Finishes!

Is there any better word than "finish"? (And by "finish" I mean quilted, bound and labeled!) For a quiltmaker it's a word that brings extreme  joy and a song to the heart! I've not only had one recent finish, I've had three!

Yes, strike up the band!! This tiny quilt-let has twelve hand embroidered month of the year blocks. It's an ancient pattern by Bareroots (I think), it's no longer in print that I can find. I stitched and set these little three inch blocks in 1996; thirty years ago! 

This quilt, my version of the Be-Attitudes, from an Art to Heart book by Nancy Halvorsen was begun in 2008. (Compared to the quilt above it's a relative newcomer to the "now finished" team!) This is now hanging in our eating area in the kitchen where "Mealtime Mantra" has hung for the past fifteen years. I plan to switch the two out from time to time, they're the exact same size.

And now the baby of the bunch, coming in over the "finish" line at only two years of age, "Lemoynes Revisited" is the result of a 2024 BOM at my LQS. This finish deserves a standing  O! These finishes are all credited to much "down time" while our granddaughter napped between events at the recent TYR Futures Swimming Championships in Madison, WI! I probably need to attend more of these if only to get more handwork done! Ha!!

Speaking of handwork... Patriotic Tweet by Teresa Kogut is currently under my embroidery needle in the evenings these days, it's a sweet little design, I'm working it on 30 ct Legacy Linen, the color is Victoria Sponge Cake. 

Since the subject is finishing, please indulge me: two more photos of Lucy Ann from the recent meet. The first one, above shows the level of intensity and focus that she displays before she enters the pool for each event. The second pic I simply adore, it captures the instant when she looked up at the board and realized that she had just finished second overall in the mile (1500 m), I am so happy to see this and relive that perfect water-slapping moment! 

Life is Good!

Milestones and Miles

I had posted about this Sparkler quilt a while ago, It finshed up to be a generous twin-sized quilt. It's the result of a R,W & B online fabric swap through White Shanty Quilts, the pattern is available there too. Julia Davis is the person behind White Shanty, she offers the swaps several times a year if you're interested, always color-themed. When this one was offered I knew that I wanted a patriotic quilt to celebrate our daughter's milestone birthday. She was born in July 1976, a bicentennial baby, and she needed a semiquincenntenial quilt to mark the occasion. I backed it with a sweet picnic print; it is a perfect quilt to use as such. 

I'd been working on completing another surprise for her too. She has taken to needlepoint and turns out beautiful ornaments and small items, her finishing techniques are impeccable. She had come to me well over a year ago to see if I could turn one of her needlepoint canvases, cute Christmas reindeer, into a pillow for her, something that she'd never done. I was honest with her and confessed that this is an area of uncharted waters for me as well!

After months of consternation, I took the bull by the horns and worked up my courage. There were many things that worried me: cutting and stitching into the canvas, I was afraid of damaging the needlepoint piece that she had worked so beautifully. Finally, determined, I set to the job at hand armed with the necessary materials and a dozen YouTube videos under my belt. I used a sturdy upholstery fabic and even set a zipper into the lapped back. It was ready in time for her birthday!

I believe that she was pleased; it was a great day!

The following day she and our granddaughter flew to Madison, WI for the TYR Futures Championships Swim Meet at the Soderholm Aquatic Center there on the U of W campus. Mr. Goodneedle and I left out for the same destination, in a car, we turned ours into a roadtrip!  There were many miles to travel and I took three quilts with me to finish by hand stitching the binding in place. There was plenty of time to do that, too. Lucy Ann's schedule each day consisted of swimming prelims in the morning and qualifying for finals in the evening. That meant getting her fed between events and long, afternoon naps to prepare. 

This was on the final day, Lucy Ann (L) came in 2nd overall in the mile! It was truly amazing to watch; and considering that the girl who finished ahead of her, in first, is 20 years old and a collegiate swimmer says a LOT about the determination of our 15 year old granddaughter! We're very proud. Her teammate is pictured here, too, she also placed in the mile event. 

Lucy Ann and her coach. Smiles all around; what a wonderful week! 

I'll share the finished quilts in my next post. 

Thanks for letting this Nana brag a bit. 

Life is Good!

Four for Four

For the past three days we've had a little helper here, things are sadly quiet this morning. Over the last few months Mr. Goodneedle and I have tried to have each of the grandchildren for a weekend, by themselves, as schedules allowed. We didn't get Lucy Ann for a weekend but did manage the first three days of her spring break from school this week. We've now four for four, she was the final one to come and stay in the rotation.

When we got to the house on Monday after a lunch stop she picked right up where her cousin left off last weekend and finished sorting Nana's strips and strings into color groups. We cleared the table and started all over again. She was done in no time. I honestly cannot remember how long it's been since I saw the bottom of that bin!

She helped Paw Paw to crank up a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream in the workshop. 

On Tuesday we baked. Macarons. Ever since she was very young and read "Fancy Nancy" books, Lucy Ann has been intruiged by all things French. Yes, she wants to go to Paris, but claims that will have to wait until she perfects her table manners (I can't imagine where she's ever heard bargaining like that!😉) We have been planning to make these ever since her visit was scheduled, but this week we had Paris on our mind following the devastating fire at Notre Dame.  The cookies were a huge hit and turned out really well! If anyone is interested in the recipe you can find it here. 

