Happy Easter!

From our family, to yours.


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Snow-Scrappy

Woot! I finished another block exchange quilt! A few months ago, I posted about the Snowman Block Exchange that one of my friendship groups hosted.
I am so excited that I finished the quilt top with all of the blocks.
I chose to border each block with some homespuns and some flannels that I had in my stash to even the blocks and to bring the whole thing together.
I also added a block to those exchanged to fill some empty space.





I don't think that I'll be quilting this one until next fall but I think that I'll back it with flannel to make it extra snuggly. :)
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Scrappy Bargello

When I went to Road to California Quilt Show in January, I purchased some supplies, fabrics, and a few kits.


Of all the things that I brought home, I was most excited about the bargello quilt. (You can see it in the top corner in the picture of my booty.) The pattern was created by a quilter at the Quilter's Coop in Temecula and it was just my style!

Other than the fact that it is almost exactly the colors that I use in my kitchen/great room, I loved the fabrics provided in this quilt for other reasons. They are all Civil War Reproductions and fairly exquisite, in my opinion.

This is the first Bargello quilt that I have made and I have to admit that it was pretty quick and easy. I can say, with a fair amount of certainty, that I will be using this pattern for other quilts. (Maybe I'll be able to make use of my moda stash using this pattern.)

So, without further hesitation, my scrappy bargello....



And, just so that you can love the fabrics as much as I do, here is a close-up:


Love it! It is about the right size that I could even use it as a table cover on the farm table that separates the kitchen from the Great Room. The possibilities!
We will probably just use it to snuggle which is the best use it could have.
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Friendship Spool Quilt

Back in May of 2010, one of my friendship groups decided to do a spool block exchange. I posted about our first exchange in the post titled Hangin' by a Thread.

For the next few months, every time that we met we would bring enough spools to exchange with other members of the group.

During Spring Break, I finally had a chance to piddle around with them and piece them together. When I put them up on my design-wall the block in the top, middle jumped out at me. It seemed a little too..."bright," compared to the others.


Here is a close-up of that block.


I decided that if I wanted to use it, I needed to try something different. I tea-dyed it. It was super-easy to do with such a small block.

After steeping a tea bag in boiling water, I pushed my fabric in and let the tea set. I think that I left it in for about 10 minutes.

Then, I took it out and rinsed it in cold water.

Such a difference! It matched the other blocks perfectly!


Below is the finished product with all of the spools represented. I love the eclectic look that this quilt has. I used a sage green border that brought out some of the colors in the spools.


The back is a blue floral that is from the same fabric line as the green fabric. (I can't remember the line.)


Now, I need to figure out how I am going to piece together our Snowman Block Exchange. Hmmmmmmm.
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A work of heart

also known as almost caught up!

At the end of March, I had to bid adieu to the Teacher Candidate (formerly known as Student Teacher) that had been with me since January.

Ms. Angelotti was such a joy to work beside and I know that one day she will make an amazing educator! I really wanted to make her something special that she might use in her own classroom one day.

So, my students each decorated a fabric square (5" muslin) with their name using crayola crayons. Then, I heat-set the crayon using a dry iron.

I used Giddy by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics to create a heart and border around the students' squares.

Here is a picture of it on my design wall, after piecing before quilting:



She loved it and the students were so proud of their work!
Here is the final product, please excuse the blurry back picture:






These two sweet students gave up a few precious moments of recess to help me with the picture. :)
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(Not-so) Hidden Stars

also known as Catch Up Part 6 (I promise to get caught up during my spring break, especially now that the weather has turned icky.)

This little lap quilt is for my sister, Kindyl.








(Excuse our weeds, please.)
She picked the fabric line ( Summer's End by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda Fabrics) to match her living room, but I chose the pattern. I used a pattern called Hidden Stars; however, the muslin that I used make the stars jump out at you.

Of course, I stippled because that is within my comfort zone and actually counts as my moment of zen. :)

The one super fun (for me) thing about this quilt is that I got to use my brand new labels that I ordered from Miss Label.









Here is the back of the label:









Kindyl and her daughters have since received this quilt and love it as much as I had hoped.
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Brokenhearted

also known as Catch-Up Part 5
I have been avoiding thinking about this, but it is, unfortunately, a reality.
First, I have to introduce you to my ex-husband, Derek, (Jake's dad) and his lovely wife, Tina:






Earlier this year, they celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary.

We, obviously, have a very comfortable relationship and I consider the four of us (Derek, Tina, Rene, and myself) as co-parents in Jake's life.

In fact, there have been times, due to Derek's deployments, that we have attended Back to School nights and Orchestra concerts as Tiffany, Rene, and Tina. There have also been times when Rene is chasing the young ones around to keep them occupied, that we attend as Tiffany, Derek, and Tina.

I've taken them to the airport for vacations and we have house-sat for one another. Needless to say, our lives are fairly intertwined.

We share joint custody and have never worried with anything like child support. We just split the costs for everything and have never run into an issue.

Which brings me to why I am brokenhearted. Derek found out in February that he is being transferred to another duty station. Not just any other duty station, but to one in Beaufort, South Carolina. He and Tina will be moving there in August. :(

We have lived through 4 deployments to Iraq and 2 to Afghanistan, but those were temporary.

This is a permanent duty station. I am so brokenhearted for my Jakey. I am so sad that he will be separated from his dad by a country. Ugh.

I am also brokenhearted for Derek and Tina. Not only will they be so far away from Jake and what they consider home, but they also have to sell their house for about a $180,000 loss (if it sells for what they have it listed for currently-they may have to drop the price again.)

I am at a loss for words for their situation, as well as the loss that my Jakey will feel come August.
Here is another sweet picture from 2006 (and another one of Derek's deployments):






If you have any positive thoughts to spare, they will all be able to use them.

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