My Beautiful Pillow

Sunday afternoon, my friend, Leslie, and her beautiful young daughter, Elle, stopped by and brought me this pillow that Elle made for me.  It is gorgeous!  And what a sweet surprise.  The petals of the flower are done in felt and sewn on individually.  It will have the place of honor on the red quilt.    Elle and I have kind of a mutual admiration society.  She is an ice dancer -  I think that is the right term.  Leslie takes her to Detroit to train and I know she has been working with various partners.   Mom and daughter are both cute and lots of fun.  In my quilt group, I am probably the oldest with  most of the gals being an age to be my daughters or granddaughters.  It makes me feel really good that I am included in their fun outings and their  creativeness.  I think  it helps to keep me feel younger and keeps me on my toes.

 To you, Elle, thank you so much for this beautiful pillow you made for me.  You touched my heart!

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Pinterest

I love looking around on the different blogs looking at all the loveliness out there.  As I do, I usually "right click and save as" things that strike my fancy and put them in folders in My Documents.  I have a file there called "My Good Stuff" which is full of many files of all kinds of great inspiration, ideas and just eye candy.
The other day when I was on one of my favorite blogs, http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/, Lori did a post on "Pinterest" which I had not heard of before.  She explains it and gives examples in her post on Wednesday, August 10th.  Pinterest is kind of like "My Good Stuff" in that it has many, many files of pictures that many, many people save and you can share theirs and they, in turn, can share yours.  I am still trying to get it all figured out and I will eventually.   You can go to http://pinterest.com/caroldb/  and see the little bit that I have there.  Somehow, I have listed quite a few people that I "follow" and I don't know exactly how I got some of them.  When you look at other files, you can repin and put ones you like in your own. What is great is that there is credit for the original poster beneath each picture. 

I think this is going to be great fun.  The little sampler above is something I spotted that I would love to make as a gift. According to the the girl making it,  (http://nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/)  it is only about the size of a sheet of paper. I would make it a little bigger.  Wouldn't that be a nice gift for a new baby?   This time it would be for another little baby who is to be born this month.  Maybe one for Henry later! 
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Tummy Time

Tummy time on his train quilt - subject of the e-mail I got from Norah last evening with this adorable picture.  I am super smitten with this little fellow - and he is such a spiffy dresser!   (Click to enlarge)

What a Nice Way to Start the Day

The phone rang this morning as I finished eating my breakfast.  It was Hannah - what a wonderful way to start the day.  All excited about being an aunt for the first time, she was congratulating me on my first great grandchild.  Hannah sounds wonderful - bubbly and happy with her cute little giggle.  Her next call was going to be to Norah to ooh and aah about the new little one who is doing just great.  Mommy and baby will be going home either today or tomorrow.

It's all  together now - put the last two red borders on this morning.  I started paper piecing the first border but that was going to be a slow go so I did some figuring and came up with the size to cut the little squares and fuse them on the strip.  Took a while but not as long as paper piecing.  The actual piecing the original way is not my favorite thing to do.  I will have it quilted and then have a new quilt for my bed.  It's certainly red, isn't it?  (Click to enlarge)

A Beautiful, Wonderful Early Birthday Present

This evening my beautiful granddaughter gave birth to this eagerly awaited adorable little fellow, Henry Ryan, and mommy, baby and daddy are all doing well!  This picture, as I understand it, was taken within an hour of his birth.   Sherry, my daughter, the new grandma, said they put the baby on the mommy's chest for skin to skin contact for about an hour.  How sweet is that?  Norah and Chad are certainly a perfect picure of proud, happy new parents.  There will be pictures flying through the internet and some skyping going on tomorrow.  Christmas will have the magic sparkle again that only little ones bring to the holidays.  We're so glad you are here, Henry, and welcome to the family.  You have grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles all anxious to hold and cuddle you.  We love you so much. xxxxxoooooxxxxxGreat Grandma

A Really Old UFO

Way, way back in the late 1980's, I taught a little class in machine applique at Needle and Thread, the little quilt shop in Chillicothe, Illinois.  This was the block I used for teaching.  Actually, I only got about a fourth of it done and really don't remember a lot about the class other than one woman had a machine she didn't know how to use.  Awful!  I think the few others in the class did get something out of it---at least, I hope so.  Such a shame when that happens.  This little block was done in satin stitch which was my main method for many years.  The secret to pretty satin stitching is how well the thread matches the fabric.  One day a few years ago, I finished it - then another time I stipple quilted the piece and made it into a pillow.  It has been lying around here waiting to be stuffed for a long time, and I finally did that.  Only thing that was left to do was hand sew the opening of the edge closed. 

Today is the day that this pillow top started probably 22 or 23 years ago is finished, done, complete!!!  Someplace I have a cathedral window pillow top that is almost done.  Maybe I will search it out.  Have a fun weekend!  (Click to enlarge)

Here's Hannah

Hannah has been on a break and vacationing with some of her friends.  She tells about some of it in her last post on her blog which you can go to by clicking on her picture at the right on my sidebar.  Also she posted some pictures on Facebook and I thought you might like to see a couple of them.  She is looking so cute and happy here and from what she is posting and what my daughter hears when they talk she is happy and truly enjoying her time in the Peace Corps.  The plans are in the works for Molly, her next oldest sister, to visit her at Thanksgiving time and then Hannah will be coming back to Michigan for Christmas.  The time is going quickly - but it makes all of us feel so good that she is a happy camper. 

Here is the coach and her soccer team.  Sher was able to get some deflated balls and needles and pump to  send over to her.  Thought you might like to see how Professor Hannah is doing.  We are so proud of that very dear young woman!  (Click to enlarge)