Hi everyone,
Let’s start with something really pretty and creative first… Anne’s quilt!!! She said she started it in 2012, so HUGE CONGRATS are in order for getting back to it and FINISHING IT!!!
She said it wasn’t as wide as she would have liked, but by the time she got back to it, she didn’t have enough fabric left to make more blocks.
I think she did a great job using the border to widen it and save the quilt.
Here is the picture she sent me… maybe she’ll send a few more and some closeups!!
Hint… hint!
Thanks for sharing it Anne. It is a beautiful and very detailed quilt!!!
Now, I have some board shorts to show you. I wanted to get them ALL finished today… but I still have 4 left to finish.
I have been sticking with making them, because I was trying to figure out what was the fastest way to make them without skimping on the quality and the design.
The more I made, the more I realized using a square at the front instead of 2 flaps was the quickest way of making them…
I added the stitched X’s on the sides to make them look more like boys and men wear.
Here is the version that actually takes the longest to make… the ones with 2 separate flaps…
I have gotten better at the eyelets too…
I’ll try to make a few more over the weekend and then be ready to offer them on here before showing them somewhere else…
I know some of you are probably wondering why I haven’t been sewing little Easter dresses for the dolls and I don’t really have an answer; I just thought I’d try something else for a short time.
Have a great weekend…
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, Anne, that quilt is just lovely! I was able to enlarge the photo quite a bit, and saw how beautifully pieced and quilted it is! Now, ordinarily I am not a “brown person”, but I Really like this quilt!! The browns are so soft and the shadings are so subtle, it’s really lovely.
Jeanne, your board shorts are coming along nicely, and I think you are wise to figure out how you can do them in a time-efficient way. I hope you are taking notes, so you can do them again next year, if you decide to, and without all the experimentation that you have no doubt had to do this year!
I read thru the comments on yesterday’s blog, about the #4 doll, and what her “meet” outfit was. I added a comment, but it never showed up, so I will comment here. I don’t know if it was because I had added some links, or not. But here goes. (I will try to remember to copy this all first–if it doesn’t go thru, I’ll send it in an email to Jeanne and she can add it.)
The #4 JLY (Just Like You) doll was introduced in 1995 (when I got mine) and retired in 2011. She came in a variety of “meet” outfits, depending on what year you bought her. You can see a list of her outfits here: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Just_Like_You_4
The outfit that Marilyn described, with the gold jacket, was actually the second one, I think. It was called the First Day Outfit.
MY doll came in the original JLY outfit, called Mix and Match outfit. It had magenta leggings and t-shirt, a white “big shirt”, and a denim vest, plus shoes, scrunchie, underpants, and mini grin pins. There were also accessories available, which included a purse and a hat. You can see a picture of the basic outfit here: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Mix_and_Match_Outfit
I hope that helps.
Well, what do you know? My original message showed up!! Will wonders never cease….
Well, my message didn’t show up (possibly because I included two links) so I am sending it to Jeanne to post, just in case it’s still not here when she gets up in the morning!
I am living and learning.
I try to remember to select all and copy before I comment. I do not always remember…. but I have lost many many comments over the years.
Happy Friday Charlotte <3
Those shorts are just adorable, Jeanne! Ow I am wishing I had a boy doll!
Anne, your quilt is beautiful! I myself had one similar to that back in the 80’s and it was more of a coverlet, but I added a skirt on the bottom of the bed, and it already had two quilted pillowcases, so that worked out just fine. I love all the detailed cut out work and the positioning of the fabrics. Was this done completely by hand or did you use a machine? Whatever it was, you did an amazing job!
Linda It was completely done on the machine except for the final stitching of the border. It was made Quilt as You Go so each block was quilted separately then joined together using a joining strip that looks like sashing
that is completely amazing Anne that you did the border qayg!! Super cool. I have never done that! I should try it.
I mentioned I have made a lot of quilts and many are not “finished” mainly because they need a border, or a “declaration of complete” and backing procured. I like the idea of this sort of border and it looks beautiful!
Dear Anne, your quilt is really a beauty. I love those stars!
I love the color! Very soothing, The border is wonderful, I love the framed hsts.
Just everything, A very nice wonderful finally finished quilt top! well done! It is a treasure!
Did you make a label? I usually just use a black marker and write on a spare quilt block. I think it probably does fade after a while.
I need to look at our local library, apparently they have an embroidery machine!!!
I am so glad you finished this quilt. I have many many unfinished quilts… mainly because I am unsure what else it needs but I know it needs something.
I must have at least a dozen unfinished quilt tops hanging on pool noodles in the closet. One day I should take them all out and photo them.
Anne, I have sewn all my life and making quilts is so fun.
