Christmas in July celebrations

I have been neglecting all three of my blogs because life has been very busy. Our house has been painted on the outside. It took two painters two and a half weeks and they still have to come back to finish the wood panels. They need a third layer and then it is finished. So I have been taking care of these two...one of whom is the son of one of the ladies in my quilt group. They needed coffee, tea, cookies, ice cream and cold drinks. I also have been cleaning up all the dust created during the sanding. I was busy preparing for my quilt group's Christmas in July celebration. Each July, I hold a party to kick off being creative for the coming holiday season. So while all my family and friends back home were celebrating the 4th of July...I was celebrating Christmas. *grins*

This year, I choose the theme of hand making a door hanger. Everyone had a couple of months to play elf for someone else in the quilt group.

This is my hanger which I stitched on unbleached linen. It is a modified pattern from an Acufactum book. The original design said Wilkommen and I used letters in the design and created the H to match from the I. The design was stretch on posterboard and glued to a wooden hanger along with red trim.

With my package wrapped and waiting, it was time for the party to start. Everyone started arriving with their food for the evening. We created an appetizer buffet this year with everyone contributing a dish. Four of the ladies also created a dessert buffet. Everything was so delicious that we almost could have forgotten our gift exchange but the fun began. We played Santa is a thief which was incredibly fun and provided many laughs as we were allowed to either open a new gift or steal one of the previous ones. 

These are the results of everyone's hard work! Everyone's work was amazing and beautiful.

I stole a gift that was made by Elly. You can see it hanging here in my quilt studio.
A wooden red painted heart that says 'love to quilt' with a fabric heart glued on it.

I decided that it would look perfect in my studio hanging beside Jesse's Hearts quilt. This is a quilt I made after our cat Jesse died very suddenly in 2002. If you enlarge the photo, you should be able to see the little kitty paws I quilted in the red squares.

Thanks Elly for my wonderful gift and to the entire group for another fun Christmas in July.

A special thanks to Albertha, Wilma, Sonja and Bep who always help out so generously. They jump up to serve others and help clean up afterwards. Bep is always the last to leave making sure Jos has help putting every last dish, chair or anything else away. You are all stars!