Merry Christmas!

Make sure to take time today to reflect on the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Catching up - Post #5

This post will bring us up to date.

Taken from my bedroom on Wednesday the 16th.


I put these table runners in the mail today.
Mill House Inn;

Aster Manor;


I think I have all of my shopping done. I haven't wrapped a thing. I haven't done any baking yet. Working part-time almost every weekday sure does put a big hole in my day. I don't know how you working gals do it!

Praise - for the part-time job opportunity I have been given and for my the patience that my boss has.

Prayers - that I don't start to stress about the things I want to get done before Christmas but that instead I can reflect on the REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Catching up - Post #4

Speaking of finding a pleasant surprise in the mailbox look at what I received from designer Kate Spain;



I didn't have any problem unwrapping the paper to find this;

But I do have trouble untying the bundle.... but I will because I want to see all the beautiful fabrics! This is a rolled layer cake that Moda calls a designer bundle. Okay, call it whatever you want Moda. I am calling this one MINE! Verna isn't even out yet. I've got to get some ideas of what to make with this. Anyone??



Thanks, Kate!

Catching up - Post #3

I'm not really sure where these two items fit in anymore. I may have mailed the runner off before we went to get college girl.

The lighting for all of my pictures this month has been terrible. I don't like using the flash but sometimes I have to. I also forgot to take a photo of the back. I used the green Figgy Pudding damask on the back of this.


I made this at the VERY last minute to go along with the apron that I made for my friend. I'd never made a potholder before so I took at look at a few in my own kitchen to see how the binding was turned into a loop. I even sandwiched Insul-Brite inside of this. The binding was some I made for a project two years ago and I always wondered what I would do with the leftovers.


My friend was pleasantly surprised to find the apron and potholder in her mailbox the morning of her birthday and she has already put them to use.

Catching up - Post #2

Finally the day arrived that we got to go pick up college girl from school!! Just before we got in the car I remembered that I needed to get pictures of the Glace quilt. Hubby held it up for me out on the deck and then he went to pack the car.

The lighting was not great that morning but it is what it is;


I was just about to pack it up when I realized that I didn't take a picture of the back. Now my son was available and he did the honors;


It is so nice to have those tall guys around for quilt displays!

Here are some close-ups of some of FMQ I did in every other square. I hadn't yet trimmed any of the loose threads after washing and drying the quilt.




The roads were clear and dry, no rain or snow in the forecast. What a blessing that was. Six hours one way, out in the middle of nowhere and over a mountain pass. Since it was extra cold at home and our usual method of leaving our dog was not going to work, he got to go with us. That was a first and yet another reason to be thankful for a Suburban. Quigley, our golden retriever, was in the way back and had lots of room to look out the windows or snooze away (which, by the way is MY favorite thing to do on this trip normally). We dropped my son and the dog off at a friend's house and then proceeded on to my sister's house.

My sister loved the quilt. She draped it over the back of her white living room couch, right next to the Christmas tree. The walls in her living room are a beautiful blue and I thought the Glace Scruffily quilt looked right at home there. Oddly enough, I didn't bother to take any pictures of my sister with the quilt. We all had dinner and then hubby, myself, college girl, my sister and her daughter all went downtown to see;



Although I LOVE living in the country there is something to be said for downtown in a big city all lit up for Christmas. The show was lots of fun, although I did expect it to follow the movie, White Christmas, more closely.

We kind of got lost navigating from the theater to the freeway and so had ourselves a little tour of downtown after hours. Hubby was not so amused.

We all slept in the next morning, visited with our friends, went to lunch, did some shopping and then headed back home. That is a tough trip to make two days in a row. But again we were blessed with clear roads, nice weather and safe travels. It was so good to get home.

Catching up - Post #1

I have been lax in my blogging this month but I have been BUSY! I'm sure you've been busy too. So let's go back in time and I'll show you some things that have been happening around here.

