December TO DO List

Well part of it anyway. I don't even have pictures of everything yet but I thought I would get these up for the Charming Girls Quilt Club, hosted this month by Joan.

First up, I need to get the binding on the Glace Scruffily Quilt;


Next I have three table runners to make, all from the same pattern from the book Charmed and Dangerous. The first from Figgy Pudding;

one from Aster Manor;

and finally one from Mill House Inn;

I got this 1/2 charm pack from Jodi at Pleasant Home to make one of the table runners that she featured. Since this is going to be for me and my table, I am afraid that it won't get done for this Christmas. I'll put it on the list just in case.


I've been asking hubby and my son for a couple of weeks if we could go out and get a Christmas tree and they always have a reason why NOW is not a good time. Well today was the day although it was 22 degrees out according to the thermometer but wayyyyyy colder due to the wind chill! It was pretty much now or never though since we wanted the tree all ready to go when college girl gets home next weekend. Check that off of the list. Brrrrr, I'm still trying to warm up and I wasn't out of the car nearly as long as the guys.

Praise - The kids have made it to their final weeks of classes!

Prayers - Finals! College girl has two on Monday back to back with lots of writing. My son turns in a final paper on Monday night.

Final Finish for November

This is for a friend that loves cardinals. Her birthday is in a couple of weeks. I used Jona's Apron in an Hour Tutorial. I have a fat quarter left so I might make a hot pad or maybe trim a kitchen towel to go with the apron.


The only thing left on my November list is NOT going to get done. It isn't even going to get started! I'm pretty pleased with the progress made this month and I'm already thinking about what I want to work on for December.

We had a great visit with College Girl. It was a short trip for her but she will be home again in two weeks for Christmas break. All of the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone now so I guess I need to start cooking again tomorrow.

Praise - college girls travels were safe and she is back at school and already busy studying.

Prayers - for my son and the final day of deer hunting season tomorrow, that he would be safe.

November Tag

Kelly has asked the Charming Girls Quilt Club to share what we are grateful for as this month's tag. Some serious, some fun and frivolous.

A- Amazing, Awesome God

B- Bible, Blessings beyond measure

C- College Girl

D- Dark Chocolate

E- Eternity in heaven

F- Family, Friends, Forgiveness (and Fabric)

G- Girlfriends

H-Hubby, Home, Health

I- Internet (where I've met wonderful people)

J- Jesus

K- Kona Solids

L- Laughter

M- My son

N- Nature

O- Oatmeal

P- Pastor & his wife

Q- Quilts, Quilting

R- Relationship not religion

S- Salvation through Jesus Christ, Seasons, Snow

T- Traditions, Tutorials and those that share them

U- Unconditional love

V- Victory in Jesus

W- Word of God

X- X's and O's

Y- Yards and yards of fabric

Z- Zillions of other things


The other hobby that I have is scrapbooking. In fact, one half of this room is dedicated to scrapping and one half is dedicated to sewing. Whichever one I am taking part in at the moment overflows onto the other side of the room though. I really haven't scrapped much at all in the last five or six months though.



Praise - that I have so many things to be thankful for!

Prayers - for my first day of on the job training today. That I would be able to understand what it is I will be doing and perform with some level of competency.

Making Progress- Glace'

Getting so close on this quilt and I'm loving it a bit more with each step. I got my son to hold the pieces up for me because trying to get a good shot of it on the table was proving difficult. Since it has been snowing out all day and the sun has set now I had to use flash. Hopefully when it is all finished I can get a nice shot of it outside.

My first pieced back. I realize it is simple but ya have to start somewhere, right??


Praise - I got a part time, work from home job! I wasn't even looking for one.

Prayers - for the discipleship group that my son is a part of. That these three young men would take to heart what they are learning and studying and apply it to their lives to glorify God. Also for their leader, to stay true to the the Word and continue to be an example of a Godly young man.

Another finish and some progress

The yellow curtains are finished and on their way to college girl! I even had a curtain rod handy so that I could take a half way decent picture. I'm telling you they aren't anything exciting but college girl and her roomies are excited to have them.
Sure is nice to have a tall son to help out in times like this. ;)

It snowed on and off yesterday and it was snowing a bit when we went to bed. This is what I saw out my window when I woke up this morning. These trees are right off the deck outside of my bedroom door. I was facing west when I took this picture.



It looked like it was getting breezy so I JUMPED out of bed (BEFORE 8 on a Saturday no less) and ran downstairs for my camera. I wanted to get a picture before all the snow was blown off of the trees. I LOVE snow! I turned to the northeast to take this picture. Yes, I was out on the deck in my pajamas and it was about 34 degrees.



