More of January

Just a few more things I wanted to share with you about January before it is a distant memory for all of us.

I knew what I wanted for a Christmas ornament in 2010 once the tree was up but I didn't spend any time looking for it until after Christmas. I found dearjes on Etsy and fell in love with her little nests. We had a few conversations via Etsy messages and she was able to personalize an empty nest just for me! It has a great clip on the bottom so it can be attached to the tree.
Isn't it adorable? An empty nest to commemorate that my children are both off to college.

One of the things on my list of goals - learn to decorate sugar cookies. With some of the money that I received for Christmas I have been buying some supplies to help with that goal. Here is my first attempt.

I was pretty pleased with how it went. I shipped the majority of these off to the kids. They were really excited about them. I love that about my kids.

Here was my second attempt. Uhhhhh, not as nice. I had leftover icing and so I made up another batch of cookies to practice. I brought the refrigerated icing to room temperature and boy, oh boy! It was all I could do to keep it on the cookies! So different from the first experience. Hubby has the job of eating all of these. I know they aren't pretty, just keeping it real!


To go along with College Girl's cookies I made this Mug Rug for her. I have seen these all around blog land, wasn't really sure of them then something clicked and I wanted to make one. I played with my design for awhile, on the back of envelopes and on some scratch paper. I got all of the pieces cut out and applied to the background and then I just stalled. I was afraid of messing it up with the free motion quilting to outline the figures. I finally decided to go with the same color thread on each piece rather than a black/charcoal sketchy look. I was pretty sure my stitching would be such a mess and that I would hate the dark thread.


I even surprised myself by 'coloring outside the lines' and making the bird's little top knot.


I actually liked creating the tree bark effect. The little clumps of snow were the hardest since they were so small.


I even liked how the back looked! But I did cover it with a piece of the blue w/snowflakes like the front just to keep those stitches protected.


With a mug to give you an idea of the size. I used a tutorial I found at That girl... That quilt for applying the binding by machine. Thanks, Jennifer! What a time saver that was! I cut the binding at 2" wide so there wouldn't be so much overlap on such a small project.

I'm linking up to the Quiltstory blog for Fabric Tuesday. Their button is on the right at the top if you want to link up too!

I did also do some reading this month. Two non-fiction books. One of them called HOME by Julie Andrews. It didn't thrill me at all. Slow, too many details that didn't interest me at all. Sorry, Julie. You sing pretty though!

The other was a fantastic page turner called In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Opdyke. Just incredible what she went through. I can't imagine doing any of the things she did, it takes a certain kind of courage for sure. I highly recommend this book.

For January I also memorized two verses of scripture. Psalm 65:11 to start the year off and then Psalm 46:1.

No scrapbooking, not a lot of exercise, the eating was healthier than December!

Okay, bring on February!

Praise - for the family that God has given me, individuals who love and appreciate one another and the things we do for each other.

Prayers - for Joanne of The Simple Wife, Sandi of my online scrapping friends, and Katy from church, who all need continued prayer for the health struggles they are facing.

May Day! May Day!

The first day of May started out blustery here in north Idaho but ended up being a sunny day with blue skies. The temperatures were somewhere in the 50's. Can you believe there is snow in the forecast this week? Crazy!

Today was also National Scrapbook Day and probably the first in 10 years that I haven't spent the day scrapping with online friends. Pretty sad. The scrapping community that I was a part of closed the doors at the end of December and I just haven't made a big effort to find another place. Yes, I realize that I can scrapbook on my own but it just won't be the same. Sigh...

So tomorrow I will be giving this quilt;

to its new owner. She has no idea. You see it goes like this,
Out of the blue, on April 6th Des sent me the directions for the quilt and I started immediately to work on it. I mean right then I figured out which fabric I had on hand that would work and I set to work.

