Coming Up for Air

Just thought I'd pop in and say hi. Hi! I'm up to my eyeballs in quilty fun. It's a fine place to be. I've got a quilt almost loaded on my quilt frame. I still need to piece the back. I hate piecing the back. Ugh.

But other stuff has been going on here, too. Patch has his first loose teeth. The two on the bottom are very wiggly. He's so excited. Mini-me has discovered graphic novels. It's a little odd, since neither Curly nor I appreciate them very much. But hey, at least she's reading, right? Ginger doesn't like me to change her diaper anymore, yet she won't sit on the toilet. So that's fun. And Flower has been busy doing her tween thing.

So that's my life the past few days. I'm off to piece that darn back and load it onto the frame. Then first thing in the morning it will be time to quilt. Yay! (I hope when you said "yay" you pictured Kermit wildly flailing his arms. Because I did.) Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Almost Done!

Do you ever have a project that takes a lot longer than you think it should? This quilt is one of those projects for me.

The main part of the top is done. I just need to add borders, once I find the right fabric, which will involve some trips to some shops. I love the way it looks, though. It's very crisp and masculine. I added the darker fabrics to the mix, since the shirts she provided were all a similar shade of blue. The darker fabrics add a nice contrast.

I'm off to shop! Wish me luck :)

On My Table

On my sewing table today is a customer quilt. She requested a twin size quilt made of her husband's old shirts for his 40th birthday. Unfortunately I'm at a really tedious part right now. By the end of the day I hope to have all the blocks finished. There are more than 100 of them. Wish me luck!

Waiting

Today I am waiting. I ordered something really fun from Amazon and if the tracking website is to be believed, it should arrive today. Oh, what did I order, you ask? Just this:

It was a really great price. Go see for yourself. Don't tell Curly, but I have no idea where I'm going to put it. "Somewhere downstairs" was my answer when he asked me. I think I need to clean off a shelf. Or two.

I am in danger of breaking my fabric diet. I have been perusing some online shops lately, which I think is the equivalent of wandering through the bakery at the grocery store. So far nothing tempting has made it into my cart, but man oh man is it hard to resist!

Daisy Cottage Baby Quilt

My first quilt of 2012 is this sweet baby quilt:

 I got the fabric from Jina and Cindy at Riley Blake back in October. We visited the home office with Amanda and were invited to pick a Rolie Polie and "do something with it." Candice and I both chose Daisy Cottage, which has a wonderful mix of pink, gray, and yellow.

 For the sashing, Amanda suggested a Riley Blake solid called "Pina Colada." Sing with me now "If you like pina coladas, and something something in the rain!" It's my new favorite solid and I have since ordered it from a couple of my dealers favorite online shops. And since it's a solid, it's not breaking my diet to buy some.

For the back I used a polka dot from Amanda's first line, Sweet Divinity. The binding is done in a print from 1001 Peeps. This quilt is pretty ginormous for a baby quilt. It's nearly 50" square. I love big baby quilts. Babies don't stay little for long, and it's nice to have something they can use as they get bigger.

I delivered it to my mom yesterday, who will deliver it to the mama-to-be. I am so excited for her to get it, as it's a complete surprise. Her mother, who was a dear friend of my mother, passed away this past fall. Making a baby quilt for a new mom whose own mother has passed away is the exact thing her mother would have done. She was a great example of service. I am 99.9% certain my friend doesn't read this blog, so it's safe to share it before she gets it. For those of you who know her -- don't spill the beans!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Grandma Jeanne's birthday. She and my grandpa are a week apart. How fun is that? A week of celebration and cake. Sounds like a good time to me. My grandma is my favorite person in the world. Allow me to illustrate why.

When I was a young girl, my grandparents lived in Richmond, VA, just a couple of hours from where I grew up. I loved going to her house, except for the part where you had to drive on Sleepy Hollow Drive and outrun the headless horseman. She had the best Southern house. It was brick with a gravel driveway. It had tall trees, beautiful shrubbery, and a badminton court set up in the back yard. She had a mudroom and a sun porch. Instead of a family room, they had a den. In the morning, she always wore an apron and had The Today Show on in the kitchen. I used to climb into bed with her in the mornings and she would snuggle me and let me watch Inspector Gadget while she snoozed. I'm pretty sure being awakened before dawn by a 4 year old was not her idea of fun, but she let me think it was the best time she ever had. 

When I was 7, my grandpa got a new job in Chicago, where they still live today. I went to visit on a special trip with just my mom. Before I got there, my grandma told me she had a bed with my name on it. Man alive, was I ever excited. I hadn't learned what a "figure of speech" was yet, so I was a little disappointed when I got there. But I soon got over the disappointment. I claimed one of the beds as my own (the one near the window, because my sister was afraid of being kidnapped by vampires), and looked forward to every visit. For a long time, we spent Thanksgiving in her house. She always had black donuts and instant breakfast for us. And, best of all, she has a candy dispenser on her wall. It is always filled with M&Ms.

My grandma is always dressed. Her hair is always done, her makeup applied, and she wears shoes in the house. She never had her ears pierced, but she is always found wearing a lovely pair of clipons. She really has the best jewelry. I love her taste so much that when it came time to choose silver when I got married, I chose her pattern. Every time I set a special table, I think about the dinners we had at her house when we used the silver. She taught me that beautiful things are not to be shut away in a drawer, but are to be used to make our lives a little more special.

My grandma is the glue of our family. She keeps up on everyone in our family, which is not an easy task. The main reason I started a blog was so that she could keep up with my little family. She's also on Facebook. How many 88 year olds do you know on Facebook? She takes care of my grandpa, who needs a little more attention than he used to. In short, she's the kind of woman I hope to be.

Have a very happy birthday, Grandma. We love you!

With the Marilyn Monroe statue in Chicago this past fall.

February

Since it's the first day of spring February, we spent some time with the windows open. It was surreal. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 50, and I'm sure we'll feel like it's freezing.

Patch is under the weather. He's missed school for three days. It's very sad, because it was his week to do the calendar at school. This morning, he woke up with a little extra gunk in his body. It's something he doesn't really like. As he was coughing, he cried in desperation: "I don't want to die!"

Apparently we're all a little dramatic.

I finished my first quilt of 2012. It's so cute. But, I hate to ask, has anyone seen my camera?

So that's me today. Just enjoying the beautiful weather and trying to keep Patch from dying a very tragic death by phlegm. Hopefully I will find the camera tomorrow and take a picture of this very cute quilt. But, if not, picture in your mind the most darling quilt you've ever seen. Mine's even cuter than that.