Tula Pink Sew Along

My first ever foray into a sew along.  I fell in love with the Tula Pink book and wanted to make something from it.  Joining in on this was the perfect way to dip my toes into the wonderful world of Tula Pink!!  I made a baby blanket with this pretty jelly roll I had picked up somewhnere.  Now all I need is a baby girl to give it to.  It ws fun, easy and turned out nice.  Also gave me a chance to practice my free motion quilting. 

I have already started cutting on another Tula Pink pattern.  Making a quilt for mom for Christmas.  Details and pictures to come soon!!

Super Sunday

What a wonderful relaxing day this was.  Lazy morning waking up with a 6 year old snuggled up next to me.  It doesn't get better than that.  She wasn't feeling very well last night so after giving her medicine for a fever she cuddled with me.  Happy to say that fever gone and stayed gone throughout the day.

Spent several hours with a couple other favorites this afternoon while watching my beloved Kansas City Chiefs tank yet again, sigh.........I love crafting while watching football:

Worked on a quilt for Keely's full size bed (when we get it!).  She falls out of her tiny twin bed way to often so we are getting her a full size bed when we move.  Hopefully she will be able to stay in that!  Sewing and Starbucks - doesn't get a lot better than that on a lazy Sunday.  The blocks in the lower picture will be cut in half, mixed up, and resewed.  Sounds easy enough, BUT, I accidentally closed the blog I had gotten the idea/pattern from and have no clue who/where it was.  Should be interesting to see if I can figure this out all by my little "old" self.  I think there was sashing, but not sure.  I am figuring I will decide as I go along.  I can't wait to see how the blocks look once they are paired up and sewn back together. 

Took a long-arm quilting class last week so I can rent time on a longarm machine at a local store.  Went for a couple hours practice on Wednesday and I have to admit my work was rather dismal!!  I need a lot of practice before I attempt a whole quilt.  I really enjoy it and think it will be lots of fun once I am comfortable with it.  The possibilites are endless and I have no doubt that a longarm is in my future.  Course I do have to share that lofty desire/goal with the other half! 

Almost finished with Liam's camo blankie.  The one I made for him when he was born barely covers him and it's his favorite.  He sleeps with it naptime and bedtime.  His mom (my daughter) asked if I could make him a bigger one.  I, of course, was insanely happy to do so.  The old, well-loved one will go to his brother, baby Isaac who is 7 months old.    Also finished a super snuggly baby blankie for a friend who just had his second son.  It is some of the softest yarn ever and every one I have made and given away has been hugely enjoyed by the new parents!! 

We have a contingency contract on our home and I have to say that the wait is not much fun.  I am ready to move on, although after 21 years in this home, it is really hard to leave.  There are so many memories tied up in this house, most happy but a few not so much.  Those not so much I will be happy to leave behind, but the happy ones make it really sad to leave.  How do you go through 21 years................what to keep?  what to get rid of?  Decisions, decision, decisions.  The light at the end of the tunnel is being able to move back to Denver, where I have wanted to go since the day I left 31 years ago!!  Who knew it would take so long. 

AND HOW WAS YOUR DAY?

Weekend fun

What a glorious fall day here in Overland Park!!  Keely and I walked to school this morning in crisp upper 50 degree weather.  Going to be in low 80's by the time we walk back home.  Gotta love this time of year. 

We started our wonderful weekend with the first skating party of the school year.  Since Keely went to a private kindergarten all of the school stuff is "firsts" for her.  We had a blast and hope to get in lots more practice before the next one rolls around

Saturday morning I took a class at Quilted Memories to learn how to use a longarm quilting machine.  It was so much fun and I am so excited to start practicing.  I have rented some time Tuesday afternoon to do some practice pieces before I attempt an actual quilt.  It's a whole new world opened up for me and I am so excited to be trying it out. 

 

Shortly after I got home my oldest grand-daughter arrived for a sleep-over with cousin Keely.  What a grand time we had.  Lots of dress-up, lots of giggles and laughing, hide & seek, swimming, tooling around the drive in the Barbie Escalade, did I mention laughing and giggline??  It was a late night for those 2 giggly girls and they eventually fell asleep around midnight!! 

