TIme to Celebrate Christmas with That Patchwork Place

I think I have come to the conclusion that the holidays are truly a year-round event for quilters. Think about it - at the beginning of the year there are those people that didn't get their projects done in time so they're going to finish them in the first few months of the year to be really ahead of schedule for the next season. Then when the weather warms up and the novelty of finishing those projects wears off, the new fabrics arrive in stores between May & July. Then you buy the new fabrics and come up with a new plan and set them aside until the weather gets cold again, when you decide to pull out that stack of UFOs and want to finish gifts for everyone you know in a unrealistic matter of time. Sound familiar to any of you? Can I get an Amen?Granted, if you're south of the equator the temperatures might be a bit different, but it's the same schedule all the same.

Well, with that in mind, the staff at Martingale came out with an amazing new book full of all sorts of projects that you could get started on now and have time to finish them before the holiday season is upon us. Sounds great right? Well, stay tuned and you could win an eBook to get your crafting in high gear.

 Celebrate Christmas with That Patchwork Place is a wonderful book full of 22 projects, large and small, that feature a variety of styles and fabrics with a project for everyone. I went through the book and picked out a few of my favorite projects that I'm sure I'm going to have to make before the holidays this year.

 I cannot get over how adorable this O Christmas Tree Wall Hanging is! I have a tree but I don't really have the right space to put one up in my house, so this may be my go-to decoration this year. Plus I know several people with the same spacial issue that I have and I think I could mass produce these cuties to grace several homes this year. I'm trying to decide which fabrics to use, but if I make a bunch, I can try several combinations and choose the right tree to fit each person on my list!

 Also, this Diamond Mantel Cover is so adorable and even though I don't have a mantel, I know some people who do and I could make a few of these for gifts too. Anything that combines different shapes like diamonds with just a touch of embroidery is right in my book!

And finally I NEED to make this stocking. The Naturally Neutral Stocking is just the project I need to grace my home this year. Sadly, each year my Husband pulls out his 5 stockings to decorate my home and I had none... So I made myself one and I wasn't thinking and made the smallest stocking known to man. It gets dwarfed by his gigantic stockings and I have been on the hunt ever since to find a stocking that I could make for me that "felt right". This is it! I may even make one to match for my Hubby, that is if I can select which stockings get hung up this year... We'll see!

So do any of these projects interest you? Do you have a stash of holiday fabrics waiting to be used? Well, I seriously recommend that you check out this book and find a project or three to make!

Oh, and getting to that giveaway - I'm curious to know - what is your favorite holiday tradition? We have several crazy traditions in our family, some that I don't think any other family does. For instance, when we open presents, you have to say "Thank you" to the giver of the gift before you begin to unwrap it. Failure to do so - no gift. Also, if you shake a package before you open it, you have to guess the contents. If you guess wrong - no gift. And never EVER shall scissors, knives or other sharp utensils be used to open a gift. EVER. It's goofy and fun and it's our thing.

So again, what's your thing? What is your favorite holiday tradition? Leave me a comment below with the answer to enter for a chance to win an eBook of Celebrate Christmas with That Patchwork Place. I will choose a random winner next Monday, so please remember to leave me your e-mail address so we can contact you when you win!

And don't forget this isn't your only chance to win, there is a blog to visit each day to enter for a chance to win. Check out the schedule below:

Thursday, June 26th - Stitch This! (Martingale)

Friday, June 27th - Pat Wys at Silver Thimble Talk

Saturday, June 28th - Kim Brackett at Magnolia Bay Quilts

Monday, June 30th - That's me at Ruby Blue Quilts

Tuesday, July 1st - SewCalGal

Wednesday, July 2nd - Cindy Lammon at Hyacinth Quilt Designs

Thursday, July 3rd - GenQ

Saturday, July 5th - Cheryl Brown at Quilter Chic

Monday, July 7th - Jen Eskridge at Reanna Lily Designs

Tuesday, July 8th - Kathy Brown at The Teacher's Pet

Wednesday, July 9th - Amy Ellis at Amy's Creative Side

That's a bunch of chances to win so hop on over and enter! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!!!

p.s. If you don't have the patience to wait to see if you win an eBook copy and you want this book in your hot little hands much much sooner, you can also purchase a copy from either Martingale or Amazon now!

Time for Christmas!!!

Well, time for Christmas and holiday sewing that is! Join me tomorrow for a fun Blog Hop the lovely staff at Martingale has put together to celebrate their new book:

The Blog Hop has already begun, but you still can look back at the posts and enter for a chance to win an eBook! Hop on over to Martingale's blog to see the schedule of blogs to visit and remember to come back tomorrow here to visit me!

It's going to be fun and it'll give you a great excuse to get a jump start on those holiday sewing projects!

Impromptu Blog Hop-ish

A bunch of us girls that designed projects for the new book Kitchen Stitches decided to swap projects and share what we've made. It's really neat that we all get to tackle someone else's design. It just wouldn't be fun to do the same thing over again (unless it's that fun). 

So to refresh you all, my project is the Slow-Cooker Cozy on the left, but I had so many other ideas to choose from, it was a bit hard to pick!

I just finished the quilting last night on this little gem and I will be sure to post about my experience with it later this week. In the mean time, please hop on around the web over the next couple days to visit these girls and their blogs too:

2/3 - Heather @ The Sewing Loft

2/4 - Kim @ Go Go Kim

& Becky @ Patchwork Posse

2/5 - Amy @ Form Work Design

& Deby @ So Sew Easy

2/6 - Jackie @ Jabot Quilt

& ME (Come back for the full story then)

2/7 - Melissa @ Happy Quilting Melissa

2/8 Kari @ Fresh Cut Quilts

Here's another sneak peek of what you can expect to see this week: