Once again, it's a winter wonderland here in good old Des Moines. Which means it's a great day to stay inside and sew and cut paper and maybe paint something! Which is exactly what I'll be doing.
When you live in a super-cold climate, quilting is a perfectly practical hobby. That's doubtless one of the reasons that quilters have created quilts for hundreds of years. They're beautiful AND useful, which in my mind equals perfection.
In addition to snuggling up under a warm quilt to keep warm, I use quilts to warm up the house in a few different ways, literally and figuratively:
I decided to switch up the décor in our teeny-tiny dining room (aka the room where I store extra craft projects and miscellaneous stuff) from black & white to more colorful. And because our dining room table is ugly, I really wanted to cover it up. I also thought it would be a great way to show off this beautiful quilt I got last summer at a tag sale. I love all the colors and prints here. And since we don't eat in here, I don't have to worry about food stains. Of course if we did decide to actually sit down at the dining room table for a meal, I'd remove the quilt first.
Our bedroom is like an icebox in the winter, so I simply draped a quilt on top of the sheer curtains in hopes of keeping the cold air out and the warm air in. I love being able to look at this gorgeous vintage quilt several times a day and before I go to sleep each night. This is one from our family's collection, possibly made by my great-grandmother Hannah; it's backed with flannel, there's no batting, and as you can see, it's tied rather than quilted. I've been looking through various quilt books trying to discover the name of this block--if you happen to know what it's called, please let me know! I love the fabrics she used (from her own dresses and aprons?) and the colors are so bright and really, so modern.
And of course, I have a few quilts on a quilt rack (a $7 thrift-store score). I have a couple vintage ones that are "just to look at" and then the gray one I made that we actually use. They go so nicely with my son's playmat, don't you think?
For those of you in the area who don't mind braving a bit of cold, please stop by and say hello to me this weekend at the State Fairgrounds--I'll be at the craft show held in the Varied Industries building on Friday evening (5 to 9), all day Saturday (9 to 5) and most of Sunday (10 to 4). I'll have lots of new journals and a bunch of pillows--this is their official debut! And a quilt or two as well.
Stay warm!
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