So as I mentioned in my previous post, the quilt shop I managed in Florida had a Christmas in July 12 days of Christmas kit sale. Here are a few more of the projects we kitted.

This was a very easy project--a wine bottle bag. Simply sew a rectangle in place, box the bottom by folding in the corners, and voila. Made up in a fine Hoffman fabric, it was great.












The tree skirt was made up with another Hoffman fabric. Again, easy-peasy. We folded it into eighths, cut straight across to form the octogon, slit the back, cut the hole in the center and there it is!
A folded star ornament was two sided and made in a beautiful print (might it have been another Hoffman?). I really don't remember how it was made, but I remember being intrigued by it. I must have those instructions somewhere....


This snowman (the only one to be seen in Florida THAT year) was made of batting, sticks, knit fabric, and scraps. The pattern is obviously from The Quilted Rabbit (I can read that!) and it was quick and easy to make.




Another wall quilt from a pattern pack. Fused applique as before, whimsical, and again, quick and easy. I love the way the shapes have almost a cookie-cutter line to them--nothing too complicated.





And finally, a Christmas stocking. Shadow applique was used for the cuff--basically, you choose bright colors of fabric, fuse them to the undersurface, overlay it with a sheer fabric, put batting behind it for tuft, hand-quilt through the layers to outline around the appliques and add definition and detail, and then turn it into a cuff. I love the look of shadow applique--I really do want to explore it further, but I feel it's more appropriately used in small ways, like this stocking cuff instead of large ways, like as a block in a quilt. But that's my personal opinion.

So there it is, the 12 (okay, 11) days of Christmas sale from times gone by. Finding and scanning these photos has been fun for me--getting reinspired by ideas that were rolling around in my head back then.

Back in 1998, when I lived in Florida, I managed a quilt shop. In July, we ran a 12 days of Christmas in July promotion where we kitted and sold different projects each day. Once again, I ran across photos while organizing. I'm going to share some in this post and in a post in the next few days. I really loved creating these projects--some were purchased patterns that we bundled with fabric selections and others were a bit more random. So without further ado:

This one was hand-quilted using pearl cotton, I think, in appropriate colors. It was referred to as "quick stitch" or "big stitch" at the time--I can't remember which. This was a small wall banner--maybe 6 inches across and 16 inches long.








This was a Christmas panel we had in the store and coordinating fabrics. The bottom is a pocket for Christmas cards, stiffened with interfacing to keep it hanging upright.




For this little green wreath, we ordered green doilies, sewed them together around the center hole by machine, then turned it right side out, sewed along the edge of the lace, leaving an opening, stuffed it, hand-sewed the opening closed, and added a metallic bow and hanger.


Another pattern pack packaged with batiks and marbles. I loved this pattern. I wish I could remember who created the pattern, but I can't read that little type. It was a good-sized wall-hanging and all the pieces were fused in place.
This was one of the favorites -- we were the Beaches Quilt Shop, after all. We drew a palm tree, used a zebra stripe for the trunk, and hand-sewed little faux lights on the trees. Having been there for a Christmas, I saw first hand that the residents of the Beaches actually did decorate the palm trees in their front yards, and I thought it was the coolest thing! So this was a must-have.

Coming soon, the other days. So far, I've only found 11 of the 12 projects, so we might have to pretend. The 12th will turn up sooner or later, I'm sure.

My favorite four-year-old assisted in the decorating of my tree Wednesday night. And that experience reminded me of what's important and what's not.

As for the nots:
Not important if two ornaments are hanging from the same branch. Not important if there's a lot of ornaments in one area and another is fairly bare. I think you get the picture.

As for what's important:
The joy in a child's eyes as she sings along with Christmas specials. The excitement she experiences when she hangs an ornament and hears "that looks great". The ability to pretend and have entire conversations with inanimate objects (or have two inanimate objects have conversations with each other). Experiencing the magic of Christmas through her.

So here's my tree, filled with valuable lessons. I hope whatever holiday you celebrate it filled with joy. For me, I'm going to have a very Merry Christmas and New Year filled with abundant blessings.

