Ryan’s Family 2022

 The Glenn-Searls Gang,

Ryan’s family has transitioned into the tween years. I stay exhausted just hearing about the many, many things they do! Between school activities, work obligations, cruise vacations, Disney trips, family gatherings, band and choir performances, social and family activities, I often wonder if they ever have any down time… or if they ever sleep!

We don’t see them as often as we would like; but, when we do get together, we have a great time. There is always laughter, delicious food, snuggles with the fur babies, updates on school, band, and choir, and the occasional board game or art activity.

Mrs. Christmas!

Jamie pretty much spearheads everything the family undertakes. She is organized, creative, daring, and patient. She has the ability to focus on what is most important and manages to keep the family moving forward, all while dealing with an extremely stressful job. Jamie is my greatest hope for a future quilter. She often jumps right in and makes things for her home and others.

Round Rock Donuts and Razzleberry Pie…yum!

One of the things I admire most about Jamie is her ability to give thoughtful gifts. She even remembers my favorite donut and pie on Mother’s Day. She is also guilty of feeding my fabric habit! I hope we can have a mini sewing retreat sometime in the summer of 2023. We are also so thankful to have her as our family’s official cruise organizer. That girl knows how to cruise on a budget!

Ryan looking normal!! No crazy face??

Ryan is teaching middle school math at a charter school in Georgetown. I believe his entire school population is made up of Spanish speaking students. He is often frustrated with the disconnect between the pace of the curriculum and the learning gap caused by lack of comprehension due to language barriers. Ryan often tells me that his administration is the most understanding and supportive of any he has worked for. That make such a difference in an already difficult job! The only complaint he has received from his principal is that he uses too much Spanish when he teaches. Kind of a catch 22 situation. 

Sophia playing the French horn.

Sophia singing with the choir.

Samantha playing her tuba.

Samantha with her adorable glasses!

Samantha and Sophia have had a year filled with firsts. It was their first year in middle school. This was also the first year they didn’t have their Grammy caring for them before and after school. This was the first year in their entire school career they weren’t in the same class. They have embraced band instruments for the first time. And, they have done it with enthusiasm and dedication. It was the first year in glasses for Samantha. And, the first year in middle school choir for Sophia. The girls have formed a core of great kids that they refer to as the squad. Middle school appears to be getting off to a great start for them.

We have been greatly blessed to be able to attend concerts and celebrations with the Glenn-Searls family through the year. And, we have thoroughly enjoyed the times they have come north to visit. We hope and pray our health continues to allow us even more in the upcoming year. 

Mimi and Poppy with the twins.

Being creative at the Alaska theme night.

Dinner at iHop

Doing girlie stuff with the cousins.

The twins had their own private cheering section 

at their concert.

Stranger Things pop up store.

Yummy food!

I love how their fun personalities show in this pic.

Supporting their cousin, Maggie.

Together in beautiful Seattle.

Any post about Ryan’s family would be incomplete without pictures of their fur babies. The animal count at the their house is holding steady at 5. (The hamster and fish are no longer with us.) The ruling queen is Miss Maya. A massive ball of Golden Retriever fur with a heart to match her size. We are sooo in love with her and thankful she survived her heart worm infestation.

Then there is the pure breed beagle, Coco. She was fixed this year and it made a HUGE change in her personality. She is so much more social now.

Next, is Captain Jack Sparrow, a rescue that lives to eat. Needless to say, his main goal in life is to figure out how to get food. This picture of him looks like he was caught mid candy snatch. Such a guilty face!

The last dog to join the family was Toby. Jamie inherited him when her mother, Dorothy, passed away. Toby was pretty untrained, in many ways, when he joined the family. He really is a cute little guy and has come a long way in the short time he has been with the family.

The final member of the pack is Mr. Kitty. He was an abandoned cat that roamed the neighborhood. Ryan adopted Mr. Kitty … kind of.  He makes sure he has his shots, is feed, and has access to the house when the weather is miserable. Mr. Kitty comes and goes as he pleases, giving the dogs an occasional swat on the nose when they get in his way. Personally, he is my favorite!

