Another Year Older....

...and got to celebrate it a little early when our two favorite little guys visited!

That is our little guy's "CHEESE" smile and big brother's "Smile nice for the camera" grin" as I begged him to "Just do one nice smile for Meme bud." LOL!! I  really didn't want one of his "funny" faces he humorously enjoys flashing in practically every picture taken lately!  Hard to believe he starts kinder in the Fall! Anyhooo.....Celebrating 54 couldn't get any better than this! 

My Favorite Eye-Spy Quilt Yet!!!!

Today our little grand guy is ONE!!! 

This is his birthday quilt:

Right! An eye-spy cow!!! I had so much fun creating this one!! I love the  ribbon tail, ping-pong utters and taggy number one on top of the spiderman cupcake! I know...it's not even done....but enough to gift to him. Life's just been so busy....in great ways. (more on that later)

We didn't capture his initial reaction on film...but he loved all the colors and textures.

 He immediately clapped and sat right down on it. He made my day.

I have the border picked out and I'm really looking forward to custom 

quilting it over my Winter Break in December.

We brought big brother home for a few days of Grammy Camp as I'm off work all this next week!

(SOOOOOO excited!!!!) Planning to post and certainly catch up with all of  your blogs too.

Wishing you a happy start to the holiday week ahead. 

A Birthday Celebration!

Our little grand-guy is five and we celebrated by treating him to his first college football game!

The pre-game "kid zone" events were full of fun! Bouncy houses, "cool" cars and big foam hats!

Boise State is know for it's BIG BLUE...and they didn't disappoint. By half time we had scored four touchdowns to the opponents one, each filled with fireworks, loud cheers and music.

He and Poppi spent quilty time together as he taught him the "ins and outs" of football. 

...and his day was made when Poppi even wore his funny hair!

A much needed family day was had by all and I'm so grateful for the fun had.

Plus, you know it's good when you have two very exhausted little boys by day's end!

 

A Super Hero Finish

This is a pretty "busy" finish...but with two jelly rolls and a few 1/4 yards of superhero prints I was able to quickly put together this array of Super Hero fabrics for our grand-guys 5th birthday quilt! His two requests: "Meme it has to have Captain America and Spiderman annnnddddd be long enough to cover my feet! My feet fall out of last year's quilt now!"

It finished measuring 53"x 68" and should be big enough this upcoming winter 

as he keeps his feet warm under it's soft, fleece backing of superheros.

(Notice our traditional "birthday" label! Five already!!)

I will tell ya, I've never used fleece as a backing before and really like the extra layer of cuddly warmth it gives the quilt. I only had to raise the foot a little on my long-arm and it was easy-peasy to quilt. As you can see, it was not only big enough to cover his feet but, Jackson LOVED it as well!!!

Happy Birthday buddy!

I'm Happily Back!

I sure missed my routines of blogging and sewing. But, I'm also so grateful I had the foresight to put so much on hold as we enjoyed family fun with our daughter, SIL and grand-guy as they stayed with us this past month during their transition. We so admire their patience as they make this big move with a wee one on the way! Wow! So much has happened.

Our grand-guy turned four! ( I didn't get his spiderman quilt done in time, but luckily, four year olds really don't know the difference and he'll be excited whenever it does get done.)

My niece's college volleyball team played in town. Good to see her!

I had the best little yard helper: 

He even earned $2.00 bucks for helping Meme pick up leaves...

...as he also enjoyed numerous rides to empty our cart into the "trash trailer".

My son-in-law and I finally had some time to enjoy a fresh brewed beer (or two)

as we caught up on his new job and the details of their move.

And of course, hanging out with Poppi is always a special treat.

It was also nice to have my very own "super-hero" to help me with my volunteer work as I made my bi-monthly trip to our local food bank to stock up on donations for our school backpack program.  I coordinate this program for some of our homeless students so they have food on the weekend. 

I'll sure miss our daily walks. Typical four-year old humor, he thought it was absolutely 

hilarious that Jackson would ride in the stroller with him!

Luckily we had the most prefect Fall weather and enjoyed the crinkle of the leaves under our feet.

