last big project of 2010

Everyone in our home has a quilt on their bed made by me. :) Several people now in my extended family also have quilts from me now too. :) Last spring our 15 year old nephew came to live with us. It was a VERY hard transition for ME, not him but ME. Greg lived with us from March until mid June then moved back to his dad's. My husband and I knew it was a matter of time when Greg came back, not if Greg came back. Greg came back to live with us at the beginning of October and will be staying with us until he graduates in 2 1/2 years unless things really change at his former home. With all of this being said, I knew if Greg was going to be living in our house, he too needed his own quilt made by me.

This is what I came up with.
He loves it, I love it, I am so happy with how this turned out. I backed the quilt with fleece to make it extra snuggly and warm and it does. :)

I went through all of my stash and started pulling out fabrics with oranges and blues, I think it turned out really well. What I was most happy about with this quilt is my quilting, I made sure to use my walking foot this time and TAKE MY TIME. I have a tendency to rush myself at the end of a project, just want to get it done and zip through the quilting part and have had some big ol' puckers on the front and back for doing so. Not this one, I was so, so happy with it.

Greg's mom passed away last Thanksgiving, he has had for a 16 year old kid a really rough road, but the best thing about Greg? He is a GREAT kid and he is now one of my kids too, I always wanted 3 kids, now I do. :)

(Tutorial for quilt found here)

Happy Birthday to my MOM!

My mom said growing up having a birthday so close to Christmas was a pain, I though find it even more special because in addition to celebrating Jesus's birth this time of year we also get to celebrate the birth of my mom!

Happy 66th Birthday Mom!

a gift for my Grandpa

I posted in October about a special visit from my 91 year old Grandpa (seen here meeting the youngest Great-Grandchild, Garrett). My Grandpa lives in Florida so so far away.




Even though the temperatures are usually warm in Florida I wanted to make my Grandpa a nice throw, something to put over his legs on a "chilly" Florida night.



Looking good so far?

Here is my finished product, I wanted something that was bright and cheery for him to have in his home. I sent it off to him a little early, wanted him to enjoy it as soon as possible. When he received it the weather had been unseasonably cold down there and he told me he has been putting it to good use, yeah!!

Here is my label, it turned out really cute! I joined Sweetwater's monthly label crew club and with every months project you also recieve a personalized label. December's was perfect, all I had to add was a little personalization, iron and then stich it on and I was done. I was really happy with how this special throw came together. I only wish I would have made one sooner and sent it down for my Grandmother to enjoy before she passed in August. At least I did it soon enough for my Grandpa to enjoy. Merry Christmas Grandpa!

Jerry and Cathy's turn

Back in August I did a post on 2 special quilts I made for Jenny and Lucy. Jenny is my SIL's cousin who had lost her mom to ovarian cancer in May and her daughter is Lucy.
After a busy summer with my kids and then getting back on track with our back to school routines I was ready to start on quilts for Jerry and Cathy, the husband and sister of Janet who had passed last spring.
This is what I came up with for Jerry. I used the pattern "fair and square" from Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts. I LOVE this pattern, it was so easy and I think it really show cases the clothing and fabric that I used for his special throw.




(The only thing I KICK myself for is not using my walking foot, so stupid, I will NEVER do that again, I was getting a little burned out from a lot of sewing so I thought I would save myself a few minutes and just whip through this project with my regular machine foot. NEVER again.) Although after washing and drying this a few times I felt better about the finished product. :)

As I was cutting up Janet's clothing I was thinking of creative ways to get as much usable fabric out of all of it as possible.....above is a picture of one of the pockets from Janet's corduroy pants. I thought Jerry could put the remote in the pocket or some little snack like candy or just put his hand in the pocket like maybe he did when he and Janet would walk arm in arm on little strolls, maybe he put his hand in her pocket? I dunno, my little imagination working away, I was trying to think of things that might make him feel a little closer to her. :)

Next I did Cathy's quilt, Cathy is my SIL's mom, Janet's 1 and only sibling. I was at a loss of what to do.....then I started thinking about it and thought about a patchwork throw. Who doesn't love a nice snugly patchwork quilt? So patchwork it was. I was able to use more of a variety of fabric's with this one....pieces of clothing I had left and then a lot of feminine florals I had in my stash. I never had a sister. I only have brothers, or bothers I call them HA HA. I found myself thinking of Janet and Cathy laying under blankets or a patchwork quilt as young girls giggling and talking into the night.

