The Darlin's...

I've been thinkin' about the Darlin's -- you know? from Andy Griffith!? and seems like everytime I turn around someone's mentioned them and we roll in the floor laughing 'bout them and Earnest T. Bass.  Classic stuff!!

I know why I've been thinking about the Darlin's.
It's that line that Charlene says. 
"How 'bout playin' 'Never Hit Your Granma with a Great Big Stick!'" says one of the brothers. "Aw, no, Dub...That'n makes me cry!"

I got a heart block in the mail from Crispy on Friday. And to quote dear old Charlene,

"That'n makes me cry!" 

Is it perfect or what!?  Chris said she knew instantly what she wanted to do for the block -- and it is exactly what my heart feels!! I can't wait to put it with the other beautiful blocks -- 26 of them so far!!! -- and marvel at how God can use quilt blocks to so effectively minister and bless our family.  How can I possibly repay any of you for the love you've shown me in the wake of Sam's death!?

All I know to do is pray MAJOR blessings on you all -- As Jesus said, "give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6:38 ESV) Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over... Yeah! That's what I want for you!!

It's been a good week.  We had our Farmer's Wife class...I'm up to 71 of the 111 blocks!! Whoohoo!!

My flowers are blooming.... (boy, does that make me wanna applique!! Weird, huh!? :-D)

I'm making progress on the t-shirt quilts I'm making for someone, and I've gotten started on the Tina Givens fat quarters quilt...(and this old Civil War/Thimbleberries gal is LOVIN' the colors!!!)

And for those who enjoy the Darlin's....



Blessings!

The Cheese Stands Alone

When we were at retreat last month, we had several discussions about the Farmer's Wife.  A new gal joined our group, Heidi, and she kept calling it Farmer's Daughter, and after a discussion about using bright neon colors, we decided it would have to be the Farmer's Mistress or Girlfriend! LOL

I'm making progress on those 111 blocks! (And it's taking way less time than a mistress would! LOL  And money, too, since I'm stash shopping for this one! :-D)

Adding these ten to my others, I'm nearly at the 2/3rds mark! Very cool! Most of the class is keeping up, too!!

For the class, I broke the Farmer's Wife down into "units" each month -- beginning with blocks with squares and rectangles, then half-square-triangles -- and we've been doing HST's since February!  June's blocks (above, I'm trying to stay a month ahead of the class!) are mostly "quick-piecing" type blocks, and July's will move us into quarter-square-triangles. 

We'll eventually get into flying geese, and square-in-a-squares, and diamonds, hopefully building skill levels as we go!

I've also managed to make some progress on the Hands-2-Help quilt for Romania!  Sarah Craig at Confessions of a Fabric Addict arranged a charity quilt exchange/challenge a couple of months ago...but I'm sure if you wanted to make a quilt for Romania, she (and Judi at Green Fairy Quilts) would happily accept them!!  Diane sent me this beautiful bright fabric for my quilt:

And I've added some more bright colors to Diane's fat quarters and made these so far for the pinwheel-y quilt top I designed in EQ:

All those different names we thought of for the Farmer's Wife make me think of the Farmer in the Dell! and the inevitable conclusion -- the cheese stands alone! Makes you feel sorry for the cheese, doesn't it? Everybody's got somebody in the old nursery-room song, except the cheese. 

Working together is so much more fun that working alone... whether it's charity quilts or ongoing projects or classes!!

One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is the promise that we are never alone. Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah:

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom...
Do not be afraid, for I am with you

(Isaiah 43:2-3a, 5a)

No cheese standing alone, here!

Blessings,

Give Away: Traveling Stash!! and some finishes (Yippee!!)

Yesterday, I got it in the mail; opened it up and spread all the wonders inside out on the table around the box:

Patterns and fabric and quilted blocks and panels and lace and pin cushions.....



I won the box from Anne at Write Here, and this box has been making the rounds in blogworld!!!

Here's how Anne told it:

"So far, the box originated at potsandpins.com the next stop was arianescrafts.blogspot.com then on to debaeremaeker.blogspot.com next it traveled to nunusquiltworld.blogspot.com and then to Kelly at cottoncharmquilts.typepad.com. Kelly split the growing stash into two boxes, and box #1 came to me. Yippee! Box #2 headed to committingmyway.blogspot.com." So from Kelly to Anne to me -- and now to you!

I like how Anne says, "Yippee!" My kinda gal, for sure!!! :-D

I pulled a few goodies out of the box.
And put a few goodies INTO the box (but you'll have to win it to see what!!)  But just to give you a little hint, here are 20 things I put inside:

 So if you wanna be the recipient of this marvelous traveling stash, you need only to comment, and I'll randomly draw a winner and send the stash to you.

You take what you want from it, put some more stuff in and send it on its way!!

Fun, huh!!! I love it!!

