Babies, Banners and Blankets

Weekly Rewind

Spending the summer in California has really helped to pass the time quickly. So quickly in fact, we've decided to extend our stay here an additional two weeks to squeeze in time to visit with more people and also to slow down and have a bit of time relaxing. As our original departure date of July 26 approached I was beginning to feel a sense of dread returning to the heat of Mississippi with three full weeks until preschool starts for the kids. The weather forecast has been so miserable I don't think we would have been able to spend any time outdoors between the extreme humidity and daily thunderstorms.

Uncle John, the baby wrangler.

Another reason I wanted to extend our stay is that the past two weeks have been a blur of visitors and parties and we have had hardly a moment of down time since returning from Hawaii. It kicked off the weekend of  July 9 with a three day visit from Joe's brother John, his wife Jen and baby girl Fiona. We had a nice day at Padaro Beach in Carpinteria along with an outing to the Ventura Harbor. It was wonderful to be able to let the kids spend time with their cousin, the only one so far between the two families.

The gorgeous view at Padaro Beach. Another reason not to leave California.

Audrey, not sure if she likes the sand.

Beautiful baby Fiona.

Grayden had sand in every nook and cranny.

 

 

Grammy J and Auntie TT.

We only had three days to recuperate after John and Jen left before the arrival of Joe's mom, Joyce and sister, Therese. They stayed a week and we enjoyed a visit to the Santa Barbara zoo as well as some leisurely time at the house and in Ojai. With the extra hands around I enjoyed some solo trips for errands and appointments (massage, dentist and pedicure - some needed me time!). Therese is very helpful with the kids and they really enjoy spending time with her and Grammy J.

At the zoo with the aunties.

Marching at the concert in Libbey Park.

While Therese and Joyce were here we celebrated Grayden's 4th birthday along with my cousin Jenny's son, Gavin. The boys were born one day apart and this is the second year we've been able to have a joint party for them. In addition, my dad had his 69th birthday the day before Grayden's so it was really a triple party. Jenny and her husband Derek did all the work to set up the party and picked a great location at a park in Thousand Oaks. Susan and Thad brought a pinata that the kids enjoyed demolishing.  Grayden has been asking for a Buzz Lightyear toy for months and he finally got his wish with a deluxe talking version. He got so many gifts in fact, I'll have to mail most of them back to Mississippi before we leave.

The Project

• Fabric-  Blankets: 9 x 1 yard cuts of fleece, $70; Pendants: 6 x 1/3 yard scraps of quilting cotton left over from baby quilt my mom is making, about $18 value
• Pattern - none
  
• Notions - 4 packs of bias tape from mom's stash - I think they came from my aunt who found them at garage sale
• Total time - about 4 hours with 3 people working on them
  
• Total cost - $88

With all of the visitors and events it has really been hard to find time to sew and keep up with the blog. I've been exhausted by 9pm every night and can't keep my eyes open to be productive after the kids are in bed. I started on a dress for myself over two weeks ago and have yet to get past sewing the bodice. I hope to have it done by next week for the blog update. I was also derailed by the other big event we celebrated this past week, a baby shower for my sister Emily. She is due with her first baby at the beginning of September. My sister Susan and I hosted the party at our parents' house using the garden and patio in the lower part of the yard. Since the yard is very nicely landscaped we didn't need to do too much decorating but wanted to add in some festive touches to compliment Emily's nursery color scheme and the quilt my mom is creating for the baby. Since the party invitation used a pendant motif, I decided to make a few strings of pendants out of the scrap fabric from the quilt.

I was lucky to have so many helping hands as Therese helped me assemble the string of pendants on the bias tape while I used the rotatory cutter to cut the individual pieces. I sort of free handed it and made the pendants varying sizes based on the size of scraps I had available. I measured out the strips of fabric in 7" increments and then made diagonal cuts between the marks. I then went back and cut in the opposite diagonal direction to get two rows of pendants that then only needed to be cut down the middle to separate them. I should work up a visual on this but am too tired right now! The bias tape was double fold so Therese had to pin the top of each pendant between the pre-folded layers of the bias. It was narrow tape so it was a slow going but it really helped to have it pinned before I sat down to sew. We strung the resulting banners between the porch posts to mark the path to the party area.

The second decorative project was creating baby blankets to use as table toppers. This is something my mom has done for previous showers, presenting the blankets to the expectant mother at the end of the party. Once again, I wouldn't have been able to complete this project without help, and Joyce stepped up by cutting the fleece into 36" x 36" squares and then bravely using a serger sewing machine for the first time to finish the edges. This could have been enough to have a completed blanket but my mom, the sweat shop boss, insisted we hem the edges. My contribution was to turn them and stitch hems with mitered corners in all nine blankets. All of these projects were (of course) completed the evening before the party, but fortunately I managed to get in bed by about 11:30 pm. The morning of the party was a beautiful, fog free, day and we enjoyed the company of about 25 guests with delicious food and cupcakes. I was so busy I didn't get very many pictures but I know Joyce got a few shots I'd like to get copies of.