Now Cathy will have something for herself made from bits and pieces of Janet's clothing to snuggle under and keep her warm while I'm sure she thinks about her sister and all the memories they shared as kids, growing up, as adults, parents and then the heartache of being apart.

Janet believed in Jesus Christ as her personal Savior as I do too. Although her time on earth was brief (as all of ours will be compared to eternity) I do hope for that the time Jenny, Lucy, Jerry and Cathy are still here on earth without Janet they do have a little bit of some physical things Janet had to keep her memory alive and to keep them warm.

P.S. Lucy is going to be getting a new baby sister in April.....ahhh how the circle of life goes round and round. :)

a little quilt

P1060530
Originally uploaded by kristinemhanson

I have a friend who will be having a boy next week, I could not make it to her shower but I was able to whip this up for her and her little guy Elliott. Such a fun little project, I even like the lines I quilted on the top, I was too scared to stipple it, I am horrible at stippling! Go here for the tutorial. :)

mugs or jugs?

Jugs of milk people, LOL!! I joined the "scrappy mug rug swap" on flickr for this current round, go over and take a peak at the photo stream of mug rugs, wow...there are some darling little quilties out there. My partner wanted a non-Christmas/winter themed rug and in a rainbow of colors....My original plan did not have it this large but.....if you are really thirsty you could put your jug of milk on this little one, and some left over Halloween candy, he he he. (never mind the empty mug, I can't drink milk, this was just for the photo op, if this was for me it would be filled with diet coke).
Here it is all by its little ol' self, I think it turned out pretty cute.

Halloween 2010

A few pictures of my "trick or treaters" from Sunday.

Little Em showing some "cattidude"

ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

This was the 3rd year in a row that we trick-or-treated with my brother, sister-in-law and niece (above as a witch). My brother lives two blocks from my parents so we are trick-or-treating the same neighborhood we grew up in.

This is my dad, answering the door at the house I grew up in, TRICK OR TREAT!

little red

Last Halloween I had one little guy that wanted to be Spiderman and one little girl that wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood, jeezo I could not believe what the stores wanted for a LRRH cape, too much! "I can do that" I thought, so I did. I googled "hooded cape tutorial" and looked around for the easiest, quickest one I could find, of course I can't find it now, but there are several out there....trust me, this was so EASY!

I went to JoAnn's found this awesome crushed velvet like red fabric in the remnant section, yahoo even cheaper, I decided to add a little bit of ribbon to it so I found some nice Scandinavian like ribbon and added it, I must say both Emily and I were really happy with how this turned out.

After Halloween I decided I needed a little bit of LRRH up year round, so I made a wall hanging just for me, this year Jack is a pirate so I think I will be doing the same for him, arggggggghhh!


...this is what I came up with. I just printed one of my favorite photo's of Emily onto some Printed Treasures fabric paper (use a coupon!!) then used it for the center of my wall hanging, used some of my favorite little scraps and viola a little wall hanging for me to enjoy year round of my little Em as Little Red.

Then made a little something for Emily, so with the same picture I made her a little pillow to have on her bed, she just loves it.

I belong to a bunko group (so fun!!) and every October we all dress up, guess who I came as this year?

Happy Halloween!

full of family

The beginning of October was so busy for me. We had a nice big family get together, most of which was spent at our home, which was fine with me....I would not have wanted it any other way. My oldest brother turned 40 on October 1st and for about a year we had been chit chatting and planning all of my family to be together for the weekend of his birthday. (my nephew Garrett wearing a shirt that his FAVORITE Auntie (that would be me) gave him that says "my aunt rocks".

