Hooray for China!

Not the country, but china. As in dinner china….

My grandmother recently sold her house and moved into an assisted living facility. And she loves it! She always has visitors, and plans, and is impossible to reach now.  It’s a good thing and I really enjoy hearing how happy she is when we chat on the phone. Well, when she’s actually around and can talk!

My Aunt Betsy and Aunt Nancy cleared out Gam’s house, more or less. Divided up all the goods amongst the kids and grand kids. It’s a lot of work to pack up a house, especially when it’s not yours.  Then they were kind enough to deliver said items to the new owners.  How fabulous!

I am the proud new owner of my Gam’s fine china. It’s her wedding china. It’s German porcelain. I can’t get over how light it is, either! My guess is it’s about fifty years old, maybe a little older.  Several years ago my Mother told Gam that she wanted to make sure I received the china. The fact that it actually happened is amazing (there are a lot kids and grand kids). The fact that Mom was right and I’d like it isn’t amazing, but shows how much she knows me and my tastes.  It really is gorgeous.  My china is made by Tirschenreuth. Yeah, say that fast three or four times.

Here’s a snapshot:

The china was a perfect reward for my hard work last Monday. My cousin, Julie, is on bed rest. Her mother, my Aunt Betsy, has been living with Julie for about a month now. But, she also wants to keep a little bit of her life, so goes home or visits her other children on the weekends.  To give Aunt Betsy a rest Sean and I have gone over to Julie’s  the past two Mondays so Aunt Betsy doesn’t have to rush back. The extra day off gives Aunt Betsy a much needed break so she can do things like visit other grandchildren or pack up Gam’s house. Some break!  This past Monday Sean and I got over to Jules’ around 10 am. We didn’t leave until just before 8pm. Sean and his cousin, Cade, spent most of the day playing and wearing each other out. Julie and I spend most of the day laughing. That’s what she and I do best together. I must admit that by the time we arrived home I was pretty pooped.  Chasing around two 2 1/2 year old boys was tough work.  Additionally I had to continually discipline Julie to get off her feet since she’s on bed rest and all.  After dinner was over we packed up my car with Gam’s china and sewing paraphernalia. I got home and put Sean to bed. Exhausted, I unloaded my car. It seemed silly to drive around town with china in my trunk. I didn’t do much with the sewing stuff but managed to get it into my sewing room. The china came upstairs to get unpacked.  I sat down and had some water. Then I debated if I should open the boxes or not. Okay, I have to open the boxes to check out the loot. That was the best idea I’d had all day! Unpacking Gam’s china was the perfect reward for my hard work. I admired it for a while then pondered where to put it. I do have a small house after all.

My new china found a home yesterday.  Some glass vases were relocated and Gam’s china is happily stored next to my china. I’m grateful they go together and I can mix and match.

Now, I just need an occasion to use it. Hrm….maybe once I have a bigger table in my dining room.

25 hours in a Day

I need more time in my days. I’m pretty darn efficient, and focus on the task at hand, but I always have more I wish I could have accomplished by the end of the day.  I am grateful that Sean still naps for two to three hours a day and goes to school two days a week.  That’s handy and allows me an opportunity to do my chores buutttt…..

I’ve been wanting to post some new photos up here for, oh, I don’t know, eight months?  Seriously. It hasn’t been a priority. So now I’m home, and I’m sick and Sean is with his grandmother. Seems like a fine time to work. Maybe.

I need to add photos of my newer quilts, but found some of these while going through all my files.

I made this quilt for Sean when he was born. It sits on the end of his bed. He doesn’t use it a lot, which makes me sad, but maybe one day.

This was the 2008 paper pieced block of the month at Intown Quilters. Original design.

My friend, Elizabeth, emailed frantically one day. She was a month or two away from having Eliot, and the person that was going to make her a baby quilt fell through. Of course, I couldn’t tell her that I wouldn’t help. So she sent me some swatches and the cool giraffe minkee for the back of the quilt and Voila! I bought some cotton prints that coordinated with what she sent me and magically a quilt appeared.

This quilt is the 2009 Block of the Month at Intown Quilters. Original design.

Dresses I made for Izzy

This quilt is a masterpiece! It’s Jacqueline de Jonge’s pattern Be Colourful. It took several months for me to piece, and I had Regina Carter to the quilting. She did a superb job! I love this quilt and am proud that it was accepted into the East Cobb Quilt Show this fall. It’s a judged and juried show. Wish me luck!