It was a great mail day for me.  Besides the stash, I got some "Pie Crust" muslin of Primitive Gatherings' Primitive Muslins line by Moda.  Yummy aged muslin that's not too dark.  It's creamy and light and has some agey character colored into it.  I got some patterns from Mary at Quilt Hollow  (Thank you so much, Mary! I love them!!). Wonderful stuff to use some of my Jo Morton stash! :-D

And I've been productive this week!
I have 46% of my Farmer's Wife done! Yippee! :-D (Can you tell I'm a homeschooling mom who's been teaching perccents!?)  51 of the 111 blocks are complete:

And today, I finished February's quilt top UFO #10 Moon and Stars Whimsy.  The last of the appliques went on the border and it's ready to be quilted....to happen sometime between now and Christmas since Son #1 (Kid #2) has claimed it for his own. :-D

I love finishing things and accomplishing something with my hands! :-)

I read this and it makes me feel wonderfully blessed:

Psalm 90:14-17

¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
¹⁶ May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
¹⁷ May the favor^[a] of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

In some translations, the word "favor" in verse 17 is translated as "beauty." May the beauty of the Lord God rest upon us and establish the work of our hands!!

Blessings!


P.S.  Don't forget to leave a comment to win the Traveling Stash!! I'll close the drawing on Saturday, April 23rd at midnight (Eastern Standard :-D), and announce the winner on Easter Sunday! 

Chicks, Blocks and Stacks

It's been a productive week for me!!  Since Jeff left on Wednesday, I've been burning the midnight oil -- partly to exhaust myself because, just as I've gotten accustomed to having a bed-fellow again, he's gone and I have to figure out how to keep myself warm!

:-) Sigh....

I tied into a several-day project of re-organizing my sewing room.

Oh.

My.

Word.

It was SUCH a mess!! So all the furniture went out, all the fabric went out, all the projects -- finished and unfinished! -- went out, and the cleaning and sorting began.

I didn't realize how much fabric I have....!! I got it all sorted by color, and stacked to the ceiling in the closet.  Before I'd kept lines or types separated, but this is much better.  I can see at a glance what I have.

Um....I think I can lay off the background fabrics for a while.  I think I don't need to buy any fabric until the next millennium!!

I organized my projects, too.  I bought hang-up shelves for my closet rod, and stacked boxed-up projects into them so I can pull them out easily.  Before they were stacked willy-nilly on the closet floor and I could never find something without pulling out a million things! UGH!  How can I complete Judy's UFO Challenge if I can't find the UFO!? So that's much better!



I kept my peg racks on the wall for blocks to hang on.  They're pretty!! :-)  and they are a good reminder that those projects need attention.

I had to drop everything on Sunday, though, with a phone call from the post office.  Did I wanna come up and get my baby chicks!?  I wasn't expecting them 'til Monday, but okay. Yeah. :-)  They are the cutest little things!  My friend and fellow quilter Tracy and her family piggy-backed the order with us, so they came Monday to pick up their baker's dozen.  Nothing bonds people like quilting and chickens! LOL 

With all this going on, I managed to actually sew!!! I'd curtailed my sewing time while Jeff was home, so it was heaven to sew nearly the whole day today.  I worked on Eventide (a Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. pattern), Thelma's sew-along at Cupcakes n' Daisies.  I've also been working on the mystery quilt I'm leading at my club (a tease, since I can't show it to you!), and I've got 25 blocks finished on the Farmer's Wife.  I'll be doing a dozen or so more blocks for the FW this week in preparation for our monthly class. 

And while doing all these, I've also been "leaders and enders"-ing on Cathedral Stars, the class I missed with Bonnie Hunter.  She's right...it's like getting a bonus quilt while you work on another one!!!  I have my little basket of "twosies" -- 2 - 2" squares, a light and a medium/dark -- stacked up and ready to feed into the machine between chain sewing other units.  Fun, fun, fun!!

And all in an orderly room that doesn't smother me anymore!

Paul wrote "For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is." (Colossians 2:5 NIV)

Thank the Lord that my faith in Christ is much firmer than my ability to keep my sewing room orderly!!  :-D 
Blessings!

Strung Out Again :-D

Since Roll Roll Cotton Boll, I find I'm being "strung out" again, working with 1-1/4" strips for my UFO #6! I've got lots and lots of strips cut from Thimbleberries fabrics, and I'm chain-piecing log cabins out of neutrals and rich dark colors.

I'll be sewing on UFO #6 all week, including Thimbleberries Sew Day that Sandie hosts on the last Wednesday of every month at Crazy 'bout Quilts!  I'm constructing log cabins and fans to make "American Heritage" -- a pattern from Simple Blocks Make Sensational Quilts by Winnie Fleming.   As I've played with the blocks, though, I've changed my mind about the design.  Winnie's quilt sets the blocks straight turning fans and logs to make diagonal lines and curves.  I've decided to put my blocks on point....

Winnie's American Heritage

 

And I, Miss "I-don't-care-for-the-strings-look" find that the controlled scrappiness of the logs really appeal to me -- especially marching along in even rows. 



My "new" take on the log cabins and fans



This is my first log cabin! Some twenty years of playing around with quilt-making and I've never made a log cabin!  So this project is not only a UFO but a long-overdue quilting rite of passage! :-D



And I'm totally in the mood to sew after a wonderful retreat at the Jabez Quilt Conference.  I taught three classes, and in them renewed friendships from previous years and made new friends that were wonderful!

