Memory Eye Candy

The weekend is coming! The weekend is coming!! :-)
And it's gonna be a good one!!
I've gotten several things done this week, and I'm as pleased as punch about it! Nothing like actually finishing something (I am, after all, Queen Starts-a-lot) to make me feel that I'm not THE most useless person on the planet right now!

AND! I'm getting company! My friend Jennifer and her boys are coming up for a special Memorial Run for my Sam...more about that in a minute....

Look what I've done!! :-D
This is a "Little Jo" pattern from Jo Morton. I've had it pieced for a while, and finally machine quilted it on my Bernina.  I used the walking foot on the 4-patches, and did some free-motion "L's" and "U's" in the sashing strips and some curly waves in the borders.  I used matching thread, of course! So you can't see my blunders, but I'm thrilled with the finish!


I also managed to complete two t-shirt quilts I had in the works for a friend.  One is bound (yippee!) and the other is at the quilter.









They are for members of the same family, so they are similar, but uniquely their own with their memories represented in those wonderful t-shirts.  The mom asked for quotations on her son's quilt.  It was fun figuring out how to do the letters, and they turned out really cool....

So much so that I used them on Jennifer's quilt -- which is actually finished in time for her visit here this weekend!!  I've called the quilt "The Best of Times" -- and it is representative of the many places we went and memories our families made together.  I wanted the quilt to be a kind of scrap book of our time together.

A dear friend of mine, Mary Greene, made a scrap book for me of Sam...She is such an artist!! Look at some of the pages she created:

The rest of the album is just as beautiful, like memory eye-candy!  My quilt doesn't approach Mary's kind of artistry, but at least it brings to mind many of our adventures together.  We'll reminisce while they are here.

Also this weekend, Cumberland Homeschool Athletic Teams (CHAT :-) is hosting the Sam Casada Trail Blazer Memorial Run.  This is the organization through which Sam and Jennifer's boys got to compete in cross country and basketball.  Jennifer and her boys are coming up to participate in the run and spend some time with us.

A local girl drew a likeness of Sam for the run's t-shirt.

It's gonna be a great weekend!

The book of Proverbs tells us that "The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot."  (Proverbs 10:7 NIV)
Love it!!

At the end of the story of Esther, that brave queen who intervened for her people in the Old Testament, the writer admonishes us, "These days should be remembered and observed in every generation, by every family..." (Esther 9:28 NIV)

How are you making memory eye candy?  Will your memory be a blessing?

Blessings!

Hearts Fly Free

I've been sorta paralyzed for the last several weeks, getting only a little bit done on projects with deadlines, but not really accomplishing as much as I'd like, nor getting to projects that are burning in my brain to be started!  And the truth is, I don't really function well in chaos....which is a shame, 'cause I don't really function well as a housekeeper, either! LOL

We had a bunch of friends over on Saturday night, though, and the impending cook-out/games night meant getting my house in order for company!  My sewing room looked like the villains from Raiders of the Lost Ark had come through, ransacking for ancient powerful artifacts!! Is that the Ark of the Covenant!!! The Holy Grail? Glowing stones for ancient gods or crystals left by aliens!?! 

NO! just gigantic piles of fabrics, scraps, and tools, thank you very much!

Since I can't seem to clean the rest of the house until the sewing room is done, I tied in and got-r-done!

Finally, then, I'm free from the weeks of  clutter and ever-mounting piles of stuff! in my sewing room (although I dare not open the closet door too fast for fear of an avalanche!!  That is a project for another day!), and I'm able to start something I've been wanting to do for a while.

I delved into my scraps today to make a leader/ender project.  Many of the pieces had already been cut into 1 1/2" strips, so I started whittling them down into squares for "Crabapples" from Bonnie Hunter's Adventures with Leaders and Enders book.

I'll feed my leaders and enders through as I work on a couple more quilts for others (I've got a t-shirt quilt and a couple of memorial quilts on the burner) and on Sam's Darling Hearts.  Last week I received a block from Teresa at Fabric Therapy, and it's another beautiful addition to the quilt:

That brings the total of blocks I've received up to 34!!!  I'm eager to start putting them together!!

I love the words Teresa embroidered on her block:  "Hearts Fly Free"

I've been reading in the gospel of John this month, and Jesus talks a lot about freedom!  "The truth will set you free," He says in chapter 8, verse 32.  A little further in the chapter He says this...

