Why can't I remember

to take my camera when I go to quilting day ??????????????

Agh !   I saw a most gorgeous scrap quilt top today while I was there, and never even missed the camera until I was on the way home and wanted to smack my forehead right there, going down the highway !

But, backing up a bit, I got my White sewing machine out, since the walking foot works well on it also, and took it and the brown quilt down to the senior center to join the other girls.  I got there at around 9:30 a.m. and stayed until 11:45, so it was a good morning's visit.   I set up at the end of Dot's table, and everytime someone called out her name for help, MY head would pop up, because that was the nickname I used in my Shawnee, OK quilting group.  But, I quietly machine-quilted while listening to all the 'quilt talk' going on around me as we worked together.  It was like music to my ears, hearing that special 'language' again.  I heard a lady say, "next I'm going to add this fabric to 'stop it' ", and I thought, now, non-quilters would think "stop WHAT?"  But I KNEW what she meant !

Before I left, Dot was across on the other side of our table with the opposite end of my quilt, helping me to bury my threads in the back side of the quilt......(again, "bury my threads?") without even being asked,  and I just LOVED the sharing again.  

Then I bought hubby a barbeque sandwich, came home and ate lunch with him, and grabbed the quilt to tie some more threads before going out to the church's food distribution afternoon at 1:30.   I looked up, and it was ALREADY 1:30 !   Had to jump, and boogie !  After having suffered chest pains all evening yesterday from talking too much (I expend so much air when I talk, with this vocal cord standing open ),  I prayed, "LORD, please let me have strength of what voice I have for people to be able to understand  their choices today."   I SAID that I would cut back on the 'cutting up' that I have been doing with a fellow worker.......but that didn't happen much...............BUT, my loving FATHER did give me voice to make it through the afternoon with NO CHEST PAIN AT ALL !   Praise His HOLY name !

AND, while there, I heard that my niece came through a surgical removal of a cyst from her collapsed lung, doing very well !   Thank GOD !  She has two daughters, 6 and 2, and a husband, that want her home very badly, not to mention that she is the head of the local physical therapy clinic.  Victory in JESUS !   That's what I'M talking about !

No pictures today, but hopefully............SOON a finished, photographed quilt !

Love ya's !

Time for bed

I had a pretty productive day.  I set up a quilting station in my sewing room, placing my cabinet-machine in front of my cutting table, and snugging the ironing board up near my left elbow, all for supporting the weight of the quilt.

 I machine-quilted the 'bones' of the brown quilt, going down in the ditch of all the long, light-colored sashing strips.  Now I'm doing some cross-seams.

I have a stencil that I think I am going to use on the wide strips, but it involves lots of twisting and turning to do with the walking foot, so I'll take it a bit at a time.  I think I'm going to like the finished look.
Today's weather started out cloudy and cool, but by mid-afternoon, it was 74 degrees and sunny with very little wind.  My baby girl turned 36 years old today.  I got to say 'happy birthday' over the phone, but my voice is so weird that she couldn't really hear much else.  That makes me sad.  But she had a good day and that makes me happy.

Buttercups are blooming all around me, and I especially love these two-tone ones that are around the mailbox.

I even have a couple of Hyacinth blooming.  Welcome, welcome little blooms, so beautifully adorned by our heavenly Father.

Spring has finally arrived !

Yes, I know that it comes on the same day every year, but the weather this past Winter made it seem extremely long !

Whatever the case, hallelujah, God is on the throne, and the seasons continue.

The first day of Spring was beautiful here, with a temperature in the high 60's, and lots of sunshine.  I had been awaiting this day to baste a quilt, but that didn't happen.

After not sleeping well for the last 3 nights, and it being especially bad last night, I awakened with a slight pain in my chest when I coughed, and a feeling of no energy at all.

Knowing that I had freshly-purchased ground beef in the fridge that needed to be used, I made myself go right to work in the kitchen.  I made up a huge pot of many-vegetables soup (my go-to lunch when I want to spend time piecing/quilting), and a big pan of beef enchiladas (these have become a favorite of hubby's).  During all of the prep work and cooking, I barely felt like standing up straight.

