You all know our mom is totally amazing. She made the most colorful and tedious quilt for my Christmas gift, and I have to share it with you!  I have 17 chickens and a big garden, so she made me a chicken quilt. She stitched a bunch of different chicken blocks, then put them all together to fit the guest bed in my house. My favorite block is the rooster. She topped the whole thing off with a garden gate border. Each flower is beautifully folded like origami and hand stitched into place. If ALL of that wasn't enough work, she hand quilted the whole thing by herself. The woman has endurance like a terminator.

My mom made three of these puzzles!

I think I was more excited than my kids.

Katie is the oldest grandchild in our family and she is really great. For New Year's our mama made her this gorgeous dress. The entire bodice is smocked by hand! It's silky, feminine, and Katie says it makes her feel like a princess.

NOTE: I grew up with a "fun" mom.

I remember she was using black puff paint (late 80s) on a peach Hanes generic sweatshirt.

The sweatshirt was laying flat on a couch that had brown, blue, grayish huge flower things on it.
Hideous couch looking back.  It was the kind of print as a kid I'd stare at and see all sorts of fish or monsters in what I assume were flowers.

Anyway, my memory is standing by her watching her study my drawing, then puff paint the heads with limbs on the sweatshirt for an exact replica in my mind.

I assume it made a lasting memory so young because I was obviously so proud at how clearly awesome I was.
My mom apparently LOVED my drawing of our family so much she was painting it on a sweatshirt!

For her it was mainly a work shirt, but I do remember her wearing it once in a while and again just thinking how great I was.
I was great, and my art was great.

I don't know what happened to that peach sweatshirt, but I wished I'd stolen it from her to have it now!

I just wanted to share something awesome and handmade my kids got for Christmas.

My mom has been knocking out tons of cool things with her scroll saw lately,

like the nativity puzzle and doll house windows.

But for each family with grand kids this year, we got an amazing wood animal puzzle.

The puzzle is designed by Enzo Mari, an Italian artist and furniture designer.

His official Animali puzzles can be purchased here.

He also has a really cool ocean animal puzzle he designed--Pesci Animal Puzzle.

*maybe next year mom??

So my mom made her own knock off puzzles for our family.  

She couldn't find nice wood 2" thick so she had to glue and clamp pieces of 1" thick together.

The animals are really simple designs, but creative shapes as well.

Here are my favorites: hippo, polar bear, fox and pig.

The puzzle pieces fit together in really creative ways and are perfectly cut to fit tightly.
Luckily for us, my mom burned the outline in the bottom of the frame so we could figure out how to put them together.
She also "signed" the puzzles with the year which makes them even more sentimental.

The best part is stacking them in vertical puzzles.

I think I've been playing with it as much as the kids!

It's meant for the kids, but I plan to leave it on the coffee table year round.
It's a cool, unique, artistic puzzle that appeals to both kids and adults. 

Another project from my mom.

She made a few of these Christmas Tree wall hangings for us from a load of junk jewelry.

She bought basic canvases and hot glued fabric around them for a darker background.

Then used hot glue to attach all the jewelry.

There are quite a few broaches, like the tree topper. 

She has a pattern from the 1980s when she made one for our family growing up.
Pattern INfo:
Tole Temptations Pattern # 40-45439 by Nancy Farrow from Provo Craft Publications

Basically it's two pieces of 1x12 pine.  One layer you use a scroll saw to cut out all the shapes, then glue the barn frame to the backing piece of 1x12.

She stains the shapes then toll paints them all.  

You can check out my mom's other huge stuffed nativity she made me last year:

Holy Family

Shepherds

Wise Men

Trees and Animals

For those that follow my blog or my little sister's clothing blog, you probably get a sense how family is a big inspiration for us, and our family is close and a big part of our lives.

Well like any family, our mom is the bomb and such a big influence in our lives.

She taught us to sew and showed us girls can do anything, like use power tools or chop down trees.

My mom is uber talented, and I'm pretty sure if we got in a fight she could totally kick my butt despite being near the senior citizen meal discounts.

So I just want to brag about her and share her latest quilt, which she made for my niece, Katie.

My niece (her oldest grandchild) turns 8 next month and on a visit asked Grandma to make her a silky quilt for her bed.  So my mom went over the top and made her the coolest quilt.

Katie loves the Tinkerbell / fairy shows and my mom made this quilt and all those details are mostly 3D fabric folding off the surface of the quilt.  The flowers are mostly manipulated ribbon and the whole scene is just incredible in person.

My mom made my son his airplane quilt, which you might remember a few years ago.