Keeping Busy

I was hoping my next post would be about my newest granddaughter but as you can see she likes it where she is right now. She was due May 28th but in all honesty I hope she hangs on until June 5th which is our son, Charlie's, birthday. We have a lot of "shared" birthdays in our family. A topic for another post.I've been meaning to post about a few of my crafts for awhile. Sewing has been a hobby for me since I was a teenager. I still have the sewing machine that my grandmother taught me on, I use it as a side table in my living room. You can see it HERE. I even made my prom dress and won the school's style show with it. I know it doesn't look like much but I designed it and it was lined.

I also have a few counted cross stitch pictures around the house by not only me but my mother and daughter. I don't enjoy that as much any more, too tedious I think or maybe my old eyes. I digress, I was going to post about what I'm doing NOW.

We are taking Ella to her other Grandparents in Kentucky in July because her parents can't get off of work . Her other cousins (4 girls) on her Mommy's side will also be visiting at the same time so I got the great idea to make them all tutus. Can you just see 6 little girls running around in tutus! So Ella decided which color each girl should have and I got started. I have 4 done so far and they are going pretty quick.

Then there is a twin size blanket that I'm knitting with a loom for Wyatt when he moves into his big boy bed in six months or so. I made Charlie one for Christmas a few years ago. I have had this loom for 26 years. It was hand made by a friend of ours for his wife and I was borrowing it when we PCSed (Army for moved) from Germany and I lost touch with Lily, the lady I borrowed it from. I feel bad but have made many a project with it.

I've also been making some isolette covers/quilts for a NICU in Georgia where a friend had triplets a couple of years ago. They send me a "kit" which is pretty much the material cut into the right size pieces. I sew them together and mail them back. I've completed nine to this point and have three kits on hand.

When Ella saw them she wanted one so I took her to the store and she picked out a few types of material and I made her a double size one. I think I'll make Sami one when she gets old enough to pick out her material. It was much easier than the one my mother and I made for Ella's father when he was younger than her.I appliqued the top and my mother quilted it by hand. We also made one for Charlie. My mother had intentions of making one for each of her grandchildren but by the time she got to Jennifer it was pretty basic (she had TWELVE grandchildren). I want to make each of my grandchildren a special blanket too.

Here is Jack's. I'll make his sister's the same way, with T-shirts from their first year.

A few years ago I took a bag full of "keepsake" T-shirts of Thomas's and sewed them into a blanket for him for Christmas. Ever since then Jennifer has been planning a similar one for her children (even though she wasn't even married at the time). To see Jack's blanket in detail click HERE

Boys quilts click HERE