Pieces and Plenty

Love Is...

2012-02-14T20:54:00.000-06:00

...a precious new granddaughter...

Kaitlyn Margret

February 7, 2012

7 lbs. 6 oz.

Her mommy is doing well and Kaitlyn is perfect, healthy and absolutely beautiful!!! I'm loving every moment of being her grandmother.

Blessings,

On Pins and Needles!

2012-01-24T08:06:00.001-06:00

January is almost over and our grandbaby is due in less than two weeks! We are so excited! I keep my phone close and my purse handy in preparation for the big moment! My Sweetheart and I practiced my route to the hospital (about 40 minutes away) in case the call comes during the day. So I'm ready and waiting...

Meanwhile I've finished the baby sewing for now. Here's the last little receiving blanket, burp cloth and, of course, a tiny baby doll for a tiny little girl.

I also made a couple of small diapers from a pattern I saw on Rosie's blog. Rosie is a lovely lady who is very creative. She made some precious baby things for her new grandson. I thought the "nappies" were so cute so I had to try them. I love cloth diapers (that is all I used for my babies) and my daughter will be using them as well. Here is my first one...I will make more when we know how much the baby weighs.

Now I am finishing a nursing sweater I'm knitting for my daughter. It buttons up each side for ease of nursing and later can be converted to a regular sweater by sewing up the sides. The pattern was difficult and I'm a slow knitter but I hope to finish before Feb. 1.

So, has this new year started well for you? I love to see the different projects my blogging friends are working on...it's such an inspiration to see the many things of beauty being created. And I know the joy that comes in just the making of each new project.

Hope your day is full of blessings and happy stitching,

Thinking Back Over 2011

2011-12-31T17:18:00.001-06:00

2011 is almost over...I'm not sorry to say goodbye to this year. What a year it has been!! January filled with pre-transplant tests and preparations, the stem cell transplant and hospitalization through all of February and slow recovery through March, April, May and June. There were days when I thought life would never be the same again and many days when I wondered how to make it through but my Sweetheart was there beside me caring for me and encouraging me the entire time. God was watching over us and we felt Him close. Our precious daughters sustained us and so many dear friends prayed unceasingly. If you ever wonder if the person you are praying for knows about your prayers, be assured, they do...I'm living proof of that and the power of that prayer.

The second half of the year was marked by joy! The news of our expected first grandbaby came in June and we were thrilled!! As I regained strength and my immune system recovered we could go to church and I loved rejoining my friends in my Sunday School class. And then came the great news from my doctor that I am in remission. The fall and holidays have been spent enjoying beautiful weather and making preparations for the new baby and my Sweetheart's retirement in 2012!!

We have been so blessed this year and we thank God for all that He has done in our lives. We are ready for a wonderful new year!

I hope you and those dear to you will have many blessings and joys in this New Year.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T08:31:00.000-06:00

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior, wishing you and your family a most wonderful Christmas!

In the words of Tiny Tim "God bless us, every one!"

In My Sewing Room

2011-12-14T09:14:00.000-06:00

It's been cold and rainy...perfect for sitting in my cozy sewing room and creating. Here are some receiving blankets and burp cloths from last week's work.

And my personal favorite!

Despite what I said, I couldn't let the season pass without a little Christmas sewing so I made some mug rugs for friends at church and enjoyed every minute of working with the reds and greens and just seeing what developed!

Hope you and yours are enjoying this time leading to Christmas and you are having happy stitching days!

Doing a Happy Dance :)

2011-11-30T08:30:00.000-06:00

I was beginning to feel like the perfect poster child for "Technology for Dummies." For several months I had struggled to stay on the internet and opening my favorite quilting blogs, staying on long enough to read and then commenting was a nerve-wracking experience. My Sweetheart updated my computer, did some cleaning out and clearing and I organized and updated my favorites...no change. I kept thinking maybe it was Blogger (many apologies...it wasn't.) Many days I'd start to blog and then give up in exhaustion. Yesterday morning I just couldn't connect at all so I called our phone company and they tried a number of things to fix the problem from their end. They finally decided to send a technician who came within two hours and pronounced it was their equipment...the modem had died!!! Of course, it was out of warranty but we didn't care. A new modem was installed and I can get on the internet, open blogs immediately, comment and even post without restarting the connection every couple of minutes!!!
I'm so relieved it wasn't me doing something wrong...and so grateful for the quick service from Windstream. Hopefully I'm back in business and can read, comment and blog more frequently without the aggravation! I'm doing a happy dance today :)

Hope your day is full of happy dancing,

2011-11-28T07:47:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving is over and the holiday was wonderful. We had a family dinner and spent the day being thankful for all of our blessings. This past year has been filled with difficulties and joys but always the assurance that God has everything in His hands. I am so thankful for God's love and my salvation through Jesus Christ, for my precious Sweetheart who is loving, faithful and a man of character, for my dear daughters and their husbands who are a source of joy and pride, for the coming grandbaby who already has her special place in my heart, for health restored, and for extended family, good friends and my church family who bless my life.

I haven't been blogging but I have been sewing. I'm so pleased with the little quilt I made for our expected granddaughter. I wanted something small to match her newborn size and something in colors to match the pink and lavendar chosen by her mother for her nursery. I also wanted the quilt to look like the old quilts I treasure and loved as a child...all wrinkled and snuggly. I did machine quilt for durability expecting this quilt is the right size to be dragged around by a toddler and washed often :)

It's been laundered and is folded hanging on the end of a little white crib waiting for a baby girl to use it :)

The stack of sewing is getting smaller but there are burp cloths, receiving blankets and bibs to finish before I try my hand at some "dressy" diapers. Also there's a little Winnie the Pooh quilt top calling out to be finished. No Christmas sewing this year...but, of course, I don't mind.

There's frost on the ground today and this week should be chilly...highs in the 40s and 50s and beautiful sunshine. We are having a cycle of rain each week and it is so desperately needed and much appreciated.
Some of the ponds are beginning to refill and the ranchers are happy to see the water. The drought has been extreme in Oklahoma...rivaling the 1930's and the Dust Bowl. Oklahoma is a state of weather extremes...one day a couple of weeks ago we had tornadoes and a record breaking earthquake all at the same time...but life here is never dull.

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday and are looking forward to the Christmas season.

