Sewing for Liam, Quilt 1

OK,  After an evening with my blogging Granddaughters, I am determined to figure this out.  I have been very busy sewing for my new grandson.  I had wanted to make him a quilt as soon as I knew he was coming, but with several complications along the way, his Momma was very leery about planning for him.  So I waited till he was born, for his Mommy's sake.  What a blessing when he arrived safe and sound!!  The answer to so many prayers!!  And time to celebrate and SEW!  I had decided that I would like to make him an embroidered quilt like Addyson's favorite blanket ( a hand-me-down from her Dad).  It's amazing how many patterns are just not meant for little boys!  But, even tho there are flowers on every block, I figured puppies were kind of a boy thing.  It had been years since I had done any embroidery so it took a while to get it going but, after a couple of weeks, I got that part done.  Then to find fabric to compliment the blocks and be for a boy.  Once the fabric was finally picked, the assembly began.  Once again, it took a while but I really like the way it turned out.  Then, I visited a quilt guild meeting and listened to this lady, Jacquie Gering.  What an inspiration.  From her presentation and blog, I discovered a new approach to quilting.  I just love the feel of it!!  Not nearly as precise as her work, but it kind of has it's own look.  My favorite part is the back.  I hope that Liam gets lots of snuggles from this quilt for many years to come!!

                                  The Front

The Back (My Favorite!)

My New Look!

Wow! Is this not pretty! Thank you so much Dear Granddaughter for giving me a new look! Love the color, love to dots, just love it!!

Today has been so cooool!! Fall is certainly in the air! It feels very good to be wearing a fleece jacket! I may even have to break down and put some real shoes on tomorrow!!

Good things have happened here today. Jeff posted that they sold their St. Louis house. I loved that house. It was probably my dream that they would return to St. Louis with that little guy of theirs and be within a few hours of driving time. But, what a relief for them to not have to worry about it so far away. They could always move back to St. Louis and find a new house to live in with that little guy, right?

On a much smaller note but exciting to me, yesterday we got a blue egg, today we got a little brown one from our new chickens---finally!! We got them a new kind of food on Monday. Got eggs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Either it is a good coincidence or some really great food!! Guess we won't change back tho, just in case!

Received a lovely letter, well, actually two letters, from H. today. What beautiful hand writing she has!! What a joy to get the letters!!! I actually sat down, wrote her back and put it in the mail box. It was so fun to actually get fun mail! It is fast becoming a lost art. Maybe that will be one of my new plans. To send more letters. Of course I still need to write about 10 thank yous from my birthday. That would be a good place to start!

I'm rambling! Just had to put something on this pretty new looking blog!! Thanks again H.

Monday Morning, 6:20 AM

I have been quite grumpy lately. Don't really know why. Everything just seems to irritate me. So I have been searching for an answer to my problem. This is my new motto. Hope it works!

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

Philippians 2:14-16

Funny how scriptures sometimes just reach out and thump you on the head!! Today I will count my blessing and NOT be grumpy!

Have a Happy Monday!

New Look!!

Wow!! Lovin this new look. Dear Granddaughter gave me a much needed facelift!! Old lace, paper, and pearls! So pretty!!! Thank you Special Lady!! I love you!! Maybe some day you can "show" me how you did it so I won't have to count on you to fix me up!

4th of July, Part 2

4th of July was extended to the next weekend for us. On Friday, Deana, Andy and the girls came for another visit and we spent the day hanging out, and being together. It was so much fun! Activities included home made facials complete with egg/yogurt masks and cucumber eye treatments! It really did feel good! Also much time snuggling little puppies!! They miss the girls now that they are gone. They got lots of people training!! And, to finish it off, the dads and kids shot off the fireworks that were left from the 4th. Both days, the girls came ready to DOODLE!! They had found their Mom's doodle books and we had so much fun sitting in the new green chairs in the craftroom doodling away!! Just an amazingly restful, enjoyable weekend!!

Today is HOT! 11 am and its already 92 with a heat index of 1oo. It is projected to get close to 100 with a heat index of 110+. Hello Summer!

Our Baby Liam is in the NICU again. Rising bili count, hard to control body temp., projectile pooping. So hard to be so far away. Not that I could do a thing. Johna and Jeff have everything covered so well. I am so proud of their strength and patience with everything. Thank the good Lord for giving them great Dr's. and medical staff to take care of him. My wish is that all tests will come back great and he will be ready to go home for good by Thursday. Realistically, I bet he will do just that by his due date. Tomorrow he will be one week old!!! Another 3 weeks and he should be good to go!! It's hard to describe loving someone so much that you have never seen or touched. But, it is there. Today the kids sent a video of him pooping. So you couldn't really see the pooping part. Just the tiny little face. So precious.

This morning was day 2 in our walking routine. Up at 5:40 - out the door at 6:01! Such a beautiful morning. Now Haley would have awesome pictures of the sunrise. I didn't remember my camera. Deana was suppose to be walking with us (in Gardner) but didn't hear from her. It is hard to get up! While we were walking, it RAINED on us! So refreshing! It has all turned into mug now but what a pleasant feeling while it was going on!

I have scrubbed the dog house, played with the puppies, watered all the flowers, and freshened all the dog waters. Have done 0 house work. Well, the first load of laundry is started. Guess I better get with it. It will be time for our amazing protein smoothies before you know it! Oh, by the way, yesterday we bought this amazing blender called the Ninja! Emily was telling me that Jeremy had gotten one for his protein shakes and since our old B & D blender would only run for a mimimum amount of time before dying, we decided we better get something else. I was actually surprised that Dean wanted to get the top of the line blender. Usually, it is the low end we go for but this one rocks!! Has 3 levels of blades!! We should have smoothies in the blink of an eye! I'm anxious to try it. I am also going to make some of Elizabeth's Salsa so we can have it with dinner. It is SO good and again should be a snap with all the new power we have!

After lunch, I AM going to cut the words for my Grandkid wall! I have pondered it for a long time and now it is time to do it! I have a new picture of Haley and Elizabeth to change, a picture of Liam to add and it will soon be time for Addy's 11 year old picture!! Kate will soon follow!! It is very fitting to honor them! They are the joy of my life!!

Have a great Monday!

First Posting

This is quite a leap for me. It is through the inspiration of my precious Granddaughter Haley, that I dare to venture here!! I love her blog! She is such a great photographer and has such a gift at sharing both the exciting and the everyday things in her life. I want to be able to do that too! Not that my life is very exciting, but I love my life! I love the people in my life and I truely enjoy the life I live. By sharing it in a blog, I hope to save the memories of so many special times that I experience and this old memory tends to forget! So much is too good to lose!! Thank you Haley for encouraging me to try!!