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Colorful Quilt Inspiration

Mar 9th, 2010

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One of the questions I’m most often asked is “Where do you get your inspiration?”

My short answer? ”Everywhere.”

That’s usually not the answer people are looking for. They want specifics, like publication name, date, and page number, so they can see it too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

I don’t rely on any one source for inspiration, as I don’t want to be too heavily influenced by any one artist, quiltmaker, or writer. I want my work to be uniquely my own, taking inspiration from the corner bakery, blooming Tulip Magnolia, sunset over the Appalachians, and smiles on my beautiful children’s faces, as only I see them. My quilts are an expression of the beauty I see in everyday life.

I do capture much of that beauty in my journals, so I can refer back to it later. That’s where photographs, magazine images, fabric swatch exercises, and sketches come to live and gather and multiply into stunning quilts.

I’m truly amazed every time I sit down to design a quilt. I never run out of ideas, color palettes, or possibilities. I’ve heard other writers complain of writer’s block, but that was never a luxury I allowed myself. I continued writing, pushing through the fear of “this sounds awful” to some really great stuff. That doesn’t happen when I design a quilt. It’s all joy. Playing with color, shape, and fabric is as good as it gets.

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color, Journals, Workshops.
Tagged: artist date · Color · inspiration · Journals · quilts

Red-Violet: March’s Color-of-the-Month

Mar 2nd, 2010

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Welcome to the March Color-of-the-Month slideshow, offering tips on using red-violet in your quilt palette and featuring the most diverse range of fabrics, quilts, and accessories so far. This month I host Patty Young of Michael Miller fabrics, Marcus fabrics, art quilter Michele Hardy, LazyGirl Joan Hawley, and me, sharing fabric designs, traditional quilts, art quilts, and even handbags in this month’s jam-packed show. You’ll never look at red-violet the same again! (If the text is too tiny in the presentation, click on the Full icon at the bottom to view it Full Screen.)

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color Lessons, Color of the Month.
Tagged: Color of the Month · marcus fabrics · michael miller fabrics · michele hardy · patty young · red-violet

Kennesaw Mountain Table Runner

Mar 2nd, 2010

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Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Kennesaw Mountain, the March pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.

Inspired by the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War in 2011, this table runner gets its name from a battlefield near my home in north Georgia. The red-violet, mustard-yellow, and yellow-green reproduction fabrics give an historical feel to blocks that look like they’d be right at home in Civil War times. I’m not a quilt history expert; rather, I’m inspired by that period of history to create a project that commemorates our history in a muted, dull color palette.

Kennesaw Mountain Pattern Update: $5.95 (free to subscribers – keep reading!) Add to Cart

If you can’t get to the quilt shop to select your own fabrics, no worries. I’m offering a Kennesaw Mountain kit as well. It’s best to choose your own fabrics for your color palettes, but we all have those times when life gets too busy and we just can’t get to it. I’d rather you be able to do the lesson with a kit than not at all.

Kennesaw Mountain Kit: $21.95 Add to Cart

Learn by Doing

March’s featured color is red-violet, and while most people think of fuschia, magenta, and raspberry, I chose a more elegant and historical palette.

The key to contributing a mood to a quilt is by orchestrating the intensity, or how bright, the colors are. A child’s quilt relies on high-intensity, bright fabrics to convey an energetic, playful mood; reproduction quilts rely on duller, muted intensity fabrics to create an aged, historical feel.

Learn New Techniques

You’ll learn how to identify the dull fabrics in your stash by making your own intensity wheel, and selecting just the right fabrics for Kennesaw Mountain.

Forget quilt as desired! I’ve included quilting designs, the very ones I used in my own project, based on simple quilting women of Civil War times would have included in their own quilt. Color-0f-the-Month subscribers are also enjoying our weekly chats and videos, and are looking forward to a new video on how to do freemotion quilting next month.

Subscribe to the Pattern Series

Kennesaw Mountain pattern update is $5.95, and includes all instructions for making the Simple Blessings and Games, Music, & Knitting blocks. You’ll need the master January Winter Bird pattern for instructions and dimensions on making the whole table runner.

