Grandma's Quilted Stocking

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

I thought I would post a picture or two about where I was exactly this time a year ago. I was sitting with my mother-in-law...my precious Naomi...in ICU.  I wanted so badly to curl up in bed with her and love on her, but didn't want to get in trouble with the nurses.  If I had known she was going to die, I would have done it. I miss her tender, delicate manicured hands when she held my hand in return.

Allyson (who was 18 at the time)  made a scrappy stocking using up some of my Christmas scraps to hang in grandma's room.  There were pictures of all the grandchildren and great grandchildren hanging on the wall in front of her so when she woke up she could see her family.  Ally hung her stocking there too.

Grandma woke up and pointed at the wall. We all pointed to different pictures trying to understand which grandchild she wanted. She couldn't speak. Lastly we pointed to the stocking and that's what she wanted. Being a hand piecer and a hand quilter forever, we should have guessed the stocking first. LOL She wanted to hold it.

She snuggled with it like a child does a stuffed animal or a treasured blanky all night. It was in her bed when we got there the next morning. 20 minutes later, God called her home. I'm so glad my daughter had thought to make something so last minute and silly for Grandma's Christmas ICU room. Turned out not to be so silly after all.





This is one of my favorite pictures. It's sad I guess, but I love it. I sat and crocheted for 12 hours, watching her chest go up and down all day, thinking her little body suuuuuure was fighting hard and thinking, this doesn't look so good, BUT she's gonna make it, I just know!!!! I watched her heart beat on that monitor all day long, until family came in and told me it was time to leave.

I love this picture because I see her heart beating on the monitor. She was alive, God love her. It was a beautiful day I spent in silence with her and my God. I'll forever be grateful He let her live long enough for us to get there and be with her one last 24 hour day.

*********************************************************************************   Choose Joy

Colored Pencil Wraps

I saw this on Pink Chalk Studio a long, long time ago and now you can find the pattern in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, which I've really enjoyed and recommend to others.

My nephew Hay Hay is getting one and maybe some other children if I'm in the mood to finish them. :) My things to do list is long and time is getting short.

My tip for this pencil roll is to use the walking foot as is suggested. I can't find mine since we moved and I thought I could get by without it. I did, but it doesn't look near as pretty. Hoooo Boy! Hayden won't care, in the end. :)

 

Robin's Egg Blue Kitchen

We're not quite finished with the decorating but here is a late evening snap shot of the eating area. We were exhausted after painting all day but I was so excited over how it turned out, I had to take a picture before bed. It's a spa blue paint from Home Depot.

When I first began with the cut in work, I thought, "oh no...what have I done???...I hate it!"....wishing I had gone yellow or something else for the kitchen. Robin's Egg Blue is my favorite color (it's already in the master bedroom). It works almost as a neutral, as everything seems to go with it, especially browns, yellows and reds...especially reds! Yummy! In this picture, it goes nice with the greens I set out for Christmas.

It turned out so pretty and it's sweet during the day when the sunlight hits it, giving it a peaceful, cozy glow.

I love allowing my inner rebellious child write on the walls of my house. I wrote a quick blessing behind the fridge. Now I have to go and hunt down more secret places to write more messages. LOL It's so much fun.

Vintage Stitchery in the Hall Gallery

I collect stitchery. I have a mixture of things I've done and what I find in thrift stores. Usually I have them spread all over the house, but this time I hung them up as friends.

I'm working on unpacking and decorating before my perfect sister gets here. She thinks I have too much junk and I think her style is cold and boring. LOL We used to share a room. She used to be dirty and I was the neat freak. Now guess who is the neat freak?

Awwwwwww....sweet memories of sitting with my grandma while stitching this one up. I spent the night with her on Friday nights and she would always teach me something domestic. This was my first cross stitch. I had already crocheted my sister a sweater by this time. I started it when I was 6 and finished when I was 7. If you look closely, you can see where the 6 was erased and the 7 replaced it. This picture makes me a little sad too, because I see I'm a Craig by now and no longer a Woodruff, meaning my step dad had adopted us and my Daddy was no longer allowed to see us. Long story for another day...or maybe never. I don't like to think about it.





This one was in my mother-in-laws house forever. It's a P for our last name. Since my husband is the only son, guess who got all the "P" stuff. LOL I love it. I think it's the only needlepoint I have.


This was on my mother-in-law's dishwasher forever too. The kids grew up with it there and always wanted to turn it back and forth telling us if the dishes were dirty or clean. They asked for it when going through her things, and they got it. I thought it was so sweet...of all the many beautiful things they could have asked for (and they did get some cool stuff) this was the sweetest request. I think if you give a child a choice over gold or memories, they usually pick the memory. My kids didn't ask for anything valuable...just stuff that reminded them of Grandma.

Blue and Yellow Lusterware

I have an old corner hutch covered in white peeling paint that I cherish. White makes every color of dish in my china hutch pop out, so we can enjoy it. I change it out at the beginnning of each season.

I'm in the process on unpacking my green depression glass. I think I'll go green and white here this December and leave the ruby glass for February.

This was my mother-in-law's lusterware, which the kids and I have always loved. We lived around the corner from her for years and we would go over for morning or afternoon tea. The tea cups are petal thin.  Maybe it's my imagination or the love we shared during our tea parties with the kids, but I never had such a wonderful cup of tea in my life.