GROW YOUR BLOG

This is my introduction for the "Grow Your Blog" 2015 Party. 

I grew up in a quilting household.  There was always a quilt in the frame in my house.  My mom's parents were both quilters.  My Gramma quilted with the church ladies at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Louis, MO regularly.  This is a photo taken of that group of ladies around 1960.   Gramma is second from the left.  

  
I don't have any photos of my Grampa actually quilting, but this is one of the quilts (in the Hearts and Gizzards pattern) which he hand-pieced and left for me to finish.  It was the first time I ever hand-quilted something.  I put it into my hope chest and used it for both of my babies.  They were boys, but the color didn't matter to me because it was so special to have it.

This is my mother with one of the baby quilts she was famous for making.  She made many quilts during her lifetime so this picture is special to me, as it is the only quilty picture I have of her.

And this is me!  I'm Sandy.   

I grew up in St. Louis with my seven siblings and lived there, with the exception of a few short years, my entire life until moving to Huntsville, AL to be closer to our grandchildren.  I home-schooled my two sons, Adam and Aaron from baby through high school and then continued being a stay-at-home mom.  I have been married to Hubby, Philip, for almost 40 years.  I am Gramma to Noah, Gavin, and Aidan and MIL to Brandy.  

Besides quilting and spending time with the grands I love to read, knit, and play around with photography.  

Quilting has become my real passion.  Every quilt I make is special, and I hope they bring joy to the people who receive them.  I wish I had time to make a quilt for every single family member and dear friend in my life.  And I often think about how proud of me my mother and my grand-parents would be, if only they could see the quilts I make and how much I enjoy making them.

A big "Thank You" to Vicki at 2 Bags Full for organizing the Grow Your Blog Party.  I hope you will check out her blog as well as some of the other bloggers participating.

My New Project for September -- Baby Quilt

Not a lot of sewing has been going on around here lately.  But a whole lot of life has been happening!

Everything from taking the grands to Seattle for a week.....

.....to vacationing in Destin with our son and his family and some of the boys' friends.....

.....to having knee surgery.

And the other night we made s'mores in the courtyard here at home.

Aidan really enjoyed them.  I think everyone did.

Gavin is at the stage where he doesn't want any photos taken.  He humored me.

I did get an actual quilting project started this month for the 2013 NewFo Challenge.

These three blocks are for a baby quilt and the fabric might be for the border.    I have all the blocks finished and the sashing is cut, but that's as far as it is right now.  Baby quilts usually get completed around here, though, because there's a definite deadline on those.  That means there will probably be photos of a finished quilt soon!

I'm linking up to Barbara's Linky Party.  You might want to take at look at what others are working on.  

Excuses, Excuses.........And a Finish!

Excuses, excuses.  Or should I say, Reasons, reasons.  I have been too busy to sew lately let alone blog about it!  I guess I should have just been blogging instead about my crazy life, at least then you would know why I'm not sewing.

The last sewing I did was at the June retreat I told you about.  Here are a few of the things that have kept me busy the last several months.

Two of my sisters, Barb and Dee, came to see me for a weekend.

My sister, Debbie and her girls, Natalie, Carrie and Emily, came to see me for a weekend.

Hubby and I took our grands to Seattle for a week to visit our son, Aaron, and see the sights.

We spent a week in Destin, Florida with our son, Adam and his family.  

I celebrated a birthday!  


This is what my sewing room has looked like for over a month.  It was turned into an extra guest room and it has stayed that way.  Hard to sew like that!

The one thing I did manage to finish was the NewFo I started in May.  It was a completed top so it only needed hand-quilting and binding.  That's not work, though.  That's therapy! 

And here's the reason I managed to get this one quilt completed at all.  Little Gracee Mae-Rose, our newest great-niece.  After all, every new baby needs a quilt!

This has been a whirlwind summer.  One last thing will keep me from sewing this week - the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I'm going with my sweet friend, Faye, where I know I will be inspired and motivated to get sewing again.  I feel pretty certain that I'll be in my sewing room when I get home from that.  

A Happy Christmas!

Christmas this year has been a little different.  I wanted to stay ahead of the Fibromyalgia Monster so I decided to not decorate the house.  Surprisingly, I didn't even feel guilty about it.  In order to keep this post in the holiday spirit I will share with you a picture of our tree from last year!

It's a little out of the ordinary too, I know, but I kinda like to fit life into my own mold!

We celebrated Christmas at Adam and Brandy's house a few days early and had a wonderful time.  The food was delicious, the company delightful, and the grands were really excited about their gifts.  

Technology ruled the day.  Noah loved his super-duper headphones....

.....and Gavin and Aidan were surprised with their iPad mini's.  

Six and a half year old Aidan exclaimed, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" when he realized what it was.  By the end of the evening he was snapping pics with it and emailing them to us!  I woke up the next morning to a text message from him asking me if I wanted to Face Time with him!  

We got to open presents, too!  

This iArm that Adam and Brandy gave to Hubby was the best present of the day!  Too funny!!

Even though this Christmas was unlike other years, the best part of it was unchanged -- focusing on and spending time with people we love.

Normally I don't make any gifts for Christmas.  I find it much too stressful.  Besides that, when I do make a gift for someone, I just can't wait that long to give it to them!  This year I did make several things (probably because I saved so much time by not decorating!)  I'll show you those next time.  In the meantime, if you want to see the rest of our Christmas photos you can find them here on my Flickr page.

Christmas 2009 - Part Two (The Big Kids)

The little kids were happy ("little" meaning the grands) and it was time for the big kids (our sons and daughters-in-law) to open gifts.

Here is a great tip for those of you who never know what to buy for your adult children -- have them create an Amazon Wish List.  It has made my life so much simpler as far as gift giving goes. (And I think it has made the kids' lives easier, too, when they want to shop for us.  You know how they think we already have everything...) 

 In addition to the Wish Lists Phil came up with some excellent ideas, and we were actually able to surprise Adam and Brandy with something.  (It still is fun to surprise them!)

I don't know how much of a surprise it was but one of Brandy's gifts from me was a quilt.  More about that in another post......watch for it!

Aaron and Leah enjoyed their gifts, too.    They wanted presents to open this year instead of photos of things we were having shipped to their home in Seattle, and we were happy to oblige!

I did not, however, enjoy mailing a huge package   home for them after Christmas.  (Well, okay, I didn't actually mind it...)  Next time though, they do need to leave a little more space in their luggage for that return trip!

Now for the biggest kids of all -- Gramma and Grampa!

Gavin really loves to give gifts and every year I get the most marvelous jewelry that he buys for me at the Santa Shop at school.   And I wear it!!  Soon I'll have such a varied selection that Phil won't have to buy me any more. (Do not believe that for a minute, Philip!  I just said that in case Gavin is reading this.)

I cannot resist one more photo of the grands!  Gavin, Aidan and Noah really love their Aunt Leah.  And she definitely enjoys them.  Sometimes she's the biggest kid of all.  They do have fun!                           

 

Christmas 2009 to be continued..........