GOING TO COLLEGE!

My family has been a part of my quilting hobby turned part-time business with passion for many years now.  They have endured hearing me chatter on and on about a project; they have been the recipients of some of my best work and some of my "learning curve" work; and they have even offered me suggestions for patterns to try for quilts.

My older grandson, Preston, became a senior in high school this year.  His ambition is to become a vet, so he started talking about college choices.  He decided Auburn University, with its reputation for having an outstanding Veterinary Medicine program would be his choice.

Of course, I began thinking about THE QUILT to celebrate his high school graduation and to send him off for his college career.  I had been talking about "the modern movement" in quilting that I see emerging.  Preston and I had been looking at a couple of the "modern" books I was reviewing.  He said, "Gram, I want you to make me a modern quilt." 

That launched the idea of a school quilt using the school colors in the style of the modern aesthetic.

First, I found the pattern in "Skip the Borders" by Jaybird Quilts that I wanted to use. 

I chose three shades of orange to use for the Courthouse Square and Half Log Cabin blocks.  The center square is Kona Flame, followed by Kona Carrot and the outer log is Kona Mango.  This gradation forces the design to stand out.

 

The other fabric I chose was a Marine Blue from Kona.

 

 

I loved it when it was completed.  The no-borders and the use of the Kona solids in the innovative layout of the "traditional" blocks made this a "Modern Quilt".

 

My college-bound grandson loves it!!!  What more can I ask for???

He said, "I love it!  I will use it all the time!"

"WAR EAGLE!!!!"

 

-sandi

 

 

PORCH CHATTER: SUMMER VACATION BEGINS

This month got kicked off with my trip to Birmingham to have a week long play date with my younger grandson.  Of course, he is 11 years old and I am not babysitting.  We are just playing together this week.

The first thing he told me when I arrived was that he got an ENO for making straight As on his report card this year.  I must admit that, at first, I did not know what he was talking about!  Then he invited me to come watch him set it up and then to get in and enjoy it with him.  We spent over an hour looking up through the tree canopy and watching clouds and talking.  Wowee!!! How much fun!

I have to admit this does look like a canoe we are in.  It is the most comfortable hammock I have ever been in!

Of course we had early morning swim team practice every
morning.

We came back to Chattanooga to enjoy a fun Staycation Day in Chatty with Papa.

We spent the day enjoying Point Park on Lookout Mountain.

Then we helped Papa sell at the Dixie Highway Yard Sale on Saturday.

Nick went home on Sunday and today was his first swim meet.  I am so sorry we missed being there.  He will be coming back soon.

Nick with his friends, Maria and Elizabeth Rae.

 

 

So this is the start of my summer vacation!!!

 

 

-sandi

 

MAY WRAP UP

Oh my goodness!  What a merry month of May this has been!!  We have been very busy as a family with both of our grandsons reaching milestones.  Our older one graduated high school and the younger one is heading into middle school.  See my blog posts of May 23 and May 24, 2014 for a little introduction to these guys.

Earlier in the month hubby and I participated in Antique Alley Yard Sale.  We had two strong selling days and packed up early because of the rains coming in on the third day.

LilBit and I sat in the truck and watched the rain for a long time!

An annual excursion for us is a local Neighborhood Yard Sale.  This year was a bonanza buying year for us.  Since hubby is an avid re-seller at Flea Market and Long Yard Sales, he must constantly be looking for inventory.  This is such a fun Memorial Day Weekend Event for us.  We just take LilBit and browse through this very old neighborhood.  St. Elmo is a neighborhood that has very old homes that folks are buying and re-furbishing.  Many times they buy the house and whatever furnishings are left.  One of those houses this year was having a huge sale and Hubby was very happy!
Sorry I don't have any pictures. 


I love spending time with my family!  That means that I do not do as much quilting as usual. 

I did have one finish that I can show:

This was started several years ago in a Bonnie Hunter class and I just finished it.  I chose to do straight line quilting on my Bernina sewing machine and I love it!!  Bonnie calls this Virginia Bound.  I call mine Facets and Gems. 

I completed two other projects but I cannot show them yet.  They will be shown next month after they are presented to their recipients.  A third project will be shown next month after my Modern Quilt Guild meeting where it will be part of this month's program.

The other thing that has kept me busy this month is trying to clean up and de-clutter some of our flower beds and foundation plantings.  This has taken me over two weeks to complete.  I have a couple of pictures to show.

This section shows some droopy, transplanted calla lilies and some added stones.  Of course all of these beds had to have added top soil and then be mulched heavily.

In this section I added the ornamental stepping stones that were made of the footprints and hand print of my grandsons when they were each about a year old.  They have been in another flower bed in the back yard until now.

This Procumbens Nana Juniper is way out of hand here.  My plan is to slowly cut it back until I can remove it completely and then plant something less bulky.

 

There was one on the other side of the entrance and I removed it and replaced it with softer, cleaner plantings of variegated liriope and dianthus.  I like the looks of this so much better.

 

 Until next month when I hope to have a lot more to show. . .

 

 

-sandi

 

 

 

 

 

 

PORCH CHATTER: 2014 AWARDS DAY

Our family has been really busy this year with our two grandsons each reaching a special milestone in their lives.

Nick is our younger grandson and he just finished elementary school at Bluff Park in Hoover, AL and is now headed to Middle School where he will continue to shine and continue to develop the leadership skills he started developing at a very early age.

Nick has been an Alabama State Champion in wrestling and excelled in being a terrific team leader and encourager of his teammates.

 

Later, he decided to play football...

 

 

He is very successful in sports despite being one of the smaller players.  He is focused and determined.  Two characteristics that will take him far in life are his natural ability to lead and his strong sense of self-confidence.

He has developed some strong friendships over the year since pre-school days. It was so much fun to go for lunch at school with him and to meet his friends.

 

 

 

Of course, having Nick come to our home for visits is always a treat.  He has such a great sense of humor.  We are always talking about "Nickisms" - those funny sayings he has to describe what he sees or hears.

He and I love to go out for lunch.

 

 

 

 

Fifth grade was his glory year.  He was elected treasurer of the Student Council and his responsibility was organizing the school store, keeping it supplied, and finding "staff" from his peers to run the store.  He is a great organizer and cheerleader of his peer groups.

Here he is with Elizabeth Ray Chapman handing out programs for the Awards Day Program.  Nick and ERay (as we affectionately call her) have been best friends since pre-school days.  She was elected President of the Student Council and the two have served as leaders of their class this year.

This young man received several awards at Awards Day and was recognized for having all As for the entire school year.

 

 

School work and sports are not the only interests of this well-rounded young guy.  He was selected to join the Birmingham Boys Choir this year.  He now spends many hours in practice/rehearsal and participated in the spring concert.

For you, Nicholas Taylor Smith, we send you off to Simmons Middle School next year where we know you will continue to make your mark as a leader and an awesome individual.

 

We are sending you all our love and our support!!!

 

 

 

                                                -sandi
                                                a.k.a. - grammy





















A

PORCH CHATTER: 2014 GRADUATION

This has been an exciting year for our family.  Our grandson, Preston, graduated from high school and he is heading to Auburn University in the fall to study Veterinary Medicine.

A few pictures I want to share for the family and friends.

This guy has brought so much joy to all of us.  He is always so giving and appreciative of his gifts and opportunities.

 

 

Talking on the phone with his special girl, Leah Byerly,  and thanking her for slipping over and hanging this banner on his special day.

Of course, there had to be a "big box".  My family members know that a box that size usually has a quilt in it.

Today's box was no exception.  It did, indeed, have a quilt in it.  This is the back of our college quilt.

That smile just lets me know he loves his other gift, too.  A check!!!

 

The college quilt still needs a binding and then it will be ready to go to college with our special guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There will be a complete post about this quilt once I have the binding on it.  In the meantime, it will be getting its finishing touches of a label, binding and its first washing in the next week.

Congratulations, Preston Alan Smith!!!  We love you and are so proud of the success of your life journey to date.  We know there are big things still ahead for you. 

We are sending you off to college with all the love and support we have for you!!!!

Mom and Dad,  Heather and Byron Smith

and Papa and Gram, John and Sandi Suggs

                                            

 

-sandi

a.k.a.  -  gram

 

APRIL WRAP UP

Whew!!!!  April has been a busy month. I continually set up goals for myself and I continually miss reaching lots of them.

So here is what I have accomplished.

I finally finished all of the components for the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  This is one of the corner blocks and one of each of the two blocks that make up the quilt design.  Not too sure how long it will take me to get all of these blocks made and assembled....

Second block completed of Starry, Starry Night.  These blocks are about 18 inches square.

Made a few clamshells using my friend's die cutter.  Might turn into a pillow.

These are tiny (3/4 inch) leftover HSTs from the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  Thinking something modern will come out of these.

Of course, April would never be complete without the Frogpond Quilters Retreat at Grand Oak Retreat Center in Scottsboro, AL.  What a super bunch of gals to hang out with for four days!!!

Cute little make it/take it project that Jackie brought for us.  Still need to quilt it.

I did manage to get one project completed at the retreat - well, the top that is.  No, Carol is not being punished by standing in the corner.  She says it is some kind of exercise???

 

 

Having lots of fun in my paper piecing group making these seasonal mug rugs.

 

Still quilting this strip pieced quilt on my DSM.  Almost there...

Have another block of my QAYG on the design wall.  Not too happy with that large blob of yellow dots in the center there.

 

Of course, I have a carry along project making more hexies....

In my SLKS bee group we are starting a round robin with the four of us.  I have the first Round of Sharon's quilt and here is a little sketch of what I might could do, but then again, maybe not.  Her block is the colored star that she wants used for the center.

I did completely finish one small project.  This is a quilted mat for Lady Dog.  She belongs to a friend of my hubby.  We wanted to say thank you to her master for some kindnesses he has shown us.
The HSTs are made from the Pampered Pooch Charm Pack from Moda.  I still have enough to make another mat, maybe for LilBit.

This piece is about 32 inches square and I love the low contrast of the blocks to the light blue background.

Looks to me like I have a lot of things in progress. . .   Maybe next month we will see some completions ???


                                      -sandi