Creativity Abounds

We spent Christmas Eve day with our daughter and her family in the Capital City. Lucy Ann was eager to take me upstairs to their finished, converted attic space which has become her (and her brother's) play room. They do allow their father a secluded corner of the space for his work-from-home office. 😉 We enjoyed time together as a family, opened gifts and had a wonderful dinner together before I actually got upstairs with her to see what she was so excited to show me. Lucy Ann loves her American Girl dolls. "Loves" might not even be a strong enough word: she's obsessed. She wanted to show me how she had created a home for them in an elevated section of her play space. I was absolutely blown away by her creativity and attention to detail. She took me around for a room-by-room "tour". Each doll has its own bedroom and theme. The living room was all decorated for Christmas complete with stockings hung by the fireplace for each doll and Christmas cookies set out on plates. She has made many of the accessories herself, creating furniture, wall art and motivational sayings. Now granted, I am her grandmother and may be a wee bit prejudiced where this is concerned, but have a look below and see if you don't agree with me. I didn't get any shots of the kitchen, I just realized. It was as well appointed and equipped as any of the room settings shown here.

Isn't this cute? I had to go back downstairs to get my camera to share all of this. It probably comes as no surprise that this girl's bedroom is every bit as neat and well-organized as these of her "children". Our daughter told me that Lucy Ann spends hours on end playing with her dolls and designing. Apparently there's a YouTube channel with inspiration for this type of creative endeavor. I told my daughter-in-law about that the following day, as this kind of activity is right up our youngest granddaughter's alley too. I love the fact that this creative spirit is alive and well, I am thrilled to see it cultivated and encouraged! This "can do" characteristic and enthusiasm will carry her a long, long way in the coming years. 

Life is Good!

Single Family Household

It's quiet around here again; Chez Goodneedle has gone back to being a single family household. In the uncharacteristic stillness I have loaded "Scarlet Stars" onto Snowbird this morning and begun quilting it.  I sure do miss my little garden helper! Every day after lunch Lynnleigh and I would go out and do the deadheading, watering, or bird feeder filling;  she was always quick to remind me what needed to be done. Now I'm on my own. I know how very happy they all are to be back in their own home and beds once again. They have made some huge improvements to their home, updating and modernizing.

The circa 1964 kitchen was gutted and a new, sleek, modern one exists in its place. Our son and daughter-in-law had some great ideas and vision that transformed this space into one that is uniquely theirs. Our son and Mr. Goodneedle constructed the dining table and built in benches for their eating area.

This island top is a slice of an oak tree that once grew at Virginia International Raceway. Purchased in an auction years ago this slab of wood has resided in our basement until its recent restoration. They also had two bathrooms and their mudroom gutted and remodeled. They now have a new house with the same address as before, we couldn't be happier for them!

Switching gears: I made the recent birthday boy a pillow using Elizabeth Hartman's "Penguin Party" pattern. I believe he liked it, penguins are his favorite animal. 

Naturally, Nana and PawPaw couldn't take birthday gifts to the Capital City without a little something for the birthday boy's sister. I do believe she might just have the best dressed dolls anywhere. 

Last week, during Quilt Camp, I had to construct parts of a tumbler for demonstration purposes. Surprisingly, I discovered at that time that I have misplaced (or completely LOST!) a completed Scrappy Tumbler quilt somewhere along the line. A couple of summers ago I made two out of my charm bins and now can only find one. Where that second one has gotten to is anyone's guess. I will go ahead and finish this one now, leader-ender fashion, to replace the lost one. Maybe, by doing that, the missing one will resurface. Heaven knows, I have enough charms and scraps to keep this up for a very long time!

We picked up a couple of bouquets at Trader Joe's last week to place on the altar at church. They came home with us after worship and have remained vibrant and healthy looking all week. I just love having fresh flowers in the house, the ones that I find there are always nice and very reasonably priced. 

I took this picture yesterday afternoon; our THIRD Bluebird clutch this season! Once before we had two Bluebird families in one season, but never three!! So, maybe there is another family living at our address after all, just when I thought we were down to only the two of us once again. 😉

Life is Good!

