Christmas Fast Books

I purchased this book based on its recommendations, and I'm not sorry I did. It's been 25+ years since I touched a sewing machine, and this book definitely helped take the fright away. Perfect for new seamstresses of all ages.

I have the Rip It! book and love it. I just got this book for my niece for christmas. She wants to learn how to sew and I know this is the best book out there for her. It's very easy to understand and comes with patterns for her to learn with. I'm also getting her a sewing machine from www.sewfastseweasy.com
I love giving! She is going to be so thrilled!

I bought this book for my daughter and she has taken to sewing extremely fast. She's so proud of what she makes. Her enthusiasm for sewing now is almost too much for me to keep up with. This book was was easy for her to understand and the illustrations were very clear. She's been playing around with reconstructing her clothes so I'm thinking of getting her the Rip It book as well. I'm happy to see her involved in a positive hobby that she truly enjoys and gets satisfaction from.

I just bought this book because I wanted to delve into sewing a little more. I knew how to sew but I didn't know much about sewing techniques or terms or sewing notions and how to use them. This book was very easy to understand and explains everything I need to know about sewing and using notions and patterns. It's now my sewing bible! If I get stuck on something I grab my sew fast sew easy book.

The book is great it even comes with patterns. The book is easy to understand and has lots of detail. I would definatly recommend it.

Jam-packed with creative, low-fat recipes, decorating tips and gift ideas, this unique cookbook by the author of the "Busy People's" series is handily organized into menus, complete with grocery lists, each listed according to various holiday meals. A "Menus at a Glance" section gives a great overview of all the dishes, making selection a breeze. With unique ideas, like edible gifts and a "Kids Birthday Party for Jesus," this is a time-saving holiday wonder.

Dawn Hall is a Christian author who has always had to watch her weight. These recipes are low in fat, easy, and delicious. They also make a nice presentation for guests. Highly recommend.

"The Origins Of Christmas" by Joseph F. Kelly, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2004.

This book covers exactly what the title says, "The Origins of Christmas". Professor Kelly presents the establishment of Christmas as an important feast day in the Christian Church, with both eastern and western roots. Drawing heavily on the scriptural nativity stories, found in the Gospels of St Mark and St. Luke, the author shows the roots of story of the Three Kings, then Star over Bethlehem, the Flight into Egypt and many more commonly held aspects of Christmas as the present age knows it. Using historical analysis, Dr. Kelly makes it clear that Christ was probably born between 6 B.C,. to 4 B.C., (based upon the records for the death of Herod) and that the ancient Church chose December 25th as the date for celebrating the Birth of Christ as a holy remedy to Roman extravaganzas in that month of the year. Kelly shows how Christmas and Epiphany developed as competing feast days for the Nativity of Christ in Orthodox Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christendom. He also devotes some little time to St. Nicholas and how that saint's feast day metamorphosed into a gift giving day in certain countries (e.g. The Netherlands).

This is not, however, a book that deals with the tinsel: the origins of Christmas trees, or Christmas decorations or Christmas lights. Christmas carols are hardly mentioned, and the more modern aspects of Christmas, such Prince Albert's introduction of Christmas trees to England, are not emphasized in Kelly's book. If you want a bible-based analysis of the origins of Christmas, and how the biblical story grew into today's modern story of Christmas, then this is the book for you.

In The Origins Of Christmas, Joseph F. Kelly (Professor of Religious Studies at John Carroll University) deftly traces the evolution of Christmas in Christian life and western culture. Readers will learn when Christmas was first celebrated as the birth of the Christ; how December 25th became the official date for Christmas; how the three "magi from the East" became the three kings known as Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar riding on camels and coming from three different continents to worship the newborn in a manger; why medieval and Renaissance artists tended to portray Joseph as an old man; when Christmas music first made its appearance; the real St. Nicholas and how he became the most well known of all the Christian saints. The diverse origins of Christmas will come as a fascinating surprise to most who know only the Sunday School version of the Christmas story from their childhoods. The Origins Of Christmas, is very highly recommended and informative reading in which Professor Kelly begins when Christmas did not yet exist, and concludes when Christmas had become an integral part of the world culture in general, and Christian communities in particular.

Who doesn't want a book that reads itself aloud? "'Where's Joe?' 'He's dancing the tango,' said Mrs. Fandango.'" Of course we know where this plump, pleasant red-cheeked individual has gone this winter, but the books guessability just adds to its readaloud fun. Great for storyhours.

This is a wonderful children's book, especially for those children who know Joe! Yes, there really is a Joe who owns Joe's Snack Bar in Jericho, Vermont, and every fall he closes for the winter and then reopens in the spring. This book captures what every child must feel when Joe leaves. Even if you don't know Joe, this is a must have children's book. The pictures and rhymes say it all and more.

For several years now, my wife has been making holiday crafts to give away to friends and family as little gifts for Christmas and so we're constantly on the lookout for new ideas and books. My part is usually limited to the drudgery of buying (and paying) for the supplies and doing mundane work such as the cutting while my wife gets all the glory!

"Fast, Fun, and Easy Christmas Decorations" is another fine book from one of our favorite craft book publishers, C&T, who never fails to deliver great new books for each season. While it's only 64 pages it manages to squeeze in a number of quick and easy projects that can be made relatively inexpensively as well. The basic materials are various fabrics, beads, Fast2fuse, cording, glue, and a sewing machine. The individual projects will list all of the material specifics.