If you’d like to subscribe to the table runner pattern series for the entire year, I’m offering a special price of $$18.95. Here’s what’s included:

save 55% off the full price
get 12 original table runner designs
learn a new color palette and quilting technique each month
receive early access to the patterns, automatically delivered to your inbox, before I publish it on my website
get member’s-only access to a special forum where we’ll chat online and by video about color and the pattern series

This is a special introductory price, so buy today!

Color-of-the-Month Pattern Series: $18.95 Add to Cart

Posted in: Color of the Month, Kits, Quilting, Sewing Patterns.
Tagged: civil war · color lesson · Color of the Month · red-violet · table runner

One More Peek at Pink

Feb 26th, 2010

1 comment

February is almost over, and I’ll miss our look at everything pink this month. Being the only woman in a household of boys and men, it was delightful to play with pink fabrics, thread, pomegranates, baskets, and paints. I don’t want to say adieu, but March calls.

A couple more peeks at pink. I’ve shared this quilt before but wanted to do so again, as I don’t make many pink projects. This quilt was for a baby adopted by friends, and I had so much fun basking in toiles, paisleys, and pastels. It truly was a joy to make.

Here’s one of several blocks I made to makeover a Log Cabin quilt that was my very first. You can see both here in my Extreme Makeover Quilt Edition video:

Goodbye pink! We had so much fun together. I look forward to the lessons and joys ahead in this creative journey called Color-of-the-Month.

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color of the Month, Quilting.
Tagged: blended quilt · Color of the Month · pink · quilt

Watercolor Inspiration

Feb 25th, 2010

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Great art often inspires great art, and I’ve been inspired by my Color-of-the-Month table runner patterns to capture them in watercolor. I’m delighted to create in both media, as they complement each other. Quilting is a precise, geometric discipline, whereas watercolor is a loose and often uncontrolled process. Watercolor has a mind of its own, but I can make an exact 12″ block for my runners.

While the fabric version of a quilt and its watercolor counterpart both present the same colors, achieving them couldn’t be more different. As a quilter, I go into the fabric shop and select exactly the colors I want, and plan my quilt from those unchanging swatches. As a painter, I create my own versions of those colors by mixing different pure hues: Aliziran Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre. They even sound beautiful, don’t they?

I had intended for this watercolor series to be my own private playtime, a creative exercise just for me. But I just have to share! So, I’m making these watercolors available on note cards, a set of 10, with envelopes, in my store. Look for them here in the online store.

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color of the Month, Learning from the Masters.
Tagged: artist date · Color of the Month · Quilting · watercolor

Bliss

Feb 22nd, 2010

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Sweet and pure elation over catching this rainbow trout on Saturday. We ventured out on the first warm and sun-filled day and spent the afternoon on the boat. It was true bliss: sun warming our faces after weeks of snow and clouds, his catching not one, but two rainbow trout and pleading with his dad to cook them for dinner, even though David doesn’t eat fish.

Our dog Ranger joined us for the lake cruise, and he was happy just to get out of the house, after pleading with us with his big brown eyes, “somebody take me outside!! Dogs get cabin fever too!”

As grateful as I was for two sunny days in a row, and on a weekend, no less, I was still a bit chilly, covering up with David’s flannel shirt and the lime green knitted chenille scarf made for me by my friend Pat.

We enjoyed the trout for dinner, making Trout Meuniere, Julia Child-style, baking the whole fish and removing the entire backbone and rib cage in one swift movement. If you saw the movie Julie & Julia, you’ll know what I’m talking about: it’s the dish she’s in heaven over when she and her husband Paul arrive in France. The best part? David cooked it. What a lucky girl I am.

Posted in: Home.
Tagged: Home

Snow Deja Vu

Feb 16th, 2010

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Haven’t we been here before? Twice in one winter is almost unheard of in this part of the country, even if we are in the mountains. We just don’t see that much snow, not that anyone around here is complaining. More opportunities for snowball fights, sledding, building snow men, and making a fort in the den, which happens to be the perfect place to snuggle with the family dog and watch the Winter Olympics.

We’re Olympic junkies here, watching every minute of coverage until we’re bleary-eyed and falling into bed. Snow, olympics, and school break. What could be better?

