Daniel's Quilt

Last Christmas, my aunt made a suggestion that I make a t-shirt quilt out of Daniel's t-shirts. I had never heard of one and was intrigued. She showed me on-line directions. I wasn't ready to embark on a big project, since I had just finished up the albums I made for the kids for Christmas.

This fall, I had a desire to make a quilt again, and thought I'd make another rag quilt, but then remembered all of Daniel's t-shirts I had saved.

I looked up the directions again, and spent a couple days pondering the idea. Once I got started, I just went for it. I tend to have tunnel vision when doing projects and get a bit OCD until it's done. In about 6 weeks, it's done!! I love it, and I'm so glad I did it. Though I must say it has been quite an emotional time of it. There are so many memories tied into this quilt. I used a couple sweatshirts and even a few of his button up shirts. Each piece tells a story or five.

Thanks again, Aunt Kathy!!

stacking up the squares as I cut them out:

I had to iron fusible interfacing onto each square:

not quite enought yet

laying them out to figure out the design

laying out the colums to see if they match up at the bottom

When I finally had the columns all lined up I sewed them together. I then had to put batting and backing on it. I used my Great-Grandmother's quilting frame to do the hand-quilting. That is where the hours of work came in! It was fun doing each square differently. Here are a few close-ups of some of the squares

his shirt from donating blood. I thought it turned out pretty neat!

from Remain youth group

obviously his Jazz t-shirt

his school t-shirt. I think he about wore it out!

another school shirt. See the SPH I stitched?

another youth group memory

This sums up his life well:

one of his campainging shirts

shirts from All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir

I like the way this one turned out too

High school sweatshirt

his only time playing softball. :)

this one was a size 4. Each of the boys wore it!

The shirt he wore for a couple of his musicals. The pocket is open

College. I loved the way the paw prints turned out.

The Finished Product!


This is one reason I haven't blogged much. I took it with me on our Girl Trip to Marietta. I hadn't put the binding on yet, but I wanted to girls to see it. Belle slept under it, and christened it! We will cherish this forever.

Girl Time!

Last weekend, my sister and I went to Marietta to spend the weekend with Belle. It was her last soccer game. It's been a frustrating season for her, so she was excited it was coming to an end.

My sister-in-law from Maryland was able to get a good flight and joined us. We picked up our "red-headed daughter" on the way. It was super fun to all be together. I don't think I've laughed that much in a very long time!!

After the soccer game, we went to eat-Mexican!

The next morning, it was raining but we were able to take a tour and go shopping in the downtown area, and then have lunch. It was fun being silly together.

Taking a tour of the campus--in the pouring rain!

The LaFayette Hotel

Western Shop

on the walking bridge

Melissa didn't want to join us.

DON'T CLIMB THAT TREE!

Having lunch at the brewery

Belle had heard there was a place across the river that had a look-out over the whole city, so we set out in search of it. We were able to just keep going UP and we we found it right away. It was a lovely view. It had stopped raining by this point, so we took a bunch of pictures.

This is MY city!

Belle wanted us to play raquetball--so we all attempted. It was quite hysterical. Normally, one doesn't sit while playing this game, but there is photographic evidence it was not a rare occurance.

We had ice cream and popcorn for dinner and then watched The Importance of Being Earnest. One of my favorite movies.

After going to church on Sunday, we began our trek home. It was a lovely time had by all!!

Fall Pictures

Each year since JR was a baby, I've been taking fall pictures of my children. It's been fun seeing how they grow each year, the changes, new additions. Last year, and this year have been a bit tougher though to do without Daniel. Belle came home from college this weekend, so I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of them. Sometimes I wonder if they consinder this torture, but they humor me and also drive me to tears at times. Here are some previous Fall Photos 2006, 2007, I took some last year, but didn't post any.

Here is one from last year. Here are a few from this year:
I think this is my favorite
Belle thought this one would be cool, and she was right. :)
Doodle Bug wasn't too thrilled with sitting on the log!
They were quite finished at this point.

Homecoming

JR went to homecoming last weekend with his sweet friend "C". They both looked great and have a wonderful time. Since C isn't sixteen, her dad did the driving, so that's there's not a picture of JR driving. :) It was cold, and starting to rain a bit. I think you can tell, they didn't really care about the weather.

Roadtrip

My sister and friend Sue and I went to Kentucky yesterday to see Belle's soccer team play. We left at 8 in the morning, drove for four hours, sat in the blazing sun for three hours, hung out with Belle in the blazzing sun for a couple more hours, ate dinner and then drove home for four hours. :) We did have a lot of fun. Uncle Chris, Aunt Kathy and Granny were able to come from Bowling Green, KY, and my cousin and her boyfriend came too. Belle had quite a cheering section--only they didn't put her in. Every game they've lost, she hasn't played. Too bad they don't realize they would win if they put her in. (wink)

My cousin Kacy. It's her fault all this soccer madness began at my house! She plays the sport and Belle fell in love with it through her!
my lovely, fashion forward Granny
The cheering section with our favorite player
Aunt Kathy and Uncle Chris who helped provide the dinner for the teams. It was great to see you!! Let's do it again sometime!!

I Remember

Eight years ago, I was sitting in the hospital with Doodle Bug. She had had a serious seizure the evening before and had stopped breathing. She was recovering in a room, and we had the TV on. Rob was leaving for the morning and had gone by the nurses station and came rushing back into the room and quickly flipped the channel from the kiddie programming I had it on. We sat there in shock and the World Trade Center was burning--then the second plane hit, and the towers began to fall. The world stopped spinning that day. Planes were grounded, the Pentagon was hit--would anyone else die before the mayhem stopped??

As I was telling Puk Puk about it this morning in our school time, I began to cry. The emotions of that day were close to the surface.

I will never forget that day. I will make sure my children never forget that day. That is the day Isalm truly declared war on all that is good and right and Godly. I fear our nation has forgotten the terror of that day--we still have an enemy--we must not forget that.

WW-Field Trip to Sheldon's Marsh

Many thanks to my sister Linda for her mad photography skillz!