Wednesday, July 4, 2012

At Jen and Derek's house...

The five hour trip (turned six with a lunch stop) was survived, and much of last night was relaxing, getting settled and grocery shopping.

Sleeping arrangements never really are much of a concern;  my sister's house has two guest bedrooms.  Grandma and Grandpa claimed one and I HAD intensions of taking the other, but I joined Caitlyn on the air mattress in the sunroom instead.  There are so many windows in here that I figured it'd be a little bit nicer than sleeping up on the 2nd floor.  The house doesn't have AC;  only the living room has been equipped with a window unit.  

I don't recall what Cassie was doing as she fell asleep, but I guess she needed her glasses for something throughout the night..... they're still on her face. OH!  And that blanket..... I have a Linus on my hands! It's her baby blanket, and she STiLL insists on sleeping with it.  She says "it's so soft, Mom!" :D  It's all good.

And Candace... she just grabbed her favorite dog that lives here and snuggled into a makeshift sleeping bag from an old spare quilt I keep in the car for ballgames and such.

This is what my sister does in the sunroom.  She's a puzzler.  She was saying last night that one night recently she couldn't sleep, so from 3AM-6AM she came down and worked some more on her latest puzzle.  Which then lead to this .....

My almost first ever quilt!  She uses it as a lap quilt---not very big;  I think each block is 6", so you can do some quick math to realize it's basically a large baby quilt.

But THIS is why I learned how to quilt!!!

In 1998/99ish, I remember visiting a craft-type store with (then) a fiance' of Paul's friend.... and for whatever reason, I was compelled to buy a Precious Moments cross-stitching book of the alphabet.  The last page in the book showed suggestions on how to use the designs, and one was a wall-hanging of a quilt.  

My sister is (was?) a Precious Moments fanatic!  At the time, I thought I could be COOL Aunty and start ahead of time to make a baby quilt!'  (Sister just married in 1997.)

Sadly, the children never came, but the quilt did get finished.  Much of my free-time (for years!) was devoted to the cross-stitch.  Early on in the project, I figured..."I gotta learn me how to sew and quilt!", so I requested some help from my mother to show me how to use a sewing machine, and then my mother-in-law here-n-there with pointers....  And quite literally, the rest is history.  

So, there's the story of how I came to be a quilter ... 12 years ago.  

4 comments:

Nancy said...

They look so peaceful. Enjoy your visit!

Andee said...

Too funny~ I almost started out with a stamped cross stitch quilt (maybe my forth) but I also was doing stamped cross stitch of Precious Moments for my daughter's room! Great crafters think alike, lol! Kids look so peaceful when they sleep!

Dee said...

It's always interesting to hear how someone got started in quilting and also to see some of their early work. Enjoy your vacation!

Candace said...

Very interesting post; both the family activities and sleeping arrangements and the story of how you became a quilter.