Blessings this Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for many things this Thanksgiving! Friends, Family and good health especially. And for 2 wonderful grandsons! Thank you, Lord, for the ability to work from home. In my quilting studio, on the hangers, you can see the quilts lined up, waiting for longarming.

My 3 yr old grandson is so proud. He put his coat on all by himself!

Enjoying my new sewing machine!

 I finally have a few days free due to the Thanksgiving Holiday and I plan to use it sewing my next show quilt.  It calls for 580 half square triangles!  I especially love my new machine as I sew mainly in the evenings.  Notice the pull out light above the needle area?  Wow, this is a fabulous feature.  There is plenty of light to see what I'm doing. My machine is the Elna Excellence 780+.  I highly recommend this machine for quilting!

What machine are you sewing with?  

There are some other features on this machine I have to tell you about!  You can adjust the automatic settings to any stitch!  I like to stitch with a 2.8 stitch length so I change the length and now the automatic setting is what I want it to be when I select a stitch.  So handy not to adjust this every time I turn the machine on!

The machine has an early warning for when the bobbin is getting low.  And you can adjust this as well! They thought of most anything a quilter might want when they built this machine.

Sugar & Spice quilt pattern

 My next quilt project is starting this week.  I found the very last fat quarter pack of the fabric collection Promenade by Moda.  This collection is sold out everywhere but I found one website that still had the fat quarter pack!  

The pattern calls for the use of 2 rulers made by Studio 180 and I have those rulers.  One is the Tucker Trimmer I and the other is the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler.

Ode to Sewing Machines #43

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #43!

There's a sewing machine in there somewhere!  This was the only photo.

Pocket Prayer Quilts

I made a few pocket prayer quilts this afternoon and thought I'd share the video tutorial I used to make them.  I hope you enjoy watching this tutorial and I hope you make a few for your friends!

I bought the cross charms and pins at Etsy online.  I used leftover charm squares to make the quilts.  I printed out the card on my computer!

Click here to download the prayer print out!

Here are 4 of the 12 I've made so far, they are easy to sew!

Cottage Stars table runner

The Durham Orange Quilters' Guild has a challenge that will be held at our guild meeting Monday evening.  The challenge was given in March and the topic was to be on houses.  We could make any type, color and size quilt with the theme of houses or neighborhoods.  This is my entry!  

Ode to Sewing Machines #42

 Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #42!

Quilt of Valor

 I made this quilt a few months ago, longarmed it and finally finished the binding this afternoon. It’s being donated to the QOV sewing group I’m in.