The 24-Hour Quilt

Thirty-plus years ago, when I was pregnant with our first child, I made a little quilt for the new baby.  At that time, it was rare for parents to know the sex of their baby before its birth, so I used red fabrics to make a bright, gender neutral quilt.  Simple pattern, six-inch squares and a diagonal pattern, tying the layers together with yarn, nothing fancy ... made to be used.  Use it we did, for all three of our daughters.

Daughter #1.  Hard to imagine that this little cherub is all grown up, with two children of her own.

When Drew (grandson #1) was born, he used this quilt, too.  Caleb (grandson #2) has it now, and he takes it along with him everywhere he goes.  It's a bit threadbare now .... the fact that Caleb picks at it has accelerated the decline.  

This picture is about two years old.  The old quilt is a lot more worn right now.

Because the old quilt is now little more than a rag, I decided to make a new quilt for Caleb for Christmas.  Like the original, I wanted it to be simple ... shouldn't take too long to make a small quilt like I had in mind.  A quick trip to the fabric store, and this is what I decided ...

Rainbow colors, in a mix of patterns ...

Six-inch squares, with a diagonal pattern, and half squares on the border.

As with most important projects, I had help.

Dorothy holds down the layers, as I sandwich the top, batting, and backing.

Pinning the layers, with Maggie's help.

I used yarn to tie the layers together, just like I did with the original.

Alice and Maggie supervise while I mark where the yarn ties will go.

Four knots per square.

A quilt hoop helps hold the layers straight while I tie them.

With all the ties in place, I trimmed the batting and backing, then used the sewing machine to attach the binding.

It took a couple of hours to carefully fold the binding to the back and stitch it in place by hand.  Dorothy kept me company while I worked.

After a quick trip through the washer and dryer, the quilt was finished.  

24 hours, start to finish.  I even surprised myself with how well this came together and how little time it took to make it.

I know that Caleb will love it ... but I don't hold any hope that he will agree to replace his old quilt with this one.  My vote is that he will now carry both quilts wherever he goes.

A Special Little Guy's Birthday Present

Our grandson Caleb turns three today.  Has it really been three years since he was born?  

Our present from Granddad and me is a Super Caleb hooded towel.  I made it last week while I was in the midst of my sewing frenzy, out of a bath towel and three hand towels ... one hand towel for the hood and two for the applique.  

Never made one of these before, and I'm psyched about how it turned out because I was pretty much making it up as I went along.  I hope it fits and looks okay, since I didn't have a little kid on hand to use as a fit model while I was making it.  Either way, I know that he is going to love it. 

Happy Sunday, Everyone ... and Go Redskins!!

Ten Years Ago Today ....

Our first grandson was born on this date ten years ago.  I can't believe that it's already been that long!

He has always been a beautiful, bright little boy ... and now he's not so little anymore.

It has been a joy to watch him grow up, go to school, and blossom into a wonderful young man.

Happy Birthday, Varmint ... Grandmother loves you more than you will ever know.

Typical Days Around Here

With real live winter weather and temperatures here in Hartwood for the past few days, there hasn't been too much going on to talk about.  I wanted to work in the basement for a while, to get my workshop cleared out so I can work on projects a little easier, but it was 57 degrees down there ... too chilly to work comfortably.  I passed my time working on more exciting things, like laundry.  Woo hoo!  (insert sarcastic smirk)

To figure out how I spent my time, I turned to the photos on my iPad.  Let me share with you some examples of things that I photographed over the past few days.

1.  Here are Alice and Dorothy snuggling and sleeping beside me on the sofa, in a space that seemed to be much too small to be occupied by two cats.  

2.  Cold weather causes me to have an uncontrollable urge to simmer things on the stove.  The other day, I discovered a package of 15-bean soup beans in the pantry.  Using these as a starting point, and after I simmered the beans for a couple of hours, I added chicken broth, tomatoes, onions, carrots and celery, and some other stuff.  It was delicious as dinner, and I took some next door to the neighbors for their dinner.  The remainder joined the other frozen containers of various left-over soups that reside in the freezer.  (Ham and white bean, chili, chicken vegetable, black bean and pumpkin, etc.)

3.  The other day, I walked past the window in the family room ... like I have done a thousand times since we bought this place in 2002.  The sunlight perfectly illuminated the growth rings in the heartpine of the sill, and I was strangely drawn to count them.  124.  The tree that gave the wood that was used to make this sill was at least this old when our house was built in 1848.  Takes us back to 1724 or earlier, when that tree sprouted.  (I think about this stuff sometimes.)

