Landen Time!

I haven't posted since Landen was born, and thought I'd share a few pictures. Whenever I have had a not so good day, or am just feeling gloomy, all I have to do is drive a few miles down the road, and just look at him and smell him, and all is well with the world again!!

This is a picture of Landen with his daddy, Jeremy. What a precious picture of pure love. Reminds me of how much God loves us and has us wrapped up and held up in his big, strong loving arms.

Here is Landen with his beautiful mama. That mother/son relationship is something very special indeed!!!

He was getting tired of all of us snapping his picture! Grumpy face!!

Landen and his big sister, Breanna. She is like a second mom to him. She looks like a girl holding her little doll, doesn't she? He doesn't even look real!!

Happy Birthday to Landen and Shug!!

I wouldn't normally post a happy birthday to myself, but I am so full of joy today on my birthday, because as I type this I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first grandson!! Landen Jeremy Mann will be born, if all goes as planned, on this very day, August 27th, 2010!! On Tuesday, I was informed by my daughter-in-law and son that they would be going to the hospital on Friday to have this little bundle of joy. I would be ecstatic no matter what day the little man was born, however, being able to share this day with him will make it even more special. As I rode to work Wednesday morning, the Lord just brought to my mind that He has turned my mourning into gladness!! Oh what a wonderful God we serve!!!

And here he is...Landen Jeremy Mann, 8 lbs. 2 oz. 20 1/2 inches long. Born at 6:25p.m. on August 27, 2010!!! Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!!!

School Days

Well, the first day of school is tomorrow and I am not even anxious about it at all. Don't know if it just hasn't hit me yet that 22 nine and ten year olds will be herding into my classroom tomorrow, or maybe after 23 years, it's just what it is...another day on the job. However, I am really looking forward to this year, and am determined to have a fun year, being always mindful of my attitude and my reactions to my students. I read in my devotional one day this week that our attitude towards others reveals our attitude towards God. Wow!!! That really got me to thinking about how very true that is. So, my prayer is that God will help me to be diligent in doing a "self-check" on my attitude on a daily basis and to fill me with His Holy Spirit so that I may reflect His love towards all my precious children he has placed in my care this school year. If you are reading this, please pray for me as well. I am going to need all the help I can get!!!

Sewing Recluse!!

I have had the best time this summer playing in my sewing room making things for our grandson who will arrive sometime around the 1st of September!! Here are a few things I've made:


This is the Monkey Pinwheel Quilt when I first loaded it onto the quilting machine.

These two pictures show the finished product.

Label on back of quilt. Wanted to make sure the little one knows who made it for him!!! (Still don't have a name yet, or I would've added his name to the quilt!)

A boppy pillow cover that I made from the dimples minkee fabric! It is so soft. I made another one out of flannel with a golf print on it!! For his daddy!!!

This quilt was made from a jelly roll of buggy fabric that was dirt cheap at WalMart when they were getting rid of their fabric department. I thought it turned out real cute. Much bigger than a crib quilt, but this will stay at Shug's house so the baby can lay on it on the floor at my house!!!

Another shot of the bug quilt. I named it Bug Row. Hope the little man likes the bright colors!!! I have thoroughly enjoyed hanging out in my sewing room all summer. I am so ready to retire so I can do this all the time!!!!

Last picture is a close up of the quilting. I absolutely don't know how I ever quilted those quilts on my regular machine. I am in love with my HQ16!!!!! Although, I am going to have to learn something other than the loops pattern!!!

Bug Row on the longarm!

Back in the Swing of Things

Well, I got back from Florida on Thursday. Not a good flight. Turbulence galore!! It was very cloudy and windy, but never rained or stormed, thank goodness! Anyway, my cousins and I had a great time!! We laughed so much, we were crying and .... (You fill in the blanks there!!!) If you know me, you are aware that I have a slight problem with the bladder, especially when something gets my tickle-box turned over!! Not only me, my cousins do, too!! It must be hereditary!!!

Here is a picture of Joann and Jan when we are leaving to go to Sea World and the beach.

