Meet the Teddy Bears

This past January I decided that I was going to learn something new and take a Teddy Bear class from the Master, Francy Gordon of Bears: Plain and Francy.  I am very lucky because she lives locally and teaches out of a local quilt shop, Country Quilts and Bears.  When I started the class I knew I was going to be making three Bears.  One for each of our three grandchildren.  Funny thing is that shortly after I choose the fabric and mohair to make the three bears, I got a call from my oldest Granddaughter, Madelyn.  She called to tell me we were going to have another grandbaby.   I was going to need four bears! 

 

What you see above is the first three Bears.  They are sitting on the lap of Francy's biggest bear, Boo Boo.  From left to right they are Isabella, Rory, and Olivia.  I picked the name for each bear based on the grandchild it was going to go to.  In naming the bears I used the last name in the list their parents had before they picked the official name for each grandchild.  Does that make sense?  Lucy was supposed to be Olivia - when she was born her parents named her Lucy instead.  Lucy's bear is now called Olivia. 

 Here is Hazel with her quilt.  I couldn't very well give them a teddy bear without a custom quilt to go with it, now could I?  Hazel went to Nora.  Nora is our youngest grandchild.

 Here is Olivia.  She went to Lucy.  Lucy is nearly three years old already.  How can that be?

 This is Rory.  He went to my only Grandson, Jackson.  He, just like his owner, is cute as a button! 

Here is Isabella.  She went to Madelyn, my oldest grandchild.  This was the first time I made a square in a square quilt.  I will buy that ruler if I do it again...

I can honestly say that I have never been more proud of anything I have made before.  These bears are spectacular - when you take a class from Francy, you really leave with a wonderful product.  She is one of the best teachers I have ever had.  These bears are heirlooms.  They are made from real mohair and are absolutely wonderful to hug, cuddle and play with, as well as to just admire.  If you are ever in the Tampa Bay area, give Francy a call and see when her next class is.  Making a bear with her is truly a wonderful experience!  If you don't want to make a bear yourself, she sells her creations on her website.  She also does a great deal of custom work for clients.  You can take to her that old fur your relative left for you and have her make it into a teddy bear.  Check out her website - it's fun to see her bears!   

Nora Pearl Has Arrived

Here she is, my newest grandchild, Nora Pearl. She was born on August 24th at 1:25 a.m and weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. Princess Nora wasn't due until the 30th, but she got bored and decided that the time had come to make an entrance. I think she knew there was a hurricane coming and that it was aimed straight for the east coast. Nora's pretty smart because she realized that that would cause Grandma some (serious) travel problems, so she ended everyones stress and came before the storm. What a good girl!

Here she is with her mommy a few days after she was born. Isn't she a cutie??

Above you see my oldest grandchild, Madelyn, holding her youngest sister, Nora. Madelyn has been the best big sister. I'm very proud of her!

Above you see Lucy, also a big sister now, holding her baby sister. Doesn't Lucy look angelic here? Three girls in one house - that's going to be fun to watch, especially since I, too, was one of three girls so I know the fun that they are all in for.

Above is a picture I took of Lucy's foot with Nora's tiny foot on top. Just before Nora was born Lucy's feet seemed so small, now they look so big! Check out Lucy's anklet. I soooooo love Lucy!

Here's Jackson! He's nearly one already - how can that be? Isn't he a doll? Look at those eyes. They melt me every time he looks my way. Did you notice the Christmas tree behind him? And the gifts wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper? Yes, you guessed it. It was GRANDMA CHRISTMAS! We had it on a Sunday morning at Nikki's and it was fabulous. I will post photos of the teddy bears I made for each of the kids very soon. I will say this - of all the things I have made through the years, I am most proud of those bears!

So there you have it - my four Grandchildren. The loves of my life. I am blessed!

My Scrappy Summer

This summer I am bound and determined to use up some of this copious stash. That is my goal, and as a result I will be posting photos of projects that use up stash. I will be posting every week. Hopefully YOU will be inspired as well.

This weeks project was the YoYo Elephant you see above. The pattern comes from Indigo Junction and is as easy as pie. It uses the Clover YoYo maker in two sizes. I used about thirty 5 1/2 inch scraps and about thirty 4 1/2 inch scraps plus some little bits for the head and the ears. By my quick mental calculations, that's about a yard of Aunt Grace scrap pieces gone. Wonderful! What child wouldn't have fun with this? So, a bit of my Aunt Grace scraps gone, and a treat for a granchild. Win-win in my book.

Mare, I am challenging you to attack your stash, too! Can you do it???

Roni, don't think you are getting off scott free. I challenge you, too!!! Now get sewing!!

New Grandbaby!!

Introducing my newest grandchild, Jackson Scott. He was born on Saturday, October 9th and let me tell you, he's a big boy! His momma was quite a trooper and she put in an amazing two days of labor to bring this wonderful little man into the world.

