Peaceful Christmas

Hubby and I spent a peaceful Christmas day together......our 39th Christmas celebration as a couple.  Come December 31st, we will have been married for 38 years.

Last night we went to a celebration at the home of my brother, John.  Then, we drove over to Jeff's home, another brother, and exchanged gifts.  This afternoon, John and Deb came by and we enjoyed yet another exchange of gifts.

My daughter, Kelley, was tickled that I sent gifts instead of money this year, and she was really taken with the red jacket that I bought for her.   I spoke to each of the 3 grandkids this morning, and it sounds like they must have been very good,  judging by the number of gifts each one described having gotten.

God has been so very good to all of us, and James and I have enjoyed a most peaceful and blessed year this year.  After attending funerals for the husbands of two dear ladies that attend my church, I am so very blessed and thankful to have my precious husband still by my side.

I hope that you, my friends, have been blessed with peace, health, and love in abundance this Christmas.

As for what's next, I have started piecing a new project, and I don't know how much bigger it will grow.....

but, it will go on hold temporarily while I take on a long-awaited commissioned work for JoAnn's daughter, Jennifer.

Downtime

Well, I'm curious to see if the problem I had with Blogger last time has been solved.

Seems to be !   Praise the LORD !

Lottie is awfully glad that we returned the new 40-inch flatscreen t.v., and is hoping that Santa doesn't decide to bring another one to replace it.   I think that this is her personal heater/viewing window on the world of falling leaves and wildlife.

Yesterday, I finished a pair of fingerless mitts.  I knitted them to begin with, and then after seaming them together, I crocheted around the finger edge to make them a bit longer.  I decided to use shells on the top side, and plain single crochet underneath.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

Today, I did absolutely nothing worthwhile......except for a little morning Bible reading.  I tried to get interested in a piecing project, but just couldn't get the 'juices' to rise !

I'd like to make a quilt for a dear friend's grown grandson, but I haven't been able to decide on a design.  I guess it'll just have to percolate a bit longer.

Our church's Christmas program was last night, and it was a good evening, balanced between laughter and thankfulness for our most priceless gift, the birth of our saviour, JESUS.

I haven't done any decorating as of yet, and I don't know if I will.  But I celebrate Jesus in my heart !

Back from Internet Hiatus.......again !

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but for some reason, I can only see my typing text when I click on the HTML button. I know I've been away for a while, and I did feel that I had misplaced my 'blogging mojo', but this is an unexpected quandry ! Anyway, I have been busy during my hiatus.

I pieced and quilted a large couch-sized quilt for my 81 year-old sister-in-law. Her favorite color is yellow, and she has been a lifetime crafter, so I wanted to really tailor this quilt to her likes. I took the time to hand-quilt it, which was really an unusual occurence for me these days, but I'm glad that I could do that for her. I sent the quilt to her last week, and she is very tickled with her surprise. I don't have any photographs to share of the work that I've done for my best gal-pal, Jodie Ann. I pieced 2 quilt tops for her, and am about to undertake the assembly of her daughter's 'state flowers' hand-embroidered blocks, after which I hope to do the hand-quilting also. Also, back in the month of October, my daughter blessed me by driving out here to bring my grandchildren for a visit after a long absence of 2 1/2 years ! It was a short visit, but PRICELESS ! How I love that girl of mine and her babies......hubby too, although I didn't get to see him. Well, I've previewed this post, and although I divided it into paragraphs, blogger chose to run it all together ! So, I apologize, but I'M BACK.......kindof ! Thanks for all the comments I found waiting for me when I came back !

It's that time again......

.......Internet Hiatus time, I mean.  Everytime my bundle price runs out, I take a leave of absence from home net access, and it begins again at midnight tonight !

So, I'll miss you 'til we 'chat' again, hopefully with me checking in sometimes at the library.

But I'll leave you with the last of my September pics !

Love to all !
Here's one last bouquet from Summer/Fall of 2014

It's been a big week !

I finished the little quilt that I was hand-quilting.


I've named it

GARDEN'S GATE

It measures around 40 inches by 46 inches. It is my own original design.  I pieced and appliqued it atleast a year ago, probably quite a bit longer ago.

 I quilted each of the brown diamonds into 4 sections, and quilted a smaller diamond in the center of each colorful diamond.

Each border received a different quilting design; the top and right borders were quilted by following the design elements in the prints; the left border used a stencil of flower and vine, and the bottom border received vertical lines one inch apart.

The back is made up of various pieces of red/pink/white printed fabrics that I had stashed away.

 I wish I had the energy to use up my DRAWERS full of fabric like this !  I love this type of back on a quilt.

Also, the LORD has seen fit to let me win another wonderful prize.....

































...this time from a drawing at our local health fair.  I was contacted this afternoon to let me know that I had won the 1100 watt Nutri Ninja Professional pitcher/singleserve blender !

I hope I will now be able to enjoy fruit in my diet again !  Drinking fruit would be much easier for me than eating it !  God is just so very good to me.......not just when I win things !  ALL THE TIME !  But winning surely is fun !