Posted in: Home.
Tagged: Home

Kits Are Here! Kits Are Here!

Feb 11th, 2010

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I’m thrilled to announce I’m offering kits to go along with each monthly table runner in the Color of the Month series. The Winter Bird and Love Apple kits are available in the online store, and they contain the same fabrics I used in my own quilt, with a few substitutions. No worries, though, as you’ll love the other fabrics as much or even more than the ones I used. I had so much fun putting together these fabrics and kits.

What I love about these kits is they allow you to play with color and value and still achieve great results in your project – just without the cutting. In a perfect world, we would all choose our own fabrics, cut them, and piece our own table runner. Then life happens. Work gets crazy. The kids get sick. Church commitments call. Before you know it, the month is gone and you’ve haven’t been able to get to any piecing or quilting. Think of these as a back-up plan or a sweet treat for yourself.

Posted in: Color of the Month, Kits, Quilting, Sewing Patterns, applique.
Tagged: applique · Color of the Month · Kits · Quilting

A Green Valentine’s Day

Feb 9th, 2010

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My favorite school party is on Friday: the annual Valentine’s Day party in my son’s elementary school class. Why is it my favorite? It’s the one time the children focus on really giving something to others in their class. Everybody gets a Valentine’s Day card, and they each decorate a box to hold their treasures.

In year’s past, my son saved his Valentine’s cards for years, bringing them out every so often to reminisce. A romantic at heart? This year however, he was sick, out from school, and beginning to feel a bit too old for all of this Valentine’s fuss. He just couldn’t get excited about decorating his own shoe box for the party.

Until he spied a funky project I had done from WhipUp, my absolute favorite craft blog. Picnic Basket Crafts shared how she repurposed an old cereal box into a DIY shipping box for her items on Etsy. It was just so cute I had to try it. I had no use for it – my books and kits are too large to fit into it, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do whatta girl’s gotta do. So I followed her great instructions, and voila – I had my own lunchbag-style box. And it sat on our counter with really no purpose or destination.

Until my son spied it and decided it would make a perfect Valentine’s Day card holder. Out came the construction paper, tape, scissors, and glue stick. He did it all himself and is excited about taking it to school. He even made his own lunchbag-box with an old cereal box I provided.

You never know where creativity will take you. Even with the simplest of materials.

Posted in: Home.
Tagged: Home

And the winner is . . . Sandra!

Feb 8th, 2010

4 comments

Congratulations to Sandra Davidson for winning the exceedingly tall FQ bundle from Robert Kaufman! Over 20(!) FQs will be arriving in your mailbox soon as a thank you for subscribing to my blog. Isn’t a big bundle of pink fabrics a lovely surprise to find in your mailbox during February’s cold days? We missed the huge snow storm but are forecasted to get sleet tonight. Winter in the mountains is an adventure!

Thank you for all the lovely comments and for sharing your pink quilts. Roolen shared a link to her lovely pink, as did Kristen showing her art quilt group’s challenge of using pink. Need even more pink? Keep scrolling!

My pink doll quilt, made just because I needed a feminine touch in my home:

Chocolate Covered Cherries from Color Mastery:

I’ve made some design changes here at the Quilts & Creativity blog, and you’ll see a few more over the coming weeks. The most exciting of which is I’ll be offering kits for the new Color of the Month pattern series in my online store. Oh, did I mention I now have an online store? Yep, pretty excited about it too! Look for the kits next week.

My email newsletter will be going out soon as well, so if you haven’t signed up yet, you can get your hands on the newest issue by clicking on the Email Newsletter tab at the top right of the screen. Coming to you will be a color tip, quilts, my schedule, and a great recipe!

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color Mastery, Quilting.
Tagged: pink

150 is Here!

Feb 5th, 2010

4 comments

You did it! 150 subscribers to the Quilts & Creativity blog. I’m so proud that my corner of creativity is reaching so many around the world. Thanks for the blog love and I’m giving everyone the weekend to subscribe and enter the drawing for the big FQ bundle. If you’ve never subscribed to blog before, it’s super easy. You can either:

read your favorite blogs (including mine) in a blog reader from Google, Bloglines, or Yahoo
receive my blog posts in your email Inbox

Either way, you sign up over in the sidebar to the right where it says “Don’t miss out – Subscribe to My Blog”

I’ll announce the winner of the Robert Kaufman fabric bundle on Monday, so you have a few more days to subscribe. Don’t miss out – subscribe!

