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.

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!

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!

Have you ever noticed how crazy things happen sometimes, like when your past catches up with you? Whether it's going home for the holidays, visiting your old stompin' grounds, or just catching up with someone who used to be part of your life, nostalgia creeps in and sometimes catches you quite unaware. I guess it's just that time of year where memories are tied to things and events.

My very creative pal Katie Hacker invited me to join her and her friends in a virtual ornament exchange (exchanging links to pictures on blogs, that is, not actual ornaments).