There are a number of different 3D ornament projects including spirals, bells, and stars. The look can be anything you want from dazzling and gaudy, to a quaint, country look, all depending on the fabric and embellishment you use. There are also chapters on making your own gift boxes, wreathes, gingerbread houses, and advent calendars, all with these same base materials. The gingerbread house is certainly the most challenging but the end result will make you the envy of your craft-making friends.

You'll probably want to have at least intermediate skill for most of these projects, especially those that require sewing (although there are some no sew projects, too) but you're to enjoy them all. C&T once again has produced a winner.

beautiful, inspirational pictures and ideas for decorating and creating lovely Christmas treasures. Helpful patterns and instructions. Highly recommended!!

The first time I sewed anything was in middle school shop class - we made this hideous blouse that I never wore because I didn't like the material or the pattern. I decided to get back into sewing because while I didn't like the end result, I loved the process. I have a sewing machine coming and I can't wait to get started. I want to try at least a few of the techniques I saw in this book. Imagine being able to tailor make your own clothes! I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Poor production and dull simple projects. No photos or coloured pictures. I've seen much better books along the same league.

I was excited about this book, I checked it out from my local library, I was really not impressed. I have been sewing on and off for 3 years and I was looking for ideas to refresh the clothes in my closet. I live in Miami, the projects they suggested were way too basic and no way would I walk around miami wearing anything this book told me to do.

The only thing I learned, or re-learned cuz I had forgotten was how to make your jeans shorter but keep the original hem line. So I'm really glad I didn't just buy this book.

I was disappointed in this book. There is some good basic information, but very little "deconstruction". A majority of the projects are merely adding decorations or embellishments to garments. Large print and a lot of white space on the pages make the book appear more substantial than what it actually contains. There are no pictures of actual examples, which would be helpful. Many of the projects are dated and uninspired. All-in-all, I am sorry I bought this book.

This book isn't so much about refashioning your clothes so much as a basic sewing and fit lesson. I felt this book was WAY too basic for me. There really weren't any patterns and the pictures were pretty unimpressive. I was really disappointed with this book. If you are curious, get it from the library, but don't waste your money!

I like all the "Fast, Fun and Easy" books. I have not had a chance to practice any of these projects, but they look fun and diversified ... and Christmas 2006 is really not all that far away!

The projects in this book are in fact pretty fast, pretty easy, and really fun! This book had techniques (paper piecing) and materials (stabilizer, fusible interfacing) that I had never used or even heard of before. But by following the instructions (with just a bit of help from the nice people at my neighborhood quilting shop), I was able to create two really cool Christmas stockings, one from the book and one that I designed myself, in three or four days. And I had so much fun making them that I bought more Christmas fabrics on sale and plan to make several more stockings while my kids are at camp this summer. I've never done any quilting before, and although I learned basic sewing as a kid, I'm no expert seamstress. So I was really thrilled that my projects were so successful.

All through this fairly short book I thought it was good. Definitely a change of pace for the author. This is very light hearted, whimsy, set aboard a train during the Christmas holidays going from the east coast to the west coast. I was enjoying myself while reading it because of its simplicity and shortness. Then we get near the end and WHAM!!!! I now have to elevate it to very good because the ending was well waiting for. Now I hope the author goes back to his drama which I really enjoy but this was a nice change of pace.

Tom Langdon is a Journalist who is banned from flying after an argument with overenthusiastic security personnel and who sees a story opportunity, as well as, a journey into self discovery with a cross-country train trip at the holidays.
Aboard the train, he meets up with many interesting and likable characters and also with his lost love Eleanor who he was close to marrying many years ago. To spice up the story Tom's current girlfriend surprises him by boarding the train and asking him to marry her and raise 8 kids with her.
The train with the passengers is the perfect setting for the Christmas Holidays and the author knows how to bring the magic of Christmas to his paragraphs and with the snow avalanches they go through on Christmas Eve, this is a train ride no one will ever forget.

Great story, so unlike Baldacchi, and so like him, too. A fun and wonderful read.

And now for something entirely different. Baldacci is an excellent writer and he proves it with this lovely tale of trains, snow and Christmas. Totally unexpected from his "thriller writer" side, these characters are fully developed to a point where the reader actually cares what happens to them. Worth a read at this Christmas season.

Baldacci weaves a tale of one reporter traveling the train at Christmas and discovering a world of fascinating characters. The story, the characters and the setting makes me think the mythic American tale built stretching back to Huckleberry Finn. It's a travel story. The main character is a smart-talking reporter similar to the smartalic detectives in 40s films. The cast of characters includes a film producer, an actress, a writer (and former lover of the reporter), a fortune teller, a priest, and plenty of other interesting characters that create lively scenes and humorous encounters.

Underlying the story is a romance of train travel that even made me look up tickets on the Amtrak site.

I borrowed this book from a friend. I thought it would be just another Christmas card book. I was totally surprised by the variety and creativity of this book. After looking at how many of the projects I wanted to do I decided I had to have my own copy. I haven't been disappointed yet.

Not a good choice for experienced paper crafter's and card makers. Okay if you are woriking with young people or beginner's.