"Here Comes the Bride"

The Newlyweds!

So lovely...

So, my gift to them was a quilt created from a collection of fabrics they chose. They live in Cambridge, MA, where the winter days can be short and cold, so this bright, cheery quilt should warm their home and give them something to snuggle up with together! Congratulations and many blessings to Lyra & Jesse! Love you!

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A week after this special day, Janelle’s Orlando roommate got married! Kara and Eric had a wonderful wedding event, even though it poured down rain and the ceremony had to be moved inside. Here’s a few photos of that special day.

Since Janelle is also a quilter, she had the privilege of creating this cute quilt for K&E:

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Then in September, Janelle’s roommate from college, Kara (yes, the same name) and Joshua got married. Their wedding was held at a refurbished Trolley Barn outside of Atlanta. It was a beautiful day and the event had all of Kara’s special vintage, artsy touches. So fun. What a great celebration.

The quilt I made for them reminded me of Kara’s dainty ways and her love of vintage styles. I hope they have many happy memories snuggling together under it!

Love in a basket for J & K

Kara & Janelle

The Newlyweds - Kara & Joshua

Many happy wishes, blessings, and prayers to Kara & Joshua! A very special couple indeed! Love to you!

At the beginning of the year, I shipped off my favorite quilt of all times to a lovely lady in Pennsylvania. She purchased the “Garden Gate” creation.

Around Valentine’s Day, my pinwheel quilt that I created with many others through Rachel Griffith’s P.S. I Quilt, was bought on Etsy. It was one of the funnest quilts I have made. It’s fun pink, red, white, and some green, fabrics. Isn’t it so cute? It went to a home in California… hope it’s happy out there!

Next, I finally completed a batik quilt I started over two years – before Melody & Derek’s wedding. It is a unique pattern, made with semi-circles. I love this one, but have it for sale on my Etsy sight. Secretly, I hope it never sells.

The patterns & colors in this next one, are my absolute favorites. The fabric is “Botany” by Moda. This one is also for sale on Etsy. I’m enjoying using the scraps to make napkins for my niece’s wedding in July. And napkins:

And, here’s a sneak peak of the wedding quilt – with kittens!

Our family gathers with friends and family every Christmas Eve morning at my brother and sister-in-law’s for a great pancake breakfast. My brother makes his pancakes from at least seven different grains and adds bananas and strawberries. And, of course, served with warm maple syrup and hot coffee and/or brandy alexander’s. On our drive out and back, I was focused on completing my mom’s gift, so I brought it in the car and worked on the binding as my husband drove. A funny thing happened after the breakfast that required my husband and I to drive my mom home! Oh, dear, the huge quilt was in our car and I had to “hide” it. Fortunately, she didn’t pay any attention to the huge purple blob of fabric in the back of our SUV.

For dinner, I made a pot of chili, as it’s one of the easiest, yet comforting, foods I know how to make, and I needed every minute to work on finishing the binding. I couldn’t miss our church’s Christmas Eve performance (even though I had already seen it the previous Sunday), so off to church at 7 PM  to see the “Toy Story Christmas” again! It was so fun and joyful! The toys learned the real meaning of Christmas as they traveled back in time to the birth of Jesus.

After church, I headed home to get the job done! At midnight on Christmas Eve, my gift to my mother was complete. Hand sewn binding accomplished with the help of my dear friend, Julia. She worked on one side, me on the other, and we met at the end as we watched old Christmas movies on TV! My mom was so impressed! She has chosen to put it on her bed, which is just where I thought it would look really beautiful.

I thank “P.S. I Quilt” for motivating me to get this blog done – even if I don’t win the prize from The Fat Quarter Shop!

HAPPY NEW YEAR… it’s coming!

I can’t believe I haven’t made a single post since May. Summer was long and hot here, but I did keep sewing and quilting. Then in late summer, my dear friend, Julia, came to stay with us for awhile and she is a super creative seamstress and artist. So, we enjoyed many nights sewing together in my sewing room with a nice glass of Merlot or Shiraz. Right now she is visiting her 91-year-old mother in Arizona, so my sewing time is alone.

This weekend is the first annual Christmas Market at my church, Northwest Community Church, in Orlando. Janelle and I are both vendors and are busy reading the final touches on the items we will have for sale. I’ve been having fun creating note cards and gift tags with quilting scraps. Also created some cute, little quilts for little ones. Pot holders are another easy way to use up quilt scraps. I’m hopeful these smaller items will be creative gift solutions for many that come to support the artisans. In this economy, money is tight and I realize that many will have to spread the dollars they have very carefully. I look forward to the day – a time to participate in fellowship and, hopefully, blessing others with the items I have created to sell.

Pink, red, & white pinwheels

Christmas Batik Table Runner

Why so long since I posted anything? Mainly because I haven’t been working on anything too special. Sadly, FAWN had to close in February. They are still open online, but my quilts are no longer on display in that very cute shop. Maybe the future will open another opportunity.

Here’s a few photos of some little projects I’ve been doing:

Cloth napkins for Janelle – - made from scraps from her “Janelle” quilt that I made her a few years ago.

Cloth napkins for Melody & Derek – made from scraps from their wedding quilt.

Table Runner and napkins for Lauren & Ben Strombeck – wedding gift.

Fun little pinwheel sampler I’m making along with p.s. I quilt.

That’s it for today. Have a great week!

In this update I am posting photos of a quilt I started almost a year ago. when I knew that Melody & Derek were going to get married sometime in 2009, I put this quilt on the “back burner” so I could make something special for them (you can see photos of that quilt in a previous post). I also had lots of things to focus on for the wedding itself! It turned out to be a perfect day and event. If you want to see photos, click on “Melody Makes” blog where she posted her photos.

Back to the quilt I’m working on finishing. It’s composed of natural earth-toned batiks cut in circular shapes. I had never made quilt blocks with curved shapes, so it was challenging and rewarding. I really love this quilt and am not sure if I will list it for sale on Etsy or just keep it for myself. We’ll see. As of today, it’s not quite finished. I still have to quilt it, but here are some of the photos while in process.Placement of the blocks on my wall… it took many hours and days of staring at it to get it the way I think looked best.

Closer to the final layout…

After adding borders, it’s pretty big – approximately 78″ x 71″. Here it is today hanging on my wall waiting to be batted and quilted up!As soon as it’s finished, I’ll photograph it better and add it to the post.

What do you think? Different, huh?

I had a lot of fun creating a quilt for her wedding gift. She and Derek live in a typical San Francisco flat – with that vintage air. She has definite design/decorating tastes and I had to choose fabrics that I thought would fit her style – vintage looking, but contemporary. I spent hours searching for fabrics online and in the end chose Charisma by Chez Moi for moda. I am waiting for my daughter to photograph the quilt for me (she’s a professional photographer), but here are a few photos of it in process and when it was presented to them before the wedding:

So… I’m waiting for some photos of it in her SF apartment! It was a fun one to make – especially since it was for their wedding gift!

Have to include some photos of the lovely bride and handsome groom on their wedding day: