Monday, November 16, 2009

It's Beginning To Look A LITTLE Like Christmas . . . . . .

Hello, how was your weekend, it was a busy one here, the time just flew by.

We started the process of getting ready for Christmas this weekend. My husband helped me get all my Department 56 Christmas Village houses down from the attic. It's definitely a two person job. I get up in the attic and drop the boxes down one by one. My husband does the catching and stacking.

I started collecting these Christmas houses over 20 years ago. I would get a few each year as gifts from family and before I knew it I had a whole town. Every year I say I don't have room for any more, then a new one comes out that "I just need" to complete my collection. I set them up all over the house.

I get them out before Thanksgiving for several reasons. First, my daughter is only home for a few days at Christmas, so I like to get some of the decorations out for her to enjoy at Thanksgiving. I also like to take my time setting them up, I enjoy looking at each one, the details amaze me every time. But mainly, I just like having them out, they are the first decorations up and the last I put away.

From the beginning I've always written the date I got the piece and the name of the person who gave it to me on the box. This one was from my Grandmother in 1992, she sadly passed away a couple of years later. But I think of her often, and always when I get out this house.
Looks like I picked this one up while on vacation in South Carolina in 1991.
I could not pick a favorite if I tried.
Although this pie shop is pretty darn cute.
Even the back of the houses, which folks don't normally get to see, have interesting detail. Here's a coat and broom by the back door with snowy logs stacked on the step.
Stay tuned for pictures as I get these houses all set up for the holidays.

I also squeezed in some sewing this weekend. I worked on snowballs for the Red Snowball Quilt Challenge.

I thought I had all my red snowball blocks done. I thought I counted 40 plus 3 extra.
But when I put them on my design wall for this picture I came up short. Not only did I not have the extra, I didn't have the 40 I needed. I'm not sure where I went wrong. My goal was to have all my red blocks done this weekend, and I had the time, if I would have counted correctly.


That's OK, I have plenty of half square triangles made up ( as I've mentioned before, I'm an over cutter) so I'll make a few more then get started on the cream snowballs.

I've got around 40 different red fabrics in the red blocks.

6 comments:

  1. I love the houses!!!! So adorable! When I have room...lol I say that so often even if I get a house I'll never in a million years have room for everything lol.

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  2. You were busy this weekend!! Good for you. I love those houses. They have so much detail. So nice that you write the date and gift giver on the box. Since we started spending Christmas in Montana, I have scaled way down on my Christmas decorating. (If I had those houses, however, things might be different!). You've made great progress on your snowball blocks. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Look forward to seeing more of those houses.

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  3. I can't wait to come home!

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  4. Look at all those red snowballs! I love it! Justt his weekend, I tried laying out my red HST's to count how many different reds I used. I came up with 41 before I lost focus and moved on to something else. I am loving making this quilt. It is so much fun to see all the different fabrics. And despite it's large quantities of pieces, it actually goes together quicker than I thought.

    Can't wait to see your village out and on display. It's such a fun time of year!

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  5. Looks like you are on a ball roll - ha - with all those snowballs made. Lookin' good.
    I still have a couple of things to finish up before I start another "something". But I keep looking at all my red and whites!
    And would love to see a couple more pics of the village as it is set up!

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  6. The villages are so pretty and have so many memories! I hope you will share some pictures when you are through setting up. Wonder how you miscounted snowballs? Oh well, they look fantastic so far!

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