Summer Lovin'

I'll be honest. I don't have much. I think I seriously underestimated how crazy/busy summer would be. But it's a good crazy/busy. We are really enjoying it and I'll get back to steady blogging, sewing, reading blogs, etc when school starts again.

In the mean time, rather than bore you to tears, I thought I could give you all a little eye-candy. And it's some good eye-candy.
Check-out these new little Japanese prints that showed-up in my mail box today. No, they didn't just magically appear (wouldn't that be a fun blog post!). My i-spy stash was getting depleted so I ordered a few from a new-to-me etsy shop Mwenda's.
Some very cute prints I hadn't seen elsewhere. As you can see, I really liked these matryoshka dolls so much I ordered them in three different colors. :)
But this one is the cutest. It looks like some awesome, elusive print Nanette would have. My favorite part is that it's all in German. (Really, I think it's so funny that all of these cute Japanese prints feature words in other languages!)

This little Schwein is my favorite.

But that little Kuken is pretty darn cute too.

And here are a couple of other reasons why I am getting far less sewing/etsy planning/blogging done: My husband and I returned home from a date last night to discover the 5-year-old had decided not to turn off the sink after he finished brushing his teeth last night (so taxing, you know?) and by the time the baby-sitter discovered it, the sink was overflowing, the bathroom was flooded and water was dripping through the ceiling and the light fixture in the family room below. And the greatest irony of this? Get this: the day we moved into this house almost 5 1/2 years ago, I was sitting on the couch in the family room after an exhausting day when the dome of the light fixture fell to the ground right in front of me and shattered when it hit the floor. (Where my little kiddies had been playing earlier.) So how long did it take us to finally replace that broken light fixture? Almost 5 1/2 years. Yes, that's right. My wonderful brother-in-law replaced it for us 2 days ago. The day before we had to then take it down because it was full of water.
Oh and I have to spend time monitoring my kids during their swimming lessons. I know, what a rough life.

This weekend is another busy, family weekend. My second daughter is turning 8! So we have a birthday party with friends tomorrow and Saturday morning she is going to be baptized. (In our faith, infants are given a blessing, but baptism is reserved until a person is at least 8 years old - old enough to know right from wrong and make the decision to be baptized for themselves.) It is going to be a special day! But I have a lot to do to get ready. Thank goodness for summer and we can host outside, so it's okay if my house is not spotless. And I don't have to put away all of my quilting mess.

Bags, bags and more bags.

Do you like to make bags? I am a recent bag-making convert and I'm hooked. They are one of the many things on my list to make.
And I LOVE free tutorials. This one is the famous Buttercup bag from Made by Rae. I loved it so much, I've since bought her pattern for a bigger version.

Well, I recently hit the jackpot for free bag patterns and tutorials:

This wonderful resource collects bag patterns and tutorials from all over the blogosphere into one handy list, complete with pictures and links. I discovered it when they sent me a note to let me know they had included my messenger bag tutorial. I was completely flattered to be held in such good company.Here are a couple that I really want to try:

The Wasp bag by Machen/Machen. I found this one and bookmarked it during the Sew Mama giveaway. I love it!

This one is by Ric Rac - a really stylish, but quick bag. Perfect for gifts!

Also at Ric Rac: this Selvedge bag. Darling.

There are plenty more (tons!) in all shapes and sizes, so have at it!

Good times were had

Lakes were visited, boats were sailed, hamburgers were grilled, sparklers were lit, fireworks were watched, [way too much] sugar was consumed, kids stayed up past their bed times [twice], cousins were chased, Grandparents were hugged, memories were made, and good times were had.
Sewing may resume soon. The 2-week odyssey known as swimming lessons started this week...

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July! We are spending the holiday hosting my husbands family. He is the oldest of 7 siblings and his parents and all siblings plus spouses and children are all in Utah this weekend, visiting from Maryland, Idaho, California and Washington DC. It is the first time in five years we've all been in the same place at the same time!

We plan to have fun. I hope you do too. Where ever you are.

vintage red, white, and blue

This quilt is what my family has referred to for years as The Fourth of July Quilt. I think this was the first quilt my mom ever made when she got married in 1972. And for most of my childhood this was the quilt we took on picnics, played fort with in the backyard, and sat on to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July. So that, plus its colors, is where it got its name.I LOVE all the retro fabrics in this quilt! Talking about it with my mom she said she really had to look hard for anything to use. Polyester was king in the early 70's and cotton prints were scarce. Many of the fabrics are cotton/poly blend. Quilting was probably not so chic in the early 70's either.
The little strawberry print fabric was something she'd used to make a dress for herself. I think I remember that dress.