We spent the day, Monday, at Sea World, and headed to Cocoa Beach around 7 that night. We took a quick trip to WalMart to get some groceries, and then settled in at the hotel. Stayed up late that night catching up and sharing a few things only cousins can share!! We played in the ocean and soaked up some rays the next day, all the while, my left eye was burning and itching like someone had punched me in my face. When we got back to the hotel, I could not get my contacts out fast enough. We rested up, or, I rested up, for about two hours!!! Joann and Jan said they were debating whether to come in and check to see if I had passed on!! When I finally woke up, my eye was swollen shut. Joann, who is a retired nurse, insisted that we go to an Urgent Care Center so they could check out my eye. I finally agreed. Turned out to be conjunctivitis. Who would've thought I would go to Florida for a girls' getaway, and contract the pink eye?? I could see me getting it during the school year with as many students who come to school with it, but around all adults? Just my luck! Anyway, it didn't put a damper on our fun. We had some great food, great company, and great shopping!!

On Wednesday, we left the beach and headed home. A few detours along the way were...a quilt shop, Hancock's fabrics, (the biggest one I've ever been in!!), and Cocoa Beach historic village, where we had the best lunch and some good shopping.

When we got back to Joann's, we went over to visit Aunt Jo again. She seems to be doing pretty good considering all she is going through. I really think she is ready to just go on to Glory. She, Jan, and Joann have all of her funeral arrangements made, down to the songs she wants sung at her going home party!!

Here is a picture of me and my Aunt Jo.

I had lots of fun, but am so glad to be home. We've decided we are going to make this an annual thing. Can't wait til next year!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I am flying to see my aunt on Sunday. She is my mom's oldest sister. She had a stroke about a year and a half ago and has very little use of her left side. When she and my mama would get together, they would laugh all day long. They had so much fun together. When the phone rang at my mama's house, we always knew it was Aunt Jo, because immediately after answering the phone, mama was laughing her head off! Just the sound of my aunt's voice could make her laugh. Daddy always said he needed Jo to call when he had ticked mama off to get her back to her normal self!!
Because of her condition, my cousin has arranged for us to spend all day Sunday with her and then my cousin, her sister, and I are going to go to Sea World on Monday and head to Cocoa Beach to spend a few days. Nothing like 50 and 60 year old women getting together on a beach in Florida!! The last day, we will spend with my aunt before I head back to LaGrange.
I am so looking forward to it. I need a break from sewing for a while!! But when I get back, I'm diving right in and finishing the cuddly quilt I am making for my little man!!
Sidenote: Today is my baby boy's 29th birthday!!! His brother will be 32 in 8 days. I can't believe my children are this old!!! Where does the time go???

Caleb's Quilt

My dear friend, Sheila, is having a grandson around the same time that mine is due. She is my quilting buddy. We go shopping in Atlanta and all over the place for fabric and the latest quilting gadgets. She was the one that traipsed all over Atlanta with me in search of my longarm quilting machine, and even made the special trip to Bowden, Ga. to look at the HQ16 that I actually purchased that day. Anyway, she has been with me through thick and thin in the sewing realm, as well as, personally, and so I told her that I would quilt her grandson's quilt on my new machine. Well, the backing is made of minkee fabric, which is the softest fabric you have ever felt, but very stretchy and slippery. I have heard horror stories of people who have tried to quilt it on their table top sewing machine, as well as their longarms. So, needless to say, I was a little wary of putting it on my machine. After consulting with several people on quilting blogs, as well as the lady who taught me how to use my machine, I finally put that beautiful quilt on my machine today while I was sitting with my sick granddaughter.

(A picture of the backing completely quilted. Not a pucker in sight!!!)

Pinning the backing onto the leaders was actually the hardest part of it all. It stretched so bad that I had to take off both sides and start over. I really was beginning to panic and wondered if I would even be able to complete it. But once I got the minkee on, I felt pretty good about tackling the task at hand.

A close up of the quilting. I just did an overall loops freehand pattern, because everyone I talked with said it wasn't necessary to do a lot of quilting because the fabric would tend to pucker and stretch more.

Here is the beautiful front of the quilt. Made with all pastel batiks. Didn't Sheila do a great job?

Another picture of the beautiful front of the quilt and the quilted loops. I know Sherry, Sheila's daughter will be so proud of this when she presents her with it!!

