Every room must have its "OWN" quilt.

This is her home...

At first it was here.

LOVE the PINK!

The antique chair recovered.... Love the Amy Butler, the bottom cushion is celery green velvet.

the full quilt

So when we moved into our new house, my mom wanted to make me a house warming quilt. YEAH.... I will never turn one of those down! In my formal (not so formal, more casual than formal) living room I use some amy butler fabric as my inspiration. I had her re-do a chair in that fabric.... and I just love it! So she came up with this quilt that had the amy butler fabric in it along with some heather bailey prints, and other pinks and celery green. These are the 2 colors I have in my room, along with brown. I love the pattern she used for the quilt. pattern: Tiger Lily by Crazy old Ladies quilts. This quilt has a happy home right over my couch. THANKS mom!

Meili's Bedspread

It is time for this little "Princess" to move into a big girl bed. She decided a while ago that she didn't like her crib anymore so Carissa is in the process of redoing an antique metal bed for her room. So this grandma had to make her a quilt for her new bed.
Actually I had made the top out of Hushabye but when Carissa saw it she decided it just had to be Meili's bedspread. Don't you just hate it when it takes you forever to get something finished and then you find you forgot to get binding or enough for the borders or something and by now the fabric is long gone? I had to add the pink border to make it big enough for the double bed so I used the backing I had purchased earlier and then found some other scraps to piece the back.
It was a little bigger than I like to quilt on my machine but I loved how it turned out. I did little flowers in the small center squares and loops around the middle squares and then just stippled the rest of the quilt. Can't wait to see it on her big girl bed. Carissa will have to post pictures of the room when it is done. I am also making a special pillow to go with the quilt.

Festival of Trees

In December each year there is a huge Festival of Trees with all of the proceeds going to Primary Children's Medical Center. I have never been before but I've always wanted to. Wow! What an amazing production! There are literally hundreds of trees that people decorate - some in memory of a loved one. And they are all for sale. There are also quilts, centerpieces and gingerbread houses. I will post some of these fun items later. They young women in our church decided they wanted to make a quilt to honor a special lady in our neighborhood. (You can see the quilt I made her in a previous post). She has lost her little boy to drowning and her husband to colon cancer and now she is fighting her own battle with breast cancer. And through it all, she has an amazing attitude and is so positive. My good friend Julie (who is a breast cancer survivor and you can see the quilt I made her in a previous post also) was in charge of this project and she asked me if I would be willing to make a tree skirt. How fun!!!! I had already made this Buggy Barn quilt called Crazy Flakes last year and thought it would be awesome for their theme of snowmen. This is a pretty labor intensive quilt but I was soooooo happy to be part of this project to honor Karen. The hardest part of it was to cut into a finished quilt! YIKES!!! But I did and it turned out great.

This is the finished tree. The girls made all of the cute little snowman heads. It was such a happy and cheerful tree. And it sold for over $3000! The girls also made a smaller tree to give to Karen and she was thrilled.

I cut another one of these quilts out at the same time for Carissa to make up but she didn't get around to making it before Christmas so I am slowing whittling away at the squares. Maybe by next Christmas I can get it done.

We really are quilting away

So much has happened in the past year - where do we start? Anyway, one of our goals this year is to keep this blog better updated. Soooooo. . . we will try to start posting pictures from this past year of all the fun projects we have been involved in. And now that Carissa lives a short one hour drive away, the projects will be endless I'm sure. We have tooooooo much fun dreaming up new ideas. Just you wait!

My "Trek" Quilt

Those of you who know me know that I have been on two handcart treks at Martin's Cove. These treks have a very special place in my heart because I've had some amazing experiences in helping to plan them and being in that wonderful place. I cut out all of the skirts and bonnets that the girls and women wore and of course I kept all of the scraps. And what do quilters do? Turn those scraps into quilts!
I finally found just the right pattern from Cotton Way called "Slice of Charm". I changed it just a little by putting hearts in the center of the wheels instead of the patched circles. I love how it reminds me of wagon wheels.
I love how the back looks!

I used T shirt transfer paper to put a few pictures on it.

And I used a pigma permanent marker to print the names of all the pioneers our group trekked for around the circles.

Then this past weekend while my husband and I were at Martin's Cove helping with a training seminar, I presented it as a memory quilt to the Director's wife. She LOVED it! (which always makes a quilter feel good)
Now I need to make myself one of these memory quilts!

Something to keep my busy

When I'm not quilting, I am making baby beanies for newborn kits for the humanitarian center. I am not one to sit still and can get a lot done while sitting around visiting or watching a movie or during a Mario Marathon.

Bringing Springtime Indoors

I am soooooooo tired of the gray and snowy days. I saw this kit at American Quilting and it was the inspiration I needed to pull out the sewing machine again and get quilting. Our house has been torn apart for the past 2 months with construction and I was due for a mood lift. At least it looks springy inside now! This is made in the new "Verna" line.
I had a charm pack of "Birdie" so I made one for Carissa.

And I had a charm pack of "Spring Fling" so I made one for another one of the girls.

Crayon Holders

I saw this idea a while ago and got in the mood last week to make one. I ended up making 7 with more cut out. They only take about 1/2 hour start to finish and what a fun idea for a birthday present! There are directions all over the web and I adjusted one to make a colored pencil holder. If anyone wants specific directions, just let me know and I'll get them to you.

THE NEW BABY IN OUR HOME......

OH don't you just LOVE the colors red and aqua together!!! I do too! It is just like pink and brown are suppose to be together well so is red and aqua. I have a lot of those colors in my living room. Well I think it is time to make a quilt with just those colors. And I have just the place to put it.

on my new BABY!

(loveseat with out the couch potato)

(loveseat with the couch potato, notice the chips she is eating. TOTAL COUCH POTATO)

Only in Omaha could you find such a SWEET antique! Man, I love antiques in Omaha. They are the BEST. this is one of the MANY that I have stocked up on in the last few months. And don't you worry, I am NOT done stocking up yet. I will have to post my cool thrifty finds. But for now I will leave you drooling over the newest addition. For now it sits in my living room until we move to our new house and it finds a perfect home there. Ok, I won't hold back these are some of the other finds I have gotten.

bench and enamelware. Both $10. each. WHAT A STEAL!

RUSTY ENAMEL WARE PITCHER $15 (and it is AQUA)

(The refinished quilt cabinet- painted to match my velvet curtains $50)

(see the red and aqua theme?)

(this little gem was in a cute antique store. I was with a friend and I did give in. $30)

I can't take credit for this quilt. A lady named Amy Smart made this but, but I just love it and may just have to borrow some ideas from it! Just ADORABLE. Can't you just picture it with the red loveseat. Oh I CAN!

It is always nice to see where my quilts find their new homes

So I have a friend that has more of my quilts than I think I do...... WAIT how did that happen?...... well here are a few of them displayed. I love where she has put them!

Better Days are Definately Ahead!

We have been in need of a little cheering up around here lately. Don't even get me started with everything that has gone wrong over the past 2 months. And I mean some serious stuff. Anyway, I received a surprise package in the mail last week on an especially troublesome day and look what was inside! Wouldn't this cheer you up and make you think spring is almost here and better days are definately ahead?

I LOVE IT!!!!!

So thanks Carissa for making my month.

Give Away

The very very talented Lila Tueller is giving away this fantastic quilt. I love it! Especially the colors and the cute little ruffles and the scalloped edge and the flower in the middle. Head over to her site here:http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/