Lions, Monkeys and Tea Parties

This past week found Greg and I visiting Joel, Cara, and Simon.  We had a wonderful time with the three of them.  Simon has changed so much just since Christmas.  He loves to count, knows the letters of the alphabet, and can use an ipad quicker and better than either of us.  He found lots of surprises in the suitcases and was excited by all of them.  One of the surprises was a tea set.  Sounds like a girly present, but guys have to have tea parties too!  Mimi got the yellow cup.  Hooray!!

I spent the days having fun with Simon and the evenings working on the hexies.  They continue to grow.

Here's what we have been working on.

Yellows, blues, and grays!

Kittens and Mice!

Those are some great quilts!  It never fails to amaze me what we can do with scraps of fabric that someone generously gives us.  Most of the time they are pieces that are left over from someone's project and they just want to pass them on to someone who can use them.  We love them!  You can see what they can become!

I've had several requests for more pictures of Simon.  It will be hard, but I will do my best to show you more pictures!   Ok, it won't be that hard!

A couple of weeks ago, Simon's head came into contact with a chair.  The chair won and Simon had to get 8 stitches.  It wasn't very much fun, but Oreos and watching a video on mom's phone helped.  

See you next time!

Winter in Kansas

It is definitely winter in Kansas.  If you live here, you know what to expect--the unexpected.  We can be 60 degrees one day and below freezing the next with blowing snow.  Guess which it was this week.  Yep, blowing snow.  I had fourteen inches at my house.  What do you do when you have fourteen inches?  Well, you look out the window a lot but there is really only two things you can do.  You have to make soup and sew away the day!  Curling up with a quilt and a good book will work in a pinch.

The ladies in our little group are doing awesome things.  We need to catch up on looking at some quilts!

Whew!  That was a lot of quilts!!  Lots of times I mention who pieced or quilted each quilt.  In truth, lots of people are involved in each quilt.  From assembling a kit, to sewing, to quilting, to binding and to adding a label, there are lots of steps to completing these quilts.  Everyone likes to do a particular part of the quilt and that is what makes it fun.  There's something very easy about just doing the part you like.  Can you tell I'm really into that idea?  I do want to mention that a lot of our bindings are sewn by Beth.  She is one of the original few that jumped in on this project from the beginning.  Thanks for all the hand sewing, Beth!

What's your favorite part of making a quilt?

Thanks for looking!

A Link to the Past

Recently I was giving a lot of thought to finding a project that I could work on while traveling.  It needed to be something that wouldn't take up much room, something I could sew by hand and something that would work with interruptions.  I had seen several people working on English paper piecing to make hexagons.  They really didn't interest me.  I didn't think they were very attractive plus they seemed like they would take a lot of time.  The more I looked though, the more interested I became.  There was something about them that drew me in.  It seemed if I were going to do them I should make them with 30's prints.  But I don't really like those prints.  What if I found a soft, buttery yellow (my favorite, favorite color) and used it to set them together?  Maybe then I would like them a little better.  My mother was about to have knee replacement surgery.  I would have a lot of time in the hospital with her.  Common sense went out the window and I decided to give it a try.  I gathered all of the needed items and began my journey into the world of hexagons or hexies, as some people refer to them.  

My mom had successful surgery and Greg and I took her the five hour trip back home where she would spend the next week or so in the hospital having physical therapy.  By this time, I was well on my way to having multiple little pieces in the shape of hexagons.  On the long trip home I began to sew them together.  I am sure Mom noticed what I was doing, but she didn't comment.  She is used to seeing me with something always in my hands.  After a couple of days, Greg and I returned home and my sister went to visit Mom.  

My sister just happened to be visiting with Mom and a cousin of mine.  Apparently my grandmother was a quilter too.  My grandmother, Rachel, made a quilt for her oldest daughter and gave it to her as a wedding present.  Sadly she passed away when Mom was only eleven years old.   My cousin Rosie, who has possession of the quilt, brought it to show my sister.  

At that point, Mom realized it was made with the same kind of little pieces that I had been making for the last week or so.  My grandmother used white and green to set the flowers  and I am using yellow.  She used pieces of outgrown and worn out clothing from my mother and her two sisters.  I used new fabric.  You can feel the love in each tiny stitch she made.  I can only hope others will find the same feeling in mine when it is complete.

I still don't know why I picked up all the little pieces of fabric and began this project.  I keep saying I don't like the pattern and I don't like the 30's prints.  I do love the yellow.  For whatever the reason, I am compelled to work on these hexies.  I limit myself to working on them when traveling or in the evenings while watching television.  I have a hard time stopping when bedtime comes.  I've been asked what size mine will be.  I don't have the answer to that.  It will be done when the quilt tells me it is done.  And maybe, just maybe, my grandmother will have a hand in that too.

Some Christmas Cheer

Did anyone else think Christmas came and went quickly?  It seems like I just finished putting up the decorations.  Now it is time to take them down!  Normally I leave mine up until New Year's Day.  This year I plan to go ahead and put them away early.  Time to start the new year fresh and in my sewing room!

Earlier this month I delivered seventeen Christmas themed quilts to the hospital.  Christmas is a terrible time to have to be in the hospital so hopefully our quilts brought a little bit of cheer.  Let's look at some.

Most if not all of these quilts started in Judith's basement.  Last year I gave her most of the holiday fabrics we have in the stash.  She cut kits and we passed them out to the piecers.  These were the results of Judith's imagination.  I think they turned out quite well.  I'll share more of them soon.  And yes, I am still sending holiday fabric to Judith.  In order to have these ready for the holidays we have to work ahead of the season.  Yes, just like Santa's elves!

There are lots of things I intended to do for the Christmas holiday.  I didn't get a lot of them done.  My plan is to start earlier in 2014.  Have you heard that before?  We did get to have all of our kids home with us.  And of course that means Simon!

Thanks for taking the time to check in with us.  As always, we put a piece of ourselves in every quilt.