{Post 1.495} Surprise GA Trip

One of my daughters was doing a sign-painting class at her church Tuesday night.  I surprised her by driving over there in time for the class.  On my way down, I stopped at my son's house and picked up the other half of a bunk bed set to give her, which was another surprise.  She was REALLY surprised.  

I only took one picture of the class, and it is on my phone...and it is blurry.  But it was fun to see her in action.

I spent several days with her.  We had a great visit.  I love being with her and my grandchildren.  They are growing up so fast.  I want them to know me, and I want to know them!

Here are a few pics of the little nippers.  The first one was the night I arrived.  Keith is a little excited!  The others are at their house.  Yes, I made them the brown and blue quilt on the bed.  I called it the B & B.

The day I started driving down, I had a dentist appointment at 2 PM.  Made for a late start.  My son, Luke, who lives in Charlotte, asked if I wanted to meet for lunch before my appointment because he had the day off from work.  I said, "Of course!"  While we were looking at our menus, he commented that one of his favorite childhood memories was going to the dentist with Rachel (his sister) and I.  I thought that was strange, but he is a strange person at times (like we all are).  Then when we left the restaurant, he followed me to the dentist.  Then he came into the waiting room.  Then I realized he had made an appointment for the exact same time as me so we can continue the tradition.  We both got good reports!

I went to another daughter's house Thursday night to visit for a while then stay overnight.  We had breakfast together the next AM then I drove home via the Little Quilts quilt shop.  That deserves its own post.  Oh, my!!

{Post 1,494} Arizona Trip

My husband, 15- (then 16) year-old son, and I went to Arizona to meet our newest family member Wednesday AM.  I had not slept the whole night before (that is an unfortunate pattern), so I was dead tired when we went to the airport.  I usually dread flying with every fiber of my being, but both flights there were so smooth and relaxing (being sleep deprived has its advantages!).

I think green is God's favorite color.  It's everywhere.  Well, except in Arizona!  Grass is a rarity there.

Here is some stitching I did on the plane.  So glad I got the manicure scissors.  They made it through 8 flights this past week.  A good $4 investment.  I did want to go around the airport and the airplane yelling, "I have scissors!"  Somehow, I was able to refrain.  (It was not easy.  My husband thought I was nuts when I told him this.)

Our reason for going was to meet our newest family member, Jeremiah.  He brought his parents to church Wednesday night.  He is 3 weeks old and weighs a little over 8 pounds.  He is the cutest newborn!!  Here they are:

We spent Thursday sightseeing in the Catalina Mountains that are in Tucson.  Then Kimi and I went to a quilt shop, where I got these goodies.  The shop is the Quilt Basket, and it was featured in the 2013 Quilt Sampler magazine.  I remember seeing it way back then and thinking if I ever went to Tucson, I'd have to check it out.  Never thought I'd be there!  I got two new patterns and two FQs for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I will make a blossom to commemorate our trip out west.

I am eager to make both patterns.  The smaller one is a mini, with the houses finishing at 3" x 4".  So cute.  The larger pattern is a 16" Swoon block.  That one is for down the road.

Some pics from the drive that AM...

Friday we went to Phoenix for some sightseeing, shopping, and a couple meals out.  We got back to the hotel just exhausted.  I slept all night every night except last night.  We were going to get up at 3 AM to leave for the airport, and I just could. not. sleep.  It was maddening!!  The time zone there is 3 hours earlier than here, which caused us a little adjustment or a million.

We had a fun family day yesterday with celebrating our 15-year-old's birthday (my DIL surprised us with a homemade Minion cake).  So Isaac is 16 now!!  Yay!!

Sunset in Tucson...my favorite time of the day.  The city is surrounded on nearly every side by mountains.  The colors as the sun sets are stunning.  These were taken just a few minutes apart as we drove the 5 minutes back to the hotel from my son's.

We had 2 more good flights today. We arrived in Charlotte nearly an hour early.  When does THAT happen??  Now we're adjusting to life as normal.

My own life has been a whirlwind these past 3 weeks.  Tuesday I'm taking one of my sons (who lives on his own) to get his wisdom teeth out, nursing him back to health, then I'm going to try for a few days of staying at home and developing a sedentary lifestyle w/o drama, birth, death, surgery, and flying.  Oh, yes, and sleep...lots and lots of sleep.

In-flight sewing on the way from Chicago to Charlotte...

Here is the progress I made on my GFG just on the trip...much accomplished!

{Post 1,493} On The Quilting Front

I have had a few flights and in-the-car-as-the-passenger time lately.  So that means some progress has been made on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt (do I hear cheering??).

Here is a picture of the top laid on my queen-sized bed.  Keep in mind that I have quite a few more rows to add for the pillow tuck.  In the picture, the top isn't even to the top of the mattress, but it's still encouraging.

My husband, son, and I are leaving in the AM for a flight to Arizona to see the newest family member, my oldest son's first child.  Plenty of stitching time awaits!!

Here are two blocks I worked on while flying to PA this past Monday.  I did a little stitching then, too.  I was so glad my manicure scissors were able to fly with me.  I got them at Walmart in the beauty department.  The tips are rounded.

Here is what is in the soon-to-be-finished stage.  Two of the blossoms are partially finished, and one that is complete is not attached to the mother ship yet.

This is laying on top of my bed.  I have some more rows to piece, but I'm much farther along than I thought!!

Here is the plan for the next five blocks.  I have high hopes, so I cut the strips I needed to the right width to take on the airplane with me. 

I have put piles of coordinating fabric where the next block colors are selected.  

{Post 1,492} Oldie But Goodie

If I have shared about starting to hand quilt this, I can't find it on my blog.  My eyes have evidently changed quite a bit since I last hand quilted anything.  I can't thread the needles of my usual betweens needles anymore.  It's rather depressing.

I finished piecing this in February 2008.  Its time has come to be finished.

Somewhere (of course, with old age comes forgetfulness) I read about "big eye" quilting needles.  I could not find them locally.

On my trip to take my kids to camp 90 minutes west of here, I scouted ahead and Googled a quilt shop one mile out of my way.  Yay!!  And they had the exact needles I was looking for.  Double yay!!  See second picture for needles.  I got the same size I used to use, and they are fabulous.

Here is part of the progress on my Mennonite Mosaic quilt.  I am hand-quilting this to use in my bedroom.  The one with the yellow walls.

I am marking a diagonal line with a disappearing ink through every color and hand-quilting with the same color thread as the fabric.  It's all about the texture.

There was a first for this quilt.  I basted it on my Handi-Quilter for hand quilting.  I had never thought of doing that before.  It sure saved my back.  I have always hand-basted them in the past.  This worked splendidly.

I have a large stencil for the border, which I think is 12" wide.  It's an outlined feather, with corner!!

{Post 1,491} Mysterious Quilt Story

I don't recall if I posted about this, but back in June, I organized a sewing bee for my friend, Colleen.  She was going to Ethiopia to visit her daughter and son, and wanted to take as many pillowcase dresses as she could.  We had a wonderful day with our church ladies and finished nearly 50 dresses as a group.

As the sewing time was starting, ladies were filing into our church to help.  One of the ladies in our church gave me a Ziploc bag and told me she and her sister had had the bag in their office for a few years and didn't know what to do with it, so they wondered if I wanted it.  I glanced at it briefly (it was a very busy day) and was very surprised to recognize some older Thimbleberries prints--ones I had sold, in fact.

After the busyness of the day, I got the baggie out and looked more closely at the fabrics.  They were MY units!!  In 2007, my daughter and her best friend made matching quilted throws.  I cut out one to show them how to piece the blocks and must have laid my pieces aside.  Well, here they were!  Mysteriously, they had migrated to my friend's home.  I don't remember selling them or giving them away, and she doesn't know how they got there.

The 4-patches and star block units were all pieced.  Here they are laid out on my design wall.  I have since sold the book the pattern was in.  If you recognize it, please pass the name on to me.  I remember it was in a book with only 6 or 8 patterns.  I liked many of them.

Each finished block (3 blocks were completely sewn already) measures 15-1/2" square.  I will probably make more blocks to make this a larger quilt.  Maybe even a queen-size for my guest bedroom.  Time will tell.

{Post 1,490} Two Big Finishes

Here is the finished baby quilt.  It measures 40" square.  I love the way it turned out.  The cream is muslin.  The quiltiness right out of the dryer is amazing!!  The quilt pattern is from Christina Cameli.  I forget the name of the exact design.  It quilted up so quickly.

My second really big finish is a pattern from an old American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  I think it was called Pick & Choose in the mag.  It measures about 68" x 85".  Don't remember exactly.

This is a gift for my daughter that will be married on September 26.

This quilting pattern was found on YouTube by the same woman as above.  I love a good free-motion all-over quilting design.

{Post 1,489} Expendable Labor Coach

Expendable labor coach was one of the hats I wore this weekend.  I was also hostess to 15, B & B manager, and a few other things!

One of my dear friends that is my daughters' age asked me to come with her when she delivered her baby.  Well, labor started this morning at 1:15 AM.  At 8:35 AM, little Everett was happily received by his ecstatic parents.  He is 3 minutes old in the picture.  I waited until he was prettied up.

Much relief and joy right here.