It's Magazine Season!

Yeah, I know, it's always magazine season. But around the holidays there are extra ones and I just love to look through them for ideas.

On my search recently I came across this one. I have never seen it before, have you? I try to find the annual Christmas ornament issue and now I guess I will have to start hunting this one every year. It has some really cute things in it. Here is my Thanksgiving reading. I have been subscribing to Cooking Light for a few years -- started subscribing on a fundraising subscription drive at my granddaughter's school. I have continued the subscribtion because I really like it. The Martha Stewart and BH&G subscriptions started up when other magazines to which I had subscribed went out of print. Like the Mary Englebreit one. And Country Home. I guess I am glad that they provide something for the rest of your subscription time but I really wonder how they come up with the substitute.

I used to read Martha Stewart all the time -- she is an alumna of the same college from which I graduated -- so it seemed like a solidarity thing. But then I let the subscription lapse. I find alot of the recipes to be for things I would never make. And the decorating is just a little too, too, for me, if you know what I mean. But I liked this holiday issue.

You might notice that these are only covers. I like to only go through most magazines one time and tear out all the things I like for my files. Usually the covers go directly to recycle. But I saved these just so I could take pictures for the blog. I guess that makes me a committed blogger. Tee hee hee. Here is my start on Christmas magazines. I love Country Sampler although I was a bit disappointed in this issue. In fact, they have gone nearly all Early American and don't have as much variety in their home tours as they used to. I am ever hopeful that they will get back to the variety they used to have. The one called Holiday seems to be a combination of what Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and Country Living would ordinarily do for Christmas. I guess the magazine business is struggling so they needed to combine efforts. So that must mean there will be fewer special issues this year.

Now these I tend to leave whole for a while. Usually after the season is over I go through and rip them apart, too. And yes, I do get behind on my filing, but I find it much easier to find what I want if the articles or pictures are filed instead of being in huge stacks of magazine. I can never remember which one something is in.

I just love the little house ornaments on the cover of the Quilting Arts magazine. They have linen like bases. I think I may have to make a few of those.

About the only exception to my rip and file technique is American Patchwork & Quilting and my Fons & Porter magazines. Those have lots of yellow stickies sticking out of them with labels for things I think I will make.

"Inconsistency is no disgrace". That is my favourite quote of all time and it is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. It applies to just about everything including my magazine habits!

Remember I told you I wanted to finish this quilt for this fall? Well, ta da! I actually managed to do so. It's kind of hard to see here as it is hanging in a hallway. Usually I have a house quilt here. Well, actually, I still do. This one was bigger so I just clipped it and pinned it to the house quilt behind it. Easier and quicker than taking the other one down. This one was supposed to have 3D flowers on each basket but I decided I like it just fine the way it is. It has been a rainy weekend so Mr THQ and I decided to do a little thrifting yesterday. I didn't find as much as I often do, but I really like what I found. Aren't these cute? The pink flower one has a little stand and the circle one has a magnet on the back. Since my sewing table and my bookshelves in my sewing room are all metal, I should have plenty of choices in where to stick it. We found some nice craft books, too, to add to my collection. And what do you know, some Christmas ones, too. Both the Martha and Gooseberry Patch one are part of a series and I didn't have these volumes. I keep a list of all my craft books in my PDA so that I don't buy duplicates. If I ever leave home without the list I manage to double up. I guess I know what I like -- multiple times. I find that books are no where near as inexpensive at thrift stores as they were even a year or two ago so I like to make sure I am getting something new.

Did you ever watch Lynette Jennings on HGTV? I always liked her show. It has not been on for a while though. In fact, I think HGTV is not nearly as good now as it used to be. Oh, well. That knitting book is kind of a reference book. I thought it might come in handy. And none of these are too dated which is nice. I know the bear and chair are a bit out of proportion, but they were both a good find. I have some other bears that will sit in the chair nicely. And it doesn't even need to be painted!

And you can never have too many Christmas ornaments, can you? I like the dark colouring on the bell. And one last find. From my favourite aisle -- the crafts gone bad aisle. Although this particular craft did not go bad at all. Don't you just love Noah and the animals? Kind of like finger puppets. I have no idea where it will go, but there was no way it was not coming home with me!