Poppi will also miss his nightly hot chocolates with too many marshmallows and making him
rootbeer floats "without the ice-cream". (I know! We laughed too.)

This past weekend we found ourselves "wrapping up the month"  with a breakfast of  unlimited pumpkin pancakes and a morning of outdoor fun. (Note: Four year olds are sooo much fun!)

All this was followed by an afternoon of pumpkin carving.

 I can't wait to decorate the front lawn with these for Halloween. 

I also think they'd  make a cool quilt!

Sooo...this morning finds them on the road to their new home and 

though my heart is a little sad to see them go and he cried to leave...

...I'm looking forward to finally finishing that spiderman quilt and the one I got pieced for our new grand-guy who, as you can see, is due to arrive in just a couple of weeks!

November is going to be a special month for us.  I'm looking forward to sharing my November projects with you and catching up with all that you've been up to as well. Please do stay tuned as I soon become a Meme once again and this little guy becomes a BIG brother!

 

November's Tuesday Archives themes are posted on my sidebar. 

 

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Tuesday Archives Give-Away!

Welcome to the linky party that rejuvenates your old quilting/sewing posts! 

Please click here to read more about this linky party.  

This week instead of a linky, I'm celebrating my 52nd Birthday with YOU by offering a THANK YOU give-away of 52 I-Spy squares!

This give-away is now closed. 

The winner was announced here.

Note: These ARE duplicates from last year's Eye-Spy swap here at Val's Quilting Studio Blog.

It was quite an eventful day at school....as we had a day without electricity!

But truth be told, it was a lot fun! We wrote creative stories about life in school without electricity. The hallways were referred to as "dark tunnels" and the bathrooms being lite with but a single hanging flashlight, were quite the curiosity! Hey, atleast I didn't have to teach outside. As you can see below, some of my teaching friends who have internal rooms with no windows...had to relocate. 

We ended our "Day Without Electricity", by having a birthday "cupcake frosting" party. My cooperating teacher had my students complete the cutest little "All About my Teacher's Birthday" project. It was sweet to end my day reading through these.

Of course, comment to be entered in the give-away. And to make it a bit more fun, instead of being a series of comments that are answered through email, comment by first, reading the comment prior to yours and answering the question they ask. Then, end your comment with a silly question for the next person. I'm leaving the give-away open for a week, as I got to spend the past Memorial Weekend with a household of family and though the kids are gone, lucky me, my mom and dad will continue their stay for the remainder of the week.

And of course, it was extra fun having this little guy around to help his Meme open her presents!

Happy commenting everyone!
I'll be back next week to announce the winner.

June's themes are posted on my sidebar.

Mark you calendars and I hope you'll join us.

A Fun Family Weekend

Our weekend was spent with our kids, first, celebrating "Poppi's" Birthday.

Good thing our grand guy was wearing his Paw Patrol Fire Marshall sweatshirt,  

as his help was needed to put out Poppi's "glowing" birthday cake. 

We also took off on a family adventure together! 

We bought our a special little guy a "golden ticket"...

Did ya notice his adorable Santa hat??
My mom  knitted it for him and got it mailed just in time for our trip.
He wore it the entire afternoon as he is enamored with everything Santa this year!

...and boarded the Polar Express Train Ride!

He was adorable to watch as he patiently waited while our train chugged along through the dark...

...anxious for his very first glimpse of Santa and his elves as we finally arrive at the "North Pole!"

It was so special to begin the holiday season as seen through the eyes of a three year old. 

He sat on his Papa's lap as he received his Christmas Bell and I have to admit, the joy in his eyes as he finally met Santa for the very first time, just filled my Grandma heart.  

 Annnddd with Jackson keeping me warm as he slept on my lap,

 I finished the binding on my Batik quilt during our time on the road. (It's in the wash as I write.) YEAH!!! I close today, hoping this week finds your holiday season off to a wonderful start.  I hope it's filled with the love and joy of  family, friends and perhaps a favorite four legged buddy as well.  

This week's Tuesday Archives Theme is: TURKEYS