Donuts for breakfast Sunday and a day full of laughing commenced.  I love the sound of children and am so blessed to have the cousins near for Keely to play with.  Gary and I worry so over the fact that we will be raising her as an only child, but we are determined to give her as normal a life as possible given that her "mother and father" will not be a part of her growing up.  One of the benefits is that "papa" is around a lot and that never happened when our kids were growing up.  Being retired does have it's benefits! 

I had to share this picture I took of Keely and Avalon last week.  I absolutely love it and the look on her face is darling.  She loves to go to the barn with me and he is such a gentle giant who wants lots of petting and treats from little girls. 

Labor Day Weekend

 

Hope everyone had a nice 3 day weekend.  It was pretty warm here and I was able to spend quite a bit of time working on my latest quilt.  I am calling this Over the Fence, made from a jelly roll.  It turned out rather nice, but I made it too narrow so added the strips on the side to widen it a bit.  I can't wait to practice my free motion quilting on it.  Once it is finished I will decide who I want to give it to.  I am enjoying very much quilting again.  Especially the part where I can give something so special to someone so special to me!!

 

I spent several hours Monday morning entering a bunch of give-aways on a blog hop.  Hopefully my number will be drawn in at least one of them!!  Would be kinda cool.   Saturday coming up I am taking a class on how to use a long-arm machine so I can rent time on it.  I am super excited about that, and a bit nervous!  I think that is an excellent way to find out if that is something I might want to do at home. 

   In the above picture Keely is wearing the very first skirt I have ever made.  I have a captive audience in her and she loves everything I make.  The first one went so well I plan on making many more.  This was from our vacation in Colorado in August.  We were hiking up in the mountains and she found herself a walking stick.  She has brought so much joy to my life and being a mom again in my 50's has been quite interesting!!

This is the top I finished piecing today that I mentioned above.   I am anxious and excited to start the next one, can you say "compulsive"?  Too much to do, too little time.  Till next time.......

School is in session!!

August is almost over and it's back to school for the kiddies.  Keely is in 1st grade this year.  Her school is half a mile from our house so we walk both to and from school every day.  So far it's been great and she and I both really enjoy it.  Such a wonderful time for us to chat with only the beauty of the outdoors to distract us!!  I love the random questions she comes up with and the off the wall things she does and notices during our walks.  One day she noticed a cicada on the sidewalk, wondered if it was alive and to find  out blew on it.  It was and she scared the poor thing head first into the crack of the sidewalk.  Not to mention I jumped 3 feet myself, it startled us as much as she startled it!!  She likes to randomly hug trees, I smile.  I am often reminded not to step on a crack so I don't break my mother's back, I should let her know that I am very careful walking to school so as to not hurt her back.  We are becoming friends with the crossing guard at the school and are quick with a smile when we see her.  Every day when she walks away from me and heads into the school I am blindsided with the love I feel for her and how very grateful I am to have been in the right place when she needed me most.  By the end of November the custody issue should be over and she will be with me permanently.  I am blessed and thankful every day.

Today I finished my first queen-sized quilt and am so happy with the way it turned out.  I love it!  The entire thing was pieced and quilted on my machine.  I can't wait to start on another one....what to do, what to do???  Free motion quilting is pretty intimidating but so much fun. 

 

 

What will today bring??

These prescious fingers and toes belong to the little girl who hopefully will be one step closer to being with us permanently.  KVS has recommended to the court that they move forward with permanency options which I desperately want.  Of course that means lawyers for mom and the bio donor will fight like crazy against it, but they have had 9 months and have made little to no progress. Both of them have pretty awful histories over the last couple of years.  She deserves so much more than those two individuals.  Her papa and I are determined to see that she has a wonderful future to look forward to with parents/caregivers (depending which way things go) who will love, nuture, guide, and protect her as she grows.  I am so thankful that we are in the position to step in and be for our granddaughter what is lacking in her young life.  Tonight I will say a small prayer and ask for help in how tomorrow turns out.

