Cover Girl

Nicole sent me this photo earlier this week and gave me permission to share it.  This is the quilt Nicole is stitching on the cover of my book, and here it is all completed and it looks like it gets a lot of use too!  (I know, hard to focus on the quilt when there's such an adorable little girl sitting on it)

Is there anything better than seeing a picture of a quilt you made being used?  Actually becoming a part of someone else's daily life?  I once got a Christmas card with an entire family sitting on the couch and one of my quilts peaking out from beneath them at the corner.  Best. Card. Ever.

The Blog Tour continues over at Crazymomquilts today.  Hope you are enjoying all this talk about EPP, I know I am.

A bit of Thursday

We've got this quilt on the bed right now (baby spit up on the other one..):

And I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about it at 12, 3, and 5 in the morning as I pace back and forth around the room trying to get Jack to burp or fall back asleep.  It was a good quilt.  Some awesome memories in the t-shirts:

Where I studied in Kyoto, 1999-2000.

Heaven on earth (class of '01, Washburn~).

I have also been pondering the fabrics but I have a separate post brewing on that topic...

And so I decided to take one of George's old-but-loved tees

And play around a bit..

He is helping-- pulled out a big pile of fabrics for me to choose from.  Too sweet.
Have you been crafty yet today?

Taking Care

How lucky I am, to have so many friends who want to take care of me, to make me comfortable and to spoil me and my children.  In today's post I want to say THANK YOU to all of them (you) for the kind words, emails, fb messages, cards, presents and visits that have filled my recent weeks.

Jack is 6 weeks old today, and I wanted to share a few of the thoughful gifts we have received:
In my last post, I mentioned a new quilt, all the way from Hokkaido, here it is:

 Hand appliqued, embroidered, and hand quilted by the lovely Mrs. Kubota.  xoxo!

We also received a super soft and cuddly crocheted afghan from Merrill:
(need to add the photo later, he's currently sleeping with it!)

(Totally jealous of her crochet skills, I've wanted to make a ripple blanket for years)

and some wonderful stew from Bernadette!

There were also many many cute sleepers, onsies, outfits, and a new stuffed doggy.  Many friends also brought big brother presents for George which were definitely appreciated.

My sister has been here for the past couple days, and her help (round the clock) is a present far more valuable than any gift.  Thanks Lor.  Don't know what we'll do without you.

In other news, I have been quilting as much as possible.  Some by hand, some by machine.  If I can get some photos today, I might have something to show soon..

What to do with all those awkward sized quilts?

You know, the 55" x 70", the really random 65" x 70"...
They're great on the couch, but when else can you actually use them?

How about now?  Early fall when it's too soon to turn on the heat but too late to sleep under just the summer coverlet..

This works great for our bed because only half of us are pregnant (and either too hot or freezing, depending on the night).  It avoids the dreaded "you slept on top of the quilt and I couldn't pull it up so I froze" situation (because no one wants to wake up angry), and it's a nice unexpected burst of color in a room that has been "neutral" for too long..

I love the quilt that goes on our bed in the fall, but it's 4 years old, and I'd love to have something new for this year.. I have a nice spiderweb in the works, but I doubt I will finish it before January.  I think using the random sized ones will satisfy my need for color and warmth at the moment.  Now if only I could figure out how to get this system to work when George climbs into our bed at 4am and kicks off my little quilt...