I'll get straight to the good stuff.
I posted months ago that my son had decided he wanted to try to join the Marine Reserves in the Officer's Candidate School in Quantico, VA. We were very surprised but definitely supportive. This past weekend, we all flew back to DC to attend his graduation ceremony and events. It was really momentous. He has spent the last 10 weeks participating in the most grueling activities and tests. Probably 40% don't make it. So we were really proud.
What did I give him as a graduation gift? My husband and other kids wanted to get him a knife. I sent him a quilt! And it really came in handy for the graduation since we reserved a row of seats using the quilt and it kept our butts warm during the very cold morning .
Here's the quilt laid out:
I had originally made this as a quilt of valor but never managed to send it off. It is being put to great use by a newly commissioned Marine! I thought it was perfect; especially since my son's family doesn't have any of their belongings yet.
A proud mom has to share a picture!
I did work on the blocks for the Cheddarback sewalong and got those first 5 done. I can even say that I really enjoyed the one with the set-in seams!
I also did finish my March mini, Wendy Reed (constantquilter). This was a top I'd started several years ago with a Cheri Payne sew-a-long but never finished. I added a border and added some little birds (sadly the top got some kind of a stain while waiting its completion so I decided to cover it up with birds!!). The border fabric is an Edyta Sitar fabric that is fabulous!
This is a close up of one of the blocks with the birdie sewn on. I think the blocks are maybe 3-4" so it's not very large.
During the past few weeks, I flew up to our cabin to visit my mom and encountered tons of snow. I even had to shovel my way into the driveway in the dark because the plows had blocked it while widening the driveable portion of the road. This is our house number, which is several feet off the ground.
It's warmed up since then and I suspect the snow will be gone this week. There was quite a storm as you probably saw in my friend Lori's posts (humblequilts).
This week I'm only watching my grandkids on Thursday so I'll be getting some sewing done (and maybe even some blog posting)
I was starting to wonder if I needed to go looking for you. :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your son--and his proud parents! He looks very handsome in his uniform.
The quilt was the perfect gift for such an event.
You have made considerable progress, in spite of your stand-in duty as nanny.
Good grief, that is a boatload of snow! And you shoveled through that?!?
Hope you get in a goodly amount of stitching therapy while you can.
Oh Randy, you must be so proud! What an accomplishment. So lucky you had the perfect quilt for him at the ready. I adore your little mini and I will link it up when I post next week. So clever to add some birds to cover up the stains! Going to Florida next weekend and then I can start getting excited about the Vermont show! Have fun with the kiddos.
ReplyDeleteDitto on congrats to your son! That means he goes in as an officer, right? Excellent! And with an awesome quilt ... to the envy of all his classmates, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteYour sewalong blocks are looking great. Meantime I recognized that Cheri Payne quilt right away, as I made that one as well. Only mine's full size, not mini, like yours. Good job on getting the blocks so perfect. Its beautiful!
Congrats to your son. Yes, you must be very proud. That quilt is just perfect. There was a reason why you never got to send it out. It knew its rightful owner would be from your household. Love your blocks. ;^)
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your son, and to mom on having the perfect quilt ready and waiting to gift to him.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to your son!! Great quilt for him too!
ReplyDeletePlease extend my Thanks to your son for his service. I know you are a pround Mom.
ReplyDeleteThank your son for his willingness to serve. You and your family should be very proud. And, yay, for you getting your monthly mini together. I'm afraid that I'm going to be delinquent this month.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you son! what an achievement and wonderful graduation gift!
ReplyDeletegoing to finish my monthly mini soon
awesome accomplishment...so happy for you...DC is about 40 min south of me so i understand the need for the fanny quilt..LOL...and adorable march mini!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to your son! That’s a real achievement. Your Cheddarback blocks are very pretty.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your son's graduation!!! Love the quilt that you made for him, it's so special.
ReplyDeleteI also love that you are participating in Cheddarback. I was going to email you to tell you about it but I see you already are doing it. Me too but in the fabric search mode for the sashing and a light blue print. The rest will be from my CW repro scraps ;-)
I know how proud you are!! The quilt is wonderful! My son is going to retire soon from the Air Force and we are so proud of him. I am so thankful that there are strong men and women out there who will sign up to defend our country.
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