GREATFUL!

Scott's birthday cards. Scott got lots of attention, cards, gifts and facebook messages. He loves attention! 

Does he look 64? What a great guy!

Tumble quilt is basted, ready for quilting. Baby shower is soon! (great niece or nephew) Happy event, fun project for a cold, snowy weekend.

More snow this weekend - are we grateful for that?

As much as people complain about our long, cold and snowy winter, I guarantee - spring is on the way!

Quilt Tour 2012 Part II

Angels with Go-Go Boots, also made in the 90s (do you see a theme here?) - this was started in a miniature quilt class taught by sorry-I-don't-remember-her-name, who lives in another suburb of Chicago. It features a very fun Christmas fabric with some pretty stylin' angels. Lots of paper piecing!

Another rare hand quilted piece by Chris - Amish 4-patch, also probably from the 90s.

Sanibel Island, made after our one and only trip to Florida, in 2000. It was a memorable trip in many ways. It was our only visit to a Disney park, and to Sanibel Island (which I LOVED). Sitting on that quiet beach, with the tropical breezes, and the ocean waves lapping at the beach - now THAT is VACATION!!! It was also the last "spring break" vacation that we took as a family. Our daughters went on tour with their church choir every year during their high school years. I bought these fabrics at a store in Florida.

Grateful, made earlier this year - 2012! It is my "word of the year" - trying to be mindful of the many blessings I enjoy each and every day. Made as a gift for my wonderful husband. :)

Wedding Quilt, made in 1944 for my mom and dad, Leona and Bob Heggestad, by my grandmother, Myrtle Grife Johnson. I love how this is made all of solids - and since my mom hardly ever used it, it is in beautiful condition. I remember crawling under the quilting frame in my grandma's tiny house - sometimes it was the only way to get through the living room! I still have her frame, up in the attic. Mom, Dad, and Grandma have all passed on, but how cool is it that I have this treasure?

Quilting with my Friends

I decided to make quilted valentines for my family this year. After making valentines for Hannah and Emily - which both turned out cute, and will be in future blog posts - I set out to make Scott's, which gave me all sorts of problems! I knew I wanted to use a word - grateful - which is my Word of the Year. Scott totalled our car 3 days before Christmas, and walked away with nary a scratch, for which I am very grateful! :)

Rather than piecing the letters - as I have seen on many other blogs, like over at 15 Minutes Play, and in Tonya Ricucci's book - I decided to fuse them. Melody, over at fibermania, was doing a Quilt Along in February, teaching us how to fuse a small art quilt. I decided to use solids partially because of the great work of my friend, Sujata, over at The Root Connection. So - off I went, preparing my solids with fusible web and cutting out letters. It was all going so well! I laid all of the letters on a nice piece of solid gray fabric....

....and I hated it! My creative flow came to a screeching halt. I remade several of the letters (I hadn't fused them down yet), with different colors...still hated it! I hated all the letters in a row, the same size - even staggering them, still hated it.

So then, I thought it looked too dated, not modern enough - so I cut a piece of this great new black and white print. Fresh, lively, so much better, right? NOPE - still hated it, not right. I thought long and hard about what kind of quilts appeal to me, and I thought of the great scrappy quilts over at Nifty Quilts - and then it hit me!

I had just enough of the perfect print for the background - these adorable doggies! (sorry, don't remember the fabric designer) It was a modern print, but with a vintage feel - perfect! and it was perfect for Scott, because of his love of dogs.

This was looking so much better!

The quilting turned out great - lots of straight line quilting, inspired by quilting friends Victoria (15 Minutes), and many others. It took a few tries to find the right binding fabric, and am so glad I cut it on the bias (thanks for the nudge, Sujata), not my usual crossgrain.

So you see, I had lots of fun quilting with my friends - even though they weren't here! Thanks for all of the inspiration, friends!