We have been pretty deliberate over the past couple of years to do Christmas in a simplified fashion since we have had Charlotte and especially now with Charlotte and Oliver. We know that nothing can damper the spirit of Christmas like shopping with a toddler in tow (realistically O is a such an easy baby, let's be honest, C is the tough one...sorry Charlotte when you read this in a couple of years.)
I always love to make Christmas gifts and would deem every Christmas gift a homemade one if Jay would allow me. This year my homemade creation was a quilt. Back in July we threw Jay's dad a birthday party and when I throw a party that means that some fabric purchases are required. I had to buy some fabrics for table runners and a good deal of one fabric for the photo booth. While we were standing in line at the fabric store and Jay was questioning the amount of fabric I needed I came up with the genius realization that I would use all the fabric I purchased to make the birthday boy a quilt for Christmas.
Well, our move in date came and went to get into the house and soon the whole month of October had disappeared and I still had not started a Birthday-Christmas quilt, can we call it a Birthmas Quilt?
I know that I wanted to use my simple go-to pattern of a nine patch and do some variations to the pattern. So as the kids played one Saturday in the playroom I created and sketched and sewed. The kids had a great time together (the playroom was trashed!) and I had such a lovely day sewing and still being with the kids. I started with a simple nine patch block and then went with two borders, followed with some more nine patch blocks and some corner pieces and then a topper of nine patch blocks and some trim bordering pieces on the sides and bottom. It all went together so smoothly and it was almost relaxing just designing as I went and watching the quilt grow. This is what I ended up with!
Of course, I had to add his initials...
and some simple embroidery...
The back of the quilt was made almost entirely of the fabric from the photo booth with a penny strip down the middle.
Grandpa received his quilt on Christmas Eve and quickly put it to good use cuddling with his granddaughters!
Both kids have been sleeping in to around 6:30 to 7:00 each morning lately so we thankfully did not have a Christmas morning that started too early. Both kids woke up around the same time and enjoyed a good look at their bounty before they started!
For three straight Christmases in a row C has had no interest in unwrapping her presents and has to be coaxed to unwrap just about anything...where did this kid come from?
Oliver was a little easier to get to open his presents, he will do anything to cuddle with his da da da! Jay made this present for Oliver, it is much like the puzzle we made for C for her first Christmas. He has already chewed up corners and decided it is a great drum!
We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We really enjoyed our first Christmas holiday with no traveling, packing up presents and waking up in our own house! A simple type of Christmas is the right type of holiday for us!