Many blessings and happy stitching to you,

Glorious Fall

2011-10-18T10:19:00.000-05:00

Days pass quickly with so much to do. I've had some trouble with blogger making it difficult to post, read blogs and comment. I'm considering moving back to LiveJournal where I have kept an account. To my blogging friends, please know I'm reading your blogs but commenting isn't working.
The more I work with it, the more frustrated I am and that interferes with the joy of blogging. I'm also in the process of prioritizing and simplifying...making sure I concentrate on what is most important in life and allowing myself to be creative without obligation or comparison. What I love most about blogging are the lovely friends I've made and the enjoyment of their creativity and shared love of family and crafting.

Our cold front came through with gusty north winds and it's sunny and gorgeous today...the air is crisp and golden. There may be frost on the pumpkins tomorrow night! Now if we could have a few rainy gray days, life would be perfect.

I had a great time at Stamp Camp last night. We didn't make Halloween cards so I'll just make some on my own. But the cards were very pretty and I'll enjoy sending them. Here are mine.

We also tried a paper coloring technique using foamy shaving cream and two colors of blue ink. The result is paper that resembles a storm sky or a stormy sea. Every piece is different. It's messy but amazing...and lots of fun.

More sewing today while a pot of chili simmers for supper. Looking forward to a good supper and settling down with my sweetheart to watch another episode of FRINGE. Our daughter recommended the series and gifted the dvds and we watched the first episode...we're hooked!!!

Tickled Pink!

2011-09-09T08:08:00.000-05:00

We are so happy! The doctor says our grandbaby is a baby girl!!!! The expectant parents are delighted since that is what they were praying for and the entire family is thrilled.

Now the sewing REALLY begins. I've stocked up on pinks and have visions of ruffles and bows.

I'm off to the sewing room to work on the pink border for the pastel Pooh quilt. Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings.

Have a wonderful day,

Ready for Fall!

2011-09-06T06:59:00.002-05:00

Labor Day is past and I'm so ready for fall. We got a little taste of it this weekend when temperatures fell into the 60s at night and 80s for the day...goodness, I had to put on a sweater...quite a contrast from 106!! We are still praying for rain and for our friends and family in Texas where wildfires are taking lives and homes.

I finished the first baby quilt. This quilt is meant to be a play quilt...to put in the playpen or on the floor so I made it with higher loft batting and tied it. My friend, Barbara of Pinelands Treasures, had blogged about her tied quilts and was so generous to explain the process to me. I was reminded of how my babies used to love to take those tiny fingers and feel of textures so I thought the little ties might appeal. I really enjoyed tying the quilt especially since this is a very traditional way of finishing a quilt. I will definitely using tying again.

I'm still working on the little soft green, yellow and white baby afghan in a shell pattern.

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend and will have a great week. Blessings to you and yours.

Karen

Time for Football!

2011-09-02T10:08:00.001-05:00

We've survived the hottest summer in Oklahoma history and a wildfire on our red dirt road this week that came very close to our property...so close I had the car packed and keys in hand. Sweetheart flew home from work in OKC and we monitored all afternoon...no electricity for many hours as the fire burned utility poles. Many thanks to the firefighters from surrounding communities (many of them volunteer), sheriff's department, police and tribal police and caring neighbors who warned and fought the fire as well. About 300 acres on our road burned but only one house (being renovated so no one there) and one barn were lost. Wildfires are burning across our state daily and only rain will help us. We are praying fervently!

BUT.....in the face of all this, there is always the promise of fall and football!!!! High school football in Oklahoma is almost an obsession and college football is all-consuming. We are big OU Sooner fans so we are looking forward to tomorrow's game with the University of Tulsa. OU is ranked #1 in the nation in the pre-season polls. I'm a graduate of the University of Tulsa but I'll be cheering for OU!!!

I have more news and projects to show but I'll save that for another day.

Meanwhile, can you hear me "BOOMER SOONER! GO OU!"

Wishing you a wonderful day and many blessings!

One Flower Wednesday

2011-08-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

I am excited to have joined One Flower Wednesday hosted by Karen. The idea is to post finished hexagons finishing at least one each Wednesday. I've just joined so I'm posting some of my latest finishes with more hexagons waiting to be sewn together. Here are several of my hexagons.

Years ago I made a number of VERY LARGE hexagons and I found them a few days ago while cleaning out a box of UFOs in my sewing room. Each flower is 16 1/2 inches across and is hand sewn without using paper templates. These have to be 25 years old as I made them while sitting outside watching my younger daughter riding her tricycle and playing outside (she is now 28 years old!!) Guess I've loved hexagons all my life! Pardon the wrinkles...I didn't press them before taking the pictures. I think I'll have to sew them together and make a table topper or small quilt.

Thanks, Karen, for the encouragement to finish a new hexagon each Wednesday.

Many blessings and a happy stitching day to all.

Joy!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-22T09:10:00.002-05:00

There's lots of joy in our little home on our red dirt road. Maybe these pictures of my latest purchases and projects will give you a hint :)

Our baby is expecting a baby! Our younger daughter, Maggie, and her husband are expecting their first baby in early February. And this will be our first grandbaby! Many of you will understand the joy we are feeling. I dearly wanted our two babies and delighted in them. I've been told that the joy of a grandbaby is that delight multiplied many times over and I can't wait for that experience.

So other projects will have to wait while I indulge in knitting and crocheting tiny sweaters and hats, sewing bibs and burp cloths, making diaper covers and baby quilts and helping my sweetheart refinish saved baby furniture including Maggie's own bassinet and the bedding I made for her.

We won't know the baby's gender until fall so, for now, I'm using mainly yellow and green as I did for my own girls (back in the days when you didn't know gender until the baby arrived!) but I'm going to do a bit of pink and blue just because.

Thank you for understanding while I do my happy dance and, from time to time, share my "grandmother passion!"

My choice in Christian music is gospel and my favorite Southern gospel group is the Southern Prophets out of Patrick Springs and Stuart, Virginia. You can hear a sample of their music here and see them here and here. One of their songs I love is "Drinking From My Saucer." This is the chorus:

"And I thank God for all His blessings on me

And the mercy He's bestowed.

I'll keep drinking from my saucer, Lord,

Cause my cup has overflowed."

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings on our family.

Praying that your blessings will abound and that you will be drinking from your saucer as you keep stitching.

Karen

God Bless America!

2011-07-04T09:16:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th of July!! What a privilege to be an American in the "Land of the free and the home of the brave!" Thank you to all those who founded this republic and those who have served to protect this country and preserve our liberties. I pray that God will continue to bless America.

The month of June just flew by! May was a month of real recovery and June has been a month of gaining strength. In fact, I have felt so much better that I slowly cleaned the house...such a pleasure to get things back to normal. Most of my time was spent on the house with just a little bit of sewing. I got a number of hexagons made for the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Those little hexies are the perfect project for evenings when I'm tired after housework.