Since my fireplace isn't actually a working fireplace, I'm able to take advantage of the hearth and firebox for my Christmas decorating needs. I have these larger decorations, some homemade, some gifts, so I stack some wrapped boxes to stage them at proper heights and arrange them in the firebox area. I failed to take out the candlestand that is usually in there, and the large glass vases, so that's what you see poking up in the back. But now that you've seen the mantel, I thought you might like to see what was below it.

This is one of the first Christmas decorations I made for my house when I first moved out on my own. It couldn't be any easier. One basket, a block of Styrofoam, a bunch of boughs, pine cones, and flowers, and four candles. I left a space in the middle of it and have swapped out the center decoration over the years. It's been a small teddy bear, a large candle, this Santa candleholder, and several other things. I've had it since Christmas 1989, so it's had a lot of incarnations, and I've gone through several red and green tapers. Yes, I know better than to burn them when they're this close to the decorations--it's time to put new ones in for sure. It doesn't get lit very often, but occasionally, on Christmas eve, or for holiday dinners with friends, I'll light the tapers for mood lighting.

Since the center item can be swapped out, I can put something shiny in the middle and use gold or silver tapers for New Years. A little sticky wax holds the candles in place when I swap them out, but I put it a pretty deep hole for the candles, so it's still safe.

I wrapped presents Friday night. At that point, I thought I was about 75% done with wrapping. Boy, was I wrong! Tonight, I sat down and did the rest of the wrapping and I think I'm actually done now. But I had two presents yet to make, so after the wrapping was complete, I sat down to make two sets of wine charms (which have since been put it no-need-to-wrap cute little boxes).

I'd ordered the charms MONTHS ago from Oriental Trading Co.--this summer, perhaps--and had divided them into two sets, one for my sister and one for my dear friend, since a party at her house triggered this whole project. At her birthday party in March, I realized she didn't have a set of wine charms (mostly because several guests asked) and she expressed a desire to have a set. So when I saw these two sets of charms: a beach theme and a travel theme (which I can't seem to find on their site), they seemed perfect for her AND for my sister. Both gals are definite travel buffs, but they also both really enjoy the sand between their toes. So tonight, Dec. 21, I finally got them made.

As you can probably tell from the photos, I used two different sizes of wire rings. Since I have both fine-stemmed and wide-stemmed stemware (so to speak), I figured having options was a good idea. And with such fun charms, they might decide to use the charms on margarita glasses or around the handles of coffee mugs or whatever.

I love to make personalized wine charms as gifts. I have a couple of sets I made for myself--one set showcases state-shaped charms of all of the states where I've lived along with a few extra charms. Another set was made with shrink plastic--I think this is a VERY fun idea for a small party of creative people, just precut the plastic into tag shapes (I used a die-cutting machine), have your guests draw a design and add his/her name, and then, the best entertainment of all, watching them shrink in the oven.

So I did it. I actually made a Christmas present--two, as it turns out! Just hope neither of them reads this before Christmas.....

Had a great time at my family Christmas today. It turns out, despite the fact that I don't feel ready for Christmas, it arrives just the same and no one cares how ready you are. In fact, I didn't care how not-ready I was. Due to my lack of paying attention to the party invitation, it was brought to my attention at 10:15 a.m. that the party started at 1 p.m., not 2 p.m. and was two hours away. But you know what? I bought the groceries I needed and headed out and put together my side dish and appetizer on site at my cousin's house while we all chatted and hung out and it was fine! So ready or not, Christmas will come and everything will be fine! It's about family and friends and festivities, not what decoration are or aren't up, what things are or aren't made, whether the cookies are homemade or store-bought, so give yourself a break, take some time to surf the web and spend time enjoying your life.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Wishing you Merry and Bright holidays with a cheerful free pattern perfect for the holiday season.

The Artful Crafter
Eileen’s been elf-ed! Join in the fun and spread some holiday cheer. There’s still time for a few more elf-ings.

