Mermaid Tail was a Success!

Friday, I posted a picture of the mermaid tail that I made for my granddaughter's birthday gift.  We gave it to her Friday night and it was a HUGE success. YIPPEE!!

Sadie told me that she doesn't like this gift, she LOVES it and will NEVER, EVER forget it. :-)

Sadie was very kind and let her sister Quinn have some fun flopping around as a mermaid.

Sadie had a great time posing as if she's a mermaid sunning herself on the rocks.

And then they wondered if there would ever be a two-headed mermaid. There is now!

I love it that all of the grand kids play together! It may be loud, but it warms my heart to see them all together. They are playing with Bailey's little wood box toy. There are a bunch of different shaped blocks and you put them in the box by matching up the shape to the correct hole. All of the grand kids have loved doing that since they were very young.

I love it when I see the kids playing with or snuggling up with quilts that I've made for them. Peyton is wrapping a doll in a mini chenille I made for Quinn and Sadie back in 2012.

Of course Peyton has to share the doll quilt. She didn't want to use the matching larger quilt. Nope, she just wanted to share with the doll.  :-)

And Quinn and her siblings are so lucky to have another grandma who is awesome. They call her Grandma Honey, and Quinn sure does love to snuggle with her. I was glad she was at the birthday celebration!

Some Sewing, Some Not

Here's the back to the Scrappy Strips that I showed on Monday. I used the extra blocks I made for the backing and I love it! 

 

 

I had a helper yesterday and she did a really good job keeping all of the blocks in order. It sure did speed up the process.  :-)

 

 

I had three young ladies with me yesterday as well and they sure did have fun playing on the roll of batting that I purposely did not put away because I knew they would love rolling around on this. I was not wrong. They played on this for nearly an hour the first time and probably another 20 minutes later.  

 

 

Ann bought some hula hoops and left them here because I only had two and there are six grandkids. They sure do have a blast with them, even Peyton who pretty much just kept walking through them. They always say, "Thanks Aunt Ann!" whenever they play with them.  

 

And then it was rest time...

 

I love this picture of Sadie and Avery. Avery, who is not even three yet, is almost as tall as Sadie who is five. They both have birthdays in August and just realized that yesterday. They had so much fun together.  



 

 

Not much sewing has been done the last few days, but that doesn't matter.

 

These days are so precious and I cherish them.

 

Be safe and have a wonderful July 4th!

 



Friday Finishes and Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been kind of busy here and I'm excited to say that I've actually been getting some things done. YEAH!

Do you remember this Charm Pack Cherry Quilt that I showed a few days ago?

Well, I had some help when I was putting the rows together. Sadie was on the other side of the machine keeping the pieces straight as they were coming out of the machine. She loves doing that! Anyway, when I was taking a couple of pictures of the quilt top, she asked if she could be in one. I said sure and she got herself in position to say "Ta-Da!" 

Well, we had to make a few adjustments and take a handful of pictures before we got it right. Check out the first picture. Notice anything "not so right" here?

Yea, I'm not sure what she was introducing but it sure was funny. I showed her the picture and suggested we take another one.

It's better, but when Sadie saw it, she said it wasn't perfect. So, another picture was in order.

Sadie thought this one was perfect because you can tell she's saying "Ta-Da!" and she's jumping for joy because it's beautiful. Even if it was a crappy picture of the quilt top, how can you not agree that this is the perfect picture? 

I love having grandkids!!

Avery finally got her quilt! I think she likes it.  

And finally, I was playing around with some red, white and blue fabrics and decided it was time to sew. I like how this turned out, even though a few of the blue fabrics were a little too light for my liking. I think I'll make another one and add borders so it will meet the size requirements of Quilts of Valor.

I plan to take a little bit of time early next week to evaluate what quilt tops I have done and get them ready to quilt. Then I can choose which ones will be donated for the Hands2Help Challenge.

Check out what others have to cheer about today (finishes, starts, exciting news, etc.)! Go to Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Sadie Jane!

I miss the grandkids that live in Cincinnati, and I'm excited that I'll be seeing them in a couple of week. But in the mean time, this video will have to do. Don't you just love how Ronan is peaking around the corner to see what's going on in the kitchen? :-)

Click on the link below the picture to watch Sadie performing her special moves! (I'm pretty sure this is her version of an Irish Jig. She is part Irish after all.) Be sure to watch all the way to the end when Sadie answers a special question posed by friend/photographer Allyson. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10101600984191855

Guest Chefs at the House

We had a couple of guest chefs at the house last night and they sure did make a great meal! The girls each made a small pizza for themselves and while they were baking, Nikki made a big one for the adults.

They're concentrating on their work and really didn't want to be bothered with having their picture taken. I think Quinn is saying something like, "Don't bother the master when she's working."

 

Don't their creations look scrumptious? Quinn mad a smiley face with pepperoni and I think Sadie's could be called a cheese lovers special.  :-)

 

 

They were so proud of their pizzas and even shared with us. What fun!!!

 

Maybe I can get them to cook one more time before they have to go home.

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately! I really have no excuse, other than lack of desire to post either because I don't really feel like I have anything to post or because I was busy and didn't have the time to post. I guess when I say that I feel like I don't have anything to post, that's not really true. I have lots of stuff to post, but not much in the way of quilting and when I make a series of non-quilt related posts, I hear about it. 

There are a few quilt-related things going on here, but just not a lot to show. I was busy getting samples ready for the next series of classes and I completely finished my white Zen Garden. (Sorry for the partial quilt picture. I had some issues with getting pictures taken and this was as good as it was going to get.)

