↓
 

Quilt Therapy

Saving Sanity through Quilt Therapy - One Stitch at a Time

Quilt Therapy
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Quilted Kitchen Quilt Blocks
  • On Cloud Nine Quilt Blocks
  • Star Power Quilt Blocks
  • Xmas Quilt Blocks
  • Quilt Notions

Category Archives: Family Therapy

Post navigation

← Previous Post
Next Post→

Uncle Sam Love

Quilt Therapy Posted on August 14, 2013 by TK HarrisonAugust 12, 2013

Our kids have a couple of pseudo-uncles who are actually friends of my husband’s from way back in his Junior High Boy Scouting years.  We have watched their children grow up and they are now watching our children grow up.  Their kids have all graduated from high school and all but one from college, with two of them married off and another to be married in December this year.  We are a bit behind the curve as my husband is a few years older than both of his friends….and our kids are the youngest of the bunch.

We had asked Uncle Sam if he would smoke/bbq the meat for our oldest daughter’s graduation celebration and he went above and beyond by not only doing the meat we asked for but also adding another meat and hand-delivering all of it a few days before her party!

When Uncle Sam comes to our house, he just walks in.  The first time he did that, it nearly scared the kids half to death – they still talk about it to this day, and it’s been about five years ago!  🙂

It was no less startling this time except they looked before they screamed and realized who was walking in the door.  hehe

On top of the gift of the gift of the meat, Ms. Graduate also received a gift from her Uncle Sam – and she absolutely LOVED the time and effort it took for him to wrap it up for her…and to put the pretty orange crepe paper on as a bow (which she has saved and has it in her room)!

IMG_9878

Inside the bag were some awesome gifts, too – especially for the UTSA-bound college student.  Her Uncle Sam is an alumni so he has special connections at UTSA…such as his wife who works in the alumni office!

IMG_9880

IMG_9881

And here is the happy girl with her Uncle Sam (on the left) and his dad, Mr. Sam (on the right):

IMG_9883

I am sure, at some point, I will finally run out of stories about our oldest daughter’s graduation…but, not there yet!  By the time I finish, it’ll be time to give our other three children equal opportunity.  :-)  Luckily, I have three more school years before we have another graduate.

Posted in Family History, Family Therapy, Texas Blogging | Leave a reply

College Survival Kit

Quilt Therapy Posted on August 8, 2013 by TK HarrisonAugust 7, 2013

Since I am married to the consummate Boy Scout, when our daughter’s 18th birthday rolled around, my husband put together our college-bound daughter a College Survival Kit!  Daughter #1 absolutely loved it!

IMG_0355

IMG_0354

IMG_0356

IMG_0358

Contents: Wet Ones, Clif bars, Ramen noodles, microwave meals, canned chicken, evaporated milk, candles, matches, pepper spray, packaged plastic cutlery, wipes, a lanyard with a can opener, cat litter, a roll of cord, an emergency blanket, a toothbrush travel kit, a pocket knife, trash bags, soap, and hand sanitizer!

Amazing how the everyday gifted stuff makes our girl happy!

Posted in Family History, Family Therapy, Miscellaneous Therapy | Leave a reply

Fussy Cutting Boot Camp

Quilt Therapy Posted on August 7, 2013 by TK HarrisonAugust 7, 2013

I have decided that fussy cutting quilt fabric is an art.  For those of you who are unaware of the term fussy cutting, the definition is:

To fussy cut is to target and cut a specific motif that is printed on fabric, rather than randomly cutting yardage as we normally do.  (credit here)

As I mentioned here, my foster mother has twin grandkids who will be graduating next spring.  I have already finished her granddaughter’s quilt and now it’s time to work on her grandson’s quilt.  While she chose the fabric for her granddaughter’s quilt, she shopped for her grandson’s fabric, too – at AbbiMays.com’s online quilt shop.

Her grandson’s passion is with his high school robotic’s team. And although the robots depicted in the fabric she chose are not anywhere close to the robotics he helps build and maneuver, she was tickled with finding a whimsical robot fabric that suited his personality.

Two yards of whimsical robot fabric.

TWO YARDS OF WHIMSICAL ROBOT FABRIC THAT I HAD TO FUSSY CUT!

(Whew, I feel better getting that off of my chest!)

Once I finished all my WIPs and birthday quilting, the only thing left on my cutting board was those two yards of robot fabric. I resolved myself to just sit down and get it done…so, I began fussy cutting robots. Some were as small as 2″ x 3″ and some were as big as 5″ x 8″. Unfortunately, some of the robots shared space with other robots – hence some robots were put in the scrap pile and the rest I kept.