My views are somewhat limited in this house so most of my scenery shots will be from this same vantage point. Once in awhile I'll take pictures out the front door or even from the front driveway but the scenery off the back deck is much better.

After jumping out of bed, running downstairs and standing on the deck in 34 degree weather my blood was pumping! There was no going back to bed for me. I got dressed and got on the treadmill for a couple of miles. Seriously!

I finally started working on my next project, another MBS Scruffily Quilt done with Glace. I thought I liked the fabric just fine but when I got all the layer cake blocks placed on the ping pong table I fell in LOVE with this fabric! Okay, I admit it doesn't take alot for me to fall in love with fabric. Some reds, some chocolates (some people call that brown),some damask. I ask you, what is not to LOVE??

Then I laid the charm pack blocks on top of the layer cake blocks. Once I got over the fact that they were now covering up a good portion of the other great blocks I was loving it! Now the real test...UNROLL the Glace Jelly Roll!!! I have never UNrolled a Jelly Roll before. Oh, I HAVE Jelly Rolls. I just don't unroll them. Yeah, I know. But to cut off a 2.5" square of 36 strips I was going to have to unroll this one. Gulp. So I did it as neatly as possible and stacked the strips back up as best as I could. When I had all the squares cut I rolled the strips back up. It isn't easy to do. That might explain why it isn't so pretty. I just couldn't imagine leaving them all willy nilly in a drawer. I had to attempt to roll them back up and put the twill tape around them. So anyway who wants to go on a Moda field trip with me and see just how those are done??

Here are my blocks all laid out (not easy to get a picture of);



and here is a close-up of one of my favorite prints in the line, the chocolate with paisley (only because I am not to the red damask yet);


I finished sewing 12 of the blocks. I could have done more but decided to have a pizza and movie 'date' with hubby. I hope that I can get the rest of the blocks sewn tomorrow and start on sewing the blocks together into rows.

Praise - for SNOW! It reminds us of how Jesus Christ has washed us white as snow. The snow I see outside just covers up the dirt underneath but Jesus has washed our dirt away!

Prayers - for my son while he house sits for friends. He needs to keep the fire going, feed the farm animals morning and night. Praying he is able to get his chores done and get to church on time.

Arcadia finished and more

I finished the binding on the Arcadia Scruffily Quilt last night!! We had some sunshine today so I was able to take some pictures of the quilt outside.



I backed this quilt with white Minkee dot. You can see a couple of the hearts that I quilted on some of the smallest squares.

Here is another finish - I sent the fabric/pattern image to Kelly in email so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled on these. Since I am trying so hard not to spend money on fabric right now I went through my stash and found this flannel I bought in October of 1992. Does that make it vintage?? I made these for hubby for his birthday. I can never just buy flannel jammie pants for my guys right off the rack. Hubby is 6'7" and my son is 6'6 1/2". The pants we find in the stores are more like capris on the two of them.


It feels good to have some items crossed off my list already!

Praise - many prayers were answered for Stellan.

Prayers - for college girl's birthday tomorrow. Her first to be celebrated away from family.

November Projects

Again I have a LONG list for the Charming Girls Quilt Club. I may not always get everything done but the motivation I get from the club is WONDERFUL! It keeps me somewhat focused on the 'next thing'. In addition to what I am listing here I have also sent Kelly a few images of 'secret' projects that I can't post here. EEEK!!


First up is the Arcadia Scruffily Quilt. The project is to get the binding finished.I am ALMOST finished sewing the binding to the top, then I need to get it all ironed and glued to the back and hand stitch it. I hope to get the ironing and gluing done today so that I can stitch while we watch movies. I get to be covered up by the quilt, I get to be with my hubby and son and I get to watch a movie or show AND I will be accomplishing something.

Bringing forward from October - this is to be an apron using Jona's One Hour Apron Tutorial.


Also from last month - sew the blocks,add the borders - have a flimsy by the end of the month.


These beautiful Glace fabrics are going to be made into a Scruffily Quilt, found on the Moda Bake Shop (same as the Arcadia Quilt). Goal for the month, have the top finished and have the sandwich layered, ready to be quilted.


This fabric is going to be made into simple curtains for college girl's dorm room.


Again, quite the list. I know. I KNOW!

Prayers - a man from our church was hunting this morning (fortunately with someone) and had a seizure. He is at the hospital now.

Praise - for the glowing reports that we got from college girl last night in regards to all of her midterms!! She is such a hard worker.

Just had to show you

My son's pumpkin carving for this year. It almost didn't happen since he didn't get a pumpkin early in the month and he's been sick this week so didn't get to town. Hubby stopped at WalMart last night and they were completely out of pumpkins. The grocery store had three rotten ones in the outside display. Finally hubby was able to find one in the store that he thought would work. Whew!

