Jewel of the Sea

Recently, I wrote a post about the quilt I sent out for the Doll Quilt Swap 6. Shortly thereafter, I received my quilt from the swap ... AND I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE EXCITED!!

Those of you who participate in these swaps know the deal: you watch the photo pool and all of the pictures that people are posting of their works-in-progress, thinking "oh, I can see how that one might be being made with me in mind" or "wow, I really hope that one is coming to me".

As soon as I saw the first sneak peek of this quilt, I thought both of those things. First, anyone who reads my blog knows that I am a huge fan of Tula Pink's fabric lines. And second, the colors and pattern just struck me in such a way that I really, really wished that it was for me.

And it was!

The quilt was made by Joy from Australia, who blogs at Stitchin' Skilly. Joy's been great and really took notice of my preferences and style when planning this quilt. It turns out I had made a comment in a discussion thread a few months back about really liking the charcoal & lime green color scheme, which planted the seed of inspiration.

It also seems like this quilt had quite the time making its way to North Carolina. After leaving Australia with Joy as she traveled to the states, this quilt has been to LA, MI, NY, and LA again before being sent to NC. Wow, even I have never been to LA! I really appreciate all of the time and effort that Joy put in to making sure I got the perfect little quilt for me.

As part of the Doll Quilt Swap, we all agreed to take pictures of ourselves holding the quilts we received as part of the swap. It's been great to be able to put all of the names with a face! Here's the picture I took, along with "daughter no-nap". (I usually end up taking all of the pictures for my blog and Flickr during my kids' nap time on the weekends. Little Ms. B stopped taking naps months and months ago, so she is usually my helper on these photo shoots while her brother and sister are sleeping!)

And on a separate note, Mrs. Quilt Dad and I were married in Chapel Hill, NC, eight years ago today. Happy anniversary to us! We'll be celebrating with a dinner out tonight ... possibly followed by a movie, if we're not too sleepy! : )