Playin' in the Holy Water

We made a quick trip to St. Louis this past weekend. The event was little J's baptism. We were accompanied by his Aunt B (and of course little J's expected cousin came along for the ride!) as she was honored to be a godparent as was (mama) J's brother.

I have to admit that this the first baptism I've attended in the Catholic Church. Our United Methodist heritage usually has infant baptisms incorporated into a regular church service so this special little service in the afternoon was new to us and was very nice. Of course, the little guy stole the show when he tried to play in the holy water!

It's hard to believe that in a little more than two months, Aunt B (and Uncle N) will be parents themselves! Pregnancy looks good on her but she's beginning to hope the next few weeks go by quickly.

A little bit of sewing has been going on. I quilted a little blanket that B had made last week. The backing is soft minky and I was worried about it being difficult, but it turned out pretty good. Once the binding is on, I'll post a better photo. We got the two quilts back from Sandi the LAQ last week. Once the bindings are on those, photos will be posted too. She does a wonderful job with the machine quilting, but every time I write that check, I see visions of the HQ16!


I finished another "jelly bag" too. Right now it's holding the knitting that needs to be finished up for a gift due soon.

This is all for today. Thanks to all of you had such nice comments about my quilt show entry. I looked at many of the other blogs and their entries and was blown away by the quality and beauty of so many of those quilts. Though mine certainly didn't measure up to many of those, it only makes me want to go get busy on the next project!

My Quilt Festival Entry

Here's my entry into the first ever Online Quilt Festival hosted by Amy over at Park City Girl!

This quilt will never win any prizes but the only requirement is that I post my favorite quilt and tell a little about it. It is hard to pick a favorite, because once I get any quilt done, I am so thrilled that I actually completed one and they always end up looking better once quilted that at the time I think that quilt is my best quilt, ever!

But this quilt is special to me. Not only because it was one of my first quilts, but because I made it for my mother shortly after she entered the nursing home. It was actually a kit made to be a baby quilt, but at the time no babies were in the near future and I loved the colors. My piecing didn't turn out too bad, but the quilting and binding definitely shout amateur. Mama was proud of her quilt and all the aids and nurses in the nursing home knew she always kept it nearby, on her bed or wheel chair. It fact it was draped on her casket during her funeral service, comforting the rest of us perhaps more than her. She's been gone for almost three years now, but I think she was pleased that I was trying to carry on some of her quilting and sewing skills. Maybe that is why she loved this quilt.

This quilt now is at this grandma's house and I'll proudly share it with each new grand baby and the story of the great-grandma that they'll never get to meet. I think she would be happy to know that it will comfort them just as it comforted her.

Edited - 4-22-2009

My entry was #416 and there are now over 500 quilting bloggers listed. I wish I had the time to visit them all. There are some AMAZING quilts on there. If you can check some of them out, it is worth the effort. They make mine look pretty sad in a way but you have to understand that this quilt probably endured hundreds of washings in the nursing home laundry!!! So the colors of these fabrics have really held up pretty well.

My thanks to all of you who've left such nice comments on my quilt. I hope I can visit your blogs too. And THANK YOU Amy for hosting this!

Janet

New Man in My Life!

There's a new man in my life and I ran away and spent a few days with him last week. Little charmer isn't he?

Little J's regular babysitter took a few days off to be with her new grandbaby last week so Grammie came and spent some time with little J while his mommy and daddy worked. Grampa D was able to work out of the St. Louis office so he came along too.

We had a good time playing, reading, eating and sometimes sleeping. We even did some shopping! One day we went to the grocery store, the next to the mall and then Thursday we ventured to Helen's Hen House. Bad photo, but at least it's proof of little J's first trip to the quilt shop with Grammie. I think he really did enjoy it more than it appears.


And of course I couldn't leave empty handed. I love black and yellow together and had to have some of these by Camelot Cottons. A good addition to the "stash"!

After meeting his Grampa and Daddy for lunch in the pretty little area of shops in St. Charles, we walked down the street and looked in the open doors on this beautiful afternoon. Since it was just little J in the big stroller and me, we weren't able to go inside since many of the stores had lots of steps or narrow entries.

I think Ms Red Geranium had some photos of this same tree in one of her posts this week!

I thought he would take a nap as we strolled around but I think the rough brick streets and sidewalks kept him awake. But isn't this quite the way to spend a sunny spring afternoon!

Happy Easter!

Did you have a nice Easter? The Easter Bunny has paid a visit to someone special!A family tradition: the Russell Stover chocolate marshmallow bunny. Don't underestimate the satisfaction of chewing on the package if you are too young for chocolate!

Beamer loves the warmer weather now. He's discovered a better view of the birds from the table. D's been extremely busy with his real job, so the kitchen project has slowed. But we did get the hardware last week so he's been working on the drawer fronts. Sometimes you just have to really get into your work to get the job done.


Last Thursday I hopped over to Among Friends Quilt Shop for a Handi-Quilter open house. That's on my wishful thinking list. The nice folks from Handi-Quilter were there for demos so I visited with them a little. Right now, there is no way I would have room to set one of these up the way I'd like plus I would certainly have to commit my time to a major learning curve. Maybe someday when the kitchen is done and we re-arrange the office/sewing room...... It would be so nice to be able to finish a quilt myself from start to finish like so many of you quilty gals do. But I did manage to win a door prize at the open house (a nice set of scissors, etc.) and of course I couldn't leave empty handed so there were a few purchases too!

Come back later this week for more of my adventures in St. Louis as little J and I get re-acquainted. I'm sure there will be some fun to report - at least for Grammie!

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to someone special! The birthday girl is on her way to spend a few days with her cousin. These "little" girls have birthdays just weeks apart and have often celebrated together. I hope they are able to sit and enjoy the sunshine on this Easter weekend, just as they did back in 1979! I doubt they'll be wearing matching dresses but I'm sure they will have fun anyway!

Worthiness

I've been in a blogging rut lately and felt I had nothing worthy of a blog post in the past few days. But I will share this. Perhaps you watched the news today and saw that for the first time in several years, the media will now be present to cover the return of our fallen servicemen. When I opened my Google Reader tonight to check for blog updates, I was saddened to learn that Treasa of The Quilting Chick is the mother of one of these heroes. Perhaps you saw the story of her son's return home. Her most recent blog post brought me to tears. Please remember her and her family in your prayers tonight.