If you’d like to know more about reading blogs in a reader, here’s a great video that explains it in plain English:

Posted in: Quilting.

Pink: February’s Color-of-the-Month

Feb 2nd, 2010

27 comments

In the month of hearts, roses, and valentines, pink is a natural for February. Being the only woman in my home, I enjoy touches of pink here and there, so I had a blast putting together this month’s show. Nine terrific designers and fabric companies offer their tips for using pink in a palette, and don’t miss how you can win a ginormous fabric bundle valued at over $60! (If the text is too tiny in the presentation, click on the Full icon at the bottom to view it Full Screen.)

9 Innovative Ways of Using Pink in a Color Palette

View more presentations from Maria Peagler.

This is my 250th blog post and I’m celebrating with a big giveaway! I’m giving away this stunning Robert Kaufman pink fat quarter bundle when my blog reaches 150 subscribers. So, if you haven’t subscribed already, do it now by clicking on the Subscribe buttons in the “Don’t Miss Out – Subscribe to My Blog” section of my sidebar. When I reach 150, I’ll be giving this away to one lucky subscriber. Ready? Subscribe!

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color Lessons, Color of the Month, Quilting, Sewing Patterns, applique.
Tagged: applique · baskets · Color of the Month · pink · Quilting · table runner

Love Apple Table Runner

Feb 2nd, 2010

1 comment

Creative Quilters, I’d like you to meet Love Apple, the February update to my new Color-of-the-Month pattern series:

Learn by Doing

This month’s color lesson is all about value, and you’ll learn how to work within a single color palette and still get enough lights, mediums, and darks to make your baskets and pomegranates stand out. Then take this lesson and apply it to every other quilt you make!

Learn New Techniques

This month’s update even includes quilting designs! I listened to my loyal subscribers and they wanted suggested quilting designs, so I offer two different free-motion quilting designs in the pattern. And I show you, step-by-step, how to make accurate half-square triangles that keep their points without getting cut off. I also have step-by-step photos on how to precisely place the appliques so there’s no question where they go. Each month will showcase different techniques so you can become a more versatile quilter.

Subscribe to the Pattern Series

Love Apple pattern update is $5.95, and includes all instructions for making the Basket and Love Apple blocks. You’ll need the master January Winter Bird pattern for instructions and dimensions on making the whole table runner.

If you’d like to subscribe to the table runner pattern series for the entire year, I’m offering a special price of $$18.95. Here’s what’s included:

save 55% off the full price
get 12 original table runner designs
learn a new color palette and quilting technique each month
receive early access to the patterns, automatically delivered to your inbox, before I publish it on my website
get member’s-only access to a special forum where we’ll chat online and by video about color and the pattern series

This is a special introductory price, that will go up, so buy today!

Color-of-the-Month Pattern Series: $18.95

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color of the Month, Quilting, Sewing Patterns.
Tagged: Color · Color of the Month · pink · table runner

All Dressed Up . . . .

Jan 26th, 2010

4 comments

The cupcakes were baked, decorated, and ready to be nibbled on in a ladylike manner. My studio was sparkling, ready for the Mom & Me Quilter’s Tea guests to take a tour. Their parents won the experience at a silent auction for my son’s school. Books autographed, check. Camera, check. All done a day before.

My elder son and husband were away at a Boy Scout caving trip, so it was just me and my younger son. Who came to me in the middle of the night saying, “Mom, I don’t feel so good.” Poor guy. He was up all night with a stomach bug.

Tea postponed, check. After all, fiddle-dee-dee, tomorrow is another day.

Like the frosting on those cupcakes? Then you won’t want to miss February’s Color-of-the-Month show. It’s the first Tuesday in February, only 7 days away!

