a PEARY good time... was had by all...

second son N & family live in a charming Craftsman house in Baltimore. in their back yard is their beloved pear tree- it was planted years ago by previous owners, but N & P really love the tree, as well as the children E & T. we get lots of pictures and updates on the blossoms and pears, and how they're doing. N also has a hive of honey bees.

on a recent visit down to Bmore, N was happy to show me how his bees are doing. i was impressed at all he knew, and how he was very knowledgeable in caring for the hive of bees. we're all looking forward to the day when he has enough honey to share!

currently, we have 6 grandchildren- 3 boys and 3 girls. of those 6 birthdays, 3 of them occur in an 11 day time span! (AND: i think i forgot to mention, but #7 is due early May!) L is the daughter of my oldest son, D, and she starts the party with a birthday on October 30. they live in CA, so we were only able to face time on her special day, but she's sure a sweety! she just turned 3. 

Next up is C. he was 5 on November 4. he's the son of my oldest, M, and has a younger brother and sister L & A. wee baby sister is in the wings, and will be joining us in May. we can't wait! Grammy and Pap gave C a "coonskin" hat. he seems to like it...

here we are at C's picnic- my 2 youngest daughters, A & B, as well as his siblings L & A. 

then, just to keep things interesting, i headed down to Bmore that weekend, to celebrate E, who was also 5, on November 10. if you're wondering why i started this grandchild birthday celebration post taking about N's honeybees, I'm going to tell you! 

E knows that Grammy loves her, and she also knows that Grammy loves to quilt. she asked me if i would make her some pear placemats for their {family hierloom} dining room set. of course, i didn't even have to think about that for one second! i'd be thrilled. 

i dug around in my stash, and found some long ignored and unloved tan plaid; that worked just great for the background. i also found some greens and yellows that would work well for the pears. 

but: such a special project certainly called for some "stash enhancement"! and I was thrilled to find some fabric that was just perfect! (i think you should be able to click on the pictures to supersize them, and see some of the fun fabrics i found) Belle, bees, pears, catapillars are some of the fun elements that made an appearance... 

i used the pear pattern from Lori Holt's book, Farm Girl Vintage. it was a gift from N & P a few years ago, but the first I've used it. (there are lots of fun block patterns in that book; i plan to make a few more blocks/placemats one of these fine days...) 

i made 8 pear placemats (so there would be enough to use for company,) and then i also made 6 "pear blossom"  placemats. using my accuquilt Studio2 cutter and my shoo fly {my favorite quilt block!} die, i loosely interpreted a pear blossom into more placemats. The white and pink represent the pear blossom, the brown is the twigs of the tree and the {Kona stratosphere} is the brilliant blue of the spring sky. 

each placemat finished around 13" X 17" if i remember correctly. i drove down to Bmore to deliver the placemats, and E (and the whole family!) opened them are were so thrilled! i was so happy that E had asked me to make something special for her, and it's also important to me that she know that Grammy was honored to fulfill her special birthday wish! 

we had a lovely afternoon together- not doing much of anything but spending time and chatting. i even got to rock the baby, T, to sleep and hold him during his nap. (he's a chubby, chubby sweetie!) 

thanks for stopping by- and listening to my little tale of grandchildren, pears, placemats and family! 

 

and in other news....

in this week of "sewcial distancing" there has been plenty of time for sewing, that's for sure!

a few reasonable sewing sessions (not really marathons, even) i have the 4 I Spy quilts done for the grandchildren. (a surprise Easter gift from Grammy) . the only thing left to do is to sew on the label on the bottom right side- and they're on the way from Oregon, so it won't be too long and they're officially done! 

the Kona navy quilt is for grandson C, and the Kona lupine is for granddaughter E. they're both 3, born 6 days apart. 

the grey one above (due to the quarantine, i used a different grey LV print, instead of Kona medium grey, which would have been my first choice) is for granddaughter L, 1½, and the Kona azure is for grandson L, who just turned 2 last week. 

each of the 5" squares were chosen specifically for each child, and each family.

granddaughter L and her family spend lots of time outside hiking, so the camping print was especially appropriate. clockwise above, is L's quilt (camping backing) the azure quilt for L, nuts and bolts backing, his brother C, (kona navy) screws, bolts, nuts and washers, {their daddy is a carpenter} and granddaughter E- just a wild and crazy pink. 

my oldest daughter, M, (mama to the 2 grandsons) is expecting baby #3 in 6 weeks. guess it's time to get started on the quilt, huh?! haha. now that the I Spys are done, i can focus my attention on this baby quilt. M & hubby K prefer a darker palette for the color scheme, so this honey bun it is! i've added some konas from my stash, so hopefully i have enough variety! instead of grey, i plan on using kona indigo for the background, and i'll probably bind this baby quilt in orange. (more preferred colors of the parents.) 

i'm pretty much totally. over. this quarantine and social distancing thing, but i guess we have a bit more time to go.... click on over to Angie's and see what everyone else has been sewing to  pass the time! 

in which the blogger actually finishes TWO quilts!

haha! hope you're sitting down....

I basted my RSC17 Low Volume Plus blocks last week. even though I was so excited to get it done, I still had to "discipline" myself to quilt it- that's really not my favorite part!

I love how the colors just sort of fade into each other. and it's a nice size, too- about 62"X75". a nice snuggle quilt.

the backing makes me happy, too. I waffled between several different fabrics (I'm usually not so indecisive!) and settled on these. the panel was a gift from my husband a few years ago- it's a color swatch of many different Hoffman batiks. the stripes are Moda- and after looking at the picture, I wish I would have noticed that the blue stripes aren't lined up... oh, well... and of course I was just a *tiny* bit short of fabric, so the clown hair rainbow fabric makes a small appearance on the back of the quilt.