"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  (John 8:34-35)

There's no doubt in my mind that my son Sam is free!! What a blessing! What a testimony!  So Teresa's block is another beautiful expression of Sam's life and death.  I've been amazed at how people have understood his heart and made blocks that just "fit," you know?

Now if I could just get all my sewing stuff to fit....
I'm not sure even Indiana Jones could help me with that!!

Blessings,

Temptation!

Temptation comes in many forms and I've had more than my share in the last little while!! :-) Who knew I would be so easily led astray!! LOL

Our pastor called our church to a corporate Daniel fast this month. Like Daniel in the Bible, he encouraged the congregation to eat simply and Biblically. Traditionally, Daniel is said to have eaten vegetables and fruits, no meats or sweets or the "rich foods of the king." Jeff and I agreed to give it a try. I did very well at home, even lost 4 lbs in the first 4 days!  ...

But when I traveled with some friends to Berea, KY for their annual Quilt Extravaganza, I didn't fare so well!


My friends and I ate at the inestimable historic Boone Tavern, Berea College's hotel and restaurant of modern Southern cuisine. I was done for!! Chicken in a Bird's nest (the nest is made of deep fried, thin strips of potatoes) with cranberry orange jelly! Spoon bread!! It was fantastic. Not so good for my consistency on the Daniel fast! :-)

And then there were the vendors at the quilt show!! I do not need fabric.  But it's difficult to resist some of the beautiful things I saw.  I managed to pick up just a few goodies.  I still don't know how to use batiks or hand-dyes, but I'm drawn to their rich color and silky texture.  I succumbed to temptation all too easily!

In the wake of my loss this summer, I find myself lonely for Sam so often.  And with that loneliness comes the temptation to fill the emptiness with the wrong things. 

Wanting to be closer than is appropriate with a fun male friend. 
Spending too much. 
Giving in to depression. 
Pulling away from God. 
Telling Him, "I don't want to be close to You right now!"

He is so big and so mighty, though, that my pain and the resulting temptations do not scare or surprise Him!  In fact, He is aware in every way of what I am going through. 

The writer of Hebrews explains:
"...He had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people." (Hebrews 2:17 NIV)

Then, catch this in verse 18:

"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

The Apostle Paul says, "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV)

I don't think it's ever easy to resist temptation.  Sometimes, it's downright painful.  And right now, that pain seems to compound the other loss that I feel.  But Jesus knows all about suffering, and He is able to help.

I don't know exactly what way of escape will be available, but when I need it, He will provide it.  It will probably include that perfect little word that is so hard to say:  "No!"  But He will help me say it.

And He will fill the empty places as no one and nothing else can!

Blessings,

10th Hour

A day late and a dollar short....
Yeah! That's about right!! LOL
Finally! Finally got  my Hands 2 Help Challenge Quilt top completed!!  I've struggled with this one!!

Diane sent me some beautiful bright fabrics along with a soothing gray.  (Her blog -- click here -- is just beautiful, too!) I added fabrics from my stash and this is the finished flimsey:

The quilt has to be in the mail no later than the end of this week, so I'll be putting it on the Hobby Quilter tomorrow to finish it up and get it mailed on time. 

My friend Pat from upstate New York :-), the Project Linus Coordinator in our area, volunteered to send a quilt for the children in Romania!! Pat's quilt, like mine, is bright colors -- and she used the cutest print for the backing!! I'm so thrilled to have an extra quilt to send with mine!!

Seems like for weeks now that I've spun my wheels and not gotten much done, but perhaps I've turned a corner by getting Jennifer's quilt top (last post) and this one complete.

I need to work on Farmer's Wife blocks this week, complete a block for a friend (due on Saturday), get my club's Mystery Quilt installment written...
Lots to do!

My church is reading the Gospel of John together during the next 21 days -- one chapter a day.  Today was the first day and first chapter.  It tickled me to read that a couple of John the Baptist's desciples followed Jesus about the "tenth hour." :-)  (Wonder if they were working on quilts for orphans?! :-D)

Even more impressive, though, is Andrew's response to Jesus:

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.  (John 1:41-42a)

It's never too late -- 10th hour or no! -- to know Jesus.  It's never to late to tell someone else and bring them to Him!!