I love this little apple/daisy print too. To me it looks just like a current Japanese print.

I love that this quilt is still around. It's fun to see how far my mom has come with her quilting - and that she was a quilter at heart long before quilting made a comeback. I also love the childhood memories associated with this quilt. And it will probably get used this weekend while watching more fireworks.

thank goodness for reconciliation

Do you like my poor little frayed and faded picture that's been hanging on my fridge? I found this in a Boden catalog and now I smile at it every day.

More red, white and blue today, only this time lets go to the other side of the pond, shall we? Frankly, more of my ancestors were still in England in 1776 than over here. So lets hear it for being allies once again.

You can buy this bunting here.

Also because I am an anglophile. (That means I love Britain and all things British.) I had the splendid opportunity to live in London for a semester of college (with the most fabulous flat-mates - you know who you are, you James Joyce/Hobnob-loving ladies!) London really is the most wonderful city in the world. Please go visit if you ever possibly can! And then go back again. About a year later I went back to live in northern England (think Manchester and Liverpool) for 18 months as a volunteer missionary for my church. And so a piece of my heart is still there. Plus it is the land of my roots. And the land of Cath Kidston, Cadbury chocolate, and Sting.
So here are a few more red, white and blue lovelies for you other anglophiles out there. You can buy this chair here. For only 545 pounds. Since that's over $1,000 depending on the exchange rate, that's not likely to happen for me. Or you could buy a Jonathan Alder pillow here for only $98.

OR you could be like clever Aunt Spicy and make your own!! I am drooling over these pillows!
(If I had my own, I would have to be very careful not to drool on them. But my children would probably do that for me.)And, just in case you need to brush-up on your British phrases before you go visit, check out this adorable little book made by Victoria. Makes my heart swoon to look at it. You can even buy one of your own here.Right you are. Cheers my dears. And: Zap the boot, love.

Do you have any favorite 'britishisms'?

Hurrah for the Red, White & Blue

Since I am in a patriotic mood, I thought we'd go with a red, white, and blue theme this week. Red, white and blue is just so classic. Never goes out of style. The shades and tones of red and blue change (example: the current aqua and red craze) but the combo always looks good. And further proof is this 3-generation gallery of doll quilts.I came across this one recently and it brought back SO many memories. My mom will probably laugh to see this on here. (correct me if I get this wrong, mom.) She made this little doll quilt with the left over scraps from making the bedding for my newest sibling born to be born in July 1979. Back in the days before ultrasound, so this is a good gender-neutral choice. (Turned out to be a girl.) There was also a double bed in that tiny little room with a matching quilt made of bigger squares of the same fabric. My other sister and I used to love to jump on that bed.
Don't you just love those fabrics? They would be considered vintage, right? So to my dear sister who is about to turn 30 this month, you are officially 'vintage.' Which makes turning 30 SO much cooler.
In the mean time, I'm glad we still have this baby. And yes, my mom has progressed by leaps and bounds as a quilter since then. When my 10-year old saw this quilt she fell in love and wants to have the big one in her room, if it still exists.
This little rail fence wasn't the first quilt I made, but I made this one in the first official quilting class I ever took. Such a simple little pattern, but I still like how effective it is.
Now, of course, I think it is incredibly boring that I only used three fabrics (I did go out on a limb and use a different one on the back, so I guess there are four). I hand quilted this one too (which I don't do anymore) and I just love how soft it feels.
And this little baby was one of the first things my daughter ever made on the sewing machine with some of my scraps. So I guess this combo is in our blood.
And just because I never post pictures of food (partly because it's rare that I make some thing worth taking a picture of) I will leave you with this lovely image of the grilled Jamaican Jerk chicken salad I made for dinner last night. Along with grilled pineapple. My gourmet friend, Christine gave me the recipe. (She's a Pampered Chef gal so you can probably get one from someone you know too.) Oh wow, talk about good summertime food. I had the leftovers for lunch today. And I think I could eat a whole n'other salad right now.

