Memories

Every Christmas for the last six years, my mom and sister and I have created an ornament to give to everyone at our family Christmas gathering. I have just over 30 aunts, uncles and cousins on that side of the family alone! In past years, we have done ornaments with bells, old family Christmas photos from the 50’s, snowflake cutouts, etc. This year, my mom outdid herself.

My grandparents are no longer alive. Around the time of my grandfather’s death, my mom and her siblings were sorting through the house and dividing up family treasures. My mom came home with several old quilts, all made by her mother or her grandmother. One of them was in poor condition in several spots. This year, my mom decided to cut out the spots that were in good condition into 35 Christmas tree shapes and create ornaments. This way, everyone gets a piece of this quilt and it gets a whole new lease on life.

To top the tree off, she used a button from my grandmother’s botton box. They are all so unique! My sister nabbed the one pictured above for Eleanor’s ornament- its sparkles are hard to see in the photo, but it is extra special.

Each year, we attach a laminated tag to the ornament with the year, “________ Family Christmas”, and a word. We have used ‘believe’, ‘hope’, ‘wish’, etc. This year? “Memories.”

These ornaments are so special. It was wonderful seeing the look on their faces as they opened the gift and realized what the ornament was this year. I look forward to pulling this one out of the box for years to come!

Do you have a similar tradition?

Peanut Boil

 

My first major in college was photography. Eventually I landed in the education program, where I belonged, but for a short time I planned to become a professional photographer. I still find many uses for my photo urges- in fact, I am taking the pictures at my uncle’s wedding this December. The photo above is of my husband and was taken last Septemeber at the annual Peanut Boil. It is one of my favorites. My husband’s grandparents have hosted the Peanut Boil for 22ish years (no one is really certain of the first year!). His grandfather is from Louisiana where peanut boils were common.

Naturally, wikipedia has the best summary: “Boiling peanuts has been a folk cultural practice in the south of the US since the 19th century, where they were originally called goober peas. In late August, when the peanut crops would come in, unsold and surplus peanuts would be prepared in a boiling, and extended families and neighbors would gather to share conversation and food. Like a fish fry, peanut boils have been organizing principles for social gatherings.”

When my husband’s grandfather relocated to Missouri, he brought the peanut boil concept with him. Each year on the third Saturday in September 50 to 75 friends and family members gather. Their backyard is what I call the quintessential American backyard- complete with tree house, authentic tire swing, fire pit and assorted metal lawn chairs. No other food is served- just boiled peanuts and beer. Several people end up sitting on hay bales and playing music on guitars, banjos and keyboards. It is a fantastic tradition that I was happy to marry in to.

Tonight promises to be another great one! The weather is chilly and calls for jeans and a jacket, making me very excited for full fledged crisp fall evenings.

In Craft Land, I whipped up this little number last night. We are having dinner with my cousin and her husband in two weeks. They have a little girl whom we adore. She has a starring role in another of my favorite photos, taken about a year and a half ago at a wedding reception.

I wanted to bring a little something along for her, but couldn’t decide. Lucky for me, Kathy’s post earlier this week gave me some direction. I’ve been on a bit of a Pink Chalk streak between the pencil roll and the Note Taker, huh?

My cousin’s daughter is not quite ready for colored pencils, but she does do washable markers. I took a walk down fabric memory lane picking out the different colors. What’s great is that when she is ready for colored pencils, they need only swap the markers out! I am pretty much in love with the orange dot (Amy Butler) and red ribbon combo. (However, the anal retentive part of me is annoyed that Crayola decided to make four of the markers scented and, therefore change the marker body to black. Talk about throwing off my system!)

Does anyone else suffer from the “I really should go to bed, but I wonder what the next step will look like” sickness that gets me when I am working on something new? Good. Glad it’s not just me.

Up next for me in Craft Land is finishing my patterns for charm squares. More on that later!