It was difficult to get a great picture due to the curvature of the pumpkin. It is George Washington kneeling in prayer alongside his horse.




Praise - my son is feeling better tonight. I'm not sure he is completely healthy at this point but better is a good thing.

Prayers - for those in our church body that are sick with various ailments.

Why now?

So I decided to get back into walking by joining the 100 Mile Challenge. I have walked miles and miles on my treadmill over the years and worn out many pairs of shoes. NEVER have I gotten a blister from my walking shoes. Until this morning. It makes NO sense! I've been wearing this same pair for about a year, but since I don't walk every day and have been pretty lax lately the shoes were still fine. I finally let this most recent pair of shoes venture out of doors last week and wore them at Disneyland. We walked for miles every day. No problems. Today, day #2 of the 100 Mile Challenge, I was experiencing some sort of pain in my heel. I stopped to re-tie my shoes (I spend a lot of time doing this it seems), I stopped again to adjust my socks (the same sort of sock that I ALWAYS wear). The pain just kept getting worse. I was determined to make it to the 2 mile mark and I did. I was totally bummed that I could not go another mile.

While walking last night I figured it was time to get another pair of shoes. These feel a little 'thin' under the ball of my foot all of a sudden and the way they have worn down in the heel is noticeable too. I'm not sure about trying on new shoes while I have a blister forming though. I truly think Satan is messing with me. I am going to laugh in his face and take off walking again. I might have to take a day off and get some new shoes, but I am getting back on the treadmill ASAP!

Praise - Hubby got a new job!! Another call from an interested party on our house!

Prayers - Hubby and son and two friends are on an overnight hunt - brrrrrrr! Prayers for their safety. Also for a few families in the church that are dealing with what they suspect is H1N1.

Panache Reveal

Finally I can show you the project that I made using the Moda PANACHE fabrics. A table runner and napkins for my friend.

And here is the back, LOOK! My first pieced backing!! The runner is reversible (as are the napkins).

The package finally arrived at her house last week, while I was in California. She said she loves it and that it matches her kitchen/dining room! Her walls are red below the chair rail and I was on the lookout for a fun fabric that would go in that room. The pattern is from the book Charmed and Dangerous by Heather Mulder Peterson.

Praise - the little boy that had surgery this morning is doing well, staying overnight in the hospital and recovering from the swelling.

Prayers - for my son, that he would take the necessary steps to get on top of his school work, that he would see the importance of doing a good job and making this a priority.

Back to the real world

Hubby and I;


spent 4 days at;

celebrating;

25 years to be exact!

The parks were decorated for Halloween and Fall;





The weather was ABSOLUTELY perfect! The week before the temperatures had been near 100. This week they are expecting lots of rain. While we were in southern California the temperatures were in the low to mid 70's. Sunshine and blue skies every day that we were in the parks.
We could see some of the rides in CA Adventure from our hotel room window and we could even watch the Disneyland fireworks from our room. We did watch the fireworks show in the park twice and it was SPECTACULAR! All Halloween themed and choreographed so well. Hubby made reservations for dinner in the Blue Bayou Restaurant for our Anniversary and that was so fun to be eating there (the food was good too!). We had such a great time together!

Saturday we woke to a heavy overcast sky and we headed off to spend time with some of hubby's family and see college girl! We all went to lunch together in Seal Beach and then got changed for the evening wedding of a niece. All of the attendants, and most of the guests were wearing a combination of black, red and white. The bride wore an all red gown - different for sure but it was beautiful. The cake was even red and black!
Sunday we went to brunch with family and friends that had come into town for the wedding and then we were off to the airport for the long trip home. A three hour layover in SLC and then a two hour drive home from the airport. We were beat when we got home after 12:30 a.m. We said hello and good-night to our son and went right to bed. It is always good to be home again and now I need to start to work on my October projects!

Praise - Safe travels for all of us! A wonderful time of fellowship with family and friends. God also kept my son safe and warm when the temperatures at home dropped below freezing. The man from church had his back surgery today (instead of tomorrow) and it was called a success!

Prayers - For a little boy at church that will be having endoscopy surgery first thing Tuesday morning. That God will be guiding the surgeon's hands and that the little boy will be brave and his parents would rest in God's hands.

If it weren't for the last minute...

I probably wouldn't get anything done!

Here is the Scruffily Quilt from MBS done up in Arcadia (held up by my 6'6" son).

and here is the binding;


Not great photos but I will remedy that when the sun is shining. The quilt top still needs to be trimmed and all the threads cut. I will tell you my woes about this quilt when it is finished. Right now the guys are waiting to watch a movie.

