Yet another snow day from school today...  time to add photos to the blog :)  Following are pictures of 3 baby quilts that I made and donated to Operation Homefront.  I hope some child loves them!

Recently I also created and donated 2 lap quilts to a local rehabilitation center.  Both were 'whole-cloth' quilts meaning that they were made of a whole piece of cloth - no piecing.  They both gave me plenty of opportunity to practice my quilting on my longarm machine.

Hard to believe that spring should be just around the corner after the winter we've had in Northern Virginia this year.  I think you can tell a lot about the weather by how many snow days the public schools take.  And, being a teacher, this is something I'm on top of - to date, 11 snow days and 4 two-hour delays!  Although snow days make good quilting days, I'm back-pedaling at school now to make sure my students will have everything they need before testing season is upon us.  You'd think with all those snow days I would have found time to post some pictures.  Alas, not so.  But now it's time to catch up with some Christmas gift quilts.  Enjoy!

My mother-in-law recently changed up her family room with silvers, blues, and browns.  While visiting with her over the summer - she lives in Wisconsin - I stopped in Nancy's Notions Shop which is nearby.  I couldn't resist these batiks that were perfect for my mother-in-law's family room.  I found a fun pattern in a quilting magazine and am pleased with how it turned out.  However, I had a terrible time finding backing fabric that worked.  So, what to do...  Cut up all the leftover fabric into 6 inch strips and a lovely back was born!

While on the same trip to Wisconsin I found a lovely fabric - the flowered fabric you see in the next pictures.  It really reminded me of my mom who loves to garden.  And after thinking about it, it dawned on me that I had never made a quilt for my own parents - all my siblings had one, but not my mom and dad.  So, off to work I went on a quilt for my parents.

Although very little of the flowered fabric is on the front, it's also the backing fabric.  My husband always helps find great spots to photograph quilts.  We took a number of pictures with this quilt, and it was a fun walk on a cold, cold day near Lake Anne.

My parent's quilt turned out great, but it was my mom's quilt.  I knew my dad would like it too.  But, now I was thinking I had to do something special for him.  In came the birds!  My dad loves to watch birds so I went in search of bird fabric - not an easy task!  I lucked upon a great panel on ebay and quickly developed an idea for a wall hanging of watching birds through a window. 

Notice the same colors in this quilt as in my mom's quilt.  It was so much fun to put together these two projects for my mom & dad!!  Recently my mom sent a picture of their family room - it's always great to see your work being displayed and enjoyed.