I did have my "Betsy Ross" moment this month!! Actually many moments as I completed this flag wall hanging made from a Connecting Threads kit. Sewing so many curved seams and matching the seams on the long rows was a challenge...spent lots of time taking out stitching and repositioning but I'm so happy with the final project. Here's the little quilt hanging on our front door.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T08:36:00.001-05:00

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'

2011-05-27T10:08:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-05-16T13:59:00.003-05:00

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

2011-05-08T18:27:00.004-05:00

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

New Beginnings

2011-04-27T13:21:00.011-05:00

The sun is shining today after several days of clouds and much needed rain. The trees are so green, the garden is growing (we are already eating green onions) and the flower pots on the porch are ready to plant.

Spring is a time of renewal and promise and I appreciate that so much this year.

It's nice to be back visiting blogs again and seeing the creative projects of so many talented quilters and crafters. It has been a long winter. I spent all of February in the hospital...the stem cell transplant went well...but there were other complications and I was much sicker than anyone anticipated. Recovery from the transplant is very slow and mine is even slower due to the complications. Weakness and fatigue are the most difficult problems. Thankfully my sense of taste is almost back to normal so the past two weeks I have been able to eat more normally. That should help me get stronger. Just now I'm feeling able to do a few things including being online. I haven't started sewing again...sitting at the sewing machine is somewhat daunting but I'm thinking I can resume hand quilting this week. This is what I'll be working on.

This little wall hanging will be a gift...it's been several years in the making but I hope to finish the quilting this year. Do any of you struggle with your hand quilting technique? I just can't seem to do the rocking stitch that most hand quilters use. I've developed my own technique which is similar to a running stitch...I know the "quilt police" would be horrified but I'll have to do it this way until I figure out how to do it "right." :)

Hope you are having a great week filled with lots of stitching!!!

Hi Is Risen!

2011-04-24T10:52:00.001-05:00

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Wishing you a happy and blessed Easter.

2010-12-28T18:07:00.004-06:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and we are ready to welcome a New Year! We had a wonderful time with family at Thanksgiving. Both of our daughters and sons-in law were here with us as well as my Sweetheart's brother and his wife. We enjoyed our time together so very much.

Sadly, at Thanksgiving my Sweetheart's sister's husband went into the hospital after battling cancer for seven months. We spent two weeks visiting the hospital and spending precious time with the family. He went to be with the Lord on December 8. The family gathered for a funeral just before Christmas for the third time in the last 10 years. It certainly changes the focus of the holiday season and emphasizes our appreciation of family time and the fragility of life. The birth of Jesus, the Messiah and our Savior, had an even more special meaning for us this year.

We had a quiet but wonderful Christmas. I did get a little sewing done for Christmas. I loved seeing the mug rugs being made by so many quilting bloggers so I had to give them a try! Here's the result.

This year I hope to make a few Christmas projects each month so next Christmas will be a "handmade" and "homemade" celebration :)

Thankfully my doctors decided that I have completed chemotherapy and am ready for the stem cell transplant. I'll spend next week doing some pre-transplant tests and then be ready for the harvesting of my stem cells, the heavy chemotherapy and the transplant. That will include about 3 weeks in the hospital after mid-January.

Before then, I'm going to get my year of sewing and quilting planned so I can look forward to doing what I love while I am home and recovering. I won't be going out much until spring so I should be able to accomplish a lot on the days I feel good.

Wishing everyone a blessed new year filled with happy stitching,

Scrapping Fun

2010-11-11T10:39:00.013-06:00

This week has been filled with medical appointments. For a person who seldom went to the doctor, this is definitely a new way of life. But things are going well and I'm so grateful for wonderful medical professionals who treat me with such kindness and skill. Family and friends who continue to keep me in their prayers are such blessings!

With all this coming and going, I needed to work on something that would allow a lot of stopping and starting. What better than scrap quilting. As the grandchild of pioneers (my quilting grandma came to Indian Territory in a covered wagon), I grew up thinking all quilts were made of scrap fabrics saved from family sewing and feedsacks. This is one of my favorite scrap quilts made by my grandma.
My scrap project right now is a string quilt. I found the instructions here. Sewing these squares is addictive and I keep thinking "I'll do just one more." I stopped to realize I learned to sew in early junior high so that means I've been sewing for half a century (oh, my!!!) and I have saved fabric scraps for much of that time. I don't have scraps from newer fabric lines...mine are REALLY SCRAPS...which makes the blocks very ecletic :) I'm using some of the "less pretty" scraps I have too. Here's some of what I have accomplished.

I think I'll also start some Spiderweb blocks with scraps as well like the ones shown here. One added benefit is that I'm getting all my scraps organized :)

Hope your day is filled with happy stitching.

2010-11-04T15:50:00.016-05:00

October was gone before I knew it. I love autumn and we are having a glorious one this year. Most of October was filled with warm days and cool nights and the air seemed to have a golden haze. Now the trees are beginning to lose their leaves and the nights are getting colder.

Going to chemo treatments keeps me busy but I have few side effects so it's not really difficult. Those days I usually come home and sit and sew. I did finish several projects in October. Here is the table topper I made for my older daughter who absolutely loves the Halloween season. I fell in love with this fabric panel!! I also made this quilt for my younger daughter but the quilting took longer than I expected so it wasn't ready for Halloween. I machine quilted the spiderweb pattern on the plain blocks and the other blocks are disappearing nine-patch made from charm squares. She will enjoy it for next Halloween especially since it has her favorite bright colors!!!

I made a couple of fall table toppers as well. When I got out the big plastic bin with all my Halloween and fall fabrics, I found these little hour glass and half-square triangles blocks I had left over from a table runner I had made a couple of years before. I got carried away with the fun of sewing these little fall blocks and made more than I needed for the project. So I tucked them in the bin and forgot about them until this fall. It was neat to pull them out and make these table toppers. This is the one I made for my sister-in-law.

And the one I made for our dining room table...it still needs to be quilted. I'll get that done before Thanksgiving.

So October was a productive sewing and quilting month. I have plans for a few gift projects in November as well as some much-loved scrap quilting.

I'll close with pictures of our granddogs celebrating Halloween.

This is Virginia who lives in North Carolina.

And this is Violet (on the left) and Honey May (on the right) who live in Oklahoma not far from us.

They are all three adorable and very dear to us.

I'm off to fix spaghetti and salad for supper. That sounds so good for a chilly fall night.

Happy stitching!