In the afternoon she helped Paw Paw plant some fruit trees in our orchard space.

She made a prayer booklet for herself; copying scripture, quotes and even writing her own prayers to add. She decorated the pages and joined the stack together with a ring at the top so that she can flip through it and add more pages as she goes. 

We took a little trip to a precious local bakery and she chose a cupcake for dessert and one to take home for her brother. 

Yesterday it was sewing day. She made skirts for her American Girl dolls, we fused designs onto t-shirts for the dolls to coordinate. She takes direction well and ended up with two cute little outfits.

She was really excited about sewing; we need to do more of this while her interest is high. Having a short lesson and keeping the project simple and the goal attainable, will, hopefully, bring her back for more! 

Before we knew it, the time had come to get back in the car and head home. I hope Lucy Ann will remember our time together fondly; I know that we will! We miss this girl today; so does Hannes. 

He's very lonely today without his constant companion. I told my daughter this morning, 

that I don't think Hannes' feet touched the floor the entire time that Lucy Ann was here. 

Now it's time to start all over again-- one grandchild at a time!

Life is Good!

 

Forced Expulsion and Other Happenings

Bear with me through this post, it has lots of photos and a weekend update too. This was my the state of my sewing room on Friday. Being banished from the studio has resulted in a change of pace and tidier, better organized spaces in other parts of the house; not necessarily a bad thing! I have to admit, just looking at the plastic drapes, floor cloths and chaos in my favorite room gives me a case of the jitters. But, the face lift will be worth it. Freshly painted wall surfaces, ceiling and trim will revitalize the appearance of the room and recharge my creative energy when I return.

At least that's what I keep telling myself.

So, late last week I tackled dresser drawers and my closet. The closet was a MAJOR undertaking. It was in dire need of cleaning out and organizing! I did not take a before photo. Trust me, it was bad. I organized from the top down. Shelves first, and then hanging items. At long last all of the wire coat hangers (how do the multiply exponentially?) are gone, replaced by cleaner and quieter plastic hangers.

I used the one year rule for identifying items to be donated. Some items had taken up valuable closet space for ten to fifteen times that! Of course, keepsake items have been retained. But, even with those were carefully scrutinized first. I was ruthless.

This was the final result. I thought I was done. Neat, tidy, organized. I felt like my clothes could breathe again, I know I was breathing easier having this task behind me, it had weighed me down for a very long time. Speaking of weight though, if only those closet rods could talk!

The donation bags ready to go. You can't tell relative scale here, these are 42 gallon bags. I "borrowed" the bags from my husband's workshop. They are "contractor grade" plastic, 3 mil thick, they're very strong and sturdy. It's a good thing because I filled them and they were HEAVY.  I am thankful now that those closet rods never buckled, in all truthfulness they've had the largest load lifted from them. Wow.

About the time I was finishing up the closet I received a desperate phone call from our daughter. She needed some help with Lucy Ann, our son-in-law was traveling and she and Mason were on their way to the hospital, he was in need of an emergency appendectomy! As luck would have it, our son was in the car at the time, near the Capital City. Uncle Kyle to the rescue. He picked her up and brought her to us.

Here's Mason after his successful surgery. It was a textbook procedure and he was on his way home (yes, HOME!) two hours later. His Daddy arrived back in town just before Mason went into surgery. The surgery, performed laparoscopically, plus an otherwise healthy young boy combined to make this procedure, in essence, one of out-patient status. This seems almost unbelievable to me. Twenty six years ago his own mother was in the hospital for three days when she had the same surgery; and she didn't get souvenir photos of her procedure to bring home! Mason not only has photos but stories to share too!

Meanwhile, back at Chez Goodneedle, little Miss Lucy Ann had a fun sleepover with Nana and Paw Paw and staged a perfectly wonderful fashion show on Saturday, modeling her mother's old prom dresses! These sparkly sequined dresses, a pair of rhinestone-studded sandals and her imagination were all she needed for a great morning of dress-up fun. We returned her to her family later in the day, she was eager to get home and check on her big brother. 

Yesterday after church I showed off my now clean closet to my son and daughter-in-law. (Yes, I lead a very exciting life!) My daughter-in-law, after complimenting me on getting rid of  all those horrible wire coat hangers,  graciously informed me that I was using the wrong style hangers for my slacks. She pointed out how this style (above) has the vertical posts to stabilize them for the weight of slacks on the bottom bar. I had no idea! A few substitutions were easily made and I was in complete plastic coat hanger compliance! Am I the only one who didn't know this?

All is well.

And back in the Capital City: Legos and a lap tray. Let the healing begin.

Life is Good!

A Layer A Year

Six years ago this spirited little one entered the world, waiting for no one; she was four weeks early!

She hasn't slowed down since then, nor has time; the birthdays just keep piling on... 

...like layers on a Doc McStuffins birthday cake.

Happy Birthday, Lucy Ann; you grow sweeter each and every day.

Life is Good!