my new quilt.

last weekend i went with my family to visit my grandparents (dad's parents) in nappanee, IN. i have posted before about their house and how much i love all of my grandma kate's decor, trinkets, and beautiful handmade everythings. she is so creative and artistic (and productive!), and i can only hope that someday i will be able to make things as beautifully as she can.

while we were there, she allowed us (my brother, sister, and me) to pick out a quilt. she quilts with a group of ladies at church, and over the years she has been making quilts for all of the grandchildren. tyler, trisha, and i were the last three to choose our quilts (we joke that all the cousins got theirs as wedding gifts and ours are "premarital" quilts since we're all single.)

we went to the bedroom where she had quilts lying out on the bed. there were 7 or 8 of them, some unfinished. she allowed us to choose, but before we made our choices, she informed me that my cousin lindsey had seen a certain quilt that "screamed tara" and urged grandma kate to keep it for me. how sweet! without her revealing which one, the quilt i chose (and my heart's only desire) was the very quilt reserved for me. it was meant to be!

here's the whole thing: hand-appliqued petals, machine-assembled squares, and hand-quilted:

unfortunately, i can't keep it on my bed because i don't want gretta to get it dirty. i'm trying to figure out how to display it another way for now. 

the petals were given to grandma kate by a woman whose mother had passed away. she had wanted to create an appliqued quilt, and that's my grandma's favorite kind, so she used the pieces to create this.

almost all of the fabrics are from the 1930s and 1940s. 

it's a little difficult to see in the photos, but each yellow center is padded. squishy!

every flower is different! my grandma named the quilt "sunflower pattern."

the edges are scalloped with perfect precision. everything about this quilt is absolutely perfect to a T. it's beyond impressive.

my quilt is something that will last forever and a gift that i am beyond grateful for. i love that my grandma finds her grandchildren so special that she will put in so much time and effort to give these gifts of love. i want to be like her when i grow up. 

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oh! she also gave use these fun little tote bags made of -- wait for it -- recycled plastic bags. what? (that's what i said.) take a look: 

she cut strips of plastic bags and then crocheted them together (i think?) to make this bag. 

close-up:

then she hand-sewed the lining in to make the bag functional. i love it!

here's a tutorial i found if you want to learn how to make your own recycled plastic bag...bag. ha.