Jeanne, your shorts collection is fabulous! This fabric was calling you to make the shorts. You made a good choice not making little pink dresses. I am sure you have many little dress ideas in your head! Making these shorts is a great effort in keeping up your skills, and trying new patterns. I love this about you! Diversions are wonderful! This is probably for most of us that sew, a healthy redirection of focus!
↔️ 🔁
…. I miss my mom.
Do I want to go here?…. My mom did everything. She was the first born to a wonderful mom and dad in 1923, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. God made her perfect. She was born perfectly, but she was born missing her right hand. (it is a rather common condition) called Symbrachydactyly. my mom’s right arm ended just beyond the wrist, she had wrist bones (which is kind of great because she could bend and manipulate that portion. My mom never felt held back or different.
She was very persistent (God chose the right parents)
She had the best life (well, except for WW2, which she did work with the underground) She met the most handsome husband, and had 4 amazing children and sewed, skied drove, made matching clothing for all of us, made lace, cooked fancy meals, …
Do you miss your moms? I miss mine.
I am gonna try to get some things done today, sewing, cleaning and I need to cut some more slats for the single bed mattress upstairs. …Or I need to stuff the box spring into my car…
(See Joy, I can out ramble you by a mile hahaha)
Yesterday I went to the old house and stuffed the single mattress into my little Acura rdx. It fit but never mind backing into the garage 😂
Should I go back and get the box spring?
I will end this rambling commentary here and wish all of you a very happy Friday.
I hope all of you are experiencing tolerable weather conditions.
Love to all of you!
When I saw you mention having all of those finished quilt tops hanging and ready to finish, my first thought was that they need to be finished. But, if there isn’t time, the enjoyment of making them is enough. Unless, finishing one every couple of months in any free time available works? You will have enough gifts for all of your girls and grands too. Fun.
I’m sure that your mom is watching and loves seeing all the wonderful things you make. Like that gaggle of geese that we can’t wait to see. 🙂
Rosemary, I have lots of UFO’s (Unfinished Objects) many of them I have won at the Block of the Month draw at our guild meeting. I even won one on Saturday but told them to draw it again as I have too many still to do.
Thank you for the compliments, I haven’t labelled it yet but plan to.
I miss my mum too, she taught me to sew, and as soon as I could use the machine she had me doing all the machining! She really didn’t like machining. she made a dress for herself all hand stitched when she had a new machine to use, (I was married by then and I think it was when I was in Singapore) and she made a light weight dressing gown for my Dad all by hand. He was still wearing it just before he died 30 yrs after she died. Her real skill though was knitting. I will never be the knitter she was. In the fifties in UK sweaters very similar to ‘ugly Christmas’ sweaters, were all the rage. They were known as Dave King jumpers, after a TV personality who wore them on his show. They were hand knitted of course, in those days. My Mum made lots of them and it gave her some extra money, they were all wonderful. She died in 1984 a month before her 63rd birthday, I grieved much more for her and all she missed than I did for my Dad who was 96. I missed him terribly of course but he had a very long life which mum didn’t have. She never saw my cake decorating or my quilting I started both of those after she died. She would have loved both.
I absolutely loved reading this, Anne.
I am sorry your mom died so early. She did miss a lot. She taught you so much, and then she was gone too soon to really see you grow into the person you are. Tragic.
I have a sister (oldest) that died at age 48 in 2000. Smoking. She had an aneurysm and it could not be repaired because of her crumbly veins in her brain. also Tragic.
Boy do we carry a lot of grief in life, and so many memories too.
I have a very tender heart
I cared for my parents exclusively (moved them from Annapolis to Virginia/very traumatic but I did everything to ease the change) after my mom had a stroke at age 89. She lived to 94, daddy continued on and lived to 100. I remember reading Jeanne’s blog before all of that, and then I got very busy for anything.
These memories are good. We are brave. Keep being brave, Anne 💐
I copied and pasted this for Charlotte.
Oh, Anne, that quilt is just lovely! I was able to enlarge the photo quite a bit, and saw how beautifully pieced and quilted it is! Now, ordinarily I am not a “brown person”, but I Really like this quilt!! The browns are so soft and the shadings are so subtle, it’s really lovely.
Jeanne, your board shorts are coming along nicely, and I think you are wise to figure out how you can do them in a time-efficient way. I hope you are taking notes, so you can do them again next year, if you decide to, and without all the experimentation that you have no doubt had to do this year!
I read thru the comments on yesterday’s blog, about the #4 doll, and what her “meet” outfit was. I added a comment, but it never showed up, so I will comment here. I don’t know if it was because I had added some links, or not. But here goes. (I will try to remember to copy this all first–if it doesn’t go thru, I’ll send it in an email to Jeanne and she can add it.)
