Just Under the Wire!

It has been a crazy month- with being sick, family obligations, and work! Hard to believe that February is just one day away. This month's tag over at Kelly's Charming Girls Quilt Club was to show how we decorate with our quilts. I managed to snap some photos before the camera battery decided to die, and it will be fun to share. Some of the photos are not perfect in quality (thanks, Mr. Battery!) but you'll get the idea.
The tour starts as soon as you enter the foyer of our home. This small primitive quilt hangs on the door of an old barber's cabinet that holds my eclectic Americana collection: folk art people and animals, flea market finds, wire willow tree and the like. I love the oval boxes that sit on the floor, and the quilt will change with the seasons. This particular quilt is one of my favorites!



Sitting under the hall table- the daffy, two legged one with elephant heads/trunks for its legs (yes, elephant heads- you read that right. Loved it for years- now I'd love to replace it! Oh well....) are two more small pieces. One is a Pat Sloan folk arty design and one is a Jo Morton piece. They sit on a stool that is in need of recovering- maybe a quilted one??



Next, as we walk into the living room, my small quilt rack holds some of my other primitive and small pieces:



and I store a few more pieces (including a yellow satin pram quilt that was purchased by my grandmother (in duplicate- she had twin girls) hoping that one day they would be used by her grandchildren. My twin Aunts never married, but I inherited the quilts and used one in my children's carriage and kept one for "show". They are beautiful and show none of the "ravages of time" like the rest of us!


On the mantle along with a larger folk art print framed in barn red and two of my antique pitchers and a willow star is this framed bird I stitched up in wool. The outside border is silk matka and is the exact color of the framed piece it sits with. I love the texture it gave the piece.



On the coffee table is a small Jo Morton piece. The lighting was horrid in this photo- it looks much better in person.



On the door between the living room and our dining room is another Pat Sloan design- Mama's Garden. I still love this piece, and it is one of my sister's favorites!



On the porta-crib in the corner of the living room is a fabulous I-Spy quit made for me as a "granny gift" from one of my best quilting buddies. I was surprised beyond belief, and little Tyler loves all the "pictures".



In the dining room, I have another Jo Morton piece- again a bad photo. It is greens, browns and creams. This one sits on a small oval table that has 2 great shelves for some of my favorite "coffee table" books, and of course my favorite framed photos.



There are other quilts that didn't have a chance to be photographed (poor things), such as the large basket of "grab me up" quilts so we can be warm and cozy on a couch on a chilly evening. And I have another favorite hanging on the foyer landing...my stripy quilt embellished with large flowers on wool. It warms up a large wall, and looks beautiful from the base of the stairs (she says humbly!).

My goal is to have one or more hand made quilts on each of the beds one day. The small guest room's twin bed seems to be the winner so far- it has two smaller ones on the ottoman at it's foot and I have its pink and brown monkey wrench waiting for hand quilting. It will also get my January finish- Baking Day when it is quilted. There won't be a photo of that one until I get a new battery. Hopefully that will be soon. Seeing that my bed and the larger guest room (currently occupied by my daughter who is home for the year researching for her dissertation) are both queen sized- it could be some time before they get one!