A Day of Thanks & Giving

Happy Thanksgiving! I've always loved this holiday. Who doesn't love a holiday where it's appropriate to eat multiple kinds of potatoes? When I was growing up, it meant a day with my best friend's family. In college, I went home with my roommate to celebrate with her family--have you ever been to an Italian family Thanksgiving?! I still dream about it:)One year while I was going to school in Atlanta, I invited lots of friends over and my parents came. My Dad takes his Thanksgiving food very seriously, so he arrived with his own potatoes, his own stuffing and his own rolls! I'll never forget the look on his face when my friend Paul said that he'd "just popped in the turkey" and we were supposed to eat in an hour. Ha! So we ate about five hours later...I also love to travel for Thanksgiving. I've given thanks in London with my good friend Amanda and her international group of friends. So many people wanted to play the wishbone that we tried other bones! I've spent the day in a treehouse in Ecuador thankful that my home has screens on the windows and a door. But sad that I cannot zipline, raft and hike through cloud forests all the time. And another soaking up the sun in the Dominican Republic. We ate something called "chocolate bread"; I'm still not sure what it was, but it was sinfully delicious! Last year, my family headed to the Outer Banks. We lucked out and it was beautiful beach weather all week!My birthday falls just after Thanksgiving; it's December 7 for those of you marking your calendar! So my parents brought my present to the OB:) It was a little sewing table! Who knew a sewing table could transform your life?! I'd always kept my machine in the closet, so I didn't sew too often. It was a hassle to get everything out and set it up. With my new table, I started sewing all the time, nearly every day. It changed my life:) It's the smallest Horn table. I love it because it does fold up (I take it on vacation!), but it's still SUPER sturdy.Then I discovered the online modern quilting movement thanks to my friend Sarah. And then May Chappell came to be:) I'm so thankful it all happened!This has been a week of giving (and receiving!) in Flickr swap land!For the famed Pillow Talk Swap, my partner asked for modern holiday. This is what I made.Here's a close up of the quilting.I was pleased with it and she loved it:)And then my package arrived! I was excited when I saw the return address--Synnoeve is amazing!! I LOVE my pillow! I love every fabric! I love the text prints! I love the quilting!! I LOVE IT!Even the back is amazing!! She used really cool orange buttons! Orange is my signature color:)This pillow is so well made; you wouldn't believe it. It is perfect!! I'm amazed! I'm studying her techniques. Of course, I immediately messaged her with how much I loved it! She posted this which makes it even better!!I love that she learned from her grandmother! Just like I learned from the guru:) Thanks again Synn!! You could not have made a more perfect pillow for me!I'm also in the Modern She Made swap. My partner lives somewhere in the UK and she didn't have a lot of specific requests. I'd seen a cool appliqué pillow-called the Quilted States of America. So I decided I could machine appliqué the UK! I'm not exactly a geography genius, so I had to print about twelve maps to find areas large enough to appliqué, but smaller than the countries. I wanted to use lots of fabrics and I wanted to fussy cut.I used the zigzag stitch along the seams. It worked out well!Here's the finished pillow! It's currently flying home. I hope she loves it:) I cannot wait for her reaction!! I'm also hoping she'll take some great pictures of it; I was rushing to the post office.I put on a nifty label!A few people have asked me for the "pattern". Here it is! I scanned in what I worked from. THIS IS REVERSED. I traced onto wonder under and then pressed to the back of the fabric. If you are using a different method, you might need to reverse it back. I also numbered the pieces (make sure you put the numbers as you trace!), as all the pieces start to look alike. I have Ireland/Northern Ireland on the pattern, but I left them off my pillow. Please let me know if you have any questions! If you make it, please add it to the Made with May Chappell Flickr group!Hope everyone is having a festive Thanksgiving!xo LC