Holidays? What holidays?

I'm slowly, slowly getting more things ready to list in the shop. I've got so many projects underway that it seems that I barely make any progress on any of them...and that's when I have time not spent in the kitchen or the garden. But the 30 degree temps have arrived and shut down the garden, and I've only got a half gallon of hot peppers left in the fridge for jam making, so I'm hoping I'll have more time for a needle and thread now. Good thing, too, with December looming ominously on the horizon.



I did put another set of quilted ornaments in my Etsy shop yesterday. These are cut from an abandoned, hand quilted project that my mom found at a garage sale. Some of the quilting included a flower motif in a sort of Dresden plate design. I fussy cut the quilt to capture these flowers and then highlighted them with embroidery floss. I rather like the way they turned out (and of course I'm hoping someone else does, too). 

Currently my works-in-progress pile includes a baby quilt commissioned by my mother-in-law. I hope to post a picture of the quilt top by the end of the weekend, but that may be overly optimistic. A friend from high school has asked me to make a set of plush pillows based on the characters from the Pacman video game as a gift for her son. That's not my usual cup of tea, but I don't think they'll be too hard and I could use a little more experience in making stuffed animals/pillows. Then there's the April Showers quilt top that still languishing on my quilt wall. At this rate it may be next April before I finish that one.

And because I'm totally oblivious to the actual calendar date, I've got some new ideas for holiday items this year. A holly leaf garland, a yo-yo garland, a new version of my primitive cat for Christmas....so many ideas swirling through my head.

I will likely be making the bulk of my Christmas gifts this year. For obvious reasons I won't be talking too much about them directly in public until they've been gifted, but I might get some peeks posted here before long. But now I need another cup of coffee before I return to the quilt mines this morning.