Even in this unusual year, the holiday rush is taking place. So, no Honoree this week, but a heart-felt wish for merriment and light from my house to yours. And a virtual tour. I’d like to welcome you to my home and share my holiday spirit with all my quilting friends.
I live in an 1886 house built by a local stonemason as a honeymoon cottage for one of his daughters. We don’t have snow yet—I’m still hoping for a White Christmas—so this is a shot from a past year.
The turret is the ideal place for a tree. This year we have a live Fraser fir downstairs with old-fashioned lights, glass ornaments, and lots of glimmer. There’s a little artificial one upstairs with a funky tree skirt I made.
I have quilts in every room downstairs. They make easy decorations and provide a nice backdrop for my collections of angels and the turned wooden ornaments my husband makes.
There are Christmas tins all over the kitchen. I started collecting these years ago while garage-“sailing” with a friend; she bought furniture, but all I could afford were the tins at 10-25 cents. The price has gone up, but the new ones I buy now come with cookies. I think they’re rather jolly.
We spend most of our holiday time on this back porch with a wood-burning stove, watching classic Christmas movies. Here’s where I show off the Santas, and the third tree. The quilt is one of four new Christmas ones I made this year—a record, thanks to staying at home.
And would you like another peek upstairs? We have Christmas quilts on both beds; blue is my color, and Jack loves red.
Back to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and cookies. I usually bake at least a dozen kinds of cookies each year. This year, I made seven kinds of shortbread, plus other recipes. I can’t share one in person, but here’s a picture from some cookie plates of Christmas past:
Or how about these that look like quilt blocks?
If you were here, you could use a cup from my mug tree. When I was working, I often got a holiday mug in the grab bag, so I found a way to display them all without taking up counter space.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this “visit”. I look forward to having a real, in-person visit with many of you at the 2021 Celebration, but in the meantime, I wish you happy, happy, merry, merry, and all the best of the season.
Your quilting friend,
Anna
I’m Anna Harkins, and I volunteer on the Collections Committee at The Quilters Hall of Fame. What else would you like to know about me? Married, no kids; one old horse, retired, and live in a western suburb of Chicago. I’ve been quilting for about 20 years (I wish I could say I learned from my grandmother, but some of us come to this later than others), and I’m a quilt history dilettante, “a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.” There are real scholars among you, and I have no pretensions to that level—hats off to you! But I am interested, especially in the people who have made up the quilt world here in the US, which is why I’ve agreed to blog for The Quilters Hall of Fame. I plan to write every week, and I hope you’ll join the discussions.
Dear Anna, what a lovely visit with you. I always wanted to live in a house like yours. Have lived in old houses and new houses but never one that shines so at Christmas. Thanks for sharing with us.
Hi Jean. I wish I cold have seen you in person. Maybe someday we’ll have MFSG near here and you can come for an in person visit. Hope to see you soon in 2021. Anna