Split Decision Quilt

My sister-in-law, Claudia, has watched and waited patiently as I have made quilt after quilt and given them to family members. I have made quilts for each new baby, a quilt for my niece (her daughter) for her college graduation, and throw quilts for each of my kids and their spouses to cuddle under when they watch television. About ten years ago I made quilts for my in-laws (Claudia's parents) for Christmas.  I was not ignoring my sister-in-law. She is so kind and generous and a total sweetheart and definitely "quilt worthy". It just seemed like each time I thought about making her a quilt, something else happened and she got pushed to the back of the line again. I didn't realize how badly she wanted a quilt until she told her new son-in-law at a family function that he had to "get in line behind me" when he said he guesses it's his turn for the next quilt. Everyone laughed, but I knew then that she really wanted a quilt!

Even though my wrist was still bothering me with swelling, pain, and difficulty gripping, nothing was going to keep me from making Claudia a quilt for Christmas this year. But I decided that I would make it as easy as possible and make a quilt using pre-cuts.  I had two jelly rolls I had purchased several years ago. It was a nice soft color palette and I knew it would make a beautiful quilt for Claudia. I chose a pattern called Split Decision-a "Hip to Strip" Jelly Roll pattern.

This quilt went together like a dream! The cutting was so simple and the blocks were so easy to make. I made more blocks than the quilt called for because I only had one fabric for a border and I wanted the quilt to be a good size.

On my design wall-the colors of the fabrics here 

are much brighter than in reality.

Claudia was pretty happy on Christmas morning to get her new quilt and she let me take some pictures of her with it a few weeks later.

Merry Christmas, Claudia. I'm sorry your quilt was so long in the making. I hope it was worth the wait :)

A New School Year

Summer vacation came and went in a hurry! We were busy with all the usual activities. And it is hard to believe that school time has rolled around again. 

We held our 5th annual back to school tea on Sunday, August 3. Our family has grown so much that we now fill two tables! The food was delicious-finger sandwiches, fruit salad, mini cupcakes, brownies, teas, and lemonade. And my daughter outdid herself with all of her cute decorations.

The girls loved being at their own table this year-lots of talking and giggling came from this side of the room.

Those of us at the "big girl table" had just as much fun. My sister-in-law, Claudia (on the left) is the registrar at a middle school. Her daughter, Elizabeth (next to her) is an elementary school teacher and both of them were already back to work for this school year. This back to school tradition started out as an "all girl" party years ago-but now we have our cute little Ollie with us too-this is his second tea.

The very next day was Sofia's first day of school. Yes, her school started back on August 4th! She's growing up so fast and is in the first grade this year. Her mom made her this  precious new dress for her first day. 

Three days later, on Thursday, these three sisters went back to school. Madison (left) is in 3rd grade. Katelyn (center) started middle school this year as a 6th grader. And Emily (right) is in the 4th grade. 

Then we had to wait a few weeks for our preschoolers to head off to school. Chloe is a 4K student this year. I just love her new back to school haircut-those curls are just bouncing!

The next day Ella started 2 year old preschool. This is her first time to attend school, but her sisters have been going here for years, so she isn't new to the classrooms or the teachers. She was so precious-giggling and smiling all the way into her class. She's officially a "big girl" now.

Now all six have gotten into the school routine......and life is as busy as ever for their moms! 

Ollie is our youngest (until October) and the only one not in school. He is growing up fast, but right now, he is just too cool for school. 

Happy school year! 

Grammy

Back to School Tea

Our family loves to get together and we LOVE traditions! When our kids were growing up if we happened to do something twice they would say we "always" did this or that and then they wanted to do it every time. We had lots of traditions. For example, we had to eat onion dip and chips when we decorated our Christmas tree-I don't know why I ever even served it once, but they loved it and a tradition was started. Our son, Matthew, informed his fiancee last Christmas that they had to have onion dip while they decorated their tree. She was totally baffled about the reason behind this and I told her it was "just tradition". I'm sure other families have lots of traditions too, but ours just seemed to be a little quirkier than most. The fact that as adults our kids have continued some of those traditions and are passing them on to their families is reassuring to me as a parent that maybe I did a pretty good job with them. And that warms my heart. 

