Yes, I've been busy

In case you thought I wasn't working on anything;

Nicey Jane flimsy

I didn't take any pictures of the sandwiching, basting and quilting but here is the stage I am at now;

This should have gone with College Girl last week but...let's just say, it didn't. Must get back to work.

Praise - Hubby and I signed papers today to close on the property sale (it isn't closed yet though). This whole process started in early March.

Prayers - for a young lady we know who is spending a semester in Israel. She is very sick and has finally gotten some antibiotics. Prayers that she would be on the mend very soon.

Recap for part of July - LOTS of pictures

I just can't seem to get back in the blogging habit. Maybe I will get points for lots of pictures in a post and that will make up for lack of consistent posting. Maybe.

Jodi at Pleasant Home had a drawing for goodies she collected on a trip she took oh wayyyyyy back in June I suppose. I won the drawing and here is what she sent to me.

There is a bottle of Oregon water (dubbed as VIRGIN water that has never been touched by the earth...hmmmm), assorted candies that I DID NOT SHARE!, a cute little sewing kit from the Venetian (in Las Vegas) and a charm pack of Bliss! I have already made something with those (sometime in August) so I will show that to you eventually. Actually it isn't even finished yet but hopefully soon.

This is Alena's quilt, made with Moda's Snippets. I used the tutorial for the Charm Pack Baby Quilt by BubbaChic. The back was white flannel.


I found some Mingle yellow with white dot at the local craft store that I used for the binding. I wasn't sure of it for the longest time but when all was washed and dried I decided that I loved it.


A doe and her fawn crossing the creek;


Christian's Charming Baby Log Cabin quilt. Pattern by Threaded Pear. I decided not to add the borders or the prairie points. I actually made the top for this quite awhile ago but just finished it up in early July to give to the new baby.


I did some loop-de-loop and star quilting on this. Not THRILLED with it as it was my first time but it was 'okay'.


The backing is a very soft navy flannel.


I love a striped binding. Maybe even more than a dotted binding.


Christian's father called after church to tell me that they loved the quilt and had hung it up on the wall over the baby's crib! Oh my. I told him I would've have been thrilled if they threw it on the floor and let the baby lay on it there. I just want the quilts to get used and loved.

Praise - all of our summer travels were safe! So many miles covered by all four of us in a few months. For College Boy's involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ as well as InterVarsity. He is the new bass player for InterVarsity worship!

Prayers - For College Girls travels back from visiting her brother for the weekend. Continued prayers for College Boy, that he connect with some Godly young men that have similar interests (biking, hiking, fishing).

Seems like it was just June!

I feel like I posted yesterday and it was June 30th and now today it is September 1st. How does time fly like that?

I just needed a break from blogging.

Seems like I have traveled a few miles this summer. In July I went to Seattle and stayed with friends for a few days and then went to Cannon Beach to spend some time with college girl. I have at least one more trip to make. We'll be leaving here very early Friday morning to head to Cannon Beach to get college girl and bring her home on Tuesday. She has been there all summer (and having the time of her life). She will get to spend about 3 weeks at home and then it will be time for her to return to school. So that could be another trip. We are hoping to get a vehicle for her so maybe she will be driving to school all by herself this time.

We were gone last week taking my son to college. He is now college boy. After the hustle and bustle of orientation and registration, hubby, college boy and I went to Yellowstone. What a nice little vacation in the midst of the college drop-off. College boy was able to spend some time fly fishing and hubby and I just sat on the bank and watched him. It was such gorgeous weather. We saw Old Faithful, some elk, some bison and just enjoyed the time together.

It was tough when college girl left to go to school but knowing we still had one at home at least it wasn't so lonely. It was really tough taking my son to college and driving away. He doesn't know a soul. Quite a culture shock for him too.

I didn't even put the suitcases away. I dumped everything out, washed and dried it all and put most of it back in the suitcase. I am looking forward to being home again and putting the suitcases away. Our room looks like a hotel room rather than our bedroom.

It is pretty quiet at home now. I have soooo many projects in the works and I have work to do as well. Add to that the laundry, the grocery shopping, the cleaning and the cooking.

