Category Archives: grandkids

New knitters

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I took some knitting to our daughter’s while she and her husband were out of town.  I always have great plans to knit and I usually end not knitting at all.  This time I took some seamless slippers to finish.

Our grandson was taking a nap, E wasn’t feeling well and was camped out on the couch with Mr. Aitch and Z. They were watching something on TV.  I sat down in a chair with my knitting.

“Nona, will you teach me how to knit?”

I only had four metal double-point needles with me so I transferred the live stitches from the slippers to some stitch holders and cast on 16 stitches for Z.

Z-knitting-2

Wooden needles are better than metal ones when first learning to knit as the metal ones are very slippery and fall out.

After I got Z started, E wanted to learn.

E-knitting-2

Both did several stitches with a lot of help.  They even knit a row or two and some partial rows with much satisfaction.

Z-knitting-1

E-knitting-1

After much “This is so hard” and “You knit faster than me because you’ve been doing it longer”, I finished knitting their coasters and gave them some yarn to weave through the bumps.

Z-knitting-3

Z-knitting-4

E-knitting-3

E-knitting-4

They liked the weaving much better than the knitting.

EZ-knitting-5

Coasters for hot chocolate.

Plus they appreciate how long it takes to knit something.

 

E’s Adventure

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About 10 days ago Mr. Aitch and I were taking care of three of our grandchildren, two dogs and nine chickens while our daughter and her husband were out of town. Friday was pizza night and Mr. Aitch and I decided we would rather get “real” pizza than bake a frozen one.  Mr. Aitch stayed with two of the kids while one of the twins went with me. The following is a storybook written and drawn by the twin who stayed home.

E-Adventure-2

We are going to get pizza.

I’m on the left driving and E is in the backseat.  For future reference I have an “N” above my head and E has an “E” above her head.

E-Adventure-3

Evelyn threw up in Nona’s car.

Yes, I heard the unmistakable sound of, well, that while I was driving.  Not much I could do at that point. Fortunately we were already on our way home.

We went home.

We went home.

E is covered in stomach contents. Notice my sad face.

E-Adventure-1 The end.

I am my mother’s child

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My mom would find ways to reuse things that most people would throw out.

Our house number changed last Fall because of a new 911 system to help first responders in rural areas.  Some residents had to change the street name as well.  We’ve lived in this house for 21 years and this is the fourth address.  The first address was a route and box number.  The second address was a real street and house number.  The third was the same house number and street name but different city (and I use that term loosely).  And now this house number change.

Over the years we accumulated address labels.  We’d get them with donations to various organizations and charities.  Sometimes our insurance agent would mail them to us.  We used them but since we switched most of our bill paying to on-line banking, we just didn’t mail much any more.

And now they have the wrong house number.

So last weekend I pulled them all out of the junk drawer and decided to do something with them…besides just throw them away.

Most of the labels had a cute graphic next to the address.  I cut the graphic off using an X-acto knife, my quilting ruler, and self-healing cutting mat.

address-label-cutups

 

Most of them are about a half-inch square.

Now I have to figure out what to do with them.  Use them instead of gold star on chore charts for my grand kids?  Advent calendars for next Christmas?

What would you do?

 

2/5 down 3/5 to go

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Happy Belated New Year!

I survived the last three Holidays!  Thanksgiving (US), Christmas, and New Year’s!  I gained Bluetooth headphones and only five pounds.  Fortunately I lost nine pounds before all the crazy eating and drinking of all the calorie-rich food and drink.  That is a plus for me.

Do you have a bucket list?  I do.  And I don’t.  One of the things on this nonexistent bucket list was to make a quilt.  Well, I made two quilts but still need to make three more.  One for each of my grandchildren.  That lifetime goal was made when I was 35 years old.  I’m a lot older than that now but having a bucket list was also nonexistent way back then.

So here are my two quilts.  The first quilts I’ve ever made.  I learned a lot from this experience…meaning I’ve made mistakes.

I posted photos of this project in 2013 and now I have finally finished them.

Without further ado…

Zs-quilt-front

I used the stack and slash or whack technique with eight different fabrics plus a neutral ivory solid and a sprinkling of khaki.

Es-quilt-front

I wanted the quilts to be a little bit longer so I added three rows of leftovers.

Close-up

The backs…

Zs-quilt-back

The backs involved the first letter of each recipient plus some leftover fabrics to coordinate with the binding.

Es-quilt-back

Close-ups of the backs.

Zs-quilt-back-closeup

Es-quilt-close-up

My sewing machine does some lettering/monograming so I made machine stitched labels sewn to the lower right side on the quilt backs.  In case you wondered, I am “Nona”.

Label

Straight line quilting, well, as straight as I could do it.

On the beds.

Zs-quilt-bed

Es-quilt-bed

So two down, three to go.