4.  Our 2-year-old grandson stayed with us the other day.  It was a very active day, keeping a toddler entertained all day ... too cold to go outside, so we did things indoors.

Watching Dora with Granddad and Ruby.

Napping on the couch in the sunshine.

Dorothy says, "how about paying a little bit of attention to me?"

5.  I stopped working on my crocheted looper rug for now, because I have another project to finish.  The cats are helping.

Alice keeps my lap warm, while sleeping in her Super Kitty position.

Maggie, you shouldn't be laying on that!  

Today is the second of two rainy, icky days.  There's no staying at home today, though.  The Husband and I will soon be hitting the road for a two-hour drive to Maryland, for an annual luncheon for hordes of horticulture and nursery people at our friends Jim and Dan's house.    

I expect this to be a fabulous Sunday.  I hope yours is, too.

Are You Kidding ... It Can't Be Wednesday Already???

Oh my ... where has this week gone?  I have been faithfully chipping away at my To Do list, day by day, paying very little attention to what day it actually is.  Since I was last here a few days ago, I have accomplished a LOT.  Settle in and let's get caught up.

Saturday.  

Toured four beautifully decorated houses in downtown Fredericksburg during the annual Christmas Candlelight Tour.

Played hostess in the living room of one of the tour houses in the afternoon.

Spent the evening with our grandsons while our daughter and her husband went to her work Christmas party.

This is how our daughter found me (and Grandson #1) when they got home.

Sunday.

Met a greyhound hauler from Florida to pick up three dogs who were going to an adoption group in Maryland.

Missed the Greyhounds Rock meeting, because the hauler ran into bad weather on his trip north and was running late.  Participated in the meeting via cell phone after I dropped off the dogs.

Hung out with some very fun, very crafty women at The Empty Nest ... making Christmas decorations, eating, and lots of laughing.  Thank you, Janet, for hosting us!!

Monday.

Bug out of the house while the cleaning lady is here, and continue to chip away at the Christmas Shopping List.  Made good progress.

Put lights on second Christmas tree ... this one isn't prelit, darn it.

This is our prelit tree in the family room, with shims under the stand because the floors in this old house are uneven in places.

I still have to put the skirt under it.

Edit and print Christmas Letter.  Letters from some people are nauseating brag fests, but ours isn't.  I tried to eliminate the letter years ago, but this was met with protests from everyone on our Christmas Card list.


Tuesday.

Go to Shumate Auction tag sale.  It was the estate of a seamstress, and I thought I'd find some cool sewing stuff.  I passed on the machines, notions, and fabric (though there was one bolt of Waverly toile that I really, really wanted ... but had no use for.)  I left with a wonderful 6-board antique chest that will live in our guest/grandkid bedroom.

Address and mail Christmas cards and packages.  I only had two packages to wrap and mail, and about 30 Christmas cards.  The cards have glitter on them ... and so do I after handling them.

Make dog stew.  I supplement Ruby's commercial dog food with home-cooked veggie-meat-rice mixture ... cooking a large batch every few weeks and freezing most of it.  With only one dog to feed right now, this batch of stew will last for about 10 weeks.

Wednesday (today).

Finish the last few Christmas decorations and get the boxes and totes out of the entry hall.

Go to the vet to pick up a case of Dorothy's cat food.  (she eats prescription food to help with her tendency to develop urinary crystals.)

Write and mail Christmas cards that I forgot about on Monday.

Do laundry and pack for our trip to New York City this weekend.  This is a bucket-list item for The Husband.  We quit putting it off, and this year we have made time to spend a long weekend seeing the New York Christmas sights and a show with friends.  Ruby is spending the weekend with my parents, so I have to pack her things, too.

One of the other items on Monday's list was to de-shed Ruby, since I noticed that she was starting to blow her undercoat.

Even with all of this seemingly-nonstop activity, preparations for this Christmas are fairly relaxed.  I'm not stressing about shopping or decorating.  For shopping, I made a list and have stuck to it, for the most part.  The Husband did most of the house decorating while I was out doing other things over the weekend, and the place looks really nice.

Family room mantel

  

I love Christmas and all that comes with it!!  I expect that this year may be the best one yet!  (I say this every year.)

How are you doing with your Christmas preparations?