And last but not least, I designed this quilt and it was published on the cover of Better Homes and Garden Quilt Sampler. The shop was a feature shop in spring 2007 – just before Sean was born, though the quilt was made the previous autumn.

Out with the old

My dear friend, Ro, was saddened that some quilt photos were missing from my blog. They are older quilts that haven’t quite made it onto my blog – that requires time. I’ve been wanting to add them for eons, but just haven’t found (er, made) the time. So today, while the tot is sleeping, the dog isn’t fussing and my head is on (relatively) straight, I decided to get busy.

Here are pics of some of my favorite quilts:

This quilt won a blue ribbon at the Georgia State Fair in 2006. It is named Firecracker because my husband kept referring to it as such. It’s a favorite of mine. The pattern is Judy Neimeyer’s Fourth of July.

Here is a detail:

Terrible photo of this quilt. Yes Ma’am Damn! Won three blue ribbons at the 2006 Georgia State Fair:  one for best piecing, one for best machine quilting and a blue ribbon because it’s awesome (my words, not those of the judges)!

The quilt was name for my friend, Taffy. Taffy tells me I was “raised right” because I always say ma’am when responding to her. Taffy is in her early sixties, so it seems to me that it’s a polite reply. Taffy is a quilter and got me onto a batik strip pieced kick.  I took all my odds and ends of batik strips and stitched them together, cut the pieces into squares, then triangles, then assembled the parts.

Yes Ma’am is one of my favorites! It is an original design.

Here is a detail:

Ode to Insanity was appropriately named so because I took 10 1/2″ squares of fabric, cut them into four 5  1/4″ squares then cut each of those squares into quarter square triangles. I then matched the quarter square batik with a quarter square of black fabric to make my half square triangles. I stitched, pressed and trimmed each square individually. I’m certain there was an easier way to make the quilt, but I tend to be a glutton for punishment when quilting, so I enjoyed the project. Ode is an original design.

Here is a detail:

and another:

The quilt, Around the World My Way, was based on the book Circle Play by Reynola Pakuisch. The quilt is an original design. I made it to showcase my collection of Oriental fabrics. The quilt is 90 x 110 and adorns the bottom of my bed.

A detail:

and another:

A Gaggle of Geese is an original design used for a block of the month program at Intown Quilters in 2006. It’s a bright, happy quilt that I am now using to teach my Tri, Tri, Tri-angles class at IQ.

Here’s a detail of the quilting:

Bohemian Purse Girl is an original design and the quilt was featured in the February 2007 issue of Quick Quilts magazine. The quilt was made using fat quarters from Anna Maria Horner’s line of fabric, Bohemian Line.

Busy, busy Bee

I’ve been working fast and furiously on gifts lately. Sean has four birthday parties in the next few weeks, and Christmas is around the corner.  Teacher gifts, play group gifts, family…the list gets long.

My friend, Marnie, has twin girls, Taylor and Alex. They turn four next month, so I made them each a little purse. Perfect gift for little girls!

Alex loves frogs, so her bag has a cute frog print as the lining.

Taylor is not as cutesy. Her favorite color is baby blue so her bag has a blue flower print. It’s more sophisticated and I think she’ll like it. At least I hope so!

Sean’s play group now has seven kids in it. Motley crew to say the least. All the mothers are wonderful, and so are the kids. Sean is one of three boys. I’m making all the kids in play group and the kids on our street pillowcases for Christmas. I’ve been really good and mostly used fabric from my stash. Here’s what I have so far.

R.I.P. Green Crayon

My cousin Julie is an actress and model. Tall. Thin. Blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s gorgeous! The kind of woman you see and think, “She’s probably a self centered witch.” to make yourself feel better, but of course, she isn’t. Julie is a lovely person, inside and out. She’s talented, funny, artistic. The kind of person that you know you are truly blessed to have in your life. She makes everyone around her feel great. You WANT to spend time with her.

I am five years older than Julie. We weren’t super close growing up because of the age difference. And we lived eight hours apart. Eighteen and going to college is much different than thirteen and starting high school. Now, post college graduation, all these things start to matter much less. Life experiences become the same, or similar, and your similarities start to outweigh your differences. Soon, the ties that bring you together are more than just family lines. You not only embrace that you are cousins, you learn to love one another as friends. Good friends. Really good friends.

