Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! I remember the first Earth Day, back in the 70s - I think I was in the 9th grade, full of hope and optimism.  Funny, that's still me!  One week of warm weather, and my tulips are groovin'!

Some more of the purple tulips are out - along with the dandelions, of course! Looks like I need to get a new clematis - it's usually climbing up the mesh around my gaslight.  I trimmed it back last fall, but I don't see it coming back this spring.

Our flowing crab is starting to burst forth as well!  We keep babying this tree, trimming it and keeping it going.  I had a tree guy want to take this tree out, maybe ten years ago! I just love it, and it adds a nice softness, and old-fashioned charm, to the front corner of our cute little house.  When this tree is in full bloom, it is spectacular! But then one big rain, or wind, and poof! It's over.  Garrison Keillor once spoke of the tremulous beauty of spring - I think that's what he meant:  lovely, sweet, but fragile.

I saw this beautiful sunrise as I was pulling into my office's parking garage this Earth Day morning.  It was even more beautiful as I backed out of my driveway, with the luminescence surrounding the sun, but I didn't stop to grab a picture.

And there is the moon, so creamy and white, low in the western sky.  What a lovely way to start my morning!

Spring has sprung!

Spring is here, time to get back to blogging!  We have been really busy around here, getting ready for a garage sale among other things.  The house is a mess - I can't wait for the sale to be over in two weeks! 

This weekend was absolutely glorious weather! Two solid days of high 70 degree temps, and poof! The garden flowers are popping out!

I have just a few hyacinths, nestled in with one of my favorite hydrangeas - which is budding out nicely.  The pink flamingoes, Emily and Hannah, keep watch.  

My favorite giant, lime green and gold hostas are spiraling out of the ground. 

These aliums have gone from tiny spouts to foot-tall plants in about a week! And if you look in the center, near the bottom, there is a bud! These are the giant aliums - my husband had renamed them "aliens" - are about 3 feet tall when blooming, with giant purple blossoms.

Tulips!  Scott and I both LOVE tulips, and are so excited when they start blooming.  I love these purple ones, alongside the sweet yellow iris, and my deep purple clematis (out of the picture to the right, climbing up my gaslight).
Back to garage sale sorting and pricing!

One shopping trip = 3 baby quilts, second finish of 2016

Meet sweet baby girl Larkin! 

Isn't she adorable? My co-worker is her mother, so I wanted to make this special girl a quilt.  I used my same group of baby quilt fabrics, purchased two years ago for one quilt, and they keep turning into one more quilt! 

Gretchen (my friend, Larkin's mom) had picked gray as her favorite color for the nursery, so I picked fabrics from my bin to complement her theme (and I did add a solid gray from my stash).  I love the butterfly fabric in the border, with just a hint of my favorite color, lime green!

I settled on a simple meander for the quilting, using a variegated pastel thread.  I topstitched the binding in lime green. 

Sorry the light isn't very good, but I snapped these early in the morning before dashing off to work.  I wanted to bring the quilt to work with me, and present it to Gretchen.

Originally thought I'd just make a dolly quilt for Larkin, but ended up adding borders to make it baby-size.

Hudson's quilt - a much larger quilt! Made for our great nephew, Hudson, who is named for us! What an honor! This is the quilt that started this string of baby quilts.  I shopped for a nice variety of bright, modern prints and made these fun tumblers. 

This is Hudson with his mother, Miranda, at our daughter's wedding.

Simple quilting completed the quilt. 

Second quilt made from my baby quilt bin - for little baby Lena! Love those butterflies in the border, too! Kristin, the baby's mother (special friend of the family), chose cute pastels like aqua, orange, and yellow for her theme, so I tried to skew the color scheme in that direction.

Kristin holding the quilt at her baby shower.  We've know Kristin since she met our daughter, Emily, when they were in the 7th grade.  Best friends ever since.

Baby Lena with her snuggle quilt.  I think she likes it. 

2015 Recap and First Finish of 2016 - Happy New Year!

Here we go - my finishes for 2015!  Sometimes I don't think I get very much done, but I guess I did - here is the evidence!


"FH"

Love this vintage quilt top! My grandma Frances Heggestad (she signed her letters FH) created this quilt totally from scraps, her own and those given to her - she didn't buy anything! She sewed it on her old treadle machine.  My uncle, Orville, gifted the top to me, and I finished it this year by simply tying it - which is what Grandma would have done.  As  you can see, it is large! Makes a GREAT couch cuddle quilt!

"Journey Across America"

Made for my son-in-law, Matthew, in honor of his achieving his MBA, and landing a great job in Austin, Texas.  He interviewed in 10 cities all across the country in order to get his job.

"Emily's Zigzag"
Made as a gift for my daughter, Emily, on the achievement of her MBA! Do you see a theme?  Emily and Matt both got their MBA's at the same time, then both moved to Austin.

"Baby Dresden"
Made from an antique quilt block, to see if my techniques would work for a whole quilt.  

"Baby Brecken"
Made from antique blocks, combined with solid white and gray (the nursery color scheme is gray) for a dear friend's new baby boy, Brecken.  

Wedding Mug Rugs - girl version
I made a total of 16 mug rugs in less than 2 weeks! My daughter, Emily, was getting married, and all of a sudden I thought I wanted to create gifts for the entire wedding party.  The girls' mug rugs were in pale pinks and peaches, inspired by the flowers from the wedding (I had a photo from the florist). 

The happy day! The flowers were gorgeous!

The boys' mug rugs were in blacks/grays/deep purples, because of the classic black tuxedos.