A quiet Labor Day

Hubby and I spent this holiday getting some much-needed mowing done.  We finished the front yard and part of the back...........it's getting to be quite a chore for this couple of oldies.  But it looks so pretty when it's mowed, with it's gently undulating front yard and all of the blooming flowers and bushes....we are so very blessed !

Believe it or not, the one on the right is older than the rest of us and we were celebrating his 62nd birthday, which is today.  Looking good, John !

 Yesterday, I did a little bit of running around, catching up with 4 of my 5 brothers.  Two live here in town, and I see them at church, but one lives in Fairview, and one in Murfreesboro, so it was good to catch a visit with them.

I've been busy with some hand-quilting, but I've reached the borders, and I don't know what I'm going to put in three of them (followed the fabric's printed pattern for the fourth), so it has me stopped in my tracks for now.

Hope all is well with friends out in blogland !

The cat's out of the bag !

No, no, NO  !    Not a REAL cat !

It's just a saying, for heaven's sake !

I mean.......I can finally reveal my latest finished quilt,

"Misty Morning's Stars"

I delivered the quilt to it's recipient this morning.

 She's my childhood best friend, Shirley, and she is fighting a battle to breathe every day.  

She lives with emphysema, and spends alot of time in her chair or her bed; so I knew that a quilt would be something that she would use alot and still be reminded of our friendship.  

The quilt is pieced from 2 different sets of charm packs......the starpoints were made from one that was actually made up of triangles, called Turnovers.  That collection was "Swanky", by Chez Moi, and the squares in the middle of these stars are made from "Dream On" charms.  The grey background fabric was actually a 104 inch-wide fabric that I bought from Connecting Threads with the possible intention of using as a quilt back.   It's a bit heavier than the average quilting cotton, so I wouldn't want to piece a top with it again.  In fact, I wouldn't want it as a back either.........this quilt has a polyester batting, as I wanted it to be lightweight, yet warm, but it came out VERY heavy due to that grey fabric.

 For the actual quilt backing, I used a beautiful, vintage printed sheet .

  It had all the same colors that were contained in the prints used for the stars, and made a wonderfully, cool, smooth back.

The quilt finished with a measurement of approximately 58 x 76 inches maybe.....I can't quite remember, but it is very large for a couch quilt.  I wanted to be sure she could use it when she was in bed also.

I just machine-quilted in the ditch around the stars, and used a cable stencil for the outer border.  The binding was the same fabric as the background.

Now, I'm doing a bit of hand-quilting on my latest project.   I brought a UFO out of hiding, and pieced the backing (you can see a sneak peek of the backing underneath Lottie-dah, at the top of this post.)  I'm enjoying the slow pace of the handwork.  

Talk to you soon !

A finish, but not a full reveal........

....yes, I finished the latest quilt yesterday.   I can only share a partial shot of the quilt at this time, as I hope to give it as a gift within the next 2 or 3 weeks, and I don't know if the recipient of the quilt reads my blog.......it's possible !

So, for now, here is a peek at what I like to call,

"Misty Morning's Stars"

Oh, and I almost forgot to share these photos I took yesterday.  I went to hang the quilt on my clothesline for photo-taking and I noticed something green at the top of the clothesline pole.

Upon closer observation, I discovered that it was a Cicada emerging from it's old shell.  I had never before witnessed the shedding stage, and I was AMAZED.


God has a plan for EVERYTHING and I am in AWE !

Close, but not quite there yet.......

......I finished my latest quilt yesterday------up to the point of trimming the edges getting ready for the binding.  I haven't yet CUT the binding.....in fact, I haven't definitely decided upon which fabric it will be.

But the quilting is all done, and I hope to be able to share it soon.

It's raining now, still giving us the strangest summer I've lived through.  I'm so thankful for the rain and cooler temperatures, though.

Oh, and I found a pressure cooker at a yardsale a week or so ago, and have been having fun experimenting with it.  In just a few minutes time, last night, I cooked vegetables in a beef broth that were as good as having roasted them in with a cut of beef for several hours !  YUM !

I'm not ready to photograph the quilt yet, so I'll just toss in a new picture of my baby and me.   I know the photo is at the top of my blog for now, but that will change eventually, and this one will remain !

Grandmother's Flower Garden....but not a quilt !

I've been very lax in posting to my blog this year.   I don't know.....I started to feel like I was just posting pictures of my 'pretty work' so that people could tell me how talented I am.....and that didn't feel right.  I am so very thankful for the gift of creating quilty stuff that the LORD has blessed me with, and my desire is to share that with others.   But I find myself checking the blog often just to see if anyone else has commented.  There.......I've put it out there.  Maybe it's a silly thing to share here, but it is what it is.  The Bible says to confess your faults to one another, (James 5:16), and, alas, that has been one of mine that has bothered me.

