Feeling Crafty

Lately Ive been thinking a lot about my grandmother and the crafts she used to make. She made everything, dolls, quilts, clothes, tote bags. You name it she could probably make it or could take it apart and make a pattern.When she passed away my mother and I got a lot of her stuff she had in her sewing room. Lots of unfinished projects, mainly quilts but some other things too. Lots of pieces that just need to be sewn together.

Over the weekend my mom and I got out some of her fabric and went through it to try to find some fabric to make Emma some dresses. I found several quilt projects she had started so I brought them home along with my moms sewing machine so I could start working on putting some of the together. I also bought two plastic canvas books to start making some things out of them. One is a book to make learning activities for the kids and the other is plastic canvas toys. I also have about 6-8 books on how to make plastic canvas Barbie furniture, something my mom made for us when we were kids and I loved it. As soon as Emma is old enough I will make some for her. I cant wait.

The 15 quilt squares together.

Pillow Forms

I started working on two projects today. One was 15 quilt squares that my grandmother had already cut out and put together. The other is 6 pillow panels that all I have to do is cut out and put a back on and a pillow form in and presto instant pillows. Im going to use them as pillows for story time during school. I still have to put a border and backing on the quilt squares and once I get that done Im going to use is as a wall hanging in Emmas room. My grandmother had so many things cut out already Ill be able to make lots of little things and use her templates and patterns for anything I want to make later. My mom has tons of fabric that I can go through and decide what I want to use for the various ideas I have swimming around in my head.

I also have several craft projects for homeschool activities Im dying to get started on. One is a hidden worm game made of felt and the other is a match game using wood tiles. I have so many ideas for the next school year. I cant wait to get started. In the mean time I have lots of things my grandma had already cut out for me to be working on. At night while Im sitting in my recliner I can work on the plastic canvas things I want to make.

I also found the fabric for Conors quilt that Ive been wanting to make for about 2 years now. My grandmother helped me make a quilt for Jordan when he was 2 I think so he already has one. I want to get Conors done and then I will get fabric for Emmas. I learned enough from my grandmother to be able to make basic quilts and my mother is a master seamstress so Ill have help when it comes to making anything clothing wise like dresses for Emma.

Im hoping to be able to work a little each day, the kids are old enough that I can get a lot done during the day. Today I was able to get a lot done and of course Jordan is good at keeping them busy. I worked today while Emma was asleep. Being able to do this makes me feel close to my grandmother. I miss her and wish that I could have learned more before she passed. In the mean time I will just use the knowledge she gave me and her patterns of course.

New Year, New Home

As most of you know we recently moved. The house across the street from us became available just before Christmas and I talked to my landlady and she agreed we could move in after the first of the year. Its a little bit bigger, a little more in rent but it has a garage and the kids have more space to play. Its been quite a process getting everything across the street and unpacked. I forget how much stuff I have until I start moving. I got rid of a lot of stuff in the process and I am still going through stuff in the garage.

I have moved almost too many times to count in my lifetime. Being a child of a Naval career man we moved a lot. It made it difficult to make friends because I knew that I probably would never see them again. There has been one exception though. I met a girl in Orlando, Florida around 1991. Jill was her name. We were very close friends for about three years before I had to move here to Oklahoma. Her and I were friends with several other girls and over the years we have all stayed in touch.

I moved here in 1993. I started making friends slowly. I didn't have many friends at the school I was attending, most of the friends I had attended the church I went to. Carbondale Baptist Church. I loved it there and I met many friends there, as well as both my husbands. Some of the people I met there I have remained close to. Others I have drifted apart from because we have nothing in common anymore. I never thought friends were all that important, until I started to think back to middle school. When I was in middle school I had 5 good friends. Jill, Reta, Tonya, Pam and Megan. When I left Florida I thought I would never find friends like that again. Then I moved here. I met Katy, Penny, Mike, Tammy and some others that I have remained close to. Jill and I had kept in touch so I had her too. Just last year I reconnected with Reta and Tonya. I have not been able to find Pam or Megan and I have had some trouble reconnecting with some friends from my high school years. Its sad to think about all the memories I have from those people and that I may never see them again. I wonder what they are up to. Where are they? Are they married, do they have kids? What kind of jobs do they have?

Michael and I have set a goal to move into our own home within the next 5 years. I believe this is possible now that hes been promoted at work and is making more money. I would like to give my kids a home that's ours. One where we could have a dog and paint their rooms crazy colors. I never had a childhood home until I moved here and even then I was a teenager, but I considered a childhood home. I don't have any anger toward my parents for choosing the life we had. Moving a lot gave me a chance to see things I may not have seen otherwise. It made me who I am today.

For now I am happy where we are. The house isn't perfect and needs some improving but I try not to worry too much about it because its not ours. Its just a passing place. A place one day I will look back on and think, we used to live there. We have a spacious living room, a big enough dining room to have a table and a porch for the kids to play on in the summer. The boys have their own room, with their own beds and Emma has her own room too. Its nice for everyone to have space to do what they want. Mike has the garage. Its so nice for him to have a place to go when he needs to burn energy. I have my grandmothers recliner, that I can sit in and rock Emma and think about how it would have been nice for her to have met Emma. The recliner is my space. A place to read, play a game or nurse my daughter. Life is good. Thank you Lord for giving us this house.