Merry Christmas

My Little Chickadee
13x10

Well, it's a pretty safe bet that my MIL doesn't read my blog, so I guess it's okay to post her Christmas present here.  Germaine Greer's rant about handmade gifts aside and the fact that it probably isn't a great idea to give my art away, often times handmade gifts are the only ones that make sense for the older people in my family. 

It seems we all want for nothing.  It isn't that we're wealthy, but if we need something or even want something, we just go out and buy it, so what do you get for someone who buys themselves everything they need?  Sometimes we donate money to Heifer International or other worthy organizations whose missions they and we can support, but some years, I just feel inspired to do something to show them how much we appreciate their generosity.

All the fabric in this quilt, except the binding, came from my compulsively ironed scrap boxes. They are organized by color, and each piece is pressed before it gets dumped in.  This is a much more usable system than when I just threw them in buckets by color.  Since the pieces are pressed and ready to go, I'm much more likely to use my scraps. 

My MIL loves birds, but I also try to make the gifts I give some type of learning experience.  For this quilt, the free motion quilting in the background was more dense than I usually do.  Now, I wonder what it would have looked like if I had varied the pattern in some places. 

Merry Christmas, happy Hannukah (belatedly), joyous Kwanza, blessed solstice, and may this next year be full of love and inspiration.