Slow Sunday Stitching 11/26/17--Thanksgiving Wrapup

A little late to the party, but I do have slow stitching to show.  First, progress on the Lizzie Kate cross-stitch. 

We watched the grandsons last night and after they were in bed, I finished the rest of "forever" , after pulling out most of the V and redoing it, and got a start on the S for Stitching, while watching a PBS show on the Beatles.  I put a few stitches in today before diving into the ongoing binding job, a baby quilt for my daughter's best friend. 

 I had to get creative when I didn't quite have enough of the pink solid for the binding...

 ...though it disappears on my beige carpet :)  The label is next, as baby Grace is finally here, a week overdue.  After a bath, the quilt will be on its way to the newly expanded, happy family--she's the first grandchild for both sets of parents.  Linking up to Kathy's Quilts.

Thanksgiving was a rather quiet affair, with us hosting as usual, but without the big crowd.  One could actually hear oneself and others at the table, since there were only 11 of us: two of our kids, my mom and dad, brother, sister, uncle, and nephew with his girlfriend.  

We even ate together at one long table.  I enjoyed pulling out my Grandma's Red Apple dishes I love so much.  My sister Kathy was a big help to Grant and me in the kitchen, as always.  She peeled and seeded a pomegranate while I put together the fruit salad; she toasted walnuts and almonds for dishes, and made the green bean dish, while I tried to get out all the bowls and serving pieces. Brother Kevin carved the turkey, Mom and Dad brought pies, Erica made the special potato dish we all love.  Everything came out well.  Later, two nephews stopped by, one with his expectant wife, and Kathy gifted them the quilts she made at our retreat at Sewtopia--can it be only three weeks ago? 

First was the wedding quilt.  The couple are ski boarding enthusiasts and got married 18+ months ago in Mammoth Lakes in winter, at 10,000 feet.  Kathy used a panel and coordinates for a snowy mountain themed throw. 

The wedding quilt being late, they got an additional matching quilt for their baby boy due next month!  Mama-to-be has been on bedrest and is hoping for an earlier delivery.    The marrieds also stopped by with the grandsons so we all got to play (wind them up!) with them for a little while.  We had a lovely day and clean up took way less time than normal, lol.  The men even helped empty the living room of the 15 year old couches we were giving away, in anticipation of a new set to be delivered the next day.  Grant and I ended the evening by pulling dining room chairs to the TV to watch WALL-E.  

He had to work Friday, but I had the day off and not only did I not go out and shop on Black Friday, I never left the house. Bliss!  There were a few visitors to enjoy and plenty of pottering time after the busy days before.  Back to work tomorrow, and the mad rush to Christmas.  We'll wait until Dec 1 to get the lights up and house decorated, though plenty of our neighbors took advantage of the holiday to do so. Lots to do in the next month--but there will still be stitching time :)

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrap Up

 One last autumn photo before the Christmas onslaught!

Pumpkin Field, photo by Donald Jahadamy

It was a wonderful, crazy, packed and loud Thanksgiving feast.  We ended up feeding a total of 28 at dinnertime, and had an additional 13 people stop by (two more ate!).  It was too cold to eat on the patio so we all crammed into the house.  Thank goodness I took a day off work for clearing out my sewing room.  It was restaged with a table for 7, a seating area, all the dishware on my sewing desks, and the desserts on the pull out table of the Hoosier.  The remaining 21 were at three tables in the living room, including three visitors from Perth, Australia, a family friend and his two teen-aged boys. The boys are are experiencing their first visit to the US--I'm sure Thanksgiving was an experience they'll remember!  There was enough food, even though I later discovered I forgot to open the olive cans and the vegetables served were pretty light as only one bag of french beans got used.   I'm hoping we host a more reasonable 18-20 people next year:)

On Friday my sister Kathy and sister in law Laura invited me to join them for some shopping in the old downtown.  We had a lovely time poking through gift shops and antique malls and thrift stores.  I found a bunch of brand new boxes of Christmas cards for really cheap, which will be great for my husband to hand out to his customers.  Score of the day was a new old piece to add to my beloved Grandma's set of Franciscan Apple dishes that I use every Thanksgiving: 

It was grimy and has a small flaw in one of the sections (black dot), but the hand painting is gorgeous on this three section relish tray.  It is about 12-14 inches long in the middle section.  I also had fun combing through a rack of old postcards, and paid $2 for this Birthday Greeting: 

 The embossed and colored birds and garland, deer and stream were so sweet. 

It looks like this went to Mr. Newton B. Ward in West Lafayette, from Mrs. Nettie Peterson.  The postmark reads March 13, 1908 Millville, NJ, received in W Lafayette on March 14, 1908--only one day to travel that far in 1908!  I love that this dear little greeting has survived for 107 years.  My sister Kathy and I had a very memorable trip to Lafayette in 2006 when we attended a quilting workshop by Ricky Tims that was held at Purdue University.  We never traveled on Russell Street, that I recall, but the street still exists according to Google Maps, and is just west of Purdue.  Such fun to randomly find a connection to a place I've been to.

I spent some of yesterday repacking Grandma's Apple dishes and reassembling the sewing room. Then I did something entirely selfish.  I pinned a quilt for ME! 

This Christmas quilt has been folded on a hanger with the finished backing for over a year.  The blocks came from a long-ago swap when I belonged to an on-line group called Quiltbuddies. 

