Sneak peek: baby projects

I have started on a couple of projects for my twin grandsons, due May 9.  Both are fairly simple, but since I need to make two of each, I decided I had better get started!  The nursery will be done in shades of yellow, aqua and gray.  I am knitting chevron baby blankets in these colors.  The gray isn't quite as dark as it appears in this photo.

Of course I wanted to make quilts for them, so when I was in Minneapolis two weekends ago, Kate and I went to Crafty Planet and she chose these fabrics.  I am using them in this pattern for a zig zag quilt that was also originally from the Purl Bee.  I'll keep you posted on my progress...

Did I mention I'm going to be a grandmother?

My daughter Kate is expecting twin boys on May 9th!  We are all very excited, but I am still very nervous...being an L&D nurse I know everything that can go wrong.  So far so good though, boys are growing well and no signs of preterm labor.  I went up to visit for her first baby shower last week. I took a few pictures that I haven't uploaded yet, but here is one her friend Erin took of us and and the huge number of gifts she received.  Erin, who is also pregnant, blogged about it here.

 

While I was up there, we went to Crafty Planet and bought fabric for two crib quilts.  I will be sharing my progress here...I promise!

Last weekend

Last weekend my BFF, Marjorie, and I went to St. Louis for the Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Workshop, organized by Mary herself and Barbara Martin, former editor of the MEHC magazine.  There were fabulous teachers, Charlotte Lyons, Kathy Curroto and Nancy Wethington, who guided us through lot of crafty classes! I had gone to two previous workshops, last year and this past June, but I think this was my favorite one yet.  Maybe it was the Christmas theme or the fact that Margie and I were together, but for whatever reason, I had the best time. We did a needle felting class with Kathy on Saturday morning and Charlotte snapped this picture of us modeling our scarves.

Saturday afternoon we decorated holiday sweaters with Charlotte, but somehow I missed taking pictures of that.  Barbara did take this photo of us with Queen Mary herself.

I can't tell you how nice Mary is.  Having the workshops at her studio is wonderful experience.  Everyone is so warm and welcoming and everything there is so CUTE!  After the classes on Saturday we had milk and cookies, and names were drawn for prizes. Look what I won!

 

And Mary even signed it for me...

On Sunday morning we made paper wreaths with Kathy, who provided us with a plethora of vintage Christmas ephemera to use in our creations. This is what mine looks like...

And in the afternoon we made little house ornaments with Charlotte.  Can you guess which one is Margie's and which one is mine?

I was thrilled to find this photo on Charlotte's blog.  We have been fans of Mary for over 20 years, so it was like a dream come true to spend the weekend together with her!

You can find lots more pictures of our weekend on Mary's website, Charlotte's blog and on my Flickr page.  And Tina has a fantastic slideshow on Knitting Contessa.  Enjoy!

I'm gonna be a grandma!

I know I have neglected this blog terribly.  Lots of excuses, none of them valid.  No new quilts to share, although I have completed a few more block of the month blocks...will try to post pics soon.

We moved my mom into a senior apartment complex on July 1.  I have made numerous trips up to Mansfield, trying to get her settled and get the house ready for an estate sale and then on the market.  Lots of stress there.

On the other side of my sandwich generation thing is good news...my daughter is 14 weeks pregnant with twins!   Here they are at 12 weeks. 

As soon as we find out their genders in a few weeks, I foresee lots of knitting, quilting and sewing of baby clothes to ensue.  Thinking about getting a serger...any advice on that?

I am leaving tomorrow to go to the Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Workshop in St. Louis.  It will be smaller that the one last year, but it is being held at the studio, a much cozier setting.  My BFF Marjorie is meeting me there...can't wait to see her and Mary and Charlotte and Kathy and all the other talented people who will be attending.  I promise to share our creations soon!

Link to the ME Contest

You all know how much I LOVE Mary Engelbreit!

Link to the ME Contest

Our latest trip

We just returned from 2+ weeks in Italy. Here we are in the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace in Florence (Firenze). If you are interested, you can see all my photos on Flickr. Ciao!

A week in Paris

Mike and I spent a week in Paris for our twentieth wedding anniversary.  If you would like to see my photos, they are on Flickr...enjoy!

Another great giveaway

Amy Barickman is having a fabulous giveaway over at her blog, A Thimbleful of Thoughts.  Check it out!

Finally finished...

This is the block of the month quilt from Cabbage Rose I started last year. This photo is a bit overexposed...the colors are actually much richer. I had it machine quilted and managed to get the binding on in time to give it to my mother for her 80th birthday last Friday. Of course she loved it!

Inspired Ideas

Check out this fabulous ezine from Amy at Inspire Co.

Open publication - Free publishing - More happy

Turkey and Greece

Click here to view this photo book larger

Mom's gotta brag

I know I have been MIA for a while.  We recently returned from 2+ weeks in Turkey and Greece!  We flew to Istanbul, where Mike visited MD Anderson's Radiation Therapy facility at the American Hospital.  We spent three days in Istanbul, then took a Windstar Cruise from Istanbul to Athens, stopping at Ephesus, Rhodes, Bodrum, Santorini and Mykonos along the way.  It was fabulous! After two days in Athens (the Acropolis is amazing), we flew back to Istanbul for two more days of sight-seeing.  It was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I have 600+ unedited photos on Flickr, if you want to plod through them...this one of us was taken on the Bosphorus, under the bridge from Europe to Asia. 

When we returned, I found this book awaiting me.  I had pre-ordered it from Amazon because my beautiful and very talented daughter did all the photography for it!  Pretty awesome, huh?

Fall color

My best friend recently moved from the Chicago area to Jacksonville, Florida, kind of like how I moved from Milwaukee to Houston 8 years ago.  She loves acorns and all things autumn, so for her birthday (today) I made this little piece from a Fat Quarter Shop kit.  I hate to break it to her that it is probably the only fall color she will see living down here in the south...

Block of the Month finish...well, almost

Remember these? Well, I finally got around to finishing all the blocks and piecing them into a quilt top. Just need to find something for the backing and this one will be off to the quilter!

Inked

I have been in love with Paris for as long as I can remember.  My favorite book as a young child was Madeline.  I still have my copy of it from 1954.  I have only actually been there once to visit, although I have flown through CDG a few times.  I'm hoping that we will spend our 20th anniversary there next March.  I have been contemplating a new tattoo for a while.  I have a 30 year old ladybug on my hip, but I will spare you that sight.  It took me a while to decide what image I wanted indelibly etched on my aging body, but once I had the idea of the Eiffel Tower, I couldn't get it out of my head.  I have been motivated to do the tattoo thing this year.  I usually donate blood every three months, but you can't donate for a year after getting inked.  I learned that I can't donate this year because we traveled to India last November, so I thought this would be a perfect time.  Last weekend we were visiting our kids in Minneapolis and there is a tattoo parlor very near my daughter's house that she and my son-in-law have both patronized.  So with at little encouragement from her and assurance from my husband that he wouldn't divorce me, I got this work of art by Miss Kitty on my right ankle.  It's a little bigger than I had originally envisioned, but she was able to get remarkably fine detail into it.  What do you think?