Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas joy

Christmas was a ton of fun this year. Big Bear hit the mother lode when Santa brought him a train table and some new engines.

a very happy boy and his train table
In addition to the "official" Thomas engines, he also received a couple of special cars:

custom tar wagons
The tar wagons are featured in a few of the Thomas stories, and BB includes them in his play a lot. However, there is no actual tar wagon toy in the Thomas collection, so he has been using legos and blocks to stand in for them. My husband found some plain wooden trains and then painted them to create this pair of custom tar wagons. Didn't they turn out awesome? And Big Bear LOVES them!

It was such a joy watching him take it all in and then seeing his excitement once he started to play (and he didn't stop... all trains, all day!).

baby boy playing with his new activity cube
Little Bear was not left out of the fun either. He got some wonderful new toys for his first Christmas, including a big wooden activity cube from Santa and some electronic goodies from the grandparents. It is currently very noisy at our house (why don't those toys have volume controls???), but the boys are having a lot of fun.

I received some wonderful new "toys" as well!

Mama's new toys!
My in-laws gave me some wonderful new crafty books, including Amy Butler's Style Stitches, Pretty Little Potholders by Lark Books, and Jelly Roll Quilts & More by Kimberly Einmo. And then my mom gave me a beautiful fat quarter pack the new Sanctuary collection by Patty Young in the chocolate berry colorway. So lovely!

cute little pouch
And look at this wonderful piece of handmade loveliness from the super-talented Evelyn! And it had a cool little seam ripper gadget inside too!

Shabby Fabrics Pincushion Club
In addition to a fabulous gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop, my husband signed me up for a new block of the month at Shabby Fabrics: The Pincushion Club! It is the coolest thing! Each month I will receive a new pincushion kit. Some of the kits will even have enough to create multiple pincushions. And every month features a different designer. The first kit is supposed to arrive at the end of January. I can't wait!!!

I hope all of you have been having a wonderful holiday season as well!

4 comments:

  1. I can't believe how big Little Bear has gotten! Time goes by fast. It looks like you had a great Christmas and your husband was so sweet to give you quilting related gifts to have fun with this year. Happy New Year!

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  2. Those boys made out great! BB would love my office we have a train running around the room all day. My boss even has glass cabinets with old trains displayed.

    I look forward to seeing all of your pin cushions, what a great idea.

    Happy New Year!

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  3. Both of your boys are getting so big! Little Bear looks a lot like Big Bear in that picture :) I think your husband did a great job on the trains, looks like you are not the only creative person in the house!

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  4. Looks like the boys had fun with their new toys and you are going to have some fun too.
    I am going to check out the pincushion club. Haven't heard about it.

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