amazing quilts

last christmas ('07, not '08), josh's parents gave us a quilt that had been made by his stepdad's aunt rosy. she is an incredible quilter who spends months and months on a single quilt, and the one they chose for us is a colorful beach scene. it was the last gift we opened, and as he gave it to us glen said, "this is your big present." then, after we admired it for a while, we handed them their last gift and said, "this is your big present." it was a picture frame with an ultrasound picture in it, annoucing our pregnancy, so i'm pretty sure we won the who's-giving-the-best-present contest that year! but a very close second was the beautiful quilt, which josh and i almost instantly decided would be hung on the wall in the baby's room, and would inspire the rest of the decorations (i refuse to call it a "theme") -- all ocean animals. this was a great choice for us because we both love going to the beach and josh especially feels a connection to the ocean.

then, at my baby shower, rosy gave me another quilt she had made, after hearing that the big one had inspired our decorating. we hung this one over the crib (these are pictures josh took before bebe was born -- we don't really have that many stuffed animals in her crib! hello, suffocation hazard!). this one has scenes of dolphins and rays and tropical fish swimming in a coral reef.

we really love these quilts, and so does bebe. the big beach one, especially, makes her smile every time she sees it -- which is multiple times a day, since it's hanging on the wall behind the glider where i nurse her. in fact, sometimes she is so interested in all the beautiful colors that she will get distracted and keep pulling herself off my breast to look at it!

so you can imagine how excited we were when a package arrived a few days ago addressed to beatrix, with a return address of one "a. rosy". inside was a beautiful new quilt, with mermaids all over it. i would have loved it anyways, but what makes it even better is that we need a clock for the wall in bebe's room, and a while ago i found a great one online that i haven't gotten around to ordering yet -- it is purple with mermaids on it!

we may hang this one on the wall as well, but for now i have it draped over the back of the glider. bebe loves to look at it and to reach out and explore the texture of it with her little fingers. and i am so glad that she is surrounded by so much color and so much love, in the form of all her wonderful handmade gifts!