jmmellin

My name is Jody and I live in Casper, Wyoming, USA. I am a SAHM to three wonderful daughters, Alayna, Cecily, and Emmeline. We also have two cats, Smokey and Buddy. I'm a hand quilter and arts-and-crafts-lover, and am excited to share some of my hobbies with fellow crafters!

I learned how to make quilts from my mom and grandmother, who taught me to do piecing and quilting entirely by hand. I started making my own quilts in middle school and haven't ever stopped! Although I do most of my piecing by machine now, I still do all of the quilting by hand and I love doing it! I have a website (www.mellinpatchquilts.com) where I am happy to do custom hand quilting, antique quilt restoration, or make custom-ordered quilts.

My Dear Husband: DH is a geologist, loves to play music on the guitar, violin, banjo and piano, and listens to a lot of bluegrass music. He loves any sweet or salty snack, tools, and vintage/antique stuff. He's not into crafts and really isn't usually involved in our swaps, but I'm sure he would be happy to get something in the mail.

My Children: Alayna is a very active, smart, and fun 5 year old. She is really tall and skinny for her age (size 6T) and loves wearing fancy dresses and pretending to be a princess. She is into all of the Disney princesses, loves all animals (especially horses or unicorns), and enjoys doing craft projects with me. She is always drawing and coming up with her own craft project ideas. She loves getting new notebooks & coloring books. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, and her bedroom is decorated with butterflies and flowers. She loves any kinds of toy, books, Barbies & stuffed animals, stickers, puzzle books and kids' jigsaw puzzles. She LOVES getting packages and gifts in the mail!

Cecily is 3 years old and is very sweet, loving, and social. She loves books, music, the movie Frozen, baby dolls, all animals, any imaginative play. Her favorite colors are yellow and purple. Her bedroom is decorated with owls and her nickname is June Bug because she was born in June.

Emmeline is 5 months old and loves chewing on anything she can get her hands on! Her room is decorated in birds and her nickname is Little Reindeer because she was born in December.

I really love all arts and crafts, but some of my favorites are: Quilting, Kids Crafts, Painting, Scrapbooking, Photography, Just learning to do paper quilling

I am a hand quilter so I could always use nice quilt fabrics, threads, quilt stencils, etc.

I am always doing craft projects with my kids, so any type of kids craft items will be appreciated and will definitely get used in this house. (e.g. Stickers, washable paints, pipe cleaners, pompoms, markers, felt, etc.)

I am an avid reader and am obsessed with my kindle. I enjoy a variety of genres. I love a good scifi and fantasy series. Harry Potter is my all-time favorite. George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones", and "The Hunger Games" are some more favorites.

I am very excited to share my love of reading with my children. We read children's books all the time and my girls love books. Some of our favorites are "Goodnight Gorilla" by Peggy Rathman, "Hush Little Baby" by Sylvia Long, "Baby Danced the Polka," "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems, "Hug" by Jez Alborough, "One Duck Stuck," and more... We always love to get new kids books! Alayna is starting to get into chapter books and easy readers.

As they grow a little older, I can't wait to introduce them to some of my most-loved books from childhood, such as "Anne of Green Gables," the "Little House" books, Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time," "The Chronicles of Narnia," Shel Silverstein, Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew... and so many more.

I'm really pretty easy to please. If you put a little thought and time, and care into your package, I will love it, and I promise to do the same! My kids and I really just like sending and receiving packages in the mail.

I'm always trying to find ways to improve, learn, and be the best wife and mother (cook, housekeeper, organizer, crafter, teacher, photographer, friend) that I can be, so I enjoy anything that can help me with these ventures. I'm obsessed with Pinterest and am always trying new ideas found there.

I'm not picky about colors. I like bright cheery colors, as well as the vintage, shabby-chic look.

Favorite flowers: I love all flowers, but especially lilacs, sunflowers, roses, and daisies

Scents: I prefer natural, sweet, & light floral scents. Love sweet pea & vanilla.

Random things I love:

Penguins, owls, butterflies, cows... most cute animals

Games - Board games, card games, word games, games for kids or adults, pretty much any kind of game!

Barrettes/ hair accessories

Lip gloss & body spray

Watermelons - I kind of collect these, since our last name is Mellin

Necklaces

Picture frames

Books

Cupcakes /Baking

Cacti - they remind me of Tucson, AZ where I was raised

Quality 100% cotton quilt fabric

Stamps & inkpads

Stickers

Scrapbooking & quilting supplies

Fancy pens/markers

Sparkly/glittery things

Original artwork/ handmade crafts - I love any handmade gift because I know how much work and love goes into them