MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND THE GIVEAWAY WINNER IS.................

I hope you have the blessings of family and friends together today and that all you wish for in     the New Year will be yours.

Late last night I drew the winner of my Christmas GIVEAWAY and an amazing coincidence took place! My winner is Micki of Irish Muses (http://thedote.blogspot.com/) and guess what? Micki won another giveaway which she is going to re-gift to a friend and won it the exact same way she won mine: she was the last to comment and enter on each one.

Now I use Random.org to determine my winners, so there is no playing fast and loose here - a genuine coincidence - last and first seem rarely to be chosen and to have it happen twice in one day? Amazing!!!

Micki - I will be sending an email and leaving a comment on your blog, so contact me and tell me what you wish your gift to be - a lap sized wholecloth quilt kit, a set of repro civil war fabric fat quarters, a penny rug kit, a counted cross stitch kit or a lovely hand embroidered and crocheted table runner from my sister site http://www.funkybabymine.blogspot.com/.
I'll get it out to you right after Christmas Holidays.

Today has dawned bright and relatively mild with no snow other than a light skiff on the ground. We may get the tail end of the storm that is hitting Washington at the moment, but that will probably be late tomorrow or on Monday morning.

My only daughter and her family live in Europe so it is a long distance celebration, and hence very low key here. Yesterday I visited with dear friends who had all three of their adult sons home at once and had an early Christmas dinner with them as June must work this afternoon. A lovely festive meal and delicious as always.

I plan to cook my turkey breast with all the trimmings for New Years and will munch snackies today - hopefully avoiding many of the temptations in the house at the moment, and eating cheese and fruit.

I am counting my blessings and enjoying a new-to-me Dodge Caravan that has no rust, and runs very nicely indeed, and preparing to make inroads into the quilt commissions I have on hand.

Blessings to you all! Stay safe, stay warm and enjoy family and friends together during this holiday season!

Love and hugs
Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 1 day left and my giveaway draw is tonight!

A contemplative Santa from the earlier days of urban life, when high rises were only slightly taller than church steeples and chimneys were still made of brick and mortar! Perhaps fewer world issues for Santa to contemplate, perhaps not; as we need to remember there had just been a major world war and a tragic 'flu epidemic. Yet to come was World War II, and the concepts of mass extinction of peoples and nuclear warfare. I hope we all nurture in our hearts the idea of universal brotherhood and the basic human rights of free speech,  education, health services and a constant food supply in the coming years. I want to wish everyone, no matter what they celebrate, their heart's wishes in this coming New Year.

Peace and brotherhood to all!

On a lighter note, you only have the rest of today to enter for my great GIVEAWAY draw - it will be drawn for at midnight tonight and announced tomorrow morning, so get on over to:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html

And good luck!!

Be safe, warm, content and surrounded by friends and family during this holiday season.

Love

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 2 days left

WHEW!!!!! All done - nothing more to do and nowhere to go - I'm drinking this morning's coffee that I missed this morning as a warm over and just started the woodstove. Misadventures with the new car ate up yesterday and this morning as I visited the garage and had a new battery installed. Picked up my mail, went to the bank, the grocery store and picked up a couple of presents that had not been gotten because of the changeover from old to new car. It's turning cold and I really need the fire today, and will just spend the day picking up loose ends, eating chocolates and lazing about the house (that will be after I carry in some wood)  scanning blogs, and wishing season's greetings to all my friends. 

A darling Christmas Greeting postcard this morning shows a little boy and girl at their Christmas tree. They are dressed in the typical children's wear of the 20's and 30's and the scene is in an Art deco mood. Another found treasure!

My Christmas GIVEAWAY ends tomorrow night at midnight when I draw a name with the help of Random.org  so get over to:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html 

and good luck

My friend Mich's giveaway runs until midnight on New Year's Eve so go to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

and leave a comment in order to have a chance to win his lovely prize.

Stay warm, stay safe and enjoy the fellowship of friends and family!

Warm best wishes

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 3 days left

I wish I could tell you which old European Master painted this lovely and devout Nativity scene. There was no credit line for it, so if anyone knows I'd love to know too. What is so lovely is that there are no rich robes and jewellry here and no kings or wisemen, just awestuck faces of country peasants, the rapt parents Joseph and Mary, and a few cherubim.

It's going to be a green and damp and chilly Christmas in Nova Scotia this year I think, but on the up side after days of gale force winds coming from the direction which causes my stove to backdraft I've finally lit the fire and met with success rather than  having to air out a cold house full of smoke!

Yeay!!!!

Now to remind you to get over there and enter my special Christmas giveaway to be drawn at midnight on Christmas Eve. Go to:

 http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html

Your chances are still quite good to win a prize of your choice from one of five possibilities, and entry is open to anywhere in the world. Enter today - just become a follower and leave a comment.

My friend Mich's giveaway is on until Midnight on New Year's Eve and is a wonderfully illustrated book featuring the Huron Carol as depicted by a First Nations artist, a metis poet and sung on an accompanying cd by Inuit artist Susan Aglukark. A unique gift for you, especially if you are not yet familiar with Canadian First Nations Art. Read the article on Mich's blog - informative and inspiring!!! Head over to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

Until tomorrow ~ my wish for you this evening:

That you are warm, safe and well fed and that you take a pause to remember all your blessings, and to make sure that someone less fortunate has a few blessings to count too.

