Hi ,

"Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather. Circumstances have not allowed me to make a good summer for myself this year - My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures, and adventures are what make a summer." - Robertson Davies

I recently ran across that quote on The Happiness Project blog and found it especially meaningful this week. Sometimes in the busy craziness of summer, it's easy to forget that this time is all about having adventures, relaxing, and releasing that heaviness of spirit that can cling during all other times of the year.

How am I lightening my load? The first thing I've decided is to stop sweating the small imperfections in my work. Just relax and enjoy the process!

Personally I find it easier relax and enjoy what I'm doing when I'm being challenged, so I'm taking on the idea of having an adventure in my sewing room every day. Does everything turn out perfect? Nope. It's really not the end result I'm after, but the fun of trying new things.

And speaking of new things, we've learned a beautiful new design on the Free Motion Quilting Project this week called Lava Rocks:

I instantly fell in love with this design and already stitched it into the background of Express Your Love:

Find a free video on quilting this cool new design right here on the Free Motion Quilting Project.

One of the #1 questions I'm asked is how to deal with all those pesky thread tails while quilting. Every time you start and end a line of quilting, you're left with 2 threads. What do you do with them?

When I first started quilting I learned from a teacher to build up my thread at the beginning of a line of quilting by stitching 3-5 times in place, forming a set of tiny stitches to lock the loose threads. Then after quilting a bit I went back and clipped the thread tails right at the surface of the quilt.

Unfortunately I soon began to notice issues with this method of dealing with my thread tails. My very first quilt was being used and washed often and after only a few months I noticed that my quilting threads were coming loose. That quilt had only been stitched in the ditch so these loose threads were very noticeable on both the front and back. Needless to say, I began searching for another way to deal with this issue.

Eventually I found the traditional hand quilting way of dealing with a thread tail: tie a knot and bury it within the middle batting layer of the quilt.

The only modification to this technique I've made is using a simple Cheater Needle to make burying the threads faster. A self threading needle allows you to pop threads into the eye rather than threading it the normal way. This makes it far faster to get the threads in the needle and the needle through the quilt!

Click here to find a 5 pack of Cheater Needles and a detailed video on how to hide your threads inside your quilts.

Ultimately we all have to find the techniques that work for us. You might love or hate this method! Just remember it's important to try a variety of techniques in order to find exactly what works best for you and helps you create the quilts that you want to make.

That's it for this week! What are you going to have an adventure with this week? Challenge yourself to play with something new and enjoy the process.

Let's go quilt,

Leah day