Christmas in July

With sweltering temperatures outside, my thoughts turn to ice cream and Christmas, maybe not in that order. I am thinking of a quilt I made in 2014. It features a Redwork embroidery motif of birds and holly. The design is a very enlarged version of a line drawing that was published in the Cunnings catalog, a late 19th century catalog from which one could order designs for outline stitch embroidery (another name for Redwork). The catalog features thousands of designs or so it seems! There are many monograms, flowers, owls, Japanese-themed motifs and other designs.

Anyhow, this particular image of birds appealed to me, being a bird-lover and all. I enjoyed hand-quilting this quilt. Anything to help me dwell on the delights of cooler weather and the coziness that Christmas holidays bring when it is snowing outside and we do not have to go anywhere. At that time, it is fun to listen to Christmas music and do some quilting in the den. As humans, we always want something else. In winter, we long for summer but when summer arrives, it is often overrated because of torrential rains, thunderstorms, and high temperatures. For now, I am dreaming of Old Man Winter visiting again as Jack Frost coats our windowpanes in frosty designs!