Christmas Gioia
and Placemat Progress
Dear Merry Quilters,
Friday December 8th was a feast day in Rome. Does it seem to you like I am always writing about feast days in Italy? It is just the way it is! Haha! My calendar revolves around these festivities, and I must say, I really like them. A feast day is something joyful to look forward to. There is usually a day off, gathering at a friend’s house, eating, and good wine. What is there not to like?!?!
So what makes this day special in Italy? The 8th of December is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In Italy, this is a national holiday. People who observe the Catholic faith go to church, eat something nice, and put up the Christmas tree. When I arrived in Italy it was difficult for me to wait until December 8th to decorate my tree. In the US, it isn’t weird at all to put the tree up immediately after Thanksgiving! However, there is a balance to this cultural difference; the tree in Italy stays up until the 6th of January (the Epiphany or 3 Kings Day). In the US, the tree usually comes down after the New Year.
To add a little trivia to your day, if you count from the 25th of December until the 6th…you get the 12 days of Christmas. When I think about all these dates and their significance, I find the Italian Christmas tree culture makes a lot of sense. (Can I say “tree culture”? LOL)
As I am preparing the tree and I am reflecting on this past year of my quilting blog. Oh my! I would love to jump for joy for some moments of 2023. I would also love to crumple parts of this year up and start all over!! [Sigh…] This is what reflection is all about; reflection is a joy and a big bummer at the same time.
One bummer I am facing is the list of my goals. I had a dream to complete several projects by the end of the year. NEWS FLASH: It isn’t going as planned. There is one positive thing. I did manage to check my placemats off the list. I have a box full of scraps and I used them up. The mats turned out better than I expected! Love when that happens.
I used left over scraps of Tilda’s World Fabric from the collection Chic Escape. I even used left over batting. I think the colors give a warm cozy feeling. This is exactly what I wanted!
Next week I will show you the competed placemats! I’m am looking forward to sharing them with you. I hope you will like them. I just need to take the photos with the tree, of course!
I am loving the fact that these mats are finished. I will show you the completed placemats in the next blog post. The completion gives me hope for the next few weeks. Maybe I can squeeze one more project in before 2024. It would be so great to tick at least one more thing off the list! I will keep you posted…
I wish you a happy weekend!
With love from Rome,
Rachel