Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Day 27: Magic Dishes

There’s a special dish that’s part of every holiday meal. You can see it in the food photo from our Christmas meal on the left and Thanksgiving on the right.

 

christmasdinnerjoethanks15

Here’s what it looks like empty. What is it? It’s a large platter that I decorated and had guests sign on our wedding day. I have the guest book from my parents’ wedding. It’s pretty and interesting and…. sits inside a box. Our dish gets used 3-4 times every year and is on display the rest of the time.

weddingguestbook

Why is it magic? Because of all the love that went into making it. I started at one of those stores where you can paint ceramics. They’ll fire them in the kiln and you come back to a finished glazed piece. This time I wanted it sign-able so I did most of the decorating in-store. Then I borrowed a black glaze pen and had wedding guests sign with it at our reception. Returned the platter to the store and picked up our finished piece post-honeymoon. Cool, huh?

 

Shop Small This Weekend

Hello everybody. If you’re in the USA I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. My husband and I got to host this year. We worked together to clean the house and cook turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, carrots, corn, potato casserole, and pumpkin pies. His mom brought some homemade bread which rounded out our nice spread. Yum! Here’s a picture of my brother-in-law loading his plate.

joethanks15

Now that everybody’s onto eating pie for breakfast and looking up recipes for leftover turkey it’s time to turn our attention to holiday shopping. I’d like to encourage you to shop small businesses this year. I’ll be featuring some of my favorite small businesses today through Cyber Monday on the quiltartbymegan Facebook Page. “Like” and follow me over there to learn about great entrepreneurs and to shop their deals.

Of course, there are some great deals in my etsy shop too. Everything in there is now 30% off. You don’t need a coupon code as I’ve adjusted each price individually to reflect the sale. Easy peasy!

shopsmall

20% off coupon

SALE! Use coupon code: THANKS to get 20% off purchases totaling $25 or more in my etsy shop now through Cyber Monday.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/QUILTArtbymegan?ref=hdr_shop_menu

This 20% off includes any custom order placed before the end of the day on Monday. Contact me at mrs.megan.null @ gmail.com for more information.

 

These items and more are eligible for the 20% discount! Just type THANKS into the coupon code box at checkout.
pink crumb placemats chevron kids quilt orange runner redflowersskirt1 heartonchair Tropical Starburst

 

 

Orange You Glad I Made This?

I made this orange and yellow piece for my friend Kim’s Project Quilting Challenge. This month it’s something inspired by candy corn!

When my sister and I were little we always had a jar of candy corn available in the living room to much on. I’m kind of over it now. Chocolate and fruity flavors are my candies of choice now. Still, I was inspired by this challenge to make something in a color I don’t use much: orange! candycornwitch I made this table-topper/wall-hanging/table-runner/large place-mat. Really, you can use it for whatever you want to! It’s machine sewn from tiny strips of orange batiks from Hoffman that my friend Sam generously put into a Megan Bag for me. orange runnerI chose not to use any black in this piece, not even for the binding. That way it’s more versatile. I enjoy things that can be used for both Halloween and into later autumn events like Thanksgiving. Plus with these colors it could be used in the spring as well. Can’t you just imagine a lovely vase of sunflowers on this beauty?orange runner backHere’s the back of it. It’s 16×24 inches long and will be for sale in my etsy shop momentarily. At $38 with $2 shipping it’s yours for only forty. What a deal!

P.S. My husband thought it’d be funny to get out the disapproving owl to scare me. Click if you dare.

Nine and a Half

Do you remember when you were little, playing hide-and-seek, or cleaning your room, and Mom gave you slightly more time by counting to nine and a half before getting to ten?  I have s’more photos to share before we get to the post about colors. Is this cheating? Kindof. I said the colors would be in the next post. So this isn’t a full post later, it’s just a half.

STLAlexandDadlookgood STLAlexhappydaddy STLHappyGirlsIlookgood STLJimandEsteylookgood STLMarylooksawesome

So Much Thanksgiving

I didn’t actually take many photographs while I was on vacation. I’m still waiting to hear back from some family members who’ve offered to share their photographs, but here’s what I’ve got in the meantime.