When my hubby comes into my sewing room he almost always asks what I’m working on and who it is for since sometimes I am making gifts and sometimes it is for one of the kids or maybe someone has asked me to sew something for them. I had NO IDEA who this quilt would be for, but I wanted an answer for when hubby asked. So I thought while I sewed and then it came to me, I would give this quilt to the lady in our church that was having her birthday next. I had no clue who that might be. I told myself to look it up in the directory when I went upstairs. Well I went upstairs a few times and came back down to my sewing room and would be frustrated because I forgot to look. Same thing the next day, I would totally forget to look (my mind is going, I tell ya!). So fast forward to the next night, a Wednesday and we are off to Bible study. I hadn’t been to church on Easter (sick) and so I picked up a bulletin at the back of the church and carried it up to my seat. When I opened it up I saw the list of birthdays for the week. I was surprised at the name I saw. God had orchestrated the entire thing of course. If the instructions had been given to me months ago or even the next week this all would have played out differently, but God knew. I even thought for just a fraction of a second to give it to someone else. I hadn't told hubby yet of my plan so who would know? Oh yeah, God would know and I would know too. You see, the lady this was going to, well we have a past and it is a rocky one and things aren't all that smooth now. Oh, we are pleasant with one another but nothing more than necessary. So on the way home from Bible study I told hubby. He got the biggest kick out of it all. He thought it was GREAT! He was excited for this quilt to be finished and given away. I have never had hubby and my son so interested in when a quilt would be done!

Once I knew who the quilt was for, I prayed for her while I sewed. I prayed for her relationship with God, I prayed for her marriage, I prayed for her role as a wife and mother and I thanked God for her. Yes, I even talked to Him about my own attitude and part in this relationship. I actually wrote up most of this story to give to her with the quilt. I am going to give the package to her husband to put in the car and have him give it to her when they get home.

I wonder what God has planned next for me! I sure hope it involves fabric. ;)

Praise - for such an AWESOME God! That He orchestrates even the little things in my life to glorify Himself.

Prayers - I pray that I would not have the teeniest hesitation to be obedient to Him and that I would trust His timing and perfect will.

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.

October Finish - The Sequel

I finished my second auction table runner last night. Washed, dried, ironed and photographed it this morning (in very bad lighting due to a downpour all day). I got everything boxed up and to the post office. The runner is made with Basic Grey's Sultry by Moda. This is another line that was first scrapbooking paper. Second October finish for the Charming Girls Quilt Club.


The back;

Simple grid pattern quilting.

I like how the quilting looks at the intersections.


Praise - college girl has one mid term behind her now!

Prayers - for the rest of college girl's mid terms, that she would be well studied and rested.

I've been tagged!

By Kelly over at Charming Chatter. Actually anyone taking part in the;
was tagged.

5 Things

1. My Favorite Fabric is: oh man this is TOUGH! The fabric that I drool the most over right now is Patisserie by Fig & Plum for Moda. I don't even own any of it...yet.

2. The pattern I'm most looking forward to sewing is: again, tough decision the list is long but I will say this one;
I even have all the fabric! This line was first done in scrapbook papers by Cosmo Cricket.

3. The food that is my weakness: Chocolate and baked goods. No peanuts in my M&M's please. (okay, cake frosting is also a major weakness :S )

4. If I knew I couldn't fail, I'd: be a contestant on The Biggest Loser??

5. The Best "Life" Advice I know is: Serious - Romans 10:9: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved

Lighthearted - When you are on a road trip -Use a clean bathroom every chance you get, you never know how long it will be before you see another one.

Praise - I praise God for my daughter who has had to DO HARD THINGS recently. She knew in each instance it was the right thing to do.

Prayers - Thursday we need to get packed and get some sort of sleep before we leave very early on Friday. Prayers for safe travel.

A Few Things That Make Me Smile

On Saturday my son came home and brought me a big envelope. Strange, I didn't order anything. Then I looked at the return address and saw it was from my friend in Maryland. Look at what she sent to me, just to cheer me up and because she knew that I was trying so hard not to spend money on scrapping or sewing. There are red glittery alpha stickers (they remind me of the Ruby Slippers!) an assortment of chipboard shapes and alphas, stamps that will be perfect to use on greeting cards, some paisley emery boards and a notepad and some chipboard embellishments for scrapbooking. What a FUN envelope to open and it sure did make me smile. I can't wait to spend a day scrapbooking and use some of this! Thank you, dear friend!

