Why Keith is Cool.

Me: I'm heading out.

Keith: K. See you in a bit.

Me: Love! And rainbows!

Keith: And butterflies.

Gifted Quilts

Two queen quilts have been completed and gifted!

The first was for Amanda and Robbie. They asked for red, black, white, and modern. So here's what I did:

Around the outside, I spelled out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in red thread. A very subtle but awesome detail. The coolest part: these are the verses they had read in the wedding ceremony!

The second quilt was for Morgan and Joshua. They asked for their wedding colors: Brown, purple, green, and yellow. Here it is:

I got a little creative taking pictures. I loved the simplicity of quilting in straight lines for this one, so there was no added special touch, but it turned out awesome.

I got pictures at both of the weddings of me with the bride, groom, and quilt. Hopefully I'll get to see those soon!

4 Years

Keith and I have been married for 4 years today. This means:

-We've been married twice as long as we dated.

-I've been gluten-free for half of our marriage.

-We've successfully made it to 4/5th of our original goal of not having kids for 5 years.

-We should buy each other linen or silk (Traditional US), flowers or fruit (Traditional UK), or appliances (Modern US). (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

-We've made it 4 years without buying any anniversary gifts.

-We still love each other. And that's awesome.

Quilting!

I'd really like to post pictures of the three quilts I'm working on, but then I would give away the surprises. Instead, I will post about the three lovely ladies that are receiving the quilts.

Here are 4 girls with me, including the 3 recipients.

(Morgan, Kelly, Amanda, me, Stephanie)

Quilt No. 1:

Who: Amanda

Why: Wedding on July 9

What: Queen size in red, black, and white

Amanda and I met in 2004 in the dorms at OSU. We became great friends and ended up being roommates for two years. She is fantastic and I really look forward to her and Robbie being married in 4.5 weeks!

This means I really need to get to quilting. I have it together, with about 1/4 of the quilting done. I expect another 6-7 hours of quilting and eons of binding.

Quilt No. 2:

Who: Morgan

Why: Wedding on August 21

What: Queen size in brown, green, orange, and purple

Morgan and I were roommates during my senior year of college (with Amanda, too!). We didn't really know each other when we moved in together, but it turned out to be an amazing friendship! I will be a bridesmaid in her wedding and I'm having bad dreams about getting to the wedding and forgetting my dress/shoes... I'm not stressed out at all!

I have about 1/4 of the quilt top put together for Morgan. Her quilt is a little simpler in some ways, so I expect 3 hours to get the top finished and 5-6 hours quilting, with the normal eons of binding.

Quilt No. 3:

Who: Stephanie

Why: Baby boy in August!

What: Little boy awesomeness

Stephanie and I were in a Bible study together during college and she became good friends with our house of girls (with Morgan and Amanda). She ran away to California after college where she met and married her lovely husband and eventually made a baby. I can't wait to see her belly at Amanda's wedding!

I have bought and washed the fabric for this quilt, but haven't even ironed it yet. I expect 1 hour to cut, 2-3 hours to piece, 2-3 hours to quilt, and shorter eons to bind.

I'll post pictures of them as they are each revealed to the girls! So excited :)

Around the House

We've been doing a lot of little things lately, along with the big ones.

First, we finally finished putting up our mantle and giving ourselves a pretty fireplace:

Fuzzy, but you get the point.

There is a giraffe on the far right, with a saddle and an EYE into his soul!

He can see right into your deepest desires.

Then we finished our bathroom remodel:

Former bathroom with coved flooring, large vanity, and mirror that overhung the counter and made it dark.

The vanity was so large you could barely fit on the toilet.

It's a good thing we did this... Look at our sink drain!

And the new bathroom. New light, flooring, vanity, mirror, floorboards.

That's all for now!

Yard!

I took too many house pictures to put here. Go to my facebook album here.

Looong Time!

I've been off in a world without tambourines for approximately 19 months.

The tambourines are jinglin'.

I have plenty of thinking time these days. I sprained a muscle in my upper back 2.5 weeks ago and went on part-time disability at work, so I now work 20 hours a week and lay on the couch 40 hours a week. Working part time is really nice, however, I've got 3 quilts, a hat, a purse, and a rice pack to sew, a superhero cape to fix and I'm not allowed to sit at my sewing machine. :(

But I can still watch the yard come along! We officially decided to re-vamp the entire front yard this year so that we can repair to foundation under our front door/living room. We've ripped out all of the big bushes, had a Japanese Maple moved, and tomorrow all of the concrete will be removed. After that comes the foundation repair (a 1-day process!), new concrete paths and porch, a retaining wall, sprinkler system, a LAWN, and lots of plants. We hope to seed the lawn on Labor Day and get to mowing.

A few house pictures:

This is the house last March

This is the house today. Less bushes; mailbox and maple moved.

The other angle

Current steps/walkway

Location of future steps and walkway

Woot! Maybe I'll post more exciting things soon.

Jinglin'.