Thankful for Quilts, Quilting, and Much, Much More

I recently made this little quilt to hang outside our front door. It's one of those by Joined at the Hip where the center panel is buttoned on, so you can change it with the season. I used to vt Marty and she had one hanging by her front door which always made me feel welcome. We miss you Marty!

I'm thankful for our oldest granddaughter, Lauren (all our grandchildren) for whom I made the quilt above way back 20 years ago, the first of twelve. (It's hard to believe she's a sophomore in college!)

I'm thankful for my grandmas and all my ancestors in our family history. This quilt block was one I made for a quilt called Grandmother's Back Yard done by the first quilt group I joined way back in the 1980s. 




I"m thankful for this star pillow that sits on the back of my living room sofa made by Lily and given to me at the Ladies Christmas party several years ago. I think of Lily whenever I look at it.

Having a friend like Kandice for inspiration with her ability to knock out beautiful quilts at a rapid rate is a nice blessing we can all be thankful for!

We are all thankful for Rita who keeps us organized with her calendar and reminder notes and assignments. What would we do without her? 


Thanks, Rita!!



Rita's Flower Garden Quilt

I'm thankful to have taken "Quilting 101" from Annie, a great teacher of quilting, who quilted with us for awhile. She taught a different technique for every block in this sampler quilt I made in the class.


Annie has gone on to have the first podcast for quilters and is writing a book to be published next year. She also teaches online courses. Check out her website at http://simplearts.com/blogs/

I'm thankful to have a daughter who loves quilting as much as I do. Here is Secret Garden Melanie and I made for her brother's wedding thirteen years ago.

 
And along those lines, I'm thankful for a heritage of quilters in my family. I found a yellow and blue unfinished quilt top in a pinwheel design among my mother's things. I took it apart and used the blue fabrics for Recycled Pinwheels which now reminds me of my mom, aunts and grandma who quilted.

I'm especially thankful for my grandma who made me this quilt when I was a teenager. (Pictured above with her and my grandfather's wedding picture.) I now treasure it, but at the time I had little appreciation for all of the work that went into it, which is hand-quilted. Once when I was a young mom I had it wrapped around me at a ward camp-out. An older, wiser woman told me that it was " much too nice for camping." I think that is when I started looking at quilts and quilting through different eyes.