Do I sew for the grandkids, do I knit for the grandkids, my whole life evolves around those sweet faces. It took us so long to get them. It is such a pleasure . You know what I love to do, Love looking over the j crew sites and making them clothes that look like some of their designs. I am left handed and already trying to figure out how to teach the almost two, 6 days away, how to knit. Have the knitting looms but never used them, so went to utube and think I can do that right handed. I cannot knit right handed, Tried but that didn't work. How sweet that you include the oldest in designing her dresses. As I have gotten older, its all about making memories. I still see myself as a child with my mother and my great aunts working in the kitchen, sewing. Yep, love sewing for those little ones. Of course there is a very special birthday dress, myself and the 2 year old have been working on. Its ready and she tries it on everyday. My husband and I are in our seventies and we don't want to miss one minute of those precious little lives. We picked up and moved to where they live 2 years ago. Daughter went off to college and never came home. She married someone in the same town , 5 years ago. We now live 4 blocks from them. I can just hear you little granddaughter telling her friends that she designed her dress. Aren't we glad that we have the time to spend with our grands. I still sew for my grown kids, but there is always knitting and sewing going on for the little ones. All I have to hear is, grandmama, lets make................ Can you tell how much I love my family.

How lovely for all of you that you live so near each other. When we were raising our oldest kids, (we have six - the four "big kids" and two "little girls" - Hah! We still call them that, though they are 25 and 28 years old!) we lived 5 minutes from my parents, and I knew how lucky we were. Papa was retired, so he would pop in any old time of day and I could shower, or run to the store, or just veg for a little while. It was wonderful.

Papa and Gram took our big kids everywhere, exposed them to things they wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to - like professional baseball games, the neighborhoods in Chicago they grew up in, oddball museums, ethnic restaurants. This past Thanksgiving, the big kids were reminiscing about those days, how much they loved going places with Papa and Gram.

Papa died when our little girls were only 2 and 5, so they didn't get the full benefit of having two wonderful grandparents. Then, we moved so Hub didn't have to commute a hundred miles a day anymore, leaving my poor mom alone in the city they raised my brothers and me in. I felt awful about that, but Mom was still young and we saw a great deal of her. She is still a wonderful grandmother, it's just that she is not young anymore.

Our 6 yo gdtr lives 2 hours away, another 6 yo gdtr and her 2 yo brother live 5 1/2 hours away. The closest kids are an hour away, and lucky for me, I'll soon get to resume babysitting those three one day a week while their mommy keeps her hand in her speech pathology practice. I'll have my hands full - the oldest will be 5 in Feb., her little brother is 2 1/2, and their baby sister was 1 the day after Christmas.

I haven't knitted in years - not sure why I stopped - but two of my dtrs do. They've done some beautiful work. I like cross stitching or embroidering while we're watching TV - or doing a crossword puzzle. I can rarely just sit still and watch TV, just like my mom.

Sherry

I love sewing for the grandkids. We have 5 girls and 2 boys. Soon will have another little girl. I just made a jumper for the 5 year old. I took her to a movie yesterday and she wore it. What a cutie. Our twins will be a year old next month and I am making them terry cloth bibs. All the girls have birthdays in the next 3 months so I will be busy. I am making pj's for summer and sundresses for all of them. I am having their pictures taken this spring and I am making all the girls white eyelet sundresses. The girls love having matching dresses...

When our girls were little I had all their sundresses made before summer was here. The girls are now asking for their girls .. Love it!!!!!!!!

Our daughter-in-law lost her mother suddenly when our grandaughter was only 2 months old. Our daughter just lost her mother-in-law a week ago and her little one is only 2 1/2. I am their only grandma now. It makes me sad, too. Being a grandma is the best..

Grandma Susie

I have mixed feelings about sewing for my GKs. I mean, I love doing it, but I never know if they like what I make. My DS and DIL tell me each child absolutely loves the garment, and when we visit they make the child wear the most recent, and I can see that it hasn't been worn since it was given. I can't always give the garment in person, and when I send it, I hear back that it fits perfectly, the child wears it constantly, yada, yada. I would rather hear that it's not exactly what they had in mind, or it could have been a bit bigger/smaller, if that is the case. Otherwise how am I going to know? I don't want them groaning every time they get a package from Grandma. I have made a number of things that they like, and that makes me happy, but I'd rather be told the truth so I can make adjustments than "have my feelings spared". So for now, I'm sticking to jammies and doll clothes. Those seem to go over pretty well. Maybe I'm just more into clothes than they are, LOL!

I know what you mean, noinwi. I know I've made a few clunkers. Once I made what I thought was a beautiful purple robe for a five-year-old. Purple was her favorite color, after all. Months later I asked her if she still wore it. She said, "Well, not really. It isn't very pretty."

The kids always tell me they love what I make, but I'm never really sure. I'm thrilled, though, when something I make becomes a favorite garment. That makes it worth it.

Sherry

Noinwi,
Make them pillow cases with their favorite characters,PJ'S,stuffed animals dolls or doll clothes.My GK'S except for 2 are all grown up now and in their 20's and live 7 hours away.I still have a 15 yr old GD and a 10 yr old GS that live up the street.The 10 year old wears uniforms to school,and the 15 yr old ,is well you know 15.LOL
The 10 yr old likes to sew and i started teaching him b4 he was 5 as he was fascinated with my machine(he is his fathers child).He has made pillow cases,and even a pillow,i even taught him how to embroider his name on a piece of muslin when he was in pre-school,then we added strips to it and made that into a pillow case for his pre-school pillow.He's 10 now and still has it.

Over the years i taught all my kids,and GK's to sew, craft,make things from recycled stuff.Wish i could do the same for the GGK'S,but they live 7 hours away.But i do make them some clothes,shorts and things like that that don't have to be a perfect fit.

Going to make the 10 year old GS a fanny pack from Marine camoflauge fabric to hod the darts for his nerf gun.
Kathi