Grand babies...

These are three of our youngest grand babies- the youngest is a girl and she isn't here. Maybe in December...because...

Engaged!

Our older daughter just got engaged and they are planning a December wedding.  Couldn't ask for a sweeter guy. 

I just wanted to take a quick moment and share some happenings around here.  I finished the quilting of this quilt.  It's random baptist fans.  I wanted to do them primitive by using twist, but I couldn't figure out how to pull it through the layers.  It just wouldn't budge.  Maybe it's the fabric or the batting I choose.  But I like how this turned out, anyway.  I still need to bind it.  I don't have a big enough piece of hand dyed fabric(which is what this entire quilt is made from) so I've fiddled with the idea of scrappy binding- with hand dyed.  But I really would like a single color.  So I keep forgetting to buy some plain muslin to dye when I'm fabric shopping.  So remind me.  Do you ever do that?  Just ask someone to remind you of something knowing they won't but also knowing that if you mention it, you'll be more likely to remember.  Just a little game I play with myself. 

This is little Eden.  Grandbaby #10.  That makes an even number of boys and girls.  Look at those cheeks!  She looks a lot like her daddy did when he was a baby.  Her mommy endured 98 hours of labor.  What a marathon.  The midwives had never seen anything like it but she overcame and now she has proven herself to be one of the strongest women in the history of the world.

I'm not sure how it got to be August...  

But here we are.  We've had a constant revolving door of children coming and going through the house. Camps and vacations.  Tonight we pick up the last straggler and we'll be together for a week and a half and then it'll be back to a half empty nest.  Bekah is responsible for the artwork.  This is her first piece based on the Bible. It's very moving and I love it.  

 Eva has been gone for almost a month.  She's been in Florida for her cousin's wedding.  While she was gone, I made this dress for her to wear.  I had to guess on the fit, but it looks about right. She loves it and said that she felt like a beautiful princess all day.  Of course, her prince was by her side as her "plus 1" so that might have had something to do with her high spirits.  I love her.

 Ezra was born last week.  He looks just like a combination of his sisters. It's too soon to say what his personality is like.  He's apparently tongue tied and is having troubles nursing.  They have a dr's appointment tomorrow to see what can be done.  I love him.

This is our fourth son's family.  Next month, the children are coming to stay at Mamaw and Papaw's while Kim and Paul go on a trip to Yap- where she's from. .  It'll be 10 days of fun and games- all I can say is, it's a good thing I have some capable help. Being a grandparent certainly has it's perks, but I'm not as young as I used to be.  But I love them.  

This is Sammy- or "little squish" as his mom calls him.  Such a sweet baby.  I love him.

Our third son is a blacksmith but he's branching out and making some jewelry.  He made this stainless steel cuff for me.  He got a big blister on his hand pounding it out so I know it comes from a loving place. I love him and I love it. 

Eva and Bryant...

Sorry I've been out of circulation for a few weeks. We've been a little busy. 

Our older daughter, Eva, has a beau.  He's a very good young man, Bryant. He came and stayed a few days.  It was nice getting to know him.  He lives and works in Savannah.  He's an evangelist. They seem to be very good for each other and I pray that they are blessed by God in this relationship.

John and Gigi

Love is in the air.  Gigi and Bryant are practically siblings.  She came with Bryant when he visited- it was a no-brainer since our son, John, and G have been dating since last year.  They are very sweet together.  God has blessed them and I pray He continues to do so.


 Before all of that, we had our family reunion.  This is for my siblings and parents.  The picture has 10 missing who couldn't make it this year.   We stay a week so we had a lot of time to get caught up- though it was over too fast. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister.  Then there's our kids and then their kids.  About 50 were able to come.  It blows my mind to think that all of these people are here because my Mom and Dad had four children.

This is a picture of William and I and our two daughters- Eva and Bekah at our dear friends' house, Alan and Barb.  They live in West Virginia so it's quite a ways away.  But we need to make the trip more often.  I grew up with them and Alan performed our wedding 32 years ago.  We hadn't seen them in years- the kids hadn't actually met them- so it was great to reconnect.  The kids found out why we love them so. 

Destiny...