Quilting Therapy

Meesha's Quilt

After Mama died, Tammy, my sister-in-law, and Meesha, my niece, and I, were over at Mama's cleaning and packing up stuff in her basement. We came to this wardrobe that my mama's daddy had made full of old quilts. We were all picking one out that might mean something to us, or that would look good in our house. Meesha couldn't seem to find the right one, especially after she learned that her Gongi hadn't actually made them, but had bought them on one of her enfamous "junking" trips to sell in her booth in Pine Mountain, or wherever she was peddling her wares in her many years of business!! Anyway, when Meesha decided that she did not really want one of those quilts, I made a promise to her that I would make her one, since I had just recently made one for another one of my nieces. So, her request was that she would like a pink one. So, Meesha, this one's for you sweetie!! I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it for you. It was part of my therapy in the grieving process over the loss of my mama and my daddy!

Your quilt was the very first quilt I quilted on my new longarm sewing machine. I was so excited when I made those little hearts and loops, I had to stop and take a picture of them!!

This is the finished product! I am giving it to her tomorrow!! I so hope she likes it and will keep it to give to her granddaughter one day!! I think she's finished having babies. She has three very active boys!!! (That is probably why she wanted a pink quilt!!)

My Quilting Room

I have been busy since January getting my quilting room set up. I bought me a quilting machine right after the New Year, and didn't realize how much space it was going to take up in my sewing room, so needless to say, we had to do some purging and moving to make room for it!! My husband was so sweet to help me get every thing set up just the way I wanted it. Thanks, Mike!!

I think next to my quilting machine, the peg board is my favorite!! Looks like a professional lives here!!! Far from it, though!!

My cutting and sewing area!

This is Nancy Sue! My new quilting machine, named after my sweet mama, who loved to sew and was one of the most talented seamstresses I ever knew!! I know she would be so happy to see me in my quilting room. When I am in here, I feel like she is right here with me, enjoying all the fabrics and the process of putting all those little pieces together to make a beautiful product!
I miss her so much it hurts!!!

Our New Grandbaby

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, but much has been going on. One very important bit of news is, we are going to have a grandbaby!! A boy, to be exact. Due date is Sept. 1st. So, just a few more months to go. I will never ever forget the day Jeremy called us to tell us what the baby was going to be. We were in Charleston, S.C. on spring break at Folly Beach. The phone rang, and when I answered it, all I could hear on the other end were sobs of joy coming from that young man! He could not control the tears, which were of shear joy, of course. He was so hoping for a boy, but when they actually confirmed it, I think he was just in shock that he was going to have a son of his very own. He told me that was the happiest he had ever been. I cannot wait until that little boy is born so I can see the absolute joy on my boy's face. He is going to be the best daddy, because he has been a very good daddy to Breanna for about 6 years now. I am looking forward to experiencing this new adventure with him and Kendra, his beautiful wife.
Jeremy and Kendra surprised us back around February with the news that they were expecting. It was such a refreshing piece of news they delivered for my grieving heart. But as I was pondering the news after they left, I couldn't help but thank the good Lord for fulfilling His promise of life after such a season of sorrow for me. I know my mama and daddy would be so happy...they loved the excitement that a new baby brings to the family. My daddy, for one, was the first one to hold those precious grandbabies when they came home from the hospital. I just wish they were going to be here to see the look on Jeremy's face when he comes out of the delivery room to announce the arrival of his son!! But I know, without a doubt, they will be looking through a special window in heaven and oohing and aahing, and praying over that baby just as much as we will!

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, Joel took daddy to the ER because he was so weak he couldn't even stand up. Little did we know that would be the last time he ever went home again to his comfortable surroundings of almost 50 years. For the next two weeks, he would face a battle he had never faced before. It still seems surreal that he is no longer with us. I miss him so much every day, but know that he is no longer having to struggle to breathe, he is filled with a fresh breath of LIFE that will NEVER wear out!! He was a man of very few words, but his actions conveyed how much he loved God, his precious wife, and his children and grandchildren. The last few days, before he died, he was able to speak privately to each of us and tell us, from his heart, how he felt about each and every one of us. Oh what a precious time that was. That sweet moment will live with me forever. I know that each of us have our own special memories of our daddy, but mine was the fact that because of who he was and how he always loved me, no matter what, I have always been able to have a perfect picture of how much my heavenly Father loves me and is always there for me. For that, I am so thankful. I love you, daddy, and miss being able to kiss your forehead on the way out the door of your house, but I know that one day, I will be able to live with you in the presence of our Daddy forever!!!