Construction

My blog site is under construction please bear with me while I finish it.

Family update and frustrations

Well mom was released from the hospital on April 2. She has been recovering remarkablly quick considering how bad she had been. The frustration comes in that she still needs some help and unfortunatly my own health has been compromised because of having to take care of her for the last couple of months. Boy when life gives a person hurdles, I sure seem to get them. But I have to remember that God will not give me more than I can handle. I just wish some days it was a little less, so I had a chance to rest. Anyway hopefully I will get back to my passion of quilting.

Mom update

Yesterday mom was taken off the ventilator and is breathing on her own. God did a miracle and I am so greatful and happy to hear my mom's voice again. She has a long ways to go and is not completely out of the woods, but everyday she is getting stronger.

Update on Mom

As of this afternoon the doctors were trying to get mom to start breathing with less assistance from the ventilator. Unfortunatly she is unable to do this yet. Over the next several days the doctors will keep running this test in hopes that she will be able to breath with out the machine. My prayers are that she is not suffering for this is a long process and unfortunatly the days that she is able to be on the ventilator are counting down we have 8 days left before a major decision is made. Nothing like putting mom on a time table to get something done, she is stubborn and will do things when she wants too, but right now she's got to start trying.

Unknown

I just realized that it has been a while since I posted. But have been so busy taking care of my mom. Unfortunatly she was admitted into the hospital on Sunday and just today was taken into the ICU and put on a ventilator to help her breathing. It is tough not knowing what is happening or if she is going to get better at the moment. So for those of you who do occasionally stop by to check I ask you to pray for her (Beth) and that God's will be done.

Out with the old in with the new

I have been thinking for awhile know that this ironing board cover needed replaced. Then one day was blog hopping and landing at Moda BakeShop and found the perfect way to recover my ironing board. So yesterday I spent making this bright and fun new cover. It sure looks better than that scorched and ripped cover. I had to look back in my blog to see how long it lasted, almost two years I got out of that cover. Maybe this quilted one will last longer (fingers crossed).

So tonight after work I got right to work and ironed the fabric that I picked up for my SBS block. I have never tried y-seams before and this proved to not be the easiest thing I have tackled. I know that with practice this will be easier, but hopefully (if I'm lucky) I won't have to do many of these y-seams. This is one of them blocks that if I do get better at y-seams I may remake the block. This block is called Love in the Mist and is just a beautiful block.

Last Weeks Accomplishes

Ok so it is the middle of the week but still thought I should finishing my list of accomplishments that I got accomplished and what I hope to get accomplished this week or whats left of it anyway. I did manage to finish the January and February Tiskat a Tasket blocks and start on May's block. Last year I did the March and April. So this leaves me 8 blocks to finish. I am hand appliquing these blocks and so enjoy this hand work while watching T.V. with my husband in the evening.

During the week I also managed to find time to make 3 more FWS blocks, but only got 1 SBS block done. Giving me a grand total for the week of 5 SBS blocks and 4 FWS. I realized that I did not have as much 30's fabrics left from my other projects so had to wait till I went to the quilt store to enhance my stash. Good to go for awhile. This weekend I started sorting the fabrics in my scrap tote. Oh boy did not get vary far but did manage to find some great pieces to use in my FWS. Sunday Sam and I got all her HST finished and trimmed and she learned how to iron towards the dark fabric.

My hopes for this week of course is to finish my May Tisket a Tasket and start on June's block. Of course work on more SBS and FWS blocks. I did stop by the quilt store on my lunch break to pick up the neccessary supplies to continue with my SBS. Other quilting plans finish the "Nutcracker" top I made for my husband for Christmas. I also have a project that I have been working on that needs the blocks arranged on the wall so I can finally sew them together. And of course last but not least help Sam sew her HST into a completed block. I am finding that writing my plans for the week and then posting my accomplishments is keeping me focused and getting somewhere on my WIP's.

Today's accomplishment

I have managed to catch a cold, so instead of making my mom (boss) sick I stayed home from work. Granted I wanted to sleep the day away, but figured then I would be up all night. So instead I did some sewing. I managed to put together 4 blocks for my SBS and the snowball block for FWS.

