Doing the Happy Dance

I did it...finished all the customer quilts that needed to get finished in time for Christmas!  Yippee! 

I loaded Carolyn's applique quilts on the machine all together, with one backing fabric. 

Usually if I am doing picture-type quilts, I like to face the quilts in the vertical orientation so I can "draw" better with the sewing machine.    But, I rued that decision this time, because I lacked just about three inches of space before having to roll the quilt to finish the bottom edge!  If I had only pinned them on horizontally, I would not have had to roll at all.  Oh, well, why should I think of something so simple when I've only been quilting on my Gammill for seven years!

Roll 'em, roll 'em, roll'em!  LOL!

I decided to use different thread colors to enhance the different quilt tops.  I would do all the red in one pass, then do the same for the other colors.  I used cherry red, pear green, iced blue, sand dollar, and wheat Signature threads.

Here is the one I call Umbrella Sue. 

I had fun with the borders on this one, adding lots of loops between the squiggly lines.  Each corner got a posie, since April showers bring May flowers!

Here are the apples and pencils.  This would be such a cute gift for a school teacher, wouldn't it?

Next, the flower basket.

I put in flower in each corner that sort of resembles the appliqued flower shapes.  I also added some little quilted hearts in the borders.

Finally, we have the watermelons and sunflower.  This one may be my favorite of the four.

I gave the flower a few friends in the background.

I used a lighter green to make some stripes on the watermelon rind.

Now Carolyn has to get them bound and sleeved in the next week so her granddaughters will have these treasures on Christmas morning.

And, guess what?  It's snowing again!