Fussy cutting is not for quilting wimps! I tried rotary cutting but was not pleased with the inability to control that blade as it cut into other robots that could have been used. I finally ended up with a good, sharp pair of sewing scissors, cutting each individual robot out. TWO YARDS of robots!

We had purchased two yards of complimentary blue batik quilt fabric and two yards of complimentary red quilt fabric to border the robots with. I cut out 3″ strips from both fabrics and began the fun part of piecing a quilt top by adding a border to all of the robots I cut out. Unfortunately, I ran out of both complimentary fabrics before I finished with the robots. I decided to work with what I had in front of me, though I will be purchasing more of that complimentary fabric before all is said and done.

IMG_0379 (299x450)

Although the samples I made for my foster mother were approved by her, I realized how much fabric would be wasted…so, I had to build a better mousetrap!

This past weekend, I started putting the robots in rows with white sashing between the blue- and red-robot blocks. As with most things, I can no longer sew a quilt from start to finish in one sitting so have accepted the fact that I *will* get this quilt done, one row at a time.  To-date, I’ve made three rows.

IMG_0378 (450x299)

But, when I looked on my nearly clean cutting table, I was a bit dismayed to see that stack of unbordered robots I wasn’t able to use. I do not think I will need them for the quilt top…so, perhaps my foster mother can do her thing and use them on the back of his quilt…or make pillowcases with them. Whatever she does with them is up to her, but I’m glad I could spare her the pain of fussy cutting TWO YARDS of robots!

How much fussy cutting do YOU do?

 

 

Posted in AbbiMays.com, Family Therapy, Fussy Cutting, Miscellaneous Therapy, Quilt-Spiration | 1 Reply

A Quilt Made of Love

Quilt Therapy Posted on August 6, 2013 by TK HarrisonAugust 4, 2013

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  gifting a quilt to someone special is one of the most satisfying moments for this quilter.

Our oldest daughter wanted a quilt from Mom for graduation.  But, she received TWO of them…one from our home church and one from the church my husband has been the lay minister for:

Hence, I told her I was not making her a quilt for graduation.  She didn’t like my answer but she did like the laptop we gave her, so my quilt to her was temporarily forgotten.

Unbeknownst to her, I had actually made her a quilt when I was in Iowa last summer visiting my foster parents.  I left the quilt with my foster mother so she could hand-quilt it.  We decided and agreed that we would gift the quilt to my daughter for her birthday instead of graduation.

And to say that the opening of her quilt present was well received, it made her cry tears of joy.  We done good!

IMG_0365 (299x450)

KearaGraduationQuilt (329x450)

Posted in Church Therapy, Family History, Family Therapy, Miscellaneous Therapy, Quilt Gifts, Quilt-Spiration | Leave a reply

This is My Memory on MS

Quilt Therapy Posted on July 19, 2013 by TK HarrisonJuly 18, 2013

Most of the time, my short- and long-term memory is out of whack.  I remember some of the oddest things (like the one suit a former professor wore for special occasions) and at other times, I have to ask someone to repeat what I had said just five minutes ago.  Then there’s the times that I open my mouth and stick my foot in it way up to my knee because I have said something that “I” seem to remember, but the person I’m saying it to adamantly denies it ever happened.

This is my memory on MS:

swirl

Actually, that’s my entire brain on MS because half of most days I spend with such dizziness that I cannot walk, talk or think straight.

Be that as it may, what I say is not easily forgiven by the person I’ve said it to … and I’m afraid that is the case recently.  I said something I *thought* I remembered, but was told I was wrong, plain wrong.

What is most amazing is that I usually have some issues trying to talk at all – I can’t get the words from my brain through my mouth.  I start to say something and forget what I was talking about – my train derails.  It’s frustrating, embarrassing and it bothers the heck out of me.  Only option I can see to help it is to either talk more (which will wear me out) or talk less.

Frustrated memory while having MS.

Posted in Family Therapy, Living with Multiple Sclerosis | Leave a reply

Post navigation

← Previous Post
Next Post→

Please Visit our Sponsors!

Abbi May's Quilt Shop - Where Quilt Fabric is Always 10% off Retail Prices!

Additional Links

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Quilt Therapy's Amazon Associates Disclaimer

©2006-Present ~ All Rights Reserved ~ QuiltTherapy.com
All original photographs and/or images on QuiltTherapy.com are copyrighted by QuiltTherapy.com. The photographs and/or images that are not copyrighted by QuiltTherapy.com are copyrighted by their original owners and are duly noted, if possible.

Privacy Policy
↑
 

Loading Comments...