* * * * * * *

Another package I got a week or so ago. This was from Victoria at Bumble Bean. I had entered a giveaway and this was a consolation prize! There is a Martha Negley print (on the left) and the print right is from a collection called Holly Hill. I am not sure who designed the middle print. Thanks so much!

* * * * * * *

Something I love to do is bake and although I certainly do NOT need to be eating the baked goods, I have a willing family (none of whom put on a pound no matter how much of the stuff they eat). I had been making different cookies lately and when the last of those were gone I asked my son what he wanted next. He said 'remember those filled cupcakes you made awhile back? Those would be good.' So last night, while the guys went for a 4wheeler ride I whipped up these.

( right after I piped the PBish filling into them)

(and here they are after I frosted them)

I was going to get all fancy and pipe the frosting on but I got tired and just wanted to be done.

* * * * * * *

Praise - I got back on the treadmill today! No more excuses!!! I walked for 60 minutes/3.25

miles.

Prayers - that I would get back on the treadmill tomorrow and the day after and the day after...

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

I have been wondering all day why someone thought that those two words would be good to use for signalling distress. There was absolutely NOTHING distressing about today. I didn't get little flowers left on my doorstep by anyone and I didn't leave any flowers for anyone, although I do remember doing that as a little girl. God gave me the MOST beautiful spring day though. He painted the sky the most glorious blue, dotted it with a few puffy white clouds and then He let the sun warm it all up slowly. The little bits of grass that we have in our front yard and the grass that we can see across the creek are greening up. The temperature got just over 60 degrees and I sat outside for a bit this afternoon and enjoyed the warmth. In the driveway though there is still some snow. God knows how much I love snow, maybe that is why He left some in my driveway. :)

* * * * * * *

Look what Mary over a Neat & Tidy awarded me with!! Wasn't that sweet of her? Sisterhood Award indeed. We are sisters in the Lord, we are sisters in quilting, we are sisters in blogging. We are sisters that live on opposite sides of the country but we WILL meet someday. We'll have so much to talk about then. :D Thanks Mary! * * * * * * *

Just in case you were wondering, I have been sewing today! Chipping away at that big project. I will sew again tomorrow even though it IS National Scrapbook Day. I just know I would feel bad if I were scrapbooking when there is sewing that needs to be done.

* * * * * * *

Praise the Lord today for the beauty that He surrounds us with, for the seasons and the miracles that unfold with each one of them.

Prayers - my guys will be helping a family unload a semi trailer of shop equipment tomorrow, praying that everyone would be safe and protected and that they would have a wonderful time of fellowship.

My only excuse -

would be called LAZINESS! That is why I haven't posted. That is why I haven't chosen an April Challenge. That is why I haven't sewn an April Challenge. That is why I haven't gotten very far on the project that I should be just about done with. I have been fighting off a cold on and off over the month. When my head is clogged I don't trust myself to sew because then I just don't concentrate so well. I procrastinate and I don't like it. I am working on overcoming that trait. I have been making lists for the past week or so. Trying to get everything on the list checked off before bedtime. All that to say I can't believe this is the last day of April. That is when I realize how much time I waste, what I could have accomplished and didn't. Sometimes I just disgust myself. When I read other blogs and see what others are getting done I can either feel motivated to do the same or I get fed up with my sorry self.

* * * * *

I did make it until April 15th without buying any fabric and I am still trying very hard to refrain from buying anything but the necessities. These first two pretties were bought in March. So there. This first one is by Alexander Henry and is called Pink Surfin' Pareo. I am going to make a simple peasant style summer dress for college girl with this. She helped pick out the fabric.

* * * * *

This print is Rebel Roses by Anka's Treasures for Henry Glass. Heather Mulder-Peterson designs such pretty fabrics. I LOVE how she drew these roses. I really like this entire line. Again, college girl decided on the fabric and it is going to be a skirt like the Al Fresco one that I made in March. In real life the fabric is a bit more gold and not so sunny.

