Thursday, June 29, 2017

Birthday Sewing

It has been another fun week of birthday celebrations in our family.  We had three birthdays on Tuesday alone!   Another one is tomorrow.  Of course that means I have an excuse for sewing - matching outfits.



We made a quick road trip over the weekend.  We were able to experience the tremendous heat that has been stalled over the West.  This was a photo of the start of the brush fire near Brian Head, Utah.  At the time it was 112*.  I cannot imagine those firefighters working in those conditions - even without the additional heat from the fire.


It was so nice to see such full lakes and streams throughout Utah and Wyoming.  It has been too many years without such sights. 

We arrived home on Monday just in time to bond a bit with this cutie in the emergency room for stitches.  (His mom and dad were out of town.)  The tape on his nose was from his wristband used to cover up his freckles that everyone thought were so cute!


Tuesday was jam day.  We have an annual tradition of making jam and bread during the summer months.  The girls have grown up from our first jamming adventures and now they do most of it themselves, but it's fabulous that they still want to keep up the tradition.


Tuesday night was a birthday party and we enjoyed watching the older children giving rides to the little ones.  I had a dear friend stay with us for a few days and she joined us for the party.  It was fun to have her meet so many of the grandchildren as she and I were neighbors when we were raising our own young families.  There were lots of memories to share.   



I am the Queen Bee this month in our Gridster Bee.  My block choice is the Confetti Star.  It has been such fun to have the blocks arrive in the mail.  What's not to love about colorful stars?  I think it will make a great quilt. 



Although my temperature quilt will be rather boring this month with our June Gloom weather pattern, I get to add another turtle to June 26th.  Our momma tortoise laid a second batch of eggs that day.  These won't hatch until the end of September - a late hatching.  The others should start hatching around the middle of August. 


I can't believe that we are ready to put June behind us already.  The summer will be gone before we know it at this rate.  I won't be posting again before the 4th of July as we will have houseguests and a big celebration.  I wish all of those in the U.S. a safe and wonderful Independence Day. 


19 comments:

  1. What a fun tradition, making Jam and bread. Cute dresses and dolly dresses too. Your star quilt is going to be so bright and wonderful. Enjoy your holiday.

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  2. Summertime is certainly a busy time for you! And wonderfully so, with all the lovely traditions you've created for your family. A Happy and Healthy 4th to you and yours!

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  3. Those dresses with the matching doll dresses are absolutely adorable! Looking at the pictures of the jam and bread is making me very hungry. It's been a long time since I've made home made bread. Maybe I'll have to do something about that. Those colorful stars have "summer" written all over them. It sounds like it's been a good month for you.

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  4. I'm surprised that you find time to blog with so much happening in your life! How fun to have a jam-making tradition! Your sewing skills have been put to good use making the matching outfits.

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  5. Mary, I love your posts!!! I would wear that second dress myself...love it! So is the first, but I'm not a bow gal!!! Lol
    Your grand children are such sweet and enjoyable children ...always lots going on. And.....birds; now turtles hatching!!! Loving. It...

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  6. Gorgeous matching sets for the girls 🎈 Birthdays 🎉....love to see your GC having fun and also keeping up the tradition of jam and bread making...
    Those bright Stars are gorgeous..
    WOW. lots of tortoise eggs there. What happens to the little ones when hatched ?

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  7. Love the confetti stars. Matching dresses must have been fun to sew.

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  8. Just found your blog through Soma's link - WOW! All those grandchildren! I'm the oldest of eight but have only one grandchild so far - I'm so envious! Looking forward to following you around~

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  9. How wonderful that you have fun family traditions and that your grands are excited for them to continue. Time spent together is priceless. Your matching outfits are adorable! I spent many a night making matching outfits for my daughters and their dolls. Happy 4th!

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  10. The matching dresses makes me sentimental. My baby loved American Girl dolls. She still has them but sadly they stay in the closet as she has grown up.
    What a fun tradition of jam and break baking. Everything looks so yummy.
    Your bee blocks are so cheerful! They definitely will make a fun quilt.

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  11. I love your family and traditions. Super cute matching dresses. Love those fun confetti stars and the quilt will be fun, festive and cheerful. Jam and Bread...YUM. Bless your girls for keeping the annual day going. Glad you had safe travels and the heat thiis year has been strong. Seeing the full lakes and rivers is wonderful. I just wish people would be more cautious and believe the power of water. Too many drownings. Happy and Safe Fourth of July to you and yours...<3

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  12. I love your family posts. You have a beautiful family and it is nice to seeing them all spending quality and fun time together.

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  13. The matching outfits are wonderful. Love them! Happy Birthdays to all of them!! Everyone look so happy in the photos. I hope it was nothing serious with the little boy. He does look very cute! I am glad you enjoyed yourselves despite the heat. The scenery is beautiful. I have so much respect for the fire fighters. Heroes!! The stars will make a very sweet quilt! Will you give it one of your grandchildren. Wow! another set of eggs. You will be busy! I love reading your posts, Mary! Thanks for taking the time to share :)

    -Soma

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  14. A wealth of family. What fun! Love the matching outfits

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  15. Wow you have been busy!! Loving all the pictures!!
    I just started following you on Instagram as 7Tango

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  16. Wow, so many tortoise eggs!! Love those matching dresses and your stars are beauties! Hope the stitches come out soon for your little guy :)

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  17. This post is full of so many adventures! Tortoise eggs...so cool, stitches...not so cool. Love the star blocks. We've endured the smoke from those fires and we're so glad they've gotten some control of them. Such a great tradition to make jam. Yum!

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  18. Can I just steal some of your energy and bottle it up for when I need it?

    I love the bread and jam day, and so fun to see so many reminders of you in these young women's faces. What a treasure to have this shared memory. Fun to see the doll matching the dresses, too. I love that you are such a good example of being involved with your grandchildren. Thanks for reminding us of what's important!

    PS We had our family reunion right near the beginnings of the Brian Head fire. Apparently it was caused by a resident (a bit daffy, if you ask me) who decided to burn off some extra grass around the property by using a propane blow torch. I think most people want to throttle him! Luckily we couldn't smell any fire smell where we were, even when it rained.

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