A Child is Born

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16




Merry Christmas, dear friends! Hoping you have a day filled with family, friends, and much love!


Becky

Swap

Do you ever feel like the more you add to your "To Do List" the less you really get done? I have a list of blog topics, but don't seem to get to enough of them. In November, I showed you the front and back of the tote bag that I made for the Secret Santa Christmas Swap. I didn't want to post photos of the completed project until I knew they had arrived in New England at Laurie's house. I had great fun sewing for Laurie of  Simple Things in Life. She had some unfortunate experiences with swaps so I hoped she would enjoy this one.

I used a jelly roll and some yardage of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabric line. The table runner is one of my favorite called Ten Minute Table Runner. The bag is Good To Go bag from Silver Thimble Quilt Company. There were enough strips to make a case for sunglasses, too. 

Here are the swap items safely at Laurie's home.  Laurie, I'm enjoying your blog! I love making new friends. Thank you to Joan from Ouvrages dune Acadienne for organizing this wonderful event!

Winner - My Favorite Things

The winner of the Gift Card to one of "My Favorite" Places, Chick Fil-A  is Kelly from Charming Chatter. Congratulations, Kelly. Please send me your address and I'll get your gift card in the mail.  You should be able to treat your family to milkshakes or just treat yourself to several:) Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway and played along with me  with "Your Favorite Things." We're ready for National Ice Cream Day. Mark your calendars - July 19th:)

UFO Challenge for 2011

My UFO's (Unfinished Projects) are taking over my sewing room. I find that I'm avoiding my sewing room because I don't want to face the "orphans". Several UFO challenges for next year are popping up on blogs in Blogville. This so appeals to me. It doesn't mean that I won't begin new projects. That approach has been unsuccessful in the past. It just means that I will focus on one UFO a month and attempt to complete that quilt top.

Judy L. from Patchwork Times has issued a UFO Challenge. Read more about her challenge here. I have her button on my sidebar. 

Nancy from Patchwork Penguin has issued a challenge, too. See the list on her sidebar of the challenge participants who have already accepted the challenge.

Pat Sloan had a series of  12 tips to bust UFO's. Go here to read her posts about her experience busting her UFO's.  New Years Eve and New Year's Day Pat is hosting a UFO Busting Party.

The Charming Girls Quilt Club makes goals every two months. Many of us list quilt projects as part of our monthly goals.

One day, last week I made a list of the projects that I want to complete in 2011. Of course, I now cannot remember which of my many notepads I used to compose the list. It is MIA:)  Here is my newly written list of projects to complete in 2011:  

1. Scrappy Nines in Black and White

2. Friendship Crossing

3. Christmas Lights

4. Star Gazy

5. Patches and Pinwheels

6. QE Blue Second Saturday BOM

7. White Chocolate

8. Vicky's quilt

9. Chelsea Lane BOM

10. Dotty Log Cabin

11. Christmas Pineapple

12. Portobello Market  Jelly Roll Quilt Along

New

1. French General project

2. Halloween Quilt

3. Nickle swap Morning Star

4. Layer cake project

5. Mon Ami Schnibble

6. Comfort and Joy

7. Retirement Fresh Cotton

8. Jellystone

9. Black and white BOM

I'll definitely blog more about these projects in 2011.  I only need to get a project to a completed quilt top to complete a UFO. I do tend to take care of the rest of the steps once it's at that stage. I do like to play mind games with myself. I've also listed some new projects that I'd like to work on in 2011. It will be a reward to begin these projects in addition to completing my UFO goals.

Note: Now that I've recreated my list I found the original one. Who would have ever guessed that I saved it as a Word document on my computer. No wonder I couldn't find it:)

Bloggy Giveaway

Quilt Frenzy is giving away a subscription to Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine. I'm crazy about quilt magazines. I subscribe to many. Visit her blog and enter for a chance to win this one year subscription. Don't hesitate. Friday, December 17th is the deadline to enter. Enjoy:)

My Favorite Things

On my car radio this morning, one of the DJ's mentioned it was National Ice Cream Day. I LOVE ice cream. As I continued to drive, I decided that I'd do an ice cream giveaway to celebrate. Hmmm! It's been record breaking cold here in Atlanta, but shipping ice cream does present a problem. I continued my errands, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about ice cream (on a day with wind chills in the teens).  I stopped with my MIL at Chick-fil-A (another one of my favorites)

 Their holiday Peppermint Milk Shakes is a family favorite (even though I think I've only tasted it once:) My DS has already had several this holiday season.

As I was sitting there sipping my hot coffee (another one of my favorite things), my brain clicked. I purchased a  gift card (another favorite thing) that should cover a milkshake or an ice cream or even something else. 

I began to worry that only folks in the Southern US would be able to use this card. I was surprise to find that all the states  in red have a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

While I was "Googling" Chick-fil-A, I decided to check on National Ice Cream Day. I couldn't find any indication that it was today. In fact, National Ice Cream Day is July 19th.

My giveaway changed from National Ice Cream Day to "My Favorite Things" giveaway:) Even though we have the fireplace on full blast, I'm wearing a heavy sweatshirt and covered with a quilt and dog, I did stop and purchase some of my favorite ice cream, Bluebell. And YES, I will treat myself on" My Favorite Things Day" with a serving of Bluebell Ice Cream. My two favorite flavors are shown below:)

To enter "My Favorite Things" giveaway for a Gift Card to either Chick-fil-A or Walmart (if there is not a Chick-fil-A  near your home), leave a comment on this entry telling me some of your favorite things.  Can you tell I've been watching the Final Season of Oprah? The deadline to enter is Saturday, December 18th. I'll visit the Random Number Generator on Sunday and announce the winner. Hope you have a day filled with "your favorite things!"

Secret Santa Swap

What a treat! I received my Secret Santa Swap package from Donna N. (blog?) Not one, but two beautiful, elegant table runners. Donna choose the perfect gift for me. I've been making table runners this Fall for my MIL's apartment. I made a holiday one for her, but not for me. We have two tables, breakfast area and dining room. This Christmas we will host my husband's family on Christmas day. We will need to use both tables for our holiday meal. Donna, your table runners will definitely add to our holiday meal. Thank you, Donna for this wonderful swap gift!