The Crochet Dude
Drew reveals his themed Christmas wrap and also announces a fantastic giveaway!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
The Holiday Goodness Giveaways are in full swing with lots of great answers to fun questions and a week more to enter to win free books along with a free knit placemat pattern with a plaid detail, ribbon and pom pom trimmed dish towel, apron and Christmas tree how-tos, and an inside peek into artist studio with some fun recycled storage ideas.

About Family Crafts
Find out how you can spread the holiday spirit throughout your entire neighborhood using this fun pass-it-on gift.

Stefanie Girard's Greeting Card Album Craftiness
How to decorate your Greeting Card Album for Christmas and recycle a card from last year with a fabric die cut

Margot Potter-The Impatient Crafter
Know someone bitten by the Twilight bug? Check out Madge's holiday themed Twilight silhouette ornament and pendant project for iLoveToCreate teen!

Aileen's Musings
As a gift to you Aileen's created 2 beauitful recipe cards for you to download and print.

Cathie Filian
Check out Cathie's quick video on how to make a Christmas tree from a tomato cage.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy has received the first submissions for her book's gallery, and talk about impressive! Wow! Some amazing metal jewelry by Victoria Tillotson.

Mixed Media Artist
Make a stab-bound scrapbook or journal to hold all your Christmas cards and memories this year!

Second, a piece from WAY back--1991 or 1992. I designed the cross-stitched circles for this tree while I worked at McCall's Needlework and Crafts. I created it for another special issue--a Christmas one, though I can't remember which one right now. We did several while I was there--a Christmas cross-stitch, a quick-and-easy Christmas cross-stitch, and a Holiday issue that covered all of the holidays if I remember right. In any case, it hangs on my front door for two reasons--first, because it's large and makes an impact and second, (much more practical) because it's flatter than any wreath I have so the storm door closes (which it wouldn't do with a wreath hanging on the inner door). I'm not the greatest artist so my ex-husband helped me make the characters better looking. As I look at it now, these aren't the greatest characters, even with his help, but I still love it and it still makes me smile. I hope it makes the mailman smile, because he has to look at it every day.

All of the sudden I've had a realization that A) I haven't made a single Christmas gift this year and B) I haven't hardly written a single post that has anything to do about Christmas. Yikes! What's going on? In my own defense, the tree is up and lit, but not decorated, so I haven't been lollygagging or anything. But it's just been a nutty fall and winter, so it's December 17 and I'm just now actually writing my list to see where I am in the gift-buying process.

So to show you that I haven't totally lost my Christmas spirit, I thought I'd share a picture of some of my decorations. And over the next few days up until Christmas, I'll share more photos of the decorations, homemade and otherwise, that make my home feel like Christmas-ville.

First, the mantel. It's the most decorated thing in the house. The gingerbread house is the centerpiece this year. Behind it is a wreath that contains some very special ornaments. They were from my great Aunt and Uncle's estate and I feel honored to have them displayed in my home. I didn't want them to get lost among the others on the tree, so I put them on this with netted gold ribbon, which seems appropriate for the vintage ornaments. The needlepoint stockings on the mantel are purchased, but the stockings on the wall were made for Michaels Create! magazine. Okay, actually, the stockings were purchased, but I made the cuffs by weaving ribbon and using fusible webbing to hold it all in place. I still love them. On that mantel are pieces from both of my grandmothers, my Mom, my former mother in law, my friends Janet, Lisa, Joyce, and so many more. There are so many great memories--memories of Christmases past, of friendship and families, and so much more.

So tell me about your decorations? What did you make this year? What pieces hold special memories for you? Let me live vicariously through your creativity!

I spent Sunday wandering around the Cedarburg Wine and Harvest Festival. There were SO many booths filled with art and crafts: jewelry, paintings, photography, pottery, sewing, etc. And though I can't say I came back with the "I want to make that" bug, I do feel inspired to be creative. It was nice to see other people express their creativity. It's interesting to wonder whether these artists are able to make a living selling at shows like this or do they supplement these shows with other venues (boutiques, galleries, online). Or do they have a day job and they pursue their art in their spare time, selling at shows as they can.

