Buntings for Tennessee in Memory of Carter

I have been sewing a few Angel Outfitters bereavement buntings, for babies born at 14-19 weeks gestation, too tiny and fragile for clothes or diapers. Two years ago (WHERE does time go?) I wrote about the quilts I made for our identical twin grandsons Carter and Cohen.

I had fabric leftover from those quilts. I kept bringing it down to cut into diapers or quilt pieces or buntings, but could never do it and set it aside. It reminded me too much of making those quilts and how things turned out and I wanted to keep it because it was for Carter. This month I brought it down again. I cut a large piece and put it in my dresser to keep. For me. I was ready to use the rest of the fabric and what better than these little buntings for other special angels and their families. These buntings give grieving families something special for their baby. Made just for them. 

Carter's quilt that he was buried in. 

It is and honor and very humbling  to be able to make these buntings for the tiny angels. It lets their families know that their baby was special, real and very important. Making these buntings helps me honor and remember Carter by giving to others. He is forever in my heart, forever loved, NEVER forgotten.

The card with Carters name on it that goes in every bunting.

Small bunting (14-16 weeks) with Carters fabric! 

60 buntings for Tennessee  

Read all about Angel Outfitters here.

And Teeny Tears here.

Memorial Day Weekend

*WARNING: LONG POST WITH PICTURE OVERLOAD*

I am trying to see if I can actually blog, to remember things and work my way off Facebook.

We were able to let our old travel trailer go. We have a lot at The Glen at Maple Falls. It has a park model travel trailer on it, so we do not suffer at all and very loosely call it “camping”. we sleep in a real bed and pretty much have all we need in there. there is a fire pit, woods, pool, and of course the Nooksack River. The best part is it is like being 1000 miles away and it only takes us 30 minutes.

I was still in the nostalgia mood when I packed, so I thought, well, no kids or grandkids will be around, but I will make stuff we used to when we were camping in the dirt. I actually went to the store and bought stuff for s”mores. I don’t get this stuff any more, because we are old and don’t need 16 lbs of sugar before bed, but what brings back memories more than a flaming black marshmallow and all that goo stuck in you kids hair and pajamas  before bed!

I went up on Wednesday, in the rain, checking the hourly forecast for when we could have a fire and torch some marshmallows. Warren came up Thursday after work. It continued to rain. we took the dog out for long walks between showers, but held little hope of the big, warm fire...

Marty was aghast that we made him go out and take these long walks when it was a mere 48 degrees...

Fire Pit...waiting,,,

My dinner of BLAST, bacon. lettuce, tomato, avocado, and spinach. 

Friday afternoon, the clouds parted enough for us to start a fire and cook some foil packets! A blast from the past. Without kids we could put stuff in them we liked and kids hate! Hamburger, carrots, mushrooms, onions, celery,spinach, and potatoes. I sealed them up in foil and we shoved them into the fire for 15 minutes. They were awfully good. We must have been hungry.

Our view from the picnic table! I never tire of this! 

Our favorite clock. "who cares?"

Our shed- You HAVE to have the lights...

By Saturday I had been alone a LOT, as Warren kept having to drive back to civilization for meetings and stuff with church and to get the boat for fishing... I knew Josh, Karen, Joel, Christine and all the kids were in Oregon for softball. Chuck was camping in E. Washington, so I figured I’d check in on John... He was home, after a trip to the ER in an AID car!! He broke his Fibula! (The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone located on the lateral side of the tibia, with which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones).  He had been line skating and fell. He will consult with a surgeon Thursday. After ALL my questions, he asked me to stop asking questions, said he was ok, did not want to fly home, to the US, to have it fixed, promised he would listen to the Dr, and would keep me posted. I felt so bad for him. He had been in Canada 4 days. His roommates had to move all his stuff in, out of the truck, feed him, and take him to the Dr.

So I checked in with Jana, to see if perhaps my buddy, Cohen, might want to come camping over night and give Jana and Danny a night of rest before Ezra arrives. They were all game for it. I had HIGH hopes of swimming, walking, campfires, dragging out those s’mores... but the rains continued...So we went out and walked in the rain, got all wet, came in and had a hot bath and got ready for bed, but not before a little Elmo with Grampa...Cohen was a trooper and loved it all. No complaints, I just felt bad we could not get out and do more. He loved all the carved bears, flags, flowers, puddles, and dogs!