So… that is your year in review for the Glenn Searls Gang. We wish them nothing but more love, laughter, and craziness in the coming year.

Sewing Stuff 2022

 Last week, I was at Leslie’s house to help with Christmas baking. During the madness, we actually had to look up some recipes on my blog. Honestly, I have not been very diligent about keeping my blog up to date. But, the simple act of using one of my old posts motivated me to get at least a Reader’s Digest version of  2022 posted… BEFORE 2023 gets here. 

So, now that the 50th anniversary posts are complete, I will try to get this past year condensed into a few posts. Whether or not anyone in the family ever reads it or not is anyone’s guess. I have at least tried to be a little more diligent at keeping a record going for our children and grandchildren.

This post is about some of the things I managed to do in my sewing rooms. No, that isn’t a typo; sewing rooms…. plural. The sewing machines have moved several times during the year. Half of my things were at Scott’s house because the quilting machine was too long to fit in the guest room of the townhouse.  After I found a welder to shorten the long arm frame, all of my sewing things were moved into the master bedroom at the townhouse. Then, when we decided to move into a 55+ community, everything was packed up and moved to our new home. Whew! Hopefully, that’s the last time I have to move Millie!

Here are some things I worked on while we still lived in the Central Texas area. First, I managed to finish all of the blue work embroidery that Mom and I started YEARS ago. Plus, I had an extra embroidered panel of a Sun Bonnet Sue and Sam that I had embroidered when Seth was a baby… 20 years ago! Done, done, and done. I also added a couple of pictures of the red work quilt I finished at the end of 2021. Just because I wanted all of these quilts posted together.

I have always enjoyed doing hand embroidery. My grandmother, Minnie Veach, taught me several stitches when I was young. Over time, I taught myself more stitches and improved my skill. My mother and I had bought the blue and red work kits at the same time. We would both take our little embroidery bags to doctor appointments, on trips, to bee meetings, or anywhere we had time to kill. Mom passed away before we finished our blocks. These quilts are very precious to me because they are a tangible reminder of time we spent together, doing something we both loved. The two blue quilts went to family members and I kept the red work. I think that would have made Mom happy.

Eventually, Mom bought a sewing and embroidery machine combo from a local quilt shop, owned and operated by her friend Gayle. As a new owner, Mom took a rather extensive class, during which she embroidered several quilt blocks. When she put the blocks together into a quilt top, her intention was to use her embroidery machine to actually do the quilting as well. I think that project must have been a bit much for her to tackle because she never got around to it.

Sadly, this quilt top remained unfinished for years. She had intend to gift it to my daughter, Leslie because she was the first person to tell Mom that she liked the quilt top. I finally tackled the beast and quilted it with my long arm. There were enough pieces of fabric to make a matching wall hanging and pillow cases. The quilt is amazingly heavy and I was really worried about how smoothly it would quilt. Luckily, I used an expensive, high quality batting and the quilting looks amazing. This thing was a true labor of love in many ways.

There wasn’t a lot of sewing going on from April until August. We had made the decision to move into a 55+ community I found in Weatherford. That meant I needed to start purging things. I decided to go through my scraps and pre-cut them into standard sizes: 2 1/2 inch squares and strips, charm squares and fat quarter sized. The bits and pieces left over were cut into small chunks and I used them to make dog beds for the local animal shelter. 

While I was sorting through fabric, I found a fun little bag pattern that used fat quarters. My daughter-in-law, Jamie, is often contributing to my fabric stash by purchasing dozens of fat quarters she sees on sale because,  “they are just too cute and a really great price!” Therefore, she received one of the first bags I made. They are super cute and so quick to go together. 

Once the fabric had been purged, boxed, and labeled, I started ripping up old tee shirts to make pull/chew toys for the shelter as well. With just a little time and effort, I kept several pounds of fabric and tee shirts from ending up in the landfill.