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color Lessons, Home, Quilting.
Tagged: artist dates · Color Lessons · Home

Quilting Unit Study for Homeschoolers in E-book Form

Jan 15th, 2010

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Quilting Unit Study by Maria Peagler

I’m proud to announce my Quilting Unit Study for Homeschool Families is now available as an e-book on Smashwords. No matter what e-reader you use, the file format you need is there. Kindle, Stanza, Palm, PC, Mac, Sony, or even for online reading. They’ve got it all.

The cutie on the cover? My little guy, about three years ago. We had just finished a week of giggles, excitement, and a lot of pink fabric during the first offering of Quilt Camp I held at my home for a few girls whose parents won the event at a silent auction. He was totally outnumbered by the girls, but didn’t mind. In the photo he’s adding a bit of tying on his quilt. He’s graduated since to one with American flags and Harley-Davidson motorcycles and sleeps with it every night. Still a quilter, though.

The quilt pictured on the cover is the Doll Quilt from Color Mastery, a great project for children, or the Brownie Troop/Homeschool Mother/Craft Queen looking for a quilting project to do with their children. Hmm, wonder how I would know that?

Posted in: Color Lessons, Color Mastery, Home, Journals, Quilting.
Tagged: homeschool · kids · Quilting

All Dressed Up and a Transformation

Jan 12th, 2010

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Winter Bird by Maria Peagler

I couldn’t wait to dress up Winter Bird on my table, with my Christmas china, candles, and flowers. My kids love having dinner by candlelight and think it’s quite a special occasion when I bring them out.

Winter Bird shadow by Maria Peagler

As I was arranging, adding, and editing the table setting, something started to happen. Can you begin to see it here?

Winter Bird Light by Maria Peagler

The light. Soft afternoon light streamed in my kitchen windows, to make long shadows and highlights on the table. This is exactly the kind of still life I love to capture as a watercolor painter. Gorgeous depths of color and value created by soft light.

Winter Bird Flowers by Maria Peagler

My kitchen, as well as my entire home, doesn’t get a lot of light. Our neighborhood stresses a natural, subtle look to the homes, so no one has much in the way of large front windows. But the back windows are where the sunlight invites itself in.

This elegant setting called for a special dinner: homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Yum.

A big welcome to the Color-of-the-Month pattern subscribers! I can’t wait to see those table runner photos in the online forum. I’ll be sending you the link to join by email. Until then, I’ve got a birthday cake to make: my older son turns 14 tomorrow!

Posted in: Artist Dates, Home, Quilting, Sewing Patterns.
Tagged: artist · Quilting · table runner · watercolor · winter bird

Appalachian Snow Day

Jan 9th, 2010

2 comments

See and download the full gallery on posterous

What better way to spend the day than sledding with friends? My boys were super-excited about the rare occasion of snow here in the Georgian Appalachians, so we took full advantage of it. We get to use our sleds about once in every five years, but it’s so worth it when we do!

Posted via email from mariapeagler’s posterous

Posted in: Quilting.

Winter Bird Table Runner

Jan 5th, 2010

7 comments

Creative Quilters, I’d like you to meet Winter Bird, the January edition of my new Color-of-the-Month pattern series:

Winter Bird Pattern by Maria Peagler

Learn by Doing

As an instructional designer, I know there’s no better way to understand a subject than to actually try it. The Color-of-the-Month table runner series offers new color palettes and quilt techniques every month, delivered directly to you. I make it so easy you have no excuses not to try it!

Learn New Techniques

Winter Bird’s color scheme is spare but so elegant you could use this runner all year long. And I show you, step-by-step, how to make those tricky square-in-square blocks, without wasting a bit of fabric. The applique is fused, so it couldn’t be easier. I show you a terrific and quick way of making bias stems so fun you won’t want to stop. Each month will showcase different techniques so you can become a more versatile quilter.

Subscribe to the Pattern Series

Winter Bird pattern is $9.95, and each monthly update is $5.95. The table runner will always be the same size and contain three blocks, but the color scheme, applique and block designs will change. Winter Bird is the master pattern; each subsequent monthly update will contain instructions for the changes only.

If you’d like to subscribe to the table runner pattern series for the entire year, I’m offering a special price of $$18.95. Here’s what’s included:

save 55% off the full price
get 12 original table runner designs
learn a new color palette and quilting technique each month
receive early access to the patterns, automatically delivered to your inbox, before I publish it on my website
get member’s-only access to a special forum where we’ll chat online and by video about color and the pattern series

It’s a tremendous deal! Make a New Year’s resolution to be good to yourself and bust your color rut the easy way.