Mommy and Me

You might remember from a previous post (here) that our youngest granddaughter chose fabric recently for a sundress for herself and her doll. While she's been vacationing with her other grandparents in another state, I managed to get their dresses done and ready for their return back home. 
The pattern is shown here, it was a great pattern and easy to follow; however, I would add two suggestions if you're going to make this pair of dresses for a little girl (and her doll) in your life. The first suggestion is one that was given to me and proved to be extremely valuable: make the larger dress first! That way, you learn the pleating method for the bodice front and back, after that the smaller doll dress is a snap! The second suggestion would be to cut the skirt sides with pinking shears so that there aren't raveling raw edges on the side seams. (It's easier to cut them that way than after those side seams are sewn, believe me!)

Here is the dress front and back. I love the way that the bodice is fully lined and the shirred elastic straps and back casing will assure a comfortable fit without straps sliding off the shoulders or the dress gaping at the sides while being worn. Plus, these patterns are great without any zippers or buttons so that little ones can easily dress themselves. I hope to get a photo of little Mommy and her doll modeling their coordinating dresses when they get back later this weekend. Stay tuned~

Life is Good! 

 

One On One... Again

Another weekend, another grandchild. This time it was the youngest; this newly-turned-six year old really keeps us on our toes! The activities included, but weren't limited to: homemade ice cream making with Paw Paw, practicing hand sewing skills with lacing cards, sewing skirts for her American Girl dolls, making a necklace hanging rack for her room and, of course, a tea party! The tea party table was set with a tea pot and cups from two of her great, great, grandmothers! In between all of those fun things lots of pictures were colored, crafts created, jokes told, stories read and memories made. 

We ate at Cracker Barrel on Friday night. She ordered a pancake and had a biscuit along with a side order of broccoli. Eating out with grandparents is a special time, she can order whatever she would like. We've already been broken in and worn down by picky eaters over the years, we weren't fazed.

Meet "Reese's Cup" and "Ice Cream"; these two "worm" creations kept her occupied for hours on end. Our "art box" filled with all sorts of odds and ends along with markers, scissors and glue is her treasure trove. 

All in all it was a great weekend that flew by much too quickly. She and I are already making plans for what we'll do "next time". 

Life is Good!

Five?

Five? Really?? The passage of time seems to be measured in days rather than years to this Nana. How could time be passing so quickly? Yes, our youngest granddaughter is five years old.

January 2013

We had a fun day shopping for clothes and accessories for her newest doll, Kit, on Monday. Our trips together to the American Girl store have become a birthday tradition. My dad calls it the "Grandparents Store", there's a lot of truth in that. 😉

Tuesday was Lynneligh's actual birthday, we gathered with her and the family for dinner and for her to blow out the candle on her cupcake. It's a good thing, too. Because yesterday this was the scene in our parts; when this happens here no one goes anywhere! It was so pretty and peaceful, we had 6".

The children all had a snow day from school to play; I spent the snowy afternoon playing, too!

Today the sun is shining, the temperatures are rising and a clean-up is underway.

There's a clean-up underway inside too. As we s-l-o-w-l-y put our house back together after the floor refinishing I am dedicated to cleaning out junk and debris that has been accumulating in the closets.

This 1991 planner surfaced. I have no clue why I kept this. Back then I kept track of how many hours a day I quilted (hand quilting in those days) and the projects I hoped to complete each month. I had to squeeze in as much time as I could while the children were in school or at other activities. It would seem that I got much done, too. I barely remember these quilts now. There is a notation in there that is laughable to me today: "This month I plan to finish up all projects already started!" Alrighty then. 

Some things change dramatically and some don't. I still keep a planner, but I do not log in quilting hours. I wish that I finished every project already started; but today I pick and choose what I will devote time to. I remember when our children were growing up someone told me that "the days are long but the years are short". I can fully appreciate that today. I have always crammed my days full, I can't recall a time when I didn't; and, yes, the years have grown incredibly short. I measure them in a different way now-- through my grandchildren. How are you marking time today?