* * * * *

Now this was really purchased in April. Actually I purchased TWO of these charm packs because I want to make the Pinwheel Baby Quilt that was featured on the Moda Bakeshop site and I don't want to use any of the pink from the Neptune line. The quilt is going to be for my newest great nephew who was born early this week! That event totally snuck up on me!! I have seen a few of these quilts done online and it was shortly after the project was posted at the bakeshop so I am thinking it shouldn't take that long to do...you know, if I actually DO IT!

* * * * *

This is a Layer Cake of Moda's Fig & Plum. I have dreamed of owning one of these since I first saw the line. I saw a GREAT deal on it and could NOT let it go by. You see how weak the flesh is? I think I am going to make the very simple big block quilt from a recent Quilts and More magazine. That way I get to see each beautiful print (well 36 of them at least) and in theory it shouldn't take long to do at all.

* * * * *

The problem with that theory is of course all the things that I HAVE TO get done first! I have a big project I am working on now, then the baby quilt should be next, then the skirt or dress for college girl. I would LOVE to do my April Challenge AND my May Challenge and get caught up on that. On top of all that I realllllllllllly want to join in Amandajean's Quilt Along. Crazy I know. But if I would be as productive as all of you out there in blogland it SHOULD BE possible. Yes? Or am I kidding myself?

* * * * *

By the way, I have been scrapbooking. A young gal from church asked me about it at the Women's Retreat the first weekend in March and we have been getting together once a week to scrap. She comes here, along with her adorable six month old little boy, because there is NO WAY I am packing up and hauling all of my scrap stuff somewhere else. I like that we have sort of a scheduled time to scrap together and we spend a full day working on some pages. We have such a nice time together and when I am tired of scrapping I entertain the baby. :D

* * * * *

Praises - My son worked so hard on the backyard and has really made a HUGE difference in how it looks. It is almost ready for grass seed. It is going to be lovely when it is no longer brown.

College girl ran unopposed for Hall Council. Her first taste of politics is going smoothly so far. Hubby is getting great feedback at work about his contributions.

Prayers - continuing to pray for a buyer for our house. We are expecting someone to come view it this next week. There is also a lady that has been interested in the place for a couple of months but she hasn't been able to get here to see it in person yet. This is who I have been praying for since I first heard about her. She is really hoping to come sometime in May. Prayers for my kids as they finish up their school years. College girl has until June and my son has just over a week.

* * * * *

See you in MAY!

It's been awhile but I do have pictures

Everyone likes a blog post with pictures. I know that I do. Well I have my camera issues as you know. Oh I can take the picture but then it is remembering to ask hubby to take them off of the camera and put them on the computer and then transfer them to my computer. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Add to that the fact that the camera I was using went into a coma. Well we thought it was dead. Hubby tried his best to revive it but it looked liked the end so he got online and found me a new camera. I said I didn't care what it did, how many megawhatsalls it had as long as it was red. Hubby found a camera that he thought would be great for me. It said in the listing that it was red although the picture must have been taken in poor lighting since it didn't look RED RED but more of a pink red. It arrived and it is PINK PINK. See;

I guess they let the colorblind guy post the colors of available cameras. So now I have a new PINK camera and I LOVE IT! It is light, it is small (fits in my sweatshirt pocket), has a big screen on the back instead of looking through a viewfinder and it takes great pictures! But once I take the pictures, I have to remember to ask hubby to take them off of the camera and put them on the computer and then transfer them to my computer. So really not so much has changed.

* * *

My old camera came out of the coma. I know. Hubby didn't pull the life support from it and gave it one more jolt with the paddles and revived it. I guess he has an extra camera to tote around now.

* * *

I need to make a little case for my camera very soon and I am having trouble deciding which cute fabric to use. I guess I could make more than one.

