A Lovely Year of Finishes 2013

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Lovely way to get in gear and get those projects finished.  I'm going to try, but I don't know if this button will post - never could make it work before!  Never did a linky party before or flicker, but I'll give it a go!  I'm joining Melissa of http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?page_id=3033 and Shanna of http://www.fiberofallsorts.blogspot.com/ in their quest to get these projects done done!!!

In memory of Sandy Hook

I received a squishy from Canada

There was a blog hop...I don't remember which one because they all keep sucking me in...and this time, I was a winner!!!  Annette, who blogs at http://institchesandseams.blogspot.com/ picked my name and today I received a squishy from Canada!!!  Annette designs her own patterns - amazing! - and sent me one called Crazy for Candles and 3 fat quarters to make it with!  

It is an adorable star pattern that will let me play with the embroidery stitches on my sewing machine!  Thank you, Annette!!!  Make sure you go over and check out her blog and you'll know why I'm a follower of hers!

I hope to have all my Christmas gift quilts done-done this weekend - they need bindings and labels - and when they are ready for viewing, I'll post pictures of them here!

New Customer quilt finished!

I finished this beauty last week and sent it off to Joan.  She has it now, so I can post pictures of it here.  She has promised me a picture of the whole quilt...it is 102" square and there was no where to put it to see it all, so here is a picture of a little more than half of it!  I got to play with trapunto and McTavishing on this beauty!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I pause in my preparations for Thanksgiving, I want to take a minute and wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends, food, and love!  Four of our kids plus one husband, one fiance and one girlfriend are joining us tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  We will all be heading to my husband's Aunt and Uncle's for our big family dinner.  There are usually between 30 and 40 people...I'm so glad his dear Aunt is willing to play hostess for all of us!  Then all the kids will come home with us...still haven't figured out where everyone will sleep, but that's all right, we'll have a wonderful time!  I am squeezing some quilting time in on a customer's quilt...it's a lovely break from cleaning house and I have to get it finished this weekend so I can mail it off in time for Joan to put the binding and label on for this lovely Christmas gift!!!

Blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Respect for Pattern Designers

I am so thrilled with the response to the Two Hearts in Love quilt (pictured below), but someone asked me for the pattern I used for the border.  Big problem.  I didn't use a pattern, just had an idea in my head, put it on graph paper, applied crayons then went for it.  Yes, I made mistakes and enjoyed some quality time with my seam ripper.  But how to describe what I did and how I did it???  Mercy me, what a trial it was...sure hope the poor lady can figure out what I was talking about!  I did send her pictures, so I hope she can figure it out.  My respect for designers who publish their patterns has skyrocketed!!!

Testing a Quilt Pattern

I had the wonderful opportunity to test a quilt pattern for Jenel Looney called Two Hearts in Love.  Her pattern was inspired by the romance author Susan Mallery.  She is Susan's assistant and she created this pattern as a gift for Susan.  She has submitted her pattern to a quilting magazine but said I could share a picture with you before the magazine came out with it.  I will admit, she designed the heart portion of the quilt, but finished her pattern with a solid border...well, I like pieced borders and wanted the finished quilt to be larger (I will still be adding more borders to get it queen-sized), so I came up with the woven ribbons border.  Currently it is 57"x73".  I LOVE this pattern and it has become my go-to pattern for wedding quilts!!!