I had been asking the guys if we could go cut a tree since mid November. I wanted the tree here, in the garage before college girl got home from school so then we could just decorate it. The guys put it off and put it off until finally it was THE coldest day of the season so far. Temperatures were in the teens but it was WINDY and who knows what wind chill adjusted temperature was. Brrrrrrr! The guys were thinking we should take a drive on the road above our house and look from the vehicle before traipsing around outside too much.

This is the tree we decided on after looking at about 4 others. This one was downhill from the car but uphill from the house. The guys decided it would be easier to drag it down the hill rather than haul it up the hill and hoist it on top of the suburban.


After storing the tree in the shop for a week,it was finally set up in the house on the 13th. Do you see that my son, who is 6'6.5" needed a ladder to put the star and the lights up?? You'll notice hubby standing to the side in the photo. He is 6'7" and he is looking UP at the tree. We wanted a tall one!

Jolly Jabber's Deeeeeaaar Santa

Dear Santa,

The Fat Quarter Shop's Jolly Jabber has asked what I would pick from their store for you to put under my tree. That isn't an easy task! Have you been to their store? I finally had to just close my eyes and pick. Although this looks like two items what it amounts to is fat quarters of the entire Meadowsweet line. Pretty sweet huh??




I won't ask my hubby for this and I wont' put it on any list for my children to shop from. This is just between you and the Jolly Jabber.

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.

Ahead of schedule

Well at least on the Glace quilt, that is. My goal for November was to have this to the quilt sandwich staqe. Here is that step completed;

Then I decided to go ahead and quilt on either side of each seam;

and a close up of the results;

There are a few other projects on my November list and if I set this quilt aside I just may get to work on them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you are enjoying the leftovers!

Praise - college girl made it home safely!!!

Prayers - for safe travel tomorrow for our friends that will be taking college girl back to school. It will be a long drive for them.

Kona Cotton Thanksgiving

I've been drooling over Kona Cottons lately and tonight I decided to see which colors said 'Thanksgiving' to me. This is what I came up with (images from Fabric Shack);

Clockwise from top left: Amber,Spice,Garnet,Ivy.

I think it would have taken me longer to figure out if I had gone to the Robert Kaufman site and looked through all of the Kona Cotton Solids colors. Maybe next time.

Praise - work/training went well according to the boss and I will go back on Monday.

Prayers - for those in our church body who are traveling this week for Thanksgiving.

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.

Surprise projects reveal

Now that college girl has celebrated her birthday and opened her gifts I can show two of my finished projects. I sent Kelly the pictures of the fabric and patterns for these so that no surprises would be ruined.

College girl LOVES Hibiscus flowers so some comfy, flannel jammie pants were in order. She probably put them on soon after opening them since she said she had had so many cupcakes. She had lots of friends making her day special.


Here is the pillow that I made using Allison's tutorial. All those leaves are made from scraps from the quilt that I made this summer for college girl's dorm room.


I feel like I've made good progress on my November goals and I hope to sew today too. Monday and Tuesday were a bust as far as sewing goes. I'm trying to decide which project to work on next. Decisions, decisions.

Praise - College Girl had a GREAT birthday and was showered with love by so many of her friends and family.

Prayers - For a man at church waiting and hoping for a diagnosis for what ails him. That a doctor that knows what needs to done will be made available to him. That he and his wife would rest in the Lord.

Where does time go?

This sweet baby was born at the exact time of this post, 12:15 AM.

20 years ago.

The newspaper headlines were all about the Berlin Wall coming down but she was the biggest news in our lives.



This photo was taken just a few weeks ago. Such a beautiful girl,inside and out.


College girl is no longer a teen! 20 years old today. Seriously, where does the time go? This will be the first time we aren't all together for her birthday. Even if we had driven the 6 hours to see her she has a packed school/work schedule and our time together would have been pretty limited. It will be great to have her home for Thanksgiving.

I LOVE YOU, College Girl!!

Praise - that college girl has grown into a beautiful, Godly young woman.

Prayer - that college girl would have a GREAT birthday, celebrating with friends. That she would continue to seek God's will for her life and to be pleasing in His sight.

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.