* * *

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. Oh I've thought about it but just never followed through with it. I have kept busy reading blogs, that is always fun and I get such great inspiration from them. I have spent some time scrapbooking and I have also been sewing. Here is a purse that I made for college girl while she was home on spring break. The pattern was from the latest issues of Quilts and More. I made another one from the same pattern but different fabric in late March. I made a pair of hot pink flannel backed satin jammie pants for a friend's birthday (I took a picture of them but the satin and the flash did not agree with one another).

Finally here is the skirt that I made for the March challenge. I just mailed it off to college girl yesterday so if she reads this she will see her skirt here before she sees it in person. I am anxious to hear if it fits. I went by the measurements on the pattern but I think it looks big. She says after she eats all the goodies she got for Easter it will fit just fine. :O

Once again this pattern is the Hip Skirts by Favorite Things and this is the circle skirt. The fabric is from the Al Fresco line by Michele D’Amore for Marcus Fabrics. A few things about the pattern. First of all, I had no idea that there was going to be elastic all around the waistband. Another pattern I have by the same company just has elastic in the back. Secondly, something to keep in mind when choosing fabric for this pattern is there are four panels to make up the circle, so a center and back seam in addition to the side seams. It worked out great with this fabric but another print might not look as good with those additional seams. The directions are clear and easy to follow. There are three other views on the pattern and I will most likely make this skirt again. College girl's opinion will determine that for sure though. Good results with two of their patterns now and that gives me confidence in trying another one at some point.

* * *

I have lots of sewing to do and lots of sewing that I want to do. Have you been to the Moda Bakeshop site? Table runners and baby quilts are on my list.

* * *

Prayers - College girl is super busy with classes, her jobs and now her campaign for Secretary of Hall Council. Prayers that she would get enough sleep, get in enough time to study and yet still fit in all the other stuff she wants to do. I hope she puts God in her jar first and then fills in with all the little things. My son has 3 more weeks of school and then a SAT exam the first weekend of June. Prayers that he would do his best right to the end of the school year and that he would put some effort into studying for the SAT. Continued prayers for a buyer for our house.

* * *

Praise - HE LIVES! Easter is such a wonderful celebration of our risen Savior.

Finally - a post with a picture!

I know it is no fun to read posts that don't contain pictures, especially for Des. I am having awful computer problems and if hubby is not able to fix it soon I am afraid I might take matters into my own hands. It won't be pretty. Trust me on that.

So here is the fabric I am using right now. Isn't that a pretty mix? It is some of the Marcus Al Fresco line. The blue and white flower print reminds me of Moda's Summer in the City.


Day 5 of sewing every day. I didn't scrapbook today, but I could have and should have. I wasted time today for some reason.

My daughter is back at college. I miss her already. My son has another week off. He spent 4 hours shoveling snow off of someones roof this morning. My hubby spent hours out on the tractor plowing and snow blowing the new snow. I did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, did more laundry but nothing too productive.

Praise - that our friends were able to stop by this weekend on their way home from MT, visit us in our new home and take our daughter back to school. They had a very long, but SAFE trip. Praise that our friends that had oral surgery today and had to drive through a snowstorm before and after also had safe travels and successful surgeries. Praying for their smooth recoveries.

Happy New Year!

No pictures again today but I did want to post on the first day of the new year.

Do you make resolutions? Do you make them and break them or do you make resolutions you are able to keep? I usually have a general idea in the back of my head of things I want to accomplish in a year's time. Maybe if I wrote them down I would feel obligated to sticking to them. Maybe.

I have a few things I want to do this year;
Project 365-take a picture DAILY to create a snapshot of one year in our life.

Sew something daily. Is that too ambitious? Should it maybe be, cut out or organize or should it be to actually SEW something daily. I was thinking there will be days when we are gone but I could finally learn how to make yo-yo's or sew on a binding or ???

Scrapbook - daily? weekly?

**just saw on Ginger Patches blog about a yearly reading list. I do keep one and have done terribly the past couple of years. We have no tv - I should read more.

Lose weight - for my health, for the clothes hanging in my closet.

I resolve to make a serious dent in my fabric stash and my scrapbook stash.

I resolve to limit fabric purchases to specific needs, for items I am making for someone OR if something is needed to finish a project (quilt batting or backing).