Count this as another September finish. WOO HOO!!!

Praise - hubby preached on Sunday and he did such a great job and he seemed more at ease than previous times.

Prayers - for a young girl in Oklahoma by the name of Jamie that has been diagnosed with the Swine flu. She also has pneumonia and her lungs are filling up. She is in ICU. Praying that her lungs would clear up and that she would be healed.

Those 3 little words

I know that I love to hear them. I am going to shout them from the rooftops tonight. I really don't need to post this, because she already knows, but I'll bet that she loves to hear those three little words too. I am not talking about THOSE three little words. I am talking about these three little words - YOU WERE RIGHT! The thing is, she KNOWS she was right. In fact, she probably thinks she is ALWAYS right. I am talking about Des at Quilt Taffy's Taffy Talk and her tutorial for the Invisible Closing Stitch, also known as the Ladder Stitch. Did you happen to notice the date of that tutorial? Yeah, July 2008. So I'm slow. And stubborn. I didn't want to learn a hand stitch! I hate to hand stitch! I could just fumble along with whatever it was called that I did. I should have listened to Des way back in 2008.

The thing is, I was coming across the Ladder Stitch over and over again. It was kind of like one of those weird recurring dreams. Each time I saw it there were more images. Images and explanations that made it clearer and clearer to me. Like here at Craft Apple. Here at Turning*Turning (although she likes to call it the Invisible Mamma Jamma Stitch :D ). The final straw was when I watched these videos by Sharon Schamber. In the final video she uses the Ladder Stitch as the final step in attaching her binding to her quilt. Okay! I cried "UNCLE!" and decided to give it a try.

I *HEART* THE LADDER STITCH! LOVE IT, I tell you!

Although at least one of the sites mentioned that this was a slower stitch, that did not hold me back. What I found was that it was much faster than the no name stitch that I had used before. The Old Red Barn Quiltalong Quilt had about 9 yards of binding to sew. That is a lot of hand stitching. You know what? I don't think it took me that much longer to do the Ladder Stitch on the ORB quilt than it did to fumble my way around the Neptune Windmill Baby Quilt that I finished up in early June. Seriously!

By the way, I used the Sharon Schamber method, found in the three linked videos, to attach the binding on the ORB quilt. It takes some time to do all of the steps but #1)this was the first time I was able to join the ends of the binding so smoothly (seeing the method rather than looking at photos is what did it for me),#2) there are no pins or clips to deal with while hand stitching and #3)the binding was in place and smooth looking while I did the hand stitching. A bonus - I learned about this method while back to school supplies were on the shelves and Elmer's Washable School Glue was 25-30 cents a bottle! I stocked up. I am going to use this method again and again.

A few other things that I learned from the videos, the third video to be exact,
Needle the thread (instead of thread the needle)- hold the thread tip between your index finger and thumb of your left hand and with the needle in your right hand, slide the eye of the needle over the thread. I seemed to have more control doing it that way and was successful on the first try each time.
To have a slip knot on my thread - GENIUS! I don't know how many times I had to re-thread my needle on previous binding excursions but this time, only when I was starting over with a new length of thread!
How to tie a Quilter's Knot. I had seen this before on Heather Bailey's blog but for some reason it didn't click then. I must have been in the right frame of mind when I watched these videos.

So there you have it. A post with no pictures but lots of links to some pictures, tutorials, videos. Maybe you knew these things already. Just like Des. ;) Maybe you're smart like that too.

Praise - My son has started his fourth week of school and he is staying on task and even asked for some nudging from me. So far he is able to keep up with school and his part time job.

Prayers - College girl is packing up her stuff. Today is her last day of work. Prayers for her to stay on task, get things on her list crossed off and remain calm during it all.

On the level now

With all my blocks sewed into rows and my rows sewed into the quilt top I told hubby that he could have at the sewing table and he got right to work! Measuring and masking off the area;

Hole cut and building the shelf to support the machine;

Looks like he's might be doing an oil change here or some fine tuning of the machine shelf.

All ready to go!


I'm so excited that it is done! Hubby actually wants to build up the machine shelf area so that I can use the plastic 'table' that came with the machine. It would then sit right on top of the table and I wouldn't have the small space in front of and behind the arm. The cut out area has a base built to it so that when I want the machine up on top of the table I just plop it back into the hole and I have a smooth table surface once again. SWEET! It is so nice having a handy hubby, he has built quite a few things for me over the years (including the 8' long sewing table that he is modifying).

I must get to bed! I need to be at the church for VBS registration by 8:30. I can hardly wait to get home and get my quilt 'sandwiched'.

