Amy Currioman

One of my favorite decorations for the house at Christmastime is a pair of handmade Mr and Mrs Santa Claus. I remember buying them the Christmas of 1974 for $25 for the pair. They were being sold by a friend of the lady who made them and brought them to the office to try to sell them. Well, being a sucker for handmade items, and being young and newly out on my own I grabbed them up! They’ve held up very well considering how old they are, and I love them dearly. They grace a space of honor in my house every Christmas

Our Christmas tree this year – most of the ornaments were hand made, mostly by myself or family members or friends.  Isn’t it pretty?  I even crocheted the angel topper and the tree skirt myself!  This year the tree is a small 3 1/2′ artificial tree that had light bulbs already strung on it.  I just didn’t want to bother with stringing lights this year myself!  And we decided on a small tree to put on a table to help keep the dogs from bothering the tree.  The last couple of years one of our dogs decided that chewing the strands of lights was a good idea!

I’ve spent most of the last two days sewing a quillow. Do you know what a quillow is? It is a quilt with a pocket sewn in so that the entire quilt can be folded into the pocket. Once that is folded in, the quillow now looks like, and can be used as, a pillow. So it is a quilt/pillow, therefore called a quillow. I’ve made several quillows in my life. I’ve sold some, and I’ve given some as presents.

This one I just made is being sold to one of my husband’s friends. He is planning to give it to his wife as a Christmas gift! I made a matching pillow case for it, so he can get a pillow form from the local fabric store to put inside it, or they can insert a throw pillow that they already own inside it.

Anyway, here is a picture of my lastest quillow! I hand-tied this one instead of machine quilting it. I thought that the pattern of the fabric lended itself to hand-tying. When I make a quillow, I let the fabric “tell me” what type of quilting would be the best suited. I hope the wife enjoys it!

I got an email from my sister N today, asking me if I would be willing to make a quilt out of old T-shirts for some friends of hers.  I assume that they are willing to pay to have it done!  So I said yes, I’m interested in doing it.  I wonder how many T-shirts they have, and what size quilt that they are going to want made?   I’ve made a lot of quilts out of woven fabric, but none out of knit fabrics; I think that T-shirts are knit aren’t they?  So it will prove interesting to see what they have and how it goes!

We’ve been talking about finishing part of the basement and putting in a bathroom, so I’ve been looking at the different options about what kind of fixtures to put in there. I was really excited when I found out that I could buy clear Glass Vessel Sinks!   I found them on the Internet at the mrdirectint.com website.  I was amazed at how affordable they are!

I love to do decorative painting, and I think that I’d like to buy a clear glass one and do some reverse painting techniques to customize the bathroom to reflect our personalities!  I really like decorating the house with “one of a kind” original things, and this would really do the trick for that bathroom!  I just love having a “blank canvas” to work with!