 

Can't wait to have this hanging on my railing for the season!

A Quilting I Will Be

This cool and cloudy weather is good for quilting. I've cleaned and threaded, put in a new needle, and taken the first few stitches in the quilt for Baby C, who is nearly here, due two weeks from today!  My daughter will be working for one more week and then plans to go back part-time in April to her work as a hairstylist. 

I've been thinking about my own Grandma, how she came and stayed with us after each of her great-grandchildren were born, and how much I miss her. Getting a bit emotional about becoming a grandma myself and hoping I'll be a good one :). Very exciting times to look forward to. I'll be taking a few days off when our grandson arrives. Can't wait to meet him, and finally know his name, which his parents have kept a surprise all this time :). Now, back to stitching!

A New Title

Time sure has flown since twenty-six years ago on August 11th when we added a new member to the family.

 Here is our brand new daughter Elaine with her big brother Nick (who was not quite two himself). After a difficult early pregnancy for me due to hyperemesis, Elaine was born healthy and vigorous at just over 7 lbs.

This is my beloved Grandma, who came to stay with us when each of our babies were born.  Elaine was her first great-granddaughter and she loved on her a lot whenever she could. 

Elaine with the love of her life, Chris, on Mother's Day 2009...

...and on the day in February 2011 that they announced they were engaged.

 

 Just after Father's Day Elaine and Chris came over to give Grant a belated Father's Day gift box....

..with a special surprise note inside the indicating a new title for him, and, naturally, for me!!  I have finally been given permission to announce our impending grandparenthood in February 2014.  What an anniversary present that will be!  We are all beyond excited and happy for the new parents-to-be, and rejoice in our new titles.  Happy Birthday, Elaine!  You're going to be a wonderful mommy.

Switcheroo

Another version of switcheroo happened this weekend as son Nick swapped bedrooms with his sister Erica, in absentia.  His large furniture was an extremely tight squeeze in the smallest room of our house so he's happy to have some actual walking around room now.  Grant and I fixed up Erica's new room and I switched the bedding to display my Grandmother's yo-yo coverlet.  I have shown this coverlet before on my blog but it has not actually ever been on a bed, that I know of, until now.

Grandma was a teenager in Norfolk, Nebraska when these yo-yos were made from feed sacks/sugar sacks and stitched together into 9-patches and then 4-patches with lines of single yo-yos separating them.  I don't know for sure if she was the sole maker or if her younger sister Ella May and her mother also helped.

.

It remained a UFO from 1934 until 1997, when Grandma had the ladies at her church tie the yo-yos to a backing with perle cotton (it is not actually quilted since there is no batting). 

Here's a close-up of some of the prints.   Grandma packed this away after it was tied and I was never aware of it until the mid 2000's, when she brought it out to show me once when I was visiting her.  I loved it and am so glad it came to me when she was moved into a senior home and her house emptied some years later. 

Favorite Things Friday

My Thanksgiving table was set with my favorite dishes.  These were my beloved Grandma's and I was so pleased that they came to me, as her only daughter did not care for them.  They are hand painted Franciscan ware in an apple pattern.  

Grandma loved simple things and nature.  She and I liked a lot of the same colors and especially favored handmade things.  Grandma made my sister and me lots of dresses when we were girls.

I remember many great family meals served on these plates.  Grandma was a "from scratch" cook who made it look effortless.  See the "twig" handle on the gravy boat?  And the adorable apple salt and pepper shakers.

Sweet little cream and sugar dishes.  I have six boxes full of Grandma's collected dishware.  Some are much older than others but all are charmingly hand painted.  I just love them.  Miss you, Grandma!

See other Favorite Things Friday on Shay's blog here.

Tuesdays Orts--Nov 23, 2010

Another edition of the "orts"--the bits that float around in my head and land here every week.

• Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It's all about family and no pressure of gifts, except for the gift of yummy food and lots of talk and laughter.  
• Thanksgiving always makes me miss my Grandma Thelma so much.  She was a fantastic cook, all her life, and made putting together meals for dozens look easy.  She always wore an apron and despite her neck and hand arthritis, would stand and peel or cut for hours.  She made the best pies and the best gravy.  The first time we hosted Thanksgiving at our house, she came to help me.  When I told her that I had never made gravy her jaw dropped.  I will never forget that!
• Grant had arthroscopic knee surgery last week for a torn meniscus and did really well, except for the part where he forgot to elevate his knee overnight and had a lot of pain the day after surgery.  Thankfully, it was just the one day.  He was expecting A pluses from the doctor at his postop visit.
• Traffic rant:  This week I'm talking about grocery store traffic.  People!  You are not alone in the store.  Push your cart to the side and then walk over to the shelf.  Likewise if you run into a friend or neighbor and begin chatting, don't stop in the middle!  Also, when leaving the register, please walk more than 1 mm per minute so that folks behind you can get out of the store.  Thank you.
• My life is so exciting on the weekends.  I scrubbed grout for an hour and a half, went grocery shopping, and made lists.  Oh, and I watered houseplants.
• My mom and dad bought me a beautiful birthday gift while they were back east (or is Ohio Midwest?):

A gorgeous miniature Shaker wooden box.

It has teeny tiny brads holding the bent wood, which is Birdseye maple sanded and finished to an incredible smoothness.
 

I love it!