Project Linus, this and that, Kobe and Lance

Let me introduce you to Lance on the left and Kobe on the right.  Our two seventh grade grandchildren came to me asking for help because for a book report on a famous person, they had to make a puppet or doll depicting that person.  The teacher said it had to be hand made.  You couldn't buy a doll and dress it.  She said that in past years many students made their dolls using a water bottle as a base for the body.  To say I was skeptical is putting it mildly, but since I didn't have anything better to offer, we went for that.  It actually worked out quite well.  Lance additionally had a bicycle made out of hanger wire, and Kobe had a basketball that started as a ping pong ball.  The kids did most of the work, and were pleased with how they turned out.  Unfortunately, during the oral book report, when Kobe was demonstrating a dunk, he knocked his head off.  Apparently that made for quite a bit of laughter.

I have not been getting as much quilting done as I frequently do.  What with Lance and Kobe and grandchildren's basketball, softball and baseball games, we seem to keep pretty busy.  Then, of course, there's the fact that I don't make near as good use of my time as I could.

I did get this Carpenter's Star quilt made for Project Linus.  It was a fun project.  A friend of mine was making one, and I liked it.  My half square triangles finished at 5 inches, but the fun thing is you can go with any size.  

 I put this quilt together and quilted it, but the blocks were a group effort with our guild.  It's not a very big quilt, but hopefully some little girl will enjoy it.

And now, since I've been MIA for a while, I need to go catch up on what other bloggers have been doing.

Salmon season

 This has been a good week for salmon fishing here on the Willamette River in Portland.  The first picture is DH with his catch on Tuesday.

Here is our 13 year old DGS with his catch from today.  He made good use of his day off from school.

 And then here is our DS with his catch when he and my DH were out on Tuesday.

Quilting-related, I've finished some hand applique work, one of which has been partially done for several months.  I need a lot more practice, but I do enjoy it, and plan to do more.

Spring? Really? travel and Quilting (of course)

Well, I hear that quite a bit of our great country is having terrific spring weather.  We have had a few little dustings of snow in the last week or so, and then on Wednesday night much bigger flakes started falling and we woke up to probably 3 or 4 inches of the white stuff on the ground.  The poor daffodils are so unhappy, and branches have broken off the flowering plum and cherry trees.  Usually I love having snow, because we generally don't get much, but this is a month or so too late, seriously!

I am pleased to report though that today is very nice and sunny and the weather folks say we are to have several spring-like days, so I think there is hope for us.

I have been doing some research and planning for our upcoming trip to New York City and then Washington, D.C.  After our time in NYC, we will rent a car and see some sights and end up our trip in D.C.  It's been quite some time since we have been to either place, and we are very excited about going again.  The last time was just about four months before the tragic events of  9/11.  One of our sons and his family will be in NYC with us most of the time, so that will make it extra special.

I was thinking of a quilt this morning that I made the latter part of last year, and I don't think I posted it.  It was a block-of-the-month from Bunny Hill Designs, called Henrietta Whiskers.  It was such fun to make.  I really love their patterns.  I'm working on another one of their patterns called The Night Before Christmas, but not very diligently, so it will be quite a while before much is done with it.

More this and that

Actually, I just felt the need to post about my four DGC again.  I haven't bragged about them for a while.  This first picture is me with our youngest GC.  He's 7 and in first grade.  Just before school started in September, we took him to the beach and he and Grandpa and I spent a long time trying to make sand castles.  He loves coming to our house.  We have several little boys in our neighborhood for him to play with.

 This handsome boy is our oldest GC.  He is 13 and as I look at this picture which was taken close to a year ago, I realize how much he has grown and changed.  Adolescence does that to you, I guess.  At any rate, his basketball team won a tournament the day this was taken, and there have been a number of wins since that day also.

 The next two pictures are too cute for words.  The two girls on the left are our granddaughters.  On the right is my nephew's daughter.  My nephew's wife French braided the girls' hair and it turned out soooo cute!  Our DGDs are 10 (on the left) and 12 (middle).  The other little punkin is 8, I think.

What an accomplishment

Those who have been with me for some time are aware that our dear DIL was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2009.  She had surgery and it was diagnosed as Stage IV.  She underwent chemo and radiation and did well until November of 2010, when a tumor was discovered in her brain stem.  She had radiation for that and has done well since then.  This dear girl had started studying for her Master's Degree in Speech Therapy prior to the initial cancer diagnosis.  During the period of time when she had surgery, chemo and radiation, and then radiation again, she continued her studies.  Then in June of 2011, she graduated with an outstanding grade average.  She is shown below with her family.  It obviously has been a difficult journey for the entire family.  Our son was a rock for her.  Her tests have continued clear, and we obviously want so very badly for her to remain in remission.

Project Linus

I made this quilt for Project Linus.  It was a great project.  I used a bunch of charm squares that I had and cut them in half and put in the light-colored strips.  It just totally changed the way it looked.  I will want to do another one with the same idea.

On another note, today one of my DGDs and I made a new recipe - Cheddar Cauliflower Soup.  It turned out so good!  I love trying new recipes.  Then continuing to play Betty Crocker, we made homemade butterscotch pudding for dessert.  Man, oh man, does that put the pudding mixes to shame, and it wasn't hard to make.  Ummm, good!

