Family Friendship Quilt Block Exchange

 These are a few of some of my favorite people.  

They are my family.  My cousins, aunts and uncles, and assorted children.

I have such wonderful memories of every single person sitting right there on my Grandma's front lawn.

Some of those memories were made at my Grandma and Grandpa's house at our annual 

Labor Day Family Reunion that I adore, but many were made just everyday.

 On this exact lawn, the one on the east side of the house,
I remember watching my grandma hang clothes out on the clothesline,
watching her tend her baby tomato plants in her homemade hot houses/frames in the spring,
watching my grandpa walk with his cane along the sidewalk and into the house,
watching my parents and their generation play volleyball,
then playing it myself when I was old enough,
picking snapdragons and using them as little puppets on my little fingers,
playing kick the can with cousins and getting grass stains on my pants because it was pretty intense,
weeding the flowerbeds with aunts, uncles, and cousins,
playing 'Mother May I" with cousins and my brother,
getting thrown into the air by my uncle George and standing on his shoulders,
playing sack races and three legged races (I will never forget watching my super tall uncle Dave and super short aunt Kaye do a three legged race - he just picked her up and ran),
watching my aunt and uncle get married on this lawn,
playing for endless hours with a huge inner tube from a rear tractor tire,
watching the birds that my grandma loved so much fight over the food in the bird feeders,
celebrating my grandparents' 50th Anniversary on this lawn,
picking apples out of the tree so my grandma could make applesauce,
hiding in the lilac shrubs from the younger cousins,
getting drinks from the hydrant on a hot summer day,
and so many more memories, right on this very front lawn.   

I am a pretty sentimental person.  I care about the people in my life.  I am grateful for the people in my life, especially my family.  They mean more to me than I could ever let on, and more than they will ever know.

So, with my sentimentality, we started a Family Friendship Quilt Block Exchange.  

There are 14 of us participating so far.  8 first cousins, 2 aunts, 1 sister, 1 niece, 1 mom, and myself.

Our first two quilt blocks are due Feb 15th.

It is going to be so much fun.  It already has been, just communicating back and forth and getting everything ready to go.  I look forward to having quilt blocks made by these ladies that I have so many great memories of in my mind, as well as making new memories.