Vintage Inspired Airplane Quilt Clips

Transportation themes are popular for boys, right behind jungle and sports themes. And these vintage inspired airplanes are a beautiful touch to a nursery.

These airplanes fly straight up when hung, as if they are lifting the quilt up, up, and away!

For the red airplane, I started with my newest shade, tomato red. I love the richness of it. I then handpainted the propeller, window, and stripes in white.

The blue airplane is a deep navy blue. The wings are chambray blue, a pale blue with a gray base. I then cut out a star to trace onto the wings and painted those white. (I think next time I will have some stars laser cut to be layered onto the wings.) The propeller is a nice dark yellow, and the window is white.

Would you like your own set of vintage inspired airplanes? I would be happy to create a set for you as quilt clips, wall hangings, curtain holdbacks, wall letters, a growth chart, name sign...nearly anything.

Contact me today for your inspired children's room decor today!

Hristos Voskrese!

Jacob, Tyann, Joey, Mike, and Noah

Our annual Easter family photo. Looks like sitting on the couch is becoming our usual pose.

This is our living room, with my husband's grandmother's artwork in the background. Nina came to the United States from Russia when she was 8 years old. The family tale includes that her family came from a line of royalty...maybe she was a Russian princess?

Nina was wonderfully and artistically talented. Her art was to create rugs. Yes, rugs. She would purchase burlap the size of the rug she wanted to make, whether a small picture size or a large area rug.

Then, she would take wool fabric, many times picking up wool clothing from garage sales, stripping it to small pieces. Nina dyed the wool to the colors she wanted and set to hooking the wool, creating the rug artwork.

Click the picture to see the details.

Nina's pieces were her own masterpieces. Sometimes she even created pieces mimicking a famous painting. My husband's favorite piece of hers was her rendition of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Unfortunately, that piece was lost after Nina passed away.

We had the piece hanging in our living room professionally framed and cleaned so that we can enjoy it. The scene is of an idyllic countryside, including a horse and buggy, a small village, and birds flying over the mountains. Nina's attention to detail is amazing.

In memory of Nina, Hristos Voskrese (Christ has risen!). He has risen indeed!

The Bag Lady

Me and my bag

Yes, I am known as "the bag lady" at our local post office. It's a secret nickname the postal workers call me because of my giant bag I carry packages in, and one day a clerk let it slip. Whoops!

But being known has its advantages:

• No waiting in line.
• They know I just need to drop off packages.
• When I do wait in line to pay for an international package, they know what I need and run the transaction quickly.

How big is my bag? Well, it could easily fit two 2 year old kids! I have fit nearly 30 packages in it at once. A giant bag is so much easier than balancing a stack of packages, and my 8 year old can take it in if I need him to.

My 2 year old niece and the bag ready for the post office.

Where did I get my bag? It's not a bag that's available to just anyone. The bag is from the clock and watch company Seiko. They sent these oversized canvas bags to the fine gift stores that carry their large clocks. And, lucky for me, I was working for one of those stores when I first started the Little Elephant Company. The owner was nice enough to give me one of the bags when I asked, as I saw the potential for the bag immediately.

You know you want a package carried in my giant bag sent to you, too, right? ; ) Shop Little Elephant Company today for inspired children's room decor today!