Gratefulness is the Key to a Happy Life

It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Gratefulness has to be exercised like a muscle. Lately, I felt like my gratefulness muscle was pretty puny, which is embarrassing to confess. Fortunately, it’s an easy muscle to exercise.

Marcus Fabrics is a company that Lora and I do a lot of work with. From patterns to fabric, Marcus has our back. They continuously work to promote our little design business. I am truly grateful for the wonderful people that work for Marcus Fabrics. Truly. Last month Marcus Fabrics asked their designers to do a social media promotion on gratitude. We were to post every week on why we were grateful. It was a great idea. Why did I fail so miserably at it? I didn’t make a single gratitude post until today.

What robs you of gratitude?

For me, it’s busyness. The Tyranny of the Urgent is my biggest thief of gratitude. I do it to myself. I’m my own boss, after all. When I fill my day with so much, I lack time to reflect on gratefulness. It’s that simple. So let’s take some time to do just that, reflect.

What are you grateful for?

My list can go on and on and on. Am I right? We all have blessings in abundance. This month, the guild that Lora and I belong to, Delta Quilters of Brentwood, CA, had a volunteer day to create donation quilts because they had been given a ton of fabric. Lora and I had a great time choosing fabrics and creating kits for the guild members to sew. I brought a handful of patterns from our warehouse to share for the quilt kit-making day. The popular pick for quick and easy scrappy quilts was Open Options.

Have you heard of the quilt patterns; Disappearing Four-Patch, Disappearing Nine-Patch, Disappearing Pinwheel? No?! Do a quick google or check out Pinterest to see some examples. Open Options was designed using the same technique. It’s a Disappearing L Block, plain and simple. If you want to see how the block is created, just watch this quick tutorial.

This is my donation quilt. I’ve got the blocks done, just need to sew them up. Missing two blocks in my picture.

I’d post some of the other ladies’ quilts, however, I didn’t ask permission. Therefore I’ll send you to our Flickr album to see the different layouts for this fun throw-size quilt. Open Options Album.

Marcus Fabrics just sent me some of their WOW batiks. Wow, indeed. Look how these large ‘splash’ batiks are enhanced with the large spaces in Open Options. Cool.

A Free Pattern for You

While the guild was working together on making kits, sewing kits, cutting backing and batting, etc. We noticed how hard the metal folding chairs were. I think they used the same hard metal on the space shuttle. It’s beyond hard. I might add I was grateful for the chair, 😉 but my backside wasn’t. Therefore this month we have your back…side. Download this Tushie-Cushie pattern and create a portable cushion to use at your guild meetings, workshops, or anywhere metal folding chairs are the seating option.

Tushie Cushie Pattern download is available FREE for a limited time. The download link will expire on December 31, 2021. Download expired. So download your pattern today!

You can use a 12 1/2″ orphan block (leftover from another project), a 12 1/2″ large print, or a 12 1/2″ t-shirt block for the center.

Holiday Sale

Because we are grateful for you, we are having a Black Friday Sale all week. The sale is from 11/22 through 11/29. Enjoy 25% off EVERYTHING including patterns, kits, and notions. Use coupon code MG25Off at check out www.MaterialGirlfriendsShop.com

So if you prefer instant gratification, check out our 25% off sale at our Material Girlfriends Etsy store. Receive your pattern instantly as a digital download.

My gratitude muscle has been worked a bit. I’m feeling very happy. When the busyness of the holidays begins to pull you down, take a few minutes to reflect over a hot cup of tea, chocolate, or coffee. Exercise your gratefulness muscle. Gratefulness is indeed the key to a happy life.

Lisa W. Norton