Accomplishments and next weeks plans

I just finished my first block from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (SBS) called Lady of the Lake. It was paper pieced and came out really good. I love paper piecing but hate having to take of the paper off once the block is done. I joined a couple groups that are working on this book, in hopes to keep myself on track and get many of these blocks done, if I'm really ambitious I might finish the whole book and have an awesome quilt in oh a few years.

My plans for this week are to finish a couple more of my Tisket a Tasket blocks. Make another SBS block and start working on my Farmers Wife Sampler (FWS) block.

Oh and help Sam (10)get her first Saturday Sampler block done. She decided this year to join me in this once a month project. The first month we get our block then on the second Saturday of the month if we have our block made we get that months block for free, if not then we pay $5.00 for the block. She has been sewing for awhile now, but now we are learning the techniques required to actual cut, piece, and assemble the blocks. I find it fun to be teaching her, something I love and hope one day she will continue. The picture above is my finished Saturday Sampler.

What I have been working on lately

I joined a group at my LQS to do some of the quilts in Remembering Adelia by Kathleen Tracy . We meet once a month on Wednesday. This month we did Turkey Tracks, I got all my blocks cut that night and yesterday I spent hours sewing these little pieces together. I am not real happy with the lighter purple sections because the white tracks are not seen easily. But was not going to redo two blocks over due to this small problem especially since everything lined up so well and I managed to not cut off any points. Of course I am having so much fun with this book I picked up another of her books "Prairie Children and Their Quilts."

Last week I prepped 8 Tisket a Tasket blocks so that I can sit and stitch in the evenings.

Snowbound

Snowbound is the newst Free BOM from Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. I think this pattern explains my weather here so will. We have had snow after snow and blizzards followed by more snow and now we have an artic freeze. Our temperatures are below zero with windchills around -37 degrees. To top this off my husbands truck battery decided to not start making me have to drive 45 minutes in blowing and drifting snow in these subzero degree weather. My little car could not get through parts of the highway forcing me to have to drive on the wrong side of the road. If I met oncoming coming traffic I would duck into my lane and wait for the vehicle to pass then I'd go back to driving on the wrong side of the road. Finally an hour and half later I arrived at Dennis work and he could drive us back home. As far as the little one she went back to school on Tuesday after Christmas break and has had the last two days off due to weather and classes have been cancelled tomorrow also due to the harsh cold and blowing and drifting snow. I normally love the snow but am ready fro Spring and temperatures over 30 degrees.

I hopy everyone is staying warm and maybe a few of you actually have nice warm weather that maybe could be sent my way.

Christmas Catch-up

Oops forgot to get pictures taken off Christmas decorations before everything was taken done. Guess I'll have to try next year to get pictures. Christmas was great had all of the kids at home. Kelsie managed to get to our house safely with our grandson (Zane). Zane was born 11-25-09 and I have just been in Grandma heaven, he is such a good baby. I still can't believe she is a mom and we are now grandparents. It was such a blessing to have everyone here. On top of this we had the worst storm or should I say blizzard of all time. Got close to 14 inchs in a 24 hour period. Past the best gift of having my whole family home for Christms I got two of Jennifer Chiaverini books "Quilters Holiday" and "The Lost Quilter" also received a couple new quilt books "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" and "The Farmer's Wife Sampler" by Laurie Aaron Hird. The blocks in these books are 6 inchs and each quilt has over 100 blocks. I'm going to be busy for a long time make small blocks. I finally finished the stitcheries from Crabapple Hill I started in June for my Sister-in-law and have gotten back to working on my "Tiskat a Tasket" that I started a year ago that Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs was so generous to give out the free patterns for. There are several projects that I would like to actually finish up and many of these are tops that need quilted. I really should make a list of my projects and their status of needs quilted, borders added, needs pieces sewn together, etc. maybe this would help me get a handle on these WIP's.

Remembering the Reason

Merry Christmas from mine to yours.

Christmas decorating in a new home

The house is finally unpacked and I managed to figure out how to get it decorated for Christmas. It is funny how so many years one just unpacks the decorations and puts them in their homes, but when you move the normal spots are no longer there. I wasn't sure if there was going to be enough places to put up everything, I did manage to get it figured out. A home really truly does not feel like a home until one puts up Christmas. This year I will be fortunate to have all of my family home to see what awaits them under the tree. It has been years since the all the kids have spent Christmas Eve night at our house and this year it will be better because we actually have our own HOME!!!! Hopefully I can come back soon and show pictures of what I have been working on for Christmas presents this year. And maybe even have some pictures of the house all decked out for the holidays.