Julie moved to Los Angeles after she graduated college. She was there for five years. She and her husband, Matt, moved back east to Atlanta when she was pregnant with her first, and thus far only, son, Cade. Cade is four months older than Sean. The two boys have, for all intensive purposes, grown up together, minus a few months on either end while they were in utero.

When Julie and I were pregnant we talked about letting the boys have spend the nights. We thought each of us could let the other go on a “proper date”. You know, the kind that includes alcohol, a late night and general over indulgence. At the time a date with ones spouse seemed like a novel concept, particularly because we were fat, tired, whiny pregnant women. Finally, it’s coming to fruition. Of course, neither of the spend the nights have actually yielded a proper date. My night out allowed me to spend time that the Crawford Long ER with Michael, and Julie’s night out was because she was working.

Cade was with us last Friday. He and Sean ran themselves ragged! It was hysterical to watch them. I take this, no you take that, no I’ll take that again. Too much toddler chaos!

One highlight of the day was watching the train go by the house. I think Cade was trying to call his parents to let them know how much fun he was having! Notice the phone in his right hand.

Amidst the chaos, Sean, my little lover, was giving kisses to Cade. Julie laughs at me and tells me that there is one in every class. He’s mine!

Much more playing and insanity, then dinner. After both boys COVERED themselves in Chef Boyardee, Michael and I wisked them off to the bath.

I think they both had a good time!

Michael and I loved every minute with both boys, but were certainly ready for bed time that night.

Maybe next time we have a spend the night, Julie and I will actually be able to have “proper” dates with our husbands! Wish us luck!

60 and sensational

A few weeks ago Karen surprised Rick for his 60th birthday with a weekend at the fabulous Ritz Carlton Reynolds Plantation.

Good food

great drinks

dancing

singing

fun with the family

(don’t we look like we are having fun?)

and much debauchery!

Okay, not that much debauchery.

In honor of the blessed event, I made Rick an autograph quilt.

This is my favorite block.  Efrosini, aka Max, is Greek, and she so appropriately signed the quilt.

Cool, huh?

Caffeine is my friend

I stopped drinking caffeine for a long time. Decaf coffee, no soft drinks.  Then I had a baby and I find that the afternoon boost is absolutely necessary. Instead of napping in the afternoon, I get a boost with my new favorite drug. It’s affordable. Legal. Tastes good as a latte or a diet coke. And, it keeps me going. By the time Sean is up from his nap, I’m ready to go again!  Off to the park. Playing with Gabe and Nolan or just running around the yard.  Once dinner is cooked and cleaned Sean is off to bed (well, shortly thereafter) and I can sew.

It’s my creative time, and while I wish I had more of it, I take what I can get. I am finally learning to prioritize.  And drink more caffeine. It’s tough to stick to one project, but I’m getting things finished. I promised myself I’d be a “closer” this year – I cannot start on a new project unless it was already slated to happen. I haven’t finished quite as much as I’d have liked, but this has kept me from having too many projects going on at one time (thank you Michelle Hiskey for the great idea!).  I do have a lot of quilt ideas and not enough time to execute. I have drawings everywhere so I can remember what I planned to do with scraps, or a particular fabric. Or, just because.  Or something looked cool. Or I found inspiration from the dove nesting on my deck.

I did just finish this pillow for Sean’s room.

Cute, huh?

This was an extra block from a project I was working on.  I decided a slightly different color scheme was more appealing to me, but what to do with the lone block? Oh, yeah! Make a pillow!  There are two black and white striped covered buttons keeping the back closed.

Now off to work on the next project. Or to clean. hmmm.

The great tornado

The weekend was full of drama. Michael and I knew that intense thunderstorms were headed our way, but in typical

I’ve lived here all my life Atlantans, we weren’t too worried about it.

Then Comcast interrupted our program to

tell us about a tornado warning. Then again. And again. So we turned on Glenn. Channel 2 has

super cool software with 3-D images of the storm and we were mesmerized. Michael and I  flipped between Glenn

and the Friday night on air talent at the Weather Channel.  We were glued to the television until we lost power. That was around 9:45pm.

Out come the flashlights. We make a plan. If it gets REALLY bad Michael gets the baby, I get the dog and we rendezvous in the storage

room. Not terribly glamorous, but efficient.  About that time we notice what turned out to be insulation floating through the air. The a ceiling tile

from somewhere, probably the automotive store down DeKalb Ave., came soaring over the three story townhouses in front of us and slam into our deck door.

Shortly after that the rain ended and we met outside with our neighbors.

