A busy day (and it's only 10:30!)

I've been to Burlington and back (about 30 miles each way), and Middlebury and back (15 miles, the other way), I've done 2 loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher. It's only 10:30!

So... Christmas. 5 months away - and what do I have to show for myself? Well, more than last moth, that's for darn sure. The top to Danielle's quilt is done. I shared it on Facebook and got plenty of positive feedback, so I guess it's not as garish as I feared. That, or my friends are very, very kind. :o) I'll take either.

"Persist. Silence those who will tell you what you cannot do, by showing them what you can." As I was working on it I just made myself keep going, despite the niggling voice in my head that told me it was too bright, too garish, too wrong. I think encouraging a teenage girl to keep pushing against the obstacles the world will throw in front of her is also a really important thing. So this quilt will be called "Persist." I hope she can get some sleep under it - it's kind loud.

And Nic's quilt is moving along quickly as well. I have more blocks than this done - 18 in fact, and the rest partly done. They're sewn as 4 patches, then cut, scrambled (not much) and resewn into a more complicated, but super simple block. There's a link on the sidebar to the SewWonderful blog with the directions. The set is easy - straight, no rotating or sashing to create secondary patterns - the block takes care of it. Cool! (and fast!)

Not Christmas related, but sorta... I want to have these two tops and the scrappy fundraiser top all done at the same time. My plan is to quilt them all at the same time at Thread Connections on the for rent machine. I figure if I have 3, and one's for a fundraiser, that maybe she'll give me a break on the fee. Probably I'll do Nic's first to warm up, then the strings, and finally Danielle's to cool down. Or something like that. In all likelihood, an all over meander or panto should do the trick. But that's a ways off... and not Christmas related.

I still need to get to work on the Santa hat bags and the monster coin purses, but they can wait until it's a little cooler. And when I call mom tonight, I'll ask if she can stand another Hummel cross stitch, or if she'd prefer something (anything!!) else. We'll see.