A Very Merry Happy Holiday Linky Party!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Happy Holidays, however you celebrate it.  This time at the close of the year is a great time for gathering with families, friends and loved ones.

It’s a terrific “Long winter’s nap” time for taking the opportunity to reflect on the year as it draws to a close and to be grateful for everything around us.

2014 was an awesome year, a hard one in many ways, an exciting, busy and long-hours journey on our way to where we will end up next year, which hasn't arrived yet. What is waiting around the corner?

Whatever it is, let’s not forget the lessons learned and the small blessings found in the life we have lead this year.  We can’t end up where we are going without appreciating what we have come through.

I thought a Linky Party today would be a great way to share some of the things we have been working on that are NOT Mystery related.  Though many of us are working on the Grand Illusion Mystery, there are probably many more that are not, and we want to see what you have to share too.

For my share I have a little video I made in 2008.  Whooooo baby, that is going back a while!

I love this Christmas Applique Rose, and I hope you enjoy it too:

My only regret?  I should have brought this quilt up to the cabin to get photos of it so you could really see the detail, but I didn’t know we would be doing this linky until I thought of it yesterday morning.

Of course one of my favorite Christmas Quilts of all is one we did for a past Quiltville Mystery and is now found in my book Scraps & Shirttails II:

Carolina Christmas!

I loved everything about this quilt, the whole process of making it.  I used a lot of recycled plaids and stripes in reds and greens as well as many vintage Christmas fabrics from the 80s & 90s.  Funny how those never go away, isn’t it?  I was still sewing with some this week!

Carolina Christmas, The BACK!

This is also a lot of fun.  Take bunches of left over units and orphan blocks and find a way to make them play together.  I used Christmas fabrics to fill in the blank spaces and make everything fit.  Though this looks complicated, everything is assembled into vertical rows.  Can you find how it is broken down?

My Christmas Lights!

Sorry for the blurry photo!

Christmas Lights was a mystery I did for Quiltmaker Magazine, and the free pattern is found under the free patterns tab at the top of the blog, down toward the bottom of the page where the old mysteries are hosted.  I love the multi-colored 4 patches and how they sparkle like multi-colored lights on the tree.

Are you ready to link up?

If you have never participated in a Link-Up before, the first thing I want you to do is to read the entire tutorial I wrote about Link-Ups HERE so you can know a few things before you dive in head first.

There is a lot of good information there that will help you understand things like WHY we need the address or URL of your individual specific post, not just your main blog address.  It will show you how to FIND the correct URL and link it correctly.

If you are adding a Pinterest photo and have never linked up with us before, Click to read the Pinterest tutorial from last week’s link up HERE.

Remember, if you link to your main blog, and not the specific post I will have to delete your entry and have you try again because I can’t fix it for you.

To find the URL for the specific post, go to your blog and click on the title of the post you want to link.  Look in the address bar at the top of your browser.  The address of your post should end in .html  NOT .com!

PLEASE LEAVE OFF the http:// part at the beginning of your blog address when you fill in your info below . The form auto-adds that for you.   If I were linking, my address would start with Quiltville.blogspot.com/ not http://Quiltville.blogspot.com/

Also: If you are linking from a mobile device -- delete the last /?=m  from the URL before posting! Those of us on a computer will get a really awkward looking page if you post your mobile URL from your tablet or phone. Your link should end in .html or just /

*NOTE* Your blog address does NOT include the @ symbol!  That's for email addresses only, and that won't work in the linky either!

If you don’t have a blog you may link to your Flickr photo or Grand Illusion Album that you have created ((Not your whole account, please make it specific)) Or a photo you have posted on Pinterest  sharing your progress ((Also specific, not your whole profile))  You can not link to Facebook.  Any posts linking to a Facebook profile will be deleted.

Your blog, Pinterest or Instagram photo must be view-able to ALL, not just a handful of people that you have invited.  If your blog, Instagram or Pinterest is private, please don't link up.  It's frustrating to those who click to view and are told they can't because of your privacy settings.

In your post, Flickr or Pinterest photo – PLEASE include a link back to THIS POST not just a link to Quiltville.blogspot.com.  I post more than once a day, so if someone clicks a link on your page to just my main address – they likely won’t find the link-up. That will only take them to the most recent post on the blog.  They won't find any of the other links that people have taken time to place on this page.  It will be a dead end street for them.

Don't BE the DEAD END STREET!

Make your links (Both yours and mine) post specific.

New links can be added until Wednesday, December 31st, 2014  at 11:55pm EST.

Let's share!

An InLinkz Link-up

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