Hailey's Zigzag Quilt

Our 7th grandchild, Hailey, was born in January.  I had just gotten my long arm machine, and I kept trying to practice on junk fabric but I was running out of time, so I just put on Hailey's quilt and started quilting it without much practice ahead of time

 

I had a bit of trouble with the straight lines, but was pleased with all my little leaves.  I gave it to Janette and Seth, and they liked it.

 

(Notice my bright turquoise walls and checkerboard floor in my sewing room.  I love it!)

 

I picked out the bird fabric first, and then chose the zigzag colors to match it.

President Eyring is a witness

During every General Conference, I listen to see if the apostles say, in somewhat veiled language, that they are actual eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ.  I believe with all my heart that these men have actually seen Jesus Christ face to face and  spoken with him.  I think Pres. Eyring's testimony on April 6, 2013 is one of the clearest I have heard. 

"I am a witness of the Resurrection of the Lord as surely as if I had been there in the evening with the two disciples in the house on Emmaus road.

 

I know that He lives as surely as did Joseph Smith when he saw the Father and the Son in the light of a brilliant morning in a grove of trees in Palmyra.

 

This is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Only in the priesthood keys held by President Thomas S. Monson is the power for us to be sealed in families to live forever with our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We will on the Day of Judgment stand before the Savior, face to face. It will be a time of joy for those who have drawn close to Him in His service in this life. It will be a joy to hear the words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”¹⁹ I so testify as a witness of the risen Savior and our Redeemer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/come-unto-me?lang=eng#listen=audio

My desk closet, then and now

 When we found our new house, and saw it for the first time, we saw this big space in the wall of the living room.  It had been the "big screen TV" spot when the house was built in 1996.  Remember when big screen TV's were so huge and thick they had to be placed in spaces like this?

The stagers had put the shelves, and plants to make it look nicer, and had hung a flat screen TV on the wall (which looked ridiculous).

We wondered what to do with the space. We thought about making it into a closet, but then realized it would make a great office for me.

We had a counter top added, and put rolling filing cabinets, and doors on it. I can do my paperwork and computer work right in the living room, but I can shut the doors and it basically looks like a flat wall.  It is one of my favorite things about this house.

Quilt from my childhood

I taught quilting in Hilton Head, SC, and stayed at a lady's house.  She had this appliqued kit quilt from the 1960's, and it looked familiar to me.  I'm going to have my mom and sisters look at it, I think this is the same poppies quilt kit that my mom made for my sisters' double bed around 1964.  If it isn't the same kit, then it is very similar except for the color.

I remember the quilt kit, the fabric had very light blue printed lines all over it, to show where to add the applique and where to hand quilt it.  My mother did two, a quilt with orange and yellow poppies, and one with lavendar/purple flowers.

Adam's birthday!

 October 2007

Dec. 2011

 
2005

We love you, Adam!

Got Water?

Since we have a well, we decided to install this rainwater collection system.  This cistern holds 1500 gallons, and we should be able to water our garden with it all summer.  We put chicken wire all over it and planted jasmine bushes around it, and they should grow up and cover it within a couple of years so it won't be so ugly.

Gabrielle's quilt

Here is the front and back of my granddaughter Gabrielle's quilt, which I made for her last October.

Response to Susan, my biggest fan

(I have had complications with my computer for a couple of months.  Here is the reply I wrote to Susan a long time ago.)

Dear Susan,

Every day I kick myself for not having written a book or created any patterns to purchase. I'm sorry, I don't have anything for you to buy. Maybe some other books could help you.

I have followed other precision-impaired quilters for years. Some of my favorite examples are Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran and Keiko Goke. If you ever have a chance to buy any books written by them, you will enjoy their styles of quilting too.

 

I just remembered another book which I think you would really love. It is called "Sunday Morning Quilts" by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison, copyright 2012. It is still in quilt stores now, or you can order it online, probably from Amazon.com. (I really should have written this book, I am mad that Nyberg and Arkison beat me to it.)

Here are the book titles by the other quilters that I recommended:

Collaborative Quilting by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, copyright 2006.

Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again, by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, copyright 2009.

And I'm so sorry, there are too many things going on in my life right now to do private lessons. Honestly, you would be the first one I would choose to be my student. Thanks for all your kind words.

 

Doll blanket for Tessa

We babysat Tessa for a couple of days after Hailey was born.  Tessa kept wrapping Tara's old doll in a huge blanket, so I let her pick out whatever fabric she wanted (she picked fabric with birds on it) and I put yellow flannel on the back and sewed her a doll blanket in about 15 minutes.