Christmas is Over? Not Yet!

Each year I spend from September to the beginning of December working on items to sell at our church mission market.  From experience I know that they want small items such as placemats, napkins, table runners, aprons, etc.  This year was no exception.  I felt like I hadn't done much quilting in quite a while.

After the mission market was over I had to work on a quilt for our minister as a gift from my Sunday School class.  I have 2nd to 5th graders.  During the summer we did this handprint project on fabric.  I then designed a quilt around it.  Here is the result.

I used mostly Kaffe fabrics because those went so well with the colorful handprints.  It's hard to see in this picture, but I thread painted in stems and leaves to make this a flower garden.  I think the border just makes the quilt.  It is a French braid from a pattern which makes a whole quilt.  I made the pinwheels and French braid elements on a quilting retreat in November.  But, after our mission market I had 1 week to assemble this quilt and quilt it.  I was pleased with how it turned out.  Our minister was surprised and very, very pleased.  She says she'll treasure it for the rest of her life.

Christmas is over, right?  Well, I have 2 quilts I was working on as Christmas gifts.  All I have left to do is the quilting.  Then something happened.  The light fixture in the room blew out.  I should be able to get an electrician this week.  Meanwhile I told the 2 recipients their gift is coming, one day.