How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

A civilized accumulation in the back yard

We had a wonderful Christmas with my youngest sister in Charlotte, NC.  Charlotte had only 3 or 4 inches of snow on the day after Christmas and it stuck only to the lawns.  Not so in Philadelphia, which had it's first blizzard of the season.  Since I hate snow with a passion that burns hotter than the fires of hell,  I decided we should stay and experience Charlotte's civilized snowfall for two extra days.  Why come home and deal with the immediate aftermath of a blizzard?  It would have killed all the warm, fuzzy holiday feelings from the aftermath of Christmas.  Instead, I indulged myself with sewing related activities even though I was far from my sewing room.

Shopping for Fabric
My sister and her husband are expecting a son in Spring and I agreed to sew the baby room stuff!  On Christmas Eve, we went to Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC to search for the fabric.  Mary Jo's is huge!!!!   Hard to believe, but even with  the tons of fabric in the store,  Little Sis didn't find anything she really loved.  I found a piece suitable for my mini-SWAP, so I was happy.  My eight-year-old niece found a piece of minkee to use as a TV-watching-cuddle-up blanket, so she was happy.  Only Little Sis was disappointed.  Two days later while she was at work,  I went on a solo reconnaissance mission to Sew Much Fun in Charlotte and sent a few pictures of possibilities to her cell phone.  Still, nothing.  I can't go into a fabric store and not buy anything, so I bought a package of Wonder Tape as seen on the Sewing Toolbox DVD (see below) and two packs of charm squares (20% off!) for a future quilting project. Our last chance was Hobby Lobby.  There are no Hobby Lobbies in my area and I was curious about them.  For me, it's too much of a craft/decorating store and not enough of a fabric store.  But that wouldn't stop me from shopping there if I had one.  Little Sis found just what she wanted, but there wasn't enough yardage on the bolt.  Luckily, she was able to order the amount she needed.  In addition to the stripe pictured, she ordered dots in the same colorway.   The brown minkee is for the crib quilt.  Mission accomplished.

Sewing Books for Christmas

I got both volumes of Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing Toolbox for Christmas.   The books are full of just what the subtitle promises:  "tips/techniques not found in patterns".  I'm guessing the content is from the Power Sewing webcasts available by subscription on the Power Sewing website.  (I am not a subscriber.)   The books are very capably reviewed by Sharon on Adventures from the Sewing Studio.  I have nothing to add except I think the books are definitely a "must have."  Having the books and accompanying DVDs  made up for being so far away from my sewing machine.

If I had been snowed-in at home, I would have spent long days in the sewing room and that would have been wonderful.  But I didn't feel cheated.   There was lots of fabric shopping and I had two new sewing books to read.  Best of all, I got to spend Christmas with a small part of my extended family which made this Christmas more like the Christmases I remember.