Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Holiday Cheer and a Giveaway

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I did. Atleast my bathroom scale says I did. I gained 2 whole pounds of Thanksgiving goodness.

And now I'm ready for Christmas. Down here in Houston we don't get the "dashing through the snow" or "walking through a winter wonderland" type weather. So we have to work harder to create that Christmas mood.

We learned that lesson after our first Christmas here came and went. We cleaned up the wrapping paper, looked around and wondered what went wrong and why we never really felt that same Christmas excitement. We decided that we hadn't had those first wintery clues that the holidays were coming and so we didn't give ourselves enough time to really let the holiday merriment sink in. Sure, we still enjoyed Christmas, but it just came and went way too fast without us realizing it.

This year, we hurried to get our decorations out. In fact, we got out some of them before Thanksgiving. Christmas isn't going to get away from us again this year!

And even though it still feels like it could be September or October or maybe even early spring outside, we are starting to feel the holiday spirit indoors with our tree trimmed, our banisters overflowing with fake pine garland and red and green all throughout the house. It's finally 'beginning to look a lot like Christmas' even in Houston.

Here is my one and only Christmas quilt (I need to get busy on another). I made it in 2007 from the Moda Roman Holiday collection of fabrics. I really like this quilt (even though it isn't hanging very straight at the moment- sorry about that). It makes me feel festive. And I think its really quite beautiful. In general, I don't buy quilt kits. Picking out the fabric is half the fun! But this one was so pretty and fun that I had to have it.



HAve you heard about the Give-away Day hosted by Sew-Mama-Sew?
Well, I'm not a part of it. I only heard about it last night.

But still, since I'm getting all into the Christmas mood, in honor of my Roman Holiday quilt and since it sounds fun, I thought I'd have a little giveaway too. The kit for this quilt had quite a bit of leftover fabric.



We're not talking yards and yards but if you like scraps, like I do, there is plenty here to play with. Some pieces are large and some are just little snippets. This is my give-away offering, some Roman Holiday scraps to help you make a cheery Christmas quilt or something else fun if you'd like.

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite Christmas decoration- the one that makes you feel giddy and excited for the the holidays, and I'll enter your name into my little drawing. And your chances should be pretty good since I think I've only got about 5 readers. :)

Since I'm not officially a part of the Sew-Mama-Sew Give-away Day I'll give you more than one day. I'll draw a name on Friday morning at about 8 am Central time.

23 comments:

heyjackieday said...

Okay Erica, I'll bite. My favorite Christmas decorations are the homemade stockings with the scripture embroidered on them about Christ. We just had a FHE about what they meant. I think each child liked having their own stocking linked with something so spiritually meaningful.

chook said...

oh I would love to win your scrap fabric
the dec that I love the best is a little christmas doll my Mum and Dad gave us for our first christmas after we got married that was 20 years ago
I use it every year
i just love it
hugs Beth

Evelyn said...

I'd love to use those scraps for a tree skirt! My new favorite holiday decoration is an advent calender bunting I made this year. My daughter is only 2.5, so she doesn't really "get it" yet, but I'm looking forward to years of happy memories attached to it!

the ark said...

This is my second year buying ornaments at World Market. They have the BEST gnomes around!!!
Every year each of my children gets to buy an ornament that means something to them and when they move out and make their own homes, they will take their ornaments with them!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Tricia

Mistress Meeyee said...

I love cute little animal ornies and the reindeer that are made of clothes pins!!!We made those every year when I was a small kid in school.Thank you and have a lovely week.

Nancy Near Philadelphia said...

I'd be delighted to win your scraps! My favorite Christmas decoration is the angel with the crooked grin, made from construction paper when my youngest child was in nursery school. He turned 30 this summer and it still goes on the top of our tree!

Linda said...

There's nothing like a give-away to bring the lurkers out into the open! My favorite Christmas decoration is the old Santa ornament that my Grandma purchased for me in 1957. She paid 15 cents for it. Every year for the past 51 years, that Santa has been on my Christmas tree. It brings back wonderful memories of Grandma.
lequilts@gmail.com

kcenya1950 said...

Me too, another lurker. my favourite decoration is a Boyds Bear tree topper. she never goes on top of my tree but roams through the house every year. i just love her. and i would love to win.

