This is what took all of my December days and nights before Christmas.....
The 2010 Watkins Family "Hand" quilt AND Autumn's felt name book
The 2010 Watkins Family "Hand" quilt AND Autumn's felt name book
Due to the fire that destroyed my parent's stuff on July 1, 2010, a new and updated hand quilt was REQUIRED. Knowing how much it meant to Grandma and Grandpa Watkins on their Canadian mission and away from home. It had to be remade.It was a major challenge but a work of love. With my non-working sewing machine that needed repair, moving from my house large enough to have a quilt up for an extended amount of time to a little 12' trailer with NO extra space, and only a few months to collect all of the squares from 57 individual family members, I agreed to this daunting task. I pleaded with the family to get their squares to me by October. By the middle of November, they finally all arrived. It took me about two weeks to embroider all of the names and dates on the squares. Then to sew it together........with the thought of no sewing machine?????
Luckily, our new ward - Price 6th Ward - came to the rescue. It was a very nice machine. I quickly get it all together. Now to quilt it.....
I asked the principal at a local elementary school (my dear sweet husband) if I could set up the quilt on their stage and work my fingers to bones. On Monday December 6 at 9:00 pm, we got the quilt on. I had to purchase new frame boards, tacks, and needles (all the others were packed away somewhere). I didn't have my quilting stands so we rounded up four student desks and rigged as "stands". What a pain!
It took exactly 10 days to finish quilting and another day to bind it. We wrapped it up and took it to Moapa. The plan "A" was to open it at the Watkins family Christmas party at Kirk and Paula's home surrounded by the family.
To make a very long story short, it was left in the trunk of a car at the Las Vegas McCarron Airport during the party and was finally delivered the following afternoon. We gathered as many family members as we could as Grandma and Grandpa Watkins opened it.
What a wonderful surprise!
AND
Autumn's felt Name Book
Front Page of
Autumn Bonnie Cozzens
Name Book
Each rectangle is open on top to place an item in.
A is for Apples
U is for Ukulele
T is for toes and toenail polish. U is for umbrella. (April showers bring May flowers) 
M is for M&Ms.
N is for numbers.
B is for bees and beehive.
O is for octopus.
N is for necklace.
N is for nest and nurturing.
I is for ice cream. Yum!
(Flavors from top to bottom: mint chocolate chip, strawberry chunks, vanilla, double chocolate with chocolate chips)
E is for eyes.
(Note that two of the eyes are blue and one is brown. All of the Cozzens have blue eyes except Mommy [aka Marcie] therefore it has to have both.)
Back Page Signature:
Made 2010 with love
by Grandma Thomas
Thanks Jennifer - a very talented creative artist in her own right - from The Craft Patch for the felt name book idea. There are no patterns just ideas used as inspiration from web clipart. Everything is free-handed created and hand sewn. Don't worry about the beads falling off the necklace. It is sewn five different ways to secure it to the page. The umbrella handle is made from aluminum foil folded and shaped, then sewn to the felt page.
I had a lot of fun creating and making this book. It has inspired me to make it a tradition for each of my grandchildren to have an personalized felt name book.
Both the quilt and book were made with tons of loves!!!
