When I grow up...

Levi turned 3 yesterday, but his birthday party was on Saturday. What little boy doesn't want to grow up to be a firefighter? His daddy sure did when he was Levi's age.

Christa, as usual, did an amazing job of decorating the table:

And then look what rolled up in front of the house!

There are only four of these hook and ladder trucks in the Fresno area, and one station house is practically around the corner.

Levi and Aaron sitting in the firetruck (did I mention that the fathers were definitely more nearly as excited as the kids for the truck to arrive?)

Nearly a year ago, when we had the fire at our rental house, I floated the theory that it may be an actual job description for firefighters to be nice-looking guys. (Theory confirmed...)

Before they took off, they turned on the lights, (very) briefly turned on the siren, and honked the horn. Such a fun party.

And our gift to Levi didn't cost us a penny this year. We saved all of Aaron's Tonka toys that we gave him when he turned 3. They now belong to Levi.

What we hadn't quite counted on was that the boxes we used to store the four Tonkas would be as big a hit as what was inside...

"The art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." Havelock Gill

Yesterday our good friends, George and Cheri, dropped by with a card that had that quote on the front. And yesterday I actually lived that quote. On Sunday, I posted about remembering our grandson, Caleb, who was born six years ago on March 13. Actually, March 16 is the day that is always the hardest on me, for that is the day, six years ago, we all had to let him go. When all we wanted to do was hold on.

Shortly after he passed away, Mark and I found a garden statue of a little boy in overalls. I think he was supposed have water coming out of the little hose he was holding. Instead we had a brick base built and had him permanently cemented to the base, in a little area by our front door. (Note: We live in California. Things can tend to "walk" away if you don't take precautions.)

So every year on March 13 we get a balloon and tie it to our little boy.

And every year on March 16 we release it. I hope you won't get  all "environmental" on me. The other days of the year I do care about the potential outcome of balloons released into the sky. On March 16th, I simply.do.not.care about the environment at large. It's all I can do to take care of the environment of my heart.

Mark and I had a quiet dinner together.

Then I went into my sewing room, cleaned and organized it, took apart my sewing machine, brushed out all the lint from machine quilting Levi's quilt all weekend, put in a new needle, wound some bobbins, threaded my machine, and started working on Pop Beads.

Have you noticed how working with beautiful fabric, making something with your hands, something real, something you can touch, is good for the soul? Thank you, my friends, for surrounding me, encouraging me, inspiring me. It may seem odd to some that you could feel such a close connection with women you have never met. It doesn't seem odd to me at all.

Things I Learned Over the Weekend

My friend, Dotty, knows her quilt top dimensions. I can't remember them for the life of me. This is what she told me when she stopped by this morning: 78 x 96 is like a queen sized comforter. Or twin bedspread. As in all the way to the floor.

It is impossible to spray baste a quilt this size without a nice patio. And a sunny morning. And definitely an able and willing assistant (who incidentally also made me a fabulous breakfast before we started the basting):

This is a lot of quilt to wrangle through the 9" space of my domestic machine. And bike clips don't stay on very well. And they make a lot of noise when they hit a wood floor. Clang...clang...

Some pleats are great, especially when feeding the quilt through for quilting.

Some pleats? Not so much. Oops. Took six lines of vertical stitching out and decided to add more horizontal stitching instead.

The biggest thing I learned this weekend was how much I adore this quilt (solid fabrics--awesomeness!), the mommy who chose the pattern and took all the time to cut, organize, sew (and allowed me in on the project too), and the little boy who will be wrapped up in it!

Remembering...

Caleb. He would be 6 today.

When I look at Charlotte and Levi, I can't help but wonder. Would he look like they do, with their dark hair, huge dark eyes? Would he make me laugh out loud like they do? Would he wrap his arms around my neck and say, "I love you, Grandma" and make my heart melt?

When I first heard this song by Laura Story, I knew it was special.  I have listened closely to these words, played the song over and over. And this week--every week but especially this week--I know that through all the heartache, though we only had him for three short days, Caleb will always be a blessing.