2012 already!

It's a little late in the day, but the wish is still there - Happy New Year, along with good health and a safe journey through the year.

We were at our son and DIL's house last night, and consequently we've felt a little droopy today.  The weather was very pleasant, and we did get out for a walk, so that was a good thing.

Instead of working on a UFO, I started a new project, so that will add one more UFO to the others I have.

Now it's back to watching the evening football game, and tomorrow is the eagerly awaited Rose Bowl.  GO DUCKS!!!

Merry Christmas to all!  Have a wonderful day wherever you are.  Our family had an early Christmas on December 11 since our younger son and family were going to be in San Diego with our DIL's family.  Today we will have a lovely time across the street with Kevin and his family.  First though, I'm off to the kitchen to make a couple pies.

DH and I with our four DGC

 Older son Kevin and his family

 Younger son Kurt and his family

It has been forever since I have posted.  I have occasionally  looked at other blogs, but that's about the extent of anything blog-related that I have done.

We had  a wonderful summer, but as always, it went too fast.

I completed the two wildlife quilts for our two sons, and presented those to them.  They were both very pleased.

I can't really attempt to cover the last 8 or 9 months in one post, so I'll just maybe gradually come up to date.

Belated pictures and GO DUCKS!!!

Well, better late than never, I hope.  At any rate, I wanted to share a few pictures from Christmas Day.  We had such a wonderful day together.

Our younger son and his family above, and older (not old) son and his family. 

 Here are DGDs with the nightgowns I made for them.  I don't particularly enjoy making them (I'm a quilter, after all), but their pleasure with them makes it worthwhile.

And today is the big day - Oregon Ducks play Auburn Tigers for the NCAA football championship.  We got this shirt for this DGD and I'm betting she's wearing it today.  GO DUCKS!  Most folks probably don't care, but we sure do!

This and that

First the good news. Our dear daughter-in-law is doing well and for that we are very, very grateful. She has been free from side effects from the pinpoint radiation. She and our son and their two children (two of our DGCs) and Hubby and I are going to Florida and spend some time at the Disney parks before Christmas. We will all be home to spend Christmas here. Hubby and I are going a week earlier and will go to the Florida Keys and explore some other places in Florida, and then meet up with them in Orlando. We have never been to the Keys, so are excited about going there.

I am not going to give many details about the following pictures. Suffice it to say that in time the entire project and its destination will be disclosed. I doubt that it will be seen here by the recipient, but just in case...

This quilt top is waiting for me to make a back for it, and then sandwich and quilt it and give it to a local charity group.  The pattern is Play Time by Random Threadz. 

Random thoughts and one completion

Today would have been my Dad's 92nd birthday. He was taken from us much too young, at the age of 58. He was a very patient, good man, and I miss him to this day. I once asked him if he regretted not having a boy (my sister and I are the only children), and his reply always has stuck with me. "Of course not," he said. "I'm very content with my two daughters."

Now on to the main thing that has had me busy, but unmotivated to do hardly any sewing or anything creative. I have posted about our daughter-in-law learning that there was a tumor in her brain stem. It had metastisized there from her breast cancer. She has undergone radiation for the tumor and had some pretty severe complications. Yesterday she underwent a final pinpoint radiation treatment, and that went well, and hopefully she will be free of complications from that. Hubby and I have helped quite a bit with keeping our grandchildren, and we are very grateful that we live so close so that we can help.

Some time ago I mentioned that I had taken a Hawaiian Quilting class from quiltuniversity.com. I had completed the applique portion of it, but the hand quilting part was one thing I just had set aside and ignored. I finally finished it a week or so ago, and then made it into a pillow yesterday. My hand quilting needs serious improvement, and while I enjoyed it, I'm glad to have it completed.

Project Linus; Sad news

I finished quilting the last Project Linus top that I had stashed.  I need to get busy and piece some more, but first I want to work on a couple other things.  A group of friends and I made lots of four patches using the Billie Lauder method.  It was fun and we got some good-looking Project Linus quilts out of it.

On Thursday of this week our son and daughter-in-law got up and our son thought his wife was having a stroke.  He rushed her to the hospital, and unfortunately the breast cancer had metastasized to her brain.  She is upbeat and determined, but it is very, very scary.  She is receiving 15 radiation treatments.  She is such a sweetheart, and we are hoping for another victory over her cancer.  Our son and DIL have two very dear children, a girl 11, and a boy 6.  The children definitely need their mommy, and our son needs his wife.  It is hard to think of anything else now.  Fortunately, they live very close to us, so we can help with pretty much whatever they need.

Race for the Cure

I have posted before about our daughter-in-law having breast cancer and her brave fight against it.  Yesterday was the annual Race for the Cure in Portland, and our other daughter-in-law put in a lot of work organizing a team called "Tonya's Team."  There were about 80 who signed up for the team, although not all got to come do the walk.  As a team, we all did the 5K (3.1 miles) walk together in downtown Portland.  For the most part the weather cooperated and it was sunny and great walking weather.  Toward the end of the walk we had a couple rain showers, but that didn't dampen our spirits.  A huge crowd of people packed the waterfront park.  I heard it estimated that with all the voluneers, organizers, runners, walkers, etc., there were over 40,000.

