so proud

I'm proud for several reasons tonight. First, I'm proud that I stayed away from shopping today! I had this terrible urge to go to JoAnn's for their $1.49 flannel. I really, really wanted to go and buy more flannel, eventhough I have probably 100 yards of flannel from the last time I went to their sale 3 years ago. I don't really like using flannel and if given the choice, I would rather use plain old cotton. I love the feel of flannel, so I'm not sure why I don't use up the flannel I have as backing for the quilts I have, but I have more flannel that a normal person should own and yet when I see a great sale, I have a hard time passing it by. Last year, I was in Southern California, vising with my brother and it was a little easier to resist the sale and the year before there was some other reason I missed it. But, three years ago, I was there at 6am with all the other crazy people and since I had gotten up so early and stood in line for so long, I had to buy more than I needed and still have most of it left.

I'm also proud of these couple of quilts and the new things I have been trying with my quilting. I just decided to 'go for it' and try new things and see what comes of it and here is what I did. Not perfect, but these leaves look better than my first attempts which looked a lot like marajuana leaves. Not good for kids quilts.

And finally, these are the Gelt Bags I made for my daughter's friends who are Jewish and want to participate in their gift exchange. I had a pattern I was trying to use for a knot bag and the directions were poorly written. I sewed that thing together several times and it just didn't turn out right, so I came up with this on my own. Sort of like a stocking, but not really.

For anyone out there who is afraid to try something new in your quilting. I say, just go for it. Try it. If it doesn't look like you wanted, that's ok. Try again. And again and again and again.