Friday miscellany

Because I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with these two this week,

I didn't spend much time here. And I'm totally okay with that.

This morning I purchased supplies

for this. Thanks to so many good suggestions, I'm feeling quite confident about getting a lot accomplished on the machine quilting this weekend.

I added another contender in the battle for who "rules" my sewing room. It looks promising.

And stacked up the coordinating solids for Single Girl. (Excuse the weird shadow on the fabric; that would be me standing in the way of the light from the window...)

How will you be spending your weekend?

"I don't care for orange"

Yesterday I was trying to capture Levi saying the word "blue." He has an adorable way of turning it into a two-syllable word, sort of like "ba-loo," although now sometimes it sounds more like "boo," so I knew I had to get this on tape ASAP.  Somewhere along the line, he was coached by his sister into saying, "I don't care for orange." What??? How could that be? Which was kind of funny, because not five minutes before that little coaching incident, Charlotte had said, "Grandma, whatever color is YOUR favorite is MY favorite too."And as you can see, he quickly changed his mind about the color orange.Because really. How could you not love orange?!

Side note: I hate listening to my voice on that video. Am I the only one who thinks they couldn't possibly sound like that when they hear their own voice? Anyway...

Speaking of orange, this arrived while I was at quilt camp (update on that tomorrow), the most beautiful shade of orange, officially "Betty's orange" by Moda Bella Solids. It was hard to find it under that name, but Fat Quarter Shop has it listed simply as orange.  Highly recommended.

 And from Glorious Color, Kaffe Fassett's new woven stripes. If you love Kaffe Fassett fabric, Glorious Color is a very dangerous shop to check out.

It's Tuesday and we had octopus for lunch

Naw, not really. But when my friend made this with her granddaughter, I knew Charlotte and Levi would enjoy it too. Candy and Courtney called them spaghetti dogs. Charlotte and Levi called them octopus. Maybe it was because they just spent the weekend at the coast?

Just stick that spaghetti through cut-up hot dogs,

 boil,

 and eat!

And while I hesitate to post these pictures to all you still buried in the snow, before lunch we went outside and spent a few minutes playing with the bubble guns that Grandpa found for them this weekend.

Come back tomorrow morning for the big reveal of the spool quilt. See ya then!

WIP Wednesday and Color Therapy Thursday

First things first. I need advice on just one color of perle cotton for my Spools quilt. I decided to outline each spool with off white No. 8 perle cotton. Around the border I am going to use variegated in a swirly line, like thread. By last week I had decided to big stitch the quilting needle in the bottom border rather than applique it on. So here's the question: would you use grey pearl cotton for the needle to more closely resemble a silver needle? Even though there is no grey in the quilt itself?  Or would you use brown pearl cotton because there is a lot of brown in the quilt?

Yesterday Charlotte and Levi did a Valentine's project using this great "love mail" tutorial from Noodlehead, cute little packets, one side vellum and the other white card stock, and then stuffed with M&Ms and sewn shut (by me...). I got the Valentine's M&M assortment. While I never eat blue M&Ms (personal protest--weirdo...), I have no problem with seasonal M&M colors.

I was going to have Charlotte write both her name and Levi's name on the front of each Valentine in the "from" area. Her name is long, and while she can write it very well, she really needs a good 8 inches of paper. These Valentine's were only 4" wide. Things started out well enough, and then she ran out of room. So she just put the rest of her name randomly wherever she could find space. Her whole name is there, you just kind of have to search for it. And sorry, Levi, there was no space for your name.

Then I sewed the front and back together, just leaving an opening of a couple inches at the top. The packets then got stuffed with M&Ms.

This is what I love about art projects with little ones. You give them the rudimentary instructions, and then sit back and watch how their incredible little brains interpret what you said.

While there were four colors of M&Ms in the bag (white, red, and two shades of pink), Charlotte only wanted one color in each of the packets she stuffed. After watching her create the pattern in her macaroni necklace, it makes me wonder if she is going to favor linear and symmetrical creativity in her projects. It will be interesting to watch.