I resolve to buy NO MORE scrapbook items unless ABSOLUTELY necessary (adhesives, basic cardstock) until stash is noticeably diminished and then not until house sells.

On one hand I think if I am too strict and I fail I will just throw in the towel but if I am not strict enough then weeks will go by before I realize I have not done anything. I was thinking of limiting myself to windowshopping in online fabric stores to once a week. Oh sure I would still see all the new pretties but #1)I would spend less time at my computer, which leaves more time for daily sewing or scrapping #2)I would spend less time 'wanting' something that I don't 'need'. I know I would still get plenty of inspiration from the blogs I visit daily.

Okay...I am outta here. I am going to sew for a bit and then I am going to work on a scrapbook page.

Prayers - for the college kids that should have been making the 6 hour drive here today, to come visit and to ski. The passes are closed and they finally gave up on traveling today. Praying for safe travel for them tomorrow. Praying as well for my son who is snowboarding today - it has been snowing ALL day. Praises - that we made it to 2009 (didn't you think when you were in grade school that the year 2000 seemed so unreal?)! That God has blessed us with so much!

Year End Clearance!

Inventory Reduction!

SALE!

40-50% off ALL ITEMS!

You have no idea how I LOVE those words, even look forward to them. I look forward to seeing them in print and getting emails that contain them. They make my heart race. They make my mind start planning and plotting. They inspire me to fill virtual carts all over the internet.

This year though, those words taunt me. I should probably just ignore all the emails and store fronts. I should concentrate on using up the fabric and scrapbook supplies that I already have. I feel bad for the store owners. They are making an effort to bring in some much needed money, clear out their inventory for tax reasons and make room for new things to come. I understand that. I understand too that I can get some incredible deals on things I have long admired. It usually benefits both parties. I don't want my favorite stores to go out of business, whether online or brick & mortar. The thing is I just have to show some restraint this year. More than I have in past years. I am fortunate to have a stash of fabric that I can pull from to continue sewing and an abundance of scrapbooking supplies to use. Maybe I should spend more time at my sewing machine and my scrap table and less time on the computer being tempted.

I hope to make a big ol' dent in all my supplies before the next year end. I hope that this economy has turned around. I hope that our house has sold. I hope that all my favorite shops will be in business still and sending out those ads and emails and that their store fronts have those words I love so well.

Praise - I thank God for the abundance that He has showered upon me and my Prayer is that I would remember that. Day by day, moment by moment I need to be thankful for what I have. Prayers too for all the small businesses that are trying to make ends meet.

Time to rein him in and for me to pay the piper

Today was the first day of school for my son. It is so tough to ask him to be inside all day, sitting still and reading books. I am thankful that we homeschool and that he has more freedom than if he was in a classroom but still...the boy likes his outdoors! He started the 11th grade today and on Wednesday he starts college classes at the satellite campus in town. He did start one online college class today. He says it is going to be a long year.

This is what he would rather be doing. Well this is ONE of the things he would rather be doing. This was taken on one of his backpacking trips this month. I don't backpack with the guys but I sure love seeing the photos. Of course if I had been there he would NOT be jumping across this huge canyon to get to the other rock. WHAT is my hubby thinking allowing that sort of thing?


Here is the scenery from the top of their 'day hike'. A day hike is what they do AFTER they hike a long way to get to their camp. They hang out, eat dinner, sit around a campfire, sleep under the stars and then the next day take a 'day hike'. To the top of the tallest point. Their camp was by that lake.


I am feeling bad for my son because he has a full load of school and hunting season starts on Friday. Hubby is making plans for a weekend hunt and my son knows that he really can't swing it. At least he realizes that and I didn't have to point it out.