Summer Really Is Quite Nice

Oh goodness, I feel like such a whiner after that last post. Thanks for bearing with me. Sometimes you just need to vent, you know? Really, life is quite good.
I am so excited about Jennifer's Vintage Sheet fat quarter exchange. (I just got my FQ's off by the skin of my teeth.) Before I did I decided to hit a thrift store which I haven't done in a while. I'm becoming more discriminating with my thrifting. I have too much junk as it is, so I'm only buying stuff I really love AND will actually use soon. I found a couple of good vintage sheets and another sheet that is not vintage (the one on the bottom) but has great potential. My 10-year-old was with my and has dibs on it to make a skirt first.

Then I found a couple good pyrex pieces. I'm feeling drawn to yellow and really liked these pieces.

The gold one is an oval baker and this one is a medium-size serving bowl. I used them tonight for serving fruit salad (yummy, yummy) and the baked potatoes in the baker. They looked so cheerful and summery. Don't you just love summer food? Off the grill or lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I do. The best food there is.

We also tried to have a backyard camp out tonight, but the weather had other ideas and when the wind kicked-up so strong that it nearly blew the tent away, we had to give up on that idea. Which we did right before the rain started chucking down.

But the kids were not to be deterred. So we made do. :)

Have a happy summer weekend.

A tender mercy

Yesterday I was feeling like summer vacation was kicking my trash. I was so tired. A combination of many things besides just the craziness that summer vacation brings. My husband has been out of town for all or part of 5 of the last 6 weeks [I don't like broadcasting this fact while he's actually gone in case someone realizes my fabric stash is unprotected, but he's done now. Hooray! And seriously, you single parents are the most amazing people on the planet].

Plus we were coming off a busy weekend with the Shop Hop, Father's Day, and sick kids. And the three-year-old was the cherry on top. On top of being particularly ornery because he was sick, my sweet little cherub boy has morphed into Dennis the Menace. For example: spilling red punch Crystal Light powder all over himself and the kitchen floor [right before we were supposed to leave for the zoo], which required lots of laundry, floor scrubbing and two baths because the first bath turned into Crystal Light fruit punch, so we had to drain that and rinse again; purposely crashing into the back of my leg while he was on his scooter and taking all the skin off my ankle; hysterically laughing while he sits on the horn for 10-straight seconds if he beats me to the car- you get the idea. But the real kicker is the fact that he likes to wake up at 6:45! AM!

So yesterday in my state of emotional and physical exhaustion I decided that since I needed to go to Costco anyway, we would just eat a lazy dinner of pizza slices while we were there. We're dragging through Costco when we come around a corner and there he is: the man we affectionately call "The Smoothie Man." The guy who occasionally magically appears to demo the super-duper Vita-Mix blender. All 5 of us (me + four kids) lovingly watched him blend those raw fruits and vegetables into his wonderful creations. We stayed for all three: the tortilla soup, the fruit smoothie AND the ice cream.

I don't know why, but this just totally made my day. I think it partly had something to do with the fact that it meant my kids would actually get servings of fruits and vegetables for our pathetic dinner that night, but I think that for some reason I just needed that lovely, happy little (free) surprise at the end of a long day/week/month. Thank you Smoothie Man. (I promise you that one day I will actually buy one of your products too.)

Okay, tomorrow back to more quilty-stuff.

Mr Roboto - or off-set square - block tutorial

We made it! And here we are finally, a week later. When you see how easy this block is you are probably going to feel like this is the most anti-climactic tutorial ever. It's that easy.
For this particular quilt I started with a 13" square of fabric per finished block. So in this case, 16 squares because I wanted 16 blocks at the end. (I will say at this time that this method is really quick and easy, but it does use/waste more fabric as a result.)
Start by making one cut 2 1/2" from the left end of the square. Then make a second cut 4 1/2" from the first cut.
Take the middle section and cut 2 1/2" from the top and then 4 1/2" from the first cut. This will create a 4 1/2" square in the 'middle'. You can easily do this part with 3-4 squares of fabric stacked on top of each other. I always do and the cutting for the whole quilt gets done REALLY fast.
Take the center 4 1/2" square and replace it with a contrasting square. (Always save those squares because you're going to use them as the contrast in other blocks.) Sew center section together first by sewing top to contrast square and then bottom. Press seams out.
Sew sides back on center section. Don't worry about matching-up ends, you're just going to square them off. Press seams again.

I start squaring-off the block using the top of the middle section as my guide.

Now square-off opposite end.

I wanted my finished blocks 11" square, so I use my cutting mat to measure 11" from the top and square-off the opposite end.

