Sagacious Souls

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Welcome Wyatt!

January 4, 2016 we welcomed baby Wyatt into our lives. Even though his due date was December 24th, he thought January was a better month. We were very surprised that it was a boy!
Luckily we used the Dick and Jane theme in his nursery, which actually appears a little more masculine than gender neutral. As with Cooper's room make-over, Jeremiah had to patch up the walls, painted and put up crown molding. An old home has a lot of character, but also a lot of messy paint on the wood work from years of apparently monkeys painting and never cleaning off any drips. That was my job. Here are few pictures:

I love the wall color.

Jeremiah made some floating shelves for vintage toys.

Throw pillows made from left-over fabric from the quilt

The bedspread I had picked up a couple years ago at a Land's End resale shop. The chenille polka dots are so 50's.

This wall collage was made with inexpensive prints in frames purchased at good will. The cow shelf was picked up at an antique shop for $4 last fall in Door County. The S for Storer may have to be a W now that we know it's Wyatt's room.

Wyatt

Wyatt awake.

I think Cooper likes her baby brother.

Babies!

This past year has been the year for babies! I have just completed my fourth baby quilt since last spring. I really enjoy making these quilts because they are small and obviously less time consuming, and yet I like to personalize each quilt to fit the style of the family it is going to. The fourth quilt will be revealed after my daughter Laura and her husband Matt's baby shower in March.

Five Little Monkeys

This is Melanie holding her daughter Maddie's quilt. They wanted the same colors similar to my grand-daughter Cooper's room. Luckily I could use many of the same fabrics. I also gave her the book "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" which was the inspiration for this quilt.

Mr. McGregor's Garden

This is Henry's Peter Rabbit inspired quilt. The middle section is a panel, which of course simplified the piecing of the quilt. I wanted more detail and "more work" to set this simple quilt off. The inner checked border surrounding the panel are small pieced squares including some chenille fabric to give it texture.

I also embroidered one feature on each square.

I did free motion quilting.

Here is a close up of the inner border.

Hillary and Henry

Dick and Jane

Dick and Jane books were the inspiration for this quilt.

I bought this fabric previously not knowing who it would be for. When Hannah and Jeremiah were expecting their second child I thought it would be perfect.

Ready and waiting for baby!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Jewelry Organizer

Recently I spent some time organizing at my daughter and son-in-law's home in New York. Yes, they asked me. One of my favorite projects was making a jewelry organizer for Laura's "closet room". The room is still a work in progress, but definitely closer than it was. I used one of the old printer drawers that they had used at their wedding to store the tea and seating information. ( See earlier blogs.) I cut out pieces of various scrapbook paper and placed in the back of the squares/ rectangles. Then I purchased small binder clips and clipped them to the wood to creating hanging hooks for jewelry. I hung it on the wall, to create a fun, artistic but practical "keeper of jewelry". I think I want to do this for myself!

Spring Sweater for Cooper

Back in February, a friend of mine invited me to go on a "Shop Hop" around central Wisconsin. I found this Lana Merino yarn and fell in love with the colors. Perfect colors for a spring sweater for Cooper! I found several knit patterns that I liked, but I'm not a fan of knitting. (I know. I need to deal with this. ) My mom taught me to crochet, so I've always crocheted. Creating my own pattern, I came up with this...hope it fits!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Project Catch-up!

Well, once again it has been a long time since I last posted. At least I'm consistent! Here are some of the projects over the past year and present that I have completed.

Today I completed a lap quilt that I started last week. I love to go into quilt shops and look at fabrics, but I vowed I could not buy anything until I completed the last collection of fabrics that I had purchased. This quilt is fashioned after "The Modern View: Contemporary Quilt Pattern." It was fairly easy to put together. I was also able to practice "free motion" quilting with my new machine. This was a quilt I planned to keep myself, so it was easier to "practice" different free motion designs and not be so stressed about making it look perfect.