The #4 JLY (Just Like You) doll was introduced in 1995 (when I got mine) and retired in 2011. She came in a variety of “meet” outfits, depending on what year you bought her. You can see a list of her outfits here: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Just_Like_You_4
The outfit that Marilyn described, with the gold jacket, was actually the second one, I think. It was called the First Day Outfit.
MY doll came in the original JLY outfit, called Mix and Match outfit. It had magenta leggings and t-shirt, a white “big shirt”, and a denim vest, plus shoes, scrunchie, underpants, and mini grin pins. There were also accessories available, which included a purse and a hat. You can see a picture of the basic outfit here: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Mix_and_Match_Outfit
I hope that helps.
Charlotte
Thanks Charlotte for the information. I looked yesterday too, trying to figure out what outfit in which she may have arrived. This is helpful.
Thank you Charlotte, I am not a brown person either but I think I bought the cream fabric first and the other fabrics just seemed to work with it. I had plenty of the two browns and the cream left over but the one I ran out of I think must have been the end of a roll. I love the finished effect.
Well, we made it until Friday. Today is supposed to be the last day of 90 degree plus weather for us. Can’t wait for a cool down. We’ve broken a lot of records here for highs in March, of all things. However, I don’t think there is any rain in sight. Not good at all.
I absolutely love the soft colors in Anne’s wonderful quilt. It is an exquisite work of art. Thanks so much for sharing it Anne and Jeanne.
Jeanne’s swim shorts are multiplying before my eyes. What a great thing to do to figure out how to produce things faster that turn out so perfect. I think a few more in the line of the first green pair that maybe the girls can wear would be fun too. Maybe they can come with a simple little tie on top? Remember the triangles that had a string through the bottom to tie in the back and ties from the top of the triangles around the neck? 🙂
Off to pick up the tax returns today and pay the piper. Then, I’ll be back pulling more weeds this afternoon. I was happy to fill two cans yesterday. Working in the hot weather isn’t so bad in the shade. And it was fun because little Winnie next door was there for her treat through the hole in the fence and her owner Becky, was there too as we worked on both sides of the fence doing mutual weed pulling.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Thank you Joy.
We could do with some of your warmth, I think March will go down as the coldest on record along with our summer which was also colder than usual!
I guess You’ll have to be careful that the Penguins don’t arrive in your area. Who knows what will happen next with climate change. Hawaii, has had some fearsome rain storms lately with lots of flooding.
Jeanne, the boys board pants are really cool. I don’t have any boy dolls, but if I did, I would certainly want a pair of these. All rhe different types of material are really neat and perfect for the swim shorts.
Anne, your quilt is absolutely beautiful. I admire your ability to work on them because I know it takes a long time. the colors you chose remind me of the perfect quilt for a bed in the fall. I have one or two quilts that my mother-in-law made and one of them I gave to my son for his home. They are treasures to us.
I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to respond to Jeanne‘s blog And I wanted to add a couple of blogs ago how much I enjoyed Linda’s pictures of her girls dressed for St. Patrick’s Day. I always look forward to seeing her girls and all the neat accessories they have and the pets that Linda includes in her pictures. I always look forward to Linda’s pictures of her girls.
Thank you, Jeannie and Linda and Ann for sending us the pictures!
And I wanted to add to Rosemary‘s comments about her mother. I miss my mother very much. She was a wonderful mother and devoted her life to her family. She was also very interesting in her younger years- She was kind of a Rosie, the riveter and worked at the Navy Yard on the East Coast – I think somewhere in New Jersey area. That is where she met my dad who was a sailor waiting for their ship to be finished in order to take it out. I miss both my parents- My dad was the greatest. We were a very happy family and I have so many wonderful memories. My mom made many doll clothes for me over the years. And in our older years, we girls enjoyed tea parties with each other. My mother was a wonderful hostess and she had a talent of decorating the tables for holidays or the tea parties in such a beautiful way. We still have tea parties once in a while, but we all miss mom the most.
Paula, incredible memories. Thank you for sharing yours, I love that you had tea parties. I had a pretty china tea set and would have tea parties in my bedroom (of all places!) I shared a room with my sister, so it was not a big space, but I remember making tea and also eating m&ms and sugar cookies. Our mom’s were a lot alike. – the best moms ever!
Well, not much to say here except we are back from the Y and the grocery store. Most of the leaves are gone from yesterday except on place that has to be raked. I will do it tomorrow, hoping help from Peyton.
I loved my mom too. She grew up in a house with her mother, grandmother and grandfather, and her aunt and uncle. I know she loved them all but felt pretty held in. She was valedictorian in her high school, but didn’t get to make her speech because she fell in her bathroom and broke her neck. She spent most of the summer in a brace, but got over it finally. She went to collage for 2 years but quit because she was worried she might lose her boy friend, my dad. She was 10 years younger but they were a perfect couple together.
