On Becoming A Gigi

 As most of you know, we welcomed a grandson, Avery, into our family a few weeks ago. 

He is amazing and I will always be grateful that he is the one that made me a Gigi.  

Indulge me a few moments though as I muse about some of my thoughts and feelings. 

 I was not prepared for the emotions I would feel as I watched my little girl take care of her baby. 

 I have had the privilege of staying over most nights to help out on late night baby duty.  

The kids are doing amazingly well adjusting to the chaos that comes 

when you add a tiny human into your home.

  It's hard!  It's exhausting and filled with anxiety. 

  It's also joyful and amazing. 

 It's really difficult to see that part when you are in the middle of sleep deprivation and anxiety though.  I am so proud of these two! 

 They have supported one another and are working every day to figure out a way to make a new life.

I am totally in love with this baby.  I would hold him all day and all night.

  It's a fine line for me to walk. 

 OF COURSE, I want to be there all the time but

I know they need time to find their way as a new family.

  I stay the night and help with late night baby duty. 

 I am helping with the household chores, which is also my pleasure.

As most mom's know, the mother daughter relationship is complex. 

 Ours has mostly been a good relationship, but even we have our days.  

Nothing prepared me for having my daughter look at me

 when I was ready to leave and whisper, "Don't go". 

 My brave, amazing, confident daughter still wants and needs her mom. 

 My heart was in a puddle.  

She is gaining confidence daily. 

 She is already an amazing mom and just needs a little bit more sleep to realize it. 

 Her hubby has been so supportive and takes the shift before mine.

That guy has to patience of Job!  
I am so very proud of BOTH of them!  

Thank you so much for letting me share in this amazing time in your lives.  

You really have no idea how much it means to me.

~Love, Gigi

Did You Ever Wonder??

A few weeks ago I was at Wed night quilting with the ladies and they were laying out their borders on their layer cake quilts.  I found myself talking about proportions and how when I make a quilt I sometimes have a preconceived idea of what I *think* a border size should be.  Do you do that?  Then I find that when I lay border fabric by the quilt sometimes what I think will be right just isn't visually pleasing!  So what I have found is that what I end up liking is usually a derivative of some measurement in the quilt.  I did some research and found out about the Golden Ratio  (Phi) and the Fibronacci Sequence.  Basically (and I *mean* basic) that most things that are pleasing to us follow this ratio, in both nature and in art.  I have put in some links for you to read better explanations than mine.  I just know that I have found that it works better for me to lay a border next to the quilt and get it so it just "looks right" rather than using a pre determined number for the size of the border.  Try it and let me know if it works for you too!

So that was one thing I have been wanting to talk about for awhile now.  The other thing is some of the "buzz" going on in blog land about keeping it real.  Have you read this post by Stitched in Color?  You should.  It is very interesting and made me stop to think about how I feel about this topic.  She talks about things we don't say on our blogs.  Sometimes it is difficult to say what you really think for various reasons.  You know people you know IRL read so you can't say what you think about  "X" or you don't want to not feel like a part of the group because you don't like the quilt de jour going around blogland, or you don't want to show your failures or no one will read what you have to say etc.  Aneely Hoey just wrote about something along that line too.  As did Krista at Poppy Prints, I happen to agree with everything she had to say!

So all that being said, that is one of the reasons I put up the first part of this post.  It was a real life conversation about something that happened recently.  I thought it was interesting, and maybe you will too.  If not feel free to mosey along and read something else.  I think I have tried to keep it real here.  I did take a post down that some of my IRL friends (?) had a problem with and now I wish I had not.  I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things (not all quilt related).  Mostly I keep them to myself and try to keep this about quilting, sometimes they overflow on to this blog.  Again, if they are not your cup of tea please move along (but I hope you come back).  Being positive and encouraging each other is the most important thing we can do here.  I like to think I have been those things to some people.  I do try.  I love to read blogs for inspiration but I like to know that the people that write them struggle with the same things I do.  Don't you?  Some days your day SUCKS!!  Some times your life is amazing.  Share it.  Do we all want to know everything all the time?  Probably not, but a little peek keeps us all connected.  Remember awhile back when dumbing down of quilting was being talked about?  I think what Krista said about not judging others or putting your expectations for yourself on others is good to keep in mind!

Alright, that's all I'm going to say about that for now!  I do have something quilty to share with you today too.  (I know, I'm *finally* going to talk about something quilt related!)  I managed to put together the back for my tumbler quilt.  The finished top is 79 x 90".  I had already decided to put 2 rows of tumbler blocks together to use on the back and let me just say it worked out perfectly!!  I used my Kona Snow horizontally and cut it at the width plus about 6", and  trimmed off the selvage edge .  I cut 2 pieces this way and used the 2 rows of tumblers inbetween.  This made the length work out exactly right for this quilt top.  I managed to get a quick pic (although not a particularly good one) today so I could show you before it goes to the quilter.

See that white tumbler in the center?  I am thinking I may just make that the label!!  I had not planned on it but am now thinking it would work out perfectly!!  ~XOP~