Needles and Pens

My sisters asked what I wanted to do for our birthday weekend get-together, and I said, "Sew. And drink wine." So that's what we did! We spent the weekend together and finished this little recycled blue jean quilt. The back is all blue camouflage/wildlife print flannel: (Incidentally, we also finished three bottles of wine. lol) It's a big accomplishment for us to finish a weekend project, because around here, you never know how your plans will change, or who's going to stop by next. I think we did a pretty good job of "going with the flow." Much of the weekend was spent holding/rocking/feeding/enjoying my great-niece, Ciara, and my grandson, Mason -- such adorable babies! All in all, a fun and productive and tiring weekend! It's Monday evening now, and I'm just getting started on my to-do list for the week: My fabric order arrived today. Good timing! First up, finish the lavender/white custom order ragtime quilt. Finish green/mus...

Whoops! I have been a bad , bad blogger... ..but I'm all done kicking myself over little things like not keeping up with my blog. And since we're not too far into 2013 to still reflect on 2012, here is the Christmas letter I wrote (but never got sent) for my Christmas cards (which did get sent... on January 3rd. Blogging is not the only thing I've been slow about!) Season's Greetings 2012, with love to our family and friends, It's been quite some time since I've written a Christmas letter, but this year it seems more important than ever to look back and reflect on our many blessings, and share them with those we love (even if I am a little late!). In the words of one of my favorite authors, we are so thankful to God Almighty, who has – for now – blessed us with these... Nathan is 25 years old now, in his seventh year working as a heavy equipment operator. In April of this year, he took the big leap of becoming a homeowner, buying a nice three-bedroom...

Yes, he is finally here! Our baby grandson, Mason Mitchell, was born on Wednesday, September 26, at 10:32 a.m., a beautiful, healthy, nine pound, 4 ounce bundle of joy. Mama and baby are home from the hospital and doing well. We're all so happy the waiting is over. He is so precious! Just like his big brother, Aaron, so proud of his baby brother. And I am SO proud of him. :o) Yes, I am one happy Mom and Grandma. Here's the quilt I made for Mason, which has been all hush-hush until now. I wanted to do something extra special with this quilt, so I had it longarm quilted by Marcia Wachuta from Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting . She did a beautiful job with the swirls and hearts. I love it! I'm going to free-motion quilt like this someday... I couldn't wait to get the binding on so I could get it washed and see it in all it's crinkly goodness. I finished a baby quilt for my niece the same week, so I had to take a shot of the cous...

Well, here it is Friday again, and though I've been sewing my poor fingers to the bone this week, I haven't quite finished the quilt for the guest room bed (and since my daughter took off for the weekend with the only working camera in the house, I couldn't share a picture if I had), BUT I do have one other little project in the works, and a tiny sewing finish was involved this week. When I had my first child in 1987, I was fortunate to inherit the cradle my grandpa slept in when was he born in 1890. He had many younger siblings, who most likely slept in it, too, but at some point it was stashed away someplace and forgotten. Thankfully someone had the foresight to hold onto it, and though it skipped two generations of use, it did stay in the family. The original stand was missing (probably why it was never passed down), but when I brought the cradle home, my husband's grandpa (who has since passed) was kind enough to build a stand so I could use it. I'm su...