Batik lattice basket quilt and some hand embroidery

Well, it's officially summer and I am off for 11 weeks!! It was such a wonderful year, so it was almost a shame that it had to end.  On the upside, it's great to leave when it was still awesome instead of wanting the door to hit them in the backside on the way out! :)  So now it is time to clean, organize, read and sew my head off.  This quilt is something way outside of my comfort zone as far as color goes, but I really love it so far.  The jelly roll is called Dancing in the Rain by Edyta Star (I think that is her last name)  and I had to have it when I saw it last fall.  This quilt is also something that would not normally appeal to me, but it was intruiging, so I took the class.  It is all unfinished seams (until each row is attached) which is how you get the basket weave effect.  Not a big hassle, but tedious.  I will work on it a little every night instead of all at once. 

I just love hand embroidery!! Crabapple Hill is a lovely company that has gorgeous products, so I buy tons of them from my friend Janet at Farmhouse Quilts in Cutchogue.  We are doing a class each month to get the embroideries done, which is a good motivator.  This is one quilt I will never give away when it's done.  I could not bear for it to have dogs and cats or anything laying on it!!  It will be one of those things that someone will get once I am long gone. 

Close-up of the open seams on the lattice quilt.  This is actually easy, but there are threads everywhere as you go along.  I'll post it as it gets bigger.  There are 13 rows total and I think I have three done!  Today I started really cleaning the kitchen.  Cabinets empty, stuff thrown out and moved around.  Tomorrow I will finish it and clean the pantry.