Quilts

Since the spring of 2004, my mom has been steadily working on alphabet quilts for her grandchildren.  Now most grandmothers probably have at least months if not years between grandchildren to attempt to stay on top of such a feat.  My mom had 3 days.  She did not quite make it.  But, I'm pretty sure she finished my niece's (who was born first, but was not the first one announced which is a lesson for all of us that as soon as you know you are expecting, get on the wait list), before we announced the fact we were expecting Dom shortly after Mary Ann's first birthday.  Luckily for us we have been on the quick side of the announcing as Dom was born 2 weeks before his next cousin, Rose.

Will was born 8 weeks before his cousin, Wiley.

And Molly would have been perfect as she was the only grand child born in 2011 (with an off year in 2010), but due to an unfortunate accident with a bottle of water, Mom had to restart her quilt shortly before Molly was born in January.  As such, we didn't receive her quilt until this past March.  The more observant will spot that my mom is trying to cover up her delinquency by putting the wrong birth year for Molly's quilt...we are on to you, lady!

Though, I will cut Mom a little slack as she finished Molly's and immediately had orders for three more...we thought 3 days was a short turnaround time, try one minute!  (Twins born via c-section)

The blankets are lovely, though, and always worth the wait.  To put a little perspective on this, in the same time that mom has completed 8 (perhaps 9) of these quilts, the only thing I have done with a needle and thread is to sloppily repair minor holes in a pillow, a teddy bear, and a sock.  But, I'm very proud of all three of those accomplishments as well.  And since my kids don't know better, they are about as impressed with my needlework as I am with my mom's.

Another quilt that gets a lot of use especially now that the weather is so nice is the t-shirt quilt Eric's mom made him using his t-shirts acquired during high school.  Nearly every day I spread it out and bring out a bunch of pillows and read books under the blazing sun.  The kids are excited for about 10 minutes, and then complain that it is too hot.  I need to start setting it up in the shade, but I just can't wrap my mind around the fact it is nearly summer.  The above picture is of Will doing mazes intelligently in the shade.  I didn't want to leave him out of the post.