Little did we know that during our earlier chit chats and planning that we were going to be blessed with a very special guest that weekend. My 91 year old Grandpa from Florida. (My oldest brother lives in Portland, OR the rest of us live in the Spokane area). My Grandpa had been the only care giver of my Grandmother for 10+ years and she passed away in the beginning of August...after she passed my dad asked my Grandpa if he wanted to come up for the "Birthday weekend." It was the best gift ever.

Months ago I saw a quilt pattern and I immediately had my brother in mind for it, he had no idea that I had made him his own "Auntie blanket" (as his family calls them) Christina from "The Sometimes Crafter" did the quilting on it, she did a great job, as you can see my brother loves it. (I also just won a book from Christina's blog, yeah me).
(not the best picture of my brother, but this is what he did after opening it, wrapped himself up in it. :)

The label :)

Michael's 40th Birthday quilt

up close of the stitching

So here is a picture of my Grandpa, I just loved the time we spent with him, I was so, so sad after everyone left on Monday, my house was so quite....during the weekend it was loud with laughing, stories, kids running around but like I said earlier I would not have wanted it any other way, I too was bursting at the seams but with happiness.

my little family

Had some family pictures taken this past weekend. Had a very special person come visit us and gave my brother a special 40th Birthday present, hint hint...there is fabric involved....more to come :)

sprouts at Value Village

Monday is one of my favorite days of the week....I go to Value Village after taking my little guy to school....I love looking through VV. First I start with the housewares, then the linens, then girls clothing, then boys and today....I stumbled up this shirt....before my eyes all I see is green sprouts from Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy line....(if you read my blog you know I dig this line, A LOT of people dig this out of print line).


At first I thought it was a home made shirt, but if you look closely you can see a tag inside it says (wonderboy) (even made in the USA it says, yahoo!).



I threw this baby in my cart and off I went to the women's section, I spent 2 hours in there today and then before I checked out I went back and forth in my head about buying the sprout shirt....should I? Shouldn't I? I thought about putting it back, even went back down to the isle I found it in, thought to myself...."should I take a chance, leave it here and get it next week instead?" But then I knew someone else might just snatch it up if I put it back and it was only 3.99! why would I ever have debated that in my head anyway?

I get home....get out some of my green sprout fabric from the FMF line...you can see this shirt had been loved before it was given away....a bit faded but it is so stinkin cute!

My model is stinkin cute too! He said he would wear this but we will see....I might have to cut it up and use in something patchworky.....what a fun find today, Value Village of all places!

And speaking of Flea Market Fancy....remember my FMF quilt I did? I still have not put it on my bed, it is just sitting there, all folded up on a chest on the end of my bed. I am thinking of selling it.....after all I did to get all that fabric, buying on ebay, buying on etsy, calling a few quilt shops all over the stinkin country from leads from a flickr group I had been in....getting asked to leave the same flickr group because I decided to sell some FMF fabric I found (AND HAD SWAPPED WITH OTHERS) (enter dramatic music) then to find out others in that group started selling fabric too on etsy (whatever!) anyways....after all that....I think I am going to put it on etsy...I don't know why...I just don't....I just don't LOVE it like I thought I would...I got so many nice comments on it on my blog, on flickr...I don't know....maybe I should put it on my bed and leave it on my bed for a few days....see if I fall in love with it...maybe I should have done more of a patchwork quilt instead of such a "modern" quilt...I dunno.....then I feel I would regret all the stupid time I wasted doing the above to get all the fabric....then to just not LOVE it.

Uhg....at least I found a cute boys shirt at VV that I love....and I can't even wear the darn thing....but I do have a pair of sharp Ginghers I can use to cut into that baby with. :0)

saying goodbye

Last week our family had to say goodbye to a good friend, our black lab Lou. Poor thing had at least two strokes over the weekend and there was nothing the vet could do for the guy. My husband had Lou since 1998, he was 12 years old this month....

