Abby and Olivia's Christmas Quilts 2012

Here is Abigail's quilt:

 

 

This one is for Olivia:

 

 

I love the rick-rack on the front.  It reminds me of a gingerbread house.

I was happy to be able to use up the left over fabric on the back.

They are so soft and crinkly from the dryer. 

 I hope the girls like their new Christmas quilts!

I'll see you all in a week.  I can't wait! XOXO

 

 

BRUCE ROCKS 12*12*12!

 Oh, my Bruce Springsteen pie!

 

I wish that was me...

 

OK So I didn't get any sewing or school work done last night. (Sorry kids, you won't be getting your DBQ paragraphs back tomorrow.)  But, Bruce was on and I HAD to watch the concert! Boy, am I glad I did...what a great show!  I wanted to post yesterday on 12-12-12.  Thought it would be cool to mark the date, but it didn't happen. Oh, well.  So tonight I'm posting the pictures of the finished tops of the girls' Christmas quilts.  It is pretty dark in the back room, so the colors don't look as bright as they really are.  Wait till you see them in person!  I just have to put the back on and quilt together.  That is my task tonight and tomorrow night.  Hopefully, I will have them in the mail on Saturday.  Keep your fingers crossed!  I hope you like them so far!

 

 

A little parting music...

Big Decision Girls!

Hi Girls! 
I need to know who likes which color!
There are two color choices to pick from...blue or green?
Look carefully at each picture and tell Nana to text me your choices.
I can't wait to see you at Christmas!
XOXOXOXO
Love,
Aunt Kelly

Doll Quilts

Using some left over fabric from other quilts, I made Abby and Olivia each a doll quilt.  I got the idea from a great book by Cathy Gaubert that I picked up at the book store:

I decided to create quilts using the quick and easy nine patch design.  I had lots of strips of fabric to do the blocks and some borders.  The first quilt is for Olivia:

I tried the meandering stippling style for the very first time on this quilt.  It was not easy to just "wing it" and move around with no lines to follow.  Although, the more I worked at it the better it looked.  I did a lot of practice on extra fabric sandwiches before trying this one.  Thank goodness after it was washed and dried, you couldn't see my quilting very well because of all that crinkly fabric!!

Here is the backside of her quilt.  I used the extra fabric from Olivia's birthday quilt so that they would match.

The next quilt is for Abby. 

Once again, I tried another style of quilting here.  I sewed straight lines very close to each other across the entire quilt.  This took much longer to complete than the meandering stich.  I think it turned out great! Here are some closer looks of the quilting before I washed and dried it.

 

Here they are straight from a warm dryer with all that crinkly goodness!

I love you Olivia! XOXOXO

Happy Birthday Abby! XOXOXO

Back From Colorado

Well I am back from my trip to Colorado. I had a lot of fun on my spring vacation with my family.  The weather was absolutely beautiful. Warm and sunny...I have a bad sunburn to proove it!

I got to take a tour of the Air Force Academy and watch my brother's lacrosse game. (We even won!!) My mom and I enjoyed visiting the different churches located on campus.  I took lots of pics of each we visited.  They were all so beautiful...wait until you see the pictures! 

One day we went to the zoo with the girls. It is so cool how you walk up a mountain so see all of the animals. By far the best part was feeding the giraffes crackers.  (I think my mom spent like $15 on food to feed the giraffes. Crazy!)  Although, the girls squealed everytime their tongues touched them! (Yuck!) It was also pretty cool to walk under a glass wall and have a huge mountain lion looking down on you! (Now I know why my brother jogs with a rock in his hand on the trails. Scary!)

It was fun to see Olivia and Abby's schools and meet their teachers. Abby took us on a tour of her school and did a great job as our "tour guide".  Olivia was so proud to have a special visior at school and gymnastics class.  She is a great little gymnast.  I was very impressed! It was too bad our school vacations were not the same week this year. I even got to watch Ilona at the high school coaching her tennis team. Everyone had their own "special event" for me to go watch.

We went to a cool place for dinner called "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant". (Just like the movie!) The food was awesome and all of us ladies had a wine tasting line-up of all the different wines they had on the menu. (Of course, Billy had to drive after dinner! ha! ha!) I guess they have dancing and singing on the weekends...they even break plates! We will have to go back on a Saturday night next time I visit. I can't wait!

Needless to say, I was very busy. I don't know how my mom keeps up this pace all the time! I guess happy hour each afternoon and LMN movies after dinner do help a person relax after a long day! Thanks everybody for a fantastic visit! I had a great time and miss everyone so much! I love you!

Here are some pictures...enjoy!

Aren't the flowers just beautiful in Colorado Springs?

 Hope you enjoyed the pictures! 

Have a great week!