Levi, on the other hand, wanted all the colors.

This was a fun project (even though they always look so serious--art takes concentration!) and educational--lots of practice in counting those M&Ms. And plenty left over for eating...

Tuesday Thoughts, Part 2: A dream come true

The second picture-heavy post in the same day. I wasn't expecting this one and I want to get it posted while it's still fresh in my mind.

Take yourself back to 1959. What? Some of you weren't even born then? Okay, so imagine yourself back to 1959. I was about 7. My father was a minister and while I remember having a comfortable life growing up, there was rarely any money for "extras." We had a chihuahua named Pepe. He was always a little hyper for me, and I think my parents felt that way as well. Anyway, I wanted a Barbie doll so badly. Maybe my parents were just looking for a way to pass that hyper little dog onto someone who would love him more. So they asked me if I was willing to get rid of the dog. If so, they would use that money to buy a Barbie doll. I know. Shocking. Sorry to all you dog lovers. I totally sold the dog out for a Barbie doll.

The first edition of Barbie had a blond pony tail. I am a redhead and by the time I got my own Barbie, they had come out with the "bubble cut." Imagine the early 1960s. Jackie Kennedy was all the rage, and with her incredible sense of style, it filtered its way down even to Barbie. My Barbie had a red bubble cut.

Somehow, maybe for Christmas or birthday, I don't remember, but Barbie also acquired a canopy bed with a dressing table, chair, "French" armoire and a couple of "store-bought" outfits. I was completely amazed to have a Barbie, and to have her living so stylishly.

While I got rid of nearly every other toy, I saved my Barbie, in the original box, never with the idea that she would be a collectible, but with the hope I could pass her on to a daughter. Or a granddaughter. That happened today.

I had checked with Christa a few months ago, and she said it was fine. You never know these days if mothers want their daughters playing with a doll whose figure is so unrealistic. But this morning Charlotte also had the most adorable Dorothy doll from the Wizard of Oz, and Tiana (spelling?), so the timing seemed right.

We got the box down and started taking things out. Wow, what memories came flooding back. I learned to hand sew with this doll. While I had a couple of purchased outfits, like this stunning red velvet swing coat with white satin lining and a Jackie Kennedy "pillbox" hat and the black dress with the organza collar and a matching big hat (think Kentucky Derby...),

more and more outfits came spilling out of the bag, outfits that were mostly hand sewn. Even though I was the one who made them all those years ago, this morning I was shocked at the detail I had put into them.

An evening dress (modeled by Tiana), which consisted of a long strapless dress, and then a cape kind of thing that you would put your arms through and it would wrap around your shoulders, complete with a train:

A red denim wrap skirt, lined in red and white ticking stripes, where one tie went through a little opening and tied in the front:

That little white dress with gray flowers, next to the red skirt, was actually made from fabric from a dress my mother wore to church, kind of a shantung silky thing.

Here we have a corduroy coat, with an attached scarf to wrap around your neck. Check out the fringe on the ends of the scarf.

Here we have a three-piece knit ensemble (I think it used to belong to a skirt my grandmother wore at one time) which consists of a pencil skirt, short-sleeved shell, and jacket to complete the outfit, a long satiny evening gown with sequins, a short summery party dress with eyelit overskirt, and two pairs of high-waisted pants.

Here is the white dress again, the summery dress, and another flower shift-style dress with an odd sailor-collar thing I guess Barbie tied around her neck, and then a pretty pink wool coat.

A see-through overskirt (not sure what Barbie wore it with) but check out the rickrack on the border, and some capri pants with little flounces on the bottom (wow, the elastic really crackled when I stretched it out a bit).

Probably my favorite, this pink wool number, with the black embroidery trim and black fringe (sorry about the weird fit around the bust--I think Barbie needs to have the darts pressed down and she'll be just fine...)

This is what I had forgotten: all the hand sewing, darts, tucks, trim. While Charlotte was busy changing Barbie's outfit from one to another

and Levi was doing the man thing and getting the furniture in order,

I was lost in memories...