On my Prayer quilt from my grandma

I went to visit my grandma yesterday after running around for most of the morning. I'd just dropped Mike off at Luna practice (hes learning to skate so he can ref for us!) and was feeling a bit down because I wasn't able to stay and skate (the original plan was that I'd run home with the kids and work on some homework. I realize on my way to drop him off that I wouldn't have time to get home and do anything worthwhile before having to go back and get him). The kids were also driving me insane and my grandma had been asking me to come by because she had something for me.

Not sure why this picture turned but I couldn't figure out how to rotate it back. Blogger fail.

What she had waiting for me was this beautiful prayer quilt that she and my mom had made for me. I'm assuming it was a belated birthday present although she didn't say it was. She's made a bunch of these quilts with the ladies from the church, but this one was just for me, made all by herself with some help from my mom.

Little knots.

The meaning behind the prayer quilt is that its made with love, and covered with a bunch of little pieces of string. Each person takes a piece of string, says a prayer for the person receiving the quilt, and ties a knot. Effectively tying their prayers to the quilt and covering the person receiving it. While I am agnostic at best, it really means a lot to me that she and my mom sat and thought good things for me as they tied the knots. They also left three strings untied, one for each of the boys and one for Mike.

Owls! and one of the knots that were left untied.

I always treasure the things that my grandma makes for me. Shes always been my crafty inspiration (and also my go-to when I'm stuck on a project!) and I know how much time and effort she put into this (the woman is 82 years old for gods sake). I also love the fact that she found really cute owl fabric (I adore little retro owls) and that its obnoxiously bright colors.

My grandma= The coolest lady ever

Thanks grandma and mom!!

Tutorial: How to shorten a zipper

Last week while working on replacing a zipper on a skirt for a girl that I work with, I made a startling realization....

The zipper that I had bought for said skirt was too long. Like, 2 inches too long.

Now this may not be a startling realization to some, but for me, it was horrifying. My brain went into overdrive thinking about where I left the receipt and what store did I buy it from?

Some slightly more intelligent part of my brain recalled my grandma mentioning that she had shortened a zipper that she'd bought a few weeks ago. This being about 10pm that night, I decided it would be in poor taste to call my poor, sweet grandma asking about zippers so to Google I ran.

I found a couple of super easy tutorials on youtube and was able to piece together a suitable method:

First: Measure youre opening to see how long the zipper needs to be (remember, do not cut it at the end of your opening or it will be too short. I made mine about an inch below to give some wiggle room).
Please pardon my suck-y pictures...

Yeah, WAY too long (thats what she said.... sorry couldnt help myself)

Second: Take a straight needle and matching color thread and make a simple whip stitch (going in from one side of the zipper, over the zipper, and down the other side)

Up and over

Third: continue doing this over and over and over until you have a little mass of stitches. This is the new "stopper" for the zipper pull. I also put a dab of hot glue over the stitches for good measure.



My lovely new "stopper" (before the hot glue)



Slightly better picture. You can see the stitches.

Finally: Snip off the excess beneath the new "stopper" and sew into your garment!



All done!

Thats it! After working myself into a frenzy, it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish to fix. 

 

Sometimes the easiest methods are the best.

 

Love

GG

Back to the basics and Grandma goodness!

I have decided to take this blog back to the basics a bit. I realized that I am trying too hard to make this blog "perfect" and just like all of the other really successful blogs out there instead of what i originally intended for it to be: a journal for myself.
So, on that note, I am going to be bringing things back to the basics. While my day to day routines may not be incredibly interesting, I think it'll be fun just to write and talk and post pictures up of my family and home without having to have a really set structure to them.

Last weekend and week has been a "grandma-ful" time. Saturday (March 26th) we celebrated Mikes grandmas 78th birthday with dinner at an awesome mexican restaurant called Azteca D'Oro. The food is awesome, HUGE portions, and we all left fat and happy. (I'll be posting pics as soon as I get copies. I didnt have a camera and my phone doesnt take good pics inside).

Then, on sunday, we went to a birthday party for My grandma at her church. It was wonderful to have all of the family and friends around to celebrate her 80th birthday!

We had cousins driving up from south Florida, and aunts and uncles fly down from Tennessee. There was a lot of talking, laughing, sharing stories, sneaking treats to the munchkins, and just generally having a great time.

So, on that vein, I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos of my wonderful grandma. Shes the one who taught me to sew and craft and is pretty much the glue that keeps our family together. I dont know what i'd do without her!



Grandma with her parents. She says she was about 16.

The pic above is probably my favorite picture of my grandma. I love how cute and sassy she looks. Shes still got that spark and energy to this day!

My (Belated) Birthday post: Leu Gardens

With things being as crazy as they've been 'round our lovely little home the past few weeks, I have very severely been neglecting my blogging-ly duties, so first, let me apologize....IM SORRY!!

But Im back now and I plan on being a little better about posting. 

Just a quick little post (but slightly picture heavy) about my birthday :D The day before I had a lovely party with my family, where I got lots of fab things (my mom bought me the entire "twilight" series, and my uncle got me an Alton Brown cookbook :D)

Heres my little guy with my Grandma. She looks pretty good for 80, huh?!

The super fab chocolate chip cheesecake my mom made me in lieu of a cake

I had taken the day of my birthday (monday) off, so I dropped the boys off at daycare, and took myself on a much needed walk through Leu gardens, a lovely little garden hideaway in between Winter Park and Orlando. 

Potholders!!

Sorry ive been so absent lately! with myself and my oldest starting school on monday, and me being sick for the past 2 days, i havent had much time or energy to do much of anything, and my blogging has fallen by the wayside. Thankfully, ive had a new little project to keep me busy. Another of my grandma (and my lovely 89yr old Aunt Betty's) special crochet patterns......