Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is a wonderful time to celebrate and give thanks for all of the blessings that fill our lives: loving families, good health, deep friendships, freedom and happiness... the list is endless. And somewhere on my list is quilting! Quilting offers all of us something. For some of us, it offers us creativity and art. For others, it offers friendship with fellow quilters. For others, it offers an opportunity to share one's talent with friends and strangers alike. No matter what your reason is for quilting, I hope that it gives you great satisfaction. Over the past couple of weeks I have had the chance to work on finishing up several projects. Here is a sampling - enjoy! Lily Rosenberry, 83 x 83 inches This quilt was originally done in red and green on a warm off-white background. This version was done in bubble gum pink and soft green on a rich chocolate background. Denise Green and I collaborated on this quilt and made it together. The Walkaway Star Quilt, 60 x 74 inches I am going to teach participants how to make this quilt at the annual February 2009 Quakertown Quilts retreat on Galveston Island (and yes, the island recovery is going great -- lots of work ahead, but the retreat site is in great condition!). The block is one that I designed, based on an antique block. I call the quilt the "walk away" star quilt because the quilt really CAN be done in a day, if one stays focused. That pleases me; I do not think that I am alone in saying that I don't like coming home from classes and retreats with more UFOs! The Walkaway Star Quilt (#2), 60 x 74 inches Okay... I liked the first Walkaway Star Quilt so much that I made another one. This time, the blocks are made from a dozen different blue prints and a dozen different shirting fabrics. I like "scrappy" quilts. The Walkaway Star Quilt (#3), 60-1/2 by 75-1/2 inches In fact, I liked this block so much that I made a pint-size version of it (7" blocks) with 1/2-inch sashing between each block. I used a variety of civil war reproduction fabrics; the scrappiness of this quilt makes one's eyes dance across its surface. I also like making quilts that don not contain any "background" fabrics -- no white, off-white, taupe, or neutral fabrics, only colored print fabrics. As long as the fabrics contain a good balance of light, medium, and dark prints, the scrappiness adds a wonderful richness to the finished quilt. So what else am I working on? There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head, following the great Houston quilt show -- I saw a lot of antique quilts that inspired me, and so I'm sure you'll be seeing some of those ideas reformulated into new quilt patterns. I met with the wonderful folks from P&B Textiles and I'm working on a new fabric line for them. Once again, it will have a juvenile flavor to it -- think nursery songs! Until next time... happy sewing! Sue (c)2008 Susan H. Garman