There were the "Northern Girls" -- a family of quilters that come from northern KY (just this side of the river from Cincinnati!) which includes Rose, Nancy, sister-in-law Patti and this year, their mother Esther! They always bring beautiful fabrics and we manage to rib each other mercilessly.  They are such fun!

Cathy, sweet soul, took ALL THREE of my classes!! Brave, brave woman!! A very accomplished and generous quilter, she blessed me tremendously with her can-do attitude and patience when we found my cutting instructions for a block in my sampler were completely wrong! Quilters are a very forgiving lot, thank the Lord! :-D

A new friendship was born with Caterina, a brand new quilter who emigrated from Italy back in 1960.  Upon her retirement, she's taken up quilting.  An accomplished seamstress and needleworker (she brought some samples of her lace from the old country!), she's taken to quilting like a magnet!! What fun she was to teach!

In the evenings, I had a room all to myself and was able to sew into the night, just like at home! :-)  I cut and assembled 14 more blocks for the Farmer's Wife, bringing my total up to 25. 

As much as I enjoy my solitary sewing time, it's not nearly as much fun as sewing with my friends.  My daughter tells me I'm an extrovert.  I get energy being around people.  And that's certainly true if they are quilters!!

Wise old Solomon wrote, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

My friends, old and new, warmed me this past week.  I look forward to the next time I'm blessed with their company.  I'm so thankful that I can count them and you among those who "help me up" and, along with the Lord Jesus, make up that three-strand cord!

Lord knows, I'll need strength to get UFO #6 completed in the month of January! :-D

Blessings,

I almost forgot!! LuAnn at Loose Threads sent me the "Stylish Blogger Award!"  Thanks so much, LuAnn!  I'm supposed to share eight things about myself and nominate eight blogs for the award.  Pop on over to my "Awards" page to check that out!

A Brand New Year! :-)

I am the eternal optimist, I think.  I must be an optimist if I even consider making a list of New Year's Resolutions!! When Jeff asked me what mine were, I told him they were the same as last year!! Clearly, I didn't succeed in 2010 (or 2009, or 2008, or....).  But I try, try, and try again. :-D  (Of course, the definition of INSANITY is to do the same thing and expect different results! --- yeah, that'd be me!  LOL)

Every year I say I'll lose weight and exercise.  I'll have a devotional time daily. I'll be a better steward of the blessings -- financial and otherwise! -- that I'm given.  Jeff says I need to be more specific.  So -- numbers and deadlines and such will be added to my usual list to see if that helps me fare any better in keeping my resolutions.

Another one I make every year is to FINISH! something -- so UFO's here I come.  This year, I'll have Judy's UFO Challenge to help.  She's having us make a list of projects, numbered 1 to 12, and each month she'll draw a number and we have to work on that project.   Theoretically, at the end of 2011, we'll have completed 12 UFO's.  I have MANY more than that (I do an "inventory" at the first of each year...sigh), but getting this many done will be phenomenal!

So you and Judy will help me with accountability! The rules are fairly flexible, so I've decided to finish a group of quilt tops (most very close to completion!), and to completely finish (quilting and binding!) another group that I'll list next time.  The quilt top projects are:

1. Stars Around the Garden (a Bits and Pieces Block of the Month)
2. Victory Quilt (Quilt in a Day)
3. Hometown Christmas (Thimbleberries)
4. Wilfred and Cloves  (from Australian Patchwork and Quilting)
5. Daisy Days (Thimbleberries)
6. American Heritage (Thimbleberries)
7. Geese in the Garden (Kim Diehl design)
8. Land of the Free (applique from Piece o' Cake)
9. Circuit Rider (only a dozen more blocks to have them all done!)
10. Moon and Stars Whimsey (from the book Relax and Quilt)
11. Biblical Blocks (from the book of the same name by Rosemary Makhan)
12. Dolly Madison Stars (a two-fabric quilt from BH&G Two-Color Quilts)

I'd like to severely limit my new starts this year.  Maybe Kim McLean's Roseville Album, if I can find the time!!!! (It'll work out! There's that optimism, again!  LOL)

I'll also continue to work on some ongoing projects: The Farmer's Wife Sampler and possibly Dear Hannah or A Mother's Gift and the Layer Cake Quilt Along.

And I'll at least get the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll Mystery Quilt top completed!! :-)

The apostle Paul wrote, "It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence...Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:13-14, 16-17)

He must have been an optimist, too!  "It is written," he said -- and so is my list! :-D  "I believed" -- and I do, too! LOL "Therefore I have spoken!"  ME, TOO!  Of course,  he was referring to the promises of God and the expectation that, even though we suffer and have troubles, they are nothing compared with the glory that is to come.  Isn't that a great statement of hope!! I think I like old Paul! :-)

So I will not "lose heart!"  2011 is a brand new year, full of promise and the expectation of eternal glory.

Let's get to it!!

Blessings,