Saturday, December 8, 2012

Christmas Decorating

 Sam's in charge of putting up the snow village.
 I used a cheap Big Lots vinyl round tablecloth for a tree skirt after having a 26" square piece of plywood cut to fit atop a low table as a Christmas tree stand.  Jojo and Milo are keen to pee on anything new in the house and that includes a Christmas tree and presents.  This is a pee proof arrangement.  The tree was decorated completely by the children.



 










Details, details, details...

Monday, December 3, 2012

Quilts of Years Past

This is Sam's I-Spy quilt I made for him in 2002.  And below it is a picture of the back of it.  Sadie and I ran outside and used clothespins to attach it to the dog pen chainlink fence to take a picture.  It was getting dark and a cotton picker was picking cotton in the field next to us.  It had its lights on because it was getting a little hard to see.  There is a rosemary bush growing by the pen and we kept knocking it as we worked and could smell the scent of rosemary.  I asked Sadie to check her ipod to see what the weather was going to be and suddenly, it began to sprinkle.  All that came together to make an odd little memory.

 
I call this quilt "Pearl Harbor" because of the fabric on the back of war planes and the Hawaiian feel of the fabric on the front.  Jojo chewed a little hole in the center, his loving contribution.


This quilt I call "Haiku: Early frost on Koi Pond" because that's what I kept thinking of when I made it.  The fabric on the back reminded me of bubbles in water.  If I had to do it over, I would have probably use something a little more subtle than that bright orange inner border.

This was the first quilt I ever made.  I think I did it in like 1990 after attending a class.  I wish I'd added some lighter colors to give it sparkle, but oh, well.  It's a crib size quilt.
This is Sadie's nap quilt, another I-Spy.  I pieced it and Drue handquilted it.  As a toddler, it freaked Sadie out because it had bugs on it and she wouldn't sleep under it.  In fact, she didn't even want it on her bed once she saw the bugs.  So much for the sentimentality of handmade gifts for one's children.

This is the back of the quilt.  I bought a bunch of this fabric for backings because it was so cheap at the time.  It reminds me of Hawaii, though I've never been.
I'm taking the Big History: The Story of Us All quilt to work today to work on the binding.  I'm monitoring a computer lab and when no one shows up or doesn't need help, I can do a few stitches.