Then I square-off other opposing sides to get an 11" square block.

Ta-dah! Can you believe it? Easy-peasy-chunky-cheesy.

Now, you can use this method to make any old size of off-set blocks you want. For this baby quilt I wanted my finished blocks to be 10 1/2" blocks to make a 4 x 4 block quilt measuring 42" x 42". You could probably start with a smaller 12 1/2" square if your are careful. If you want smaller finished blocks you could start with a smaller square of fabric, but make sure it's at least 1 1/2" bigger than what you want to square-up to.

Don't worry if each of your blocks are a little different or imperfect. Remember, wonky is cool and this quilt is all about not being perfectly centered.

As I explained above, this method does create more waste as you square-up but it's a much faster method because you don't have to measure and pre-cut all the individual pieces. So you may have to weigh the waste/ease ratio and decide if it's for you.

In the mean time, have fun! It's so quick and a great stash-buster. I'm excited to try it on other projects and in different sizes. I'd love to see what you do with it too.

My loot

I only had the chance to visit one other store during the Shop Hop and while I was there I showed great restraint, but I did come home with this charming little bundle. Including more American Jane, of course. I didn't have any of those dark blues other than what was in my charm pack. Plus a few other cute pieces that I have in mind for specific projects. I was so excited this week to start some new projects. Always some loose ends to be tied, but now I can move down my list of other things I want to work on.

In other news, the pictures have been taken for the Mr. Roboto tutorial so watch for that tomorrow! (I won't promise the time of day. Another child is sick. Rats.)

Take Your Blog to Work Day

Well the Wasatch Front Shop Hop is here and in full swing. (The Wasatch mountains are the mountains to the east of Salt Lake City and the I-15 corridor is along the western side - or front - of those mountains. Park City is on the back side of those mountains. There's a nice little Utah geography lesson for you. )Today is the final day. So if you don't live on the Wasatch Front or aren't vising this week I thought I'd give you a little tour of the store where I work.
If you want to see more of the other shops you can visit Kim or Nedra. And speaking of Nedra, we got to meet in person! She caught me right as I was getting ready to leave after cutting and assembling kits for a couple of hours. I have always thoroughly enjoyed reading her blog and she always leaves the kindest, most encouraging comments. So great to meet you in person, Nedra!
Each of the 15 stores in the 'shop hop' create a free block to giveaway and every store has to make a quilt using all the blocks. This year the theme was "All Around the Town." Here is the quilt that our talented store owner, Amy McClellan, put together. I think it took forever, but turned out SO cool.

I love those little tiny quilts hanging on the clothesline.

Here are a few of the quilts hanging in the store. (Can you see the last quilt I made hanging on the far right?)

Amy (the owner) loves Civil War reproductions so we have a big selection of that category. And some cool quilts too.

Amy is also a talented designer of wool patterns. The nativity above is hers and these monthly blocks below. Also the stockings and tree skirt in the last photo. You can see more of her things here.

Do you recognize the hexagons and the Recess quilt?

And check out this adorable vintage-reproduction puppy quilt. Made with American Jane fabrics! It's another Amy McClellan original.
And there's Mr. Roboto to the right. And speaking of Mr. Roboto, the kits are gone! Thanks to everyone who expressed interest. We will get those kits shipped on Monday. It was really fun to talk to some of you in person. A couple of other people came in the shop this week who also read this weird little blog and were so kind. Thank you! It's really fun to put live people's faces and voices in the context of something that feels so annonymous sometimes.
It has been a crazy week here. I am pretty much over-saturated with cutting fabric. (I wasn't sure such a thing could ever happen.) Throw in a husband in Chicago for 3 days and a sick 3-year-old and not a lot of the other stuff I had planned for this week got done. Like the Mr. Roboto tutorial. Sorry, I feel like such a flake. Hopefully a lot of pictures of pretty quilts will placate you until the beginning of next week when the tutorial will appear. Thanks for your patience.

The other Shop Hop quilt

Here is the other quilt made for this Shop Hop. This fabric has been out for about 9 months, but since we haven't made anything, it's just been sitting around the shop. An actual quilt always moves fabric. So here it is.
This quilt was inspired by a quilt in the June issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. Only that quilt had little blue pieced stars forming an Irish Chain. I chose to just use solid blocks instead of making 25! 4" stars. Works for me.
It's really the border fabric that makes this quilt work. I love that scalloped print. It makes the quilt look like an old fashioned handkerchief. And do you like my mitered corner? I'm shocked and amazed that I did it! I used Amy's tutorial. [Thanks, Amy!]

