SADLY the month visit is ALMOST over..

So I mentioned that my mother came from MI to attend my grandson's baptism August 5 in Cranford NJ and then to stay at my home in Quakertown,PA for a month long visit…Well SADLY her visit is drawing to a close and she flies back to MI by herself (eeek!) August 30.
We've had loads of fun while she has been visiting……...besides the baptism weekend here are some of things we've done…

My son JB and wife Claire dropped by for an overnight visit to take 
my mom to the local casino. She won on $107.00 and had a fabulous adventure with them. Here is 4 generation photo we tried to take the morning after:  Great granny, Grandma Teddi, son JB with his children Charlotte and James IV.

Great Grandma and her newest great grandson James IV.
Of course my mom made some beauty shop runs to stay beautiful.

We drove down to see her grand-daughter Keli's home in West Chester.
Keli took us all to Longwood Gardens a great place to visit in PA.
I highly recommend a visit to there to anyone near Chester County PA.

Mom and I at Longwood Gardens

Mom got re-acquainted with her little sewing machine she gave me years ago.

Mom created TWO strip quilts during her visit.
Jellyrolls are my mom's new best friends. She loves  them.

Here is my mom and her first strip quilt top, looks perfect! 

She is also trying to complete some squares with my pre-cut fabrics,
she says it's good to keep her brain thinking!

Brynn and Caleb spent the night and Great Granny polished Brynn's little finger nails and toes.

Mom had a chance to visit with Great Granny Joyce (from England)
while we all enjoyed the hospitality of Ian and Wendy Rossetter's home and pool,
 Fantastic Day.

Great grandma have a special talk with her great grandson James at the pool party.

Caleb and Charlotte enjoying the pool.

And of course the occasional celebratory Martini's and dinner out.

I am sitting here and lamenting about only having a couple more days to enjoy her company, a few more special adventures to be had………but it's been an amazing month! We are so thankful that my son Brian and his wife Heather flew down with my mom so we could have these fantastic times.

Finally the HQ16 is loaded..

So I finally managed to get my HQ16 frame loaded with my latest quilt top which sad to say should have been completed long ago. ;-(  I promised my cousin a special quilt for our newest high school graduate and hoped to have it done in time for her when she begins her dorm life…Sad to have to admit  but I am not going to make that deadline, she heads to college August 21.
I am glad to share I am excited to see this quilt completed because so far I am very happy with how the t-shirts worked into a nice design.
I think I have shared in one of my posts that my mother is visiting for the month of August and sadly due to her broken leg last November cannot make it upstairs to my studio.
So today while I loaded my machine I took photos of the loading process so she can try to imagine how I load it and picture how large my machine is and how it works. So here are the photos I shared with her.

Had to look all over the house to finally find the velcro cloth pieces that
attach my quilt tops on rollers thankfully finally located them.

Quilt bottom rolled on first.

The quilt bottom is rolled on so the right side is down or out.

Next the quilt top is rolled on it's roller.

Difficulty with t-shirt quilts can be the different materials create different tensions.

Next add the batting and I will soon be off and running.

Tomorrow I get to begin quilting the layers.

Hard to think this is the first quilt since April? I sure hope my HQ16  took the move well…
Guess time will tell…wish me luck!

The quilt top is coming along slow but sure...

So between my grandson's baptism a week ago and now my mother's visit from MI (she is staying with the hubby and I for the month of August if you recall) I have managed to find some time to work on a quilt I have promised a while back to someone special.

If you recall the steps I have posted so far…#1:  first cut apart your t-shirts…#2: iron light weight knit interfacing to the backs of the pieces you want to use..#3: square up your pieces and decide on your placement design.
From the photos today I hope you will be able to see I next sew the pieces into columns or strips across dependent on the design. My design worked well as columns.
So far I have the columns sewn together and then was able to sew two of the strips together leaving me only three more rows to add to the quilt top.

Here is example of one of the columns sewn together into a strip, nicely trimmed..

Here is photo of all 5 columns sewn with the far left 2 columns sewn together..
I will complete the quilt top by adding the final 3 columns to make the quilt top.

But...first tomorrow we hope to have an afternoon of pool and fun with my mom, two of our children and spouses and their 4 children as guests of one of the in-laws.

Hoping the rain stays away……………………………….but for now….just keep smiling..

Ok so I've been a little busy

So the weekend brought along some special times for my family..
My grandson James Bronce Henderson V was baptized this past weekend..
with his baptism also has brought a visitor to our PA home: My mother for the month of August.

Lovely banner in his church announcing the special day

God Parents Brian and Jacqui

Jame's two great grandmother's on the left is great Grand-Mum from England
and on the right is my mother great Grandma from MI who will be my August houseguest

Now back to the tshirt quilt in progress: now cutting the pieces into squares or rectangles

Scraps of cut up tshirts

stacks of cut pieces ready for the design board

First step of designing is to play with the shapes and colors for favorite placement.

While working on the placement I always photograph in black and white to try to see
lights and darks, helps with the design process of balancing composition.

Once the final design or placement is decided on the next step is to FINALLY get to sew! YAY!

See you tomorrow….hope to have more progress completed to report on…

until then….just keep smiling.

Back in the saddle again?

Finally spent an afternoon working on a quilt.
To show you some of the process and a hint of what I am working on here are the following photos ;-))

You take a box of saved t-shirts you receive in the mail and cut them apart.

The tedious yet very necessary step is to iron on knit interfacing one by one.

A stack begins to compile.

Notice the Barbie one, I must guard that one since my grand-daughter Brynn wanted it. ;-)

So that's what I finally got busy on… felt great to be back in the saddle again, I hope not to get thrown off until I get this project done ASAP…it's owed to a very special someone.

Hope you enjoyed and until next time…may the sun shine brightly on you all.