Note Taker

As promised, here are photos of my finished Note Taker. I knew it would be an easy pattern to follow as soon as I saw the quality of Kathy’s instruction booklet. (As an aside…She really raised the bar. Sometimes people are creative but have trouble adequately describing the steps in their patterns, like I ran in to with the Fanshaw Dam pattern. Other people are fabulous instruction writers, but have zero creativity. Not so with the Note Taker instructions!!) However, little did I know how quickly it would go together! I think that the next one I make will have a pieced cover for even more “oompf.”

I heart this button and ribbon…

Progress

Remember the Past Times Christmas quilt? It doesn’t look like much, but there has been progress.

 

Grouping the pieces into sets for each of the blocks was more time consuming than I had anticipated. This quilt may have to have a Christmas ‘08 goal!

Quite the contrary, one other project zipped right along today. I made the Note Taker, designed by Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio. Talk about an easy pattern to follow! Not only is it a fun project to make, but her directions are absolutely superb. Here are my fabric choices. It’s a mixture of Amy Butler and a few Denyse Schmidt fat quarters that I’ve been waiting for just the right project to use.

The Note Taker is actually finished, but I will wait for better photo lighting tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek…

Bag Lady

Amy Butler fabrics are simply fabulous. A couple of years ago, I made a purse from one of her lines. It’s called the “Annabelle.” The ultra-low cost of material in the purse was made up for by the time spent sewing the decorative stitches! I estimate it took me two or three spools of thread and close to six hours in sewing those sections. The directions were very easy to follow, plus it was a great excuse to try out the decorative stitches on my sewing machine!

The result?

After I made that one, I decided to make a larger bag as a tote for my gradebook and school “stuff.” This is the “Miss Benson” bag. I did make my bag a little larger than the pattern called for so that my gradebook binder would fit inside with plenty of room for ungraded tests. Larger bag=longer sewing time.  Fusable fleece makes these bags sturdy and able to stand on their own. The patterns for the two can be purchased from Purse Strings Patterns.

 This final purse was made for me by my mother. I don’t have the pattern name handy, but I have seen several like it in books.

My spring project

 

This May I became an aunt! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a beautiful little girl. I made the bedding for the nursery: bumper, crib skirt, quilt, curtain, a couple of pillows and… a teddy bear. She wanted gender neutral without being pastels or “Hello, we’re the primary colors.” I enlarged the What a Bunch of Squares pattern from Denyse Schmidt, but not by the 400% that the directions say to. The fabric was all from April Cornell’s Sonnet Collection. I love this little room and what they did with it…

I heart the striped pillow with the fringe! You can also see the curtain.

Say, “hello,” to Mr. Bear…

Apron time

 

My best buddy in the whole wide world is turning the big two-six at the end of this month. I have been crafting away for the last couple of weeks on a set of tea towels and an apron for her. Hmm… how to describe my best pal… if you’re bored, she brings the party and if you’re bummed, she provides the type of laugh that makes your cheeks ache. She’s got great style and is just simply the greatest. Spending so much time working on her gift has given me plenty of opportunity to reflect on our long time friendship.

Anywho… the tea towels are not your average tea towels. No room for geese in bonnets here. No sir. She’s getting some sassy designs from sublime stitching. Photos later. However, you can see this one- the apron is officially finished!

I used fabric from American Jane’s Peas and Carrots  and Building Blocks lines.

Speaking of aprons…. I’d like to think I was trendy before it was trendy to decorate with vintage aprons.  About four years ago, my mother came across a bag of about ten aprons while sorting things from my grandparents’ house. My grandmother had made them long long ago. I quickly snatched them up. I asked my husband if we could hang a couple in our kitchen. Expecting him to say, “I’d rather not,” I was more than thrilled to hear him give his genuine approval. He loved the idea. I finally could afford to get them framed in December of 2004. If you could see them in person you’d see that the fabric is a bit darker in the center where she would have wiped her hands. That is my favorite part of them. Here they are.

Off to book club I go!