Christmas? In April?

I have a customer that is really on the ball this year.  She had me quilt her first Christmas gift quilt already......and it's Christmas gifts to boot.  I thought this one was so adorable.  It doesn't scream Christmas, but makes a subtle statement.  

I quilted it with the Diagonal Plaid panto using a sage-y So Fine thread on this one.  

On the other hand, usually at Christmas time I pull out a puzzle to work on during the holidays. 

I didn't pull this one out until the end of February with the hopes that when I had ALL the grandkids here, they would give me a hand.

They looked at that pile of 2000 pieces and just walked away.  :(

So I plugged away a little each day; but I wouldn't have gotten to this point without the help of the two youngest grandsons just the other day. 

They got me over the hump and finishing the rest of the puzzle then seemed easy peasy.  

I won't be doing another 2000 piece puzzle until the memory of this one has worn off.  Oh, by the way, it was called Quilting Shed and there was NOT one quilt in the whole puzzle.  Little do they know.  

Now, I feel free to get to some of my other projects now that customer quilts are done and puzzle is boxed up again.   

Let's see what gets done first.  

 

It's really starting to feel like summer here.......

We are still having tons of rain almost on a daily basis but when the sun shines, it does feel like summer.  

Tonight DH and I went to one of his many car cruises.  Not that this one is a "cruise", but there were 480+ cars on display at Culver's and that 's all because the weather was glorious, plus I get dinner out of it, too.  ;D

One other day this past week, the weather was great, but Sharon and I were stuck indoors (I guess I shouldn't say stuck because we chose to do this) taking a long arm class with Angela Huffman from Quilting Joy and Fons and Porters Love of Quilting on PBS. Those are not  her only attributes....I can consider her a long time friend.  That friendship started way back when we were first on Alex Anderson's message board some umpteen years ago.

I came away from this class with a wealth of ideas and some of those ideas will be put to use on a custom quilt that just came in the mail from Alabama yesterday.  Sorry, not sure I can share, since the owner is going to be putting this quilt into a few shows.  I'll share when I can,  

While I was waiting for this quilt to arrive, I got Nancy H's Christmas, Stag Head, panel quilt onto the long arm and did the Knotty Pine pantograph on it.  I love this quilt and think the panto was just perfect for this quilt.  Good choice Nancy.

Also, in one of my previous posts I was telling you about getting a room ready in the basement for my new position as Charity Chairman for the quilt guild.  Well.....one pick up full, two SUVs full to the brim and another car with five garbage bags full of fabric came to my house.  Five of us went through all the fabric and sorted out what was usable for our charity quilts.  It is now in the "room"; but awaiting organization.  I have had to set that chore aside for now as I am busy quilting.  That will be on the agenda very soon though as I can't stand being disorganized.    Once I get back in there, I will give you the tour.  

Ok....to get busy while the weather is damp, so that when it is nice, I can enjoy the outdoors, too.  

Happy Summer.....any minute now.

Christmas in July

Christmas in July wasn't planned here, but my next customer quilt that I finished today is a Christmas quilt.  In fact, I am going to name it "A Christmas Sweater".  

I have to admit that even knowing better, I kept touching this quilt thinking there has to be some texture resembling a sweater on this quilt.

There wasn't, but I still kept touching it thinking it would change. 

Anyways, things were going along just fine until I ran out of bobbin at one point and as I was changing the bobbin, I saw this little glint of something.

Can you see it there at the intersection?

I don't know how I could have missed this pin that was left in the quilt by the maker.  I had this quilt spread out measuring it.  I rolled it on to the rollers of the long arm.  My hands were running over this quilt to smooth it out (and touching it looking for that texture).  I never saw this pin....or felt it.  How fortunate that I ran out of bobbin just before getting to this point.  I cringe to think of the problems that could have arisen if I had hit that glass head pin with my needle.   A broken needle  can result in having to re-time the machine.  Ugh!  

Anyway......all is good.

I used the panto called Bush Berries with a dark gray So-Fine thread top and bottom.  

Here it is complete.

How about this backing?

It is as pretty as the front. 

Ok.....I am still on a roll here.  My fingers are itching to take out a knitting project (especially after working on this quilt), but I am going to refrain from doing it.  I still have some quilts on "that" pile.  One more that requires a panto and then there are a couple of custom quilts which will take some time.  We'll see how it goes.  

Merry Christmas (in July).