Thankful

I have such a blessed life and I try and be thankful every single day for all the bounty in my life.  Great children, loving and supportive partner, my family, my assistant, warm home, health, jobs, our great country, etc, etc.    My list of things to be thankful for can go on forever.  I love that we have one day to relax and just revel in our blessings and the only obligation is to be thankful.  

I'm also thankful for all my readers.  Finding a community of people to share my quilting journey with has also been a blessing in my life.  Thanks guys!  You really do rock!!    Even if it's not your Thanksgiving Day I hope you all have things to be thankful for today and can spend a moment to relax and enjoy. 

After the meal ..... Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

Sampler Quilt

I finished up the sampler quilt that I made this summer with Amy's quilt-a-long.  I worked on honing those ever useful quilting techniques of measuring, accurate 1/4" seams and trimming half square triangles with this quilt.    I always wanted a red and white quilt and now that I have one .... I want more! 

This is the first quilt I took to a long arm quilter to have professionally quilted.  It felt a little like cheating at first and I balked at spending money on it but I have to say that it came out beautifully and the cost really wasn't that much.  I found a great little shop right near my workplace and she was able to use the back I'd pieced and my batting and, most importantly, she didn't cringe or laugh at my points (or lack thereof).  I'd been pondering just how to quilt this and since I like to get old projects finished up before I start new ones it was really blocking me.  The back is kind of a mish-mash of my leftover pieces because I was desperately trying to just get enough together so I wouldn't have to buy any more fabric.  Sometimes I CAN be frugal ....

On to Christmas .....

Now I have to move the sewing machine and mat out of my "studio" and turn it back into the dining room for the holidays but that's OK.  I can still work on smaller projects and here are some felt mittens I'm working on for ornaments and gift tags.  These are fun to make up ahead of time and then embroider and finish while watching TV on the couch at night.

Happiness is .... a star quilt

I had a fun time making these stars and I'm pretty happy with the final product.  Kona ochre is my new favorite color and it made a  nice frame to this quilt ... don't cha think? 

I had a pleasant time with the hand sewing this week while watching Mad Men on Netflix.  I can't believe I haven't been watching that series!  I've got one more quilt to bind this weekend so I'm saving my discs for another hand sewing marathon.  Bring it on! 

I'll enjoy this quilt for a while but I made her for a special person in my life.  Can't wait to let her spread her cheer. 

Denyse Schmidt is so wise

Today was another quilt sandwiching day at the Bailey house!  I got a pretty cool back made this weekend and since I had another in my long line of dental appointments this morning I took the whole day off and did some pin basting.  Does anyone else find making a pieced back more work than making the quilt top?  I basically have NO plan for the back and at least with the front I'm working with small squares and I know what I'm doing.  I try to use up all the scrap pieces and leftovers but trying to fit everything together is like a puzzle.  Plus you're working with looooong and wide pieces of fabric.  But anyways, I digress, the back is done and the binding is made so all I have to do is quilt now.  Eep!  My most scariest part. 

I was trying to rush to finish up this quilt for Amy's quilt festival this weekend and it was making it too much like work.  Then I was an inactive (shy) participant in a live chat with Denyse Schmidt on Twitter Saturday.  One thing Denyse said really stood out because it's so true for me. "As soon as a deadline is attached, just assume that it introduces a level of stress and may take some of the enjoyment away."  

I decided right then to take the deadline out of the equation and just relax.  I'll be taking my time on the quilting because I've got a  more involved pattern in mind.  I'm actually looking forward to working on it a little bit each evening after dinner.  Quilting gets pretty monotonous so I may have a little wine and Pandora involved.  Ahhhh .... sounds much better than hurrying to get it done last week.

Here's a little hint of the back