Wonderstruck

When I was in Utah my sister and nephew recommended another great book to me.  Wonderstruck by Caldecott Medal winner Brian Selznick is really fascinating.  It's 608 pages long with over 460 pages of original artwork.  Selznick weaves two stories--one in text and one in pictures--in an intriguing way.  I really enjoyed it.

Latter-Day Home

Have you heard of Latter-Day Home?  It's a fantastic online shop of LDS-themed art and home decor.  It was started by Owen Mortensen, an artist friend of Joe's.  I love this simple seagull tray and this fun beehive pillow.  I also love this Salt Lake Temple doorknob etching made by my sister, Sara Alleman! 

Finished!

I finally finished the quilt that Sara started for me for Christmas!  The piecing was fun - and actually not too difficult.  Then I found some chambray to go around the edge and on the back.  I tied the middle and then machine quilted around the border and added my initials on the back.  It will be nice and warm when winter comes!

Pretty Potholder

My sister Sara sent me one of her famous potholders for my birthday. It is lovely. And it has mylar batting so I could actually use it (if I wanted to...). Thanks, Sara!

A Quilt

Thanks to a lot of help from Sara, I've finally finished a quilt that I started 9 years ago! It's made up of my late husband's golf shirts. Sara helped me with the piecing, and then I quilted and finished it. It was a really fun project - I especially liked showing it to my sisters and having them recognize some of the old shirts. The rows and binding are chambray, and the back is a cute, tiny blue diamond pattern. I'm excited to do more quilting!

Columbian Exposition Ticket Booth

I took this picture as we were wandering around Oak Park a week or so ago. It's a ticket booth from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. After the fair it was moved to one of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes in Oak Park to be used as a playhouse. How fun!

Friday Featured Art: Still Life with Flowers

One of the paintings that Sara liked at the Art Institute was Still Life with Flowers by Odilon Redon. It is very beautiful and luminescent. It seemed much more golden in real life, but this is nice just the same.

Thursday Text: Frank Lloyd Wright

Since we spent some time in Oak Park while Sara was here I thought I should share a quote by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright:

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.

Family Trees

I've been thinking about family trees lately, and, as it turns out, there are a surprising number of great options out there. The first one is a customizable option from Sarah Jane Studios on Etsy. I really love her illustrations. The hand-lettered tree and fan chart are ideas from Martha's issue on genealogy back in 1999 (I still have my copy). I honestly cannot remember where I heard about the last one, but it's from Bodie and Fou. I may still love the fan chart at Sara's house the best...

Sara's House

When I was in Utah, I finally got to see Sara & Joe's house - the finished product. Beautiful. I love the bamboo floors and the hex tile in the bathrooms and the white walls and all of the perfect finishing touches and original artwork everywhere.

You can't see the picture in this one very well, but it's a genealogy fan chart that Sara hand lettered. So fabulous. The chest with the marble top was our great-grandmother's.


Some paintings: a Jared Sanders barn, a farmhouse by Joe, and Sara's portrait by Joe.


A bud vase mounted above the kitchen sink. Sara's house is so wonderful because she thinks of things like this. (Thanks for letting me visit! You'll really have to be my personal stylist someday...)

Turtles!

When my sister Sara and I were in Nauvoo a week or so ago, we found these two tiny turtles. Sara helped them off the road to safety. Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen? Turtles are definitely something that I love about the Midwest. I just wish they'd stay away from the road!