I hope to be back to blogging. I have some pictures but my camera is upstairs and it is late. I have new fabrics in the house and new projects underway. I'll have to get pictures taken of those. I might not be on again until next week, when we have returned with college girl. Ohhh, I am looking forward to having her at home!

Praise - College Girl comes home soon!!! She has had a fabulous summer in a Godly environment. Our travels have been safe thus far. College Boy is enjoying his classes so far.

Prayers - For safe travels this weekend. For College Boy - to make some friends, to make ONE friend. That God would be glorified through College Boy's actions at school and that his roommate would be drawn to Him.

And they thought sliced bread was cool

*** Disclaimer *** This post has nothing to do with quilting or sewing. There may be a mention of fabric. Maybe.

About two weeks ago I got fitted with new contact lenses. Multifocal lenses. I was so excited about them because they were going to do away with my need for reading glasses while I work, read, sew. Or so the doctor and I thought. I still needed reading glasses. I wasn't going to pay the big bucks for the contacts if I still had to wear reading glasses so I was resigned to go back to the lenses I was wearing before. Today was my appointment for the follow-up visit. Since I had to go to town anyway I met hubby for lunch at the Thai restaurant in town. Mmmmmmmm. I had enough time between lunch and the eye appointment to run to the little craft store and try to find some FABRIC for a quilt binding. Mission accomplished and off to the eye doctor.

Well the doctor was pretty disappointed that the lenses were not going to work for me and asked what I wanted to do. I said wellllllllll, what are my options?? She asked if I would like to try a different combination and I figured I had nothing to lose. She brought in another pair of lenses and after having me put them in she asked me to read the eye chart. Eye chart?? I could barely make out the wall! Not an improvement, to say the least. Then she decided on a different direction, change the prescription in the left multi focal lens and go with a stronger single vision lens in my right eye that takes my astigmatism into account. WOWEEEE! I could practically read the copyright information on the bottom of the eye chart! I couldn't wait to get home and try them out while working and reading and sewing. So far so good but I need some time to give them a good workout.

That is not even the cool thing my post title is referring to! I stopped at the library to get a book that was on hold for me and I decided to look for some books on CD. We have a car trip coming up and I would also like to try listening to some books while I work. The library has all of the audio books in one area and some are on cassette and some are on disc. Then I noticed some other titles in cases that weren't sized for cassettes or discs. There was a sign on the shelf that said only four of these selections could be checked out at one time. Huh. What is that all about?
I searched through the titles and found one I was familiar with;

and I opened it up;

It is called a Playaway. You put a AAA battery in it and plug in your headphones. Controls for Play,Pause,Volume,Search;

It fits in my pocket;


Is that the coolest thing or what??? Now maybe this is old news to those of you that live in the big city but here in Podunk this was NEWS!! When I got home I listened to five chapters while I worked. While I worked without my reading glasses.

I can read the serial number on the bottom of my camera and the directions on the back of my calculator and the ingredients on a package of food. I've been looking for little things to read. Little things to read without the aid of my reading glasses. I can hardly wait to sew something tomorrow!

Praise - that God would give people the knowledge to come up with glasses and contact lenses and they aren't one size fits all!

Prayers - for a little boy at our church that has health issues that the doctors have not been able to pinpoint yet. That his parents would continue to lean on Him. That the little boy would be able to keep food down and regain some strength.

Seems like forever

Since I have posted. I just have to say, I'm so glad that I had my own little Friday Night Sew-In after all. Turns out that the night of the REAL Friday Night Sew-In, I spent over 5 hours in the ER with hubby and his kidney stone! Not fun at all. More so for hubby of course. They almost admitted him for pain control. He was in a bad way. Isn't it amazing how something sooooo small can cause such grief? By the time we got home from the hospital I was exhausted. Praise the Lord, that stone has been passed - over a week later. Hubby was not looking forward to having a procedure to have the stone removed and was able to avoid that appointment altogether.

