Home again, home again, AGAIN!

Last week, I was with out children until Thursday, at which point me and the DH went to Nashville to retrieve them. Friday morning we headed to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit DH's side of the family. We just returned home last night. Aahhh! My own bed!

Of the many adventures we had, the most exciting was that Maddie fell off a bed while watching a movie. She got several scrapes and a few nice sized lumps. As you can see, it has turned into a nice black eye! The bruise extends from right in front of her ear, up over her eyebrow. With her bangs hanging in her eyes, I didn't notice the black eye until this morning. Bad mommy!

We also drove down to Shreveport, Louisiana to visit DH's grandmother and two sets of aunts and uncles. These aunts and uncles are a hoot! I am glad that my kids are getting old enough to hopefully have memories of their great-grandmothers. DH has one grandmother still alive. She just turned 88 last week. And I have one grandmother who will be 80 in November. Anytime we get 4 generations together, I try to snap a picture. So this picture is of Maddie (DD) , Cleo (MIL's mother), Cherry (MIL), Stacy (DH), and Ian (DS). Can you see the family resemblance?

We are now back home and relaxing before school starts in just three more weeks. I spent the day sewing on the baby quilt for my new niece/nephew that is due to arrive in about a month. I want to get it done and delivered before the baby arrives. That way if it is a girl (like I am hoping for) I won't be so tempted to make it a pink girly quilt! I'm sure I will still be tempted but maybe I can control myself! Lots of half square triangles in this one! And for some reason I can't count to 25 today. Several times (yes, more than once!) I had to stop and make more triangles because I didn't have enough for the 25 needed blocks. Maybe I should have quit and taken a nap! Anyway, the main part of the top is done - now I can move on to the borders.

Well, blogspot has suddenly decided not to play nice with pictures. So I guess I will post a picture of the baby quilt later.

Home again, home again!

To start with, here are the adorable kids in the t-shirts I made for them. Eva is in the cat shirt, Maddie in the flower shirt, Bekah in the lady bug, and Ian in the rocket ship. I think they had a great week together. Maddie loved brushing Eva's hair.

The great adventure has come to an end. Nines left my parents' house around 8 this morning. My son told me that it was time for me to go at around 9. I think he was in a hurry to have Grams and Papa all to himself!

We had a lovely week! Nina arrived on Monday evening. After dinner, Papa took us all for a hay ride (minus the hay). Kind of hard on those of us with older backsides! After getting the kids in bed, me and Nines started cutting out one of the two quilts we planned to make.

Oh - I almost forgot all the wonderful birthday gifts! I will let Nina post pictures of what she gave me. I LOVE the quilt she made for me! And so did my mom and dad. They both told me repeatedly that it should stay at their house. Wrong!

Here is the quilt that I made for Nina. I think she was a bit shocked by it's loudness!


I also gave her a lime green wallhanging.



She also received these note cards. Store-bought plain note cards with scrap strips sewn onto the front!



Tuesday morning we were up bright and early and headed down to Nashville for some shopping. Nina's cousin, Beth, was kind enough to play tour guide for the day. She drove us around Brentwood (extremely pricey homes), showing us the homes of Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, and Trisha Yearwood. We then headed on to the Stitcher's Garden in Franklin. This store is wall to wall fabric. Bolts piled everywhere. While here, Nina announced next year's quilting challenge - a two color quilt. So we each had to pick out the main fabric. Nina chose a beautiful rich red. I think orange will go well with this -just kidding! I chose a soft limey, leafy green. After a lovely lunch, we hit another local quilt store and Hobby Lobby. On our way back home, Nina decided we needed to stop for a nice quiet dinner. After hitting the Joann's that was located in the same parking lot, we had a yummy dinner at Olive Garden.

Wednesday morning started with the UPS man arriving bright and early with our fabric from Dharma Trading Company. Mom suggested we do our dyeing then since her and the kids would be gone until after lunch. Good idea! Plus I think she did not want to witness whatever mess was going to be involved! We made a quick run into town for some more plastic storage bowls, change into our grubby clothes, and got started. We had so much fun! Nina's new nickname is "The Chemist" - she kept saying "Let's add a little of this and a little of that!" We are both pleased with the end products - which Nina will probably share pictures of. She was a bit camera happy this week. I am cutting out my quilt pieces - Nina is taking pictures. I am ripping up the fabric for dyeing - she taking pictures. You get the picture?

After we dyed up our 15 yards of fabric, we got to work sewing. Nina had suggested that we each make a quilt for our dad. My dad says these are the biggest quilt blocks he has ever seen! This top went together in about an hour. I will leave it to Nina to post a picture of hers - I don't want her mom to be mad at me! Peni - she had those fabrics chosen before she got here!

Thursday we each made one of these star quilts. I made mine for a friend who is a Blackhawk pilot in the army. He has been to Iraq several times.

Of course the week was over much too quickly. We are already scheming about when we can do this again!

Did you need to cry today?

Ok, I am warning you now - get your kleenax ready. Have a seat. Take a deep breath. Are you ready?

Legacy by Naomi L. Wright, June 2006

Happy the child whose bed is laid
With linens loving hands have made;
The babe who buries tired head
‘Neath Auntie’s stitch and Grams’ thread.

Happy the child who helps to sew
For sibling he has yet to know;
The child who sees how patience built
The blocks that now become a quilt.

Happy the babe who greets the world
And finds her precious quilt unfurled;
Who ends each day in dream-filled rest,
Contented in her quilted nest.

Happy the child who plays for hours
Endowed by cape with super-powers;
Snuggles into Papa’s lap
For boxcar stories and a nap.

