My Quilting Journal #3

This is the week for "my quilting journal"!

This quilt was so much fun to make!

I made it with 2 wonderful friends, Nanette and Liz.

We pooled our fabrics together and took turns sewing blocks.

Then we would choose which was our favorite.

If you can't read my journalling, Nanette's colors were blue, Liz' were the brown/red, and mine (at the time) was purple.

I hand quilted it and it hung on my wall for years until recently.

Thanks for sharing the excitement with me, that I wrote in my journal :)

Autumn Decor

It's definately not autumn weather in northern California yet, but I decorated for fall/hallowe'en/Thanksgiving anyway.

This decor will stay in my home until Thanksgiving is over, then I'll decorate for Christmas.

Here's a little nook.

I always have my flag from Brazil displayed to remind me of my son, Sean (Elder Horst).

He is serving a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

He will be coming home at the end of April :)

This is the mantel over the fireplace.

I love my pilgrim and native american, my mother gave them to me years ago.

This is my "flower garden", but the photos are outdated and I'm missing two of my little grandchildren.

This isn't a photo of a family member.

Turn a little sideways, and.....

.....he turns into a "scary guy" as my grand daughter Charlotte would say!

I love this little antique table, we bought it years ago in Arkansas, for $50.

My daughter Lindsay made the beautiful table runner for me.

I made this wall sampler with two very dear friends, Nanette and Liz.  

I told the story about it here.

I love this table runner, and my mom gave me these little pilgrims too!

This little display is beside the sectional couch in the family room.

The sun was streaming through the window.

Lindsay made me this table runner also, it's reversible.

Last but not least, I just relocated this beautiful quilt to the family room.

It is one of my favorite quilts and you can read a newspaper article about it here.

It's called "A Tribute to Joseph", celebrating the sesquicentennial of the birth of Joseph Smith.

I will blog about this quilt at a later date.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my "autumn decor".

Sampler Wall Quilt

Every quilt has a story and I'm going to tell you the story about this one.  I think I might have quilted a table runner, but this was my first quilt.  I wasn't very knowledgeable and didn't have any quilting fabric, only a few scraps from my table runner.  (My, how times have changed!!!)  
I went to the local quilt shop and picked up some fat quarters in my favorite colors ( at the time).  My friend Liz really wanted to do this quilt, so she and I and Nanette began the quilt together.  One would cut the fabric, one would sew and one would press.  We all just did what needed to be done, sewing enough blocks for three quilts.  
We had so much fun!  We would talk about our children, laugh, talk some more.  We had a potluck lunch every time we got together, taking turns at each house.  When all the blocks were sewn, we each picked out our favorites and laid them on the floor in the sequence we liked.  
At this point, we sewed our own blocks together to make the wall hanging.  The blues remind me of Nanette, the browns and red/browns remind me of Liz and the purple was my favorite color at the time.  Every time I look at this quilt (which hangs on my dining room wall), I am reminded of the good times we had and the friendship we share.

All three of us hand quilted our quilts.  I shadow quilted mine, l/4" away from the seam.  Since I was a novice quilter, I backed the wall hanging with muslin.  

I love the center block, log cabin style.  The heart flowers were my first attempt at applique.  I enjoyed everything about the process.

Yes, everytime I look at this quilt, I am reminded of Nanette and Liz :)