A Big Girl Bed

 It is hard to believe that my baby is now three.  (Even harder to believe that my oldest is now twenty!) Earlier this year she moved into a big girl bed.  Her room is too cute not to share.  

I love decorating with quilts.  They make it cozy and absorb noise.  

Miss Kitty loves her big girl bed.

While I love all the pink in there, her favorite color is definitely orange.  I have an orange and pink quilt for her on my bucket list.

XX,

Jasmine

Introducing Bunny

I would like to introduce you to Bunny.  I don't mean this kind of bunny, but my new adopted daughter who I will call Bunny here on the blog.

My husband and I had been working since March to get licensed to Foster to Adopt.  Our goal was to be licensed by the end of September after my sister-in-law and niece moved into their new house.  We told many of our local friends what we were doing.  One of our friends told us about an opportunity for a private adoption, and we decided to try that first.  Everything went smoothly and we have now added Bunny to our family.  We feel it was meant to be.

Bunny is such a sweet little girl who has quickly become an integral part of our family.  She loves her protective big brothers.

She also loves minky just like them.  (Sneak peek at a quilt I hope to finish soon.)

I loved seeing her nuzzle the minky the second I laid this quilt on the floor.  Some of you may remember her brothers always doing that.

I can tell you that it is already so much fun having a daughter.  I have pulled out little girl things I have already made.  We have started decorating her room.

I look forward to spending lots of time with my darling daughter and making her more quilty items.

This sweet little poem has been running through my mind lately:

Cleaning and scrubbing 

Can wait till tomorrow.

For babies grow up,

We've learned to our sorrow.  

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust, go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby,

and babies don't keep.

~Author Unknown

As you can imagine, our adoption of Bunny has greatly changed our schedules.  So until things become more routine, my quilting time is greatly reduced.  Blogging will be pretty sporadic.  I'll be rocking my Bunny and enjoying our time together.

XX,
Jasmine

Musical Rooms

Things have been very quiet here at the Quilt Kisses blog.  I have been spending a lot of time with family and any time in my quilting studio has been spent working on projects instead of blogging.  I hope to do some catching up now.  ;)

I come from a large family with eight children.  When my mom wanted a deep cleaning she would have us play "musical rooms," which was completely trading bedrooms with other siblings.  We would have to pull everything out of one bedroom, store it in the family room, then move everything from another bedroom into the now empty one.  Once that was settled, the items in the family room were put back into the now empty bedroom.  It was a lot of work, but everything would be cleaned from objects hiding under the bed to the deep recesses of the closets.  Kind of brilliant of my mother.

We have been playing some musical rooms at my house this year.  First because my mom broke her ankle and my father's hip replacement surgery was delayed a month.  Their home is two stories with their bedroom up the stairs.  We moved over a king size bed from their house so they could stay with us on the main floor for awhile.  It was fun having my parents here and even having an old quilt visit.  My mom pieced it when I was a teenager.  I added the borders and quilted it about 15 years ago.

Panda and Monkey moved their complete bedrooms into the basement.  (See, musical rooms.)

They both decided to put their bug jar quilts on their beds in their new bedrooms.  It is really the first time they have been used although I finished both quilts a few years ago.

While my parents were here, my niece Miss H came to stay with us for a week.  She stayed in our new guest room.

I did not make this cute quilt, it came as a bed-in-a-bag with the new furniture.  She brought her quilt with her when she stayed with us.

My sister did the handwork on the binding and I was able to get some nicer pictures outside.  I love the wild quilting she requested.

My parents are doing much better now.  My dad's hip and my mom's ankle are healing well and they are more mobile and back at their house.  Now, my sister-in-law and another nice are staying with us for a few months while their new house is being built.  My boys are having fun spending so much time with family.

XX,
Jasmine

May and June Decor

{Plus What I've Been Up To...}

May is my purple and green month.

It is also my anniversary, Mother's Day, birthday month.  That totally makes me deserve my favorite color on the mantle.  ;)  The great room now has new furniture.

I fell in love with this piece of furniture at the store.  My husband even said, "That would look really good filled with your quilts."  Isn't he a sweetheart?

We also got new leather sofas.  

That was our anniversary gift to each other.  The reason why we got new furniture there and also why I have been so busy is because we have also finished our basement!!!  We did as much of the work ourselves as we could.  It is wonderful having such a handy husband.

The entertainment center and sectional are now in the finished basement.

I love having the quilt ladder full of quilts again.  (Here is the tutorial for building it.)

Also in the same room is my quilt cabinet.  (Through the entry on the right is a future kitchen, so I guess the basement is not 100% finished.)

Gotta have a lot of places to keep/store/display quilts, right?

With so many quilts out on display throughout the house, I didn't actually change very much for June.  Really, I only changed the mantle to blue and green for June.

