It's Done!

YAY ME!!!

I am soooo excited :) I actually finished making my sons' sports Tee-shirt memory quilt and popped it in the mail to him at college in Ohio, it should arrive today.

I posted, on my blog, back in September that I had finished the top and thought I had plenty of time to finish the quilt before the cold weather set in ( Here she goes again, talking about the weather :) But with trips and the Holidays the time got away from me and I was so busy doing other things I had to wait for the holidays to be over before I could work on it again.

But now it is DONE! (YAY!!!!!!!)

Lots of the T's he wore as a kid are from soccer, baseball, basketball league games and sports camps to professional teams he followed.

It is an easy quilt to make, just a little time consuming, cutting out the squares, getting them to work together and hand stitching all the hems, but it was well worth it and I am very pleased with the end result. :)

I decided to machine the quilt together rather than tie it; there are 2 layers of organic cotton batting in the middle and then I backed it with warm fleece. This should definitely keep him warm :)

What I like about all of this is that when I told my Son, the other day, that the quilt was finished and on its way, he was genuinely excited and grateful. That made me a very proud Mom of a college freshman :)

So, if I can suggest anything to all you Moms who have young kids right now it would be to save their favourite Tee's and make a Memory quilt one day, this is as good a memory keeper as a scrapbook. :)

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

A Day At The Beach!

Labour Day Weekend, the weather was horrible. It really put a damper (sorry about the pun :)on any outdoor plans, oh, like painting part of the outside of our home, not that we really minded putting off that big job and we were able to get that done this past weekend (Check that off the ever growing "To Do" list :)

Anyway, it was partly the thought of things to come, Winter and all the rain and gloomy days, that spurred a day trip to the Oregon Coast. As so often happens Labour Day Weekend is a mixture of weather and once the kids are back in school the sun comes out again.

As one of my sons had a few days before he was due back at college we took the opportunity to head off for a day at the coast and the weather was very obliging. :)

"Eleanor's Undertow" is one of the fun family friendly places we have found on the Oregon Coast. We used to take the kids there for lunch or dinner on our numerous vacations at the coast. Now the kids are "Young Adults" we do not get to go there very often and rarely together.

My son and I spent some time there playing pool and air hockey, both of which I love to play and do not get to do as much as I would like to, I giggled my way thru air hockey, there are not too many things that make me giggle from pure joy, this is one of them. I also am really grateful my Son would want to spend a day with me, we did have fun! :)

I found this link about Eleanor's check it out, they are truly nice people. :)

http://www.oregoncoasttoday.com/eleanorsundertow.html

The waves were pretty high and beautiful. Don't be fooled by the sunshine, notice not a soul in the water even though the temp. on the day was over 80, the water is always really cold, wetsuits needed :) (JK)

This was the other end of the beach, there is nearly always a mist somewhere, still beautiful!

A couple of photos taken from the car on the way. Oregon scenery :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Sports T-Shirt Quilt.

I am making this sports T-Shirt quilt for my son who just went away to college. I have time to finish it before the Midwest winters kick in; so I am told they start with a vengeance at the end of October.


I know this is forward planning but I knew pretty early on I was going to do this project so I have been saving my son's sports related T-Shirts since he was very young. One of the shirts is from his preschool T-ball team. How cute is that. :)


My Son is a sports fan (to say the least) and is studying a sports related curriculum at college. He pretty much lives and breaths sports and I have spent many an hour, like a lot of proud parents, driving him and sitting watching him play basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis plus all the sports camps. He has spent his free time watching pretty much every sport on the planet except golf. He likes his sports but he also knows so much about most sports and is passionate about stats.


So, I thought I would share this to inspire all the Mom's who have sports crazy kids to save their favourite T's and make this simple quilt. It is basically a memory quilt, a brief capsule of fun moments in their lives.

Of course there had to be one Superman Tee in there. :)

Some are Tees from his favourite basketball teams, some from tourneys he participated in, camps he was involved in and seasonal sports too. I miss those times but also I am glad they are over. With 3 kids playing 3 different sports at any given time within a 25 mile radius after school and weekends were a juggling act but one many do with love and I joyfully did it, I just can't imagine having the energy to do it though.

Have a wonderful Weekend.

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

My Son is a College Freshman.

My Son is now officially a college Freshman, with the first day of classes behind him and excitedly awaiting the first football game of the season.

My Hubby and I took our Son to his chosen college in Ohio last week to get him settled. I thought it would be easier with the last child to leave and go off to college but with each one it has been a bittersweet experience. I am excited that they are able to get into the colleges of their choice but I hate that they happen to be so far from home (Oregon). I am glad they are independent enough to be able to deal with the challenges of being so far away especially long distance flying but I miss them. Believe it our not we are a very close family, yet our children are scattered now in Ohio, California and England. I guess I will just have to build up my frequent flyer miles by visiting more often :)

Although I am a Brit I have lived in every State and one Province on the West coast of North America and consider myself a West coast girl even though my heart is still in London. I have only had the opportunity to travel to one other State (Arizona) until now. I did not quite know what to expect and boy I was pleasantly surprised. The people in Ohio are so friendly which really helped me feel comfortable getting on the plane to return to Oregon leaving my son at college in their capable hands.

So, I thank them and wish my Son the best for his college Freshman year.

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.