SheriTurkey

My brother and I helped Sheri make this lovely vegetarian-friendly turkey. Now when I say helped, I mean that I cut the celery and he cut the carrots. That’s helping, right?! Anyway, Sheri’s masterpiece was so cool that the group collectively decided to eat it symmetrically so as to preserve the bird. For example, if I wanted a carrot, I’d take it from where the carrots are most dense so the poor thing didn’t have a bald spot.

Ta-Da

There’s that brother of mine snuggling up to Sheri. He’s 15 now! I hadn’t seen him since my cousin’s wedding over two years ago… so we were very happy to spend time together. We watched movies, played card games, saw a lights show, and enjoyed ice cream. My first thought when I saw him this trip was, “Oh no! He’s a MAN!” Always my baby brother, not quite a baby anymore. JimSheri

Alright, here are a few more I’m adding right off Facebook. These were taken the day we went to the Arch. My brother was in school that day, but my sister, her hubby, and little Mary were there. Dad, too. And me. Yeah. Here are the photos. Ready? Okay, now.

Arch with Alex

Baby Mary was so snuggly and cozy! Didn’t complain one bit as long as she was close to her mama. Us non-mamas could hold her for 20ish seconds before she’d loudly object. Her Dad got a little longer, of course. Whenever she got fussy, music usually did the trick. She loves “Baby Beluga” and “Open, Shut Them”. If all else fails, Elmo is magic. Mary cut her first two teeth on this trip. So exciting! Mastens arch

Those were taken at the top of the arch. This last one is on the ground but I just love how baby Mary and I are making eyes at each other. Which is not what we’re supposed to be doing, we’re supposed to be smiling at the camera. Sometimes the candid shots are way cuter anyway.

MaryandItalkarch

In my next post I’ll talk about getting my colors done. As a quilter, I know that picking the exact right color is important. The almost-right color often isn’t good enough. I had my personal colors done (you know, for makeup and clothing) and it has changed my perspective. In the past when I wanted to look nice, I didn’t really know how. Little black dresses made me look pale. Makeup darkened the circles under my eyes. Turns out I was choosing the wrong colors. More on that soon.

She Went to Jackman’s

I had intended to check out a quilt shop or two while I’m here in St. Louis on vacation. Maybe on one of the days when my Dad’s working and brother’s in school. Apparently my friend Sheri is a super-networking queen because almost immediately she knew exactly where I should go. When she told me they even sell long-arm machines I knew it was just the spot to check out.

As soon as I walked into Jackman’s Fabrics I saw that they’re serious about quilting. There are displays, examples, samples, whatever you want to call them, everywhere! They have a great class space and lineup. Their batiks selection is awesome and the sewing machine department has lots of options. I got to try out a mid-arm and a long-arm. This shop balances the modern and traditional pretty well so every kind of quilter/fabric artist/embroiderer is catered to.

Okay. Here’s the BIG part. No matter what quilt shop I go to, my very first reactions as well as the lasting impressions of the shop are of the workers there. These ladies were super welcoming, passionate, and informative. There was a class listed as meeting this Saturday that I was curious about and I got to go back to the classroom and speak to the teacher right then, even as she was in the middle of teaching. Sheri came with me and realized that she hadn’t been in a fabric store in a few years and had lots of questions…. which ended up with a personal tour of the store and someone walking around answering anything and everything she thought of. Again, super welcoming. If this store were in my area I’d be a repeat customer. As it is, next time I visit I may have to schedule some shopping time there.

Alright, photos time. Here’s what I bought:

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Here are a few of the sample quilts that were hung throughout the store. The pattern was always nearby and often fabrics were kitted, too.

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Koala in the Air

Just a reminder that I’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks. Here’s somebody I’m flying towards:

Panda MaryIsn’t Mary the cutest little Koala bear you ever did see? She flew to Dad’s (with her parents) from the other coast today. So excited to meet her.

I’ll be checking messages so feel free to write if you need me. Back to packing!