As soon as everything was done or simmering, I grabbed my Bible for some study, and prayed to the Father to rebuke the devourer for His name's sake ---  to please take this affliction from me, which was causing me to be short-tempered with dear hubby.

Well, it wasn't probably 15 minutes before the funk lifted off of me, and I felt just fine.  Praise be to God, my Healer !

 I spied my trash barrel full of leaves that I had been waiting to burn on a wind-still day.  So, I started in on them, not realizing that it meant that I had given up the entire afternoon to 'fire control' !   The wind came up just a bit, and I dared not leave the barrel alone, so I just set out to rake up, stir, and burn all I could gather around the garden spot.  As night fell, I took the water hose and sprayed down the last of the smoldering leaves in the bottom of the barrel.

But, blessedly, I heard on tonight's weather report that we are supposed to have an even nicer day tomorrow.  So, hopefully atleast one quilt top will get basted.  My neighbor reminded me that I not only have the back porch where I can baste, but also my carport as well !    Can't believe I never thought of that !

Finishing things.

I have no picture to share today, as my camera batteries need recharging.  I took a picture today, but now the camera says that the card needs formatting.  But if I do that I'll lose what's on the card.  Usually when it says that, actually the batteries just need a charge.

So, anyway, I've been busy lately getting some things finished.  A few days ago, I figured out what I wanted the back to look like for the "Diamonds in the Dirt" quilt top, so I got that completely pieced.  Very happy with it, but will wait to share it when the quilt is finished.  I don't know if I want to hand or machine-quilt it, so I don't know whether I want polyester or cotton/poly batting.

Today, I pulled out the Japanese X and Plus top and added a border to it.  For me, the quilt top was just TOO BUSY, and yet my hubby LOVES it !  I feel like the border helps contain the chaos just a bit.  Both this, and the top mentioned earlier, measure around 56 x 80 inches.  They'll top a full-sized bed, but are really extra-big nap quilts.  I told hubby that with health changes and sleeping in recliners and on couches, maybe it's a smart thing to have some of this size quilt around nowadays !

Next  thing I want to accomplish is getting a back together for the x and + top.  I bought a beautiful Valori Wells print for my scrappy tripalong top, but I don't really like that one nor want to finish it, so I may borrow that fabric for this top.

Tomorrow is my middle grandchild's birthday.  Timothy Daniel, Jr. will be 8 years old.  I have missed so much !  I love that little guy, he has the sweetest heart.

Back to the cold !

After 2 beautiful, warm, sunny days spent outdoors, (discovering my first buttercup blooms),  today's temperature started out around 62 and fell all day with a cold north wind.  They're saying we might have snow flurries tonight.  Hubby said, "oh, no ! "  I say, "if it's gonna be cold anyway, atleast give me the beauty of the snowflakes flying!"

So, I spent this day INDOORS, doing housework, cooking, and trying to figure out a backing design for the brown/diamonds quilt.

  I received my backing fabric,

A design by Riley Blake, purchased from Fabric.com

 which I have to piece, so I'm trying to use the leftover lopped-off triangles to work some red into the back design.

I may just have it worked out now.

I cooked a meatloaf, real mashed potatoes, and a wonderful pot of white beans with chunks of leftover ham for supper tonight.  Yummy, good, cold weather comfort food !  Good thing I have trouble eating or I'd be fat as a town dog !
Believe me, though, I got down a good (healthy?) portion !  Praise God !

 Tomorrow, the roofer is scheduled to start work, so I have a good excuse to hang close to home and sew.

Hope your week ends well !

The yard is calling !

Yesterday's temperature reached 60, and today was as warm, but more windy.  Not being able to resist, I raked leaves from more flowerbeds today, discovering lovely little green starts peeking their way out of the ground.  I saw "Seven Steps to Heaven", Phlox, Daisies,  Rose bushes, Irises, Candy Tuft, Violets.....all starting to wake up again !

A young man came to measure our roof and give us an estimate for covering it with metal.  Another roofer comes tomorrow to discuss his estimate.  God has blessed us with hopefully enough insurance compensation to pay for the new roof and possibly a couple of other small repairs.

