Christmas Through The Year - January

It's time!  Let's kick up our heels and kick this club off right!  First, I want to clarify the rules.  THERE ARE NO RULES.  Well, ok, one rule - you have to finish a gift in order to be in the monthly give-away.  When you start making it is up to you.  Have one almost done?  Polish it off this month and it'll count for January. 

At the end of the month [probably a few days before the last day], I'll add Mr. Linky to my post about the give-away, and you'll add your link as you finish your gift.  I'll check out your blogs and look at your gifts, and your name will go into the hat for the drawing for that month.  Your gift does not have to be sewing-related, but it does have to be hand-crafted.  And it doesn't have to be Christmas-themed.  That's it!  You're not going to sign up, except at the very end of the month.  So you don't have to worry about committing to something, and not being able to fulfill that.  This is for fun!

Now that's out of the way, let's get to our first month!  Our movie suggestion this month, to get us in the holiday spirit, is White Christmas.  Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.  This is my all-time favorite Christmas movie.  I love the old ones.  Good songs, happy ending, keep the tissue handy!  I'll be watching this as I stitch today. 

By the way - I have two gifts that I'm finishing up for this past Christmas - this is why I'm having a club, so none of us have to do that this coming year!

And now for some tutorials.  I have to apologize here, it just struck me today that I should have asked the authors of these if I could use their pics - I will do this for the coming months, so you can see it first.

First up, the most darling penny rug ever.  It's called 521 Lake Street, a charming little house surrounded by bluebirds!  I'm going to do one in cottons.  You can find this delight at Bluebird Papercrafts.  Seriously sweet!

Next, the lovely Cheryl at Willowberry Designs has just done the most gorgeous post - showing how to use doilies to embellish a market tote.  She just got back from Europe and you can tell - ooh la la you must see this post!

And now for a BOM from Dawn Hay and Vicki Tucek, called Out of the Box.  It's a joint effort, each of them has a block on their blogs.  Absolutely scrumptious, with bobbles and bits, and dear stitcheries.  They're encouraging you to think out of the box with this one - any block would look wonderful on a bag, pillow, even a little girl's dress.

Sew Mama Sew has a great tutorial for a hostess gift box, made from fabric.  Scroll down the post, there's a downloadable pdf.

Whip Up has a tutorial for a Cozy Cross Couch Throw - lovely and it looks fairly fast!

I think that's enough for the first post - I'll add more in future posts throughout the month.  Now - who are you making for?  I suggest you base your gift list on who you just gifted this past year.  Or even on who you forgot!  My list never varies, so it's easy.  Keep a list handy and as you scroll through tutorials, you can check it and see if they'd be good for a person on your list.  Mine is by my computer.

I need to thank Caroll of Attic Window Quilt Shop and Val of Life's Little Garden for all their help - they listened to me bounce ideas around, gave excellent feedback, and Caroll even proofread my post.  Thank you ladies!!!

I need to mention one other name here - Jilly, you commented on my last post that you'd love to play along.  I'm glad you're here!  But I can't contact you, so if you would be so kind, please email me at alliehomeschool at yahoo dot com.  [Change that to a regular email format, please.]   I'd like to welcome all my new followers, I hope you'll all join in and play along - if you don't have a blog, please email me, you can always send me your pics of your finished gifts to be in the give-away.  I'd be happy to post them here!

Finally [I can hear you clapping], I hope to have my own tutorial up in a few days for a small gift for your sewing friends.  Hubby has ordered batteries and a good charger for my new camera, and he found a memory stick so I can download pics without the camera being on.  Yay!    So, get your stitch on, start making some gifts - I can't wait to see what you create!