another cowboy quilt

I finished this quilt last year--another cowboy quilt made from thrifted plaid shirts.

married life

Andy and I were married on St Patrick's Day 23 years ago. Here we are early in our married life. We tell people we chose St Patrick's Day because we are too disorganized to remember dates without a trigger from the world. Living in Chicago, this means we note when the river is dyed green, the green Hostess Snowball cakes come out (we had them circling our wedding cake), and McDonalds serves Shamrock Shakes. One of those a year is plenty.

advent at lent

I am finishing an advent wall hanging for our church auction. I have made many of these over the years adapted from a Debbie Mumm piece--I usually find her stuff a bit much, but loved the simplicity of this tree. I changed the construction techniques, put 24 buttons on for advent, and include small ornaments to hang each day.
I have made some of these as mourning quilts, using buttons of loved ones who have died, one with uniform buttons of a veteran of WWII; she was one of the first WACs.
I also add a dowel and make a storage bag for it all, giving a bit of organization out of my life of chaos.

crumbs from shirts

I have been making crumb blocks from plaid shirts I have taken apart--the great stripe for the border has been on my shelves so long I have no memory of buying it. The blocks were trimmed to 6 1/2 inches.
Yes, those are Christmas lights still up on March 6th.

students!

I really enjoy teaching--my quilting students are so wonderfully excited about their newly discovered talents.