When my brother and I got older enough she became very active at our church, she taught Sunday school and later she took on us older kids evening group.
She was very active, loved the water, our house was right on the beach. They went out to parties a lot because of my dad’s work. She never had a working job and always told me that when I was in collage I should come out with something I could work at. I became a teacher. She was fun and kind to everyone and was loved by all that knew her. When I was 7 she had my younger brother, very unexpected. She had breast fed both of us and him as well. She would rock him in the same chair that she was rocked in and us too. My girl friends and I would sit there and watch her breast feed him and when all of us had our own babies we all breast fed ours as well in a time when it wasn’t popular anymore, watching her with my baby brother had put it in our minds. I miss her and my dad and the older people every day. I was blessed with such great people.
Beautiful story, Sissy.
I think all of us could talk and talk and talk for days.
You had great parents and such a nice upbringing. Yes, my mom taught Sunday school as well. I did for a while when my girls were little.
I think all of us are just blessed to know each other. Life is not always perfect, and lots of sad things happen, AND we do try to behave ourselves (right?) and really, we are just doing the best we can and coping or healing.
That is terrible your mom broke her neck in high school.
My mom and dad used to joke around saying they would carry around a suitcase with spare necks because we were always “breaking our necks” doing something, but gosh. Your poor mom!
Jeanne, I am looking forward to seeing all the finished shorts, they are just the cutest! Will you add shirts too?
Anne, I am really impressed with your wonderful quilt. I know your brother will love it. The colors and designs are just beautiful. I can’t wait to here is reaction when he finally gets it. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Thank you Sissy, I am not sure when he will get it as I am not keen on posting it and long haul flights at the moment, even if I could afford it, are not feasible. I will send him a photo though so I will let you know what he thinks
Stopping in really quickly. My mom and I have been out in the yard looking at the mess of little twigs from the storm a week ago that are still in the process of being cleaned up and the garden beds that are being made ready for the year. It’s 60, so a day to get some things finished.
Your quilt is gorgeous , Anne! I actually like brown very much. Perfect fall color along with the traditional ones.
The board shorts are very cute, Jeanne. It’s fun to try something different once in a while.
Thank you Laura
Sorry you have a yard mess from the storm. But, getting the beds ready with the cool temp is a good thing. I’m sure that your yard will be lovely this year.
Anne’s quilt is wonderful! Congratulations to her on a job completed, and well done!
As usual Jeanne I love your ‘tutorials’. Its always interesting to me to learn that, and how, an experienced seamstress is figuring something out.
Thank you Joy, It is always good when something is finished, it is quite a long time since I made anything that big.
Jeanne your shorts are great I am sure they will be snapped up. Thank you for the lovely comments about my quilt.
I need to pick my grapes today before they start dropping on to the deck and making a mess. I will offer some of them to next door and take the rest to Delta tomorrow.
Have a lovely day everyone
Jeanne, thank you for posting my thoughts this morning. I don’t know why it wouldn’t post on the blog last night. We’ll see if this one posts!!
It’s been fun reading everyone’s memories about their moms! I lost my mom 19 years ago, and my dad 21 years ago. They made it (just barely) to their 60th anniversary. I was fortunate to have them as long as I did.
I was always closer to my dad than I was to my mom. I was a “daddy’s girl” from the time I was a baby! Losing him hit me really hard. He died on 4/29/05, and we had an exceptionally warm, dry spring that year, so for the first few weeks, I would go out to the cemetery and sit next to his grave and talk to him for a little while nearly every day. Gradually that grew less and less, but for me it was very helpful. With my mom, however, it was different: she had arterial dementia for many years, and we lost her a little bit at a time, so by the time she died, it was a release for her and a relief for the rest of us. She’d had a stroke in about 2001, shortly after daddy put her in the adult family home (he became so exhausted, trying to care for her, I was afraid he would just drop one day….), so she also lost her ability to talk. However, she always seemed to know people who came to see her–even people she hadn’t seen for several years!
Yay! It worked!
I checked back and I am so glad I did. Charlotte, this is a good story, I am so sorry about your mom. I have a few friends that have experienced that AD in their family, even with siblings. Very sad and traumatizing for everyone.
I am glad you and your daddy were close. Yes, it is very difficult losing our parents. That really never goes away, it just fades slightly!
I would like to say I was close to my parents. I cared for them daily when I moved them here. It was a sacrifice that I readily took on and have no regrets. The last years of daddy’s life, I was getting kind of verbally abused by my brother and sister in law, and then also my son in law (younger daughter) so that made things very stressful but I maintained my courage.
Thank you for sharing. I love that you were your daddy’s favorite