Baby Rory is Here!

 

Our newest grandson, Rory is here! He is as sweet as can be and his sisters and brother are in love with him. He was born in June and I am a bad mom-mom for taking so long to post these pictures. In my defense I have been a little busy helping out.

He made his appearance 12 days early which surprised us all!

Babies on quilts is one of my favorite hashtags on Instagram!

I usually make my quilts on the smaller side so that kids can drag them around once they get older. The stars are a dark navy blue and I love a striped binding!

For those of you that have followed me for a while, our twin grandsons, Jax and Cam are starting Kindergarten next year! They were lucky enough to have a full in-person year of pre-school this year. I can't believe next week they will be 6, time is flying.

They also played soccer this spring and daddy was the coach. It was fun to see my son Colin in the role of coach after so many sports he participated in as a child.

Now to some quilty stuff.....I absolutely loved making this quilt. It was a Block of the Month with Figtree Quilts called Summertime Picnic. I ordered it before the pandemic started so it was nice to get a present in the mail every month during hell on earth. If you think you are interested in the pattern I think she is coming out with a book sometime soon.

I love that it has the date "2020" on it. My friend Carolyn did a super job quilting it for me and I am in love with the Baptist Fan pattern. It may be my new "go to" pattern.

I am a big fan of Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet. If you are a beginner quilter you must check out her blog and Instagram. Even as an experienced quilter I have learned so much from her. She is also a marketing genius with lots of things to buy to make quilting even more fun.

This is where I am as of yesterday and I only have 5 more blocks to make. If you are interested in making this go to her blog for all the details. You need her books but they are very user friendly.

When I am working on a project like this I separate my fabrics into 2 baskets. The background and 

the main color, in this case reds.

I keep all the scraps from the blocks I cut in another basket and sort through it as needed. This system works well and I highly recommend it. It also keeps my sewing room from turning into a disaster area.

Friends are definitely enablers! Stephanie and Patti are both doing this new Block of the Month from Laundry basket quilts called, Anna's Baskets. Once I saw the blocks I knew I had to make it. Basket quilts are one of my favorites as you will see down the page......

The fabrics are a bit more traditional than what I usually use but I think they are a perfect mix of fresh colored traditional fabrics if that makes sense.

more.....

and some more....

The blues are wonderful!!!

So now I will talk about some new things in my sewing room. Have you all heard about clappers? I had my husband make some for me and I gave some to my friends in my bee. This is how you use them. Once you press your seams (open or to the side) you place the clapper on top to flatten it. I love them and it is amazing how much flatter your seams are once it cools. I have about 10 of them in different sizes which is very convenient. It does take a little bit longer when you are sewing BUT if you really need a seam to be flat they are great. I do feel my blocks have turned out better since I have been using them.

This book stand is something I never knew I needed! I use it for books and patterns and it ends the searching for the right page or trying to find my book under all my fabrics. It also takes up less space.

This was an amazing find at a local shop in my town. The color was the first thing I saw and once I knew it could store my threads I was sold!

I like that it will keep them from getting dusty and they just look pretty.

My basket quilt top is done!!! It is King Size and was a bear to make. It think it will be my last. I decided to do a dark fabric surrounding the baskets to give it a different look. These colors are not very good in this picture.

This is a better representation of the colors.

My friend Helen is going to quilt it for me in the early fall. I will be sure to show it to you.

I have also fallen down the cross stitch hole. I am blaming the pandemic and all the Flosstube videos I have watched! I used to do cross stitch in the 1980's. My oh my has it changed!

This was a birthday present for a friend.

The floss is gorgeous and you can get it hand-dyed. The linens are also amazing and they too are hand-dyed, printed and many many colors to choose from. I am not letting myself get carried away but it is so tempting.

Now for some pretty color. These are Alison Glass fabrics that I had to add to my collection. They just make me happy to look at! I feel like fabric collections don't last very long and if you want it you need to get it. Anyone else feel like that?

My coleus is stunning this year. I bought my plants bigger and I think that helped. This is a very shady spot and it's hard to find something colorful for this spot.

The pots near my front door went crazy. I love the licorice plant in front. I am always looking for easy care free plants that just need water and a little fertilizer.

I also did some major pruning. If you are a plant in my garden that is not performing, out you go! I had some bushes that were just too big and were shading other plants, the hibiscus I got were a dark maroon red that I didn't like and some were a pain (barberry). Luckily my husband has all the toys I need to make this an easy project. We pulled out about 7 big bushes in about 45 minutes, without disturbing my surrounding plants. It was wonderful.

It left lots of  holes for new plants and gave added light to those that needed it.

Many of you know I am not a fan of purple except when it is in the garden. My petunias look so pretty, they are glowing!

I have discovered the deer do not eat Vinca. It will now be a staple in my garden. This is a gorgeous red.

They will take bites out of the cone flowers but mostly leave them alone this variety is called Papaya. It is much more beautiful in person.

Somewhat quilt related...My granddaughter Piper (Rory's big sister) went up and got her quilt when she saw Rory wrapped up in his. She cracks me up! She will be 2 this week and is a sweet, energetic girl. I call her Pippy and she fits her name.

When I am with her we read a book before naptime and her go to book is Go Dog Go! It's all about the dog tree party and we look at that picture for a long time. I love that she wants to read books and hope to keep it going. My daughter sent me this picture of her after she was put to bed. I think it's working!

Thank you to everyone who sent me emails asking if I was still blogging! It got me off my butt. Truthfully life is just busy and for those that do Instagram you know how easy it is to post something from that platform. Blogging take a lot more time and effort. I am more likely to go get my book and sit on my porch and enjoy the summer weather when the day is done.

Kelly