Spring Weather Brings.....Christmas Quilts????

After months of craziness, I am hopeful that my world is going to stop spinning for a while!

And while I enjoy this little calm in the storm of my crazy mixed-up life,  I thought I'd try blogging again.

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As I sit here on this balmy April evening with the window open, the overhead fanning humming away, and the peepers (tree frogs) singing their very loud opera outside, I can't help but shake my head over my recent projects for Quilter's World magazine:

WINTER AND CHRISTMAS!

What?  You might ask.  What's wrong with you?  Are you nuts?

Probably, but in the meantime allow me to explain.

When it comes to designing for magazines or other publications for that matter, you are never making seasonal and holiday items during the correct time/season.  Strange, I know, but how else can the magazine/publication bring your your seasonal/holiday issues unless they're doing the upcoming winter issue in the spring and next year's spring issue in the summer? 

This may sound strange, but I take comfort in the fact that the seasons and holidays still follow in the correct order, just at different times of the year.

Okay, so right now I'm working on a set of Christmas place mats, a snowman table runner, and a snowflake table runner.  Right now.  In April.

Believe it or not, but there is an upside to working on seasonal/holiday items out of time -- by the time the season or holiday rolls around, I've already got a stash of new quilts ready to display, give as gifts, or donate to my favorite charity.  Just sayin'........

Here are some photos of Winter and Christmas quilts that I've made over the last couple years for various publications and patterns.

Shipping, Shipping, and More Shipping

HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO SHIP YOUR QUILTS?

Well, this week was all about shipping quilts for me.  I spent 2 days prepping and packing ALL of my quilts (that's 20 pieces ranging from placemats to queen-sized bed quilts) for my new quilt book. 

What an exhausting process.

It goes something like this:

1.  Cover the biggest bed in the house with a clean sheet.

2.  Lay a quilt on top, right sides up.

3.  Use many sticky lint roller sheets to go over the quilt surface. This process takes me a long time because I have several cats and they leave their hair everywhere.  No matter how much I try to keep them away from the quilts I'm working on, their hair still shows up.  Sigh.

4.  Fold quilt with right sides together.

5.  Repeat with lint roller on new area exposed.

6.  Fold.

7.  Lint rolller.

8.  Repeat (you get the picture here) until quilt is folded correctly to fit in box.

9.  Place quilt in plastic bag lined box.  I always put my quilts in a large plastic bag in case the box might get wet in transit.  Have you seen how packages are handled?

Whew -- done.......with ONE QUILT.  Now do this 19 more times.

Luckily, I started with the largest quilts so by the time I was totally worn out, I was preparing table runners and placemats.  I spread this torture out to 2 days and two boxes.

Of course, before I even prepped and packaged the quilts, I had to get all of the paperwork in order.  Then as I prepared each quilt, I had to pin a paper label to the top corner.

Once the quilts were safely folded inside the boxes, then the packing tape marathon took place.  I think I won first place....

WRITING A QUILT BOOK IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED!

Oh?  You always wanted to write a quilt book?  Well, welcome to the reality of the process -- it's not just about fame, fortune, and riches (I wish....). 

I wish I had thought to take some photos of this process, but I was totally focused on getting the task done, that I didn't even think of it.  Sorry....

So, yesterday I hauled my two big boxes of quilts to the UPS shipping center at Staples.  The boxes each weighed around 20 pounds.  When I got to the store, I went inside to get a cart.  Then the whole shipping process was over within minutes and my boxes were happily on their way to my publisher in California.  WAIT!  This momentous occasion should have been accompanied by confetti and balloons, don't you think?  But....there was nothing.  The Staples employees didn't even congratulate me or shake my hand -- NOTHING.  Oh, there was something.  I had to sign away my first unborn child to pay for the shipping and insurance.

This morning, I had the icing on the cake, so to speak --

I had another quilt to prep and package, a quilt project for Quilter's World magazine.  Will this torture ever end?