"To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven."

2010-09-30T08:22:00.008-05:00

Looking back at the post I made when 2010 began, I am amazed at how much life has changed. The first few months of the year were much as I planned...working in the church office, taking care of our home and working on quilts.

During the spring and summer, I didn't feel quite like myself. In August, I went for my yearly physical and the next day I was in the hospital. I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. I am presently in chemotherapy and will undergo stem cell transplant later in the fall. There is no cure for myeloma but stem cell transplant has a good success rate for remission of years and even decades.

The past two months have been difficult as my sweetheart and I face months of medical treatment and the uncertainty of the disease. But we are also sustained by the love of our precious family and the friends who are so caring. I am learning so much through dealing with this challenge, especially the peace of leaning on God's love. Even though I don't understand the whys or what will happen, I do have complete faith in the One who controls everything and I know He has a purpose for my life. What a blessing that assurance is!! I am so blessed by the concern and prayers of so many.

One thing I can do during this time of treatment is to quilt. I've been working on baby quilts...they are not needed yet...but I want to be sure and have some made for the future. Here are some works in progress with others still on the cutting table.

I'm also working on a "Halloween surprise" but I can't show it yet. Quilting is a such a comfort. And I love to watch dvds of the Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Christy and other old well-loved series.

It's a joy to catch up with some of my favorite blogs and to follow the progress others are making on their quilting and crafting projects.

Hope your day is blessed with "peace and plenty!"

Happy and Blessed New Year!!!

2010-01-01T18:56:00.010-06:00

Another year is beginning and time seems to be on "fast forward!" My prayer for my blogging friends on this New Years Day is for health, joy, peace and happy stitching in the year to come. There is something very exciting about a blank calendar and a new year before us...but also very challenging. I don't make resolutions but I have done a lot of thinking about 2010.

We survived the Christmas Eve "blizzard of 2009!" We expect a little snow in Oklahoma each winter but a blizzard with winds 60 mph and almost a foot of snow was quite a surprise. I had mentioned to my sweetheart that I hoped for a white Christmas (which we rarely have)so after the blizzard, he reminded me to be careful what I wish for. Here's the view out my kitchen window and the snow on our back deck!

We did enjoy the white Christmas and the white week after Christmas. Today was the first day of real thawing and another cold front is due in tonight with the forecast calling for more snow and temperatures below freezing for at least the next week!!!

Cold weather and travel advisories mean staying home and working in the sewing room. I've spent the last couple of days housecleaning. I enjoy starting the new year with a clean house. Tomorrow I clean and rearrange a little in the sewing room and then I'll be ready to work on some new projects and finish some UFOs. Two of my Christmas gifts from two very special ladies are calling me to quilting and reading...a Moda Bakeshop Sampler and the new Jennifer Chiaverini novel.

The New Year finds us with two "granddogs." Our younger daughter and her husband adopted a very sweet little Beagle/Dashschund girl...she joins our Boston Terrier granddog who owns our older daughter and her husband. Here's Violet (on the left) and Virginia (on the right.)

Happy New Year!!!!

Where Has the Time Gone?

2009-11-30T18:24:00.003-06:00

I can't believe my last post was in the summer and now it's almost Christmas!! So much has happened along my red dirt road that the time has really flown.

Part of the summer was spent healing from pulled muscles in my chest which mimicked symptoms of heart pain. Since I'd just had my yearly check-up and knew all was well, it was a little frightening. There's still a little discomfort but every day is better.

As I have mentioned before, I retired from teaching high school in 2007. I enjoyed being at home, sewing a lot and generally doing "my thing." But God had other plans for me. In September I went back to work...this time as a church secretary at a local church in our denomination. I really didn't want to to back to work, certainly not full time, but this position was laid on my heart and I felt just as I did about teaching...that this is to be my ministry. The church is at a crossroads, without full-time staff and going through a transitional period to prepare for calling a pastor and other staff. The transitional pastor is a wonderful man and the church members have been so welcoming and good to me. I've made a number of new friends and had some opportunities to see the needs of the community as the church acts as the food pantry and utility help for our small town. It's a blessing to me and I'll be there as long as God wants me there.

Needless to say, my sewing has slowed down a bit and most of what I'm doing right now is for gifts so I can't really show pictures. I've missed blogging but one thing nice about my job is that during the quiet times, I'm free to go online and keep up with my blogging friends.

Now that I'm back, I'll try to be more faithful keeping up with my blog. So for now, happy stitching,

Summertime..and the Livin' is Easy!

2009-06-24T10:11:00.012-05:00

Summer arrived with a vengeance here on our red dirt road. This week temperatures are around 100 and the sun is blazing!! We usually don't reach 100 until July and August so I'm hoping this isn't an usually hot and dry summer. Thank goodness for a water well that will keep the flowerbeds and garden watered.

Sewing time gives way to taking care of garden produce as my sweetheart has been MOST SUCCESSFUL with the garden this year. We moved to the country a little over two years ago so last year was the first year for the garden. Over the winter, sweetheart worked very hard on enriching the soil organically and this year we are enjoying the "fruits and veggies" of his labor!!! We've been eating onions for weeks and the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. We're getting mostly Romas and cherry tomatoes right now but the big tomato plants are loaded. We're eating sweet green peas and green beans. Peppers, squash and radishes have started coming in as well. I'm freezing what we can't eat quickly and looking forward to garden goodies all year long. My sweetheart is already planning how to enlarge the garden for next year.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying eating our own fresh veggies produced by my sweetheart's labor of love.

We did have a fun outing a couple of weekends ago when we went to Pawnee for the Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show at the original Pawnee Bill's Ranch.

There will be several sewing projects and new quilt blocks to show soon.

Keep cool and happy stitching!!!

Shop Hop

2009-06-09T07:43:00.013-05:00

Last weekend was the annual Road to Oklahoma Quilt Shop Hop and Maggie and I had a great time visiting nine quilt shops! We started in Norman and the Oklahoma City metro area and went all the way to Waynoka and Alva. We logged over 700 miles and enjoyed the scenery and the shops. We also stopped at Eischen's in Okarche and had some of the best fried chicken in the world!!

Here is this year's quilt shown at Completely Quilted in Ponca City. We bought a block kit at each shop and the finishing kit at Completely Quilted since we loved the appliqued butterflies, flowers and trees. I think Maggie and I are going to have our own quilt-a-thon and our quilts made quickly because we both love the blocks and the pattern. Can you see the little cow peeking out the barn doors?