Life is Good!

Little Mommy Goes Shopping

We took the new three-year-old for a birthday shopping trip to the American Girl store, a first for her! She took her bitty baby along so that Abby Deen could look at everything and decide what she wanted, along with her "mommy". There was lots of time spent looking and deliberating. A stroller? Maybe...  A doll bed? Maybe... A high chair? Maybe... A dolly bath tub? Maybe... New doll clothes? Maybe... Accessories? Maybe...  She made the rounds. Over and over and over again. It was all good. Suddenly she knew what she (and Abby Deen) wanted, new doll clothes! I believe the clincher in her decision is the fact that the outfits come with little shoes; she really loves the shoes!  She carried her choices to the check out and insisted on carrying her own shopping bag when the purchases had been made. What a good mommy!

Little mommy and Abby Deen, after checking out. 

We stopped to get a bite to eat. All of that shopping makes one hungry. While PawPaw waited on the food Lynnleigh used that opportunity to dress Abby Deen up for lunch. This was the first of three outfit changes her baby made before they returned back home. Happy Birthday, little mommy! 

Life is Good!

Equal Time

It's been a busy weekend. Last week I posted about our favorite four year old grandson; today is all about equal time for our favorite four year old granddaughter! Lucy Ann spent the weekend with Nana and Paw Paw. While the highlight was a trip to the American Girl store, there were many fun times and precious moments with her. She chose fabric for Nana to make her a new dress for fall, conducted music classes for dolls and animals, had a playdate and dinner with her cousins, entertained us with endless fashion shows starring her doll, Sarah, and her mother's vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls, colored pictures and created elaborate sticker-sheet artwork. Our home is quiet and still this morning; we miss our spirited, spunky and happy girl. Even Hannes is moping... he enjoyed his little buddy (especially when she was seated at the dinner table!).  Now that she's gone back to the Capital City I'd better get busy on that dress, there's nothing like busy hands to cure the lonelies!

Life is Good!

Sewing Small

I made two itty-bitty dresses, one for each of my granddaughters' baby dolls; these are Valentine's Day surprises. The dresses have matching diapers and a bib. The project might small but the love is BIG! Nana hopes the little Mommies will enjoy dressing up and playing with their babies for years to come.

Life is Good!

Making The Bed

I've spent the afternoon making a bed... or, I should say, making bedding!  This is a doll bed for Lucy Ann for Christmas. There's no better way to get into the spirit of Christmas than spending hours on end in the sewing room watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel and making gifts. I do hope my granddaughter, and her dolls, will enjoy this bed as much as we have already; because, before I could make this bed up, Mr. Goodneedle actually made the bed; this is a gift of handmade love from both grandparents.

It's a trundle bed; Lucy Ann's doll can have a doll-friend sleep over!

The bed is a treasure, handcrafted from maple, it will match the furniture in Lucy Ann's bedroom.
Mr. Goodneedle designed the raised panels and cut out the heart detail for the panel in the arched headboard; he made the mattresses for both beds from a thin sheet of plywood wrapped in upholstery weight batting.

The upper bed is completely outfitted with a fitted sheet/mattress cover, top sheet and matching pillows. The lower bed will have to wait until next week to receive the same treatment. I added a bit of piping to accent the sheet and pillow cuffs. The trundle bed's mattress is a bit smaller; the sheet set for it will be the opposite fabrics as the top (periwinkle polka dots with the whimsical print cuffs) so that Lucy Ann won't be frustrated trying to figure out which sheets fit which mattress!

I made the quilt from my stash collection of 2.5" strips, pulling out coordinating colors. The quilt is backed and bound with the same print as the sheets. (The quilt for the lower bed will be backed and bound likewise with the polka dot.)  Instead of batting I used a heavyweight flannel to achieve a soft quilt with a "drape" to it, I didn't want the quilt to be too thick or stiff and not hang well when the doll is asleep in the bed; I chose to quilt it simply with diagonal lines. Without a doubt, this is the most fun I've ever had making any bed!

Life is Good!