How do you feel about this?
 

Hi friends,

As we all know time seems to fly. Lately I'm being bombarded by all my favorite quilt places with Christmas ideas, fabrics, patterns etc.

I don't enjoy this at all.

I do realize that with quilting we need time to get our projects done but doesn't July seem early? Hey, if you want to make a holiday quilt in July that's a different story but all the ads drive me bonkers.

It's not the worst thing in the world but I have to say it bugs me. I like to live in the moment and enjoy the here and now, which isn't always easy as it is!

Anyone else?

Susie

I usually avoid "the holiday aisles" when I go shopping -

Halloween in July, Thanksgiving in September, Christmas in July, Valentines Day starts the day after Christmas -

I can now better understand why "the sellers" are not so much interested in targeting old(er) people - a lot of us are now trying to downsize - or most of our money is going fir health care!

But does it bug me? Not particularly - I just ignore what does not appeal to me.

My mother used to call it "pushing the season". I have not seen that many things about Christmas quilting, but one of the Hallmark channels had Christmas movies non-stop for about two weeks. Drove me up the wall. Takes the edge off of December.

I'm talking more about emails. I shop online more than stores.

My Long armer stops taking quilts on October 1st so she can finish all her orders by Christmas and have a peaceful Christmas herself. So starting in July for me is not so crazy. I joined the winter swap here on the QB, and it is my first holiday quilt and I own no holiday fabric. When I got to the LQS , they were having a 20% off sale. I was thrilled.

I ignore anything that bothers me emails included. LOL As I get older it seems the holidays are coming every few weeks instead of months like they use to.

Yes - I totally agree!

I was a teacher before I retired and what really bugged me was going into shops a week or two before the summer holidays started and seeing displays of ‘back to school’ items - uniforms etc.

This annoyed me because the shops sold these items all year round. I didn’t want to think about ‘back to school’ before I had even started my holiday.

Moira- so they do that in the UK too? I thought it was just we crazy Americans :)

I do try to think about the holidays quite a while in advance, because I like to make gifts. It's no fun to be scrambling at the last minute. That's what destroys a holiday for me. So enjoying the "prep" as early as possible, just enhances the holiday for me. Nope, doesn't bother me at all for marketers to give me ideas well in advance of a holiday and to be able to purchase craft items at a discount.

In fact, I just had a PM from a board member asking me about ornaments that I posted in May.

I often get ideas for cards and begin making Christmas cards in January before the Christmas Glow has faded.

I don't like to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. So that's my opinion....!

I understand completely working on projects well before the holiday. It's the ads that bug me. No sooner is one holiday coming than they are marketing the next one!

I think the ads come early because now is when they have the best product selection. Having worked in retail management for 20+ years, our seasons were always 6 months off. Our Christmas product was ordered in January, set to be delivered in June, and hit the shelves in July. It was a rat race! Sometimes we were marketing several "holidays" at one time. We routinely had Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas product out on the shelves, and were scrambling to find room for the Valentine product knocking on our back door. Retired now, and getting holiday emails also, but understand why they do it!!

Very informative, AnnieDeb!

I haven't gotten many or at least I haven't looked at them. Stores seem to stock up on holiday stuff but, food staples run low. They have a lot of clearance after all the holidays are over. I don't see how they make money like that.

I agree with you, Susie, I too like to live the moment. But this year I am thinking of Christmas gifts already because last Christmas seemed to rushed for me and the budget was tight... It was a stressful holiday season but it all worked out. This year I am thinking of more homemade gifts for family. But I don't need any ads! If I want Christmas fabric or patterns I know how to get them, lol!

I go to art shows and galleries when I am in Maine for the summer. I but art prints on note cards to use for Christmas cards. So I guess you could say I'm rushing the season. But I don't think holiday fabrics until a couple months before whatever holiday it is.

I like to enjoy the minute

Mim

Christmas in July has always annoyed me. Last week Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel played Christmas movies all week. How annoying. Its 100+ here. Hard to relate to snow.

I have never been a big fan of Christmas in July. I like celebrating the 4th of July and I like summer. We used to celebrate St. Swithun's Day (July 15th) and then enjoy the rest of summer until Labor Day when it was officially over for as far as we were concerned.
So I am not concerned about living in the moment as I have other things to do. I don't pay attention to the adds - just ignore them. But I am annoyed by the Hallmark Channel with their 100% of Christmas in July - I was glad when it ended and not looking forward to when they do it again.

It takes me a long time to complete anything, so the ads don't bother me. I look to them for ideas, and don't spend much time on them and do understand the marketing time frame.

In everything else, I resent the season being thrust upon me, but with fabric, etc., it is helpful because June-July is when I start working on holiday projects. I just finished 4 stockings for family members.

The Hallmark channel with the Xmas movies--total agreement! Just ugh!!
Too much junk in the stores, junk made in China.

It bugs me, too. All the hype raises people's expectations of "happy" holidays and, if their lives aren't perfect, they become depressed. I try to ignore it all and live in the moment as you said. I'm glad to know there are others out there who feel the way I do.

I too have been getting lots of communication about Christmas fabric that is just perfect for some Christmas project. I just hit... Delete! :D I buy on my timetable not what a quilt shop wants to sell me. I know some folks are busy making Christmas gifts, but .... not yet for me.

It bothers me, too, and it has bothered me for decades. My birthday is on Halloween and when I was growing up, you didn't have to start thinking about Halloween until the 1st of October and Thanksgiving until the day after Halloween. About a week later, the Thanksgiving things would start to come into the store. As time went on Halloween started getting pushed back further and further until now we start seeing Halloween things in practically July, Thanksgiving in August and Christmas in September... well you all know what I mean. It is like you don't get to celebrate the joy of a holiday by itself anymore. All the holidays are just jumbled together and I miss the isolation of each holiday. It makes it seem like we are rushing the year by.

As you grow older, and I know that a lot of you know what I mean, time seems to fly by faster. This may have been fun when we were kids, when you wanted to be the next year older earlier than your birthday, but as a person who is getting on in age, I really, really abhor this.

I am with you too Susie; I HATE that they push a holiday before the one coming up isn't even here yet. I notice they also do it in quilt magazines - when I used to get them. At one time I saw a really cute table runner with placemats - BUT NO fabric that they used was available. And I REALLY like the fabric they'd used. So that too is very frustrating to me. Another reason I don't subscribe to magazines any more; too expensive and there are SOOOOO many free ones out there - why bother!

I don't buy mags either since the advent of the internet :)

I'm with you Susie. I understand the need for merchants to push the products early, but I despise the ads in July that lump Christmas into their email "hook lines." "Time to start your holiday table runner!" Really? If I was the type to actually MAKE a new table runner every year for every season, I'd already have done it. The reason I have not, is that I don't want to making something with Christmas trees while my patriotic wreath just got hung up on July 1st,thank you very much.

It's not just us older folks who get tired of it in retail. My daughter worked at Michael's in high school. She started there in early June, and I remember she came home in mid-August and said, "I'm so sick of Christmas crap already!"

Even the calendars are arriving "way early".

The thing that ALWAYS bugged me was when all the catalogs that came out for December was the only place to find Christmas fabric, patterns, ideas. I think it must have been quilters and other crafters who finally turned the tide to get companies to promote Christmas stuff with plenty of time to actually make it.