After the basement was finished, we have spent a lot of time working in the yard.  My husband also built these awesome garden boxes.

I'd like to think that with the basement practically finished and the yard/garden more complete that I'd have more time for quilting, sewing, and blogging.  But it is summer which is a fun family filled time.  Family will always come first.  Blogging will probably still be sporadic.

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer (or winter on the other side of the world).

XX,
Jasmine

How Many Quilts?

Last week I had people guess how many quilts bigger than a mini are in my house as part of a giveaway for my third blogiversary.  Today I am announcing the answer and the winner.

These were all of my quilts not in the bedrooms in April 2016.  I thought about piling all the quilts up again (like Amanda Jean did once or twice), but that sounded like a little too much work.  ;)  So please, take my word for it.

There are 26 small quilts bigger than 25 x 25 inches.  They are mainly used for wall hangings.

There are 35 baby quilts bigger than 35 x 40 inches.  They are mainly used for wall hangings and cuddles.

There are 21 lap quilts bigger than 50 by 60 inches.  They are mainly used for cuddles and some wall hangings.

There are 37 bed quilts bigger 70 by 90 inches.  They are mainly used for beds, cuddles, and displays.

That gives me a grand total of 119 quilts in my house.  (Yep, a crazy quilt lady does live here.)  Of the 119 quilts, I made 111 of them.  My mother made four of them (which I quilted).  My grandmother made two of them.  Cheetah made one of them.  The last quilt is a darling store bought applique ABC quilt, which I was given when Cheetah was a baby.   Considering that I have made made nearly 200 quilts, that means that I have given away about half of them.

Now, I never said that you had to guess correctly to win. I only said to comment and guess.  So, my Mr. Random has selected Mary Burnette who said:

"My guess would be 136 quilts. You didn't tell us how long you have been quilting so had to use an estimate close to my own. My favorite color combination is grey with teal blue right now but of course that changes each year. Mary"

However, Cynthia did guess the exact number of quilts, so she also won:

"I am going to say 119. Right now I am enjoying turquoise and purple together. Congratulations on 3 years!"

I will be making both Mary and Cynthia a handmade surprise in some of their favorite colors.  Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone for participating, following and leaving such sweet comments.

XX,
Jasmine

Quilt Kisses Home Tour

Welcome to our home.  We have lived here for seven months now and we are loving it.  It is filled with love, laughter, and quilts.  In fact, it doesn't take very long once you walk in to realize that a crazy quilt lady lives here.  ;)  There are at least four quilts in my front living room.  

When you walk a little further into our home, you will see our great room.  Usually there are several more cuddle quilts laying around, but they have been put away for the sake of the photos.

We love how big and open this room is. For big gatherings we separate the sectional and can add three more six foot tables for lots of room to eat.  I love having a fire place and mantle where I can add a few seasonal decorations in the family room side.

I try to keep the kitchen as clean as you see it in these photos.  Here you can see my new-to-me kitchen table.  It is actually a little older than me and is a beautiful hand-me-down from my parents.

Between the kitchen and dining area is a hallway leading to the garage, half bath, laundry, and mudrooms.  I love walking past this quilt hanger my husband made where I display a different quilt every month. (Read more about them here and here.)

My laundry room houses one of my favorite quilts, Quilty Kisses.  I love how it brightens up the room.

Opposite the laundry room is my mudroom.  I think every home should have a place for shoes, coats, artwork, schoolwork, and a bench.  This is my secret to keeping my home as clutter free as possible.  There are three cubbies for each person in our family and one cubby with a bin for dirty socks.

On the opposite side of the house are some bedrooms.  Here is the master bedroom with lots of bright quilts.

My sweet husband has never complained about all of the pink and purple.  I still plan on making some blue table table toppers which will match my Modern Farmer's Wife quilt and add some more masculine color.

Monkey's bedroom is bright and fun.

I have shared a couple more photos of Monkey's bedroom here and here.

Panda's room is a haven for my Lego loving boy.

I have shared some more photos of Panda's bedroom here and here.

The landing at the top of the stairs houses more quilts, our library, and our family scrapbooks.

Cheetah's room is on one side.

And my craft room is on the other side.  (Read more about my craft room/studio here.)

We also have an unfinished basement with a play area.

On the other side of the quilt on the "wall,"  we also have what is known as the "quilt storage room."

I am sure these quilts will find a better display location once the basement is finished at some future date.  I am grateful my family appreciates quilts as much as I do.  I feel like they help create a cozy atmosphere.  When some friends visited and received a home tour, their seven year old daughter realized that the only rooms without quilts were the bathrooms. (My husband doesn't think I need to change that.)

We have come a long way in the last year since it was a hole in the ground and a bunch of swatches.

Thank you for stopping by!

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  The paint color of my walls is Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams.  I love how it looks with all the quilts.