Cabin fever

The guys ventured out today, but not for a good or fun reason...

We got a call this morning that some pipes in the ceiling at church had burst.  Nobody knows when it actually happened, but most likely, it happened a couple of days ago.  The damage is pretty extensive.  The entire south wing of the building was flooded.  In the top pic, you can see the classroom where the break occurred. 
While the guys have been busy at the church, Aimee and I have beaten our cabin fever the best way we know how...

Aimee is working on the quilt for her bed (her first bed-sized quilt) and I'm working on my missions quilt.

I'm about half-way done with the quilting.
And you'll never guess what else!...
More snow.  That's right.  We got another 2" today.  You know, because we needed more snow.
I'm so grateful for electricity right now.  So, since tomorrow will probably be yet another snow day, I will hopefully get the other half done.  And, of course, I'll post pics when it's all finished :)

Memory quilts

I'd like to introduce you to an incredible little girl.  Her name is Haley and you can read more about her story here.  In May of 2009, I made my first memory quilt.  It was for my daughter as a graduation gift.  I posted pics of it on Facebook and was contacted by Haley's mama (who I went to high school with).  She still had all of Haley's clothes and thought it would be cool to have a quilt made from them.


This is just SOME of her clothes.

But before I could make one for her mama, she thought it would be cool if she could give one to Haley's grandfather and aunt (her dad and sister).  So, last Christmas, these are what I made...

Using the same quilt-as-you-go method that I had used to make Kylie's quilt I made these 2 small lap-sized (or wall hanging) quilts. I was still very new to quilting, but these were fun to make and I was looking forward to making another one for Haley's mama.  I thought it didn't seem fair that she wouldn't get to keep these first 2 quilts, so I thought it might be cool for them (mostly for Haley's little sis) to have something they could cuddle with until the 3rd quilt was made.  So, using one of Haley's sweatshirts,

I made these...

This was one of Haley's favorite quotes.

It took her quite a few months to bring me more of Haley's clothes to make this last quilt,

but that was ok because it took me another few months to get it made. This time, I wanted to make it the traditional way...you know, make a top, then layer and quilt it as one big quilt.  We were going for a large lap size to maybe a twin.  I had finally figured out how to install longer rods on my Flynn frame and THOUGHT I wanted to try and quilt it myself.  Here it is all loaded on the frame and ready to go...

I don't know if any of you have ever wondered, but just in case you have, THIS is what "un-quilting" looks like...

And it's NOT fun.
I thought I had practiced enough on other quilts, but apparently not.  It was not good.  It took me about 5 days and I can't tell you how many hours to un-pick all those stitches.  So I called my friend Christie and begged for her help.  She let me bring it over and also let me help her load it onto her long-arm frame so that she could quilt it the way it was meant to be quilted.  And I am SO glad she did!  It turned out beautiful and was finished just in time to be included in their Christmas holiday...a whole year after the first 2.

Displayed on a king-sized bed

That block above the picture of Haley is the shirt she was wearing in the picture.  So many memories in all of these quilts.  And I am so glad her mama trusted me to make these priceless treasures for her and her family.

Follow the link to read about Haley's brave battle and to learn more about Cystic Fibrosis and how you might be able to help find a cure for this terrible disease.

Oklahoma Blizzard and a finish..

There's no sun today in my creative "sunny" haven :(  I wasn't going to let that stop me from sewing though.  Thankfully, we haven't lost power.  So I got a very important project out to work on, so excited to be able to finish it today...I didn't buy enough fabric for the 2nd border (@$#%%^$%$%)...

No trips to my LQS today...or probably the rest of the week.

Poor Mojo wants to play outside so bad.  I'm such a mean mommy.  I don't want to open the door or the snow will be IN my house.  Every door is blocked by snow drifts...this is actually the shortest drift!

Well, since I'm snowed in anyway, now's a good time to share my latest finish with you...

This one is for a very sweet friend that we thought we were losing just a few years ago. When I saw this quilt, I knew I had to make it for her.

The pattern can be found here.

I quilted it myself on my Flynn...fun fun.

LOVE the backing.