And do you also like the fact that the quilt is not even bound when I took the picture? That is my project right now while I watch the pre-recorded SYTYCD (so you think you can dance) as well as finish assembling the kits. Then I think I can catch my breath. Thanks again for your encouragement and kind comments. Happy Thursday!

Chaos reigns and one more robot quilt announcement

Life is crazy. The Wasatch Front Shop Hop starts today. I was up late assembling kits and writing patterns. I have a few more things to do that just won't get there until tomorrow. Oh well.
Also, since things are so crazy at the store this week, if you are one of the people still interested in a robot quilt kit, go ahead and email me your phone number. I will call you personally when I'm at the store and we'll get your order taken care of. (I'm afraid with the chaos because of the shop hop and all the extra people helping at the store this week, they won't know how to take care of phone orders, etc.) Sorry I keep making this so complicated. I woke-up in the night worrying about it. I know. I'm so weird. Hopefully this is the last Robot quilt announcement.

Snippets Hexagon Quilt

The hexagon quilt is finished.

Very pleased with how this quilt turned out. And it was fun to do!
(Not nearly as tricky as it looks.)

As I was piecing the blocks together, I was really worried about it looking too crazy. But now that it is put together and quilted, I think it looks cool. I used a pattern from American Jane called Merry-Go-Round as my inspiration, but I modified it a little - making it smaller and making the sides straight edges so that I could put a border on. I like the framing and calming effect of the yellow border.
Since this quilt is staying at the store, I just used a solid back - but a fun print from the Snippets collection. I'm not sure yet how I'll put mine together. We'll just have to wait and see!
Since the whole quilt was made from one fabric collection I added this little piece of selvage. I kind of like the effect.

One down!

Updated Mr. Roboto info

I've had many questions about Mr. Roboto quilt kits so I thought I would just post the information here. These kits are available through the store, American Quilting in Orem, Utah. I'm not carrying them in my etsy shop for a couple of reasons: 1) Conflict of interests. This quilt was designed to for the store where I work and I don't to be a competitor with my employer. 2)I can't get the fabric at cost, so I would have to charge more for it to be worth it to me to sell the kits.
That said, you can call the store in Orem and order a kit from them! They would be happy to sell one to you. :) The number is 801-802-7841. The kit costs $40 and includes everything for the top of the quilt, including the strips for a striped binding (as seen in these old photos.) You can also order yardage for the back if you like which is 1 1/4 yards at $9/yd. Shipping is $5, I think. (When I made the second quilt I used the binding strips for an outside border and bought some red fabric for the new binding. I also had to piece the back because the quilt top was bigger and therefore it required a bigger back.)
All that said, the craziness of this week is multiplying! And it's not electrifying.

My husband just got back Saturday night after being out of town for most of the last week and a half. It was really nice to have some family time with him home! That, plus my kids are all crowding around me as I type because they want my attention or they want to use the computer. So I'm really behind on my email. If you're still waiting for a response, I promise I am working through my list and I haven't forgot you!

And the shop-hop preparations are calling my name too. Eek. I finished the third quilt this morning, now I need to bind that. So things are happening, it's just kind of wild. (Not to sound like a whiner, it's all good stuff, it's just all at once!)

So watch for the Mr. Roboto tutorial later in the week. (I still haven't even had a chance to list the quilt on etsy.) In the mean time, I have some cute new quilts to show this week too.

Thanks for bearing with me. Hope all this helps. Whew.

PS Speaking of Mr. Roboto, did anyone catch Wade Robson doing the robot dance on SYTYCD? Nice.

Mr. Roboto is back

Finally some sun so I could snap some pictures! And the pictures were kind of rushed because my kids were anxiously awaiting a long scheduled play date with some friends we don't see often.
So here is another Mr. Roboto quilt. I originally made one for the store where I work a few months ago and (as you see in the post below) I am putting more kits together since we sold all of the originals.

This quilt is a little different. Instead of using the stripe as binding, I added it as a border. I love that colorful stripe!
And then, because the added border made the quilt bigger, I needed to piece the back.
Which I think turned out quite fun. And combined with that wonderful, whimsical robot fabric, it just doesn't get much cuter, if I do say so myself.
This quilt is going in my etsy shop. Probably tomorrow, because right now I need to bind the hexagon quilt while I watch a movie. If you are interested in kits for this one, email me and I can give you the store information if you want to order one.

