Memorial Day 2011

On this Memorial Day we remember

It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given us

Freedom of the Press.

It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given us

Freedom of Speech.

It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the

Freedom to Demonstrate.

It's the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the

Right to a Fair Trial.

It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who gives the protestor the right to burn the flag.

~Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Heavenly Father, please bless all those who have served and are serving our country in the uniform of our armed forces sacrificing their time, fortunes and, often their lives, to keep protect all of us.  Bless their families and give them strength and comfort.

May we be vigilant in preserving the foundational beliefs and heritage of the United States of America, restoring the liberty with which we were blessed, and protecting this great nation from her enemies, both at home and abroad. 

Best wishes on this Memorial Day,

Karen

Still Strippin' and Stitchin'

With that title I feel a little like Eleanor Burns "Still Stripping After All These Years!" These scrap strips are such fun...think I'm addicted :) It's so nice to be able to start and stop without losing my place in a pattern. I have my little Featherweight on a small table in the living room so I can sew awhile and then rest on the sofa awhile.

I work on these triangles with the white centers that form stars once the block is sewn together. 










Then I make a few of these strip blocks.













 When I want to do something different, I work on the Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagons.

Or I cut 2 1/2 " squares for the English paper piecing. 

This was a difficult week for many people in the midwest.  Tuesday was Oklahoma's turn for the severe storms and tornadoes that have been so destructive this spring.  We are so thankful for the skilled meteorologists who warned us for several days that Tuesday would be a very dangerous weather day.  The media was conscientious in broadcasting warnings from Sunday through Tuesday morning to be alert and aware.  The prediction was for storms to begin to develop early afternoon and, exactly on cue, storms fired up in western Oklahoma and moved into central Oklahoma mid-afternoon.  Our meteorologist daughter, Maggie, and her husband were storm chasing and kept us updated.  Sweetheart left work early to come on home...many businesses, medical facilities and even state offices closed early fearing that storms would come into metro Oklahoma City at rush hour.  A tornado passed just north and west of us but we had no damage. Two tornadoes just missed Maggie's home...one about 2 miles north and another about 2 miles southeast...both did tremendous damage.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the ten people who died and all of those who lost property and precious possessions.  Our hearts go out to all those across so many states who have been affected by the tornadoes and floods. 

Wishing everyone a nice Memorial Day weekend.  Hope your holiday includes some stitching time!

Blessings,

Feelin' Scrappy!

We had a wonderful weekend!  It was sunny and in the 70s...my sweetheart worked in the yard and the garden and it looks beautiful.  We have 14 acres but the property is divided by a creek so we really live on and keep up the front 5-6 acres...the other side of the creek is woods and a meadow with a big pecan tree in the middle.  Sweetheart keeps the meadow mowed but otherwise the woods are a haven for deer, turkeys and other "wildlife."  I was able to work around in the house a little which made me very tired but very happy.

I did a little sewing on scrappy string blocks last week and plan to do a lot more this week.  I'd like to use up as many of my scraps as possible.  Most of the patterns I'm using are from this site.  Here are my string blocks

Then I started another set of spiderweb blocks..I love the way it makes the star in the center.  I've seen  colors used the make the stars and I love the look but I wanted to start with a white star.  These are fun to do and easy to piece using a paper foundation. 

It's been 4 1/2 months since I have been anywhere other than the hospital or the doctor's office...no restaurants, no fabric stores, NO SHOPPING AT ALL!   Shopping is not my favorite thing to do but I miss getting out and feeling of fabric and looking around.  So I did a little online shopping to keep my sanity :)  I really like Connecting Threads...their fabric is very nice and reasonably priced.  Among other things I found some charm squares on sale.  They are from a fabric line called Canning Day...1930s reproductions. 

On Ebay I purchased some reproduction fat eighths. 

Can you see a theme?  I'll cut 2 1/2" squares from all of these to use in making hexagons for a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  These are ones I'd started previously...I'm using the English paper piecing method...it's so easy and I can sit and make these. 

The quilt in my header was made by my grandmother.  She used feedsacks and flour sacks for the most part.  She always told me the green between each flower was the grass path through the garden.  And she always put a yellow center in her hexagons because "real flowers" had yellow centers :)  So, I will border each block in white and then green so my flowers will have a white fence and a green grass path through the garden! 

I have seen some beautiful, less traditional hexagon blocks being made on some blogs with planned colors and fussy cutting.  They are so very pretty!   I can't wait to try that as well.

I enjoy so much reading blogs and I cherish the friends I've made.  We may never meet but you bless my life.

Karen

OOPS!!  Thank goodness I posted that picture of the spiderweb block with the white star.  What I noticed as I looked at the picture (but didn't notice looking at the block itself...brain fog again?)  was the lack of a seam allowance on two of the star points!  SOOOOO...the block has been taken apart and that will be corrected...I want pointed stars :) 

A Happy Mother's Day

What a beautiful sunshiny day to celebrate Mother's Day.  I hope all of you had a nice day!  Our older daughter called from North Carolina and our younger daughter and her husband came after church to visit.  My sweetheart grilled steaks for all of us and we had a lovely time.  Sweet gifts and tender cards made my day.  I LOVE my girls so much...they are amazing young women and I am so proud of them :) 

My sewing machine is sitting ready and my scrap strips are just begging to be sewn.  I'm not up to following a quilt pattern or doing much rotary cutting so I think I'll be working on sewing scraps strips for my spiderweb and string block quilts...it's easy and doesn't require a lot of thinking and matching.  I think I have definitely had "brain fog" for awhile...I love to read but had a difficult time concentrating.  Seems that is another side effect of treatment.  It is certainly getting better and I'm back to reading a lot. 

I am doing some crocheting.  Before Christmas I made a granny square doggy sweater from a pattern I found here.  Our Boston Terrier granddog, Virginia, loved the sweater! 

So I'm making her sweaters for fall.  Here's what I'm working on now. 

Do you recognize the colors?   The burgundy and gold are the colors of Gryffindor House and the green and gray are Slytherin colors...both from the Harry Potter stories. :)  Virgina loves Harry Potter :) 

I also started a ripple afghan, a pattern I've always enjoyed.  It's in hunter green, sage green and soft yellow.  It will take quite a while to finish but it's mostly about the crocheting...keeps my hands busy. 

This week I got some good news at my doctor visit.  All my blood count levels are now normal.  I was concerned that recovery was so slow but my doctor assured me that I'm actually recovering very well.  I don't go back for 3 months which is great!  Hopefully then I will find out if I am in complete remission which is what we are praying for.  Whatever happens, I have been blessed beyond measure! 

Karen