Monday is here, the s’mores are still in the cupboard. Maybe next week the rains will stop...

 

He was fascinated by these bears! 

Watching Elmo with Grampa

Nice warm, fun bath! 

Fav Breakfast of eggies and sausage

It's you and me, baby !

Gonzaga 2013!

This has been a very nostalgic week for me. John graduated from Gonzaga with a degree in Electrical Engineering(magnu cum laude)  and Physics. He was also in the Tau Beta Pi Honor society. He left for the University of Waterloo,  in Ontario Canada, all the way across the WORLD! They call it U DUB, but the colors are different... We are BEYOND proud of the man he has become!! 


" John-Congratulations!  The GWPI Admissions Committee is recommending you for admission to the collaborative Quantum Information Physics Ph.D. program commencing May 2013.  Dr. Matteo Mariantoni is very pleased to offer you a position in his group."  

From this point on, we may not see him with any regularity. Our baby, our last, is ON HIS OWN! I always say, "they are never REALLY gone!" But he really is. 

John came home for a few days, so we could have and ice cream cone party for him! 

Also it is Memorial day weekend. Our kids are all grown and off on adventures with their kids. It is the weekend of Jana's birthday We usually went camping with our good friends the Atwoods, to celebrate Jason and Jana's joint birthdays. 



We also gave our 1970 Kit Companion Travel Trailer to another family!! They are young, eager to "fix it up" and take THEIR kids camping! None of our kids wanted it in their yard, or really had a use for it, or had a vehicle to pull the thing. This little piece of another era has graced OUR driveway for nearly 30 years! When we sold our cows we had $800 left over. So we went to Lynden Trailer Sales and THERE before us, AS IS was the camping rig of our dreams! We brought it home hooked up to our blue 1964 Ford Pickup. It was quite the get up! 

This is the exact truck, but I had to get an
internet photo, as it was pre-digital. Ours
of course looked more like it had been rolled 8 times! 

 The kids were GAGA! They slept in is THAT night. They were in LOVE! We would hook that baby up, drive 1/2 mile away for our home on Jackman Rd and camp at Berthusen park! they thought they were traveling so far! we could run home to milk cows (we were milkers for Lamar VanderGriend), Warren could go to his other job at Westside  and his other Job as a Herdsman for LeRoy Veenstra. 

Our older boys both lived in that trailer, for a time, when "moving out on their own" did not quite work out. They wanted to come home, but not home, and with 5 kids, the minute you move out, your room has another occupant! And of course WE did not want to make moving home a comfortable event! John lived out there for a whole summer. Extension cords would run from the house to his "pad". He was only about 10, but thought is was pretty cool. 

A few times Warren and I pulled it out and camped up at Sliver Fir. Warren took the boys fishing in it and for their "manly talk". Warren even pulled it to Spokane last year, as John wanted to go camping. He had to stop for new tires and my nephew packed the wheels in Ellensburg on a pit stop, but it made it! Silver Lake was our most common destination. We also took it to the Rec Center at Arco Park. We always had the whole place to ourselves, and Warren could go to work in the day and return to the trailer at night. Orcas Island and Birch Bay were other favorite destinations. We even took it all the way to Oregon for Warrens  40th birthday. THAT is another story... 

I cleaned out the trailer for it's new family. I brought in the James Herriot paperbacks we read around the campfire, the cribbage board, the Readers Digest condensed books, the pictures the grandkids had drawn of fishing with Grampa, the photos, and the blankets and dishes. I had it all in my arms, with the "special" plates of Karen and Jana's with their names on them. Warren came to help me and I said , "NOW I get it! THIS is why old people don't throw anything away!" and I started crying. I laughed and cried. Then I looked at him and said, for about the 20th time this week, "it's you and me baby!  (I say this when he is sitting in his chair or we take a walk out to see if the corn is up in the garden...)The new family came to pick her up. I could not watch. I asked Warren if HE wanted to take a picture (hoping he did!) and he said, "no, she's off for a new adventure!" 