The ladies at Completely Quilted took our picture. This was our last shop to visit and we were totally exhausted! Looking at fabric and spending money is a big job!!!!

We did find some wonderful goodies at the various shops. I love 30's reproductions and old-fashioned scrap quilts so these had to come home with me.

And I was very taken with these charm packs, fabrics and patterns. I had been looking for one of the Dresden Plate templates featured on several blogs and found one of those as well.

The interesting fabric with the black background will appeal to a special person who will giggle when she sees this.

Now with all these new goodies, I need to get busy. I'm almost finished cutting ALL my scraps into squares for nine-patches, strings for spider webs and other shapes for future projects. It's so nice to get that huge tub of scrambled scraps into some organization. My reward for all that cutting will be to do some fun sewing.

Hope everyone is well and happily stitching away!!!

Is It Really June??

2009-06-01T09:51:00.014-05:00

My goodness, I didn't mean to be absent from blogland so long!!! While I wasn't blogging or reading, I wasn't sewing either. I miss visiting with blogging friends and seeing everyone's new projects. But sometimes it's nice to step back awhile and be busy with other things...gives a fresh perspective and renewed energy.

What I have been doing is working with my sweetheart to get the garden well underway and the flowerbeds planted and blooming. We're eating green onions and should have ripe tomatoes by the middle of June. Peas, beans, squash, radishes, corn and lots of fresh veggies will be coming along. Yum...yum!!

These are some of my favorites in the front flower garden!

We've also been organizing our barn/garage. Everything is now in its place and all the things I couldn't bear to do away with are safely stored. We still had some boxes to go through from our parents' homes. When my sweetheart's father passed away, I got some of the boxes from my mother-in-law's sewing room. In them I discovered some real quilting treasures. Here's some of the blocks that were in a box. I'm not sure if the fabrics are from feedsacks but they are old. And the block fabric has turned brown on the edges. There are 14 blocks finished and another 13 that still need to be appliqued.

The applique stitches are so tiny and even. I don't know who made these though it might have been my sweetheart's grandmother or great-aunt. I know I can't match the background material so I'll have to figure something because it must be finished. It's too pretty to leave in a box.

There were also these unusual butterfly blocks.

There are eight of these so they would make a sweet wall hanging.

There are more treasures but I'll save those for another day.

I hope to visit some of my favorite blogs in the next few days. Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Easter

2009-04-10T06:40:00.011-05:00

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16 NKJV

Wishing you a joyous Easter,

A Sad Day and A Precious Promise

2009-04-09T07:06:00.005-05:00

A year ago today, my father quietly passed from this life to the presence of our Lord.
Daddy tried to go on alone but he missed my mother very much and, as his health deteriorated, he ceased to try. It was and is very difficult to believe we lost them both in just a little over a year.

The promise of Easter lessens the sadness of loss. The death and resurrection of our Savior gives the promise of eternal life for all those who believe in Him. My parents believed this promise. That assurance brings me joy in the midst of sadness.

I am thankful for the years we had together and for the love of my parents. I love you, Daddy, and I miss you.

Monday, Monday

2009-04-06T16:36:00.004-05:00

It's a sunny but cold day here on my red dirt road. We got some of our tomato plants, herbs and flowers over the weekend but they won't be planted for a few days since we are having freezing at night. Our rule of thumb is not to plant until after Easter. I just can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!

Last week was not very productive since I was a bit under the weather but I did get two more blocks of the 1998 BOM finished.

I love the Grandmother's Flower Garden block in any form. It was one of my own grandmother's favorite patterns and, since she had a big flower garden in the middle of her backyard, I grew up thinking that block was named for her (and I still think of her garden whenever I see that quilt block.) I have an ongoing hand-work project of paper piecing Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks.

I'm hoping to finish some a couple of UFO's this week. This is also a time to thank about the events of Jesus' last week on earth and the wonderful blessing of Easter Sunday. Wishing you and yours a happy and holy week,

Random Thoughts

2009-03-29T18:50:00.011-05:00

The past several weeks have been busy but not very productive. Maybe the unpredictable weather was part of my problem. We had beautiful, warm days with sunshine and gentle breezes and cold days with high winds. This weekend saw the north and western parts of the state with record snowfall. We had severe thunderstorms, rain, sleet and snow...all in 24 hours...and today was warm and sunny again. I'm really ready for spring!!! I'm ready to buy vegetable plants and flowers and the sweet potato vines for the big flowerpots on the decks. Hurry springtime!!

Our local quilt guild's email newsletter is featuring a 3-part mystery quilt pattern. I've never done a mystery quilt but this sounded fun. I have the first part finished. I decided to use fabrics from my stash and here's what I ended up with.

I love the little chicks on the green fabric! I need to get another piece of red fabric for the next part of the mystery.

Years ago I bought some BOMs at JoAnn's that I had put away and only rediscovered recently. I remember that I loved the colors in this one and liked the idea of pre-cut pieces. I thought this would be fun to pull out and work on, especially since cutting is not one of my favorite parts of quilting.

I got all the pieces out for the January block (notice it's 1998!) and started to sew. It didn't take long to realize that something wasn't working. Some of the pieces were cut smaller than the dimensions shown on the templates. So parts of the bear paws didn't fit! I got frustrated but recovered and took it all apart. It took two more times sewing and taking apart plus some fabric from my stash, but the block is finished and I really like it. I'll just have to incorporate some of those stash fabrics in other blocks to make it work. I don't know what happened but I didn't get the finishing kit....just some of the fabric in yardages so I'll end up making my own sashings and borders.

The next two blocks are coming together well so I think that was just a one-time problem. I hope so since I have several years worth of these BOMs. I think they will be fun to work on whenever I want to sew but don't want to cut and think a lot. The instructions are all in pictures (as well as words) and that makes them very easy to follow. Some days I feel like sewing but not thinking very hard.

Well, I'm off to get ready to watch the OU Sooners women's basketball team play in the Sweet Sixteen. Our men's team lost to North Carolina in the Elite Eight game today and we were sad to see that. Our women are awesome so I hope they play well. BOOMER SOONER!!!

Hope your days are filled with sunshine and stitching. Wishing you blessings.

Sunlight and Shadows

2009-02-27T07:04:00.012-06:00

Sometimes quilt block names say so much. This week has been filled with sunlight and shadows and will each year for the rest of my life. Tuesday was my birthday and I had a lovely day with precious birthday wishes from family and friends. I love being part of the post-WWII baby boom (which my students always thought was just hysterical!) Here’s a picture from February, 1947. This is me with my mother :)
Two years ago, I spent my birthday at my mother’s bedside expecting any moment she would slip away from us and into the presence of our Savior. She had suffered a series of strokes and seizures and was no longer conscious. Today marks two years since my precious mother went to be with Jesus. I thank her for giving me life and loving me so much. Mother was 82 years old and she and Daddy had been married 64 ½ years.