Blessings,

Friendship

On Sunday morning, bright and early, my best friend pulls out of the driveway I've driven up and down at least a hundred times in the last year and heads for her new home in another state.  I'm not quite ready to let her go!! :-)

You'd think it would be easy....I have lots of friends! Quilting friends, church friends, school friends, homeschooling friends -- and even Words with Friends friends! :-D

But it's a very rare thing when all the planets converge and all those friendship properties collide in one person! Jennifer has been friend, confidante, sounding board (probably a sounding BORED from her end! LOL), networker, quilter, shopper, purse maker (she came to my house and said, "We're sewing those purses you've had cut out for over a year TODAY!  Here, sew this seam!")...

We go to church together, quilt club together, quilt shows, homeschool events, Boy Scouts....
She even has a son named Sam!!  Could any two people be more destined to become friends?

Her boys and my Sam were best friends.  Luke and Sam were nearly inseparable, and my Emily is big sister to all of them.  Last fall we traveled with them to Mississippi for their family reunion, stopping by Operation Christmas Child (the shoebox people! :-D) to serve on the way home.

Our families ate dinner together tonight and I gave her a "scrapbook" quilt memento of our combined history (this is the "sneak peaks" I've been showing):

It has all the states we traveled together. "In-jokes" our families have shared.  (We'd laugh to split a gut over the Geico commercial with the militant therapist who asks, "You know what makes me sad...?  You do!" he answers himself! LOL).  A World Changers mission trip emblem; "Yo tengo hambre!" (I am hungry!! from teenage boys in the backseat of my van from KY all the way to Louisiana! LOL).  Runners for our boys and their cross country races and 5K's. Names and words and phrases and memories in the borders.  Favorite restaurants and funny experiences.

When Sam died, Jennifer and her boys were on their way to meet her husband, who had already started his new job there, to house-hunt in their new locale.  She was past Chattanooga, more than 3 hours from us.  When I called with the news that Monday morning, she immediately turned the car around -- put their life on hold!! -- and came to me.  And stayed all week. And served.  And cried with me and for me. 

She is beautiful and talented, wise, compassionate and practical, a gifted leader, teacher, organizer and networker.  She is wonderful at putting people together.  And I am missing her already.  We'll remain close, of course, but I will miss the everyday things!  I will miss her boys! Our lives -- and now our memories! -- are so intertwined....It's as if she is taking not only herself and her family but also a part of us, too. 

In Scripture there was such a friend.

The son of King Saul, Jonathan, befriended a shepherd named David.  "Jonathan," 1 Samuel 18:1 says, "became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself."  Later in chapter 20, Jonathan chooses David's welfare and future as king over his own (much to Saul's dismay and disappointment!).  When Jonathan warns David of the danger of King Saul,

"...David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town." (1 Samuel 20:41-42 NIV)

Only God can bring people together in such a way.  I am so blessed to have Jennifer as a friend!!  I hope I AM such a friend!!

Blessings,

More Heart

I arrived home from camp on Saturday to find some lovelies waiting for me!
Two more beautiful blocks for Sam's Darling Hearts:

One from Mrs. G at From the Strawberry Patch and one from Janet O. at Rogue Quilter! They are perfect! I took the other blocks to camp to show the gals there, and I haven't put them back up on the design wall with these yet, but I will.  I can't wait to see how they all look together.

I can't just yet because of the I-can't-reveal-it-yet project that I'm working on.

I have another sneak peak (or two)....

For those of you who guessed states last time, yes...!  We are journeying through the south.  I should know by this weekend where I'm going! LOL  (Sorry, Crispy! I know how you hate sneak peaks!! :-D) 

I also received a package containing my Farmhouse Quilt Kit from Laundry Basket Quilts.  Just look at how Edyta puts her kit together!

Everything is labeled and folded beautifully so that you can see all the colors and textures.  I love her use of color!! And since I'm terrible at using batiks, I figure I'll take advantage of her flair for them to make the Farmhouse quilt from her Friendship Strips and Scraps book.

We also received word while I was at camp that our Sam died of cardiac disrhythmia of unknown etiology. Which means, of course, that his heart stopped and they don't know why.  Profound, huh!?

:-) We will probably not know in this life the physiological cause of his death.  Paul tells us, though, in 1 Corinthians 13 (Amplified) that the time will come when we will understand "fully and clearly":

¹²For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as ^[a]in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand ^[b]fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been ^[c]fully and clearly known and understood [^[d]by God].

