Christmas-y or Christmas/Sea

On our trip I got to give away one of my Pay it Forward projects, one I hadn't shown in it's entirety on this blog. It is a sea themed Christmas quilt.

The fabrics in the shadow boxes all have Santa relaxing at the beach, in the water, fishing or golfing. The fabrics in the border are all ocean novelty fabrics. At first glance, it certainly doesn't appear to be a Christmas quilt, but in actuality it is.

I've shown the backing on here before, but just so you can see them together, here it is.

I gave this quilt to one of DH's cousins, who lives in Florida, but was at the family reunion in Indiana. The scrappy backing allowed me to clear out a few novelty fabrics, and I got a very positive response from it. Again, I have NEVER received a negative response from a pieced backing, most people just consider them a reversible quilt. If fear of a bad response is keeping you from piecing backings, I hope you'll consider this encouraging. If you just don't like pieced backings, or don't want the extra work, that's one thing, and valid reasons to not make one. On the other hand, if you'd like to save some money and use up stash on the back, be encouraged by the fact most people love pieced backings.

I gave away another Pay it Forward project a couple days ago. I had worked on it while on our trip. I made a set of cherry pit pads for one of my Pay it Forward people who suffers from frequent headaches. I made one neck/shoulder style pad, and one rectangular pad for other areas. I know a lot of people make microwavable bags with rice inside, and rice is an inexpensive way to go. I prefer cherry pits for a couple of reasons.

1) Cherry pits won't go rancid, which rice can do

2) You can wet down the cherry pit pads, then microwave it for moist heat.

3) I prefer the smell when microwaved, it just has a woody smell.

4) They hold cold as well as heat, and can be tossed in the freezer. 

The only disadvantages I see with cherry pits instead of rice are cost and availability. Rice is cheap and easily obtainable. Cherry pits are more expensive, and I cannot source them locally. That said, I still prefer using cherry pits for microwavable hot pads, and this is where I order them.

Of my five Pay It Forward projects, I have three projects done, but only two of those given. The other two are in progress. I hope to mail the third finished project next week. I think I was a little crazy to do the Pay it Forward thing this year, since I already had a pretty long to-do list, but it's been fun anyway.