Tara said...

Can family enter too? One favorite is so hard to pick but I'd probably say our advent calendar (new this year). The boys have been so excited each day to see what ornament goes on the tree and I remember being that excited when we were kids.

Anya said...

Scraps are always useful! I even use selvages. Thanks for the chance to win!

Sue Cahill said...

My favorite christmas decoration is the needlepoint angel that goes on top of the tree. I made her over 20 years ago and like me she's a bit ragged these days but she always brings me a smile.
I would love to take yur scraps and give them a very loving home.
Thanks for the chance.
Sue Cahill (sbonetsue at yahoo dot com)

Joyce said...

My favorite Christmas decoration is a small merry-go-round ornament that actual moves around. My daughter picked it out when she was just old enough to start enjoying Christmas. I look forward to passing it on to her for her very first tree in her home. Thank you for entering me in your giveaway.
joycee2561 at yahoo dot com

Paula said...

Do Not Enter Me in Your Drawing. (I am sure all these other lovely ladies would make much better use of the fabric than I could.) But I wanted to tell you that I love the quilt! So cute and festive.

rachel griffith said...

oh how fun!!!
my favorite christmas decoration is this ceramic christmas tree that my ma-inlaw gave me.
it sits about a foot and a half high and it shines lights through little holes, and in those holes you place little colored bulubs or birds.
i really love it.

momma told me that she was digging through the attic and found a white one my great great grandmomma made that looks 'almost' just like it.
and she told me i can have it.

so i'm pretty stoked about that!!!

thanks for hosting a giveaway.

and i think that your quilt is SUPER cute.

Trisha said...

I love the Roman Holiday fabric line. I made a quilt with a Roman Holiday jelly roll and thought it turned out gorgeous. Your diamonds quilt is just beautiful! I love decorating for Christmas. It is so fun to see all the decor that I haven't seen since the previous year. It is hard to pick one but I do really love the bell wreath I hang on the front door. When those bells jingle I can't help being excited for Christmas.

DaiseyB said...

I too would love to win your scraps. My favorite christmas decoration is my Christmas village that I put up every year. Every year I buy a new house to put with it and than in January another when they discount them. My little village is definately growing. Thanks for the opportunity.

Yoga with Gaileee said...

I love my mom's homemade quilted mini block ornaments. It might be a 9 patch, or some other traditional quilt block. (I don't know my block names) But they are in holiday fabrics.

She gave some to a high school friend, who was getting into painting and drawing. Once Christmas, my friend (who was then out of college) set up a booth to sell her drawings and paintings. She had a quilt, and decorated the backdrop of her display with the minature ornaments. People kept asking to purchase the ornaments. "Nope", those were hers! (lol!)

I'd like to receive the fabric, so that I could make a 9 patch or two for my children. Mom taught me how to do seminole piecing, so that would be cool colors with work with!

yogawithgaileee at gmail dot com
Love2Sew4Fun blogspot

Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
gaileee

Michelle said...

I love the quilt! I don't think I ever saw that one. My favorite Christmas decoration is our tree. It is the perfect tree for this house, tall and skinny. Jeff's favorite Christmas decoration would be the Charlie Brown lawn decor we had in our yard last year, which sadly, this year, the wind took a big chunk out of it. We hope to salvage it. You can't find it anymore! I love seeing what you're up to!

Julia said...

I would love a chance to win these scraps!

My favorite Christmas decoration is Santa kneeling by the baby Jesus. I made this years ago when I used to do ceramics. It speaks volumes to me about what the season is really all about. :~) I will share a picture and post about it on my blog.

Elizabeth said...

I love your quilt! My favorite Christmas decoration is my Christmas quilt as well. It was so much fun to get it out this year when I hadn't seen it for 121 months.

Nanette Merrill said...

Ugh extra pounds. Lets not go there. Your Christmas quilt is cute. I love the diamonds.

jacquie said...

first, the quilt is beautiful! my fav decoration is of course, a tree. it's my silver pom tree from the 50's. it's still in it's original box. i love taking it out one limb at a time and putting it together. it's so sparkly!

Susan @ Blackberry Creek said...

I love this fabric line. I have a jelly roll of it. I hate I missed the giveaway, but congrats to thew winner.