Just sitting here on a chilly, damp morning drinking that first cup of coffee. (Nothing better than that first cup, is there?) I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that my oldest child is celebrating his 36th birthday today and number two celebrated his 34th birthday two days ago. How did that even happen? Time just marches on. I love having adult children – watching them carve their path, raise children, and develop their careers. It is truly satisfying.
OK – moving on from blathering about my boys, let’s look at a fun project I worked on this week. Our local quilt guild is doing some community service work, making placemats for both Meals on Wheels and the local senior center. I thought this would be a fun project to contribute to. The only requirement was to make them finish at 12″ x 18″. My plan was to use some orphan blocks as the starting point. I have three finished and two more that just need binding.
This one used six HST’s that were leftover from making my Pikes’s Peak quilt (which still needs to be finished). Love the blue and gray tones in this placemat. I used a fun stitch to quilt the outer border. All of the placemats have machine stitched bindings.
Placemat number two used up a few odds and ends from the Twisted quilt I made several years ago and donated to Mercyful Quilts. I actually have quite a few of these rectangles left because I had stitched a number of them backwards and didn’t notice it until after trimming the backside (making it too late to rip them apart). This made a cute placemat and, again, I used a decorative stitch for the two borders.
Isn’t this a cute one? I have had that little heart block for at least four or five years. I made it with a pattern from Kitty Wilkin over at Night Quilter. I never used it though and am happy to see it finished up.
Thinking forward and making a plan for what I will work on next, I think I want to finish up a quilt for Mercy Hospital. I had shared my Bloom with Grace flimsy two weeks ago and, at the suggestion of a couple of you, I decided to add top and bottom borders to give it some length. That is completed and it is basted and ready to quilt.
This is the main goal for February and I will link this up to OMG at Elm Street Quilts. Beyond this quilt, I want to make something for my grand daughters. Both girls have birthdays next month. As I said above, time marches on and A will have her first birthday just after H celebrates her fourth! Wow. I am thinking about making a teepee which can be set up in one of the play rooms. I have a feeling they will like playing in it. For this, I need to order some heavy fabric, maybe a canvas, with a non-directional print..
OK – time to get going. The coffee is now lukewarm and there are orders to pack. Looks like it will be a rainy day but hopefully there will be a break enough to take a walk and get a little outside time. Have a great day all!
Happy Birthday to your two boys – time does fly, doesn’t it? Those placemats are so cheerful and fun. I just finished a grocery run before the nasty winter weather arrives later tonight and tomorrow. The rest of the day will be sewing, I think!
My Brooklyn NY son celebrated his birthday with a huge snowfall. I guess the storm is heading for you now? As long as you don’t have to go out and you keep your power, all is well. Hunker down and sew – nothing wrong with that!! Enjoy it Wendy.
What a great way to use up orphan blocks; the placemats look great. I hope you enjoy quilting the Bloom with Grace quilt. And all going to such wonderful organizations.
Yes – I was happy to use up some blocks and scraps – of course, there is still a large stack though. I started the quilting today and it is coming along nicely. Hope all is well with you Yvonne.
Our eldest turns 54 on the 18th of this month and the youngest will be 51 18 days later! Love your placemats. When we wintered in Roadhaven Resort, the Creative Crafts group would make placemats for Meals on Wheels there in town. They’d make 90+ placemats every year–some of the ladies would make them during the summer when they were at their regular home and then bring them down to the park when they relocated for the winter. Great project!
It is just nuts, right Carol? The passage of time is so interesting. Do you have grand children? I hope so and I also hope your kids live somewhere that allows you to see them on a regular basis! Great job with the placemat projects. That is impressive. I have five done now. Just finished putting the binding on the last two. I will drop them off tomorrow. Take care. 🙂
Grandkids live in San Diego — 5 hrs. away, so we don’t see them as often as we would like. Take care and stay safe!
Love your placemats!! I need to get on that one. Great idea to use up orphan blocks, too.
I really enjoyed the Queen’s Gambit, thanks for recommendation. Take care.
