Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap

Last week, I joined the Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap that is being hosted by Mortimers Mom of Ubercrafty. I have always wanted to jump in and join one of these swaps, but never felt that my skills were up to par with the other ladies who participate. Luckily, I came across this blog and saw the words "Anyone Can Join, All Skills-Level Welcomed, Might Be Used By An Actual Child, Doll Quilt Swap". That seemed perfect for me, so I joined in! I have had a charm pack of Aunt Grace Scrapbag 2008 fabric for a couple of months, just waiting for the perfect project, and decided that this one would be great! The quilt rules encourage you to try something new, so I decided that I would try working with triangles. Here is what I have so far.....not sure if it will be the final layout, but it is a start....

I had twice this many squares, so I let Anneliese play with them because she likes to help me lay out my quilts on the floor. Here is her final design

"How to sum up 2 months in one post"

Yeah, so I've been really slack on my blog....I started it all excited, knowing that I would have tons to talk about and show, but the truth is, it is very intimidating! But, I know that I just need to buck up and I will hit my stride and get more comfortable with it if I just practice! So here goes! So this is kind of a sum-it-all-up post with lots of pics and a few comments when needed!

So, in no particular order:

We played outside

Christopher won the Pinewood Derby in his den!

My super talented SIL won not one, but TWO, blue ribbons at the Quilt Show!

Mary Rose discovered the awesomeness that is the Starbucks Frappuccino!

Anneliese posed for me in my wedding veil (we won't discuss the fact that my wedding dress wouldn't zip up when I tried it on!)

Anneliese and Gram planted flowers

I made some stuff (including this doll quilt for my BFF's dd's birthday)

Oh, and there were many birthdays, Valentine's Day, and Easter, but this will have to do for now!

They really are a handful!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school, so a couple months ago I had the idea of making a quilt for his teacher for the occasion. His teacher is a quilter, which made me think that she would really appreciate it, but also intimidated me b/c I'm sure her abilities are far above my novice level skills. I discussed the idea with the room mother, and she was totally on board! I wanted to do something with handprints and using the term "handful" b/c they are a challenging class, but didn't want to do painted handprints, so I had the idea of making appliques of their hands and even embroidered their names in their own handwriting.





Here is the final product:

I took it in on Monday and she really loved it! The kids were also very excited to find their names and handprints on it! It was really a lot of fun to make and I learned a lot in the process, including that I am addicted to quilting (not a word, Sara!).....so now I have many, many more in the planning stages as well as two child size ones in progress for the Relay for Life in May!