Friday, December 28, 2012

I Love England

 I found some cute England fabric and thought it would be perfect for a quilt for Katie. Unfortunately, I never took a full picture of it. Next time I'm at her house, I'll see if I can grab a shot.


I spy quilts are so fun. I know that Katie doesn't need another quilt, but I do love making them.



Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas 2012

 We enjoyed a family Christmas this year and were grateful to share it with each other. Cookie decorating, skyping, and present opening were all included. Merry Christmas!










Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas Concert

 We always love Christmas concerts in December. For our family, we just have to head to the high school to enjoy Christmas music. 


Frazier and Katie (and Calvin) have all performed with Chamber Choir and now it is Jackson's turn. They will always appreciate the musical education they receive under Mr. Ronning. 


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Merry Christmas

 Every other year, the Arlington Stake transforms the building into a Creche Festival. Hundreds of nativities are gathered from members so they can be arranged and displayed. People sign up to come act as a live nativity. Choirs practice music so they can perform a Christmas concert. I signed up to play piano music for an hour of the event. Many cookies were made and eaten.



A few days ago, Katie and I went with Opal and Cathy to Christensen's Nursery to make wreaths. I love their machines and they are easy to make with our own greenery. Cathy always brings red-twig dogwood and a variety of branches with red berries.

Katie and Opal are so happy when they are creating. It smells so yummy and they have Christmas music playing.


Cathy using beautiful red berries. We have brought many boughs, but Christensen's has more stems to purchase.








Thursday, November 15, 2012

Stanwood Library Show

 I had the opportunity to show my work at the Stanwood Library. With a growing collection of small pieces from classes, it is easy to fill a few walls. These are the pieces I hung.









Monday, November 12, 2012

Jackson's Birthday

 We enjoyed celebrating Jackson's birthday at Chatterbox, an Asian restaurant in Stanwood. We've never had a bad meal there. Everything is delicious. On this day, they surprised us and brought out a piece of cake just as we were leaving. So sweet!



Friday, October 19, 2012

Kitchen Remodel

 We are almost done with the kitchen remodel. I'm so excited to get everything in place and actually use it. I love the quartz countertops. It's time to get the lighting installed and wheel in the refrigerator. I'm not too worried about the backsplash, but I'm thinking of something like penny tile. We'll see.



Sunday, September 30, 2012

Union Jack

 Once I had three panels ready, I was able to stitch them together. But they are quite large and a little difficult to handle without tweaking the bias.


The entire quilt is about 70"x 55" and looks quite bright and lively in the living room.


The above is hanging outside in the sunshine and below in the Camano Island Quilter's Show. Note that the binding is not white. There is no possible way to keep such a white binding clean.








Saturday, September 8, 2012

Check on the Garden

 When I'm busy, I prefer to go out into the garden. I love getting into the soil and pull weeds. I remember when I was little and wanted to earn money, my mom sent me outside to pull weeds, promising that she'd pay me a penny per weed. I earned $8. 


Lamb's Ears


Globe Thistle (Echinops)


Teddy Bear Sunflowers


Hellebore


Clematis


Peony


Rosa unidentified


Dahlia

Friday, September 7, 2012

Quilt on an actual Bed!

A wonderful friend/customer sent along this picture of a FINISHED quilt as soon as it was bound. Shocking, I know. Quilts look so much better on beds!


This reminds of my parents' bed. My dad would come home from his stressful day (elementary school principal) and want to take a nap. Instead of removing all the pillows, he would flip up the quilt on the end and lie along the bottom end. These power naps helped him quite a bit and mom never had to re-make the bed!




Thursday, September 6, 2012

Practice Block A

When you get started with a new project and an unusual block, it is always smart to make a practice block with scrap fabric. This particular block is 27.5" x 10" so practice is definitely called for:


If you want to join us, click over to Lily's Blog and make a Jack or two!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Fabric Shopping!

I've decided on my fabric for the Jack Attack and it's coming from Hawthorne Threads. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful prints Valori Wells created for her Wrenly line.





I can't wait to get started!





Opal Quilts

 I was excited to hear that Opal's quilts were being shown at the Snowgoose bookstore downtown, so we went to see them in person. We also had a chance to look at books and I picked up "Wicked."



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Slideshow Quilts

I love switching from difficult to easy patterns. It's fun to have many quilts in different stages of completion. Some days I walk downstairs and am in the mood to finish something. Other days I want to hand-stitch a binding or applique a bird.

Atkinson Designs created the Slide Show quilt pattern for those easy quilts.


Really best for large prints and complete fabric lines, Slide Show is quick to whip up. And all your extras can go into the border and the back.


My idea on the quilting was raindrops.


I picked up these batiks in Alaska on our inside passage cruise. I love the whales and indigenous designs. Skagway has a population of 1,200 and three amazing quilt/yarn shops.


These two quilts are from the very same pattern. Very different quilts.

Jack Attack!

Lilys Quilts

It's time to start quilting some Jacks! Since Katie will be coming home from England in just two months, I'm joining a QAL over at http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com/ and would love company. Some of the coolest Jacks I've seen are in Kaffe or Westminster Fabric. Here is the Tutorial from Lily's Quilts:  http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/double-fat-jack-tutorial.html

Enjoy!
Kristi