More Boys in My Future!

This summer is going to bring two new boys to the family.  My brother and his girlfriend are expecting their second child in late June, and a few weeks ago they found out that it is a boy.  Then, in late February, DS1 and K2 found out that their newest offspring is also a boy.  He is due about two weeks after his cousin.  My mom is so excited:  a new grandson and a new great-grandson, all in a short time!

I'm excited too.  This new baby of DS1 and K2--our second grandchild--will be the first male of his generation from DH's family line.  The one who guarantees the family name will continue on.  That, and, well, grandchildren are just so cool!  As the saying goes, if I had known grandchildren were so enjoyable, I would have had them first. Although I strongly suspect that grandchildren are only so lovable because after surviving raising their parents, we grandparents see them as the payoff of all our hard work (and not strangling our own children during the hateful middle school years).

Since receiving the news that both bundles of joy will be wearing blue, I've been collecting fabric and pattern ideas for two new baby quilts.  Some of what I wanted I was able to find locally, but some I had to search online for and then order.  My selections finally arrived late last week, so of course this week my thoughts are on quilt designing and getting pieces cut.  I hope to spend a few hours in the sewing room cutting pieces and sewing together an auntie's love for a nephew, and a grandma's love for her first grandson.

I all ready know that I want to do my grandson's quilt similarly to how I did his big sister's quilt in 2012: a bunch of squares arranged in rows.  Still, there is designing to be done because I need to figure out the order of the fabrics for those rows of squares.

These are the fabrics I have chosen for his quilt.

The soccer ball fabric I had actually picked up long before this baby was conceived; you see both my sons played soccer all through middle school and high school, so I bought this fabric (when I saw it on sale) with the intent to include it in a quilt for when either of them had a son of his own.

The truck fabric was one that I had to search for and special order.  Mud trucks (the brown background of the fabric actually has tire tracks printed in it, as you can see in the picture below) for the grandson that will be Southern-born to my redneck son was a no-brainer.

The Jesus fish is Grandma's (me) attempt at getting some religion into a kid who will live 14 hours away that I won't be able to take to church on Sunday if his parents don't.  I also used that fabric in K3's quilt.  I tell you, long distance grandparenting is hard.

Blue because it goes well, and a solid is needed to rest your eyes on in the finished product.  And, well, cuz this quilt will be a boy's quilt.

Tractors, a must.  Green tractors, just like at Grandpa and Grandma's place (ie this little place here).

Camo for our future hunter.  And the solid orange I plan to use as a border on the front and as the backing of the quilt.


For my new nephew, I don't yet have quite as a clear of an idea of what that quilt will look like.  I do know I want a flannel for the backing, as that is warm and cozy for here in Michigan.  For the babies in South Carolina I forego the flannel and just use a cotton backing.  So, all I have to show for the nephew's quilt so far is the flannel print:

If this week (or the next several) my posts tend toward the topic of babies or raising kids, well, now you know why.  Seems like recently I've been getting lots of questions on how I dealt with toddlers, and with going from one child to two.  Giving advice on those sorts of things has once again become part of my life.