At that time none of us were aware that an F2 tornado had come within a half mile of us. Everyone was a bit shaken up.

Michael and I certainly were.  My cousin Julie kept texting me to keep me up to date with the weather situation since another line

of storms was headed our way. We finally got to sleep around midnight. Slept well until the howling wind woke us just before 6 am.

Still no power when we woke up. Got Sean. Enjoyed a fine dining experience at Waffle House, ran a few other errands and when we finally

arrived home a few hours later our power was working.

Download emails. Return calls. Yes, we are alright.

Saturday brought more storms. Michael and I were once again glued to the tele. We didn’t lose power, but die hear words you never want to hear,

“A tornado is headed toward Inman Park. It will be there at 4:05.” My heart started racing. We anxiously watched the clock. Sean couldn’t take his nap

because of the tornado spinning toward us.  He knew something was wrong. He was screaming at us and we were finally able to calm him

down with a change of scenery in the garage. Hail began falling. Quarter size or smaller. And as quickly as it all began, it ended.

We were once again spared from a tornado. Still tired and on edge, we came upstairs. All seemed to be well.  The sun came out

shortly after the storms ended and gave way to a glorious evening.

Michael and I are thankful that we didn’t have any damage to our home during the storms

and we pray that those affected will recover quickly.

I’m a little monkey

Wow! I cannot believe I haven’t updated my blog in over a month. The holidays will do that to you! We were so busy,

and as fun as Sean’s first Christmas was, I am glad it’s over and we are getting back to our normal routine.

I didn’t take my camera out once in Blairsville. Laura and Dad took tons of photos. Unfortunately I don’t have copies of them. I did manage to

snap a few pics at Nana’s. Grand Dad Rick had a good time with Sean. Sean, however, seems less interested in us and more interested in the fan.

He asks, “Why is the fan dead?”.

Nana enjoyed hanging out with Sean. Nothing like sitting with the Matriarch!

Sean loves his Nana!!

I even managed to get a photo of OJ, who hates having pictures taken of himself. We cannot figure out why. What a handsome devil!!

And, my favorite photo…..Grand Dad Rick and Sean.

What a cute pair!!! And, they have the same hairline!

Even during the holiday insanity I somehow managed to find time to quilt. I am teaching a new class at the shop this quarter. Quilting 102.

Basically the class will teach beginning quilters how to sew triangles and get perfect points, flying geese and a few new quilting techniques.

I hope the class is a success. The sample is rather small, but full of half and quarter square triangles, and flying geese. There’s no better

way to perfect triangles than to practice!

My Pi Phi T Shirt quilt is also finished. I prepped the shirts over a year ago and finally just went for it! It’s not a great photo, but for the time being it’ll do.

I am trying to be a closer this year – you know, finish the projects I have started before starting new ones.

It might not work all the time, but it will be my driving force.

And, Brooke’s quilts are finished too! I think they look pretty fabulous! The photos don’t quite do them justice, but hey, I was on my way out the door and

my only helper can’t even stand up yet!

This is her Maryville quilt.

Here’s a close up of it!

And, here’s her “miscellaneous” t-shirt collection.

My little helper….hmmm….what to do with all these keys….

So, perfect timing….the baby’s awake now. Guess this post is finished.

Halloween Parade

 

Am I a baby or a pumpkin?

 

 

 

The Little 5 Points Halloween Parade was today. We dressed Sean as a pumpkin.  He was so cute and didn’t seem to mind the sunglasses either. He was a very hip baby pumpkin. Bob, the baton twirler, led the parade down Euclid into L5P. Gotta love Bob! You know it takes a man that is VERY secure with himself to dress in a tutu, tights and wig and twirl a baton down the street. And, he twirls better than his female counterpart!!! Of course, all the locals love Bob. He’s a local legend and he leads the Halloween Parade and the Festival Parade.If you want an obscure parade, L5P has it…..bunny rabbits, beer trucks, half naked women and the local dog walkers. Odd. I know.

 

 

 

 

There was a costume judging contest for kids as well as dogs.  We didn’t see that portion of the show, but did see a very cute dog dressed as an alligator, the Von Trapp’s, Bonnie & Clyde, Justin Timberlake, geisha, vikings, and one of the Village People (the gay cowboy, to be specific).  The parade wiped out Sean. We arrived back home shortly before his bedtime and he went down mostly without a fuss. He’s a good baby.  Michael and I count our blessings daily.