Are you ready for Christmas?

Well, are you? I know several people who buy the majority of their Christmas shopping during Black Friday (I have one word for them: WHY??? ), but I think there is a growing desire within people to give hand made gifts. If you fall into this enlarging category, do I have some great news for you!

 (For those who don’t know what a blog hop is, let me explain: it’s a group of bloggers who publish posts within a specific time period about a certain topic. On each blog, the links are displayed for you, the reader, to “hop on over” and see what the other bloggers have to say and share.) You see that adorable mouse on the left side of my page? It’s the “ T’was the night before…” blog hop and I’m participating! It is hosted by the always charming Mdm Samm, who is the blog queen extraordinaire! There seems to always be a different blog hop that she’s hosting and creating. It’s a lot of fun to follow along with her never-ending energy! I’ve never been involved in a blog hop before, I’ve only watched from the side lines. Usually because I’ve thought that you had to use a certain kind of fabric or buy a certain book or …. you get the idea. I’m not interested in being involved with something only to make me spend more money. But this time was different. (Aside from quilting in general. Ahem.)

The rules are simple: for the next 2 weeks, there are 56 extremely talented ladies who are ready to showcase easy and quick gifts that can be made within hours of beginning. While quilts are nice and very useful, they aren’t always the best idea if you’re crunched for time. And who doesn’t procrastinate at least a little bit?

As if having a plethora of quick and easy ideas aren’t fun enough, an added bit of fun has been included in this special blog hop. Each of us who are participating were to make such gifts that can be made within a few hours and then send them as actual gifts to the next participant on the list. It was so fun to come up with ideas! (for example: below is the list of ladies for today. CeLynn made and sent a gift to Cori, who made and sent a gift to Marlene, etc. etc.)Then each of us are to showcase other items that we have made in the past or for this season.

Would you like to see what our first 6 ladies have to show? Click on the link or the pictures to go to each blog. They also provide the links to the patterns (if applicable), so go visit them if you like what you see. I’m not showing you what each lady received as a gift, for you need to go see their beautiful presents for yourself!

CeLynn at CeLynn’s Sunflower Patch, who showed us many different ideas for quick gifts. One of them was this awesome tool roll!

Cori at Creativity Amongst Chaos, who showed us some adorable baskets/bags that are simple and easy to make. I’ve made this pattern before and it truly is and easy pattern! ( as a side note, I totally get that blog name!!)

Marlene at Stitching by the Lake (who is also the coordinator and cheerleader for this hop. Thank you for all of your hard work, Marlene!), showed us an adorable hand towel that can be easily machine appliqued. She showed so many other fabulous ideas, but I picked this one because I’m going to use this idea for my MIL, who adores chickens and roosters! Thanks for the idea, Marlene!

Marian at Seams to be Sew showed us some amazing examples of free standing lace designs. They take longer than a few hours, but they are beautiful!

Wendy at why-knot-kwilt proved that just because one moves to Italy, doesn’t mean there not time to sew! She made an adorable wall hanging for her gift, go check it out! And she shared with us the lovely view from her new home. Compared to the very white (and very deep!) view from my home, this looks absolutely delightful, Wendy!

And we have Mary Pat, found at Quilting Quietly, who showed us that adding some color to your table is quite easy, and so elegant! Each of her placemats are different, making for a gorgeous table setting! This one is my favorite, but go check out the other ones she made…they are just as colorful and fun.

That’s it for today’s lineup. Please visit these ladies and see their creative ideas. You’re bound to find something that will work for you! Don’t forget to come back on Friday, for that’s my day!