Thankful Words

In the US, we will celebrate Thanksgiving next Thursday.  I will be joining much of my family in Bismarck for our traditional family celebration.  As we approach this season, I am reminded of how much I truly have to be thankful for.

In this post:

• A mini-show of Tech Know Quilter Masters Thankful Quilts
• Kristy Goodin Soard's story.  She is the designer behind the Thankful Words quilt.
• An EQ video tutorial on creating your own thankful words quilt.

TKQ Masters Thankful Quilt Show

In my Tech Know Quilter's Masters group this month, I challenged them to draft a Thankful quilt.  It could be related to Thanksgiving, or people or things they are thankful for.

Kristy Goodin Soard I am thankful for so many blessings in my life, so I chose many of them to portray in my THANKFUL quilt for the challenge. Of course, many more blessings are enjoyed daily...but a quilt can only be so big! With each challenge I like to incorporate lessons learned in the past as a method of keeping them fresh in my arsenal. I am very grateful, as well, for Kari and the effort and time she shares to make her classes so exceptional.

Kristy Goodin Soard A couple of additional coloring options. See Kari's tutorial on how you could create your own word quilt inspired by Kristy's quilt.

Kathleen McCormick -- I played with leaves and wreathmaker and a fall fabric I loved is in the corners.

Joyce Drenth To celebrating the completion of a recent quilt show, I created a Thankful quilt. I am thankful for such a wonderfully, fruitful and warm life with family and friends in abundance.

Sharon Osborne This quilt was good practice for my PolyDraw skills. My goal is to get this done before Thanksgiving.

Micheline Herzan All the inset blocks came from the EQ8 block library. I modified and used the sashing from my Kyoto Garden quilt . This was a fun quilt to draw and recolour.

Julie Pedersen I used a pumpkin from the library and modified it a bit. Then chose blocks from my previous Masters projects to finish the fall themed wall hanging. I also added Text on Layer 2 to remind me that EVERY DAY we should be thankful for the little things that we take for granted.

Introducing Kristy Goodin Soard

Kristy Goodin Soard designed the Thankful Word quilts above.  I asked her to tell me a bit about her family and her background.  I hope you will be as touched by her story as I was.

Kristy's Story

I was born Kristy Ann Goodin in a small town in Ohio.  I was blessed with an idyllic life surrounded by family and friends.  However, at age eight my dad died as a result of a tragic work-related accident.  My maternal grandma came and stayed with us for a year as our now family of four created our new normal. 

My mom always sewed all of our clothing and household accessories, but was not doing much quilting with three little ones to raise.  During my grandma’s stay she and my mom exposed me to more and more sewing on the Kenmore machine.  I would refer to those days as the true impetus for my lifelong passion for creating. 

Machine sewing right into my finger did not deter me from continuing, I was hooked.  My mother had made a Dutch Girl quilt in her teens, and my Grandma made numerous quilts, all of which I still treasure to this day, but they didn’t start me quilting at that juncture. 

It was in my freshman year studying accounting at university when I chose my first elective as an art class, that quilting became a focus.  We were given free rein to choose a topic for our major paper for that quarter.  I chose quilts.  It was around that time I made my first-full size quilt, a hand applique Rose of Sharon/Ohio Rose Quilt.  It is in my living room to this day reminding me of my beginnings. 

Fast forward to eight years later and the birth of my first child when quilting became part of my life full time.  My favorite parts about quilting are the prayers that are included with each stitch.  Generally, I make each quilt with a purpose or specific recipient, and it is during its construction I focus my prayers for those people.  I must admit I love the feeling of satisfaction I get when the recipient expresses an emotional response to my quilt for them. 

I do not have a favorite type of quilt, as that seems to change over time.  However, it is my life endeavor to continue to learn in every aspect of life and to be open to where I am led.  Circumstances in life change, and I like to think I adapt and continue to create a legacy for my family.  So, with each new quilt, I try to learn and attempt something new.  Quilting is the perfect art to allow my passion for creating to flow. 
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In 2017, Joyce, my very dear long-time friend introduced me to Electric Quilt.  I had previously designed my quilts with paper and pencil.  She encouraged me to purchase EQ7, which I did and I have never looked back.  We both decided to dive into the Tech Know Quilter classes by Kari, and we have not missed a single class to this day.  It is important to me to be able to design my own quilts so I am able create exactly what I see in my mind’s eye (which often is very specific).

When asked to submit a photo of myself, I find that the best image of me is found in the faces of my dear grandchildren.  I like to believe you will see “me” in them!  In one it may be the smile, or eye color, or proclivity to be tall.  Or perhaps if you know them you will recognize their creativity and artistic talent, or a love numbers or writing, or perseverance during a challenge, or an extremely quick wit, or compassion and empathy for others, or a desire to share the gifts and knowledge with which they’ve been blessed, or a striving to always do their best, or a deep sense of loyalty.  I can only hope that each of them will carry a positive part of me in their heart and life. 

​Of course, above all it is my prayer that when I am gone and they wrap up in the quilts I made specifically for them, they will feel how very deeply they are loved.

--  Kristy Goodin Soard

As you can see, not only is Kristy a great quilter, but a lovely person.  Here are some of my favorite designs by Kristy.

Kristy designed the Thanksgiving/Fall piece with a tongue border. The turkey was inspired by a photo on Pinterest.

The original design was by Cheri Safiote Payne.
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Kristy's Quilting Bee quilt evolved over a number of months.  The center was inspired by the Laura Heine quilt with the bee and involved starting with a one patch quilt (the hexagon background) and adding motifs and more motifs plus text.  And then carrying one of the motif's on the bee into the border.

The wall decor was created by Kristy for her granddaughter Adaline Ann's nursery. Her daughter wanted barn quilts, but wanted them to be made with fabric on wood, so Kristy designed the blocks in the appropriate sizes to fulfill her heart’s desires

Kristy was inspired by a block on Pinterest and used a technique from Advanced EasyDraw to fragment the block.  Edyta Sitar's Sequoia fabrics were used to color the quilt.

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Kristy was inspired by a quilt she saw on a blog, Stitch by Stitch Custom Quilting.  She has lots of open space for some luscious quilted feathers.

Kristy's daughter wanted to paint a quilt on her dining room floor.  So, she designed several options for her to choose from, and then they created a stencil for her to begin painting.

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Wicked Witch was inspired by the musical Wicked.  Kristy used this design to create a birthday card for her daughter the year they took her to see Wicked. 

Kristy loves to come up with ways to decorate with her quilt.  Look what she did with a mariners compass block.

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Drafting Your Own Thankful Word Quilt

I loved the concept of a word quilt using Electric Quilt and Kristy agreed that I could share how to recreate her design with you.

When doing your own word quilt, start by coming up with a group of words that you want to feature in your quilt.  I decided to stick with the thankful theme and included close family members, activities and groups that represented many of the close friends I have in my life. 

​I found I needed many more words that I thought.  You will find that you will want to move the words around as you work on your quilt.  I wanted to have a certain balance to what I was drafting and it took a bit of playing to achieve that.  Fortunately EQ is very accommodating to playing with a design.

Here is my Thankful Words quilt.

As we close this post, I want to say how thankful I am that you allow me to share my love of quilting and Electric Quilt with you every week.  I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve you.

Happy quilting.

​Kari

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