Treasures

Unexpected treasures have made their way into my world this week! Gifts too numerous to count, but I'm gonna list a few...
:-D

1) Newly discovered photos!!  I found several pictures of Sam this week that I either didn't remember I had or that others had taken and shared with me.  A couple that I particularly loved was one of Sam and Emily, his little BIG sister (she looks younger, but she's in college! :-D) and another of Sam at camp playing carpet ball.  Priceless!!

No doubt about it, I have beautiful kids! :-D (Not a speck of bias in that statement of course! A photo of the "baby" is below, too! LOL)

Although we are not so much a picture-taking family, the photos we have are even more precious to us now, a treasure for sure!!  We got to see lots of them at a tribute for Sam at Galilee Bible Camp in Lafollette, TN! Another precious treasure of memories made by and with Sam!

2) Knock-outs!! Roses, of course!
My incredible quilt club, the Mountain Laurel Quilters not only provided dinner for us all last week while we were cleaning Sam's room and going through his things.  This week they delivered not one, not two, not even three....but TEN!! knock-out roses to us to plant in memory of Sam!  They are beautiful and Jeff and Will put five of them in the ground today.

3) Front porch peace! :-)
Thanks to the Cumberland Homeschool Athletic Teams, the group with which Sam ran cross country and played basketball (and the coach's wife, Tracy, is one of my quilting friends and has a beautiful blog here!), we have a new glider/bench gracing our front porch!  We've spent precious time there admiring our knock-out roses and....

4) The RAIN!! After 90+ degree-days, stuffy and humid, an intense and wonderful thunderstorm line went through, watering our new plantings and our garden.  Awesome!!


And 5) Sweet Hearts!
More beautiful heart blocks have come in the mail -- a total of 22 so far!  Now coming up on three weeks since Sam's passing, the "reality" of his absence hits us daily. But we cannot help but count our blessings, and appreciate the treasures God has given us!

Jesus said,“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV)

I've never been one that focused on Heaven; knowing Jesus is about more than a ticket out of Hell.  Knowing Jesus is having a relationship with the Creator God of the universe.  And He is my ultimate treasure.

But now, as loved ones -- my mom, dad, and son -- have gone ahead of me to the Presence of God, I find that those treasures, too, call me Home.  Truly, where my treasure is, my heart is as well!

Won't you join us there someday!?

Blessings!

Beginnings and Ends

I've been a slacker for a while now! With Jeff gone to Afghanistan, it's hard to stay motivated to keep the house nice and clean.  And busy-ness and deadlines and the like have kept me from doing those tasks that, while not earth-shatteringly important, sure make life easier!

Laundry has been piling up in my room for several weeks.  I DO laundry! :-), I just don't get it put away.  But a message at church on Sunday about the privileges of faith (Thanks, Pastor Trevor),  convicted me of my responsibilities!  Further, a service call to a TV repairman finally got my butkus in gear, and my room looks like it should! Ironically, the TV "fixed" itself, and the TV guy didn't have to come, but the room is clean!  :-P

So the end of clutter, the beginning of a season of better behaviour! LOL

I also completed one of the six "commissioned" quilt tops on order for various people/causes.  I'm sorta the "assembly girl" for my quilt club, Mountain Laurel Quilters, when we provide a donation quilt for a community event or charity.  Last week, I put together a Civil War Repro fabric top for the local Optimist Club to raffle for their Youth Programs. It will be displayed at our annual quilt show, A Quilt Gathering with the Mountain Laurel Quilters this weekend (Oct. 15th-16th).

Paula Philpot at Paula's Quilting Pantry did the machine quilting and another club member bound it for us. 

I've already got the next set of blocks, made of 1930's repros and donated by our club for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, on the design wall.  I'll meditate a few days on the setting and put it together before passing it along to the same able quilter.

So the end of one project and the beginning of another!

It's a good week so far for getting things accomplished.  I hope the remainder of the week goes as well.  It should!! I have LISTS!  Here's a list of my lists:

1. Things to do today. 
2. Things to do this week. 
3. Things to do this month.
4. Things to do by the end of the year.
5. The weeks remaining in this year so I can map out what I'll do when.
6. Thing to do in 2011!!!

(You are positively REELING from the details, huh!? LOL)  There's the usual innocuous stuff like house cleaning (I'm behaving better now, remember!?), but the majority of the lists are about quilts I want to do.  Kits and Blocks of the Month to complete.  UFO's and WIP's and such to conclude.  Deadlines for projects.  New projects I want to start.

Beginnings and Ends.

God is all about beginnings and ends.  He starts out His Word with "In the beginning..." (Genesis 1:1).  The Gospel of John tells us "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1-2).  I love how Jesus concludes the Revelation.  In Chapter 22, He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (v. 13).

