A Handmade Wreath

This is what my man and his girls made today.

They spent the entire afternoon cutting and bending limbs from my parents grapevines for the wreath shape and then they cut pine bows and holly from the yard to fill it in. I love that the girls created something so beautiful with their dad and they did it all without my knowing. It was a wonderful surprise when they came in the house with this beautiful wreath! So fun!

Unfinished quilts ... finished!

These quilts had been sitting in a bag, unfinished, for several years (gasp!) and are now, finally getting to see the light of day. I recently passed them along to a friend who finished them for me (thanks a ton, Linda!) and I picked them up from her this morning. Yay! Now to find homes for them on my walls.

This is the first quilt top I ever made. Circa late 80's. Gotta love pink and green and black. I started to hand quilt it, but Linda finished it for me and put the binding on. I think I may hang this in Josie's room.

My mom made this quilt top and gave it to me to finish, which I then passed along to Linda to finish. :-)

My mom made this quilt top for Hattie when I was pregnant with her. I machine quilted it. Linda added the binding. I love the chicken fabric in this one.

This one is my favorite. It's string quilt top I made when we lived in Muskegon. Seeing this quilt brings back sweet memories of sewing in my little home office/studio. Linda added simple wavy machine quilting and binding. Love it.

A Little Bit Vintage

I've been hoping to share photos of my sweater that I finished recently, but I have yet to sew the buttons on. My aunt is firing some up for me, since I didn't have enough in the set I had already picked out. So, in the mean time, I've started another sweater and knitted up this fun hat. It comes from The Yarn Girls Guide to Knits for All Seasons. I love how quick and easy it was and I LOVE the little button on the side. Just adds a little bit of a vintage look to it. I used two strands of Briar Rose Fibers Fourth of July (one hank).

Stay tuned ... sweater photos to come soon.

A Year In Yarn

Have you bought a 2010 calendar yet? If you haven't, why not get a Year In Yarn calendar? This full-color calendar displays Briar Rose Fibers among many other amazing yarn artisans. With each calendar purchase $3 is donated to Doctor's Without Borders. I had the pleasure and honor of taking the photo for Briar Rose for the month of June.

And speaking of yarn ... I've been knitting again ... and it's been too long. I've been working diligently on a Christmas present for a family member (I can't say who!), but have to put it on hold since the rest of the yarn to finish it is in storage! I am also very close to finishing a sweater I started when I was pregnant with Josie (2 years ago! - photos to come soon) and I recently finished these hats for my girls.

Hat pattern is the Fourth Of July Family Hat made with Briar Rose Fibers Fourth of July.

Fresh & Clean

It's hard to believe Josie is going to be two in a few short months! While I worked on this layout yesterday, I kept thinking about how times flies and how she is turning into a little lady. Sigh... Anyway, I created this layout for today's Fancy Pants blog post that features their Little Sprout Notebook Journal. I used several pages from the journal, one as a background for my title (which I cut out from the journal page), and a couple others to create the layered decoration at the bottom of the layout (I cut the journal pages into pieces and stitched them in place).

Fresh & Clean
Supplies: Little Sprout: Welcome Baby patterned paper, Little Sprout: Notebook Journal, Little Sprout: Fresh Title and Lace Border Glitter Cuts, various trims and buttons by Fancy Pants.