A Year to Crow About

On Sunday I finished putting together another block for this BOM project - A Year to Crow About. I have 2 more of these to do and then I'll be caught up. We get 2 blocks each month and I missed the March session.

These are very warm colors that make me think of harvest - lots of golds, greens, browns along with soft reds and blues.

Needed a fabric fix!

After a couple of busy weeks enjoying my grandkids, and spending time helping out my daughters a little - today has been a selfish day. I love my family but needed a fabric fix!

So, I spent a good share of the day at The Pin Cushion working on this month's blocks for A Year to Crow About. One block is completely done and the other has strip sets and triangle units all stitched together and ready to finish up. I also have last month's 2 blocks to make since I missed the sew-in day. But it definitely felt good to get in a little "social" sewing.

Hand work is portable

Good thing that hand work is very portable. I worked on the blanket stitching and embroidery on this alphabet block today while waiting to take my younger daughter home from the hospital - in a snowstorm. Spring may never arrive here in South Dakota.

DD#2 broke her leg on Saturday during a roller derby bout in Fargo, then had to ride home 4 hours to check into the hospital in Sioux Falls for surgery, where they repaired a tendon and put in a half dozen steel pins. She will be on crutches for 6-8 weeks.

Her husband was home with their one-year old this afternoon when they decided she could go home, so I drove her. My poor granddaughter was very frightened to see mommy in the hospital, but was OK with her once she was home.

So now both of my daughters need some help at home: DD#1 with her new twins and DD#2 with her broken leg. Guess I will do my best.

We have Babies!

This afternoon we finally were able to go visit the new grandbabies that arrived yesterday. Twins run on my side of the family and in my husband's family so it wasn't really a surprise when my daughter discovered she was pregnant with 2 babies instead of just one.

Jonah and Olivia are so precious and we are thrilled to double the number of grandchildren we have. Sophia (our younger daughter's) just turned 1 a month ago and Mason (twins' big brother) will be 2 in June. What a blessing!!

After cuddling the babies at the hospital for a couple of hours we met our other daughter, her husband and Sophia for supper. So the only person we didn't get to see today is Mason. But I'll get to hug him tomorrow when I go back to help everyone get the new babies settled in at home.

Names on my labels

I finally have names and birthdates to put on the labels for my twin grandbabies. They arrived early this morning and proved the theory about low pressure weather systems triggering birth. Worked on the livestock and apparently worked on my daughter too.

Olivia Jane showed up first and weighs in at 5 # 6 oz. She was followed 20 minutes later by Jonah David at 6 # 8 oz. They are beautiful and healthy and we are so excited. However, even though they only live an hour away, we are in the midst of a really nasty winter/spring storm that is burying us deep under ice and snow. So we'll have to wait a couple of days to meet in person.

Thank goodness for Face Time. We've already connected once and will probably do Face Time again later today once mom and dad are most rested.

Snow day sewing

We are having a winter snow storm and schools are closed all around us. And since my workday yesterday stretched from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm, I decided to enjoy my "gift of time". I finished framing the 16 golfing lady blocks. Since they are all different sizes I'm still not sure how I want to put them together, but it is nice to have them one step further along.

This afternoon after a Webinar for work I went back to my sewing room. I put the binding on a UFO from fall and sewed 6 strip sets and 2 blocks for my Trip Around the World quilt. All in all a productive day.

Just for fun

I did a little random sewing this afternoon and most of it was just for fun. The Loralei panel with golfing ladies has been sitting in my stash for years. I loved it but had no plan in mind when I bought it. Today I cut the panel apart and started setting them into bright frames. Then I've been squaring them up at an angle. There are enough of them to make a lap quilt I think.

I love presents!

I got a really fun birthday gift in the mail yesterday from my favorite cousin. It is a pattern and ruler combo pack. There is a 4 1/2 inch square up ruler tucked into a pocket of the pattern for a 20" pillow. The pillow pattern is called Tic Tac Toe Color Block and the little combo pack is a June Tailor product.

I didn't have a 4 1/2" square up ruler so I know that will get used a lot, and the pillow pattern is calling my name already. Too bad I am only home on my lunch break and have to go back to work.

Saturday Sampler is all caught up

I spent most of the morning in my sewing room and it was very relaxing. And I got both of the Saturday Sampler blocks finished. So I have this month's and last month's ready to go. There will be 1 more block.

These are all bright batiks on a black background and those bright colors really pop. I love the look of this combination although I'm struggling with sewing on so much black. This last block has 93 pieces in it, so you can imagine how small some of those pieces were.