And early next week I will be posting a tutorial on how to make these blocks. SUPER easy and very quick and fun. So come back, ya hear?

Progress

Well, I have to apologize for sounding like such a drama queen in that last post. When I say I have to make three quilts you have to understand (and I never really explain this part) that I don't have to do the actual quilting if I'm making them for the store. I just piece, drop them off to be quilted, and then I bind. That significantly eliminates a lot of work.

Also, I realized today that the world will not end if I don't have all three done by Wednesday. Nor will the shop hop. Fabric and kits sell other weeks of the year as well, so we'll just see what gets done and not stress about the rest. (Thank you for the encouraging words, kind offers to help, and reminders to breathe.)
And progress is happening! Look how cute the American Jane hexagons turned out! This is just the pieced top. In a very dark picture. (We have had Seattle-type weather for the past week. I have other stuff I want to take pictures of, but I can't take it outside!) I will post better pictures of the finished quilt next week. It's kind of wild, but very charming.

Kits are being assembled. Slowly, but surely.

And these are blocks from the other elusive quilt that I keep not having pictures of. This is the quilt that might not have kits pulled together by Wednesday. And that's. Okay.

And just so you don't have a misconception, my boys don't always say charming British phrases to each other. They're also very adept at pushing the little-boy-vocabulary envelope. Right now the 5-year-old's favorite word in this category is "stink" and the 3-year-old's is "poopy." I think that one has to do with the fact that we are finishing potty-training around here. And this child has been the potty-training poster child, bless his little potty-trained heart. And for that reason, I can put up with the off-color, descriptive language.

A whole lot of quilty craziness goin' on

I apologize for a boring blog post. But here is what's happening. Remember these projects that I'm making for the store where I work? Well, the store is part of a shop-hop that starts next Wednesday. As in a week from tomorrow! And I need to finish *three* quilts by then. And cut the kits. And write the pattern instructions on a couple of them. Gulp. Time to 'sew like the wind' again. And cut like the wind too.
So these lovely piles of fabric are ready to be chopped-up and assembled. The pile of Snippets fabric at the top is for the hexagon quilt. (Making steady progress.) The pile above is for the Amy Butler quilt kits. (Finished and quilted, just waiting for the binding fabric to show up at the store so I can use it. We ordered a turquoise Amy Butler solid. Hopefully it will look good!) Below is fabric for more Robots kits for the store. More to come on that one. And I have no photos once again of the Cottage Romance quilt. Well, they'll show-up eventually.
My poor little etsy store is kind of feeling sad and empty, but never fear, plans are in the works and supplies are on the way. I have a couple of fun things in the works for etsy this summer as well.

In the mean time, we are surviving summer. Everything is going better than I would have expected. A little more bickering and arguing today, but we're going on an outing tomorrow, so hopefully that will help. Hopefully.

Also, my 5-year-old has started calling his brother, "old chat" out of the blue. (I think he means chap.) As in, "Why are you playing with my firetruck, old chat?" Not sure where it came from, but I'm kind of enjoying it.

A little antique quilt love

A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the home of a very talented local artist. Her home was decorated with beautiful antiques, but of course the items that really got me excited were her beautiful antique quilts! Wow. They were stunning. A lot of the themes for her paintings were early 19th century domestic scenes with women and children, and she used some of these quilts in her paintings. (She also made beautiful period clothing for her models to wear.)
As we visited her home I was dying to know where she found such beautiful old quilts and guess what she said. Ebay. Ebay! So I had to go home and try my luck at acquiring such a beauty and look what I got: this wonderful vintage crib-size double wedding ring. For a steal! (I haven't had any luck since then - I always kept getting out-bid in the final seconds. But that's okay, I don't really NEED any more quilts. I just LIKE them.)
I'm guessing this one is from the 1930's, based mostly on the fabrics. Maybe 40's? It's all hand pieced and hand quilted and SO wonderful and soft.

Check out these fabulous old fabrics.

Look at this cute little couple.
(right above the solid teal square.)

As far as wear and tear goes, it's in wonderful condition. Even the fabrics are in really good shape. It does need to be cleaned though, and here's where I'm a bit paralyzed. Anyone have any good resources for cleaning antique quilts? I figure now's the best time of year to do it so I can air dry it outside.

Isn't it fun?