A Future Ballplayer!

Only today I re-discovered this picture of Malcolm, taken in California in October, 2002, after his first birthday, a picture that foreshadows his love of and skill at baseball!  It was so striking when Malcolm was a baby and toddler--his love of balls! 

I looked quickly through the pictures taken in 2002 and found others.  So this post is going to be pictures of the very young Malcolm.  No doubt I'll have to focus on each of the other three grandchildren in future posts, to keep things fair.

In the picture where he's standing, notice the blue sun-suit that is adorned with a baseball glove and baseball.  And, of course, a ball in each hand, and more on the floor!

Malcolm is not only a great baseball player, but reading is another love!  So perhaps the next picture foreshadows another passion--never mind that the book is upside down!  I took this picture on the day we celebrated his first birthday.  And the big blue ball. . .

And, finally, Christmas of 2002, Malcolm with his old pal Lenny the cat! This picture taken right before Christmas.  Notice--two yellow balls, one in each hand!

A Journal Quilt: Baseball, Soccer, and Gardening in Michigan

I am the grandmother of three grandsons and one lone granddaughter. So I suppose it is not surprising that I have an embarrassment of riches in my fabric stash of "boy fabrics." Too, our oldest grandson, Malcolm, during his first year of life was drawn to balls as if they were magnets.  For his first birthday party, the theme was balls of all sizes and types.  Early on, then, in this adventure of grandmothering, I started collecting fabrics that featured balls and also little and big boys playing ball.

The journal quilt I made today reflects our May visit to Michigan, to visit our family there and to watch both Malcolm and Dawson play baseball and soccer. Two recent blog postings featured photos of both boys and descriptions of all the fun we had.

 The center four patch features two fabrics of widely disparate themes, but they have a similarity in that the baseball fabric is of baseball cards picturing kid players and the gardening fabric is of seed packets. We spent a lot of time not only at sports events but also planting a spring garden. Around the edges of the quilt, four different fabrics are used as borders—a dog fabric for Ace, their beloved Labradoodle, gardening tools, balls of all sorts, and at the top, soccer balls. Six fabrics in one small journal quilt is enough to make a person dizzy! Close-ups below show details of the fabrics. This quilt was quilted with variegated thread very simply—stitched in the ditch and then around the edges of the cards, the packets, and the flower pots.  I used yet another ball fabric for the backing.