I will admit I am NOT an animal person, I can't understand how people pamper something that has four legs, all that hair and does not potty in a toilet....oh yeah and eats out of a bowl....but Lou was a package deal when I met my husband and he was such a good dog with our kids....I will spare you the heart breaking picture of my daughter saying her final good byes before my husband took him to the vet last Monday morning....Goodbye old friend...things are not the same around here....a lot quieter, a lot less hair, the floors are cleaner though but we all miss you running up to the car when we get home or barking at the front door when you wanted to come in.....you are missed even by this non animal loving gal....love you much. :0

back to school sew along part 2

Several weeks ago Meagan posted on her blog about a "back to school sew along", perfect just what I needed for a little motivation with a pattern I have had for awhile....lookie what I made with it....Here is Emily "modeling" her new jumper...problem is....apparently she "just isn't into wearing skirts/dresses anymore" WHAT THE?????!!!!! There was a time that I could not even beg or plead or bribe the girl to wear leggings let along a pair of jeans (gasp!!)



Anyway....I had to bribe her to do this little "photo shoot" with some pumpkin pie...good grief, some people's children....

She chose the orange buttons which I was pleasantly surprised because usually everything is pink or purple or lately a little turquoise but orange was not what I expected when I asked her to pick the buttons.....AND...pay no attention to the gap in the middle of the jumper, I did not buy enough buttons but will be this week so the little scrapper can wear this when I beg and plead now that "she just isn't into wearing skirts/dresses" what the?!!!!!!!?!?!?!?

Somewhat of a happy camper...knowing she has pumpkin pie coming.......

today in my mail box....

.....was this beauty!! This was made for ME from KarrieLyne.....I know I use the word "love" a lot in my blog, but I love this....in my application for DQS9 I mentioned I liked Ohio Star blocks....so not only do I have 1 big Ohio Star I actually have 6 to look at and swoon over....this quilt is amazing, KarrieLyne's stitching is breathtaking....I noticed that before I even had the whole thing unwrapped just by looking at the back of it as I was opening it.

Here is my assistant peeking out over the top of my quilt, showcasing the back....I sent KarrieLyne an email asking her what fabric line this is from, it is gorgeous and will be hung up today as some new Fall decor in the Hanson House. :0)

Thank you so much KarrieLyne, I am so spoiled by you and others who have been in swaps with me...it is so fun to get something like this in the mail, made my day!

favorite things

I love being a girl....I love getting excited about little things....I love getting books in the mail from Amazon....today is one of those days! I can't wait to sit down with a blanket, a warm cup of something and start flipping through the pages of these new additions to my little crafty library....Embroidery Companion by Alicia Paulson and The Farm Chicks Christmas by Serena Thompson (if you look at my blog often you know I am a big fan of The Farm Chicks). This will be the 2nd book I have from each of these talented ladies....I like to look through the other books to get ideas or inspiration or just sit back and relax and look through the pictures.

How fun is this? At the end of The Farm Chicks book she has included some of her darling recipe cards and stickers, toooooo cute!

And talking about cute....have you taken a look at Alicia's studio makeover.......oh my.......talk about drooling....over a craft room...heavenly :)

giving back

Yesterday our family made a visit to the Hospice House of Spokane. This time it was for a happy occasion. I have blogged about my in-laws before, both my in-laws passed away 6 months apart, both at The Hospice House in 2008. Not long after they passed my husband asked if I would make a quilt that we could donate, later we decided on making one for each of them.


My handsome hubbie with the special delivery yesterday.

In Memory of my Mother-in-Law Carol.

In Memory of my Father-in-Law Gary.

From our wedding October 2004.

I must admit it was a bit surreal pulling into the parking lot again, full of cars....I found myself remembering back to doing that so many times before, my husband mentioned he found himself looking for his brother's cars in the parking lot. We instructed the kids to be on their best behavior and to be so, so quiet when Jack realized what was going on he got a little excited and said "Grandma and Grandpa are here???" that broke my heart....It felt good to give back to the place that helped my in-laws so much during their final days. I found myself thinking about the patients that would be using these quilts and their families saying goodbye to their loved ones and so happy that my husband asked me to make something so special like a quilt that gives comfort and warmth to people just like his parents did to him. We miss you Carol and Gary so, so much.