A few decades ago, I was going along making very basic quilted wallhangings as gifts for friends and family. (I was in my early 20s, so I was always in need of gifts for bridal showers and weddings.) After many of them told me "you should sell these," I decided to do that very thing. But since it was before the internet was commonplace and I was young and inexperienced, I dove in without doing any research, and got a table at a local fall festival with my very dear, now ex, mother-in-law who had also just started selling crafts. (No, the divorce wasn't due to this adventure--I had fabulous in-laws!) Since the show was in a few weeks, I feverishly cut, sewed, and painted late into the nights during those weeks. I probably made 20 wallhangings, mostly Christmas, and all one-of-a-kind. If you haven't already guessed, it was a disaster. Didn't sell a one. It was a yucky fall day, weatherwise, and, of course, our booth on the square was just that--it wasn't actually a craft show, more like an extension of a small-town high-school homecoming day. The bright side of this situation was that, in the end, I did sell all of them--to coworkers looking for a homemade gift and to family members seeking the same. (My sister really doesn't like to shop, so she thought it was great!) So when Mom sees something that I've made and starts to say "you know, you could make those and sell those and make a lot of money," I just smile and ask "like those wallhangings?". Somewhere I have pictures of them--if I run across the photo album, I'll scan some in so you can all see. There's nothing wrong with them, they're cute enough, and they were priced fairly for what they were, but it was 1990 and I was a brand new quilter, so when I think of them now, I have to smile and think "oh bless my heart, I thought I was really something."

So tell me your stories. Do you sell your work? What avenues do you use? Anyone else have a rough first show? Lessons to share with the rest of us? Leave a comment and let me know.

The other day, I found a printed Christmas panel with horses on it for My Favorite Three Year Old. Her Momma showed horses in her youth and The Wee One seems to be equally fascinated with them. But I failed to get all the info that I needed when I bought the panel, it seems. And there's nothing on the Springs Creative web site, or on the Hobby Lobby web site either, to walk me through it. They had turned it into a wallhanging with the horse strip at the bottom converted into pockets for a Christmas card holder, but they must have included other fabrics, which was the part I wasn't paying attention to. So I'll have to figure something special out for this. Maybe I'll work out a plan to make it a Christmas countdown calendar with little pockets along the bottom or down the sides--that seems perfect for a little almost-four-year-old, doesn't it? I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday's creative endeavor--the one that I forgot to take a picture of--was dinner--chicken enchiladas verdes, spanish rice, and strawberry shortcakes (from Jiffy muffin mix). I have leftovers of all of it, which is just fine with me. Rich was appreciative of a homemade dinner and I love those enchiladas. And they freeze great, so I can take them for lunch in the days to come.

Meanwhile, over the last few days, I've been getting organized around here. I did a bunch of cleaning up, finishing up the sewing room purging from back in late 2008. I feel like I got a really good handle on what's there to make and my own personal pledge is that I do everything I can to convert those raw materials into finished projects to give as gifts this Christmas. And my pledge is that whatever I don't have turned into projects by the end of 2009 goes to some other creative soul who might want to create something with them. With one exception. I don't think I can give away the printed embroidery-ready pillowcases that I got when my grandmother passed away almost a decade ago that still need to be embroidered. I don't know who will want embroidered pillowcases once I finish them, but I feel the need to finish them anyway.

I've got all of the pieces and parts organized in containers. Now to just figure out what to do with the containers. Maybe once I get the papers and stuff that were from the sewing room and are currently on the sun porch all sorted through, the containers can go out there. Or maybe there's space in the closet in the sewing room... I know, one step at a time...

