How I wish you were here so I could show you my latest quilt! Think of the fun! 
We'd sit around a treat-filled table and drink herbal tea. Nothing seems to right the world like a cup of piping-hot peppermint tea. We would laugh and talk and laugh some more. I'd be so happy for the time to spend with two of my favorite people in the whole world!

Sounds nice.

I made this quilt for a dear friend who shared the same nanny job as me in New York. The family I nannied for was just as rude and unkind to her as they were to me. Maybe even worse. I believe this is one of the many reasons we are friends. When you go through something traumatic it really bonds you to the person who goes through it with you.

My friend, Amanda, adopted a sweet little girl almost a month ago. I had this quilt ready to go for her then. But Damon and I decided that we are taking a quilting break. So I had the quilt shop quilt it for me, nd it took them three weeks! It almost killed me! I'm not sure if Damon and I will ever quilt again. Right now the cost is about the same to have the shop do it and it's just easier. We don't have to find babysitters which is big. My mom and dad would always come when I asked them to (they are very reliable), but the drive is really hard on them and they are just sick a lot. And even though they will come when they feel crappy, I can see how hard it is for them to help when they are here.

I neglected to take some snapshots of the finished quilt. This is all I have right now. Once Amanda receives her quilt I will ask her to send me some photos and I will post them.

I call this my Strawberry Shortcake quilt. It reminds me so much of that little strawberry girl. But man, it's a busy quilt. I'm not so sure how much I like it. I think I should have put in more solids.

 Now, get ready for the really happy part...for the binding I used a dark green Moda Grunge! 

I must tell you something about grunge fabric. I LOVE it. I need it. Whenever I see grunge, I buy it. A yard every time. I'd love to have every color in the Basic Grey collection. It's so versatile. It looks great with everything. Love grunge forever!  

So on the binding-- I machine sewed it on instead of hand-sewing using a decorative flower stitch. I did this because of time constraints and also I just don't think my hand-stitching is that good. I was really pleased with the outcome. There were clear mistakes but I think the decorative stitch I used helped it look okay. 

I can't wait to hear how Amanda likes it. 

In other news...We are going to New Mexico again this year. Yippee! I love family trips. 

What fun do you have planned this summer?

P.S. Amanda sent the photos!

My latest quilt.

It is for my amazingly talented cousin, Shannon.  I guess she's technically Damon's cousin, but I claim her. :) I really admire this girl. Her and her Mom have always been lovely to me.  I'm grateful for them.

I used Windsor Lane by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda Fabrics. Love this line. When it first came out I was smitten. I actually bought the Windsor Lane fat quarter bundle with my cousin in mind, but knowing that I would be able to get several baby quilts out of it.

 I did end up using minky again, even though I vowed not to. Damon

said I should. 

Hey, if my hubby tells me to buy minky, I buy it.

I was so happy too, because I found a remnant just the right size for the backing that was 40% off!

Yeepie!

The problem was that the minky was the exact same size as the top. So when it was time to quilt it, we had a bit of a struggle and the lady helping us was not too happy. But, as you can see, it got quilted. 

Damon worked his magic. He did freestyle for the first time and it turned out beautiful!

So I really hope Shannon likes it. Her opinion matters alot to me.

She is brilliant in all she does-- as well as her Mom.

So today I only ate raw food!

I want to try this raw thing out!

 I feel really happy about it right now.

If I'm successful for longer than a week then I'll talk more about it. :)

My 10th anniversary quilt!

I so happy that it is mostly finished. I need to bind it. But that won't happen for another year. If I'm lucky. So serious.

The story of the anniversary quilt goes like this. Damon and I were discussing anniversary gift ideas and he was shooting down every gift idea I had for him, left and right. I was cleaned out, I had nothing left.  When all of a sudden Damon had this vision and it came to him with angels singing. 
The idea of the anniversary quilt was born. 
It was a great idea and I loved it! However in my mind it was a lot cuter. I did not have the time that I needed to make this quilt into the grand thing that I wanted to. I would not have finished it at all if it weren't for all of Damon's help. He saved me. It's amazing the amount of time that went into this thing. I was setting my alarm to wake up before my children and working on it after they went to bed. I gave up exercising to have that time to work on this quilt. That is love.

You can see the blue marking pen since I have not washed it yet. All the pets we have ever had are on this quilt. Man, if it wasn't for them this quilt would look rather sparse.  This orange kitty, Miss Muffet, lived with us for only about a week or so. She died when she ate a black widow. I was telling this story to my children and they just giggled at the irony of Miss Muffet's fate.

I filled the 'g' with colonial knots.

Our love for gardening.

Damon designed this "A" and then made it for me. He's the man!