This picture is Tonya in her "survivor" shirt and cap with all the children on the team.  There were several entire families there walking together.  It was very inspiring.  I didn't mention, but our son Kurt designed a great T-shirt that said "Team Tonya," and most of our team bought one. 

 This picture is Kurt and Tonya and their family.

 What a great picture after all they have been through!

Below are hubby and I and our two sons and their wives and our four darling grandchildren.  Have I ever mentioned that we have four darling grandchildren??  (tee hee)

Project Linus completion

 Anyone who has looked at my blog knows that I love to do quilts for Project Linus, and though it's been a while, here is another one.  This quilt actually is a mystery quilt pattern that some in my quilt guild did.  As you can readily see, it is an extremely easy pattern, but I am real pleased with the way it turned out.  I had intended it from the start to go to Project Linus, so chose fabrics that I thought would work for that purpose.  We have been told that PL is most in need of quilts big enough for older children, and especially boys, since they get more for girls, and I think this quilt will fill that bill, as do most of mine.

 On one of the blogs I was perusing the other day, I saw a block similar to this and decided that looked like fun, so out came just a small portion of my scraps, and I started in.  It was fun, and I now have 11 more similar blocks to go with it.  Now I need to sash them and put them all together and there will be another Project Linus quilt top.

Three of our DGC are coming over today, so I think maybe we will ride bikes and have a picnic.  The summer is going much too quickly to suit me!

Last night we went to a youth football fundraiser at a restaurant here in town and saw so many people we know.  Our fireman son was one of the servers.  They had police and firefighters helping with serving, and the tips that they got, as well as 20% of the restaurant proceeds, went to the youth football program.  Our grandson plays football, so of course we wanted to participate.  It was fun to see so many we knew there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  I think ours will be quiet and that sounds great to me.

Spring is here - at least for today

This cute little punkin in our front yard is our younger grandson.  We always have him on Fridays, and today was a lovely day, so he spent quite a little time outdoors.

A couple weeks ago I was in our local quilt shop and saw this wonderful breast cancer batik that I just had to have to make a quilt for our DDIL who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer.  I also found the perfect fabric (in my opinion) to go with it, the beautiful green.  I found a star I really liked on EQ and went from there.  I am pleased with how it turned out, and I know our DDIL will love it.  I will mention that they consider her to be in remission, but she still must have radiation treatments because there was cancer in lymph nodes.  Obviously, our hope is that remission is permanent.

Project Linus

Well, I sure haven't accomplished much this last week.  I did finally get the quilting done and the binding sewn on a quilt I pieced a couple months ago.  This quilt will go to Project Linus.  I saw a quilt recently that had obviously been done on a long arm quilting machine, and had circles going around and around on it.  I decided to try to do something similar with my home sewing machine, and this is the result.  It's not great, and the circles are not exactly circular, that's for sure, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

We watched one little granddaughter play basketball today.  There is sure a huge difference in the height of these third and fourth graders.  Unfortunately our DGD's team had all the short players, so they really got smoked, but at least at that level they don't keep score.

Our grandson with the broken leg in the ankle area is doing very well.  He almost runs with his cast, and plays outside and is very active.  Our 5 year old grandson is going to play T-ball this year.  That will be so cute - of course I think everything my grandkids do is cute!!  :-)

Treasured gift and Farmer's Wife blocks

My blog continues to be a mess, but I will just continue with it as is, I guess, because I haven't a clue what to do about the problems.

I just have to show you the sweet mouse pad our granddaughter made for me at school. We make candy cane cookies together, and this is her depiction of the cookies and my kitchen. She has it pretty accurately done, and note the butter, sugar, flour and eggs that she has sitting on the island counter. The mixer we use is sitting on another counter, and she shows our refrigerator, pantry door and stove.

The next two pictures are my Farmer's Wife blocks.  I am really enjoying making these.  My friend and I got together on Monday and sewed, and I have continued to work on them since then.

My sister and her husband and my niece and her husband and their sweet baby visited for a couple days this week, and we enjoyed their visit so much. What a treat to have them. Our kids and their families were here for dinner and the evening. This is a picture of hubby and I, our DGC, and my darling great-nephew. The baby was such a hit and the three older kids just wanted to be close to him.

DGC-again

We are so fortunate in that we see our four darling grandchildren often. They all make us laugh, and give us great joy.

This picture is of our sweet 10-year-old granddaughter. She just looks like a cute little buttercup!













This little 8-year-old pretty is pretending to knit. She has on an old pair of my glasses, and thinks she really looks swell, which she does.





Our two grandsons (ages 11 and 5) are being goofy (not uncommon) and playing karate.

Happy Birthday, Kurt!

Happy Birthday to our younger son, Kurt. Today brings back so many happy memories of him as a sweet baby and cute little guy, and now he's all grown up to be a fine man. Whatever happened to all the time that has passed? This picture is of Kurt with his two children,taken when we visited the fire station.