Over the years I've heard people say, "It doesn't matter how you begin; it's how you end that counts" and I suppose that is true.  But the nature of God is to begin well (didn't He say of creation, "That's Good!!"?) AND end well.  I wanna be like that.  As His nature is perfected in me, I want my beginnings to be equal to my endings, to do all things well to His glory.

It's probably a good beginning to end some things before I begin those new projects that I want to end in 2011. Oh, man.  Maybe I should make another list.... Help me, Lord!

Blessings!

More Diversions!

I've been thinking alot about that Diversion sign....
I think the reason that I have so many unfinished projects is that I get, well...diverted.

I looked up the word to be sure that is what is happening to me! LOL

Definition #1 is "to turn in opposite directions."  True, true. But not where I am this morning. :-D   Definition #2 is the very one:

To give pleasure to especially by distracting the attention from what burdens or distresses. syn see AMUSE

Amuse...yes, that suits me better today! LOL

I have to laugh because I keep getting diverted by joy and excitement...the next project!!! :-)

There's the Circuit Rider.  I'm plugging along on it, feeling good.  Gotta finish it so I can do....

Roseville ... Kathie over at Inspired by Antique Quilts is doing hers in reproduction fabrics. And she's also working on a Baltimore Album quilt, one of my dream projects!

Crispy at Crispy Quilts just got a great deal on Philip Jacobs fabrics, and those would be yummy for Roseville, too...

And Janet at  Mrs. Sew 'n Sew just started her Civil War Bride quilt, which I have the pattern for.  Isn't it gorgeous! I wanna start it!!!

I also got my Brown Bag Quilt contest fabrics in the mail from JaiCi...

Immediately I started pulling fabrics to go with those and looking at designs...maybe Monkey Business from Scrap Basket Surprises...

And I have some "commission" quilts I need to assemble...

Here are blocks made by my guild/club members at Mountain Laurel Quilters!  Aren't they wonderful? We donate a quilt to our local Optimist Club each year which they raffle for their Youth programming. I'm auditioning sashing and borders....

And here are blocks for 3 quilts to give to a homeschooling family who lost the mom to breast cancer. 

Diverted, indeed!!!

But it truly is therapy for me! So I'm diving in.  Just need to establish priorities.

1.  Mountain Laurel Blocks...They're for a quilt that needs to be done in time for our Quilt Show (see details here:  Mountain Laurel Quilters).  I'm only doing the assembly; the quilting will be done by Paula at Paula's Quilting Pantry.

2.  Homeschool family quilts -- We'd like to get them to the family by Christmas

3.  Ongoing Circuit Rider -- 'cause I gotta get it done before I'll allow myself to start the others on my list! :-D

and then there's Numbers 4 through 178 (a conservative estimate): All the others on lists of planned, wanna-dos, somedays, and whenevers!

There's an apropos line from the movie The Great Debators, directed by and starring Denzel Washington (I love him :-D); the preacher dad tells his son, "We do what we have to do in order to do what we want to do."  Good advice (if only I could apply it to the dust and dishes! LOL)!

In Scripture, the "must do" is tied to a promise.  Deuteronomy 5:32-33 says this, "So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.  Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."

Yeah...The Lord asks that we not be diverted (definition #1!) from Him.

I'll be needing those "prolonged days" if I am to finish everything on my quilt lists!! 

Blessings!

Why do we have to sleep!?

I read somewhere that the great Thomas Edison -- inventor of the light bulb and a million other things -- rarely slept, and when he did, it was in "power naps" of twenty minutes or so. WHO can live like that!

Well, I would LIKE to, of course. There are ONLY 24 hours in a day, and I could fill them all with the things I need, want and like to do! There are the books I want to read (not to mention actually being consistent with a quiet time to read scripture and pray!), the dozens of quilts I have in the process, the dozens more in my brain wanting to get out. AND I'm a homeschooling mom! -- so there are lesson plans and activities and actual teaching and learning I need to do with my boys (Sam, 16, and Will, almost 11). And, of course, I'm certainly not going to give up eating! :-)

Then there's the Mountain Laurel Quilt Club Sampler -- a quilt I had the privilege of designing and showing/teaching (with lots of help!) to my quilt guild. The top was completed, hmmm...January 2008? and I started hand quilting it. I've gotten 24 of the 48-8 inch blocks and their immediate sashing strips completed. But it's getting embarrassing! At our October 2009 quilt show, there were TWO of these quilts, one hand and the other machine quilted!! I designed the dern thing! Why wasn't mine in the show!? Why won't it be in Oct. 2010?

Because there aren't enough hours in the day, of course!

Scripture tells us there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven....The time of this quilt is ...? The purpose -- CLEARLY -- is to teach me patience, endurance, and persistence :-), one of which, Patience, is a fruit of the Spirit.

Hmmm...maybe that consistent prayer time would help! :-) Or maybe I just need a nap!
Blessings!
Mary Lou