Countdown to change!!

It's a good thing that I have such a great love for quilting, knitting, and crochet.  With all that is going on right now I rely on creating to take my mind away from wondering what is going to happen.  Tuesday we go back to court and I think we will finally know whether or not we will get our grand-daughter permanently.  8 months ago I pretty much begged the state to intervene because I couldn't find another way to put a stop to my daughter's destructive drug addiction.  At that time I was awarded custody as a foster parent.  It's so odd to be considered a foster parent to your grandchild.  It has been a joy to have her with us and witness her thriving in a safe, dependable, consistent, and loving environment.  Fortunately she did not suffer any abuse, but she was neglected to the extent that she basically took care of herself and missed more kingergarten than she attended.  Her mom loves her, but she loves drugs and herself more.  I say she loves her, but I have to wonder how someone can look at that sweet child and not put her first in every way possible.  I will never understand how someone can lose all sense of reason to substance abuse.  I know it happens every day, but I truly never expected it would impact our family the way it has.

Keely is my constant companion and loves to keep me company while I am working at the sewing machine.  She is a wonderful critic of what I do, always, always complimentary and positive.

I finished piecing this this afternoon and love the way it turned out.  I can't take credit for the pattern but I am calling it (for my personal purpose) Onward and Upward because that is my husband Gary's favorite saying and this seems to speak that to me.  Especially under the cirmstances we are in right now.  I am please with how the colors work together and am excited to contemplate the quilting part!

This top I finished piecing on Father's Day.  You can see Gary peeking over the top.  I am thinking that quilt will look wonderful on one of my grand-daughters' bed.  I have 3 so I can indulge in lots of girly colors and fabrics. 

One jelly roll was all it took to get this much put together.  I have gotten some dark green to use for borders and will probably use it for binding as well.  I love how easily you can find ideas, instruction, and help with pretty much anything you might want to do or create.  It's truly wonderful!!





I continue to strive "Onward and Upward"...........

Missing Daddy today

It's Father's Day today and I am missing my dad.  It's been nearly 4 years since cancer took him from us and yet it still feels unreal.  I keep expecting him to answer the phone one of these days when I call my mom.  He is forever in my heart and I will forever miss him.  Happy Father's Day daddy, I love you.

Lazy Sunday

Not to be forgotten, I am still "hooked" on making cloths!! I so love the colors on this little beauty.

A perfect day to be creating!! Even though it's warm out, going up to 87 today, total cloud cover and kinda dreary looking. I picked up this little kit from Fabric & Friends, LLC in Camdenton, MO while at the lake house (Lake of the Ozarks). It's billed as a Ten Minute Table Runner. Took me a bit longer since I am still getting my sewing feet wet and just plain like to take my time. Love the way it turned out and it gave me an opportunity to play with some stitch functions on my machine. I love how the flowers from our yard look so pretty sitting on the breakfast table with such a pretty runner underneath. If you ever get by Lake of the Ozarks, stop by and visit this shop www.fabricsandfriends.com , very friendly and helpful. Since I have the directions I see a few more of these in my future!

I have fallen in love with this shop:  Fat Quarter Shop
If you haven't had a chance to visit this site please go:
http://www.fatquartershop.com/


This kit produced this little pillowcase which my 2 1/2 year old grandson absolutely loves:

I have gotten really hooked on quilting again.  It is so relaxing and the finished products are sooo cool.

Made this for Keely's doll

Bought myself a "serger" which I can't wait to get home and use.  A little nervous about it because I have read so much about how terrified people are with trying them out.  But the excitement overweighs the terror!!  I am firmly convinced that I shall rock at the use of the all-terrifying serger....

Have been practicing my machine quilting, just in time for a class that I signed up for next week at the local Bernina store (where I purchased my machine many years ago).  I am excited about it.  Little does my family know that blankets galore are in their future.  They will be confused because normally I am sharing the knitting or crochet items I make with them. 

