"A quilt is a letter to those who look at it."
I wanted to show you a few more decorations. I bought this mitten at a craft show last year. The table mat was made by Deb a year or so ago. The folkart bird stays out year round which was made by my applique group facilitator, Kathleen.
With Passion,
I also found this in an antique store. I keep this up all year just because I like trees so much.
Okay, I need some help. I designed this flower applique pattern to hopefully teach a class next year. I think I am going to do some free motion quilting around it. But...
I want to make it into a pillow to display in the shop. I need some help on how to finish it. I am just stuck on what to trim it in or do I add some kind of border and trim? Help! The background fabric is a pale green which doesn't show up well at all. Anyway does anyone have any ideas? 
to these blocks that others have made. The person that will get these blocks is going to use them in place mats. Pretty neat idea!
I started pulling out some Christmas decorations. This is a punchneedle pillow I made last year. I took pictures of other things but they did not turn out. I will try again and show you later.
Working on the little Christmas tree and bringing out the some decorations is getting me in the Christmas spirit. The colder weather we are having helps too.
This pillow was made by Carolyn I think she said she had a book with all kinds of dog patterns in it. She made this for her daughter. Cute!
With Passion,
I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy your day and don't forget to count your blessings.
Yesterday my husband, my daughter, and I drove to the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center in Yadkinville, NC. This tile work was on the outside of one of the walls of the building.
Inside were some great quilts made by a quilt bee from my area.
The building inside is just a beautiful as the quilts.
This is just a few of the fabulous quilts that were made by this bee. The display will be on exhibit until December 30 if you are in the area.
Happy Thanksgiving! 
Here is what our trip looked like going through Virginia. We enjoyed very pretty weather while we were there.
Remember the pillow I made with the variegated cat on the bench? It was for my son and DIL. This is one of their cats. He is a beautiful cat but he is not friendly at all. Either is the other cat.
On our way up to DC we stopped in a Staunton, Virginia at Rachel's Quilt shop. She was featured in the Quilt Sampler magazine. Not sure when. (www.rachelsquiltpatch.com)
I did stop at another quilt shop but don't remember the name. I did find some fabric and a nice piece of wool.
On our way up to DC and back home we stopped at several antique stores. I found some button cards to add to my collection.
Check out these little copper cookie cutters. I remember having these when I was a child.
This week we are dog sitting a big dog. Bear (his name) is a Labradoodle and is staying for the week. He is a good dog.
I did work on some applique while I was in Virginia but nothing is finished. I need to work on some Quilt Around the World blocks this week so I can pass them on to the next person. I will be sure to show you them when I finish.
Here are the preparations. I have been working on the Quilt Aid blocks I got recently. I am still waiting on one to arrive in the mail. This block was a challenge for me. I have not ever done any thing like this before.
The circle looks okay. A few more pieces prepped and ready to applique.
One of the blocks has yo yos. Unfortunately my Go cutter and my Clover yo yo makers were not the right size. So all these yo yos are done the old fashioned way. This photo is just to show you lovely fabrics.
I made this house with the off the block technique meaning that I sewed it all together first and now it is ready to applique to the background.
Here are the tiny house posts. I used my bias bars to make these.
One of the blocks has an embroidered house along with trees and a vine. Still more to do on it.
With Passion,
The next step is to decide what length you will cut the threads. For this teal project I cut threads 6 inches. For the gray pillow I cut them 12" in length. Depending on how big the project will determine how long to cut the threads. This project was small so I cut them 6 inches. You can determine this yourself.
Now begin with the darkest thread and embroider until it runs out.
Now use the next shade of thread...
then the next...
and the next.
Now the secret to the look is to continue using the threads in the order that you have (dark to light) and cut them the same length each time.
And here is the finished project. This design is on a feedsack dishtowel that is why the stitches look loose in some places. I really like how the shells look using this technique. 
Here is the finished product. This pillow along with the yo yo pillow done in a previous post will be given to my oldest son and DIL for Christmas. They have two cats and I thought this would be a cute addition to their apartment. My DIL's favorite color is gray. That is why both pillows have gray in them.
Here is the back with the bicycle fabric that Stephanie gave me. My son loves riding and working on bikes ever since he was a little boy so that part is for him.
I like the mini pom pom trim but is was really hard to sew onto the pillow because there wasn't much of an edge to sew on. 
Happy Veterans Day! thank you to all of you have served in the military. I am grateful.
Here are some Christmas gifts I have finished. These first two photos are seat belt sleeves. I made these for my daughters-in-law.
You can find the tutorial here. If you make your own, the directions call for something called heading liner to use inside the sleeve. I just used several layers of scrap batting. I think it gives just the right amount of padding.
Here is a pincushion for a friend. Sorry, I covered up the designer's name. It is Kathy Schmitz.
And I made some camera strap covers for the kid's cameras. This pattern came from the Moda Bake Shop.
With Passion, 
Well, this...
plus this...
equals this.
I made this pillow for my oldest son and DIL for Christmas. I used the largest circle on the Accuquilt GO die cutter. I also bought the extra large Clover yo yo maker which fits perfectly with the circles to make all these yo yos. Then I hand tacked each one to the background fabric, made my own fabric covered cord, and now I have a pillow made for the couple. 