How to unpack

I have finally started to get things organized and unpacked. And am ready to start unpacking my sewing room. I am stumped about where to even start unpacking the many boxes of stuff. How does one try to organize everything. I was smart and packed everything logically. What was previously spread throughout 4 rooms of the house was methodically packed. But now I am overwhelmed with how to organize it all into one space. The other problem is the family computer is taking up precious space I really wanted to have for a cutting table. Any ideas would be helpful. After 2 months without being able to do any type of quilt activity makes me wish to have things done and useable.

Moving

After spending the last 15 years in the same house my landlords have decided to be really big pains. So we have decided to purchase our 1st house. The house payment will be about the same as what the landlords are wanting for rent every month. Now is the fun part cleaning, packing, and then there is my husbands shop. Who could ever imagine how much stuff and junk a family could accumulate over all these years. It is sad and happy occasion for us. Definetly been walking down memory lane especially when the race car was leaving for a new home. Or realizing that we have raised all of our kids in this one house. My husband says that the memories will stay in our head, yet it is tough. I do have to say the toughest decision is keep the fabric or the piano. I only have enough room for one. Of course the fabric stash will be useful over the next years when our cash is tighter, but the piano that I barely play, I bought because I really wanted to have one again. I am sure the fabric will be kept and the piano hopefully will find a good home. The house we are moving into is only 10 years old and needs no major repairs and sits on a bit of property. The good thing is Sam will not have to change schools nor will we have to relicense all of our vehicles for we will be staying in the same county. There seems to be so much to do to be ready to move it at times seems overwhelming, yet I know we will get it all done. One piece at a time.

Yesterdays Nightmare

Some how I managed to shut my cat Smokie's tail in my bedroom door. He Meowed and ran away I thought nothing of it. Later I was telling him, he shouldn't put his tail in water and realized it was not water but blood. I inspected his tail and called the vet immediately. I waited on pins and needles for him to come back home. Smokie spent 9 1/2 hours with the vet has a newley shaved tail and received 4 stitches. Now we hope Smokie's tail heals properly and that he does not try to remove those new stitches. My plans for yesterday was to watch a couple of class lectures to prepare for my mid-term exam. Needless to say I could not concentrate with wondering about Smokie. So I prepared the April A Tisket A Tasket and sewed another row on a quilt I started before Christmas. The plans for today are watch class lectures, add borders to the quilt, and give Smokie lots of love and attention.

Graduation

I finally did it, I got my Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. I just finished my last class on Monday. My diploma will be here before I actually get to go through graduation ceremonies in June. Even though I will already have my diploma I still am going to go through with the actual graduation ceremonies for I will be graduating with honors unsure if it will be Magna Cum Laude or Cum Laude. No matter what the honor is I never dreamed I would ever get my bachelors let alone be able to get such Great grades. Now I hope that I can continue my high standards of learning in my masters program.

A Tisket A Tasket

Hey it has been a short time in between posts for me, must mean a.) I have free time b.) I am avoiding homework c.) I just had to show what I was doing with my limited free time. The answer is b. and c.

I have prepped the first two blocks in the block of the month offered by Anne of Bunny Hill Design. I am just loving having these simple hand projects too work on. Of course today was the release of block three which with any luck will be prepped by this evening.

Block one and two are too cute but block three is so typical of Anne. I cannot wait to get stitching.

But first I must go read a text book so I can take my last quiz for my first class in my Master's program.

Back for a Moment or longer hopefully

I am currently finishing up a class, when this class is over I will only have 2 more classes left till I receive my Bachelors. So I finish one class on Monday January 12; starting my second to last class on Tuesday. If that was not enough Monday I start my Masters in Theology at Liberty University. I currently do not know how long it will take me to receive my masters, nor do I know what my future plans are at this moment. All I know is that I was called to the Seminary and I plan on obeying my calling, no matter where God takes me. I may not know everything now but I am sure there is a bigger plan than I can comprehend.

I have been doing some quilting over the last several months but need to take pictures. It seems that time is always running out before I get everything accomplished that needs to be done.