the busy heart

The finished quilt, looking shiny. I love miracle babies. Henrietta was a miracle baby, of sorts, and now my dear friends, K & E, are set to have one of their own soon. They visited this past weekend, and we had a small shower for E, at which point I gifted her this quilt. E is the one who taught me to quilt, and I'll just say it is scary business making a quilt for the person who taught you how. I'm generally pretty easy-going about quilts, as E taught me to be, but I was so worried with this one that she'd see all its flaws. She surely will. But hopefully it will be shiny enough to love anyway. Look! Bright colors! I fell in love with the backing fabric first, and then took about a million years to find the combo of fabrics for the front. Isn't that backing fabric delightful? I started the quilt during Nemo, the enormous blizzard, and it was a lovely way to spend the day while it blizzed (I made that word up) outside. You need lots of bright coins...

So, here I am, against all predictions, still pregnant. I'm 36 and a half weeks now, which just blows my mind. And she shows no sign of imminent arrival. I mean, I'm uncomfortable. Really, profoundly uncomfortable most of the time. It's a little absurd. And there have been some scares with low fluid and contractions and the like, but everything is pretty much fine now, aside from the fact that she's stubbornly breech. They're going to try to turn her next week, which will apparently be an incredibly painful procedure. But hey, if it turns her around, it's worth it, right? (Right?!!) Anyway, way back when we were worried she wouldn't even make it 28 weeks, some dear and lovely friends ( Russanne , Emily , Sarah) threw me a shower. Since I was on bed rest, they did it at my house, and the loyal Russanne came and cleaned up the place and decorated while I sat on the couch. This was only slightly awkward, since I so longed to help. But Russanne is an absol...

I made a few more modern-looking baby quilts for friends, and thought I'd share. In fact, I thought I failed to take a picture of the first one, which was a bummer because I love it, but hey! I had pictures of it all along, just waiting to be posted. Both of these were made for dear friends in my ward, whose babies have arrived now, and I'm super super pleased they have evidence of my adoration, ready-made. I'm slightly obsessed with these solid-color quilt tops. I wish wish wish I could make one for the baby I'm growing, but she'll have to settle for a similarly-themed crocheted blanket. Perhaps I'll provide a sneak-peak of that soon? We'll see. The verdict is still out as to whether I'm not totally destroying it. And now, a bunch of pictures. These were the colors of baby's nursery: coral, gray, and light blue. The pattern was inspired by this quilt , which I found while pinteresting .  There was some discussion as to whether black was...

My friend at church is pregnant with twins, after a long hard fight with infertility, and her shower last weekend was one of the purest, loveliest, most joyful events ever, and I felt it was only right to make the babies quilts. And now I will load this post up with many photos of them and say very little else, besides the twins are a boy and a girl, and that I can't think of a more deserving and happy new mama. I wish her much joy, and and as much sleep as humanly and babyly possible.

I have a slight obsession going with modern-looking quilts. (Don't believe me? Check out my Pinterest Board . And follow me , why don't you?) When I saw a gorgeous zig-zag quilt last November, the wheels starting turning, and suddenly I had committed myself to making three of them for Sam's family for Christmas. One for his mother, one for his aunt, and one for our sister-in-law. And hey, why not another one for our little niece, thought me. Let me tell you, making four quilts in a month is not easy. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I think I was looking for some distraction, but I got a bit more than I bargained for. I was working on them after Sam went to bed, in the mornings before I went to work. I found myself trying to sneak a few seams in while I waited for water to boil, while I waited for Sam to put his shoes on, before I dashed out the door for this and that. And still, closing in on our departure date, I was far from done and discouraged. Luckily, ...