A Charity Finish....

This fun quilt top was sent to me awhile ago as a donation to the Carolina Quilt Project.

I quilted it using a circular pantograph which I think complimented the geometric fabric patterns.

The binding was done in a solid black.

I have this little guy here for a week of Grammy Camp and plan to get the binding sewn down during our quiet afternoon movie time (no more naps when are five!). Then in the mail it goes. 

Enjoying summer, grand guy fun and a little bit of sewing.

Simple JOY: Through the eyes of children...

Oh nothing fills my heart more than seeing Christmas through the eyes of children!

And boy! Don't grands seem to grow even faster than our own did? Our grand guys are now one and five and as many of you can relate to,  continue to fill our hearts with enormous JOY!

 

Hubby and I are having one of those "weird" holidays where we actually won't being seeing these two cuties until after the New Year. (But what a great way to ring in the new year!) My Christmas actually being spent sewing (LOL!) while hubby works.  Having always brought our girls up with Christmas's filled with traditions and family, it's taken me awhile to process the idea of being alone on such a big holiday. But as the idea grew on me, I began to find myself embracing it's simplicity as I realized: 

MY FOCUS:

I've enjoyed sharing my simple celebrations of holiday JOY with you here on the blog this month. Thank you for visiting and for your kind comments.  As you know, the JOY of being a grandmother continuously fills my heart. The LOVE of my husband and family nourishes my soul. But! My FOCUS for 2019 will find me embracing new found freedoms at home and work. For the first time in thirty years, I'm living without the obligations of children. Acknowledging this has been a HUGE part of my esteem, I find myself wanting to be intentional about making 2019 a mid-life creative journey of self discovery and expression.  I'll share more on this as I write my post Yvonne's Planning Party later this week. Until then, I'd like to wish you all a holiday filled with love and...

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 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-Spy Many Smiles!

I-Spy three happy boys!

Earlier this summer I made this lap size eye-spy for these three special little guys. I finished it's quilting and binding on just in time for the arrival of their new little brother. (Who's wrapped in a receiving blanket I made especially for him! Along with a hand knitted blanket by my mom.)

These are just one of those ultimate moments we quilters love isn't it! 

So while his cousins above are celebrating the arrival of their new brother,

this little grand-guy of ours started Pre-k this year!

Annnnddddd this little guy is growing way too fast and is just the happiest baby!

It's been a very busy month filled with with family vacations, visits and adventures. My school year is also off to a fantastic start and I'm really enjoying my new position as a teacher mentor with no regrets of leaving the classroom. (whew!) It's been a welcome transition in my life.

I have to say, we've even improved our golf game quite a bit this summer too!

Wild Horse Casino, Pendeleton Oregon.

And now, with Labor Day finally upon us, I'm sure I'm not alone in welcoming the coming of Fall. I find my sewing studio calling me once again. It's serenity and outburst of creativity awaiting me. I can't wait to fling it's windows open and begin quilting this Christmas Quilt of a friends that has been patiently waiting it's turn. I also have an entire sew day planned with a friend and we are going to create one of  Buggy Barn's (Now One Sister) newest quilt: Sunny Side of the Street. 

OH! And A game of golf and a BBQ afterwards with hubby are on the agenda too.

Thank you for your support and patience this past month as I made my work transition.

I'm looking forward to catching up with all your blogs and going-ons and an inspiring Fall together.

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.

Grand Guy Update

Our newest little guy is five months old and full of smiles!

He's having fun trying "real" food...and of course loves it!

Admittedly, this is one of my favorite baby stages as I love how squishy and 

expressive they are becoming...when they're not drooling all of you. 

This week I made a quick visit after school/work to see big brother participate in his school's "Soul on Fire" program. Not sure who thought four years old could manage an hour long PreK-6th Grade program. It was hard not to laugh as he and most the others his age spent most their time wiggling, playing and talking with a once in awhile explosion of participation. LOL!! Lucky us, our guy spent most of his time on the stage playing with his hat, setting out  to make us laugh while he put it on backwards, sideways, and then continued to entertain himself as he tried to catch it as he tossed it around a million times! To say the least, the teacher's were quit busy trying to wrestle their large class of four year olds while all the other groups sang! God Bless preschool teachers!

He's my buddy and I continue to cherish our close relationship. We're starting to plan and look forward to this summer's Grammy Camp. He chose a dinosaur theme, so I'll be busy this next month planning a week full of activities and fun. Thank goodness for Pinterest! 

(I love Pinterest!!! Who ever thought of it was a genius!))

Anyhooooo....this little guy is still too young to join us....

...but if he grows as fast as all our grands seem to do, he'll be joining us in no time.

I hope your weekend is off to a great start. I have my H2H Happy Chemo quilt in the wash and plan to get it boxed up and ready to mail next week. I have a king size quilt on the frame I've been commissioned to quilt....so that will take up a large part of my sewing this weekend. I'm stitching my Annie Downs BOM during patio happy hours and need to look through my stash to find next's month's May OMG of stash busting I want to continue. (It will be my sixth one this year!)

As always, thanks for stopping by.

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.

Christmas Joy!

Our grand-guy is visiting with us until we bring him home on Christmas Eve.

His Poppi treated him to this special Reindeer pancake breakfast this morning:

He loves Rudolph this year and was over the moon happy! Nothing better than that to remind me of the true Joy of Christmas than to see it through the eyes of an energetic four year old.

He's of course, counting down the days until "Santa" arrives and in the mean time,

is keeping his Meme and Poppi hopping as they too begin to count down the days to Christmas. (LOL!) But having a little one around this time of year always reminds me of the true Joy of Christmas. I forgot how little ones find delight in everything we do and how they love to help. 

He's helped Poppi bake cookies and...

...they even enjoyed putting a Gingerbread Train together. 

(Of which Jackson ate half of it while we were at a Christmas party!!! Luckily he did not get sick. )

Heck!  I finally got him our of his Christmas jammies. I enticed him with a warm bubble bath of green and red glow sticks, as we returned from one of our Winter walks to the park down the street.

I have to note, that he and Jackson have been inseparable! This was both of them by 8:00 pm:  

As you can imagine, not much sewing this week, but I'm happy to have had my hand stitching to enjoy during our afternoon Christmas movie time. It's comforting to just sit and stitch as I rest in-between the energy spurts of a dog and a little boy that fills our home right now. 

I sure hope that the Joy of Christmas is filling your home in one way or another. 

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

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.