All the quilt squares are paper pieced. I sewed all of the pieces together so they were in units and then Damon would sew the units together turning them into the complete picture.

Damon also designed this paper piecing arch (though I appliqued the rounded top of the arch--the only applique on the quilt)

We love snowmen! Each one represents a favorite holiday: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Birthdays. I wasn't sure how to make the snowman into a birthday snowman. So it doesn't really look like a birthday snowman. But, hey, I did the best I could.

The Salt Lake Temple. Awesome!

There are many things that make me so sad about this quilt. There are so many mistakes it's pathetic. The quilting is one of the major things that brings me down. Damon and I didn't get to quilt this one. The shop had double-booked our appointment and so we chose to let the shop quilt it. I chose the design but I thought it was going to be smaller like what I saw in the sample book. I've been thinking about taking out the stitching. Damon says no. I haven't decided yet.  Damon says he has already decided for me. We'll see who wins this one.  :)

Hello, Dear Sue!

I've missed you and think of you a whole lot.  :) 

I've finished a baby quilt that I made for a dear friend who is about to give birth any day now. 

My ward had a service action where I donated an offer to make a baby blanket. The lady that won my donation told me she wanted it to give to my friend, Janae, who I wanted to make a baby blanket for anyway. Win-win!

It has minky for the back side.  My first time working with minky. And wow, I love the stuff, it's great! I can't keep my hands off it. I just hate the cost. So mean. Won't be working with minky again for a long, long time.

Damon quilted it! We both are now certified to work on My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe's long arm. But he is the one who knows how to work it. He is so talented, seriously. This guy puts me to shame! 

No contest.

He did such an awesome job! He's so good to humor me. 

All the fabrics I already had in my stash (expect the minky). Which makes me sooo happy!

I feel justified in all the yards of fabric I buy when I can whip up a lovely quilt without having to stop by the shop. This was an easy quilt too. It was such a nice breath for fresh air to finally be working on something easy. It was rejuvenating.

So, back to everyday life.  I sliced my finger today with my rotary cutter. Nice. So much blood came pouring out I thought I was going to die.

 Let's talk soon.

xoxo!

I'm so so happy to announce that I just finished my Hocusspocusville quilt last week! Yippee! And it only took me two years. :) Double yippee. :) I am so in love right now. Smitten to the bone. Seriously, I can't take my eyes off this thing.

Can you see the pumpkin quilting on the black square? They are hard to see but so cute!

I googled Hocusspocusville and saw on images a lot of these quilts by other quilters. One gal said it took her 3 months to complete hers. WoW.  I also saw one made with all color thread. I didn't think it was as cute doing it that way. I did see one, though, that the quilter put the embroidery on lime green instead of muslin and I loved it. I wish I could of seen that one when I was starting mine.

The marking pencil that I used to draw on the houses, that cost me like $12 or $14 bucks -just so you know-, was suppose to come out when washed. But it did not. There are places on the quilt where you can clearly see the green markings. It makes me so sad!

Also there is one block that Colton got to with a pen that did not come out either when I washed it. Colton was younger when he did this, so I can't be mad. You know, I fished the haunted houses a long time ago. They've just been setting around collecting dust forever. Such a happy feeling to have it finished!

Anyway, I am very happy with it. I can't wait to see you very soon!

xoxo

Dear Sue,

I must apologize for taking so long to get these photos up. But I still wanted to show you what we did, so here we go. 

Cambria picked out the paint and we had a lot of the decor already. And just so you know...I did not make the quilt on the wall. That was a gift from Damon's mom.

I got the metal flower from Hobby Lobby and we bought Cambria a cute new dresser! I'm so thrilled about this I can barely stand it.  It makes me so happy every time I look at it. 

True story.

I remembered how you got rid of your brown closet doors and liked the idea so much that we did the same.  I bought some curtains and sewed them up to fit. 

I really love how it looks.

The artwork is by my sweet Dad. :)

The boy's room isn't as put together yet. This really is all there is to show. Ian picked the color and they also got a new dresser. Yay! Hobby Lobby once again supplied the decor. I love that place!

Here is what I made for my oldest three for V-day. I got the idea from Lori Holt, she had something similar to this last year. But, needless to say, hers was a lot cuter.

That period after 'warmest' should have been a comma.

This one belongs to dear Colton and if you noticed how it already looks dirty it's because Colton cannot get enough nuzzling his precious, dirty little face in to it. What do you do? :)

(The Monkey backing is Colton's)

I didn't have enough stuffing to completely fill out the pillow corners.

Bummer.

Anyway. I think that they liked them. I guess I don't really know for sure. My spoiled kids definitely could use a good hard lesson in gratitude.