A Few More Weeks of Christmas

"Gifts of time and love
are surely the basic ingredients
of a truly
Merry Christmas."

~ Peg Bracken

I'm a little behind in posting the weeks of Christmas challenge, so I thought I'd catch up today with the last two weeks, the 50th and 49th, before I post the 48th!

49th Week of Christmas

Your challenge for the week is to spend a wee bit of time (or a longer time, if you prefer) looking at a Christmas crafts book or cookbook, magazine, or website. Look for some new ideas that might be something you'd like to try, or think others might. It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. If you're not in a crafting or cooking mood, maybe you can look for a short story, poem, or Christmas book to read.

50th Week of Christmas

Things to look for this month...

~ White sales... pick up some solid color pillow cases, sheets, place mats and towels that can be embellished with embroidery, fabric paint, lace and ribbons. They'll make great gifts!

51st Week of Christmas

*** ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK ***

If you haven't already done a little planning of projects, use this week to catch up. If you have...

Use some time this week to finish a project that you've already started. If you don't have any "leftovers", use your designated time to begin something new :)

On Keeping Christmas

"If you can keep Christmas for a day, why not always?"

~ Henry Van Dyke

My 2008 Christmas List of Projects

On my Homespun Holidays list we've started "The 52 Weeks of Christmas". This is going to be a weekly reminder and countdown for those of us who love to create gifts. Hopefully, we'll all get a good start on our lists for next Christmas and actually have some gifts made before we run out of time. I thought I'd share my "To Make" list with all of you.

By the way, if any of you would like to join us, just click here on the name of the group to request membership: Homespun Holidays

Now, here's my list of projects:


CROSS STITCH:
~ Finish stitching the last of the ornaments I was making for this year and then make them into little pillow ornaments (Plum Pudding Needleart design)
~ Finish stitching Christmas Tea for us
~ Stitch 2 additional sets of Christmas Tea for gifts (will be a tea cozy and a cookie tin cover)
~ Finish the PS 12 Days of Christmas ornaments (have 2-1/2 made)
~ Finish quilting the cross stitched star table topper I started several years ago



QUILTING:
~ Make a quilt for our daughter (already have the fabric)
~ Make a quilt for my stepdaughter (already have the fabric)
~ Make a few quilted items for friends. I'm thinking table runners, but might add in small wall hangings and/or placemats. I'd like to get 4 made, but I'd be happy with 2.
~ Finish quilting the Christmas tree cloth I started years ago. One section is completely done, and the other section about 3/4s finished. Then they can be sewn together and a binding added to the outside.


WOOLENS:
~ Make some pillows in different sizes using the plaid or checked wools for the pillow with solid colors for the applique. I want to do some with different Christmas designs (snowflakes, mittens, etc.). I also want to make some of these for the fall with autumn designs.
~ Make a penny rug for a table topper using a cute snowman pattern. (I also have two for autumn, which I hope to make, too.)


KNITTING:
~ Finish husband's replacement Christmas stocking (I've overstuffed his throughout the years with jars of various nuts, lol, and now there are lots of holes where I didn't do a very good job of changing colors).


SCRAPBOOKS:
~ 1 for husband
~ 3 for friends


RECIPE/SCRAP BOOKS:
~ 1 for daughter
~ 1 for stepdaughter


SEWING:
~ Some small pine needle sachet pillows
~ Some stuffed Christmas ornaments using homespun fabric (I'll use cookie cutters as the patterns)
~ Make fabric wreaths using the Dresden Plate quilting pattern (these are in Book 2 of the Leisure Arts Spirit of Christmas books and are so pretty)
~ Make a Christmas tree cloth using the same pattern and fabrics
~ Make some yo-yo wreath ornaments (cute, also from the same book... you make 10 yo-yos that are lightly stuffed, and then stitch them together through their middles and tied into a puffy circle)

Happy New Year

"Yet the old house, the room, the merry voices and smiling faces,
the jest, the laugh,
the most minute and trivial circumstances connected with those happy meetings,
crowd upon our mind as if the last assemblage had been but yesterday."

~ Charles Dickens

Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year, with thanks for all your wonderful comments throughout the year!

Hugs,

Home at Christmas Time

"My favorite place in all the world
Is home at Christmas time,
For there is where we gather near
The precious ones we love so dear,
And hold them in our hearts once more
To last throughout the coming year."

~ Nancy Nowiszewski,
Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Keepsake, 1984

A Special Tree

For the last three years my homemaking list has participated in a homemade ornament swap. It's been so much fun to think of projects, and then make one for each member participating. This year we were up to 12 participants!


I have a small "Charlie Brown" tree that sits on a chest in the front window here in the office, and that's the one that gets decorated with all the handmade ornaments from my list friends. I also have 24 tiny books from an Advent calendar that tell the story of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Those, too, decorate the branches of this tiny tree. As you can see, I think I'll have to use a larger one next year!