joy: Christmas!

How was your Christmas? Mine was fantastic! I got to spend it with most of my family and talk to my missionary son.

I finished some more projects too. My phone rang a few days before Christmas and it was my quilter calling to tell me my disappearing 9-patch Christmas quilt was completed! Her husband has been terribly sick and in the hospital so I had told her not to worry about getting it finished before Christmas. She got it done anyway though! What a nice surprise! It was also wonderful to learn he was home in time for Christmas!

I hurried to add the binding so I'd have it for Christmas morning.

I made some last minute Christmas Eve presents for Santa to fill Christmas morning. Yes, we still do stockings. Santa has always only brought things that can fit stockings because I've never liked the idea of something for nothing and the very-noticeable unfairness of how "Santa" brings marvelous gifts for some children and nothing to others. My kids were long familiar with the idea that Moms and Dads help Santa. One of my favorite Christmases was when we taught the poem, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus. My daughter's cowboy boot is suede with a bit of leather around the ankle, and my son's has the horses and cowboy hats and leather.

Several years ago, I bought the center cowboy boot that my eldest twin son immediately commandeered. I used it as my pattern for the other two. They were immediate hits! All 3 love their boots, and my daughter had received new suede boots for her December birthday.

I received this scissor holder from a quilting friend and thought it was so clever!!!

The back with its magnets:

I finished my daughter's Christmas quilt and am THRILLED to be able to share it now! My inspiration was Missouri Star Quilt Company's stacks quilt along with her story about how it looked like stacks of books. My daughter loves to read and tested above high school reading level while still very young. I've always meant to keep a list of her favorite books but never done it in a permanent form. Well, I did it this year. While driving to a vacation destination last spring, she told me what books had been her favorites through her life. Later I searched her bookcase for some forgotten tales and stitched them into a Book Stacks quilt for her. The directions for this quilt is included in the Summer volume of the BLOCK magazine.