Along with the newly rediscovered quilting I have found myself obsessed with reading quilting blogs.  I am in awe with the talent that can be found out in cyberspace.  I should have known since the same is true for my favorite knit/crochet bloggers.  It's amazing how generous people are when it comes to sharing their knowledge or expertise. 

Until next time..............

I have rediscovered quilting and am having an absolute blast!!  I have a great sewing machine that has been sitting neglected for at least 10+ years and had forgotten what it was capable of.  I think I originally bought it with quilting in mind so it is exactly what I need right now.  My first attempt for was my newest grand-baby Isaac who was born on leap day.  When all was said and done, it was an average attempt.  I was remembering things as I went along and unfortunately it turned out to not be my best effort.  I decided that since he was only 2.5 months old he probably wouldn't care much.  Krissy knows she can throw it on the ground and abuse the heck out of it, most likely I will be making him another in the not to distant future.




Next up was a lap quilt for my middle grand-daughter Keely.  Her favorite color is pink and mine is purple so I showed her the two fabrics I was thinking about using and she loved them (lucky me).  Keely is 6 years old and definitely has a mind of her own.  I have custody of her right now so I have a little one around 24/7 to love, spoil, and make things for.  She loves everything I have ever done for her, my best audience!  She has put in a request for a quilt for her dolls that will be perfect for using up some scraps.

Keely graduated from kindergarten this week and this was what we gifted her wonderful teacher with.  She loved the "mug rugs" (from a kit, now I know how to do them), and inside the crochet bag I created we put a gift card from Target (one of her fav stores).  Its so nice when people enjoy crafted items as gifts and I so love to make and give things away. 

Julianna is my youngest grand-daughter, she will be 5 going on 25 in July!  She is pretty girly but her mom, my daughter still rebels against that and pleaded with me not to make her lap quilt over the top girly.  I know I will have many opportunities in the future to feed my inner "girl" so came up with these fabrics that I knew would please her as well as her mom.  This has been my best effort yet and has gotten me so excited for my next effort. 

It's still pretty hectic at our house these days.  We are enjoying being full time parents again, but it can be tiring at times.  At the same time our home of 19 years is for sale and that brings alot of stress and sadness along with it.  When we first decided to put the house on the market we had planned on moving back to Denver once it sold.  Life has a funny way of changing your plans.  We now are not able to leave the state until the situation with Keely is resolved and that doesn't look like it will be happening for at least 6 months to a year.  We don't know if we will have Keely permanently or if her mother (our oldest daughter) will be able to get her act together.  So if the house does sell it will be rental time for us.  The thought of having to downsize from our current 7500 square feet to about half that almost paralyzes me. 

It's crazy to think about all that is happening right now.  Smile and keep putting one foot in front of the other!!  Perhaps I should start journaling??

Musings

This is one of my very favority pictures to remind me of good friends and good times. We were quite the "adult" hunter group back in the day at White Fox. Kate, Gail, Jennifer, and I spent many a day sitting on our horses awaiting our turn in the show ring. The fun times we had will always bring a smile to my face. I do miss those days.

It's been a crazy last 4 months for me, so much has happened that has been life-changing for us. How to come to terms with those changes is challenging, yet rewarding. We are full-time parents again with gaining custody of our 6 year old grand-daughter. It's energizing to be around all of that energy! I find myself back to driving to school, taking kids to gymnastics or dance, play-dates, etc. She is doing wonderfully and is happy and well-adjusted. We are blessed.

  Related to above paragraph, my gaming on the computer has been considerable reduced so I guess it's good timing for my laptop to have to go in to the shop!! I have, however, been knitting and crocheting like crazy. Along with numerous washcloths, I completed my first pair of socks!! Have made many hats and scarfs, some wrist warmers, a couple baby blankets, among other fun things.

This shows what happens when you are left-handed and you knit a pattern as it's written!!  Looks awesome through the mirror, lol.  One of those fun lessons learned.  I have gotten used to reading patterns backwards, albiet it is a bit of a nuisance.  Finally I absolutely love this saying: