Because she asked so sweetly

Last weekend Glenn, Amy, and our granddaughters came for a visit. We had them for three days (and I forgot to take pictures, ugh!) and were so disappointed when they had to leave for home.

While playing, Hayley saw the quilt I made for Marley. She came to me and shyly and sweetly asked, "Grandma, will you please make me a quilt?" After supper that night, we went out to my yarn studio and she looked through my fabric and fabric remnants and selected colors and pieces she liked. Today I found a cotton with a design I liked a lot. It's called "Family Tree." I think it will be good as the quilt backing.

Marley's quilt

After I finished a quilt for Jacy in May, I immediately wanted to begin another one. So Marley took the squares I'd cut for her, and she arranged them herself into a pattern she found pleasing. We looked for fabric to use on the back and I asked if she'd like to use one of her great-grandmother's sheets. My grandmother could not resist a bargain and if she found something she liked at a good price, she'd buy several and give the others away as gifts. Back in the 1970's she bought quite a few "jungle print" flat sheets, and I have some of them.



I sewed the pieces together pretty quickly, Marley chose the color thread she wanted me to quilt with, and I started quilting. I took it to the lake with me and worked on it for a couple of nights.



I'm almost half-way through the quilting, and then I'll sew up the binding and stitch our names on it and be done.

Definitely worth the wait

When we moved into this house with its three outbuildings Steve said to me, "You're going to have a yarn studio where you can sew and spin and knit."

That was five years and many plans ago. Earlier this week Steve moved his office to another outbuilding. I scrubbed his former space. David, Marley, Sam, Steve and I moved furniture, bins, and books yesterday. Today I have a yarn studio.





Now the question is, how often can I get out there?

Sewing desk

Our local antique store often has items at thrift store prices, so I regularly check there to see what's new - or newly priced. Last week I found this sewing desk with its own bench. The price was right, and I knew just where I'd use it, so I bought it and brought it home. The drawers and the bench are set up to hold patterns and sewing notions - the boys were enthralled!

In the next few weeks we'll be shuffling rooms around again, and I'll have Steve's former office for my knitting/spinning/sewing room. The new sewing desk will go in my new space, and my old sewing desk will remain where it is in the children's playroom - but Marley's sewing machine will be on it instead of mine.

Going to Apron Thrift Girl to see what others found over the weekend.

What Laura is doing on her spring break

Trouble.

I decided to work on a quilt for Joan.

This could end up eating more time than I realized. And could seriously vie with crocheting as my "new mania." (I always think of Toad from The Wind in the Willows when I get hooked on a new hobby... .)

The Gentle Art of Domesticity

While Penny and I were in Birmingham I bought Jane Brocket's book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. I glanced through it briefly before buying it, noticed the photos of Birkenstocks, quilts, knitting, and baked goods, and figured it had to be a winner.

It is. I read it the other day and since then have made my children look at most of the pictures and elicited a promise from Joan to make some of the scones and fairy buns. This book is not a "how-to" book. It is simply a beautiful tribute to domesticity, comfort, hearth and home, and an encouragement to find one's own way of enjoying the "gentle arts."

My favorite part of the book: Ms. Brocket's list of books and movies that celebrate domesticity. Here are a few to pique your interest and coax you into buying a copy of the book to enjoy!

Books
Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield

(I list these particular books because I have read them and enjoyed their particular views of domesticity, but she mentions many more I have not read or even heard of.)

Movies
I Capture the Castle (2003)
Houseboat (1958)
Little Women (1949)
The Sound of Music (1965)

(This list of movies is not exhaustive either - she recommends many more, some new and some old classics.)

And I did not even mention the art and paintings she includes and explains... .

It really is a book worth owning. Even Penny, who never does any "impulse buying," read a few pages in our hotel room and immediately ordered a copy for herself from Amazon. So get one and enjoy it!