Three years ago Melissa decided to hold a back to school tea at her house. And thus began a new family tradition. The next year Meredith held it at her home and for the last two years I have hosted it. Our family has really grown in the last three years too. This year there were 14 of us present. It's always a fun afternoon. We have different kinds of finger sandwiches (including peanut butter and jelly), brownies, cupcakes, teas, etc. The little girls enjoy putting on a dress and having a party and we "big girls" love a chance to chat. This year was our first year to have a "man" at our party. Ollie is now 6 months old and he had a grand time being passed around and loved on by all.

I love family traditions and this is now one of my favorites! 

Paying It Forward

Sewing is a way of life in my family. My mom's mom sewed. A lot! She had a guest bedroom that she turned into a sewing room and it reached the point that you could no longer tell there was a bed in there under all that fabric.  She was a woman after my own heart.  

My mom sewed too.  She made drapes for the house and clothes for me.  I remember going to sleep at night to the hum of her sewing machine and waking up in the morning to find a new dress hanging on my closet door to wear to school that day. Those were the wonderful days of innocent childhood where I had no idea how many hours my mom had put into that dress!

When I was 14 I took home ec in junior high school.  We cooked, learned how to be better baby sitters, and we sewed.  I was in heaven.  My mom had already started teaching me to sew at home, so I was thrilled to have even more time to create at school.  By the time I was in high school I was proficient enough to make most of my own clothes.  I was even teaching some of my friends to sew. I was hooked!

When my children were small I continued to sew.  I made dresses for my daughters, curtains for our homes, and lots of craft items.  Once my children were grown my sewing interests changed and quilting became my focus.  

Both of my daughters sew.  I taught them some basics when they were living at home, but they have taken that and run with it.  Both of them dream up new ideas, create their own patterns and dive right in to make whatever strikes their fancy.  And then they blog about it!  You can see my daughters' projects here and here. Such talented ladies!

Fast forward many years and now I have granddaughters.  I decided that since I live nearby it would be fun to pass my love of quilting on to them.  Katelyn is the oldest and so she was the first to sew.  I even bought a "Hello Kitty" sewing machine for the girls to learn on.  

Here is Katelyn, age 4, in 2007

Recently Sofia (granddaughter #4) has taken an interest in sewing. So, after sitting her in my lap for a bit of sewing on my machine, we decided it was time for Hello Kitty to make an appearance again.  

My daughter even blogged about Sofia making this little quilt. Here is the link to Sofia, age 3 1/2 making a quilt for her Curious George.

I know that my granddaughters will continue to sew as they grow. They are surround by their mothers' creativity at home and they love to be in my quilt room when they visit our home, too.  Someday I bet they have sewing machines of their own and will be teaching their own daughters to sew.  

Grammy Quilts

I began quilting 12 years ago. Through the years, I have found myself drawn to traditional quilts. I love scrappy, Civil War, 2-color, and primitive projects. Kansas Troubles and Jo Morton fabrics make up a large percentage of my fabric stash. I enjoy piecing my tops and watching my quilt take shape~but when it comes to quilting, I would rather visit the dentist for a root canal than slide that quilt sandwich under my machine needle and have to "quilt as desired". For years I sent my larger quilts to someone else to finish for me and was not always pleased with what I got back. Last year I bought an HQ Sweet 16 sit-down long arm and I am now trying to learn to finish my own tops.

I became a Grammy for the first time 8 1/2 years ago and I have to say~being "Grammy" is more fun and more rewarding for me than quilting will ever be. I have six of the most beautiful granddaughters ever and I am fortunate to live close to all of them. I made each granddaughter a quilt when she was born and instructed their moms that these were "drag around" quilts. I wanted them used and loved-and they are!

I am hoping that by blogging about quilting that I will be inspired to finish my current projects and some long overdue UFOs in a more timely manner. I see other bloggers who knock out multiple projects every month (some even finish more than one project in a week!!) I will never have the time to do that. My granddaughters come first and if I have to pick between being with them or sitting in my quilt room~they win every time.

So, here goes.......my online quilt journal.