Mother 1924 - 2007

Mother, I love you and I miss you.

Hope you have a blessed day.

Happy Wednesday

2009-02-18T08:05:00.007-06:00

The past week has been a busy one but I'm so pleased with the results of our work. The larger room - formerly known as the second guest room with a sleeper sofa and my sweetheart's desk and bookcases - is now sunshiney yellow with MOST of my sewing stuff in place. (The guest room and office is now in the smaller room and fits very well.) I still have a little more to do but it looks so nice with shelves around the walls and my sewing machine out in the middle of the room with a big table beside it to use for cutting and holding quilts as I sew. I'll take a picture when everything is in place. There's a small tv with vcr right at viewing level from the sewing machine and my collections of Christy, Anne of Green Gables and Sarah Plain and Tall are right there for peaceful watching and sewing. I can't wait to get started!

But sewing may be delayed a little. We've decided to go ahead and do some more painting...after two years of all white walls, we crave a little soft color in some rooms just to make them more warm and homey. Since painting requires moving furniture, etc., I'm getting my spring cleaning done as well! I love moving into the spring and summer with the house deep-cleaned and organized. Then I can spend time outside with a clear conscience.

Speaking of spring, thank you all for the kind comments and concern after the early Oklahoma tornadoes. Thankfully we were just fine.

My girls loved the Valentine purses I made for them. Amy is a Native American scholar and writer so I chose these fabrics for her.

Maggie loves the combination of pink and brown so I knew she would like these fabrics.

It's time to get back to putting fabrics and patterns away!

Hope to finish the sewing room today!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Hope your day is happy, productive and blessed!

Tornado Alley

2009-02-11T11:03:00.004-06:00

The skies turn dark, the clouds start to boil and we know it's tornado season in Oklahoma! It just usually doesn't happen in February but yesterday was quite a day! Our meteorologist daughter emailed early in the day and warned us to be aware...conditions were right for a major storm outbreak. She was certainly correct. My sweetheart works in west OKC and, at his company, they took shelter three different times as the sirens sounded and tornadoes roared very close to them. One touchdown was just north of his location. The real damage in the afternoon was in Edmond, north of OKC. At our house, there was wind, rain and hail. In the early evening, a tornado did tremendous damage at Lone Grove, south of us near Ardmore, and lives were lost. We pray for that community.

We've lived in Oklahoma all our lives and every spring and fall we know to watch the western skies. I can tell by the feel of the weather and the smell when storms can develop. Yesterday was one of those days!

I've been stitching Valentine gifts and will show them when I know the package has been delivered. Until then, I'm moving everything out of my sewing room and will be trading for a larger room after it's painted a sunny yellow gold...a happy creative color :)

Have a blessed day!

Monday Hoops

2009-02-02T09:17:00.008-06:00

Ooops...I need to correct that the Lady Vols were ranked #12 this week but the game was very exciting and the Sooners won 80-70!!! It was a great evening!!!!!

Stitchery hoops are not the focus today at our house! Instead I'm very excited about basketball hoops :)

My sweetheart and I love to follow college football and basketball! We look forward all summer to the first football game of the season and we are totally lost when March Madness is over :) We are not big baseball fans and that's probably good since we need those months to garden and get things in order before football starts again. We are very devoted fans of the University of Oklahoma Sooners (BOOMER SOONER!!) but we also cheer for Belmont University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee since one daughter and son-in-law are alums of those schools.

I especially love women's basketball and the OU Sooners are number 2 in the nation! My favorite women's basketball coach is Pat Summitt of Tennessee...she's an amazing coach and a classy lady. So the ideal game for me would be Sherri Coale and the #2 OU Sooners against Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols!!! And it's happening tonight and my sweetheart surprised me with tickets!!! He even has to take off work early so we can get there in time for all the pregame fun.

I want the Sooners to win but a Tennessee win would be #1000 for Pat Summit. I'll be a happy lady either way. It's nationally televised so if you see a crazy lady dressed in OU crimson and cream singing "Rocky Top" ... that's me :)

I'll be back to stitching tomorrow! Have a wonderful day!

Thawing and Stitching

2009-01-29T16:48:00.006-06:00

We are in the low 40s now so there's some thawing going on and we do appreciate that sunshine. Our hearts go out to those north and east in the country who got this storm and lost power and had even more ice and snow than we did. It's hard to see the trees breaking with the ice and people suffering with the cold and difficult travel. I hope the sunshine and warmer temps will spread north and east as well.

I finished two of the BOMs I had planned. The Christmas Wish stitchery was fun to do and I'm pleased with it.

This is such a pretty pattern. You can find it by clicking on the button on the right.

The Country Calendar BOM was a little more difficult for me since I decided to do it by applique instead of embroidery. I have put off learning to applique for many years so I thought it was time to learn. This is my attempt...actually it's the third attempt since I redid the snowman part of the block three times!! The first two attempts were pretty wonky and I wanted to do it right. This one isn't perfect but I'm content with it. I did something different with the borders...it's a little busy but it makes me happy so I'll go with it. That's preprinted patchwork fabric on the borders.

Last summer I bought some quilt block kits on sale at Hancock's Fabrics and some of them are appliqued blocks with simple shapes. I think I'll be practicing my applique skills by making those...it's going to take some practice :)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Wishing you blessings today. Karen

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

2009-01-28T10:26:00.008-06:00

Dreams of spring and garden goodies were buried under several inches of ice and sleet the past few days here in the heart of Oklahoma. Sweetheart had big plans to finish his work this past weekend preparing the garden soil for spring planting but it was too cold for him to be outside...even bundled up. The wind was blowing and the temperature was just above freezing.

Then our winter storm hit mid-day Monday. Here's the view from my back door yesterday.

That's about 1/2 inch of ice topped by close to 6 inches of sleet...no snow...the sleet is that thick! The freezing rain started on Monday and then about 3 am Tuesday morning, we were awakened by thunder and what sounded like hail on our roof and windows. But, it wasn't hail...it was sleet!! It sleeted all day yesterday. Sweetheart went on to work but Monday night the drive home took 2 1/2 hours instead of the usual 45 minutes. Yesterday the drive was 2 hours each way and he called from one end of our country road to tell me he was almost home but was having a hard time making it up the hill. About 20 minutes later he drove in the driveway but couldn't open the garage because of the sleet piled high against the door. It took a little while to move the sleet pile and get the car inside.

