Got Time?

Whew! I've been working on Christmas decorating much of the day, and I'm a long way from done. You wouldn't THINK it would take so long, but it's really a good chance for me to do a little extra cleaning and rearranging in addition to the decorating, and then there's rummaging through the boxes of decorations, replacing strands of lights that no longer work, changing out bedding and wall quilts . . . . The list seems to keep going!

I've gotten the bedrooms pretty much done other than some touches of greenery and the little details I'll add in the next couple days, but the main elements are in place. The bathrooms--well, they're more or less done, although there's certainly not as much to do there. I still need to add a few details to those as well. Bits and pieces of the livingroom and kitchen are done, but those are the two rooms that get the most attention when it comes to decorating, so I have many more hours to go on those.

If you weren't reading my blog last Christmas, you may be surprised to learn that I like to have a decorated tree in the Sweat Shop. Yep, it's true. And right now, the Sweat Shop's in terrible condition and in desperate need of some cleaning out and reorganizing. I think you'd need a shoe horn to get a tree in there! (And, before you start visualizing a huge Christmas tree, I should tell you that the tree is an artificial pine that stands maybe about 4' tall.) So tonight I've been working on getting the Sweat Shop a little better organized.

Why is it that I sew and sew and sew but I don't seem to make a dent in the stash? Why does it seem to keep growing?! No, don't answer those questions. I'm in denial. Let's just pretend it's not my fault.

I haven't gotten very far on the reorganization yet, but I DID clean out my basket of patterns, so I thought I'd have a giveaway. Or several giveaways, actually. But we'll do them one at a time!

The reason I ask whether you've got time is because the first giveaway is for two Christmas-themed patterns. With Christmas just around the corner, you'll want to start making these right away. Or not--I think you have something like 390 days until Christmas 2009. So here are the two patterns:

Both from Pieces from My Heart--The Chosen Ones (somehow I bought two of these, so I'll be parting with one) and It's a Wrap. I made It's a Wrap last year, and it's quick to make. I think I had the quilt pieced and quilted in just a little more than a weekend. And here it is, hanging on the wall in one of the small bits and pieces of the kitchen that's mostly decorated:

So leave a comment on this post and tell me you want in the drawing for these two patterns. I'll pick a winner on Saturday night with the hope that I can get the winner's address on Sunday and mail them out on Monday. Good luck! Now it's back to the Sweat Shop for me.

[COMMENTS ARE CLOSED--RESULTS OF THE DRAWING WILL APPEAR SOON!]