Finish: Merry Christmas!

This quilt was actually completed last fall, but posting about it had taken the backseat for too long! 

I love using embroidery for the labels. I printed off what I wanted to embroider in a fun font, then traced over it on the fabric with pencil. 100x better than using my own handwriting!

I made this as a door prize for my church's ladies retreat. Each woman had two slips of paper with her name and she got to place them a box out front of any two door prizes she was interested in. We drew one name from the box and awarded the winner. I was so flattered at how many women put their names in the box for this quilt, I wish I could have given each one their own!

I did a simple meander with a few little loops, always a classic.

I received this fabric courtesy of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day almost two years ago at Diary of a Quilter. 

For the back I used some larger scraps leftover from my own Christmas quilt.

I now realize that I am behind on blogging about Daniel and Eli's quilts too! Daniel has been enjoying his for a few months now, and Eli's is finished except for sewing the label on the back!

Tower of the Americas

While we were down in San Antonio we took Daniel to visit the Tower of the Americas. It also happened to be Tommy's birthday!

It was a beautiful day, though pretty chilly and quite windy up at the top.

750 feet up in the air!

Super windy!

We decided not to bring Eli with us, and it was nice not to have to split my attention, but just to love on Daniel!

After several failed attempts at having Daniel take our picture, we asked a photographer setting up if he could snap a couple pictures. He did a great job!

Tommy and I at the tower 10 years ago!!

Eli: 2 Months

Eli is growing so quickly! At one month he weighed 11 lbs, and was 22.5 inches long.

At two months he weighs in at 13 lbs 13 ozs and 24.25 inches long!

Eli has been such a great baby. He is smiling and cooing and adores his big brother. Many nights he sleeps a seven hour stretch. His 3 month clothes are becoming too small already! What a blessing to get to love on him everyday!

Yolanda's Quilt

This is my second finish of 2013, as well as the second completed quilt made from the blocks received from my grandmom. It's hard to see from these pictures, but several of the prints in the quilt have an oriental motif. This is now at home with my Uncle David and Aunt Yolanda.

This was my first time putting blocks on point.  I adore how it came out, and think the cornerstones are absolutely perfect.

For quilting I did concentric circles which was surprisingly easy, a technique I'm sure to repeat in the future. 

(top) original layout (second) revised layout balancing colors and weight (third) finished top (bottom) quilting (large) the quilt made a sort of birds nest as I twisted it through the machine

Patriotic Sampler

You may remember over 18 months ago when my grandmom passed along a bundle of quilt blocks to me. This patriotic sampler is the first set of blocks to become a finished quilt, and my first finish of 2013!

I had the opportunity to photograph it while visiting my grandmom and my Aunt Beth whom I gave it to.

I set these 12 blocks in a traditional setting with a fun polka dot sashing. I still have another 12 blocks that may one day become a quilt for my house!

I so enjoyed photographing these in such a special place. It's nice to see something other than the clothesline in my backyard! I may have to continue exploring new locations in the future.