We are fortunate this time since the December 2007 ice storm ruined trees and left us without power for a week. Our rural electric coop did a wonderful job cutting trees away from power lines during 2008 and this time our power didn't even flicker.

Today the sun is out but it's 19 degrees. Not much thawing will take place today but the sun is so cheerful. Here's what I saw this morning.

I've been working on my BOM blocks and the Valentine charm pack surprise. Pictures of my progress will be coming soon. For now, I'm enjoying the sunshine!

Wishing you a beautiful sunshine day!! Karen

Sewing Tuesday!

2009-01-20T09:04:00.007-06:00

It was a busy weekend but now the garden spot is ready for a little more new topsoil and the final tractor work and I can already taste the green onions and tomatoes!!! Hurry spring!! I'm really not wishing time to pass too quickly but my sweetheart is reading the garden books and talking about what to plant and my mouth waters at the thought of home-grown veggies! He has also fixed a small area along the back deck to be my herb garden and I'm looking forward to that as well. I've never grown herbs but I read many of your blogs where you use the fresh herbs and freeze for later and I'm anxious to try my hand at it.

This will be a great day with a Lord of the Rings dvd marathon followed by the two Narnia movies and lots of sewing! I just need to put the flowered border on this quilt and it will be ready to prepare for quilting!

I'm also going to use these charm packs to work on two gifts. I can't do more than give a sneek peak of the fabrics.

I was thrilled to be the winner of Rose's giveaway. She was offering her own beautiful set of BOM patterns for Tender Moments along with some threads and needles. It is a gorgeous pattern and I'm thinking of making it to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary later this year.

If you enjoy stitcheries, please visit Rose's blog Threadbare Creations. She generously offered a complete free pattern you can download called Life's Treasures. It's lovely and would be special for yourself or as a gift. Quilters are so generous with their talents!! Thank you, Rose.

I'm off to sew. Enjoy your day and happy stitching. Blessings to you! Karen

Whirl Into Winter Giveaway

2009-01-15T06:26:00.004-06:00

A huge thank you to all of you who left comments telling what you love about quilting or quilts. Most comments mentioned the creativity that quilting allows, the love of fabrics, the enjoyment of the process from choosing fabrics to the final quilting, and the joy that comes from giving quilts to those who will treasure them. There was also overwhelming appreciation of the fellowship and friendship that comes from meeting and sharing with other quilters even those who will never be met face to face but who become very dear across miles and even oceans because of a shared love of quilting. I feel so fortunate to visit blogs and share a few minutes with quilters whose tastes reflect my own and those who venture into new areas I can only appreciate!! I hope you will return again and visit with me and brighten my day with your comments.

The winner of my giveaway (randomly chosen by my sweetheart from a bowl full of names) is Barbara, who said that "being creative is my favorite thing about quilt-making." Barbara, I'll email you and will have your package in the mail quickly.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the giveaway and thank you to Debi for organizing such fun!

Have a happy day of stitching, Karen

Ready to Sew!

2009-01-13T13:42:00.005-06:00

Whew! The house is clean, the closets reorganized, furniture moved and I'm ready to sew :) It's such a good feeling to get things in order for the new year! Of course, we're planning some painting and carpeting but I won't think about that just now!

While cleaning out drawers and boxes in my sewing room, I found some "projects under construction"...some from many years ago. So, I started by finishing one of those pieces. This was a practice block from one of the first quilting classes I took (more years ago than I care to tell). It isn't perfect but I really like it so I hand quilted it and made a little table topper for next Christmas.

This morning I cut out the pieces for this quilt. I loved the colors when I saw it at a shop during the quilt shop hop last June. The pattern can be reused for fat quarters or 5 " squares.

Thanks so much to all of you who left comments on my giveaway as part of the "Whirl Into Winter Quilt Bloggers Giveaway." I set noon CST tomorrow, January 14, as the last time to leave a comment. The winner will be annnounced on January 15. I'm overwhelmed at the number of comments I've received and the kind and gracious words. I visited every blog represented and found some wonderful quilters and crafters. Hopefully some of you will visit here again and some new friendships will result.

For now, I'm off to my sewing room! Happy stitching, Karen

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T18:06:00.003-06:00

The year has begun with a bang! Yesterday was very busy as we helped clean and paint at our daughter's new home. The house is almost new but they are adding touches to make it very much their own. They will be moved in by the end of the month and we'll all happily settle down.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my giveaway. I visited the other giveaway blogs and there are some lovely gifts out there. One problem I've encountered is that some of you who commented have your blogs set to "no reply" so I have no way of contacting you! I don't want anyone to be left out so please be sure you have an email address on your blog or that you put your email on your comment! Thank you so much!!

I visited many blogs and, by visiting Simone's blog, I found Ellie's blog with a lovely stitchery BOM pattern. If you enjoy stitchery or applique, check this out! It's so cute!

Hoping your new year has started well and wishing you many blessings!

Whirl Into Winter Giveaway!!

2008-12-31T06:47:00.008-06:00

The holidays are over and it’s time to Whirl Into Winter with the Quilt Bloggers Giveaway organized by Debi. What a nice way to add excitement to January!!

Between January 1 and January 14 at noon CST, leave a comment on this post and tell me one thing you love about quilting or quilts. Only comments answering this question, left on or after January 1, 2009 will be counted. Please be sure I can get your email address on your blog profile or leave an email address so I can contact you.

Here is my wintry giveaway.

This is a quilt pattern called “Warm and Wintery” by Cotton Way which uses a pack of charm squares. You will get a charm pack “Miss Jump’s Scrapbag” from Moda and a yard of creamy background fabric to get you started on the quilt. To round out the wintry theme, I crocheted a cuddly scarf from Homespun yarn and will send some packets of tea and cider to keep you warm. There’s a little snowman sled just for fun!

Be sure and check out all the blogs participating in the giveaway, AND, leave your comment here on January 1st!!

One thing I love about quilting is that it ties me to generations of women whose creativity produced beauty from scraps. What an inspiration to take ordinary things in life, even the scraps, and make something unique that will bless and comfort ourselves and others.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Do come back again.

The winner of my giveaway (randomly chosen by my sweetheart from a bowl full of names) is Barbara, who said that "being creative is my favorite thing about quilt-making." Barbara, I'll email you and will have your package in the mail quickly.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the giveaway and thank you to Debi for organizing such fun!

