Best Wishes to you all!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read along here and to tweet with me now and again. I never thought this would be so much fun! I'm so grateful for your kind, thoughtful, supportive, encouraging (and entertaining!) messages and emails. May all your days be filled with abundant love, joy, peace (and too many Christmas cookies!).

A little poem for you that I thought captures the sweet, beautiful spirit
of the season. Enjoy!
Best Wishes,
Kate

Looking For a Sunset Bird in Winter
by Robert Frost

The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.

In summer when I passed the place
I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it sweet and swift.

No bird was singing in it now.
A single leaf was on a bough,
And that was all there was to see
In going twice around the tree.

From my advantage on a hill
I judged that such a crystal chill
Was only adding frost to snow
As gilt to gold that wouldn't show.

A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.

63 lb Box

The other day, my UPS guy dropped off a 63 lb box on my doorstep. I was in my studio and heard the truck pull up and stop (a sound that I've learned to distinguish from all others). Then the knock on the door. Now, I don't know about your UPS delivery people, but mine knocks and then zips back to the truck lickety-split — kind of like that kids' game "Ring and Run" where you ring your neighbor's doorbell and then run as fast as you can and hope not to be caught! Anyone else play that game? So anyway, by the time I got to the door, he was already pulling away...leaving me with this giant box. GIANT.

Once I spotted the Moda tape, I knew immediately what it was, got a serious fabric adrenaline rush and wrestled the box in and tore it open. Yippee! Here's what was inside, and just in time for Christmas — well, not this one, but since it won't be released until May, I thought I might as well show you while it's still cold outside and the holiday spirits are in the air:

(In case you're interested, 5 yards each of 36 prints--plus the box--weighs 63 lbs.)

And then, just yesterday, a smaller box arrived with these in it. Yum!

Skating elves, ornaments, poinsettias, berries and a fun panel with the 12 Days of Christmas (plus some cute embellishments) will be available to help deck your halls next year! There will even be 9 flannels of selected prints, too. How fun is that!?

S N O W

At last, we woke this morning to find a beautiful blanket of fluffy snow out there! And what perfect timing with tomorrow being the first "official" day of winter and Christmas just around the corner. Though tomorrow is also the shortest day of the year (ugh, dark at 4:15pm around here), it's also the turning point toward a gradual lengthening of the light in the day. Yippee! As long as it's going to be so dark, why not turn on the tree lights a little earlier and light a few extra candles to snuggle in and enjoy it.

Speaking of "enjoying it", I love snow. Maybe you do, too. If you live someplace where is snows, you know about all the different kinds there are. Like the giant flakes that are heavy and wet that usually fall when it's barely cold enough to snow (or toward the end of a storm). There are also the teenie weenie dust-like flakes that sting for a second when they hit your cheeks in a good wind. Or the air-popped popcorn snow that swirls around in all directions that it's a wonder it ever lands on the ground at all. I've lived in the Northeast my whole life and have even come to know whether the feeling of the snow under my boots would make a better igloo than a snowball, or which kind of sled to bring to the nearest hill — flexible flyer, flying saucer, or the ol' reliable (lightening speed, out of control and totally un-steerable) rolled-up-plastic-sheet-with-no-fancy-name. Come to think of it, I don't think they make these anymore. Probably for the same reasons listed above.

No matter what kind of snow it is, I love it all. Which is why it was such a joy to wake up this morning to a good foot of it. Here are some pictures (yes, that's our house with dorky ornaments put on tree by yours truly):

This morning, my husband and I took a quiet walk on the beach, we were the only ones there! (This can also read: we were the only two koo-koos willing to subject ourselves to the 10 degree air, 20 mph wind, and 2 foot snow drifts).

Unfortunately, we had to resist the temptation to go for a swim because there was no lifeguard on duty. Oh well. But there's Pete, snowbathing. heehee

Wherever you live, I'm sure there's something about this time of year that is unique to your area and that connects you to the place in a familiar way that makes it your home.
Notice it. Delight in it. Love it.

My First Quilt

Like any beginner cook in the kitchen, there's nothing quite like a trustworthy recipe to follow carefully in order to learn the basics. Someone has already tested and refined the ingredients/proportions and has selflessly offered a path to you on how to get to the same yummy results they did. We're lucky to benefit from these kitchen pioneers (thank you, Julia).

Where am I going with this? Well, I wanted to make a quilt. I'm a beginner. So I was in search of a good recipe to follow. I found a great book called Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott, and I also happened to have a jelly roll! After flipping through the book, I found a design I liked then took the advice of many of you wise quilt pioneers and read through the instructions several times before starting to cut. I put so many of your suggestions to good use.

It was so rewarding and exciting to make my very first quilt out of my very first fabric line — kinda hard to explain actually. The patterns and colors worked together in ways that really surprised me. Totally fun and unexpected. Ok, so here it is:

Is it perfect? NO WAY.
Was it a little ambitious for a beginner? YES.
Did I learn a lot by diving in to the deep end? YES.
Did I have a blast? YES!
Do I love my seam ripper? You better believe it.

And the Winner is...

Thank you all soooo much for participating in the giveaway by leaving all sorts of wonderful tidbits of helpful pointers and tips for me! I will set off on my first quilting adventure ready to have some fun and watch those 1/4" seam allowances (and will keep chocolate close-by)! So...without further delay....here are all your names before headed into the grab bag:

And the winner of the Verna designer bundle is:

CONGRATULATIONS, CJ!! Please email me your mailing address and I will send out your prize! And ya know, I was really overwhelmed by such a great response and all of your willingness to share some excellent info that I decided to pick a second name (bet you didn't expect that, huh?). This person will win a Verna charm pack. Fun! And the winner of this prize is:


CONGRATS to you Julia! Please email me your mailing address and I'll send out your prize.

Keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway soon! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thanks again!

Correction & Sneak Peek

A correction to the post I made y'day...the Cardstore.com WINTERSALE discount code for free shipping and 10% off all orders ends tonight (midnight PST)! eek! So if you wanna make use of it, ya better hurry! Otherwise, the MERRY15 code will still work.

While we're on the merry topic of Christmas, thought I'd share a sneak peek of my holiday 2010 fabric line for Moda called "12 Days of Christmas". And guess what? There's a panel in this one. Funnn!