So it's the end of day 5 and I really feel as though I've accomplished a great deal in these five days. Here's the rundown:

Basement--tidied up and organized
Sewing room--reorganized
Quilting machine and frame--set up and ready to go
Christmas decorations--packed away
Living room--rearranged
Excess craft supplies--in the car and ready to share with my coworkers
Turkey breast--cooked
Ham bone--boiled down into broth
Dozen eggs--hard boiled
Papers--shredded
Lots of trash and recycling on the curb

So there it is. My five days in a nutshell. I'm really proud of what I got done and I'm okay with how much I accomplished. Of course, you always think you'll get more done than you do, but I'm really okay with that list. There's still more to do--the stamping corner in the living room still needs to be organized, but I can't do that until I get the "new" piece of furniture for the living room, and the dining room is still a wreck, filled with all of the things I want to make in the next few months for gifts for 2009. And then there's the Christmas cards and letters...

So thanks for hanging out with me for this 5-day trek through my house-clearing "staycation" (if that's what they're calling it these days). Here's to the next week of finishing it up.

So I did make some progress today in decluttering the sewing room. (Actually, decluttering the living and dining rooms of the stuff FROM the sewing room.) I'm down to a pile in the corner that contains all the stuff that I want to turn into gifts for next year, a pile of magazine pages to file in binders, and a pile of things to photograph to see if my sister wants them. Oh yeah, and a pile of empty containers that no longer store stuff but might be needed before this organizational phase is over.

In my one excursion outside the house today, I think I found a piece of furniture for the living room, and it's marked down quite a bit. It's at an "antique" store, though it's not an antique--probably from the '60s. I think it's an old buffet--it's got great lines and quite a bit of storage so it would be a perfect solution for the living room's storage needs and would be a great entertainment center for me.

When I first moved into this flat, I could only imagine the living room set up in one arrangement. And I really haven't moved things around much, except when I brought the cardmaking stuff and drafting table in from the sun porch this fall. But since then, I've been thinking about options and I think I might have come up with one. The true inspiration is a chair I bought a few years ago--it's been in an unoften used corner of the living room. I love that chair--it's almost as comfortable on the chaise that I sit on any time I'm watching TV. But when I rearranged things to set up the Christmas tree, I put it in a corner that faces the TV and have gotten to sit in it more and realized I want it in a better position in the room. So I think I can do all this once I undecorate and it should solve a few challenges.

I got to see the upstairs flat today, which is very similar to mine in layout, but she's done great things with color and she's a VERY neat and tidy gal, so, unlike my more cluttered decor, their place is not only clean and tidy, but picture perfect! I have to keep reminding myself that I have 20 years more of stuff than they do, plus I have lots of hobbies, so there are reasons I have stuff around. But as I clear through the sewing room, I'm motivated to tidy up the rest of my home and life. Maybe next weekend I can tackle the dining room built-in linen drawers or the cabinet that holds all of the hair stuff, body wash, makeup, and all of that for a purge of its own.

So there is progress being made, though there's still the Christmas letter to write and some cookies to bake. But there's Sunday...

The exciting news for me today is that I'm NOT at the office for the next five days. It's possible the last time I had this many days off in a row (that wasn't a vacation) was when I left my previous job to take this job (six years ago January 2, actually). That break, though longer, involved traveling for the holidays, a few days driving around town looking for a place to live, and other busyness that was neither relaxing nor productive. And boy-oh-boy do I have relaxing and productive plans for THIS break! I hit the grocery store Tuesday night and got enough food to feed me for a month. And I went home and made the list of all the things I wanted to get done. So I'll keep you posted on my progress as the days pass. A lot of the plans revolve around the sewing room. I have to go through every single thing in there and make some space for my new quilting machine, so I really need to get organized. And I need to transform some raw materials into finished projects so they're not in the sewing room any more, taking up what has suddenly become very valuable space!

Once I get the sewing room together (optimistically within the first three days), I've got some crafty projects to make, food to cook and freeze for later, a Christmas letter to write and cards to send, and maybe, if there's time left at the end of the five days, I'll put away some of the Christmas decorations and make some cookies to take to work to celebrate my six year anniversary at my job!

Well, I drove down to Illinois between snow storms on Christmas Eve, and the entire Chicagoland area seems to be covered with a layer of ice. Overnight, they had rain again, so today, as I helped Mom take down the decorations, we pondered whether I should head home tonight or wait until tomorrow morning. Since I have no deadlines across the state line, I think I'll probably hang out here and drive home tomorrow, since the fog is supposed to roll in any minute now.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring much with me in the way of projects to work on, though I think I might have a few ornaments in one of my bags that could occupy some time. My folks don't have cable, you see, and we've watched most of the Christmas classics I brought along--from Frosty the Snowman to White Christmas--but I think we might have a classic or two still unviewed to occupy our evening.

If I were really thinking ahead, I'd sit down and write my Christmas letter. I have the cards, the stationery, the labels, and the stamps, but haven't yet actually done the mailing. So that job was part of the "to do" list for Saturday and Sunday. Wouldn't it be great if I could accomplish that tonight?

So in closing, I just thought I'd share that it was a lovely Christmas filled with family and fun. We played Rummy (or 13 for those of you in the family--I've always wondered if those two names actually apply to the same game or if we misnamed them) and I won--an accomplishment for sure since I seldom win at cards. I received some lovely gifts! And I'll be setting up my quilting machine New Years weekend--Merry Christmas to me! Maybe I'll post photos here once I get the sewing room cleared out enough and the machine set up. As for the reflective part that always seems to come this time of year, let me say this. As I helped Mom put away her Christmas decorations, she'd comment on this one or that, and it seemed that many of them either had a special memory tied to them or were from someone who meant something to her. Of all of the quirks and traits that I got from her, all the things that make me my mother's daughter, I'm blessed to value things for the memories that come with them, not the price tag that was attached to them. It's the same reason that I read the Christmas letters that come to their house--friends of theirs who have touched their lives, and mine, for years. Though it's true that there are friends of theirs that I've never met, I've always known about them through their letters and cards, and they are still a part of my life in some distant way. We're all connected, family and friends and even strangers, and I treasure the people who been a part of my life each year in some way, whether in person, through e-mail or snail mail, or even as they flit through my memories or my dreams or across my path. May each of you have blessings abundant in the coming year.

So last night I repaired that ornament and tonight, I broke it again. No joke. It was sitting on my ironing board (I know, terrible idea) and I was moving my laptop from the living room chaise to the dining room table and the cord of the computer knocked the ornament to the floor. As happens to glass ornaments when they land on a hardwood floor, it shattered. So glad I glued that top on the ornament. Luckily this time, the broken glass didn't cut any threads. So now, I just have to clip the bottom ring and string it back up again over another glass ornament.

The most unbelieveable part is that I didn't totally melt down or swear a blue streak when it happened! Maybe I'm not as stressed as I thought I was.

Have a good Christmas and may your stress level be easily managed this holiday season.

I gave my friend Janet this beaded ornament several years ago, and a few years ago she gave it back. No, this wasn't some Christmas prank. The ornament had fallen off the tree, shattered, and cut the thread, sending seed beads everywhere. Luckily, she taped the loose thread ends to avoid future bead loss and returned it to me with a very sad expression on her face, hoping I could do some repairs. So I did, restringing a portion of the ornament last night. Amazingly, I had identical seed beads to replace the lost ones. See, I really enjoyed making these ornaments, so I bought several hanks of different colored seed beads so I could make more of them. By the way, the instructions are from Bead&Button's December 1998 issue, and though the issue is out of print, you can purchase and download the instructions online (and they're half-price, $1.95, until January 2, 2009, as are all of the PDFs from BeadStyle, Bead&Button, and Art Jewelry magazines, so check it out).

This time I glued the top on, as the top came off and the ornament crashed down last time. But it's good as new now, so I'll be giving it to her again this year, along with an IOU for a summer-themed door decoration. That's what she asked for, so we'll have to have a chat about whether that's a wreath, an appliqued door dec, or something else. One less project to worry about creating in the next 24 hours!