You know that same scripture says to also pray for one another and you will be healed.  I don't know about you, but I grew up, and grew old, with the feeling that you didn't talk about something good that was happening, because you might jinx it........but the HOLY SPIRIT is teaching me to PROCLAIM the good things of GOD.  So I want to mention right here and now, since the Bible says that about healing, that I run across people ALL the time that are praying for ME.......imagine !  For me !   And I have noticed something the last few mornings.  For months, when I awakened, I would have to do this big, ugly-sounding cough, to clear out the saliva that had seeped into my windpipe while I slept.   Well...............the last few mornings, I haven't had to do that......it just wasn't there.   SEE !   God is restoring that damaged vocal nerve, day by day.  Praise God for HIS goodness, HIS mercy, HIS compassion.  With HIS stripes, I AM HEALED !


Now, having said all that, today I want to share my flower garden that God surrounds me with.  Another gift, a gift of beauty and peace, and a constant reminder of HIS awesomeness, it brings me daily joy !

Tiger Lily

This is my biggest Hibiscus, although it is not my oldest.  It has always been bright white with a deep scarlet eye.  All of my Hibiscus are the hardy type that stay in the ground and come back every year.......I owe their starts to Rose, my friend and neighbor up the street.

This is my original, first Hibiscus, given to me the year that I bought this place, 2011.  A windstorm broke off half of Roses plant, and she gave it to me as a start.

This is the same bush, maybe a week later, but now there's a traitor in the ranks !   I had seen that a new Hibiscus stalk had sprung up about 9 inches away from the original plant, so, assuming it was growing from the roots of the mother plant, I thought, "hooray, I'll finally have another deep pink plant !   I'll move it to where I want it, since I haven't been able to get any of that color when I plant them from seed. 

 Well, ........it bloomed today, and would you just look at that ! ? !  Palest pink !  

 I'd better treasure the mother plant and keep it in good shape, because I don't know how in the world I'll ever have another of that shade !   Actually, the Japanese beetles made a feast of it this year, as always, but it's blooming it's little heart out anyway !

This seems to be my year for Hibiscus.  A new plant started blooming over the mailbox, and is a pale to medium pink, as were two plants out at the backyard-edge garden.

These are morning glories growing in a hanging pot, from my front porch post.  On the opposite side of the porch, the basket contains purple ones, but I haven't gotten a really good photo of them.

Now, this is the three-in-one Rose of Sharon bush that I purchased from Michigan Bulb 3 years ago.  It has finally had a bit of a growing spurt this year and is about 2 feet tall.  They called it red,white,and blue, but it actually blooms in a pale purply pink, and today, a pale true pink.  I don't remember if I've seen a white bloom on it thus far.

This is the purply pink bloom color.  As you can see, they are double blooms.

 This is my favorite of my Rose of Sharon bushes.  It has the same flower as the ones I grew out in Oklahoma, although they SEEMED to grow a lot faster, and grew into small trees.  But, then again, I was in that same location for 19 years, so maybe the passage of time just fooled me !  But, I do love these single blooms !

My Crepe Myrtle bushes were labeled 'dwarf', and they are certainly living up to that name.  

I threw marigold and zinnia seed out all around the perimeter of my garden this spring, and they have really done well on two sides, and not too badly on the other two.  On this side, the tall yellow marigold somehow all wound up down one side WITHIN the fence !  They've just now started to bloom well.

It's a rare thing when I'm able to capture a picture from this rose bush BEFORE the Japanese Beetles ravage the bloom.!  This is the original rose bush that was here when I bought the place.

And this is the little garden that I've built up around that original Rose.  I bought the Knock Out rose on the other side for 50 cents in 2011, and it has really done well.  Too bad that the Japanese Beetles find it so tasty.  I didn't get around to replacing the lures in the beetle bags this year, but I find satisfaction in squishing between my fingers every beetle that I can get my hands on !

Poor baby, bug-ravaged, she's still giving it her all !

These are some of the flowers growing around the base of the roses.  It varies year by year.

These are some type of  Wildflower that God has blessed me with in my shade garden near the woods.  I don't know the name of them, but I welcome them !

Slowly but surely, I am attempting to have bushes planted all down the side of my driveway that borders the neighbor's yard.  It is very rough, gravelly and clay soil, but I keep trying.   This year I took my Rhododendron out of the big pot that you see there on the left, and put it and it's twin into the ground, one here, and the other behind the carport.  There is a Hydrangea there next, and then, in the ground, a Coxcomb and a new rose bush.  Beyond that are some Jerusalem artichokes, and then a Rose of Sharon bush.

I finally caught a sale on Hydrangea and purchased this one.  It was purply pink/blue when it bloomed at Walmart and I know that the color depends on the soil content.   It is a new variety that is supposed to rebloom all summer.   It seems to be acclimating itself to my yard, and is starting to bloom again..........white, right now !

It's hard to tell, but this, on the right, is a KnockOut rose that I started from some of Rose's trimmings.  It finally leafed out, and has even had one bloom.  It should be lovely here at the top of the driveway when it really gets some size on it.......maybe 2-3 years from now.....HOPEFULLY !

Well, if you've hung in there through this entire post, I applaud you.  I really just wanted to document for 2014 just how my yard is changing and evolving.

Be well, and be blessed, and GIVE GOD THE GLORY !