Oh – I am glad you enjoyed it. I thought Queen’s Gambit was so good – kind of disappointed when it was finished!
Pull out the orphan blocks and some scraps – time to make placemats. I finished two more today so I am going to drop them off with Nancy tomorrow. Take care Sue.
Gosh, Bernie — I was just watching old videos of my boys explaining LEGO robots to me in their sweet, high-pitched little boy voices! Now they both tower over me and have booming bass voices. Time does fly! Your Meals On Wheels place mats are delightful and will be appreciated by those who receive them, and HOW did I miss seeing your earlier post about that gorgeous Bloom with Grace project? I’m off to read that one right now!
I get it Rebecca. No longer little boys and it took no time at all. I just finished the last two placemats and will drop them off tomorrow. Now it is time to get to work on the quilt for Mercy Hospital. 🙂
What a wonderful post- birthday boys, placemats for charity and something for the hospice and your grand daughters! Lots of good things happening here. Good luck with your monthly goal!
You are right – lots of nice things going on here. This weekend Julia and I are going to drive toward my 3rd son (the only one living in CA) and we are meeting for a picnic. Hoping the weather cooperates. We want to have some family time and this makes it easy for all of us – kind of meeting in the middle. So lots to look forward to. I hope you are doing well Kathleen. 🙂
Years ago our quilt group made placemats for meals on wheels and it was so fun seeing the variety we delivered to them. It was easy to make over 200 so they had a nice stash to use when needed and I am sure they brighten people’s days. I am very anxious to see how this tee pee is constructed! You are a good grandma! Me I would be making Easter dresses but look at you! I bet Julie will add some creative touch to it as well.
The tee pee (so far anyway!) looks quite easy to make. But I will be sure to post about it when I get to it.
I think Easter dresses sound like a great idea too! I have yet to make the girls any matching clothes but it would be a fun thing to do.
Dropping off the placemats today with our community service group. I will be curious to see how many are being made so far!
Great placemats. And such a wonderful idea to gift them to senior centers and Meals on Wheels!
Looks like you’ve been busy during your rainy gray days. Good for you! Me, too. Your kids are about the same age as mine. My daughter is 34 and son is 38! I love the little print in the Valentine placemat. You probably don’t have any of that fabric???
I have some scraps of the Valentine fabric. It was a piece that was included in a bag of fabric my neighbor gave me. I think it is a good 20 years old or so. I will take a look and see how much I have – Happy to share it with you!
Love these placemats! My guild is doing something similar for their project this year–ours is for the Local Friendship Trays, which is similar to (and possibly affiliated with) meals on wheels but includes non-seniors among the people they serve. I’m looking forward to putting some spare parts and pieces to good use!
Perfect. I do love these projects – soooo easy to do and fun to use the bits and pieces up.
Happy BIrthday to your sons. My youngest just turned 30 while the older turned 32, both in January. Time does fly doesn’t it. No grandchildren here yet. Those placemats are so pretty. What a nice treat for those getting Meals on Wheels.
Thanks Cathie. You understand what I am saying then. It is lovely to see the kids growing up but hard to get used to the fact they are adults!! Have a great weekend.
That first sip of my latte is my favorite part of waking up. I really only drink that one cup in the morning, but it such a treat. I have two wonderful sons in their 30’s, too. The oldest is 37 this year. Where did the time go? Your orphan blocks and scraps have been put to good use. The Mercy quilt is so happy and pretty.
Thank you for linking up and brightening my gray weather day … 🙂 Pat
For me, coffee is such a comfort ritual. I only drink decaf (I stay away from caffeine of any sort – due to the migraine issues). So it is the taste, that warm cup and the glorious fragrance. Love all of it! Have a great day Pat!
Love the idea of using orphan blocks for Meals on Wheels and senior organizations. Great idea to use the orphan blocks. I agree with you about when our kids grow up and become independent. My hubby and I often say how much we appreciate that our kids are now self supporting, worthwhile members of society and great parents. Talk about winning situations!
We do the same thing. We are so proud of the kids and how they all ‘turned out’. It is really satisfying to see them adulting their way through life. We totally enjoy them.