Also, today I received my package from Connecting Threads.  I managed to snag a great deal on their backing fabric when it was on sale, and only paid $8.36 per yard for their $11.96 per yard  104 inch-wide fabric.  Not knowing what I'll use it for, I chose a color that I thought would work on a number of quilts.....it is called 'silver lining', and a couple of hours after receiving my 3 yard piece, I noticed that the sky outside was mimicking the fabric's name !

Isn't that just like God to give me a smile that way ! ? !

Tuesday I should receive my other score........I found fabric for $3.49 per yard, a Riley Blake large leaf print, to back my brown and diamonds strip quilt, plus a beige-colored print for the binding at the same great price, from Fabric.com.  Their sale goes until midnight on the 10th; it's called the cotton print blowout sale, and they brag about prices of $5.95, but I saw quite a few fabrics priced at $3.49 !

Post Script:  I was thinking about 'low volume' fabrics a couple of days ago, and realized that, what with my vocal nerve damage,  I myself am now LOW VOLUME !    ha ha ha ha ha ha !

Beautiful hope of Spring

Today was a GORGEOUS day.  I spent a LOT of it outside.  Once I went out there, it was hard to make myself stay inside.

Hubby and I pulled up the old garden fence stakes and rolled up  the nylon fencing.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll re-till the space I used last year and till up a bit more to go with it.  We'll see.......wintertime inactivity makes that sound like AN AWFUL LOT OF WORK, but each year I'm able to do more than I expect.

Then, we can buy new stakes and re-erect the fencing.  I'm not sure about these new 're' words I'm making up, but I'm going with them !  LOL !

The only picture I have to share is the one I took yesterday evening trying to capture the beautiful sunset.  I looked out my living room window when hubby told me I had to see something.  And the sky was actually STRIPED.  Of course, by the time I shot the photo, it had changed or I couldn't capture it or something.  Some things, you just have to keep as a beautiful memory, right?

I sent packages for Kelley's and Timothy, Jr.'s birthdays today.  For once, I'm not sweating getting them to them on time !  Yay !

Finally, some finished knitting !

I finished knitting these socks on Monday evening, right after the little tabletopper quilt.

I've had them in the works for probably 6 months or more.  They are just plain stockinette in a superwash wool that I purchased from someone on Etsy YEARS ago !

As usual, I wish that I had made the cuffs longer.........I always get so antsy to be done with the cuff, and then I regret that they're too short to wear with thermal underwear !   I should remember, "Dolly, you don't wear WOOL socks in the summertime !"

Anyway, I'm glad I finished a pair, as I've worn holes in several older pairs lately.  Somehow, my feet are always able to find a loose screw sticking up from a doorway threshold, or Lottie grabs my foot with her claws as I walk by her lying on the carpet.

And, hey, I discovered something else that I'm able to chew and swallow !
Enchiladas !  Yay......I've been thinking of making some of these again for awhile, and finally got around to it today.  Yum !  Hubby ate 2 helpings....I had to go easy on the sauce on his half of the pan.  He doesn't like tomatoey things very much.

Starting to feel like they may have stoked the old acid-reflux, though.  Good thing I don't make these very often !

Thank God for quilting !

I would go absolutely bonkers staying inside during a cold, snowy, sleety winter like this if it wasn't for sewing, quilting, knitting.......

 Thank God I restored my sewing room to working order again too.  I have just had THE BEST time the last couple of days.  I went in there yesterday and played with scraps all day long, just wanting to make some little something pretty. 

 I got into my scraps bins and pieced 3 wonky stars, which is something I've always wanted to try.  Well, then I messed around with strip-piecing to make some filler blocks.  I was aiming, at that point, for something just big enough to cover the chairside table in the living room.   

I even went so far as to hand-sew some batting strips together while I watched the Walking Dead episode.  So this morning I had my batting and top all ready for basting to a backing.  

more Valori Wells Dandelions, this time in pink/red/coral

I machine-quilted in straight parallel lines, using the edge of the walking foot to keep the lines about 1/2 inch apart all over.  I dug into more scrap strips for the binding and Voila ! 

 FUN, FUN, FUN !

Prayer and wishes of more good times and happy moments with her mom to Dee.  You were whom I thought of as these happy colors came together; it reminds me so much of the pretty, girly things you turn out so often.  I'm glad you have your 'stitching therapy' too....may God continue to keep you and your family in His tender care.  Love to your mom.