A New Summer Quilt!

I can remember a time I use to make a quilt every month...

...now here I'm posting one I made last summer that I finally got quilted and 

the binding sewn just in time to enjoy it for the summer!!

The pattern is called: Friendship Scrap Block from www.quilterscache.com.

The very best part...it was made from left over fabric from this Lori Holt Kit: 

(Which by the way, makes me smile everyday as it brightens my little laundry room.)

What else makes me smile is the fact that I loved this fabric so much, I now have an oversized 

lap quilt to enjoy and ALL my extra fabric was used!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!

I hoping more sewing is in my future, as I find myself at another cross road. Yep! Last week I hung up my school lanyard and recess whistle after 33 years of teaching.

But! I'm NOT retired! 

I have actually been transitioning into a new District job as our very first Talented and Gifted Coordinator. This has proven to be the most empowering transition I have made personally in quite a long time and one that is worthy of one of my "Life and Learning" post. Hopefully some words of wisdom and inspiration will come to me, but for now, I'm simply relishing the process of change and personal growth I'm experiencing. 

I just turned 57 and got to happily celebrate with these two:

I feel blessed in so many ways and am looking forward to having one more chapter in my career.

I hope this post finds you, my old blogging friends, doing well.

With Smiles, Val:)

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! 

When You Can't Reach the Peddle....

While visiting our grand guys this past weekend, knowing I made quilts and after inquisitively watching me stitch during movie time, one of their friends really wanted me to teach him how to sew. My daughter didn't hesitate to unpack her sewing machine and we let the boys dive into a box of fabric scraps. As I sat and worked on some binding, I taught the oldest, who is nine, how to use the machine. I taught him the main parts of the machine: foot, pedal and the ol' 1/4 inch! 

 He was very focused, detailed oriented and caught on quickly. Well, before I knew it...

.

..he was quickly on his way to making all the younger boys their very own blankie, even

seeking their help when he couldn't reach the pedal himself! (Look at how focused they are!)

After busily rocking a teething baby,

...I soon returned to the kitchen to find all the older boys giving sewing a team effort!

(Is this just not adorable!!) One at the machine, another at the pedal, and one

guiding the fabric. I was so happy my daughter caught these moments for me!

By the end of the day, our guy had made four blankies for all the younger boys.

He spread them all out and I was flattered when he insisted that I join him for his finale! 

(As you can see,  I was busy giving our little grand guy a bath...and well, 

you know how one year olds LOVE to splash and play in water!)

As if the story can't get any better....we soon realized he can earn a Boy Scout patch for his efforts!

I truly had the best weekend with these guys and loved sharing our hobby with them.

Pajama Days, Legos, and Learning to Sew...

Someone jumped in the truck with his Meme and Poppi to enjoy a few days of

"Grammy Camp" after our visit for brother's first birthday:

Unfortunately, he came down with a high fever and strep throat by Monday. After a visit to the doctor, we spent the rest of our visit cozy and quiet in our PJ's. His days were restfully spent watching cartoons with Jackson by his side, building Legos with his Poppi at night along with Chicken soup for dinner to warm his little tummy. 

After a few days, he and his Poppi had a whole Mindcraft Village of Legos built:

He and I had watched our share of cartoons:

And soon, hot chocolate with magic sprinkles brought a smile to his face as he got to feeling better:

 

Followed with an out of the blue request asking me: "Meme will you teach me how to sew?" 

WILL I! So we got our butts off the couch...

 First, I had him pick out some fabric (He choose Spiderman) and I put it in a hoop:

 Next, I had him pick out his thread (perle cotton, with a big needle work best with a five year old.)

He picked out red, white and blue and asked me how to make "spider webs".

So I proceeded to show him how to pull the needle from the front...

...and then how to pull it to the back. 

Finally, we concentrated on making small stitches:

My Ol' Grammy heart beamed when he exclaimed: "Meme this is fun!" Then, without any prompting, he started to carefully trim the edges and proudly said it was for me!

Yes! My Grammy heart if full.

Until I find a future quilt to incorporate it into, I'm planning on putting it into a little wooden hoop and hanging it in my sewing studio in memory of this very precious request. 

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!

 

July OMG: Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Click HERE to see what everyone is setting out to do this month.

Anybody remember Beanie Babies?? I think my mom bought our girls every single one when they were little! I have a HUGE tote of them and have gradually re-purposed them into "story baskets" for when our grand-guy visits. He has so much fun pulling each animal out of the basket as we turn the page to "read". He lines them all up and once the story is finished, like any preschool boy I guess, begins to throw them back into the basket as if he himself were a pro basketball player. 

 I scowered the internet to find whatever fabric I could from this 2008 Eric Carle Brown Bear line and as my July OMG  I'm ready to move this from my stash, into a finished lap quilt for us to enjoy.

Grands grow way too fast don't ya think.
Note: This will be my eighth stash busting project for the year. YAH!!! We are going on vacation together at the end of the month. I'd love to get another picture of the three of us on our new quilt.
Stay tuned.

Tuesday Archives #196: Guess it's time for a break...

Wow! Okay I missed my own linky party. 

Seriously....if that's not a sign I don't what is.

It's May...and May is always full of surprises for a teacher.

Personally, I've been thrown off course this past week.

Too many changes at work and at home...all at the same time.

Nothing bad. But never-the-less change and adjusting to the fact things will be different.

June first I'll also be on summer break...which means yet, another change. 

 I find myself tranquil on my days off as I enjoy mornings of movie watching, afternoon walks, and evenings sitting on the patio with a glass of wine having BBQ dinners with my hubby. No sewing. 

See...all good, but sometimes it just takes time to find your balance of things once again.  Butttt....

while establishing new routines, I did randomly finish my sixth stash busting project for the year.

Another square in a square quilt as I de-stashed a cute little bundle of fat quarters:

This finished as a 36"x 48" quilt top that I'll complete into a cute little baby stash quilt. 

And right when I thought my Mother's Day Weekend would be spent alone (due to the change in my husband's work schedule) I was completely surprised by a visit from our two very favorite little people in the world! I truly had what I would describe as a "perfect day".

Our new grand guy is a very happy six month old.

And I spent the entire morning "playing" with this special guy.

I biked as he enjoyed his new "Spiderman" scooter...endlessly. 

We talked. We shared. We laughed. We played.

Our daughter knew exactly how to spoil me this Mother's Day.

With all that said,  I'm going to take a little blog break as I allow myself time to wrap up my 29th year of teaching, adjust to my husband's new work hours, and look forward to my upcoming summer break. I can't wait! I am going to put together an eye-spy swap in June and we'll also be celebrating our 200th Tuesday Archives Linky Party with a $25.00 Gift Certificate from Fat Quarter Shop! How fun! I'm still set on meeting my May OMG and will busy myself making this fun baby eye quilt as I set out to establish new routines.  Sometime this kind of easy, fun sewing is exactly what we need. Anyhoooo....
Thanks for visiting and for your continuous support as bloggers and quilters.
I'm looking forward to catching up with all your blogs and going on's as June arrives, and hope you'll think about joining in on our Second Eye-Spy Swap this June here at Val's Quilting Studio.

Click over to here to read the details about this unique, weekly linky party. (You can also check out all our past Tuesday Archives themes by clicking right here.)

The linky party that let's you rejuvinate OLD blogging posts.

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