When our son and his wife told us that they are expecting a baby in November, it didn't automatically occur to me that I would be a "grandma." My first reaction was more like hey, wow, THEY'RE gonna be PARENTS! Can you believe it? Rock 'n roll!
It was only later that the word "grandma" came into my mind: right there with the image of the nice old lady with white hair tied in a bun, the lady who accepts help from the boy scout when she needs to cross the street, the one who knits and sews while watching Lawrence Welk on the TV set.
Gaaaaahaaaaah.
I'm going to need a granny-make-over mighty quick if this transformation is going to happen by November. Working towards those ends, today I got out the sewing machine. I'm a horrible seamstress. An old Simon & Garfunkel tune was running through my head as I set things up...
Hello Singer my old friend, It's time to talk with you again...I can never remember how to thread the bobbin and was hoping that the sewing machine would magically thread itself after being serenaded. Which it kind of did, that is, I got it all threaded but don't really know how it happened.
The object: create, grandma-like, two flannel blankets for the baby. The blue one seemed too boyish-we don't know if the baby will be a little girl or a little boy, plus, I thought it would be instructive to learn how to attach blanket binding (which is not as easy as it sounds) so hence the yellow binding to both give this a gender-neutral look and simultaneously enhance my sewing skills. But: ugly, ugly, ugly. Even the baby, surely, is going to know that this is an ugly little blanket!
So, scrap the binding. I can teach myself later how to sew binding to an edge. To my amazement the sewing machine can actually do some crazy finishing stitches that look professional; that's the way to go here. I love these little stitches.
Since I nixed the yellow edge, I must look to the pink bicycles to convince myself that this isn't a boy's blanket only. Right? Say yes.
I honestly did not know that my sewing machine could do curvy lines, but yep.
I like sock monkeys well enough, even at my advanced age, to possibly NOT give up this blanket.
I'm certain that I could find some use for it. A babushka perhaps, for my aging head?
LOL! oh lordy! never too late to learn new skills - even if they're 'old-fashioned' ones! :)
ReplyDeleteA word from experience. Practice getting down on the floor and sitting for a half hour and then getting up and walking around and then getting back down. When you have that mastered, practice lifting something heavy from down on the floor!!
ReplyDeleteKerry - you are going to reinvent the entire concept of gramma, i am sure.
ReplyDeleteand Tabor is right - start doing (or continue?!) some yoga so you can sit in a straddle on the floor for hours and hours and be able to jump up to get XYZ like a limber little bunny...or you could just get your reading voice in shape - that'll keep 'em happy for hours...
Hmmmm, gramma Kerry. Nice sound to it, huh? Your blankets are beautiful - I'm very impressed, with both you and your machine!! Crystal was looking so beautiful a couple weeks ago - Ben too, but he didn't have a bubble tummy! Aren't they going to produce a gorgeous baby? Regardless of sex! We're all excited about the impending new member of the family. Hopefully I'll have a chance to cuddle the little one - nothing like having a little snuggly one on your chest!
ReplyDeleteThey're beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteI leave the sewing to others. Of course I'm no grandma, but still. x
twg: I'm a slow learner so this will take awhile.
ReplyDeleteTabor: I'll be sure to practice this. But first I'm going to move everything a lot closer to wherever I'm sitting, including a gin and tonic. No, no. Just kidding.
Slim: Yoga+Reading? I already do this, so I guess things will work out just fine! As far as being a limber little bunny, I am trying to visualize myself in that role (hands to temples, workin' on it)!
Merry: The 1st ultrasound showed a very alien-looking creature, but she/he has blossomed into a real looker in the 2nd ultrasound! You will be a champion cuddler and I bet they'll take you up on it asap.
Reya: I don't know if I could really call what I did "sewing." It was more just being a bystander to the machine...but thank you!
Congratulations, Kerry...on BOTH projects, the baby and the blanket!
ReplyDeleteMy dear friend, an older woman of Greek descent, told me I was too young to be called "Grandma" when she learned my son and his wife were going to be parents. She declared me to be "Yia-Yia" (Greek for Grandmother) and I've never looked back!
Have a wonderful time on this journey, Kerry! ♥
Even though I sew, I had packed away or loaned out my sewing machine so I totally failed at the making blankets part of being a grandmother. But why do we always think of a grandmother as being a gray haired little old lady? None of us are old when our grandchildren are born unless we waited until our 40s to have kids and our kids waited til their 40s. Were only old when our grandkids are grown. Embrace granny hood I say. It's a wonderful place to be.
ReplyDeleteMy mother did not, didn't want any part of being a grandmother. I'll wait til they are teenagers she said, but by then the kids didn't want anything to do with her.
Jo: "Yia-yia"! That has a nice positive ring to it. I like it.
ReplyDeleteEllen: I guess when we're little our grandmothers SEEM ancient to us, and then they actually grow into it as we grow up. Embracing the concept is the only way to go.
Considering you are no good at sewing I'd like to ask who made these blankets?
ReplyDeleteAnd why do images of grannies immediately appear as white haired little old ladies?
Nothing of the sort. You must be thinking of great-great-grannies.
laughing - I was not aware until I read this post that grandmas were supposed to be little old crinkled white haired things. I just went on looking like I always did ;)
ReplyDeleteLove both the blankets and so will the little tyke. Listen to Tabor - those are two of a grandma's hardest tasks!
Friko: You're right. Yes dammit, I made these blankets and they are good little blankets. Yes.
ReplyDeleteBut you know, my sewing machine (not a Singer, but an off-brand called "Janome" as it turns out) was quite a surprise to me, and pitched in to do the impressive part of this task.
Pauline: I can't stop thinking that grandmas are supposed to have gray hair, even though my own mother, at age 90, doesn't have a gray hair on her head.
As for Tabor's advice: the "something heavy" may have to lift itself from the floor. And learn to run after me too?
Kerry, you should die your hair grey now so you can guess what you'll look like when your son say's 'Please look after (insert baby name here) for 2 weeks whilst we go away'!!
ReplyDeleteI'd have loved a GrandMa like you, So. Much. Fun...
Saul