Our family doctor looked over the medical examiner's report and commented that Sam had a large heart! Not at all unusual for a runner like Sam.  But we knew he had a big heart long before he started running! :-)  Sam's best friend, Luke, commented that Sam loved without filters.

Like Jesus.

Paul ends his chapter this way:

¹³And so faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Sam's Darling Hearts will be a visible reminder of what love looks like!  I hope my own legacy is that my heart was big and I loved without filters!  .

Blessings!

Home Away From Home

I'm spending this week in LaFollette, TN at Galilee Bible Camp where the kids and I have served during the last several summers.  It's Middle School week and Will is a camper and I'm leading worship each evening at chapel.

The staff and volunteers here pour themselves into the campers week after week during the summer.  They are dear friends, and they have been a wonderful influence on our family.  We are blessed to be a part of the ministry here.

This week, I'm not as active as usual at camp.  It's a kind of retreat for me, as there are memories of Sam everywhere.  Emily and Will, too -- so it's sweet and sad to be here with Sam gone, Emily grown up, and Will so quickly growing, too.

One of the missionaries, Rebecca, gave me a couple of heart blocks for Sam's Darling Hearts quilt.  She is catching the quilting bug (YES!! :-D), and rightly so with Selma Jean and I helping her catch it!!

Selma Jean, a prolific wonderful quilter, also made a heart block. And she surprised me yesterday with beautiful handmade ornaments, each embroidered with my children's names.

On Sam's she included the dates of his birth and death.  It struck me that from now on, people will see Emily and Will and think I only have two children.  But I have three.  I'll always have three. :-)  So three ornaments!! Selma Jean understands!!!

I brought projects to work on while at camp.  It's a nice quiet time for me, and I have some deadlines approaching....the Hands-2-Help quilt for Romania, for one!  I've got the blocks laid out and ready to be put together. The deadline is the end of the month....so yeah! Onward!! LOL

I also have another project that is short on time (aren't they all! LOL)!  This one, I can't reveal just yet, but here is a hint....

 

I have the rest of that quilt in my head...and it's gotta get outa there and onto fabric in the next couple of weeks....Let's hope I can make that transition from vision to concrete reality! LOL

Between the heat and my working on projects, I'm ready for sleep tonight.  I'm resting on a beautiful pillowcase made by my friend, Lil.  She makes dozens of pillowcases to share with friends, family and people in need.  She knows my colors (red, green and gold!!), and I love that she included a label on the inside, too.

It's an oasis here, a home away from home.  Maybe because I take "home" with me! :-D  My sewing machine!  My pillow and my quilts.  My Pepsi! :-D (and a bit of zucchini bread).  My family. My friends.  My memories.

And the God of all Comfort and Peace:

Psalm 139:7-10

⁷Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?
⁸If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
⁹If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

There's no place like Home!

Blessings!

Words with Friends

I haven't gotten much done in the last few days.  I find that I've been captivated by a little game called Words with Friends!!

I inherited Sam's iPod -- everybody else in the family already had one!! -- and I figured I'd use it to listen to audio books while I work or walk.  Sam had mostly games and music on his, and 99% of the games didn't interest me at all, but I really wanted to play Words!

And boy, have I been playing!! LOL
I blame my children, of course.  They'd never play Scrabble with me. 

And while it's true that I'm a TINY (teeny, tiny, really!!!) bit competitive, I would have given them a sporting chance.  At first.  Until the opportunity came to use all my letters....

Tracy from Back to Basics plays with me.  And when she's busy (cooking, canning, gardening, quilting, walking....she gets LOTS of stuff done!!!) or her kids are busy (they really are very good sports!), I troll for random players online.  I'm enthralled!!! I keep the game up by my sewing machine and respond when I hear the "ding-a-ling" signalling a word has been proffered!

The t-shirt quilt I've been working on has a lot of words on it...

I like some of the sentiments that are going into the quilt.  Like this one:

Scripture says "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." (Proverbs 18:21 KJV)
I like how the Message version states it:
"Words kill, words give life;
they're either poison or fruit—you choose."

I have received literally hundreds of words of comfort and blessing since I started blogging last year, and most especially in the last few weeks. 

Good words make such a difference, don't they? 

"A word fitly spoken," says the Proverbs, "is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." (Proverbs 25:11 KJV)
Doesn't that description make you wanna applique? LOL 

"Picture" is a seven-letter word...it's serious bonus points if I use all seven of my letters.  My ID is mlcasada if you wanna play!!

Blessings,