Changes

Let's face it.
I'm a quilting meddler.
I'm one of those pattern changers who cannot leave well enough alone!
If it's square, I make it oblong.  If's it's fusible, I make it needle-turn.  If it's in pastels, I force it into my pallete of brown, green, gold and red.  (Blue is for cool people: I think I'm a "warm" person. :-P)

All that changing is working well for me so far this week, though! :-D

First is my UFO (Judy's UFO Challenge) for the month of March.  #1 for me was Stars Around the Garden, a block of the month from Bits 'n Pieces.  I've had the 14 pieced blocks done for a while, but could NOT seem to get "into" the applique center medallion.  What to do, what to do.....? 

I rummaged around, found some pinwheel blocks I'd planned to use with another quilt that I meddled with (the one Mary at Quilt Hollow is quilting now!! Isn't she just a fabulous quilter!?!), and thought, "Hmmmm......" 

So I had enough pinwheels for most of the center, and just had a 10 1/2" x 21" space to fill....what can I put in there? OH! Why not Bear Paw blocks!!!!

Here's the result, a finished top for the UFO Challenge! The lighter brighter colors intended for the flowers sorta make my pieced center glow. I don't mind a bit! :-)  It's DONE! (well, the top is! :-D and now I can get back to February's and see if I can get caught up! :-D)

I've also been working on Eventide (the quilt-along with Thelma at Cupcakes 'n Daisies).

Yeah, I'm thinking of changing it up a little, too.  It's very nearly square.  I just prefer oblong quilts.  Probably because beds are oblong.  I don't have any square beds in the house.  I probably don't have any square walls either! LOL (That's a little carpentry humor...very little! :-P)

Here's my progress so far on Eventide.  I have some more quarter-square triangles and Ohio Star blocks pieced....gonna play around and see if I want to make changes to it.

I've got some other projects to complete.....

My "Brown Bag Quilt Challenge" quilt has an April 1st deadline.

My other UFO for March is my Mountain Laurel Sampler (I've got about 2/3rds of it hand quilted; here's one of the blocks)....NOT gonna get that one done this month. 

I've been watching Teresa at Fabric Therapy as she hand quilts her All Around the Town quilt.  I love how she has made the quilt her own with her whimsical additions to the pattern. 

I think it's interesting that what we do as quilters is so very similar to what God does with us.  There is a very clear pattern that He has designed for us; we are to be like Jesus!

Yet He never intended that we should be only clones of His Master Design.  One of my favorite passages, 1 John 3:2 (NIV), says,

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

I don't always know exactly how my quilts are gonna turn out.  But my hope is that they will be like the design, yet uniquely mine.  I rejoice that, as I follow and emulate Jesus, I am still free to be who God made me to be! His design; my colors and personality and size!  I will not be Him, but I will be like Him.

Hallelujah!

Ready or not?

Sometime next week, the man of the house returns! :-D
Jeff gets 15 days leave from Afghanistan...and boy, has it been a busy week!!

I'm trying to prepare for his homecoming. Getting laundry actually put away (a minor miracle, you understand, not to dress from the clothes basket!). Floor swept. Furniture dusted. Bathrooms spic and span. Or they will be.  BEFORE he arrives. (I hope!)

All the housework I've neglected for the ten months (2 months in training, 8 in country) he's been away, is now getting done! LOL

 My story is that I've spent the last ten months keeping his bees and chickens alive...

Well, the bees, anyway.  I saw them buzzing on a pretty day earlier this week (we've had temps in the 60's!).  So they survived the winter (no thanks to me!).

The chickens, however, have not fared so well.

Coyotes or foxes got several.  Neighbor's dogs probably got a few more.  One we think was eaten by a possum or a minx (head of poor Bucky nipped clean off! UGH!  He was such a pretty rooster!)  Only three (of thirteen!) survived.  Not good to be a chicken at our place these days.

The truth is, of course, that I've been too busy quilting.  (Who has time for chickens and bees!?)  I've done other things, too.  Homeschooling and running with two active boys takes time.

But all the available time I've had I've spent in my sewing room.  It is, truly, my therapy! :-)

And yes, my obsession! LOL
This week, while juggling the many things I need to do, I've worked on the Brown Bag Quilt!  The top is complete, and it goes into the "to-be-quilted" pile. My deadline for the challenge is April 1st.  Quilted and bound! :-)  I've come this far, I'll try to see it through! :-D

It's amazing how my priorities change, though, with the eminent arrival of my deployed husband.  Suddenly, the quilting can wait.  I want the house to be ready.  I'm preparing myself  (I've lost about 15 lbs.  My butt is firmer from step aerobics! and I got my hair done.  I'll try to work in a pedicure --- what is it about painted toenails that guys like!?!?).  I wanna get the taxes finished (so I can give him news of a refund, Lord willing! :-D). It wouldn't do for him to come home and find that he was second in my priorities!

All week long this scripture has circulated in my head:

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.  It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.  (Luke 12:35-38 NIV)

Wouldn't it be something if we lived like we thought Jesus would arrive at any moment!?

I want to be able to open the door immediately for Jeff.  No scrambling to do what has not been done.  No covering up misdeeds or mismanagement of what he's given me.  Just,

"Come on in, honey!  I'm so glad you are here!"

When He comes, will He find me ready!?

Blessings!

Cravings!

The Keebler Elves have ruined my life!!!
Who knew!?! No one tells you that "reduced fat" fig newtons don't taste like real Fig Newtons!  There are no warnings on the bags of "100 calorie" packs that these cookies don't AT ALL taste like real Oreos!!

It's a conspiracy!!  "Woe is me! For I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers, there is not a cluster of grapes to eat, or a first-ripe fig which I crave." (Micah 7:1 NAS)  :-D  If the prophet had eaten fig newtons, he'd be even more depressed!!

As I overcome my do-nothings (and my discouraging weight gain this past week! Ugh!), I think what I really crave is a new project!  So today I dove in!!

The Brown Bag Quilt Project!!

The fabrics I received from JaiCi were an odd collection of calicoes -- a neutral, a red, a black, a brown print, a purple and a gold from Connecting Threads and a pink-with-white dots.  What to do with these....?  When you have the do-nothin's, you have time to ponder the deep mysteries of life!!! LOL

I'd settled on "Granny's Jam" from the book, Laps from Fats, and I added three more fat quarters in teal, green and yellow and some more neutrals to have enough fabric for the pattern.  Last night I started cutting and today I started sewing.

What a surprise!!  I think I'm falling in love with these quilt blocks!!  I still have pieced borders and sashing to add....but I think I may get this one done this week!

It's NOT on my UFO list...but I think it was the right project to inspire me to work on #10.

Who knew that a quilt challenge that was originally called The Ugly Quilt Challenge (or was it ugly fabric quilt challenge?) would produce something I might actually like!!? 



I still have some red and some neutral to use, and a 2" strip or so of the remaining fabrics, all of which I will use for backing and/or binding (the challenge requires that we use 90% of the fabric we were sent).  I have  a pretty paisley I'm thinking of using for an outer border.  What a fun challenge this is turning out to be!!

Who knew a craving could be a good thing!!?

Good ol' Peter -- he of the hot temper, cutting-off-of-ears, denying, impulsive temperament -- had sage advice about what we should crave: 

"Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire)

the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk,

that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,

since you have [already] tasted the

goodness and kindness of the Lord." 

(1 Peter 2:2-3, Amplified)

Once you have tasted the "real thing," it's hard to settle for less!  I crave more of Him Whose goodness and kindness always taste like heaven!

And I believe I'll save some points for Oreos and Fig Newtons.  Just sayin'.... :-D

Oh! And new quilt projects!!

Blessings!

A Mystery!

I love mysteries.  When Emily was a girl, and we were starting our homeschooling journey, I accumulated the whole first 56 original Nancy Drew books for her and for me to read.  It was the first indication that we might have more in common that blood after all!! LOL

In spite of her abhorrance for the concept of "legacy quilter" (I still have hope she will change her mind! She's only 20 -- and someday she'll want quilts for her babies!! :-D), we like many of the same books and movies.

Mystery quilts, however....that I have to share with people who understand! LOL  Four of us from Mountain Laurel Quilters -- Paula, Debbie, Lynn and I -- worked on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.  And we had so much fun doing it that we talked our club into doing a mystery, too.   Since Bonnie's mysteries are on-line and available for all to peek at, we decided to use something else to mystify our club members, and I am fortunate enough to be the Magical Mystery Tour Guide!  (It was too good an opportunity to quote the Beatles.  You should never pass up a chance to quote the Beatles! LOL)

This past Saturday, we started with the first unit of the quilt.  More and more of the mystery will be revealed until we put the quilt together in October.

I'm using Jo Morton fabrics in deep reds, greens, purples, blacks, and medium blues and browns, with a great mixture of her neutrals and shirtings for backgrounds.  Our first unit is a simple four-patch of squares and half-square triangles.



The units we'll do in March will use the purples, greens and blacks. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I know the outcome of this mystery.  :-D

One mystery that has me stumped, though, is what I'm gonna do with the Brown Bag Quilt Contest fabric!

I've had my fabric several months, now...and I don't have a clue what I will do.  I found a nice print in my stash that will bring the different fabrics together nicely, and some neutrals to mix in, but beyond that I haven't a single clue!

I'm looking for inspiration among all the scrappy books and patterns that I have....I haven't found anything that speaks to me yet, but I gotta get crackin' since the quilt must be completed -- pieced/appliqued, quilted and bound!!! -- by April 1st.

Some mysteries end well -- like Nancy Drew! -- some don't.  I'm hoping the Brown Bag quilt is one of the former, not the latter! LOL

The Apostle Paul mentioned mysteries quite often in his letters.  I love what he wrote in Colossians:

"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love...., in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2-3 NIV)

In the movie City Slickers, there's this great scene between Billy Crystal and Jack Palance about the meaning of life. (Warning:  film clip contains what some would consider an offensive word.)



What I love about this clip is that I know the mystery....I know what the "one thing" is! It is, as Paul said in the passage from Colossians, CHRIST!   And the word that Jack uses is the very one that Paul uses in Philippians 3: 8 when he says he counts everything he's lost as but "dung" (KJV) that he may gain Christ.

There are many things I love -- my family, friends, homeschooling, church, music, quilting!!!! -- but none of them is equal to the "hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge" that is found in Jesus.

Oh, that all mysteries were so easily solved!!  I bet Nancy Drew would have figured this one out!  Maybe she'll help me with the Brown Bag Quilt!

Blessings,

"That's just ugly!"

Have you clicked on the Brown Bag Quilt Contest button yet?  So exciting!  Here's the deal:  We exchange 2 yards (in whatever denomination -- quarters, halves, full yards or what not) with a designated person and then have to use 90% of the fabric we've been sent, along with whatever we want to add from our stash, to make a quilt.  Fun, huh?  I can't wait to see the fabric I'm getting! I hope I am creative enough to come up with a cool design.



Drew my own block out of the bag.
Am I as RED as my sweater with
embarrassment!? Um, yeah.

Curious, though, that the contest used to be called the "Ugly Quilt Contest." :-D



Apparently, the object of the exchange is to get rid of fabric that no longer speaks to you.  (The assumption is that the fabric SCREAMED your name once upon a time, and now it makes YOU scream! LOL)

 

Are we having fun yet!?! LOL

Well, I'm not worried.  No matter what I receive from my assigned partner, it can't be as bad as what I'm working on from my own collection of quilt tops!

One Christmas our club decided to bring friendship star blocks in Christmas colors for a drawing for a lucky quilter to win.  We didn't designate WHICH colors, just Christmas ones. OH. MY. WORD.  Did we get a bunch of interesting blocks!  AND  I -- moi, me, myself -- won the accursed lovely :-P things.



Did you ever see anything so...yeah.

 So I've put them together. And they are not pretty as a group.  I think this might actually turn out to be -- yes, you must agree! -- an UGLY quilt.



Did you know that "ugly" is not used at all, not once!, in the King James Version of the Bible?  Isn't that a hoot!? You know there had to be something ugly back there in Biblical times! 

The New International Version, yeah.  They got Ugly.  It's kinda hilarious:

Joseph (the coat of many colors guy) is listening, in Genesis 41, to Pharaoh tell his dream (of the impending famine, as it turns out).

Pharaoh says, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows came up -- scrawny and very ugly and lean.  I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt."  (v. 17-19 -- emphasis mine! :-D)

What do I learn from this?  Ugly is for real.  I think it's this quilt! LOL  Check out one of the friendship star blocks! I hadn't the heart to fix it.  "It is," as my friend Pat from upstate New York (not the block maker) says, "what it is."   Perhaps the maker didn't want anymore friends. :-D 

Secondly, skinny cows are ugly.  It's proof from the Bible that you don't have to be skinny to be beautiful.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

The good news is that I'll use my Christmas Quilt to practice my machine quilting with my Hobby Quilter.  I'm an optimist.  Perhaps quilting will make the quilt.  Perhaps I'll learn to love the thing. 

Perhaps it will make some cow a lovely gift!

Blessings,