Christmas Presents Incorporated

I had been holding off on this present incorporation post because my daughter gave me a beautiful sun vase, and I wasn’t quite ready to incorporate it yet. But I realized I wanted to keep the winter vase arrangement out for Valentine’s Day and through February, so I should go ahead and write about incorporating our other presents.

My husband gave me the red guy in the middle this year after purchasing him in Saugatuck this summer. Of course, he had to join the one to the left, who is also from Saugatuck and the one on the right we bought in Brattleboro. They were all made in Guatemala. I always thought of the yellow one which we bought first as more Zombie like than skeleton like, but the store in Saugatuck labeled the white one as a skeleton. Whichever, they look like they are planning something! Placing them together meant moving some other things around, and this is how that section of the gallery wall looks now.

My Birmingham niece gave me a mermaid that joined some similar ones hanging above the mirror in the bathroom.

She’s the one on the right. I love how the lights make her glow!

My quilting sister in law became interested in Barn Quilts this year. While painting quilt squares on barns seems like a traditional craft (and some websites assert that it is – perhaps mixing them up with hex signs as I originally did), they are actually a more recent trend. The first one was created in 2001 by a woman named Donna Sue Groves to honor her mother, a quilter. She then collaborated with the Ohio Arts Council to create 20 more barn quilts, and the Barn Quilt Trail was born. There are now Barn Quilt Trails (a collection of barn quilts within driving distance of each other) in all 48 states as well as in Canada.

Barn Quilts are usually based on traditional quilt patterns – one square is painted on plywood or composite aluminum and attached to the barn. My quilting sister in law has given us several quilts over the years, including an incredible red and white piece to commemorate our 20th wedding anniversary. This year, with her new interest in Barn Quilts, she gave us a wooden red and white Ohio Star Barn Quilt ornament. I decided to hang it year round in the hall near the anniversary quilt and the pictures of her and my husband’s family.

While it’s hard to see in a picture, I like the way its star points relate or speak to the points of the oil drum sun at the end of the hall as well.