Happy the child who spies and savors
Fabrics in the shade she favors;
Find their way to Auntie’s hand
Then crafted into gift so grand.

Happy the children, when they’re grown,
Who tell to children of their own
Of one whose heart and sweat of brow
Are in the quilt that holds THEM now!

More birthday presents!

I have arrived safely in Nashville. We made a quick pit stop on the north side of Birmingham to stretch our legs - yes, it was at a Hobby Lobby. It was Ian's idea! They had some amazing fabric at $1/yard. I found some pink fabric for the backing of my friend's pink quilt for her daughter. Also found several beautiful yellows that had to come home with me. And a nice emerald green. How can you say no at $1/yard?

We handed out birthday gifts when I got to my sister's house. It is not actually her birthday but she got presents anyway. I gave everyone their t-shirt. The penguin t-shirt was a major hit! Then came time for Naomi to give me my birthday present. She has me sit down and close my eyes. She hands me a frame with a poem in it. The poem is called "The Legacy". I start reading it and only make it through the first couple of lines before I start tearing up. I ask where she found this poem and she says "Have you finished reading it?" So I finish reading it and then ask again. No answer just a goofy smile. SHE WROTE THE POEM JUST FOR ME!!!! It is about children who are lucky enough to have quilts in their lives, made by loved ones. Needless to say, I started to bawl when she admitted that she had written it. I will post the poem when I get the chance. It is amazing! I reread it this morning and got teary eyed again!
I am going to send it in to one of the quilting magazines. I think every quilter needs to read this poem. Naomi - thank you again! It is the best present anyone has ever given me.

Oh, the blue pineapple quilt was for my 1 year old nephew Joey. My mom and sister both thought it was for my mom! Like she needs any more quilts! I am hoping I will get some sweet kisses from Joey as a thank you.

Got to go eat breakfast and get ready for church. Hurry Nina!

The Grand Adventure

Tomorrow morning I am leaving to go to Nashville for our (me & Nina) mini retreat! Nines will drive down on Monday. I have spent the day gathering all the goodies I need to take. I have got birthday presents for Nina and my mom. Presents for my sister and my niece and nephews. The only person left out is my poor dad. I didn't think he would want a painted t-shirt. Me and Nina are going to try and sew a lap sized quilt for each of our dads while we are there. Ian and my dad are going to be sorely out numbered once Nina and the girls arrive. There will be 7 girls and 2 boys. Kind of the opposite of Nina's home - 3 girls and 7 boys!

I sent Nines an email saying next year's mini-retreat should focus on fabric dyeing. Nina replied that she wanted to do it NOW! So I surprised her by putting in a hurried order to Dharma for 15 yards more fabric. When I told mom our plan to dye some fabric, she got extremely nervous - thinking we were going to attempt this in her brand new (WHITE!) kitchen! No, no, no. We will be safely located outside somewhere.

I have got a huge pile to put in the car. The kids' suitcases are packed. The last load of laundry is in the dryer. Hubby is almost home and then we will enjoy some home-made cajun shrimp pasta! We got the idea from Red Lobster and hubby has made it several times. I have the shrimp all cleaned and ready for him and the pasta water is already hot. Now I am hungry from talking about it.

I will leave you with one quilt picture. Here is my finished blue pineapple quilt. Sshhh! It is a surprise for someone I will see tomorrow. Me and Nina will post lots of pictures of all the birthday goodies when we get home!

The Happy birthday girl!

Today my package arrived from Dharma Trading Company! For my birthday I got to order fabric dyeing supplies. After getting up from my afternoon nap with Ian, I promptly set about dyeing up 10 yards of fabric. It was so easy and quick - even with the help of a seven year old and a five year old. I had all 10 yards dyed and washed in about 2.5 hours. I laid it all out flat to air dry and then ironed all it tonight after bible class. Somehow I ended up with a lot of greens - probably because I had two different green dyes - plus royal blue and yellow.

I followed the directions I found on Melody Johnson's blog and on Tommy Fitzsimmons' blog. Both explanations have pictures and very good directions.

Can you see the cool marbling in the green fabric above? Done totally unintentionally, of course! But I love it!

And here is my beautiful rainbow. You can see the overload of green! Lucky I love green! Next time I am going to play around a lot more with the blues (surprise!). I may even order another shade of blue. Right now what I have is called royal blue.

Now - what to do with these lovely fabrics! Nines - next summer I think our mini-retreat should focus on dyeing up some fabric. Not sure my mom will be up for that kind of mess - but maybe out in my dad's barn!

Another birthday gone...

Today was my 37th birthday. I only tell you this because at least I am younger than Nines! I don't feel like I should be this old - probably because my children are so young. Anyway...since I don't have anything quilty to share I thought I would do an adaptation of a meme I saw a while ago.

Here goes:

25 years ago - 1981 - We were living in southern Wisconsin (Hi Finn!) and I was in middle school.

20 years ago - 1986 - We lived in northern Illinois and it was the summer before my senior year in high school (Go Rockford East E-Rabs - don't ask what an E-rab is!)

15 years ago - 1991 - My last year in college (University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee). I had already met the man of my dreams - we just didn't know it yet. This is the summer my sister got married.

10 years ago - 1996 - We were married for three years and living in NYC. Stacy was getting ready for his last year in grad school.

5 years ago - 2001 - We were living in the booming metropolis of Muncie, Indiana. We had a brand new sweet baby boy and a two year old little girl. By this time I have met Nines and discovered she is my kindred spirit. She has also infected me with the quilting bug!

1 year ago - 2005 - Now living in Alabama in our brand new house. Still quilting away!

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about me! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.