Update: Now kits are available! I’ve heard from my readers and subscribers who really want to make the pattern but just can’t get to the quilt shop or coordinate the fabrics that month, and they really need a kit. So I’m also offering kits for each month’s design.

Winter Bird Table Runner:

Pattern – $9.95. Click here to go to store.

Yearly Pattern Series (12 patterns): $18.95. Click here to go to store.

Kit – $21.95. Includes pattern and all fabrics to make the runner top. Click here to go to store.

Posted in: Color Mastery, Color of the Month, Quilting.

White: January’s Color-of-the-Month

Jan 4th, 2010

1 comment

Welcome to a new feature in 2010 here at Quilts & Creativity: Color of the Month. The first Tuesday of each month, I’ll be featuring quilt and fabric designers and how they use the featured color in their palettes.

This month? White! Get tips and see quilts from your favorite designers for your own quilts.

5 Creative Ways to Use White in Your Quilt Color Palette

View more presentations from Maria Peagler.

Note: Slideshare is having technical difficulties, so here are the links for each designer:

Vickie Oehlke, Willowberry Lane, Lattice Stars quilt

Yolanda Fundora, Garden Party, Seascape quilt

Pat Sloan, A Baker’s Dozen

Mary Kay Mouton, Flip-Flop Paper Piecing

Maria Peagler, Winter Bird

Posted in: Artist Dates, Color Lessons, Color of the Month, Quilting, Sewing Patterns, applique.
Tagged: quilt color palette pattern fabric artist bird

Be Back Soon

Dec 26th, 2009

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Enjoying the Christmas holiday with my family, and will return in the New Year. Until then, hope you had a blessed Christmas and peaceful wishes for 2010.

Posted via email from mariapeagler’s posterous

Posted in: Quilting.

Is it Christmas Yet?

Dec 17th, 2009

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Did I miss Christmas? Oh, no, thank goodness – there’s Santa! Actually, that’s my youngest playing Santa in this school play. When I woke him up for school the morning of the play he was nervous, but he turned out to be quite a ham. He was a pro at navigating the stage, handling the microphone, and he remembered all of his lines!

My studio has been a flurry of neutral fabrics that went into a new quilt top I promise to show you once the weather warms a little. The top flew overnight to its destination, and I was celebrating the accomplishment of a year-long project. Now I need to get those Christmas cards and teacher gifts that have been calling my name!

The weather is appropriately frigid today, and we might even see snow this weekend. We haven’t seen much snow since moving to the mountains, and my guys are patiently waiting. It will be a great weekend for cookie baking, gingerbread house-decorating, and wrestling meets. That right – my oldest is wrestling on his middle school team. I watched him for this first time this week, and it was hard to see those boys going after each other with such intensity.

Wish you and your family peace, good health, and a blessed New Year. I will be taking some time off to spend with my family during the holidays. I’ll still be on Facebook and Twitter, and I’ll post a little now and then, but nothing big until after the New Year.

Posted via email from mariapeagler’s posterous

Posted in: Quilting.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Dec 1st, 2009

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Who are those boys? I certainly don’t recognize them, as they’ve grown so much since last year! This is a photo from Christmas 2008, and my older son has grown a good 6″ since then. He’s now taller than his mom and gaining quickly on his dad. Milestones like this mean so much. As we were decorating the tree, he was thrilled that he is now taller than our artificial tree stand. Last year he had to reach up to decorate the highest branches, but no more.

We enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving at our home with family, and spent the weekend trimming the tree and putting up Christmas decorations. My younger son couldn’t wait to put up all the Hallmark ornaments we’ve collected over the years. My favorites? Handmade ornaments we lovingly make each year, of course.

We spent days combing through my button jar making button wreaths for the tree this year. My older son worked in the ornaments between his visits to the refrigerator and the pantry. Eating is now his full-time profession. Ah, to have the metabolism of a teenaged boy!

Posted via email from mariapeagler’s posterous

Posted in: Quilting.