Chistmas in July - Oh My

Have you heard, Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming... in July.

Yes it is, starting July 14th with 26 quilters showing their stuff. In addition our lovely Hop Hostess  Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict will be doing a sew along Christmas quilt throughout the hop.


I'm posting on the 17th and I've been a very busy elf.  I will be posting several quickie gift ideas. If I used a tutorial or know of one I will be sure to include it so you too can get some gifts done early.  Actually I believe that all of the items I will be posting I've made before, using different seasonal fabrics, for hostess gifts or house warming gifts. All were warmly received.

In between and around the Christmas stuff spread all over the quilting room I have been making mesh totes.  They are my latest obsession.  I really don't usually make one of anything.  The totes are no exception, I am up to 6 of them in various sizes and fabric choices. 4 of them have already gone on to new homes. And I have 2 more to make and mail out this week.

Gone

Gone

These are actually the same size, the one on the left is gone

These 2 are currently mine, The back one is from the photo above.

The front one is an experiment in sizing.

And this one is also gone, it's my fun favorite.  yes they are skeleton heads.

I have a niece who is really into this kind of thing.

 In addition to not knowing how to make one of something I also have a NEED to know issue when it comes to how long something takes to make.  I didn't have a pattern for this bag.  I just saw it in passing on the shoulder of a shopper in a local quilt shop. My first one took almost 3 hours which included coming up with a good size and placement of the accent fabric,  number 6 took about an hour and a half.

Fun story, I took some of my Christmas goodies and one of the mesh totes to my neighbors for show and tell.  I walked into her quilt room and there on her table were 3 of these totes. She had just gotten back from a class on making them.  Hers were all done in fun beach patterned novelty fabrics for her grand daughters, they were wonderful, yep small world.

I've also managed to whip up a couple of hats with matching scarves for the local chapter of Angel Snugs. I am glad to be doing something positive where someone is benefiting from my inability to sit still while watching TV or sitting at a meeting or in a waiting room. You know when you go for your mammogram how you wait to be called in, then you get undressed and wait to be called for the photos and then you wait for results and then you get called in for more photos because one wasn't clear and then you wait for the recheck and then you wait for the chat with the doctor to confirm that you can go.........well I got a whole hat done while I was "waiting".  Of course they looked at me funny when I had a skein of yarn sticking out of my purse but by the time I was done they were all smiling. You really couldn't miss that orange.

I also found this great Hexi Potholder pattern. They were fun, fast and easy to make. Great scrap buster.

Last but definitely not least are these Rainbow Heart blocks. Several of us are making blocks and Linda of Flourishing Palms will coordinate the making of the finished quilt with additional help in the quilting and binding department. She will also see that the Orlando MQG gets it for distribution to victims and victims families. The blocks are made using the tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew