Irish Chain Quilt

This week I have been working on this quilt. It was huge!! 109 x 110 inches.

I did the feather circle centers and pebbling to fill it in.

Feathers and leaves filled in the borders. Here's a shot of the back. I love how it turned out.

So, this next week will be crazy as I get ready to go to Romania. I tried to make it so that I didn't have any projects to have the week before I leave, but it looks like my magazine quilt will have to be done this next week, so that's what I will be doing. Plus writing a couple of patterns, it's going to be a fun, but tough week. I am excited to leave for the trip, but I am feeling completely guilty about leaving the kids. The hardest part about this is thinking about my kids. I am with them 24/7 and I am worried that it will be hard on them and me. Not to mention all of the terrible scenarios I have conjured up in my mind which make me absolutely nuts. Is it just a mom thing, or do I just worry too much? The kids will be fine right? My baby won't forget me after 8 days? Please help me! I think I might just go a little mad.

They came, we laughed, we played, they left, I cried!!!!

So, it was Monday and Clint and I went to the mall with the kids, why? Don't go to the mall with 3 little kids, we keep telling ourselves that when they freak out and kick and scream and everyone is looking at us like we are horrible parents, this stage passes right? They aren't always going to scream at the worst times possible? Anyway, I had to get some pants because I have been exercising and my jeans aren't fitting right and I need some for the upcoming trip (this is going to be a long story, I can feel it), while I was in the dressing room I took a look at my hair and started to panic because my roots were about an inch and the regrowth looked horrible. My sister Abby does my hair and she lives in Salt Lake, four hours away and I started panicking because I didn't want to travel with horrible roots. I called Abby on the way home from the Mall to tell her I might have to do something about my hair without her, my Mom answered, and I had my conversation to Abby through her and Abby told me not to do anything drastic (like try and do something myself). So I calmed down and we went home, got the kids to bed for their naps (thank heavens) and I started to quilt. I was quilting for about an hour and got a call from Abby, she said "Hey, I don't have anything tomorrow, I could come down and do your hair," and I said "Wow, would your husband be alright with that, it's four hours and holy cow, you would do that for me?"
Well, as I was having this conversations with Abby, she and my Mom walked into my bedroom. What a surprise! I couldn't believe it, I told my friend Janae Monday morning that I was going to try and get my Mom to come down to visit and little did I know she would show up that day. It was Abby's idea and what a wonderful sister she is, she's newlywed and she left her husband for two whole days to come down and see Clint and me and the kids. That's incredible.

So, we had a wonderful time, we got pedicures and Abby did my hair. We went shopping and went out to dinner twice. It was a wonderful time and I am so glad they came. They left about 2 hours ago and I am still crying, but I am so glad I got to have that time with them. I didn't get any quilting done while they were here, but it was a much needed break. My mom has also put together 12 quilts for me for the Romania trip. She is one amazing woman and I love her so much. Abby was great because she put up with us at the thread shop and quilt store, (she's a hair dresser and has never picked up a needle and thread, so I am sure it was torture) but I love her too!

I tried to get a good picture, but what can you do when you are holding the camera, taking a picture through the mirror.

Here's my hair, it's a little red and blonde and brown, in the sunshine some of it looks a little pink. I love it, I so totally would have bright pink hair, but I wouldn't like it if Lili tried that when she gets older, so trying to do the example thing here.

Momma says I can...........

tell you who the winner of my cake is! I ate most of it, but there is a piece left for the lucky winner! Just kidding, I am sure you would rather have the layer cake right? Well the winner of the layer cake is (it was a complete random drawing at random.org):

Meg @ The Mad Quilting Librarian

Congratulations Meg, email me your address at judi@greenfairyquilts.com and I will send out your layer cake right away.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes on our business and Jonah's birthday. I have great things coming soon, two new patterns, some quilting pictures and our Romania charity trip in two weeks. I can't believe the trip is almost here, I have been trying to keep it out of my mind because I am super paranoid about leaving my kids, but I know that Clint and I are doing a good thing so it will be all right. Thank you so much for the quilt donations from everyone and the money as well. We will be able to help out a lot of kids while we are there and all 40 of them in the orphanage we are visiting will receive their own quilt, plus with the money donated we will be able to see their needs, whether it be food or clothes, and be able to buy them while we are there. Thanks again to everyone who has helped.

On a funnier note, Clint and I are missing out on our 10 year high school reunion tonight. I have wanted to go so bad, but since we live 4 hours away and are really busy, we couldn't make it work. I really wanted to go, but Clint promised me a dance in the living room, he better make good on that one! Go Bingham High Miners! Class of '99!

Happy Birthday Jonah, and another Giveaway!!!

Today was my baby's 1st birthday. We had a marvelous day of swimming, going out for lunch and having a huge chocolate cake in celebration of my little guys day. He is such a blessing in our lives and Clint and I love him so much! Not a lot of you know, but we moved to St. George last year, four days after I gave birth to Jonah and started our new life. All in one week we had a baby, moved far away from our whole extended family and started our new business. There were times (a lot of times) that I thought we were crazy and that this move wouldn't work, plus I was emotional from just having Jonah. Crazy times I tell you, but it has been worth it, and with each year that Jonah grows we will have those fun memories and we will be able to know how long we have been in business together.

I wish I had better pictures of the event, I tried to make them look vintage because I like that look, but someday I will have a super cool camera, someday!

So, since it's our son's 1st birthday and the 1st anniversary of our full time business working together I thought it would be fun to give away a present to one of you! That's right, I am giving away a Tranquility layer cake. All you have to do to enter into my giveaway is leave a comment. That will give you one entry, if you would like 5 entries, blog about my giveaway on your own blog. I wish you all luck and you have until Saturday afternoon, I will announce the winner on Saturday night. Take care and good luck!

Another week of quilting and more...

I have managed to get 4 quilts quilted this week. The quilts weren't huge, so it was a nice little break from the big quilts I have been doing. I am going to see if I can get one more quilt done Saturday, wish me luck. The quilt above is a store sample for Scrap Apple Quilts, and I hope they like it. I love going into Shirley's (owner) store, it's my favorite quilt shop here in St. George.

I am really amazed at the needle turn applique talent here in town, I wish I knew who did this quilt, so I can give them credit, but what a beautiful job on the applique. It is perfect.

I am having fun with feathers lately, I look back at how scared I was to even try to do feathers, but now I love it and can't wait to quilt. I hope to get better and try more things with this cool stitch.

Here's a close up, I really had fun with this quilt.

I always love the back.

I feel like this week has been a productive one, I managed to get this quilt cut out of a layer cake for a new design, I can't wait to share the project. It is going to be in different colors than the ones shown because the same day I cut this out I got a package in the mail with some new fabric from my favorite fabric company Moda! I have the new quilt almost put together, but I can't show you yet. I will keep you posted. Have a great weekend everyone!

Butterfly Quilt

Diane Johnston put together this beautiful quilt and trusted me to do the quilting.

As you can see I took on the butterfly theme of the quilt and ran with it!

These applique butterflies were so well done, I couldn't believe the quality of the applique. It was hand applique and it was perfect.

This was my favorite block. Hope you like it, I have been working on this quilt all week. Now I can breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's finished."

It's amazing how.....

.....a clean carpet can make your whole life better. I was out shopping with the kids, picking up some thread at Superior Threads and going to Walmart for some must need items, when Clint called me and said "Don't come home, I have the carpet getting cleaned." So, I took the kids to McDonalds and we had a fabulous time, then came home and our living room floor looks amazing! If you have been to my house to drop off a quilt, I am sure you have noticed that our floor was loaded with spots because my little Jonah spit up on a regular basis for a while, but we are thinking that stage is over and Clint surprised me by getting the carpets cleaned. What a great surprise. I did have a nightmare last night, and in that nightmare I walked out into my living room and the floors were just as dirty as before they were cleaned. I am so glad it was just a dream! So, now I am walking around the house and smiling, it's funny how little things can make me so happy!

I have been quilting like crazy, I am really excited to show you what I am working on now, I will have pictures as soon as I am done. I feel like the next four weeks are going to be absolutely crazy before Clint and I leave on our trip to Romania. Things are coming all together and we have the orphanage lined up and we are excited to bring them quilts, and more. The orphanage has 40 kids ranging in age from 5 months to 10 years old. I tallied up my quilts, I have about 22 quilts now, but we need more, I will be trying really hard to finish a few more quilts before we go, but we are hoping that we can have a quilt for all of the kids there. So, I am hoping that some of you have some new crib size to lap size quilts that we can take to these kids. If you do and would like to send them to me, please let me know by contacting me at judi@greenfairyquilts.com. I really need help because I can't do it all myself, I will try, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment with the time getting so close. Thanks so much to Barb and Kelly who have sent me quilts, and thanks in advance to anyone who would like to send a quilt and best wishes to you all!