Whimsy Cottage Blog

Mid-Season

OK, it's the day after Christmas.  After complaining about the media's rain of information about the holidays, I did have to go shop.  Maybe I've never left my house during the pre-Christmas week, but if I did, I don't remember it being like this.  People were everywhere.  And, except for the time it took to just be "out", it was OK.  Traffic sucked & parking sucked, but nobody seemed to mind.  We were all pretty content to wait in lines.  So, is this what happens every year?  Am I that out of touch?  Or, is this America's way of rising to the challenge presented to us by our wishy-washy economy?  It would be nice to think so.  You know, the only place I didn't  wait in line, and where we all expect to do so, was the post office and UPS!

Sweet Juliette, my blog rescuer, has begun our class list for (dare I say it) Spring classes...I guess it's really Winter/Spring.  You can sign up at the store or call with a credit card number.  The list will get bigger as details are ironed out, so check it often to see if there's something you want to learn to do.  She's also added a list of the kits we've got on-hand. 

Christmas fabrics and kits will be 25% off until mid-January, then they'll be whisked away to make room for new deliveries.    We'll start inventory this week - remember we have all those $4/yard fabrics and it'd be great to count fewer of them.  You can help by buying some for quilt backs!

Countdown

I used to love Christmas.  When I was little, my mom would leave the tree lights on all night and let me sleep on the couch because I loved waking to that magic - and those were the days of those giant, clip-on lights, which aren't as enchanting as today's tiny lights.  As an adult, I've collected Santas, nutcrackers, angels, snowmen and vintage decorations;  I put away all everyday decor and haul out Christmas for every nook and cranny, every horizontal surface...I even create surfaces if I have to.  I used to take pictures of what I'd done to use as a reference the next year, to expedite the process by requiring fewer decisions about where to put everything. 

But, my angels and snowmen have not been out of their boxes in years.  And this year, there are no garlands with lights, no bows, no miniature Santas.  To the untrained eye, my house appears overdone, but I know the difference.  Maybe having little children in the house is the driving force - I'm thankful for my returning college daughter - she's my inspiration.  I'm not a grinch, tho' - I love buying presents, cooking and spending time with people I care about.  It's the commercialization I don't love.  Every TV show, every ad reminds me of how close Christmas is, what I should buy, how I should decorate, what and how I should eat and drink, when I should mail gifts.  I'm old - I already know this stuff.  It takes the romance, the warmth, the homey-ness out of Christmas.  When my daughter and I get a tree this week-end, I think we'll put those big, old, clip-on lights on it to remind me of the gentler and sweeter holidays I remember.  I won't, however, be sleeping on the couch.

So, let's think about other countdowns.  There are 197 days until the 2008 Wasatch Front Shop Hop!  This year's theme is Once Upon a Time...and each shop is adopting a fairy tale, will design and make a quilt and hand out complete patterns to all participants.  Mark your calendar for June 25 - 28.  And, for those of you who're all set with Christmas, let's start thinking about Valentine's Day...not sure of the countdown...but Moda's "Flirtations" fabrics arrived last week, by Sandy Gervais.  We got the red, pink, chocolate brown colorway and it's very cute.

So, one of those fabulous applique quilts is back from the longarmer, hanging at the store and kitted.  Oh, and bound.  It's actually got binding on it!  "Greenbrier", by Sue Spargo, was originally done in wool, but Dana used mostly batiks, with a bit of wool mixed in.  Her color sense is phenomenal and this quilt is gorgeous.  The kits contain 27 fabrics, 15 wools, fabric maps and the book;  it's $82. (The house quilt and circus quilt peeking out on the sides aren't included in kit.)