I'm such a horrible procrastinator- but I finally got the baby quilt done! my oldest daughter, M, was due with baby #2, a little boy, yesterday. (yesterday!) we knew he would be late, but at least it's not my fault, since the quilt is done now!

 

C, the first little guy is 16 months old, and he's a busy little boy! (he also has no idea how his life is about to change!) despite being so active and a little bit crazy, he loves to be read to. he'll sit for quite a long time and listen to story after story.

you can't see M's baby  bump here, but it's so cute! the nursery is decorated in hedgehogs; you can see the 4 different hedgie fabrics I used in the quilt. one of them was from spoonflower- a definite splurge, but they were so cute I couldn't resist! the nursery colors are aqua and navy. I threw in some green because that seemed to match well and be in several of the other fabrics already. she and husband K really like the quilt, so that makes my mom (and grandma) heart happy!

 

now we just wait for Little Mister #2 to decide he's ready to come...

 

while we're waiting, click over to Angie's to see what everyone else is working on this week!

(and I even updated the RSC18 tab this week too! so many accomplishments in just one week. ha!)

 

orange is such a happy color!

 

I'm back! I managed to do a *tiny* bit of neutral/low volume sewing (my indigo 16 patches) but that was about it in the RSC17 department.  

but- here's 2 of the reasons that I didn't get a lot of time in the sewing room- granddaughter E and grandson C. who needs fabric with these two little sweeties around?! baby E and her mother P are visiting from WA this week. my son, N, is on a 40 day training deployment in CA, so we took the opportunity to fly the 2 of them out (to PA) for the week. it's been so fun- and baby E is such a snuggler- she tucks right into my (left!) shoulder, sticks her thumb in her mouth, and twirls my hair. it's so sweet!

 

(and notice the ORANGE apron... it was Farmer's Market day here on the farm. the apron was totally coincidental, really...)

 

the two cousins were born 6 days apart, so it's kind of like twins when they're around! (and E's daddy was one of my twins- D & N, now almost 27 years old.) ACK! that makes me feel old!

 

and I guess it's been so long since I posted that I have MORE news to share: C's daddy and mommy (my oldest child) is expecting again! we'll have ANOTHER baby to snuggle in March!!! can't wait!!!

I made a *tiny* bit of progress with my low volume scraps: I moved them out of the jars, and into my huge colander. does that count as progress? ha! these scraps will be pieced into crumb blocks.

I need some help from you guys! I have this nice little pile of 5" low volume squares. I'm thinking of piecing them together into a patchwork top, with some applique. (she says with a shudder) I've only ever made one applique quilt, and that was about 15 years ago. I think I might have one more in me, and can probably pull it off as a traveling/piano lesson quilt. (the last one was done during baseball practice/games when my boys were teenagers) any suggestions? I'm looking for something creative, easy and funky.

 

just for fun: here's my stack of (6½" crumb blocks. these are from last year, as well as this year.) I did made an impressive stack of blue crumb blocks (was that July's color?) but they're not trimmed yet. I'm looking forward to getting these blocks into a quilt of some sort, and I'm heavily leaning towards Rachel's Picnic Blanket.

 

there were a couple sew-a-long quilts this summer that I would have loved to do- this one, and also the one that Amanda Jean hosted. ( I even pulled out and petted my low volume scraps for that one, but just couldn't manage to pull it off with the gardens and baby sitting)

and last- but not least- here is an impressive pile of little purple squares. I rescued it from the dog bed pile at our church sewing circle- Scraps to Wraps. all the squares seem to be accurately cut, and are 1½". someone took the time to cut all these squares, and there are a few assembled 9 patches in the pile. (lower right corner). I'm offering this to someone who has the time (and patience!) to complete it into a quilt- preferably for a charity of your choice. I'll mail it anywhere in the USA. just let me know if you're interested, and what charity you plan to give it to. I'll have it in the mail to you by the end of the week.

 

be sure to click over to Angie's blog- our hostess with the mostest, and see what every one else is sewing on!

Soon: very, very soon!!!

the babies are coming! the babies are coming!

they're not here yet, but really, really soon! can you tell I'm excited!

My son, N and his wife P, are having a baby girl mid-November. P requested a quilt that is pink and yellow. they live in WA, but P is in Tennessee this weekend for some weddings and her baby shower. I was glad to only have to mail the quilt to TN... (unfortunately, to travel from PA to TN for the baby shower is a bit much, although I would have loved to go!)

 

the quilt is all Kona cottons. it was fun to make. the backing is a blue sky Winnie-the-Pooh fabric. their nursery is decorated in Pooh bear. I made them a matching (pooh bear) crib sheet, too.

September was pink month for RSC16, so the baby quilt fits right in, right? (the baby shower isn't until tomorrow night, Sunday, but I'm pretty sure neither P nor N reads my blog....)

M had her baby shower way back in august. she's my oldest child, oldest daughter. above I'm pictured with A and B, too. A/B are the "babies" of the family- 10 and 9 respectively. they are also SUPER excited to be aunts.

 

M didn't really have too much input on her baby's quilt; I knew she was doing her nursery in owls, so I took my color inspiration from her favorite owl fabric. (which I bought yards and yards of at $4/clearance. yay, me!)

 

I fussy cut all the owls for the center of the blocks (the first AND last time I ever fussy cut fabric!) and surrounded the blocks with coordinating Kona cottons. (surprise, surprise!) the backing is the same owl fabric, and the binding is brown.

 

we have less than 3 weeks to wait for M's baby, and the little girls and I will be flying out to WA December 1. can't wait!

 

and notice Daisy the donkey? she adds that extra special touch to the photo shoots of the quilts. (and the molasses treats she gets doesn't hurt, either!)