A Christmas Delivery

Though I posted pics of this quilt weeks ago when I started it, I held off showing finished shots as I got a hunch that the recipient may be peeking at my blog.
It was delivered to my sister-in-law in Italy, and opened yesterday. I spoke to her briefly, and she does love it. I pieced the top in 3 large pieces, machine quilted them individually, pieced them together (backs and batts by hand) and then machine pieced over the joint. You cannot even tell that the finished quilt was ever in 3 pieces (much to my surprise!)! It's mostly log cabin blocks, except for the center medallion block.

After quilting, I added a navy blue fleece backing. my sister-in-law wanted to to be snuggly, initially asking for just fleece. I tied the fleece to the quilt, and then did some basic stitching to hold the fleece to the quilt.

I chose the fabrics because I thought they specifically reminded me of her. She lived in France years ago, and loves it still...hence the sun flowers. She also lived in Japan, where she met my brother. There are a couple of Asian fabrics as well.

Yesterday was surprisingly pleasant. I am so typically on edge on Christmas that it is hard to try to enjoy the day. We usually rush our tree in the morning and drive to my mom's house for the day. We also have another Xmas with the inlaws on the 23rd which I often host. It was nice not getting home at 8pm or later with tired kids, a carload of stuff, and a huge mess in our own house that we left. I did have to do a LOT of cooking and prep and cleaning here, but to be able to send my boys upstairs to play with their goodies was definitely worth it. Dinner was very good, despite forgetting my MIL's potatos. The woman does not do dairy on account of some skin condition, so it's a real PIA to cater a menu to her. I didn't even try. I just had a potato out to cook separately for her (and forgot to do it!).

So what did Santa bring??... In some regards, Santa's offerings were interesting and wonderful, and in other regards, the same old mundane crap that I usually get. My mother made a lovely and quite sentimental little quilt for me. I will post it soon. It was very touching as she doesn't usually do that kind of thing. I always say that I am easy to gift for, as I give the kind of things I like to receive. That should rule out boring scarves and stupid baskets. Who doesn't have enough of these??? I often make handsewn things, and I was pleased to get one in return. My SIL got us a great ceramic tile sign for our entryway - tiles from Italy. She also got me a cashmere/silk wrap in greens that is to DIE for. The hubby got a digital picture frame for me, but I secretly think that the geek in him wanted it for himself! The other thing I got that I really wanted was EQ6 - I will be learning to use this for a while. Hope your holiday was a good one :-)

Update...my neice LOVES the dress I made her (see last post). I can hardly wait to see her in it.