Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I just made an apple pie and have a rum cake in the oven as we speak.  There will only be five of us tomorrow but I think we have food for twenty!  I must admit, I'm a total ham this time of year.  I love seeing the holiday decorations go up, I love the cooler weather, and business wise this is my best time of year!

Speaking of which, this is what I've been working on the past few days and why there is no tutorial this week:

I'm stocking up for the weekend rush at The Beehive.  It doesn't look like much but man, those skirts take forever to make!  And just a little more promotion here- have you seen the new E-Zine for the beehive? It's chock full of great holiday gift ideas and most of the pictures have links directly to the designers online shop!

On a quilting note, guess what is almost done!  I got the alphabet quilt back from the quilt shop today and it is awesome!  I just have to do the binding.

Now, I could have totally done the quilting myself just following the ditch made by the piecing of the squares.  However, I don't have a quilting machine and it would have taken forever!  Plus, the swirls look awesome!  Stitch'n'Quilt is a lovely little quilting shop about a mile from our house so I took it to them and those ladies rocked it!

Wanna see the back?

I think I love it as much as the front.  The back is pretty simple, just a Moda print cotton with a stripe of fabrics from the front.  The stripe is a good trick for this size quilt because 45" fabric isn't quite wide enough but I didn't want to get another 2 yards just for an 8" strip so, I cut the main Moda print about 16 inches in (it could be anywhere, I just didn't want it centered) and inserted my 8" strip of randomly pieced rectangles.  the binding will be done with the same dark plaid as the border on the front.

A preview of what's to come...

Next Friday, December 2nd, I'm teaching a free workshop at the beehive to promote our sewing classes.  We will be making the little gift pouch above out of holiday fat quarters.  We only have room for 16 people.  It sold out in like 20 minutes! I know it's ridiculous to be so excited about that since it is a free workshop but still, that was fast!

I will also be posting step by step instructions here for anyone who may want to make it.  It's a great little pouch for teacher gifts or cookies or anything that deserves some pretty packaging!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to shop local on Saturday!

-jessie