Quilts in Progress...Cruise Quilt

I have been sew busy in front of the sewing machine lately.  As you may know I do not even have my regular Viking at home right now.  I have been working on the featherweight that grandma gave me.  WOW!  That thing is tougher than you'd think! I have been working on 2 quilts and the plans for a third.

NUMBER ONE

 Panama Canal Cruise Quilt

In October 2001, right after the world was shocked into a fear of terrorists and flying, my Grandma Betty took me on a cruise through the Panama Canal.  Her sight had been starting to bother her and she needed someone to go with her.  She asked me to go.  It was GREAT.  We rode on the Sun Princess cruise ship.  Wow.  Long story short, I picked up 3 beautiful panels with the intention of making them into a quilt.  Grandma had made one about her cruise to Alaska a few years before.  (She's a cruise junkie!)






I had purchased coordinating fabrics not long after the trip that reminded me of the sea.  And then they waited for me.  They have been waiting for almost 11 years to be recreated into a quilt.  And now it's almost done...


Timothy helped me figure out how to make the waves look real.  Thanks buddy!  He also did quite a bit of sewing for me.  He's a pro now.  He will probably be designing his own quilts soon.  He even tries ironing and cutting but sewing is his favorite job.

30th Birthday Book

Another flashback project: My 30th Birthday Book. (My 30th birthday was November 2009) Oh well, here it goes. I made each layout for something that was significant in my life.


my husband and our marriage


my kids


my faith


what I wanted to be when I grew up


my depression


women who changed my life
my mom, my grandma Betty, my sister, Heather, Rebekah, Anne Shirley, Sheila Walsh, Jo March, Laura Ingals Wilder, Juliette Gordon Low, Laura my college roommate
"We look for visions of heaven, and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace people...around us." Oswald Chambers


my travels
includes envelope full of postcards from places I have been


my collections
dolls, dollhouses, postage stamps, pennies, crosses, elephants, nativities, photos of post offices, buttons, scouting memorabilia


my friends for tea
many of my friends completed small cards with their name and a memory about us

Embrace Mini Album

I created this mini album for a challenge in January 2009. I don't even remember where the challenge was from. I found the pictures on one of my husband's thumb drives and so here it is. It represents all the things that I wanted to embrace in 2009. It was sort of my New Year's resolutions in a book.

You can tell that I had gotten my Cricut for my birthday in November because I have diecuts from it throughout the book. Around the edge of the star I wrote each of the things I would embrace. "I will embrace my kids. I will embrace..."


Faith: I wanted to continue do grow in my faith. I was discovering where I belonged in God's plan and where I was going. I was looking for a church home that felt right. I was trying to discover ways that I could show that faith in my daily life to my friends and my family.
"I will pray without ceasing."


My kids: Speaking of family, I wanted to embrace my role as a mother to my 2 kids.
"I will embrace my relationship with my kids, and give them all I have to offer."


My Soul Mate: Kelly, the love of my life, my everything. I wanted to embrace my role as a Proverbs 31 wife for him. I always desire to complete him.


Outdoors: I wanted my family to enjoy the outdoors together. I wanted to work together with the earth, to make our little bit of it beautiful and useful for our family.
"plant seeds, grow flowers, eat our own vegetables, cultivate."


Travel: I love taking my kids to discover new places. I wanted to travel with my family to places that would inspire and fulfill us.
"travel, adventures, new discoveries. I will take my children to new destinations."


Tomorrow: I will embrace the future and all it has to offer myself, my kids, my marriage, and others around me.
"Embrace the pieces of today, and tomorrow they will fit together."

I wish I could remember where I found this quotation. I don't think that I was clever enough to come up with it on my own.

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday Challenge this week is to re-post a 3-D project so here it goes. BTW I do sell these reversible purses for $20.

pretty purses

here are some pretty little purses I have been making. they are reversible. the buttons are all vintage ones I had. i am thinking of selling them on etsy. what do you think? $20?

Purse #1

Purse #2 Update: gave this to my mom for a gift.

Purse #3

here is the link to the pattern on Lazy Girl Designs