 

The black Zen Garden still needs quilted, but the top is pieced. I just couldn't get the quilting done before the samples needed up for display.  :-(

 





 I got a few other little odds and ends things done, but nothing of which I took a photo. (See what I mean by bad blogger?)

 

During my blogging absence, Quinn and Sadie spent a week with us and we had a blast. Of course Jack and I were quite tired by the end of the week, but it was still fun. I know the girls had fun, but I know they missed Mom, Dad and Ronan also. We all met up at a restaurant in Columbus and it was really fun to watch the girls discover when their parents arrived. Quinn saw the car first and was all excited to tell Sadie that she saw a car that was the same color as the one Dad drives. She then got all excited when she saw a person wearing a coat like Mom's! When Nikki turned around and they saw her carrying Ronan through the parking lot, both girls started giggling and clapping their hands. Good thing we were not inside with other patrons, although I think most of them would have thought it was fun to see. By the time Nikki, Zach and Ronan got into the building Quinn and Sadie were so excited that they couldn't contain themselves anymore. The hugs and kisses were just so much fun to watch!

 

While they were with us, the girls did a lot of playing together, but they also did their own things. Sadie spent a lot of time reading, and she especially liked reading in the room with the fireplace. She sure does look comfortable and interested, doesn't she!

 

 

Quinn liked being in the same room, but her activity of choice was doing puzzles. I think this particular puzzle was put together at least four times while she was here.

 

 

And of course there was lots of coloring! I found this memory the other day and just started laughing out loud.

 

 

The girls (Quinn) decided that it would be a good idea to hang up various colored pictures around the house to be used kind of like signs for visitors. This is one that Sadie colored and it was hung on the door to the downstairs bathroom.

 

Here's how it was to work. If someone came to the house for the first time and they had to use the bathroom, we would just tell them to find the colored picture of Mickey Mouse. According to Quinn, having to look for the picture would be fun and therefore, going to the bathroom would be fun. :-)

 

 

I think I'll leave the picture up a little longer......

 

Check out what other quilters are working on by going to Show and Tell Tuesday at 

i have to say...

Grandma's Little Helper

Yesterday Sadie was Grandma's Little Helper!

Like her big sister Quinn, she loves to help me and Grandpa Jack do things. Here are a couple of pictures of her helping to carry in firewood. Now why doesn't it look like work to her?

 

 

 

 

Sadie was lucky because she got to do this all by herself. Quinn was at the store with Jack and Ronan was taking a nap. Wow, she did a great job and loved watching the fire using "her" wood.  :-)

 

Using Quilts

I love it when the girls use the quilts I've made! They were still tired when I took this picture, but they were awake enough to ask for a quilt to share while they watched TV.  :-)

Weekend with the Kids

We were in Dayton for Alex and Erica's wedding this past weekend and stayed at Nikki and Zach's. Since the wedding didn't start until 4:30, we decided to take a trip to Jungle Jim's International Market. Jack and I had never been there, but Nikki's family (including the girls) really enjoys going there. It was super crowded because we were there on a Saturday, but it was still pretty amazing.

Of course the girls enjoyed the waterfall and other outside attractions the best. Can you see the giant strawberry in the top left corner?

 

 

Can you tell that the girls really didn't want this picture taken? There was too much to see!

 

 

This is better...

 

 

I think we need to make plans to go to Cincy during the week and spend more time at this store!

Entertainment

Isn't it funny what people find entertaining? I personally enjoy a good book, baseball and of course almost anything quilt-related. I was looking through some of the pictures I took while Nikki and family were here and this is what the girls found entertaining.

Sadie loves playing with the "word rocks." Quinn enjoys these also, but Sadie plays with these just about every time she's here. 

These came from one of the "Sisters' Weekend" a couple of years ago when we all just wrote things on rocks and gave them to each other. Some are pretty generic and all of us have the same words, while others are very specific to me. I know it sounds silly, but this was fun and I always think of my sisters when I see the rocks. I especially like it when the kids play with them and I read what's written on them.

Quinn enjoys being a helper! It doesn't matter if you're picking up sticks outside, making dinner, sewing or folding laundery, she just likes to help.

I think her favorite chore to do is running the vacuum and this little one is perfect for her. I sure do wish these girls lived closer. Besides the obvious reasons why, I know my carpets would be cleaner if they did.  :-)

Coloring

Sadie really likes to color, and talk, and sing and laugh, and sleep.
But, she especially likes to color!

 

She's moved from the kitchen table to the little desk that Jack fixed up for the kids. This desk and chair are pretty old and Jack spent some time this summer fixing them both and giving them a new coat of paint. 



I think she likes the desk! What do you think?

 

I love that smile!  :-)



 

It Still Works!

The pumpkin placemats I made last year are still entertaining for the girls.

 

They played with them the entire time Nikki was making breakfast and they didn't want to stop when the food was ready! When it was time to eat, we put the face parts away and they used the placemats to eat. After the dishes were put away, the game reconvened. 

 

They had a great time playing "Pin the Face on the Pumpkin" by closing their eyes and trying to place the parts in the right place. I swear I just lost five pounds laughing so hard - maybe that's just wishful thinking, but we sure had fun.  :-)

 

Oh by the way, the mess you see in this picture is really just a figment of your imagination. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :-) 

Thread Play

I think these pictures give a whole new meaning to the idea of thread play. The girls just love to play with the spools and this time they were separating the different types of threads. All the Superior Threads (So Fine and King Tut) were put on one rack and all the others were mixed and put "willy nilly" on the other rack. I figure this is good for developing fine motor skills, right?

By the way, I did dress Sadie today. She spilled a glass of milk on herself and they started playing before I got her dressed again.