We celebrated my MIL's 90th birthday recently. She wanted a party with just her immediate family and we were lucky to get most of them to attend. I understand how she feels. Those are my best visits, when we get to spend time with our own little family. Lives are so busy now that it's not easy to get everyone together. Many times it's at a larger event, which is fun too, but doesn't leave much time for a more personal visit.
We had a picnic at Larry and E's house and everyone chipped in to keep things easy. I did come up with a few activities including this Sweet Dreams Pillowcase. There are 25 people in the family, including Mom, so I came up with the idea to create a very simple design to mimic a quilt. (Mom is an expert quilter and still quilts each week with the ladies at church) I told her we made it so that she could sleep with the people that love her.
After ironing freezer paper to the inside (to stabilize and prevent bleed through on the fabric) I marked off the squares and Karina drew all the stitching lines. I did a simple outline of each leaf and flower while leaving enough space for each person to be creative within the square that they chose. We used the Fabric Fun Dye Sticks to color and the Gel Roller for Fabric for their name or additional details. (there are few unfinished squares in this image but they were completed the next day) Mom just had to cover the design with a pressing cloth (or printer paper) and iron to permanently set the dye.
I love the variety! For Romas, the youngest, almost 2 years old, we held our hands over the edges to keep his drawing within the square. He's pretty creative though, he quickly reached over our hands to draw on additional squares. You can see one of the marks on Bella's square. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and wanted to make sure that Mom knows how much she means to us. It was a really nice day.
You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. Desmond Tutu
