A Princess and Her Throne

Emerson got a new potty!!! She loved it!!! It has a handle for "flushing" that makes royal sounds! Too cute.
She also got a package of panties.....she is growing up so fast!!
Ok, so not that fast!
I spent a few hours with the grandkids yesterday and I just get such enjoyment out of them. I took TJ for ice cream, like I do every visit. It has become our tradition. Emerson will have to join us soon. She was sleeping when we went, but enjoyed some of Charlotte's ice cream cone when we returned.
I also worked some in my sewing room yesterday. Saturday, I attended the first ever Acorn Quilting Group....I think we will be calling ourselves the Acorn Quilters. It is a small group of hand quilters and let me tell you....it was FUN!!! Three of the ladies were from my hand quilting class that I taught in April. They are doing beautifully. One lady has started doing all the little quilts in the "Prairie Children and Their Quilts" book.....for me those are Libby quilts. I was so inspired by the one she brought, I dug out my book and pieced another one myself. I decided to do the Native American quilt.I chose my fabrics to match the ones in the book. (Forgive the lighting in these pics. My sewing room needs some lighting magic.) You will see that later, I changed most of those. I got all my half square triangles made up and trimmed the "dog ears"....is that right? Goodness, that sounds so much better than my previous verbiage!When putting these little blocks together, I had to be so careful of placement. You can see this so blatantly in the picture, but in real life, it was not so easy to spot.....This is better.....I am glad I never had to pull out my seam ripper!!
Once all the blocks were done, I decided I did not like the medium blue for a background, nor did I want the green or tan for the borders.I wanted that yellow/gold to pop....I got that gold fabric in Galena. I decided to add another Galena fabric and used a dark olive green for the background, and pulled the red and indigo into the borders. I am very pleased with the outcome.I picked up the backing fabric for TJ's sailboats. Stars will go nicely. I plan to get that basted this week sometime.It has been hot and humid here, which means the air is on and no windows are opened. That is not pleasing to Sassy AT ALL. She roams from window to window meowing. Finally she walks over and just bites my leg!! For NO reason, she just bites me....she wants to play.Well that is it for now. I am going to get my week going in a positive direction. It is too hot and thick to walk outside right now, so I plan to get on my treadmill this morning and then get a jump on laundry and plan out the rest of my week.
Have a blessed day!!!!

A Charlotte Fashion Show

Remember my post a while back about modesty and the short shorts??? It has been heavy on my mind. Since then, something else came up which really knocked me for a loop (what does that actually mean??) Anyway, it prompted me to have a conversation with Charlotte about modesty and behaviors becoming a young lady. In that conversation we discussed many things...all great topics that we both enjoyed sharing our thoughts on. She is a pretty bright little girl.
In that conversation Charlotte brought up clothing. She told me that when she had those shorts on, she had 2 different feelings. "It was weird, Mom. One feeling was bad. I kinda felt like I should not have those on and it was wrong, but I did not want to hurt your feelings." I felt the shame of that statement....poor girl! "The other feeling", she continued, "was good. I felt a pleasure (yes she used that word) when I had them on. I felt like I was 19 or something, and the boys treated me better." Bingo! Berean Wife hit that nail on the head in her comments on the modesty post!!! I asked Charlotte what type of clothing made her feel the most "lady like" and comfortable? She told me without hesitation, "Dresses and skirts". I asked her how she would feel if she were to wear only modest dresses and skirts for a season and see what happened. Niki's comment has rang in my ears since that post also. (Happy Birthday Niki!!) Charlotte was all for it. Problem was, she has grown so in the last few months, that all she had was the dress Linda made her. I would have to sew! Oh Heaven, help me. I went to Joanns, coupons in hand, and got a new pattern, and fabric and elastic to make 1 skirt....that was $30 WITH my coupons!!! Good grief. Well if I could make her 1 a week.....PLUS I remembered I had picked up a couple skirts for her at the Salvation Army when we were trapped in the storm last week. As we came out of Joanns, my friend and I decided to check out Burlington Coat Factory. We hit pay dirt!!!! If you need a skirt go there! (This was womens sizes XS-2X...Charlotte wore the small ladies size) They had dozens of choices....all between $7 and $13! I got Charlotte 4 skirts and paid a little over the cost of the ONE skirt I would have had to make for her. You know I took that Joanns stuff back, right? Yes I did....I am a quilter, not a seamstress.Isn't she darling? One of the biggest lessons for me in all of this is that my daughter is more on the ball than I gave her credit for. I let her know that "voice" that was telling her the shorts (and behavior) were wrong, was the Holy Spirit and that she is FREE to come to me anytime and let me know and my feelings will not be hurt. I apologized to her (and God) for not listening to that voice myself!!! I let her know we all fall short of the glory of God, but that when we turn from the wickedness we are doing (this went along with the "something" I can not mention here) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and we are back in right standing with Him. Now we must BOTH learn to not make those choices again. It was a good conversation with a blessing, in more ways than one, for an outcome. Sweetheart was concerned that she would be unable to "play" and do the things she could do in capris or shorts.....Charlotte assured him she would be fine and could throw some capris under her skirts if she was to be doing something that required it. She roller bladed in her pink skirt yesterday.....she said she felt very lady like doing it....lady like roller blading??? Ok, Charlotte!! LOL