 

Retreats and Vacations

My mini group is on a weekend retreat right now. I get to go play with them all day tomorrow. So fun! I couldn’t swing the hotel room and all weekend costs, but am extremely excited to spend a day sewing and chatting with some of my favoritest peoples ever. Soul food, for sure. Plus chocolate.

gone quilting

Also, I just wanted to give you guys a heads-up that I’m going on vacation for two weeks starting at the end of next week. My plan is to continue with my two-ish blog posts a week but it may be more or less than that, depending on the number of photographs taken and the time to actually write.

Hubby’s not coming with me this time but I’m excited to spend some quality time with family I haven’t seen in a long time… including one I haven’t met yet, baby Mary! Expect an update on her quilt with full photographs of it and her sweet cheeked drooly-ness either during my stay or once I get back. I’m also super psyched to spend some time with my baby brother who’s growing into a man and my little sister who’s now a mommy. And my Dad. Sorry dude that you’re last on the list of shout-outs but we’ve had some really great phone conversations recently that make me feel like you’re not halfway across the country.

planes vacation

So, big plans for me. I’m sewing like crazy to finish up some projects before I go.

quilt all the things

Custom orders for Christmas are still available. It’s getting a little late in the season for Chanukkah, but you could always give a card saying what you’ve ordered and save the actual gift for when it arrives. Plus there are birthday and anniversary celebrations to be had.

I’ll have a few more posts up next week before I land in fly-over country.

Turtles, Turkeys, Wolves and Bears Oh My!

I love collaborative projects. They’re always such an adventure. This one is for the lodge at my childhood summer sleep-away camp, Crystal Lake Camps. I have such awesome memories of this place and the people I met there. So when the idea was pitched on the alumni Facebook page to make clan animal themed quilts for four rooms I was eager to help.

There many ways campers are grouped together at CLC. One is by age, which determines your cabin assignment. Another is girls’ camp and boys’ camp. Also your skill level in classes like swimming and horseback riding. Clans are something different and special. Boys, girls, and counselors of all ages are split into four groups: turtles, turkeys, wolves and bears. These clan groups compete in events like blueberry picking and tug-of-war, make their own cheers, and sit together at council fire. It’s another opportunity for bonding and though I haven’t been to camp since 2001 I’m still a proud turtle.

So here’s what we’ve done so far for these four clans… starting with the turtles ’cause, well… I’m a turtle. I’m collecting blocks that have a light blue background and one or more turtles on them. The blocks’ measurements must be divisible by 3, so they’re not the same size but I can puzzle them all together. So with seam allowances, you can have 3.5″ x 3.5″ all the way up to 15.5″ by 15.5″ and anything in-between. Here are some of the blocks that have been made.

more turtles coming in

 

I’m the maker behind this one. Can you tell? Its shell is crumb-pieced then reverse appliqued under the blue fabric and the rest is hand-embroidered. 12x15 turtle

Okay. Onto the turkeys quilts. This lodge room gets two because it has a set of twin beds.  I’m also coordinating this project. I sent off some quilt blocks to the alumni reunion weekend along with fabric markers. I haven’t gotten them back yet but am so excited to see what everybody wrote/drew on them for the turkeys quilt! I’m kind of hoping I get a hand print turkey or two back. Do you remember making those in elementary school for Thanksgiving? Anyway, alumni weekend was populated with several generations of alumni and their children so I’m sure the quilts will be awesome. Here’s what some of the blocks looked like before decorations.

turkeys

The next two quilt tops are for the wolves and bears. Their very talented maker Betsy Huffman gave me permission to share them with you guys. Another volunteer will quilt and finish them. So all four quilts are technically still UFOs (unfinished objects)…. with a lot of love put into them. See?

bear quilt

Yes, that bear quilt has a cat on it. My cats are also quilt-inspectors. I love how Betsy included the traditional “bear paw” block as one of her borders.

wolf quiltI love the howling wolf in the corner of this quilt. Did you notice that Betsy also made matching pillowcases? She said she made them with the leftovers from making these quilts. What a good idea.