Santa time is almost here

...and as far as I am concerned, that day just can't come soon enough!  All of the hype and anticipation of Christmas drives me crazy.  Heck, the holiday candy goes into the stores the day after Halloween, and we're doing pre-Black Friday sales in October.  My kids are junked up on xmas cookies, wildly excited, dying to not go to school...it all makes my head spin too fast.  

If you are still looking for that nice and modest gift for the quilter in your life, Machine Quilting Unlimited has a lovely 2016 calendar (www/mqumag.com).  My Bouquet Royale quilt, which will be at Road to California next month is on the cover too!

The plan all along had been that December would be when I reload this quilt (above), and get it finished.  I had planned the timing of the quilting well, so that my client work would be slowed, and the quilt could actually get finished in time to enter this spring.  But then the facebook bomb dropped. A quilter that you all know accused me of copying both her piecing and her quilting.  It is the biggest load of shit I have heard, excuse my French - but I am still incensed by this.  I consider myself to have more than enough creativity and talent to create my own designs.  Furthermore, if I were going to copy someone's quilting, it would be a better quilter than her.  Seriously, have you seen anybody else quilt the motif above?!?...No.  She's imagining it, because that swirly thing I stitched in the triangles was drafted by me.  Some people think that if you quilt anything that is slightly different from the style that you usually use, that you are taking it from another.  Simply ridiculous.  I was LIVID, and angry and hurt.  It completely took the wind out of my sails the last month.  I never use other people's patterns, not even for  simple use quilts.  So with my motivation to touch this quilt zapped, I think that is why I pulled the next one out of moth-balls.

I have spent the last week puttering working on this quilt.  Though I told myself I would quilt it with a "who gives a bleep" attitude, just aiming to get it done, that does not seem to be how it is going. Today is the 7th or 8th day, and I am just seeing the bottom of the 72" quilt (and there are many large holes still to quilt).  While I don't know if I love it, since my tastes have definitely changed in 4 years since it was started, it is looking reasonably decent.  It's no best of show, but it will probably go to at least a couple shows to see how it does.

Batiks are a PIA to quilt.  That is why I have largely gotten away from using them.  Hand-dyes are nice, but batiks have too much print to obscure the quilting.  As a result, I am using heavier threads like 40wt Glide (with a sheen), and even a few very fine threads just to get dense textural quilting (silk).

 This is the center.  I actually really like how this looks (even if there is a large unquilted space still!).  Using several sets of parallel lines sets off the design nicely.

I am still working (more like waiting) on the silk hexagon quilt.  I have worked out a design for the outer border and block layout.  It needed a custom dyed orange silk.  I thought I ordered it nearly a month ago, then it took like FOREVER to arrive, and did not match.  I have since sent a swatch to someone else to dye me a yard.  After the holidays (probably when I am swamped with class prep and client quilts), I will get back to finishing the silk top.  Goal is to have this quilt set to enter at MQX midwest in October.  Seems overly ambitious.

Have a good holiday, whatever it may be.  Maybe I will just blow off everything and just go to see Star Wars on Christmas.  Seems like a good idea today :-)

What?...don't you make Yoda gingerbread cookies?!?