So, I am on a self inflicted sewing/scrapbooking restriction. No sewing or scrapbooking for me until ALL of the 2007/2008 grades are recorded and entered and reports are printed out. I was lazy and let it go. Ugh. Just knowing that my new sewing machine is up in my sewing room, all alone AND that I have fabric there too. LOTS of fabric. Just knowing that. I got a good portion of the grades entered today. I have some that I have to 'find'. My son was lazy too. He didn't enter all of his grades on the handy dandy grading sheet that I make up for him. Now we have to spend time and find the assignments in question and fill in the sheet. Ugh. I won't do that again this year. Kids are so different. My daughter never had any problem getting her work done, setting priorities, filling in the grading sheet. She doesn't have any desire to jump across huge canyons from rock to rock. I love 'em both. I love that they are different. But man, I sure wish they were the same in some areas.

Okay, back to work for me. I am REALLY hoping to be back at my sewing machine by Wednesday.


Praying tonight that my son would have a great school year. That he will just take it one day at a time. Set his priorities and stay on task. Pray that I would stay on top of my duties and be an encouragement to him (rather than a nag). Praise - I am so very thankful that God has given us the opportunity to homeschool all these years. It has been a wonderful adventure to spend this time with my children.

My worlds collide

I know that God has placed each planet exactly where it belongs, and that He has named each star and that nothing happens without His knowledge. I know this. The planets have always been in alignment. So how is it that my worlds are now colliding. It is hard to tell one from the other. MY worlds? What am I talking about?? My two favorite hobbies! Scrapbooking and sewing. My love of the fabrics and the papers. I have loved fabric for ohhhhh so many years. My love for patterned papers is much younger in the grand scheme of things. But now the line has begun to blur. Although I had never really turned my back on sewing completely I had put it on the back burner for a time and that is when I started to spend more time scrapbooking (or at least collecting scrap supplies). I fell in love with this line of paper from Daisy D's.

Imagine my surprise while surfing the world wide web when I came across Sis Boom Girlfriends Fabric by Free Spirit!

The next surprise was after I had admired this line of paper, called Jitterbug, by Cosmo Cricket;

and then I find out that Andover has come out with fabric by the same designers and by the same name - Jitterbug.

By this time I had taken sewing and fabric off of the back burner and was spending as much time looking for fabric images online as I was looking for scrapbooking supplies. I came across Heather Bailey's blog and heard of her plans to enter the scrapbooking industry. This collection has just recently hit the stores;

And although there are a few images in paper that are not in her Freshcut fabric line (I wonder if they just got left on the cutting room floor for some reason) they are just as beautiful.

I think it was just before Quilt Market, when I was scouring fabric sites and blogs for any news of what was to be released that I saw this at the Moda site - Urban Couture by Basic Grey, a very popular scrapbooking company and line. WOW! That is going to be beautiful in fabric!

My most recent discovery made me gasp. I am adding this quilt to my SOMEDAY LIST there on the sidebar just as soon as I finish typing this post. This was shown at the Cherry House Quilts blog, once again by the Cosmo Cricket designers and Andover . The paper line and fabric line is called Halfway Cafe;

This quilt is called Galveston. Isn't it GORGEOUS?? I can't wait to get my hands on that fabric and make that one! Whew!

Now when I look at fabric I wonder if anyone will make it into scrapbook paper and when I see great patterned papers...well you get the idea. For instance, I think POSH would be a great scrapbook line and I think some of the ME fabrics would be so great for scrapping!

Sometimes choosing between scrapping and sewing can be difficult now. At least I know that whatever I choose to work on, I have the chance to work with some beautiful products.

Oh yes, one more thing. I have another quilt to add to my TO DO LIST. I bought the LINE BY LINE pattern from Quilt Taffy this evening. :D As well as some Allspice Tapestry fabric for the binding of said quilt. I am going to make the Jam Bars quilt from the pattern with two jelly rolls of Allspice Tapestry. I think I'd better get busy on my projects!!!

Long post. I guess I made up for missing a day. ;)

Praise and Prayers tonight - one of my brothers had a heart attack today. Within two hours of the attack he was recovering in ICU after two stents had been inserted. I thank God and praise Him for the chain of events that allowed a successful outcome. I'll be praying for my brother's recovery. Prayers also being said for the Saturday wedding of one of my nephews. (sorry to hear that my brother will not be able to attend).