A Snow-Covered Day in Amish Country

This past Friday, we were finally able to dig out and go for a drive.  This is what it looked like as we prepared to pull out from our driveway.  Can you believe all the snow??

 We went to Bird-In-Hand so I could buy bulk white chocolate to make Kurt's home-made valentine candy.  There is a great Amish market that has the most delicious bulk white chocolate.  This horse and buggy was parked in the parking lot.  I took a picture of it because it looked so out of proportion.  That is a normal-sized Amish buggy.  Look at the size of the horse compoared to that buggy.  I have never seen such a huge horse before.  I thought it was worthy of a picture.

Kurt's Quilted Valentine

I realized that if I wanted to post this picture, I would have to explain the names in the card. When Kurt and I first met almost 2 years ago, I was in Florida and an avid sea-shell collector, thus my nickname became "Shelly". Not long after that, I decided he needed a nickname as well. He had recently told me about the movie "Gladiator", and I decided that he sounded like "Maximus". So, from that point on, we have called each other "Maximus" and "Shelly". ;-)

That being said, this is Kurt's quilted valentine.  I wanted to make him a special card.  I have been searching high and low for ideas and just couldn't find anything that fit.  I knew I wanted it to be hand-made and I preferred that it be fabric/quilted.

 

I wenet to two different Amish quilt shops and found the perfect combination.  I used these two fabrics to make him a miniature quilt that folded into a tri-fold card.  If you look closely at the border fabric, you can read the messages printed on the fabric.  I thought they were perfect for a special valentine card.

My Early Valentine

This morning was not going so well.  I was still snowed in, having to work, and the kids were out of school *again* because of the snow storm.    Imagine my surprise when Jonathan asked if I was expecting flowers.  I told him no and asked why he was asking.  He said there was a floral van that tried to get into the drive way but couldn't (because of the snow).   A moment later, my phone began to ring.  It was a delivery person from the florist asking if we were home because we had a delivery and he was just going to have to park in the middle of the road to delivery my flowers.

I ran outside to meet him (because he would have had to climb over mounts of snow), and was so excited with what I saw.

Kurt sent my valentine to me early.  It included roses, a carnation, a heart balloon, a huge Hershey kiss, and an adorable teddy bear that I have named Valentine.   I have the best boyfriend/ Valentine in the world!!

Quilted Bible Cover

I started making this Bible cover on Tuesday night.  I remember exactly how I made the first one, and as I was constructing it, I was a bit concerned that I wasn't doing it right.  My instinct was correct because my first attempt at this Bible cover was too small for my Bible.  I was so sad.

Thankfuly I had plenty of extra fabric, I tried it again last night.  This time it fit perfectly.  I loved these two fabrics.  Hannah picked them out for me.  She is great when it comes to coordinating colors.

The Blizzard of 2010

The mail man lived up to the postal service motto today!!

I think I have a van under all that snow somewhere!

Yes - those are normal-sized mail boxes -- the snow is that deep in places.

I finally let Timothy out for a little while.  He was going stir-crazy inside.  He was so glad to run in the snow.

Jonathan began the process of digging out late this evening.

Hannah's Holocaust Memorial Quilt

Hannah has been studying WWII in history class.  She was assigned to make a memorial for the Holocaust victims.  After many days of trying to decide what to do, she finally decided on a memorial quilt.  She planned it all out with each of the fabrics representing something very specific.

We went to JoAnns and found the fabrics, and then she came home and worked for 6 hours straight Sunday afternoon on this quilt wall hanging.   She finished it up last night (Monday night).  Here is the paragraph she included with the quilt that explains the significance of each part of the quilt.

"My Holocaust memorial project is about Krystallnacht- also known as The Night of Broken Glass. I have made a quilt to represent the significant destruction the Nazis caused on Krystallnacht. The flames on the quilt represent all the fire in the Jewish homes that the Nazis set to fire. The dark blue starry sky fabric represents the night of Krystallnacht. The sparkly white fabric represents the broken, shattered glass and busted windows. The fringed edges of the quilt represent the massive destruction that the Nazis caused that night. Also, in the bottom right-hand corner I have a Star of David to represent the many Jews that suffered on Krystallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass."

Camo Card

My friend, Anne's, husband was deployed to Iraq last week.  She asked some of her friends to send him cards of encouragement.  I knew just the card I wanted to make.  I had bought a couple of yards of this fabric quite a few years ago on the $1 a yard table at Walmart.  I always thought it might come in handy one day, and it finally did tonight.  I made this just like my other quilted cards.  The only difference is that it's only from one fabric and not 8 or 9 like I usually use.  I still think it has a pretty neat quilted affect.