Read-Alouds Anyone Can Enjoy

I just saw a blog from someone who was cleaning out her mother's home.  She came across many favorite children's books that she remembered.  Instead of keeping them, she took pictures of them.  I don't really have a lot of the books from my own childhood but I do have several that I used to read-aloud to my kindergarten and first-grade classes.  

I think the newest one among these is Shel Silverstein's book.  They are all "old" by the standards of when they were written.  But it didn't matter.  The children all loved the stories.  So I got to read them over and over again to each new class.

The classes loved the silliness of these poems and his "The Giving Tree" is a classic. 

Old fashioned classic.  Any kid can relate to the antics of this boy. 

So many kids were unfamiliar with this book but they knew of  Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland.  They grew to love it as we read through it.  

The book is so different from the movie.  We would watch the movie after we finished it and then have a comparison discussion. 

Once again, an old classic has become a movie.  I was reading this to kids long before the current movie came out.  I hope the movie has inspired kids to read it.

Holding on to a real book, snuggling in with a blanket, and reading (or being read to) is one of life's simple pleasures.

How To Wish Your Son Happy Father's Day....

.....offer to take the darling grand-daughters for a sleep-over so he can have a date night with his wife.  Then get back together again on Father's Day for a jazz concert in the park and a BBQ at home.  Great weather in the SF bay area provides an extra bonus. 

"sew" here is how I entertained the DGDs: 

Makayla can now reach the foot pedal and sew on slow with supervision.

The beginning of a nine-patch quilt.  Fabric selection by Makayla

Violet sews while sitting on Nahn Nahn's lap.  She'll be independent soon.

Pillow design by Violet.  The modern scrappy look.

We had a great time together.  Sunday morning we made waffles for Pop-Pop and the day was complete by bringing out Legos (that their father used to play with).  Now we're off to the Jazz Concert. 

Makayla created a Family Room following the directions.

Great fun and so creative!

Stephen Tribute - A Little Bit More

Some projects need to marinate alot.  That's the way it has been with my Stephen tribute quilt.  I got it out last week and began to add some more detail.It took some time to add nails and knotholes to the shutter.

 

Now I'm thinking that it needs some vines or something over on the left.  I'm really stumped about how to do that.  Wouldn't bougainvillea look pretty?  There is no way I'm going to try to applique bougainvillea. So I thought to myself "Maybe I can find some silk flowers that can be taken apart and used for applique?".  Looking on line, I discovered that silk flower bougainvillea sprays cost a small fortune.  I decided to try my local Beverly's.  Beverly's has lots of different silk flowers but no bougainvillea or anything resembling it. 

 I bought a couple of California poppies (Stephen was after all a California boy) to bring home and play with but they are too big. They do look good on my mantle for summer.

I also bought some grassy looking sprays to play around with.  Those I may use. 

In the meantime, this project may have to go back to marinating mode for awhile.

Pressing Matters

I've always been inspired by Laura Wasilowski.  She's so creative and colorful.  She let's the design take her wherever it will go.......and she is a FUSER.  Her latest work with all the stitch embellishment is really cool.  So.......there she was, in person, in Paducah at a cute little booth with her patterns, threads, and fabric.  And some of it was kitted.  Before I even thought about it, I bought a kit.  I even started working on it before I left Paducah.  

.....and there it sat, waiting for inspiration and completion.

So this weekend, time was mine and inspiration and motivation hit me big time.  So I began to work on it again.  I quickly found out that I had cut some of the fabrics from the kit wrong so I fudged a bit in creating the borders.  My mantra?  What would Laura do?????  I'm sure she wouldn't give up. 

A few fused down details begin to give it a little pizazz.

But what it really needed was the stitch embellishments.  So I pulled out my newly purchased Laura W. hand-dyed #8 perle cotton, put in a movie and began.  It's a little hard on the fingers going through all that material and batting. 

Yep.  I'm liking it. 

A little fused binding and it's done.  

I think I'll be ordering the other two patterns for this series called "Tools of The Trade".  Thanks Laura W. for your creative inspiration.  It's been really really fun.

Birthday Love

It's good to be celebrated.  It's a reminder that you make a difference in people's lives.  We all need to know that sometimes.  Birthdays help validate how important love is.  I love the people in my life.  Yesterday was a simple day, not a particularly significant birthday number.  But I went to sleep basking in memories of Kindergartners and First Graders singing Happy Birthday, a delicious meal out with my family, yummy chocolate dipped strawberries, lots of cards and internet good wishes, a few presents and lots of hugs.  The whole day said to me "I love you".  Thank you Lord for this gift. 

I heard from dear friends from all over.

Note cards, a darling travel alarm, FABRIC!, book card.....perfect!

Best Present EVER!  Handmade bookmards from my girls.  Love you M & V.

A Little Dot A Little Dash

A few months back I won some jelly rolls from two different blogs.  It turned out they were by the same designer, Aneela Hoey,  but different fabric lines.  The best part is that they blended together nicely.  They sat on my shelf for quite a while.  I was struggling because they were the newer more modern color ways of today's fabrics.  I tend towards clear and bright colors and not so much graphic design.  That's not to say I don't like graphic designs.  I just tend not to work with them.  So coming up with an idea for these jelly rolls was a challenge.  Everything I saw using this type of fabric seemed to include a lot of white sashing or accents.  So I pulled out the white and this is what I started with. 

Basically boring.  This sat on the wall for quite a while.

So I went back to the blogs and searched some more.  Moda Bake Shop was especially inspiring.  It also helped that these were Moda fabrics. Next up I made another block with white to intersperse with the above blocks.

Definitely more interest but something's missing.

After sewing the blocks together, I decided that it needed another row of dashes on the bottom in order to contain the design better.  Back to sewing and color decisions. 

That's better.  Whoa......what's that block in the lower right????

For the life of me, I couldn't find any more green strips which I really needed.  I either misplaced or threw out the scraps.  The only solution I could come up with was to do something completely different just for the fun of it.  I found a white strip from the collection that had some of the green colorway in it.  I'm kind of liking it.  Now it needs a border. 

How about red?

The strips of fabric above are hanging beside the top to inspire me.  I always love red so I'll probably go with red.  And when it's done..........it will be donated to community quilts.  Always fun to try something new.

I Am A Mother

Much of my life is defined by mothering.  I think my initial mothering began as the oldest child of four children in my family. 

Family Reunion 2006 - Bill, Cindy, Charlie, Leslie

And then there is me as the mother of two handsome, talented wonderful boys.

Jon and Stephen 2003

Then along came Lissa and I became a Mother-In-Law. 

Jon and Lissa (Green) 2003

And now I extend my motherhood as a grand-mother. 

Violet and Makayla  - 2011

.......and there it is........my life as a mother.  How richly I am blessed.  I only wish that my own mother, Ruth Mattern Callaway had lived long enough to enjoy the adult years of my boys.