The middle of 2022 was a crazy whirlwind. In May, Ron and I, with an AMAZING amount of help from our grandson, Seth, started packing our possessions and placing them in a storage unit. We were notified that a unit in the 55+ community would be available in August. We had already reserved a cruise to Alaska in June, so we knew we needed to have the majority of our things packed up before we left. I know that God guided every step of the way in our move. I will write more about that in another post. But, the move, cruise, and a case of COVID put a halt to any sewing until September. At that time, I needed to bust my chops and get Christmas gifts made. 

While on the cruise, I found a fun quilt pattern in a quilt shop in Sitka. I decided to buy fabric from Alaska that had a specific memory of each individual family on the cruise attached to it. For myself, I selected the fabric that was designed to be used specifically with the pattern. It was a panel with images of different sites in the town of Sitka. Since that was my favorite stop, I couldn’t pass it up.

For our oldest, Ryan, and his family, I found fabric with images of various sea life on it. Whale spotting seemed to be a favorite activity for their twins. Besides, the seas and oceans are a great source of peace and enjoyment for their family.

For Scott and Molly, I found fabric that had been commissioned by the National Parks service. They asked a local Alaskan artist to design a fabric that depicted travel posters and post cards of the many parks in Alaska. Since Scott has always had a love for our National parks, and Molly loves to travel, I knew that fabric was perfect for them.

For Leslie, I picked a fabric that had images of beautiful eagles in flight. One of the things she and I did onboard as we sailed up the inside passage was watch those magnificent birds soar high above the ship. The colors in the quilt also remind me of her home. Her girls both picked  this quilt as their favorite so I think it was the right choice.

Our daughter, Rebecca, who has had a very difficult few years rebuilding her life after her marriage fell apart, wasn’t able to be on the cruise with us. I knew Alaska fabric wouldn’t mean very much to her. I wanted to give her something that had a strong connection to family. I was digging through fabric, looking for something that spoke to me, and came across a box of small quilt squares that Mom had made. They were made of beautiful fabrics; but, were strange little blocks. I couldn’t figure out how they were supposed to go together. Plus, I couldn’t find a pattern for them in any of Mom’s quilt books. After shuffling them around a while on my design board, I figured our how to take a part of each block off and sew it in a different location. It was almost as if Mom was guiding me. I rummaged around and found more coordinating fabric and was able to get a quilt put together that represents Rebecca rebuilding her life. These were left over blocks, that could have easily stayed buried in my closet. But, with a little “rebuilding” they became a lovely quilt. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of all of the quilts in their finished stage. But, my kids have them in their possession and now they have my record of why I gave them the ones they received. 

I am hopeful that my sewing efforts in 2023 include mastering Mom’s stupid embroidery machine. But, If I do, you can be sure that I will NOT be making a bunch of quilt blocks!

50 Years: Alaska!

 I know many couples choose exotic beach locations for honeymoon and anniversary trips. I have NEVER been inclined to choose a warm, tropical paradise for any of our anniversary trips. Maybe it’s because we live in a location where we sweat 90% of the time; and, I hate sand.  My two absolute FAVORITE locations are South Dakota and Alaska. Each place restores my soul and lifts my spirits. I am so thankful we were able to share this important milestone with most of our immediate family. If everyone could have been there, it would have been a dream come true. 

Having been there before, Ron and I were content to stroll around the towns of Sitka and Ketchikan while the rest of the family took various tours. We didn’t even leave the ship when we landed in Canada.  Just walking aimlessly, sitting on random benches to people watch, and looking out at the beautiful scenery was relaxing for us. Our favorite sites included: glacier ice floating on the water, rugged mountainsides and volcanic peaks, sea and wild life, gorgeous flowers, and cultural wonders. These few pictures simply do not capture the spiritual impact this great state has on me. 

The last picture is my favorite. If you look closely, you can see an eagle flying above the hedge. Simply breathtaking! Maybe we will go again for our 60th anniversary!