Sailing Boats

I can not even remember what day I sat down and put all of TJ's boats together. It was over a week ago now, but I thought I would share them with you in all their glory. I had a vision for this quilt before TJ was even born. I knew my grandson would one day have a sailboat quilt. Well his parents did not do a theme that would have blended with the sailboats, so his first quilt was all primary colored, bright, Churn Dash blocks....that would go with any theme. Well, 5 years later, I am not really concerned about theme....my grandson is getting a sailboat quilt!! My granddaughter got her Sunbonnet Sue...my vision for her, so now to fulfill the vision of this quilt.Sassy helped me along with the placement of the blocks. I had pictured the blocks sashed with brown fabric with red cornerstones and a brown inner border. A larger red border was in my minds eye. That is until I saw that water fabric....I wanted to somehow get that into the outer part of the quilt. What to do????? Brown and red??? Red and blue??? After a trip to Acorn Quilts, Jan helped me find just the perfect solution.....brown sashing with red cornerstones, a red inner border and a blue outer border. The best of both visions!!!

The brown sashing fabric and red cornerstones were beautiful! Exactly what I had purposed for this quilt!

The blocks all went together beautifully.
Once the borders were on, it really became striking!
I can hardly wait to get my needle into this quilt! I can see the textured waves and ropes already! Swirls of wind created by quilting thread, pushing the outlined sails along.....Yep. It is a vision fulfilled!
Sass was all tuckered out once we were done, but she rested well knowing the boats were sailing!

Happy Birthday My Baby!!

My son turned 28 today. He asked me,

"Are you doing my Birthday post today?"

I answered,

"Of Course, I am."

"Ok, Mom....but NO baby pictures."

"Sure, son."
Happy Birthday!!!!!

We Love You!!!!!!!

Emmie

Emerson spent a good part of yesterday and today with Grandma. TJ too, but he is always off playing with the older kids. Emerson prefers to play with Grandma's phone!
She is a touch-screen kinda girl! Sure, she acts like she will share, but just try to take that phone back!!!!Here she is looking quite concerned! She was in utter disbelief at what she was seeing......Here is what she saw.....Uncle Zach up in a tree!
It has been a fun weekend, but goodness I am old and tired!!!
Sassafras was a bit miffed at me while I tried to work at the sink. It seems I was interrupting her nap time.....She loves that sink window!
I am looking forward to Monday. A whole new week to look forward to. I host Bunco here on Thursday night....I love when it is my turn once a year. I bought all the prizes in Galena, and will share my monthly Bunco night with you at the end of the week. Tomorrow (or Tuesday) I will be back to share TJ's "You Float My Boat" quilt top. What a FUN quilt to put together!!!
Until then....be blessed!

Galena: The Sequel

My trip to Galena was wonderful, as I knew it would be! This time we did not do all the Historical sight seeing. If you are interested in that, you can look at my first Galena trip by clicking here. This time around, it was all about the shops and just relaxing. We ate lunch at the Desoto Hotel...our favorite place to eat in Galena. I was able to visit the Phat 1/4 shop and picked up a batting for TJ's quilt along with some fabrics.3 different Civil War repos and a fat quarter of green for a pine tree block.We made a jaunt over the Mighty Mississippi to my mother's favorite spot. The Greyhound Dog Track's Mystic Casino, to play the penny machines. I can not for the life of me figure out the thrill in this. For a little over an hour, I sat next to a lady who chain smoked me into emphysema, and lost $110 of my mom's money.....you KNOW I am not putting any of my own cash in those machines. She lost $60, and was somewhat dismayed....I guess she usually wins. Her attitude was it was worth it for the enjoyment of it all. My parents both love the casinos! They are heading to Jumer's next week.

Our hotel was so nice the last time, that we stayed in the same one again. This time our beds had quilts on them.The room was so pretty. The night table was an old school desk and bench.We spent the entire evening in the room....we came back to it around 6pm, played a game of Phase 10 Twist, and headed to bed by 9....I did not sleep until midnight, but once I fell asleep, I slept great. The next day we headed out early and spent the morning in downtown Galena....first stop was my favorite coffee bar...Kaladi's. BEST coffee EVER! We decided to take our time coming home and stop at the many little towns along the way. It was a relaxing trip.....until we hit Freeport. We got hit hard by a storm. We sought refuge in a Salvation Army store and waited it out....it was as dark as midnight at 2:30 in the afternoon! Heavy rains, high winds, and LOTS of lightening!!! It was very scary. It poured the rest of the way home, but once we arrived, the sun came out. My poor mom had no power at her house until midnight last night. We had 2 more storms come through after that one....each just as bad. The same storm that trapped us in Freeport, blew out half a dozen windows from the Sears Tower in Chicago!

Anyway, I am glad to be home safe and sound. I brought goodies for the kids and for Sassy too!! A little pillow stuffed with cat nip and she was CrAzY!!! We all laughed hysterically as she woolied that thing like it was her long lost love....she rubbed her face all over it and rolled on it!!!She played for so long, she wore herself out!Eventually she took a nice long nap....with her cat nip pillow!While I was gone, the kids and Sweetheart kept busy. When I left, this is what my house looked like......white with blue shutters and a blue door.Here is what I returned to. I LOVE IT!!!!!!For years, I have asked pleaded BEGGED Sweetheart to redo our house in the black and red....he is so wonderful. He worked hard the whole 2 days I was gone in order to have it done for me. It is perfect!!!!

I have lots of things to share with you over the next week. I finished the sailboat top, and I have an afternoon of granddaughter pics that are too cute not to post! For now that will all wait.

Have a blessed Lord's Day!!!!