Today is my birthday! Mini me at my first birthday.  I still have the afghan on the couch!

"Ethan's Gift"
Made to honor the memory of our friends' children.  Very sad.

"Maurine's First and Last Quilt"
First finish of 2016! This was supposed to be done in time for Christmas, but I put the final stitches on the binding today!  The quilt top (pattern name is unknown) was HAND-PIECED by my mother-in-law, Maurine Hudson, back in the 1940s! This is a tough pattern, with all those curves and inset piecing! She completed the top, but never finished it.  It's no wonder why she never made another quilt! The unquilted top was in a cardboard box, and I got it after she passed away.  I carefully hand washed it, did some minor repairs, and sent it out for machine quilting (by Sue Pawlowski).  It turned out great!

Great selection of vintage fabrics - feed sacks? or all from a kit? I will never know.
Happy New Year to all!

Christmas spirit!

It's December - Christmas is coming! And even though we are having unseasonably warm weather, I have been getting into the Christmas spirit.

My neighbor, Peg, held a class for several of us to make door swags - so fun! She had many types of fresh greenery, and lots of trims and ribbons. We (5 of us) just brought work gloves and sturdy trimmers, and gathered around her (huge) kitchen island, which she had covered with brown craft paper.  Peg helped us choose our greens, and then we started decorating.  We could also bring anything of our own to add to our creation - I brought the straw Swedish (dala) horse.  My front door is protected by a large overhand on my porch, so the horse won't get rain or snow on it.  I am happy with how it turned out!

A humble tree for my work cubicle! The lights quit working this week, so I plan to replace them soon. Cute family photos to warm my heart!

This shows a special event we participate in each year.  Almost Home Kids is a wonderful facility to help children with medical needs.  This wonderful place is for children who have been discharged from the hospital, but are still not ready to go home, because they require constant care.  These children stay at Almost Home Kids, in a homelike setting, and receive care while their family learns how to take care of them.  Eventually, they can be released to live at home, under their family's care.  It is such a special and deserving charity.  My family performs at their Christmas party every year.  It is our privilege. Look at that sweet girl looking up at Santa! So sweet!

Then we had fun decorating my daughter, Hannah's, little rental house with garlands and lights.  This is my other daughter, Genevieve.

Hannah adding garland to her front steps railing.  See? No coat, hat or mittens, on December 5th! Amazing!

Ok - so, some of us wore coats! Genevieve having fun with the lights.

Sorry this is blurry - but my family decorated our tree last night, isn't it lovely?

Christmas in November!

So - I still send letters and packages via snail mail, guess I'm old fashioned.  But I LOVE getting packages in the mail! And look what just arrived from Barb (from Fun with Barb) - wonderful, yummy scraps!

And when I say "scraps", let me just say, that Barb was very generous!  In addition to actual (little) scraps, Barb included several fat eighths and fat quarters, too!  See all those fun fabric designs? And the AMOUNT of fabric? Yay!

I had fun going through everything (my friend calls it "petting" the fabric).  Check out those great lime green prints (my favorite color!), fun novelty fabrics, gorgeous modern prints, and a nice selection of reproduction fabrics, Civil War, I think. 

I sorted them, made piles, thinking...what SHALL I do with these? !!! I don't know yet, but I know it will be fun!  

I saw this Churn Dash on a Barb's blog - I love the old-fashioned simplicity of the block, and the fan quilting is so lovely.  Maybe these fabrics will become a churn dash quilt one of these days?
Regardless - thank you Barb, for bringing some of your "fun" into my house!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Scraps giveaway, design wall progress, Ethan's gift

Do you ever hope that you will win a giveaway on a blog? on one of your favorite blogs? Well guess who just won a package of scraps? I did, over at Fun with Barb.  I wasn't the first winner, but Barb is sending me a package of scraps, too! Yay! I LOVE scraps, and scrap quilts - and Barb's scraps will be yummy, I am sure! Everyone's stash is so different - almost like a fingerprint.  I wonder what I will make with them???  Barb's blog is terrific, always filled with inspiration and lots of fun, too.  Her quilts are stunning, and her workmanship is exquisite.  

And - to "pay it forward" - I will be sending out a package of my scraps to someone who responds to this post.  I will mail to anywhere in the U.S.  Please make sure that I have some way to contact you - like your email address. I promise to send a nice assortment for some fun playtime.  Thank you!

My design wall has been frozen like this for a while...I know we are ALL busy, but I literally do not have more than maybe an hour of free time each day, after my two jobs.  This colorwash quilt will be a wedding gift for my lovely daughter, Emily, and her wonderful husband, Matt.  I wanted to make them a wall quilt, and something that would complement their modern house and design scheme.  I showed Emily some colorwash examples, and got the thumbs up!  Then I got a nice selection of batik pieces from my friend Wanda of Exuberant Color.  Wanda is an excellent quilter and teacher, and an expert at the colorwash style.  Check out her blog for many fabulous examples! 

Another project for my spare time - this is a small quilt made for some dear friends who suffered the most profound loss:  both of twin girls that they were expecting.  I stopped my other quilt projects and made this - I just had to do something, you know? Just a small thing, to show them that we love them.

They do have a darling 3-year-old son, Ethan, who wanted to give something to his angel sisters, in heaven.  So, after the memorial service at our church, there was a balloon release of pale pink and violet balloons.  A few appropriate words were spoken, and then Ethan gave the signal for all of us to release our balloons, and we watched them climb upward, between the bare branches of a big tree. I am adding a few soft pink sequins, denoting the sun glinting off the balloons. 

"Ethan's Gift"