This isn't a very good picture of one of my favorite quilts.  It's really big.  I was fearful of sharing it as... well, I wouldn't want to infringe on any trademarks or that sort of thing.  I look at it as fan art and there's a whole lot of that out there.  Destiny is a video game that I got hooked on several years ago.  I'd get up early in the morning and watch about a half hour of my oldest son playing it before he went to work.  I'd pour myself a can of Diet Coke over ice and just watch- eyes watering because I hadn't figured out how to blink while watching, yet.  I've got that under control now.  It was just a lot of fun to watch.  Eventually, I started playing but I'm really bad at it.  It's more fun watching some one who knows what he's doing.  Unfortunately, the game is a point of contention between us now.  I still love it but my sons are mad at the makers- something about it being too expensive to play.  So I now have a memory quilt of the good old days. 

I'm not sure when it occurred to me to make a quilt inspired by Destiny.  The graphics in the game are really pretty.  Lots of colors and shapes.  I hope you can see that in the quilt.  I designed this myself- and I used only my hand dyed fabrics. I started with one block- the "ghost" block- it's the second one from the left on the top row.  I mostly just wanted to see if I could figure out how to make it.  The angles and placement of colors.  Then it just took on a life of it's own. The more I made, the more I'd think, "Now, I can't leave so and so out."  Of course, the guys would weigh in and insist on other blocks.  Wish you could see the quilting- it's different in every block and really adds to the character of the more solid colors. Actually, only the black and white are truly solid.  (There's a lot of movement in hand dyed fabrics- at least, there is in mine. I wad up the fabrics after soaking them in the dye and put them in plastic bags and heat them either in the microwave or the sun- depending on the weather.  Some fabrics, I sprinkle dye powder on -and those I just lay flat or hang to dry- that's what makes the streaks of color.)  

I'm not sure what I'll ever do with this quilt.  It was hanging on the wall in the living room for a long while- we have 14 foot ceilings in there.  But now, there's a wall mounted TV in it's place.  People would always comment on it even if they didn't know about the video game.  I remember how much fun I had making it.  It still makes me smile.  Silly, I know.

L-R Rebekah, Evabeth, Nines and William

That was a very good day...

So we've been to a family reunion.  There were about 45 people this year.  We stay a week at different parks. North Bend State Park  We rented all of the cabins in the park so we had the place to ourselves. Of course, as usual, we ate a lot of food. We make a potluck, pitch in, get together of each dinner. So much food.  There are a lot of good cooks in the family. After dinner each evening, we did some singing and had a devotional led by each of the men.  This year the topic was the different roles in the family. William gave an excellent talk on raising children- something he's had a lot of experience with and of which he has done a wonderful job. OK, I helped some.

Bill took the young folks on a tour of a haunted railroad tunnel (abandoned).  They had to be there at midnight if they wanted to catch a glimpse of the "woman in white." They weren't disappointed when she didn't make an appearance.  There were lots of laughs and when Bill "disappeared" while walking in front of them and reappeared behind them- well, lets just say my kids aren't going to be caught by any ax murderers.  They can really run!

Blennerhassett Island
We made a day trip to Blennerhassett Island on the Ohio River.  If you're a history-phile you'd really enjoy it.  It included a boat ride on a stern wheel boat, a tour of the house, and a wagon ride(my favorite.) I've included a link in case you'd want to the take a peak. 

We snuck away from the reunion and spent the afternoon with Alan and his sweet wife, Barbara. This picture was taken by our friend Alan.  He performed our wedding ceremony 32 years ago. It's funny how years and miles can separate you but love crosses all distances and barriers. My children hadn't met them, but they all fell in love and now there are a few more people in the circle.

 Now that's sexy...

A man putting up shelving.  Be still my heart!  I just mentioned that I feel crowded when I'm in the quilting room.  He comes home with shelves and tubs and mulch.  I might have mentioned I need some mulch.  What a man!  

First he came in with tubs- nice clear ones so that I can see the contents.  I chase him back outside whining that I don't have a place for more tubs.  He pulled the shelving off his truck.  But I don't have room for shelves... apparently, I do.  Aren't they great?  I'm working on weeding through things and organizing it all into the bins.  I only have about half of them filled and I feel like I can maintain that for a while.  My quilting room is a very happy space again. Thank you William!