Alyssa's Birthday Quilt

Last night I finished a birthday 'tablecloth' for my soon to be one year old granddaughter. I had no intention of quilting it last night, just finish up the piecing and appliqué and maybe load it. After I checked my tension, I decided to quilt a bit. Was planning on just going until I get my first thread break...unfortunately (or is that fortunately?) my thread never broke! My tension was great; machine moved smoothly...thirty minutes later, it was ready for binding!

I wasn't extremely happy about the quality of MY quilting, but it didn't look too bad... If I compare it to things I've seen here it is very amateurish, but I can see that I am improving. I was very limited in what I could actually quilt as my DIL doesn't like heavy quilting, so I basically just did a lot of meandering, a few swirls and an attempt at stitch in the ditch...

It really frustrated me that the stitches and tension were so perfect! I was really thinking I was going to be ripping out what I was doing! But my DIL loved it and started crying. I used fabrics from Alyssa’s receiving blankets, her bedding, and some fabrics I had used for her Mom and Dad’s anniversary quilt!

I’m positing a picture, not to show my great quilting, but to show that I am improving, ever so slightly and to show that I’m not giving up at quilting!

The pattern is from an old Quick Quilts magazine, and I used King Tut Cotton Candy… I’ll be trying feathers on my next quilt!

Waiting by the phone...

Well, we are in the middle of VBS. This is Alyssa's first VBS, so I guess I was a little anxious as to how she would do. Also, Damien is completely 'off' meds during the time of VBS, so I was a little more anxious as to how he would do. So far, it looks like I was worried for nothing on both counts!

Alyssa LOVES going to Bible class, and Damien is doing much better than expected. (even after getting candy in class last night!)

Today, Alyssa is off to Eggelston Children's Hospital having a test run on a lump in her neck. The doctors aren't completely sure if it is a lymph node or a cyst. They are thinking it is just a cyst, and the ultra sound today will tell them the timing of the surgery and the type of surgery she will need. I know I should be using this time to quilt, sew and probably clean house...but I am sitting here on the 'puter waiting for them to call me with what the doctor said. I really wanted to go with them, but figured that would just make me a hovering grandmother and mother in law, so decided against it. I know the procedure only started about 30 seconds ago, but I wish they would hurry and finish and get me the results!

Michael (child #2 who will be 26 tomorrow), had to have 6 lymph nodes removed when he was about 12. One of them was the size of a golf ball, and was a little worse than the doctors wanted to see... he has a lymph type cancer in the muscle of his eye, so they were more than just a bit concerned, but so far there has not been a re-occurrence of it.

I know, I know, I'm a worry wart when it comes to my kids. we just came off the roller coaster of my son in law's bout with Hodgkin's Lymphoma ( all of his post chemo scans have come out great!) and I just can't seem to let my guard down!

Well, Brianna has just finished cleaning her room and wants me to come vacuum it (I only vacuum their rooms once ever two weeks - they do it other than that) so I need to go. still waiting by the phone for the test results!

Alyssa's First Kiss?

It is hard to believe that Alyssa is almost a year old! It seems like only yesterday that she was born. She is growing up so fast!

On Thursday, Damien had a doctor's appointment in Athens, so Grandpa stayed home watching the girls while I took Damien to Athens. From what I hear, she had Grandpa wrapped around her finger about ten times around! All he would say is that she is a mess!

We are in the middle of the great attempt to break her from the bottle. Meaning, she is only getting a few bottles in a day and she is drinking out of the cup more and more. She prefers the bottle to the cup! I've always called her my baby, and if you ask her who she is she will pat herself and say "Baby". So this week I have been telling her she is a Big Girl. I asked her if she could say Big Girl, and she promptly said "Big Girl", so then I patted her and said Big Girl, to which she replied, "Big....Baby"! Now, every time I call her Big Girl, she giggles and says "Baby"

This morning, when I picked her up for Sunday School, proud Mommy and Daddy told me she had said "I love you " for the first time yesterday! (of course, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get her to tell me I love you!)

During Sunday School class this morning, she had her first kiss! She and Quick (a much 'older' boy who had his first birthday today) climbed over to each other and planted a big one on each other! While I'm sure it was totally adorable and cute, I'm afraid at 10 and a half months she is much too young for that!

Grandma is really enjoying this being a grandmother thing. It is even better than I thought it would be! Hopefully I can get some pictures posted soon!

Eleven Months and Counting!

Well, I have eleven months to go until the Crepe Myrtle Festival!

I've started my quilts, and actually got two tops almost finished. I've made a crib size and a twin size in a Trip Around the World pattern. They both need some borders on to complete the top and are in browns and golds. So far I LOVE them. I made them both last Friday. I had to wait until after Alyssa went home to get them completely finished, as Alyssa thought I should hold her all day!

Normally she will play in the floor with her toys and only need me occasionally to make sure I'm still around. So I usually sit and watch TV, surf the web, or maybe try to get some writing done. But Oh No, not Friday! Once she realized i had something to actually do, she wanted to be held. She was very clingy. Which is OK. I love to sit and hold her, so no real problem.

I had taken Brianna's sewing machine down to the classroom and brought all my paraphernalia down with me. Only took 4 trips! So, after she went home, I lugged all the stuff up to the living room to finish it up...somehow it took 6 trips back up...

I only spent about two hours to finish up the both of them, so it wasn't too bad. I need to get some more fabric and try and make another two this month to feel like I am on track. Eleven months is not that long when you stop and think about it!

What Duck?

Have you ever heard an 8 year old say something that makes no sense, only to discover she was right?

Wednesday we made a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few items. as usual, the kids were putting items in our 'pantry' (actually a couple of closets from Home Depot in the garage to hold the overflow of groceries). I usually put the items that need to go in by the garage door, and they put it away for me. For some reason, Damien wasn't interested in helping so Brianna was putting everything away by herself. We (me, my husband and oldest son, Shawn) were in the living room talking. All of a sudden, we heard a scream and Brianna was running back from the garage into the kitchen.

She was yelling something about a duck flew over her head! Now, we have an attached garage that is full of junk, but I don't remember having a duck in there! She insisted she saw a duck, so she finally convinced her father to go look. He spent a couple of minutes looking, but saw nothing. He came back in laughing that she probably heard the freezer kick on and her imagination got the best of her.

She then proceeded to put the remaining grocery items on top of the freezer, not wanting to venture to the pantry. Suddenly, she screamed again! This time, Damien was intrigued and he decided to go investigate. Sure enough, there was a duck beside the freezer! Evidently our neighbors duck came to visit while my husband was cutting the grass the day before and got stranded when he closed the door!

So, Brianna, Damien, and Daddy took the feathered stow away home. He had somehow managed to get under their fence and made his escape. They had searched for him (Beakie) but thought he had just decided to find a new home.

Now, Beakie is safe at home after his adventure and doesn't seem to be planning anymore adventures...at least for a while!

Moral of the story, always believe your eight year old, no matter how crazy it sounds!

Nini