Warm hugs,

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 4 days left

Today is the winter solstice ~ a time when, before Christianity, the celts and druids celebrated light and fire and made merry to prevent the death of the sun, and to ensure that spring would return. It was natural as Christianity took hold in Europe and the British Isles, for the birth of Christ to be celebrated at a time when feasting and religious observance had always occurred.

Here today it is very windy, and it's rainy and my fire won't draw - all unpleasant, but not the end of the world; and I'm waiting for the water to boil for my cafetiere of morning coffee - always yummy! Things will look much better after I've had morning coffee.

We have been watching the days growing shorter and shorter for the last few months, but after today we can watch them gradually getting longer and brighter again, and begin to watch for other signs too. Although January and February often carry with them brutal cold and storms, by the time February is over, spring is truly on the way.

I have reached the point in my daily blog reading where it seems just about everyone has a giveaway going on, but before you go looking at my suggestions, make sure you stop by and enter mine at:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-15T16%3A59%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=7

All you have to do is leave a comment and make sure you become a follower and if your name is drawn you will win your choice of one of 5 prizes - all nice worthwhile items

AS well drop, over to my friend Mich's site and read about our unique Canadian Christmas Carol dating to 1643 and written in the Huron/Wendat language by a Jesuit priest who was later martyred in tribal warfare while serving his Huron congregation. You can sign up there for a chance to win a beautifully illustrated book and cd featuring the Carol. Go to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

I will update here by adding giveaways from the blogs I am going to check out this morning ~ check back later!!!

Blessings of the season!

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 5 days left

Greetings from chilly Nova Scotia

Here's a Greeting Card of Father Christmas on his rounds a few days early!

There is a feeling of anticipation in the air today and it has more to do with expecting snowfall than with Christmas. The wind has moved around to the Southeast, which always heralds wet weather here, and it is raw and damp. I went outside a few moments ago and you can almost feel the moisture in the air. I expect we will see a fine driving snow within the hour, so I'm putting off my plans to head to the Post Office for today and will hunker down near the stove and work instead.

I am working on the restoration of a fine silk crazy quilt dated 1928 and enjoying the challenge. Rather than removing the old pieces where the silk has shattered, I am appliquing over them with new silk pieces and then replicating the embroidery stitches, so that nothing is lost and it is all there if the owner wishes to return it to its original condition. Fortunately, the backing and binding are relatively whole so I have a good framework to work within. This is a family heirloom and rather than covering the shattered silk with organza as would be done in a museum collection, so that the original work can still be seen although protected, the owner and I opted for covering the old with new work to enhance display of the textile at family gatherings.

I want to thank all the people who have responded to my giveaway and become followers. After Christmas I want to consult with you all to see what direction my posts will take in the New Year. Meanwhile, if you haven't yet entered my Christmas GIVEAWAY, go to

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-15T16%3A59%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=7

I have made sure that I have enough choices in the prize so that everyone's tastes are met - and what nicer surprise on Christmas morning when you check my blog to find that after all  your family's presents are opened, you will still have a nice one on it's way to you?

I've found another site that is having a marvelous quilty giveaway:

Aren't those Lecien fabrics fabulous? Two full sets of 20 fat quarters are up for grabs - make sure you go to:

http://retromummy.blogspot.com/2010/12/flower-sugar-giveaway.html

I hope I win!!!

And finally, my friend Mich in Victoria, British Columbia is celebrating his first giveaway ~ Mich deals in First Nations Canadian art and has some of the nicest pieces I've seen. As a special Christmas post he has outlined with great research and images the story of Canada's own distinctive Christmas song ~ the Huron Carol or Jesous Ahatonhia - go have a look - and while you're there, enter the draw which is for a book and cd of the carol, sung by Susan Aglukark in Inuktitut, the language of Canada'a Inuit people.

Go to: http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

That's it for today - Christmas Blessings and stay safe and warm!

Love and hugs!  Janet

AS PROMISED EARLIER TODAY

Hi folks - the post I promised earlier is up now and is a fabulous read as well as having a very nice GIVEAWAY attached:
http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/
Mich is an art dealer who specialises in Canadian First Nations art. He has many lovely pieces of art and is continually searching for new and exciting acquisitions for his clients. He is quickly developing a following with his weekly blog posts and has decided to share the Christmas spirit with you via this GIVEAWAY. It is open now and will run until midnight December 31, 2010. Good luck - I hope you win, and please check back with me again tomorrow as I continue with my Countdown to Christmas.
Bye for now.
Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 6 days left

A quiet pause for the last Sunday in advent, before everyone launches into all the last minute things that need doing!

My greeting card this morning encourages quiet reflection - a beautiful sunny day in a wintry landscape that is much like what I see through my window as in one direction I look across the road to a small piece of woods with a brook running through it, and in the back I look across a large snow-covered field to a line of trees that encircles my house in the three other directions. It is quiet and very calm today - shortly there will be a tiny rush of traffic as the small rural church finishes its service and then it will be quiet again.

I've found you folks another nice GIVEAWAY that will not be announced until later this evening at which time I'll post the link for you to go enter and to also enjoy the interesting post that will go with it. So check back later.

And meanwhile make sure you enter my christmas GIVEAWAY  at:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html

 make sure you check back here and pick up the link to enter that other great giveaway later tonight.

Meanwhile enjoy this lovely day!