Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house

Musings on Life and Beauty



There’s nothing in the world like visiting your Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a wonderful time with my mom and dad in Colorado, and I want to share some pictures of our weekend there.  They had an awesome spot set up for us in the basement and we enjoyed a weekend with beautiful weather spent largely outdoors.










We enjoyed a rousing game of duck, duck, goose (why don’t we play this more often?).










The cameras were temporarily taken over by the girls…






who played photographer for their cousin’s birthday party. (birthday photos courtesy of my daughter) And yes, this next picture is blurry.  It makes me laugh, so I decided to throw it in.


We also enjoyed swimming at the pool.  This was our baby’s first experience in a swimming pool, and she seems to love it.








I’m so thankful for moments like this.


Just being together was great.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for providing so many memory-packed activities into one weekend.

Jennifer

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Silk Tie Quilt

Quilting and Sewing

I made this quilt for my sister in law.  It’s a gift for her Dad, who turns 60 this year.


Each square is a swatch of silk cloth used for neckties.  She sent me her collection of swatches and requested a simple quilt with a black background.


I used Kona black for the sashing, and cut the squares at 4 inches, the sashing at 2.5 inches.  This means the finished blocks are 3.5 inches square and the sashing is 2 inches wide.  There are 80 different swatches in all, so I did 10 rows of 8 blocks.  The entire quilt finishes at 47 inches wide by 57 inches long.


It’s really a unique quilt because each square is a different pattern.  I like how bold and vibrant it looks.  The interesting thing about it was using cotton and silk together in the same quilt.  Because I had to press all the seams on a silk setting, I felt like it was difficult to get my cotton pressed and set as well as I like to.  Working with the silk was also trickier than I anticipated.  I’ve sewn with silk before, but not with woven silk patterns.  There is so much weaving in these swatches that they were much more elastic than I thought they would be.  Overall, I felt like I was able to piece it all together without too much trouble and with minimal stretching.

Quilting it was also a challenge.  I didn’t want to quilt on the silk because it would ruin the quilt, but I also felt like I should do something to stabilize the squares.  They were cut with pinking shears originally, but the weave in the patterns made them easy to fray.   I ended up opting to sew about 1/4 inch on each side of the seams.   The backing is black, but this overexposed shot shows the quilting pattern I used.


The puckering would wash up beautifully if this was a washable quilt.  That’s one of the biggest drawbacks of  this piece.  The fact that it must be dry cleaned to preserve the silk means that the cotton will never soften up and take shape like it should.  The other drawback to this quilt is that the black cotton is a magnet for lint.  I’ve never sewn with a solid black cotton before, and just didn’t really think of it until it was covered with lint.

That said, it’s an eye-catching quilt.  It was a good opportunity to break out of my comfort zone and try to make what someone else envisions.  The black sashing combined with the deep rich tones in the silk was a color combination that was also new to me.   My son says he likes it better than any of the quilts I’ve previously made.  I don’t blame him.  It’s very strong and masculine.  I’m pleased with the final product and I really hope she likes it, too.  It’s now on its way to a birthday celebration in Washington.


Jennifer

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My Awesome Sister

Musings on Life and Beauty

We drove to Denver for Memorial Day Weekend.  It was a wonderful, whirlwind weekend full of family and fun activities.  Our main purpose for the trip was to celebrate the 8th birthday and the baptism of my niece.


She’s my sister’s daughter, and it had been WAY too long since we’ve seen their family.  I’ve really missed my sister, and I was so excited to see her.  Her house is adorable, and it was fun to be there to celebrate Sav’s big day.

I walked into her home and saw this:


Um, hello.  A vintage robin’s egg blue singer sewing machine!  Have you ever seen something so awesome?  Her house was full of garage sale and thrift store finds.  The sewing machine was my favorite.  I wish I’d taken tons of pictures of her house.  Every room is painted a bright, happy color.  Her garage is full of furniture she’s refinishing.  Her kitchen was full of amazingly delicious food, served in her cute collection of polka dot dishes.


She fed a large crowd, and we all enjoyed being there.


Do you like that brown wall lined with brightly colored mirrors?  So cute!  My sister has a real knack for using color creatively.  One of my favorite things was her $5 clearanced votive holder that she painted and filled with brightly colored candy.  Adorable.


It’s really cool to have a super-creative sister like her.  Just being in her home for a few hours motivated me to get my house cleaned up when we got back in town.  May was so grueling that I’d almost forgotten how good it feels to be in a house that’s tidy and pretty.  Her example, combined with my Mom’s, energized me to get my house whipped into shape.

She and my Mom also organized a marathon shopping afternoon for the ladies.  My mom slaved the day before we came so there would be food for the men and children while we were gone.  It was fun for us to be together for several hours.  I enjoyed seeing the different things that we were all drawn to.  We all had some tastes in common, but there were also things we liked that expressed our individuality.  I’m increasingly grateful for both of my sisters and the way they are pressing forward with their lives, even when things feel tough.  It’s such an honor to be associated with them.

Thanks, Em, for a great visit!

Jennifer

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