Praise - that hubby IS handy and capable to make repairs, build things from scratch and maintain items around our place. That he had a great Father's Day just hanging out with the family.

Prayers - again for hubby's job interview Monday morning, for college girl's first day on her new job, for my son to be comfortable playing guitar for the VBS song time and that he would be safe when he goes to cut firewood.

Still playing catch up

So I am still behind on my Red Barn Quilt Along. Here are all my BLOCKS on the ping pong table;


and here are all my ROWS on the ping pong table;


and here is my FLIMSY hanging on the line (I had to fold over one row so it wouldn't drag on the ground);


and here is the FLIMSY on a CA King size bed (it just hangs over the top edges);


This is going to be for a LONG twin as I am going to give this to my daughter to take back to college with her. It is all ironed and ready to make a sandwich. I am thinking that will have to wait until Monday afternoon, being that tomorrow is Father's Day (and we will have church until noon and then lunch) and Monday morning I need to help out at VBS for registration. I am going to measure it now and start getting the backing ready since it will need to be pieced.

Stay tuned - I have something to show you, probably tomorrow

Praise - college girl got the job that she interviewed for and my hubby got a call for a job interview on Monday. My son and his friend have been safe while cutting firewood.

Prayers - That the woman looking at the home we have for sale would make an offer. For my hubby's job interview on Monday, that they would see his potential and offer him the job (it is a GREAT company to work for!!. For all the children attending VBS and their parents, especially for those that don't know the Lord.

Home again, home again

I tried to post last night when we returned home with college girl but Blogger would not cooperate even though it was not time for the scheduled maintenance. I have had 'issues' with my internet connection all day today and it has been pretty frustrating.

I wanted to share some pictures of the finished Pinwheel Baby Quilt. My 7 1/2 week old great nephew didn't get too excited about it, all he wanted to do was sleep, but his parents liked it.
I am still working on taking well lit photos of my projects. I really dislike flash but when the wind is blowing it sure does help.




Here is the tote bag that I made for my sister using Tanya Whelan's Practical Bag pattern. My sister and I were travelling buddies when we were children and I thought she would like this Alexander Henry print as much as I do. She can use this bag for toting her library books or taking stuff to the beach.


THIS is what we were met with when we got my daughter's dorm. ALL of this stuff was supposed to be put into our vehicle! I am not even sure you can see everything in the picture! She insists that we took it all there in the fall but I just can't believe that. Let's just say it is a good thing we were driving a suburban with the back seat taken out.


The kids are getting back into the routine of being home together. My son spent most of the day helping his sister unpack, move things from her room into the spare bedroom and generally harassing her.

I did a little bit of sewing today but I need to get caught up on my Quilt Along quilt! I am hoping that I can make huge progress on Tuesday.

Praise - for safe travel to and from college and that my hubby will make that drive basically alone when I fall off to sleep and don't keep him company.

Prayers - for our young friends that are on a mission trip in Mexico. For their health and safety, for cooler weather but most importantly that they would be sharing God's love with those that He puts in their path.

Update with PICTURES

I went to bed way too late. I was wound up from my stippling, afraid I would not set the alarm right, not sure we were leaving enough time to get to the testing site. I tossed and turned. I woke up before my 5:40 alarm. But prayers were answered and God saw us safely to and from the testing site. My son said it all went well and he felt really good about how he did. Thank you for any prayers said on his behalf. I am so tired now though and I dont' trust myself to work on the quilt. I do have pictures to share though!

First of all a couple of close up shots of my first attempt at stippling a quilt. Now don't enlarge the image and get out your magnifying glasses. I TOLD you it was not great and you don't have to point out my flaws. Just look at the good parts. :D




Then here are a couple of pictures of my son's Cakeball Birthday Cake. That is a dinner plate it is on.




I need to make a graduation card, get the ingredients out for Caesar salad (church picnic/potluck tomorrow after church) and get ready for bed. If I can make it until 9 I will be doing good.

Tomorrow when we get home from the church picnic hopefully the guys will be full up and not need another meal. I hope to be well rested and ready to finish the stippling on the baby quilt. If I get that done then I want to finish sewing my strips together for the Quilt Along quilt. I am hoping not to fall behind with that so that means I need to finish the strips, iron them all and then cut the blocks. I love having a plan all laid out. What do your Sunday plans look like??

Praise - we had safe travel and my son was happy with how he did on the SAT. Praise that it is behind him!

Prayers - college girl is on the home stretch - just a few more papers, another test, a couple days of classes and then the packing. Praying that she would keep her priorities straight and not sweat the small stuff.