Monday the 21st through Friday the 25th I was teaching at Vacation Bible School at our church. I had the smallest class, with 6 students, grade 3rd & 4th. PERFECT for me! God knows what He is doing, that is for sure! Some of the other classes had over a dozen kids - you know, the little ones that can be so rambunctious. Needless to say, I think, I was tired each afternoon. Of course I was not sleeping all that well with hubby who was in pain off an on that entire week. The students that I had were sweet and polite and eager to participate and my helper was great! She is a quiet young lady that had been one of my Sunday school students before and is now entering high school. She taught our students the motions for their song and even joined them on stage on Sunday for the presentation to their parents and the congregation.

I think all of this gardening happened the weekend before the kidney stone presented itself but I forgot to get the pictures up so that College Girl could see the improvements to the backyard.

When we bought these little grasses for this area along side the steps, hubby and my son and I laughed that it looked a lot like the stuff we just pulled out and threw away and were calling weeds.


This area did have a hydrangea plant that we finally gave up on. I so love hydrangeas but I just can't get one to grow for me here in north Idaho. So we pulled that out, cleaned out the weeds and planted all of this;


Foxglove - or Digitalis. I find it interesting that this has something to do with the digitalis used for heart conditions (or at least way back they were somehow related). Highly poisonous - sure is pretty though!


Lupine. My hubby could not believe I was buying a Lupine when they grow wild around here. I was really hoping that this one was not going to be purple like the wild ones and it did not disappoint. I LOVE this color!

There is also a Azalea plant, some Vinca groundcover and two other plants that I can't recall the name off.

The blocks that I sewed on my own private Friday Night Sew-In, finally ironed and laid out on the ping pong table. I messed with them some after this picture was taken and they are ready to sew into rows now. Cotton Blossom - Mom Colorway and the pattern is Thimble Blossom's Piece of Cake.


My work suffered the week of VBS so I am trying to catch up this week. I hope to get some sewing in. I'm expecting the backing for the All Star baby quilt tomorrow so I can get that sandwiched. I also need to get the Pinwheel baby quilt cut out. I feel so behind. So many projects I want and need to do. So little time.

Praise - God can move mountains AND teeny little kidney stones!

Prayers - for Mama Spark's friend that is in a crisis situation. God knows.

Bridal Shower Gift

We have a wedding to attend in July. We've known the groom and his family for quite a few years. We met the bride very briefly at a wedding two summers ago. College girl and I could not attend the shower unfortunately. I made this on Thursday, got it in the mail the same day and hopefully it arrived in time for the Sunday afternoon shower.



Fabric is Ava Rose by Tanya Whelan. Pattern is from Retro Aprons by Cindy Taylor Oates. It goes together so nicely. It is my 'go to' quick gift apron of choice.

Rainy day here. I need to go to town but I was hoping to avoid the rain. I've already done my work for the day. Could press seams on the blocks I made on Friday. Could bake cookies. Could work on VBS stuff. I love rainy days (but not when I need to go to town).

Praise - for RAIN! I love when God waters our part of the earth for us. Everything looks so fresh and green.

Prayers - for my part in VBS. That my attitude would be glorifying to God and that I would think of each child there as His child.

Sent with Love to Isabella

Started this quilt last Sunday after church and gave it to the new mother on Wednesday evening. I used Moda's Sent With Love charm pack. I love the pop of green.

I don't know what I would do with out the ping pong table for my layouts;


Flannel backing. LOVED this white with red polka dot and the back w/binding looks like a Christmas quilt. Ready to go to the washer and dryer!



All crinkly;



a close-up;


The best picture I could get on Wednesday afternoon;


All ready to wrap;


I used Oh,Fransson!'s tutorial again. It is featured on Sew,Mama,Sew!'s site and is the Charm Squares Baby Quilt. I made the sashings and the borders a teensy bit bigger. The new mother loved it and all the ladies at the shower wanted to see it up close.


Praise - College girl got the program position that she wanted most! She is settling in nicely.

Prayers - VBS coming up next week and I am one of the teachers. That I would get my act together and be ready. For all the kids that might come to VBS.