All schools run a little differently. Some have days off because of teacher in-service. School for my Hanken grandkids is different. They just get out of school every Wednesday at 1 pm. So, on Wednesday, when the kids got out at 1 pm, Kelli picked them up they came for a visit. It was great.
You might remember some time ago I made this quilt for a benefit.
This is a quilt that was made using 2 1/2″ strips that were sewn together, then segments were cut. After the segments were cut, there were pieces leftover, so I cut them into 2 1/2″ wide units, then I made them into 4 patches. I figured it would be a good start on another benefit quilt.
I ended up cutting more strips and making more 4-patches. My intention was to make a quilt like this…only this would have 4 patches instead of bigger blocks, and it would say John Deere for the letters.
I had the quilt 4 patches together and was ready to make the letters. Eli saw it two weeks ago and wanted it for him. He saw it on Wednesday and again wanted it for him. He did need a big boy quilt. I didn’t have a big-bed quilt. I told Kelli that if she wanted it for Eli, we could just finish it. So that’s what we worked on…
Eli was so excited. He had big plans to help us, and he did.
Kelli did all of the strip cutting and counting to see how much bigger we wanted it. I sat at the machine. Part of the time I had help sewing.
Part of the time I had a helper to take out the pins and put them in a pincushion.
He was so excited and such a great helper. He would run pieces back and forth from Kelli to me.
Later, Georgia and Emmett started helping too.
It was the perfect day for me. When I thought about being a Grandma someday, this was what I thought it might be like.
Emmett and Georgia would cut the chain pieced units apart.
The kids were fun. Kelli and I had fun!
Here I took the cover piece off and Eli could see it turning below where the bobbin is. He is so mechanically inclined. He gets that from his Dad.
We had a really fun day. Kelli said, “Maybe we should make it a tradition that we always come over in the afternoon on Wednesdays.” Rick and I both told Kelli that we would love that.
It’s a good thing that Emmett needs a quilt too. He’s leaning more towards a dinosaur-themed quilt. So we’ll have that on the docket after this one gets finished.
It looks like you all had a great time. Yaaa!
wow that Eli has turned out to be Mr Personality !!!
What a fabulous fun afternoon! Some kids are born with the gene, yay Eli! How fun to have a Wednesday Grandma Jo date!! Memories for you all :-)
Now THIS is what being a grandma is all about! We grandmas dream of days like this, don’t we? So happy for you!
Love and prayers
Sounds like a perfect day!
What a fun time you all had making Eli’s quilt, and it will always be the one he helped to make. I look forward to seeing it all done.
I enjoyed the pictures of your grandchildren helping with the quilt! Everyone looked like they were enjoying the time together!
As I was reading, I thought what a fabulous memory that quilt will hold and then you wrote it was a perfect grandma moment. That summed up my feeling exactly! Lovely post!
What a fun and productive day – and such a good learning experience for the kids to boot. It’s so good for kids to see what it takes to produce items, be it quilts, food, woodworking, mechanics, etc!! AND it’s making wonderful memories….
I use to live in a little town where at noon on Wednesday, all the stores would close. There were small stores and nationwide stores, about 20 stores in all. I don’t remember if schools closed or not. I only lived there a couple of years and that was in the early 70’s.
That was always my perfect Grandma day, too, Jo, doing something with the kids they they could help with and gain from. Even thought I am a quilter and they all have three or four quilts I’ve made, we usually baked cookies together. They loved that.
So fun. It is great to see what you and Kelli and the grands accomplish! The quilt will be so special and I’m sure the next will be too. I’m planning to make a dinosaur themed quilt for my great-grandson. Could you send Kelli to help me?!!
Those kids are so blessed to have you for a Grandma! They will always remember your love! Way to go, Jo! (and how wonderful that Rick loves them, too!)
That’s had to be a great time! I love all the photos of the family, they are wonderful! Hugs,
Jo, you are a terrific grandmother!!!!! It is fun to read about your interaction with your grandkids. Eli is so cute with those glasses. I have a soft spot for little boys. I have two sons and we have 6 grandsons. When I taught school I really enjoyed the boys more than the girls……though I worked hard not to show that.
What a great day! I love that all the kids wanted to help with making the quilt for Eli. It will always hold memories of this special time you spent together.
Precious memories made for all to be certain. I have wonderful warm memories of doing things with my Grandma Viola. I’m sure she carried those with her when she passed. She was an amazing seamstress both by hand and machine. I got to remove pins like Eli, choose buttons from the button bin, and when a little older fold the pattern pieces back up and put them where they belonged. All of these times were enjoyed immensely by us. My Grandpa would sit in his chair watching us as Grandma’s sewing took place in a corner of the living room. They would commiserate about their day as Grandma and I sew. Oh, I too, got to sit on Grandma’s lap while she sewed. She would guide my little hands along as the sewing machine stitched up the seam. I felt so grown up! Anyways, thanks for the lovely trip down memory lane for me.
What a fun day!!
Say, cleaned out my Mom’s sewing cabinet & she had a pack of denim cut from jeans…all in good shape. I know you have used denim in your quilts….did you want these? If so, please let me know where to send. Thank you!
I am supplied well with denim now. Thanks for the offer.