A bit of everything

This week the postman came and brought me this wonderful present from Sarah. Sarah was afraid I wouldn't like them, because she had read that I didn't like blue. But this combination is just gorgeous! Sarah made me really happy with her baubles (O: Thank you so much Sarah!

Let it snow I made this sweet little snowman for a blogger whom I thought needed something especially made for her, since she makes so much for others. I later read, she didn't like snow, since they get so much snow where she lives. But I guess this is different.

Gail Pan Design for ChristmasGail Pan makes wonderful designs. She has made a Christmas stitchery wall hanging for us all to make. She says it is a truly quick project to make, so maybe one more nice project for Christmas. Thank you Gail!

And then here I have two sneak peaks for my Christmas swap partner Marie-Joze. The swap was organized by dear Janet. She now has 12 tips for Christmas. Go over there and read the first two. They are so much fun ^^)

I hope you all have a very nice weekend. We will be celebrating Sinterklaas, a wonderful Dutch feast for young and old. And after that, when Sinterklaas has left the Netherlands to go back to Spain, we will start with the Christmas decorations.

Another giveaway at Giggle Buttons!

Sonya has another wonderful giveaway with a set of buttons and a pattern included. Go there fast, so that you can leave behind a message, telling her your sweetest thing about Christmas.

Advent

I am finally getting a bit into the Christmas spirit. In the Netherlands we first celebrate Sinterklaas with poems, suprises, presents, sweet treats and much more. It starts in the middle of November and ends on December 6. During this period, children who still believe in Sinterklaas are very excited.

But of course advent also starts during this period. My mother made an Advent calendar for every grandchild (12!) on their first Christmas. My daughter is now 17 and still enjoys it a lot. I was two days late this year (my mother and sister-in-law buy and wrap all the small presents), but my daughter is very good at reminding me when she gets up, so here it finally is:

Isn't this something very special (O:

Then I also made my Advent tray. I'm not quite satisfied yet, but it is too cold and rainy to go shopping for something to add. So I'll stick to this for the moment.

It used to be a family tradition to get a Christmas angel on the first day of Christmas at breakfast. That is when I got these. And it really took four years to get them all toghether. That was always something to look forward to. Isn't this a wonderful tradition!

And here is a picture of my Christmas quilt I made last year. Actually I made two, since it was so easy to make. So one of my sisters was lucky. I didn't quilt it, but made knots. I'm not quite sure how that is called. It is an easy and fast way to get a quilt finished and it looks very good on this one.