Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Well, are your presents wrapped?  Is the house decorated?  Are you ready because Christmas is here.  I don't know about you, but it has been a bit hectic here finishing up the last few presents.  On Monday night, after my son's holiday walk at school, I decided to finally get on the stick and make a few of these cute mug rugs from a Label Crew project.  What a fun, easy project!  I started them on Monday, but had to leave them "almost" finished so I didn't miss The Closer.  LOL.  Yes, pretty dedicated fan I am.  I mean, I knew I only had about 20 minutes of sewing left, just top stitching and buttons. 

Didn't they turn out cute?  Buddy gave them to the latch key supervisors, and I gave them to a couple of coworkers.

I had the Mary Engelbreit scraps from another project....I thought they worked perfectly.

I hope you are enjoying your holiday season, and I'd like to apologize for being so out of touch.  A week ago Sunday, I was sewing a baby quilt when the phone rang.  One of my coworkers of 12 years had died.  He was a very kind man, who in 12 years of teaching with him...I never once heard him complain or say a mean word.  The news just kind of sucked the fa lalala right out of me.  So, I want you to know, sincerely, I appreciated your comments on my last post, as I appreciate your friendship always.  And, I am doing much better tonight.  Today was our last day of school, and I think the break will be good for everyone's spirits.  I am gifted with working with WONDERFUL people, who I think of as family.  While it was a difficult week and half, it was easier because you knew you weren't alone in your feelings. 

With that being said, my friend loved Christmas.  And, I think he would think it oh-too-fun to have a Christmas giveaway.  If you would like to win one of these mug rugs, just leave a comment.  I will try to close comments on Monday...as long as the holiday madness doesn't swallow me up.

In a last note about my friend, this is a story I think quilters could appreciate.  Last year, he wandered down my hallway with his favorite, worn, loved, cherished baseball hat in hand.  He said, "Kris, do you own a glue gun, because you seem like the type of person who would."  And I replied, "Yes, I do.  Why?"  He held out his other hand which had a Detroit Tigers patch in it.  He asked, "Would you glue this patch on my Tiger's hat?"  To which I said with a laugh, "John, I am not going to glue that on your hat, but I would be more than happy to sew it on for you."  And so I did.  Later in the day, to my surprise, I had countless staff members coming up to me sharing how impressed John was with my stitching and how you "couldn't even see the stitching at all"...I guess he carried that hat all over the building, he was so tickled with it.  I think so often our projects, no matter how small, mean so much to the people we care about and sometimes we have no idea how much people are touched, and I am glad to have this small memory for keeps.