Much to my mom's dismay, I am not much of a seamstress. My mom can take a few scraps of fabric and create the most amazing things. I feel I am a bit of a disappointment to her in the sewing department because not only am I not very good at it, I also have the audacity to not enjoy it!! So when I recently decided I wanted to tackle a sewing project, I was the first to be surprised!
I am expecting a new great-niece in May, so why not make her a baby quilt I thought?!? I found the easiest quilt pattern known to man, went shopping for fabric, and actually got very enthusiastic about the project. I had to literally dust off my machine and give it a good overhaul, oiling and adjusting everything. I must admit, I was quite surprised that it still was willing to work for me and work well!
I gathered my supplies and got busy. I measured and cut all the squares. I sewed them all together into rows, then proceeded to sew the rows together to make the quilt top. Wow, I was pretty proud of myself! Heck this is easy I thought; wonder why I dislike sewing so much! Then I gave the top a thorough inspection. Uh-oh, now it's all coming back to me!! I don't like to sew because I am lousy at it!! Where did I go wrong? The first several rows all lined up quite nicely, but then something happened and the squares became very askew! The last two rows looked ridiculous! What to do now? Darn, guess I'll have to show it to Mom and get some help.
When my parents came over for a visit I told my mom I wanted to show her my quilt top, but she had to promise NOT to laugh! She promised. I showed her the quilt top and what was the first thing she did? You guessed it, she burst into fits of laughter!! I said, "Mom, you promised!" She tried to cover by saying she was laughing at ME not at the quilt! Right!! Being a mom myself, I am onto that old trick and I didn't believe her for a nano-second!! After she settled down, we decided that I should just remove the bottom two rows, because the quilt top was actually a little too large for a baby quilt anyway. Fortunately, it was easy to remedy that boo-boo.
Now I had to work up the courage to put the batting in the middle and attach the batting and the back to the quilt top. I eagerly got started and was actually not hating it when suddenly the waterworks began. You see, the great-niece that I am making the quilt for, is also the first grandbaby of my Bff and my Bff isn't here to welcome this new little blessing into the world. All I could think of was how it should be her making the quilt instead of me. I had to fight through the tears and stop to compose myself several times, but I realized that the harder it was to work on the quilt, the more determined I became to finish it. What started as a whim to try my hand at sewing again suddenly became a labor of love, not just for the new blessing for which it is intended, but also for the memory of the grandma she will never know.
I am pleased to say I finished the quilt and although it's not perfect, I am quite happy with it! I can see my Bff's beautiful smiling face and I know she is saying, "Thank you my friend"...
And to that I reply, "Congratulations Grandma"...
Tilling the soil...
The Azaleas are amazing...
The apple tree is in full bloom...
And bees are pollinating... 
This light fixture was a bronze color, but it didn't go well with the new table and chairs so we painted it white and now I love the way it looks. 
This beautiful vintage apron was a sweet gift sent by a friend in Idaho that thought it would look great with my new look; I think she was right and I love it! 
