Advent for November--Count Your Blessings

I used this great tutorial from Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson! to create a little November goodness.

Often times Thanksgiving is all about the food, but I like the idea of focusing on our blessings during the whole month of November. I'm hoping my family will go along with my idea this year and make it an annual ritual.

I am thinking that I will put little treats in each of the pockets, along with a verse of scripture that focuses on gratitude/blessings/giving thanks. I think that after we read a scripture verse each night we can then write down some of our blessings and put them in the pocket. Maybe we'll save them and read them next year...I don't know. It's an idea that is still evolving.

I used a charm pack (5 inch squares) called Pumpkin and Spice for my pockets. It was easier than cutting out all those 4.5 inch squares. Besides, I don't have a stash of fall fabrics to chose from. The charms worked beautifully! I did find the orange piece in my stash that was big enough to use for the border, backing, and binding.

My free motion quilting is getting better. I need some more practice time on my machine before I love it, though.

In a bit of randomness, I found this "bunny shape" in my quilting and made the mistake of showing it to my older kids. You know "Hey, kids! What does this look like to you?" Now every time they pass by it they point out the bunny. Nice! Anyone else ever notice weird shapes in their quilting or is it just me?

If you make this pattern, be sure to upload it to the Flickr group!