Look at that hair!! He sooooooo gorgeous!

And there he is, on the scale proving that he weighed 9 pounds, 13.6 ounces!! He looks three months old! I get to meet him on Monday and I can't wait! Just look at that face! He needs to snuggle with Grandma, don't you think?

Good Grandma Advice

Currently I have two wonderful Granddaughters and we are expecting our very first Grandson. Jordan and Andrea are expecting a baby boy the first week of October and I couldn't be more excited. I will be going up north very soon for a visit and I will be taking some sewn items up there with me when I go. (One item has me over the top excited and I simply can not wait to show you all! It is just so cute... but that is another post). Now, back to the reason for this post. None of the items I have made for him have been personalized. I can hear you all gasping. I know! Me? The queen of personalization and machine embroidery NOT doing this for her own, and first, Grandson??!! We even know his name - or so we think we do. They have told us that they intend to name him Jackson. Now I am sure you are wondering why I have not embroidered his name on anything.... well, here is why. See that darling little peanut to the right? For nearly nine months, while she was being cultivated in my daughter's belly her name was Olivia. I created and embroidered many things with "Olivia" on them. Oh, how excited we were when we got the call that "Olivia" was actually on the way... Funny thing is, though, that Olivia never arrived... Lucy did! Her parents decided to name her Lucy after she was born. Can you imagine?? What nerve! Will I make that mistake again? Nope.

I have to admit, though doing so is difficult for me, that the name Lucy is sooooo perfect for her. I can't envision her with any other name. She's a Lucy through and through, so her parents were right.....!

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So for now I will just make cute lil generic boy projects and leave the personalization until the baby's name is legally filed with the state of New York. Not such a bad thing, just a fabulous lesson we embroidering Grandmas should remember. Oh, and in that photo below are Madelyn, who is hugging her little sister, Lucy.

The Happiest Mother's Day!

Now that I am a grandmother I realize that the greatest gift you can recieve on Mother's Day is to see your own daughter become a wonderful mother.

My goodness, how time flies. Wasn't it just a few years ago that the only food Nik would eat was green beans? I am sure it was just a year or two ago that she refused to go to school until every "bump" was gone from her hair? It sure feels like just a few months ago we were praying as she drove out of the driveway alone for the first time, hoping that she wouldn't kill herself or anyone else on the road? I am certain it was just a year or two ago that we had to leave her crying in the hall of her dorm at Kent State? Now she is raising our grandchildren with such amazing skill and poise that we couldn't be more pleased.

Every day Nik is making the most wonderful memories with her girls. They do crafts, they bake, they play games, they have sleepovers... While looking at photos of a recent "baking day," I came up with an idea to make baking days just a little bit more special at their house.

For Mother's Day I made my daughter and her two sweet girls matching aprons. I found a great apron pattern, modified it a bit, and here is what I came up with. It makes me smile just to think about the three of them in the kitchen all decked out in their aprons, chatting away while they stir the batter....

Oh, and a fun side note. The buttons I used on the aprons are from my Great Grandmother's button stash, which somehow (in my mind, anyway) grants them some very good energy!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Pieced Curtains from Scraps!

In addition to working on samples for my upcoming class where I will be teaching the wonderful women at Clearwater's Country Quilts and Bears how to make my newest pattern, the Quilted Toddler Jacket, I have been making some curtains for my little angel's bedroom in western New York. Her mommy thought that pieced curtains would be nice, and that the fabrics and colors from the quilt I made for Madelyn when she was a baby would look great. The quilt is on the foot of her bed, and there is a better photo further down showing Madelyn laying on it when I gave it to her. So, as luck would have it I still had some of those fabrics left laying about and after a quick trip to Country Quilts and Bears I had enough fabric to complete the project. A quick trip to JoAnn Fabrics for lining and I was ready to sew.

I cut the fabrics into 5.5 inch squares, and started piecing to fit the sizes of the windows. Obviously, their beautiful 200+ year old home needs custom curtains because when I measured the windows I found that even when a window is on the same wall, and looks identical to it's neighbor, the measurements can differ by as much as 5 inches! I guess back then they built the windows on site, and didn't order them from Pella.

Never one to miss an opportunity to stick in a photo or two of my little angel, above is my peanut playing in her room. Below, showing how much she has grown, is a photo of Madelyn on the quilt the day I gave it to her.

The last photo, I must admit, I have put in for purely self-indulgent reasons. Isn't she just the cutest thing ever? That is a photo of Madelyn at her first dance class, standing there in her first Tutu with her dance tights drooping around her ankles and her Tutu sliding off her shoulder. Oh, to be that unconcerned with clothing perfection again. She is so excited just to be there, with friends, taking it all in. Big sigh. Grandchildren are the biggest gift of all.