Happy Thanksgiving!!

May you enjoy the day spent with family and friends and reminisce on the wonderful blessings we all share.

The Even Shorter List :)

So the huge finish for me this week is Christmas.  I have never been a last minute shopper but this year my goal was to be completely done by Thanksgiving.  And as of yesterday, everything that needed to be shipped was shipped. Everything that needed to be delivered at our Thanksgiving festivities is wrapped and ready to go, and everything for my family here is hidden safely away into top of the closet.  

It's a good thing my kids aren't much into trying to find their presents because this is what I mean by hidden. Not to hard to realize there is candy in that bag for stockings and lots of something behind the bed skirt.  Oh ya, I am one tricky mom ;)

Now if only I was ready for Thanksgiving.  I have to get these piles of laundry put away so that I can turn around and pull it back out again to pack our bags ;)  And then tonight, I will be making 4 pies.  My husband loves pies!!!!

And I did get some quilting done this week as well!!  Nothing in the completed stage, but . . . this quilt that needed to be sashsed last week is all basted and ready to be quilted.  That's my after Thanksgiving project :)

And, this lovely stack of beauties was cut up, pieced together, and shipped off to Natalia to be quilted.  When it arrives back my wonderful Mom in law has said she will put the binding on for me and then off to the publishers it will go :)  Yippee Skippee for getting that almost crossed off the list.

So here's the rundown for the rest of the year :)  Yippee for short!!!

Designing Stage

• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• Scrunchy Stripes

Piecing Stage

• Jessi and Me Quilt 

Quilting Stage

• Solids Quilt for Free Motion
• Modern Blocks Quilt - Basted and ready to go
• Super Shabby Spin - Sent to Natalia

Completed Stage

Stacks

Where do you store your finished quilts that aren't gifts???  I find my stacks are growing lately, and having them sit on the shelf in my sewing room isn't the greatest "display" of them and it makes me sad because they don't get "used" either.  

In the past, I have pretty much given away most of my quilts. (and even sold a few, wish I could take that back but we were in school and every bit helped :)    Then I got this teaching gig in January and realized that I no longer had the quilt (one of those school sold ones) that I would be teaching.  So I had to make up new ones.  Not horrible, but it has made me realize that it is kind of nice to have a sample on hand.    (Although, I still have given away some of my pattern quilts, they just were given with the disclaimer that if I ever teach a class on them that I get to "borrow" the quilt for the weekend :)  P.S. These are my samples for my class in January, I am so excited!!

 And in general, I find that it is just getting harder to part with some of my quilts.  Like for instance, the ones that have been published.  They just seem special and hard to give away.  Probably crazy sentimental to get attached to a quilt, but there you have it.  And let's be honest, it's not like I don't need a lot of excuse to make a new quilt when ever there is a special occasion on the horizon.  I always have another idea in my head to try :)     And all of this leads to big stacks.  So what do I do with the stacks???

Turnovers - A New Pattern

Introducing Turnovers, my newest pattern  now available in my Pattern Shop :)    Turnovers is a wonderful geometric design that allows for lots of color.

 This pattern  is suitable for beginners and up.  The pattern includes 2 coloring pages as the color layout options are endless.

And it comes with size options!!!!  Turnovers has options for a Baby, Twin, Queen, and King size quilt.

This cover quilt is the Twin size and the fabrics are Marmalade by Bonnie & Camille for Moda.   I love this line, it has such a wonderful mixture of color in it along with great designs.

A little detail.  I used an all over free motion quilting design of daisies connected by loops and heart shaped leaves.  I made a video tutorial of this design that you can see here if you are interested :)

So, do you want to make one for yourself??  well then pop on over to Burgundy Buttons, where Leah has made up a Turnovers Quilt Kit featuring the same Marmalade prints that I used!!!!  The kit is for the Twin size.  The kit also includes the pattern for free and the fabric itself is at a major discount.  What a deal!!!  So pop on over and grab a kit for yourself so you can get going on your Turnovers quilt.

Wow, I can't believe this is my 5th pattern!!  Thank you to all of you great readers, there is no way I could be doing this without you!!!  Your the greatest and I am so happy I get to spend a bit of each day with you :)  Have a Happy Quilting weekend!!!

Everything In Between Quilt Show

Last Saturday I was able to attend the Everything In Between quilt show that was hosted at my Alma Mater, SUU.  I almost missed the show, attending the last day it was open.  Boy am I glad I made it!!  Here are some of my favorites!!

 This is a stunning about of applique!!  And I just loved the way the colors were used.  Doesn't it look like splashed paint :)

I absolutely loved this butterfly quilt.  (As did my daughter who visited earlier with her school class.)  The colors are so incredibly vibrant and the applique is just phenomenal.  I wonder how many pieces needed to be added to create this masterpiece.

Another stunning quilt.  The girl is made using turned edge applique.  Can you image creating all those curves with turned edge applique??    And I so love the vibrant colors.

And the quilting . . . blown away !!  I mean seriously, look at these feathers.  Amazing!!  I wish I would have taken a close up of the face.  It looked so realistic because of the lines created by quilting.

And lastly,  this was my favorite.  Doesn't it look more like a painting than a quilt!!  This quilt spoke to me on a personal note which is probably why it is my favorite ;)

All in all, a very inspiring and wonderful visit!!  I loved that I could get right up close to these amazing works of art to see how the quilters made each quilt.   It is just so fascinating and thrilling to me to be able to understand the process of their creation.  I mean, I could stare at a painting all day and still have no idea how it was done, but this, this I could really appreciate because I felt like I understood the process of creation and therefor appreciated all the more the beauty and talent they show.  I don't know if that makes any sense, does it??  Have you ever felt like you can appreciate something more because you know what it took to create it??

Edit -  I am sorry that I can't add the names of the quilters.  I was so enthralled with the quilts that I totally forgot to even look at the artist.  I didn't realize this until I went to write the blog posts and the show was closed then so I couldn't go back.   I know this is super insensitive and I feel horrible about it.  If anybody happens to know the quilters of each piece please let me know, I would love to add their names to their work.