Foto Finish - Ribbon

It's Saturday, finally.  The end of another crazy busy week and the beginning of 2 weeks of vacation.  Yeah!  I've been MIA this week on the blog, mainly due to end of year reports that had to be in on Friday so I could take vacation.  I've put in a number of evenings this week and a few early mornings trying to get stuff done and turned in.  Nothing like making it in under the wire.  The last report went to the boss at 5:15 PM yesterday just before I had to leave to pick up Kiddo from swim practice.  Now I can pretty much concentrate on Christmas stuff, which has become a dire need with stuff needing to get to UPS by Monday.  I do hope to spend some time catching up with email and everyone's blogs.  And of course, some sewing will sneak in there as well. 

Barbara's theme for this week's Foto Finish is "ribbon".  Some of my best memories of Christmas are helping Mom wrap Christmas gifts (as well as eating all the icing when we decorated sugar cookies, but I digress).  My Mom loves pretty packages, often making her own bows to get just the right bow for a package.  I know she passed that love down to me.  My holiday wrapping stash is proof of that. 

As you can see I have a lot of bows that are meant to be put on the tree.  Those bows are great if  you have to ship a lot of your gifts or end up jam packing everything into the car to make the drive to spend time with family.  The regular "fluffy" bows get crushed and look yucky, so I've looked for bows that can take a bit of close contact with another package and still look good.  The "pom pom" bows also hold up well at close quarters, so they've been creeping into the holiday stash in recent years.  I'm still working on trying to make these "everyday item" shots look more glamorous, that skill definitely needs more work. 

That's it for me this morning.  Take a break from your holiday preparations to visit Cat Patches for more ribbons to get wrapped up in. 

15 Minute Challenge - December 13th

Can you believe that?  Only 11 days till Christmas!  I'm not ready, but there is comfort in knowing that I'm in just about the same place as last year and I still managed to get done what had to get done before Christmas without too many late nights or panicked shopping trips. 

On the other hand, I'm not feeling real great about this week's challenge report. 

Yes only two days where anything sewing related happened.  It was just one of those crazy weeks where the rest of my life didn't mesh well with my quilting life.  Those weeks happen occasionally. This week looks to be much more conductive to sewing than last week.  

I do plan to continue the 15 Minute Challenge in 2012, though I'm playing with making some changes for next year.  Nothing firm yet, just some thoughts floating around in my head.  If you have any thoughts about the challenge you'd like to share, I'd be interested.  

So how did your week go?  

   

1. Pat 2. Liz 3. Kate @katiemaequilts

4. Amanda, Seabreeze Quilts 5. Thea 6. Marcia

7. Polar Pathway (w/Linky)

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Stash Report - December 11th

The Christmas tree is out of the box and assembled, but it still needs to be decorated.  That's on tap for this afternoon once we get done with the swim meet.  

I noted in my post yesterday that it has been a busy week.  I've not done any significant sewing since last Monday.  But I did get some sewing done last Sunday, so there is a bit to report.  

Used this week: 0.81 yards
Added this week: 0 yards

Used year to date:  53.33 yards
Added year to date:  70.12 yards

Net Stashed for 2011:  16.79 yards

Not a bad report for not being in the sewing room much this week.  I'm hoping to fit in a little sewing time this evening after the tree is up, but to be honest I'm more likely to end up in the recliner asleep with the computer in my lap.  It's been a busy weekend. 

If you've got some time, hop over to Patchwork Times for more stash busting news. 

Foto Finish - Holiday Decor

What a week!   The week started with a faulty heating system at work.  My office was 58 F on Monday and Tuesday.  By Wednesday it was in the low 60's.  They were still working on it Friday.  I'm hopeful of having a reasonably warm office when I get back to work on Monday.  We've had the normal sport practices, but this week was also Kiddo's Christmas program and then one evening of Christmas shopping for the Angel tree at work.  I wish the weekend was going to be slower, but it's a swim meet weekend, with 7 AM warm ups.  I'll need to go drag Kiddo out of bed in few minutes. 

With all that going on, it's been hard to get into the Christmas spirit around here.  No tree up yet.  No packages wrapped yet.  Since today's Foto Finish theme is holiday decor, I had to go looking at previous year's pics, since there is definitely no decorating going on here at the moment. 

This is actually a very small part of the holiday display at my sister's house last year.  She has a significant collection of all things gingerbread related.  You can just make out the gingerbread baker in the background.  My sister goes all out for the holidays, she decorates almost every room in her house.  Me, I do good most years to get a tree up. 

I'm hopeful that our tree will go up this afternoon.  Things should slow down some this week. If it doesn't, things will definitely start looking up the week after since we'll start our holiday vacation.  I hope your holiday preparations are in full swing.  Take a break, grab a cup of hot chocolate and hop over to Cat Patches for some quick holiday cheer. 

Wordless Wednesday - Winter