We all are! We have a truly "empty nest" which really, I do not mind at all. I have done my time and earned my stripes! I loved raising my kids, for the most part... I don't want to go back. It's just ... different. I love the way things are now. My Grankids are all close, my kids are loving and kind, they have married wonderful people. I look forward to the days Warren and I have together. I am truly truly blessed! 

It's YOU and ME, baby! 

Angel blankets

Tiny Angel Blankets

I like to make blankets to go with the Teeny Tears Diapers. 

You can read about the Teeny Tears Diaper Projects here.

Fabric: I use flannel on both sides, minky with Flannel on the inside, regular cotton fabric with flannel on the inside, or fleece with flannel on the inside. 

 Sizes: any size from 12"x12" to 18"x18" are good sizes. 

,

1.  Trim the selvages off the edge of the fabric, so it does not end up showing on your finished blanket. 

2.  Then turn the fabric so the RIGHT sides are together. 

     Cut the fabric into a square. Any size from 12"x12" to 18"x18" and a nice size for angel babies. 

3.  Sew all the way around the blanket, stopping to turn the corners. Use a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a small (4") opening in one side to be able to turn the blanket right side out. 

4.  Trim the corners

5.  Turn the blanket right side out, using a chop stick or wooden spoon to push out the corners. 

6. Topstitch all the way around the blanket. I use zig zag for boys and a curve for girls. 

There is usually enough fabric on the edge of a yard to make a couple sets of diapers to match. 

I also make contrasting diapers to match a lot of the fabric that is donated to us or when the print is too large for the teeny tears diapers. 

More blankets...

The Tie That Binds

This year started out as the last year ended. TeenyTears Diapers. Working on these tiny diapers for special angels has been really healing  for me. . We started getting requests for small hospitals in Washington. I was really touched by this, as we had vacationed twice in Eastern Washington the past summer and as I saw the road signs for all these little hospitals I thought perhaps a few Moms in early labor MUST make it into these hospitals and need diapers. I told Jana that next time we plan vacation, I will phone ahead and see if they have a hospital and need diapers. I would LOVE to make a diaper delivery in person.

Christmas was really hard for me this year. My Grandson Carter passed away in June 2011. I think I was so busy that first year, trying to help my daughter and her family and be sure they were ok, I did not have a lot of time to process what I had been thru.You never stop being a mom! I was elated that my daughter was having a baby and then TWINS! Nothing can take the memories of that JOY away from me. While still struggling with my grief. I am also thankful for the times we shared thru Cohen and Carters birth. I did not have a page in  my “mom advice book” dealing with the loss of a child. I had never been there. I am learning so much watching my daughter walk thru these times with faith, strength, love and hope.

Having these “local” hospitals has been really healing for me to work on. I think of the times I have been to those cities. It made me remember my dear mother in law. I grieve for her, too. She was a nurse in the newborn nursery for 35 years at Stevens Memorial Hospital in Edmonds, WA. She used to come home and say how they had another “tiny” one today and how she wished she had enough time, she would love to design and make preemie clothes. There was no “preemie” section, back at that time. I felt such a close connection with her while sewing these tiny diapers. I had saved some of the fabric from her “stash” and I found some of it to use on tiny swaddlers to ship with the diapers.  I know she would have embraced this project with love!  We enjoyed shopping for fabric together, discussing sewing projects, trading patterns and buying that special piece of fabric we knew the other would love.  Our love of sewing was a strong connection for us. I now share this love of fabric, FLANNEL and the planning and sewing with my daughter. 

My super husband who had flipped HUNDREDS of diapers and his mom, Gramma R. 

Gramma  would have been so delighted at Jana having twins. Never in our families has there ever been twins! As I sewed the diapers I kept thinking of how Gramma Rinehart is up in heaven rocking our precious angel, Carter, until the rest of the family arrives! Until then, I will keep making Teeny diapers with the hope that it will ease another families pain at losing their precious child.

Pullman, Centralia, Omak, Colville