Our Savior Is Born

2008-12-24T08:25:00.003-06:00

Wishing everyone peace, joy and blessings during this special time as we celebrate the greatest gift of all...the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

"JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME!"

The Best Laid Plans

2008-12-10T08:16:00.004-06:00

No matter how well we make plans, life has a way of changing things. I thought November would be a quiet month of holiday preparation and lots of stitching. We had our wonderful trip early in the month and then started our tree planting and yard projects before winter weather. THEN...my sweetheart got very sick and went the hospital for the first time in his life. This is a man who is very healthy and has gone years without taking a sick day. He spent a week in the hospital but he recovered well and the doctors have no idea what caused the problem and think it probably won't happen again. We are watching his diet and I'm making sure he rests but that hasn't kept him from planting trees and putting up Christmas lights.

It was truly a Thanksgiving for us since my sweetheart was feeling better. We are thankful for the blessings of health and the love and concern of loved ones.

Since then I've been racing to finish Christmas gifts I planned. I did some sewing, crocheting, and other needlework. Projects are completed and wrapped with some ready for mailing. In the midst of all, our great niece was born...mother and baby doing fine. So, the baby quilt I'd planned needed to be finished. Here it is ready for quilting.

I have the squares quilted and I'm ready to quilt the border strips and add the binding. I'm pleased with the way the colors came together and the baby's grandmother assures me the colors will go perfectly in the new nursery.

Today there's Christmas fabric in the washer...I'm hoping to get a little Christmas stitching done for our home...and probably to share as well.

Is anyone else making quilting "to-do" lists for the new year? There are so many ideas in my head and projects in my shelves. I need a plan!! And I must plan time to blog regularly, read blogs and COMMENT...I'll admit I read much and comment little. I know how much comments mean to me and I'm sure others feel the same. One of my resolutions for the new quilting year is to let others know how their blogs touch, inspire and delight.

Have a wonderful day and come back soon!

Quilt Shop Visit

2008-11-12T11:18:00.014-06:00

While in North Carolina, our daughter took us to visit a wonderful quilt shop in Granite Falls, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The shop is in the old farmhouse that belonged to the grandparents of the shop owner, Martha. It's located on a winding country road and we knew we were there when we saw the quilts on the porch rail.

We were warmly greeted and I spent some "quality time" looking and buying. I especially loved the shelves of depression era reproductions since I'm hooked on paper piecing the Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagons. There were also quite a few bolts of Thimbleberries on a half-price sale.

After looking awhile, I made my choices. I thought of Linda when I saw this packet. She has inspired me to use some soft pastels and pretty pinks!

I got a Moda Portbello jelly roll and Merry and Bright charm packs, fat 8ths of reproductions for my hexagons, some pretty fat quarters, fall fat quarters and a Thimbleberries fabric that I fell in love with.

I know I will be visiting the shop online here
It's nice to help a small business grow...especially a quilter-owned quilt shop!!!!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit ... have a blessed day!

We're Back!!

2008-11-12T09:39:00.012-06:00

We’ve just returned from a wonderful visit to North Carolina to see our daughter, Amy, son-in-law and “granddog”. The autumn colors were at their finest and the entire trip was lovely from beginning to end.

Our son-in-law is the Provost of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. We visited the campus which was blazing with fall colors and enjoyed seeing his office, shopping at the bookstore and attending a lecture by a visiting writer.

Their home is in a wooded community of small acreages on Lake Hickory. This is a view of the driveway. Their log home is nestled in the trees completely secluded from the street. We felt like we were the only ones in the “big house in the little woods!” It was beautiful!!

Amy and our granddog, Virginia, start each morning with a walk in the woods and by the lake. They took me with them and I thoroughly enjoyed the sights and the company.

Walking on those trails with the colorful trees and crisp air was a devotional in itself because I couldn’t help but rejoice that our precious Creator had provided such a beautiful world for our enjoyment. Everything around me was a testament to Him.

We took a trip to Virginia to visit our son-in-law's family in Patrick County. We drove part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and visited Mabry’s Mill.

Later in the week, Amy took us to visit the small mountain town of Blowing Rock, which is the inspiration for Jan Karon’s Mitford. It was such a pretty place nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We also visited the Blowing Rock but, since none of us are very comfortable with heights, we declined to take the small walkway out to the rock itself!!

We also visited a great quilt shop in Granite Falls which you can shop online. I'll save the quilt shop for my next post!

Oh, yes, and we took the ghost tour in Asheville!!! I have pictures from that as well!!

Have a lovely day. Thanks for visiting!

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T07:44:00.002-05:00

Bessie is ready for Halloween and we both wish you a day filled with the best treats and very few tricks. Best stitching wishes from both of us!!!

Thunder in OKC

2008-10-30T19:21:00.006-05:00

Last night was exciting as we were part of the sell-out crowd at the first regular season home game for the new Oklahoma City NBA basketball team….the OKC Thunder!!!

Our sweet daughter, Maggie, and her husband asked us to join them for this big event. We all look forward to many years of enjoying professional basketball close to home!!

On the quilting front, I finished the autumn table runner. I will be using the extra pieces to make two more. Here’s the finished project.

I must get busy on the baby quilt for our niece. I have a couple of quilts in the works but I’m anxious to get out my Christmas fabrics and make something from them.

I also found a neat item on Ebay. It’s called a “class in a kit” and it really is. It’s a tutorial you can touch. I started working on it and couldn’t stop…more addictive than popcorn. I love to have something to do by hand in the evenings so I’ll be working on this and plan to get more hexagon papers and start a long-term quilt project. The Grandmother's Flower Garden is one of my favorite patterns. I have quite a few blocks I did by hand years ago but didn't use the paper-piecing method. Those old blocks are pretty but not as precise. I love this method.

Speaking of hand work, I pulled out this little kit that I started years ago and laid it out to see how it will look. I just have the last two blocks to finish (where the big white areas are) and then the entire little quilt can be sewn together and hand quilted. The colors are rich deep turquoise, purple, lavendar and cream. There is something so satisfying and peaceful about hand work:)

We've had our first frost and the summer plants are gone. We'll need to do some flower bed cleaning and bulb digging. All that will have to wait while we take a little vacation break.

Happy quilting and blessings to you!!

Mail Call

2008-10-23T13:59:00.004-05:00

It’s such fun when the mail brings packages!

I was so thrilled to be the winner of Jeanne’s giveaway as part of the Fall Into Fall Blogger’s Giveaway. Here’s all the nice things Jeanne sent…the cutest Halloween bag filled with Halloween fat quarters, this great fall pattern and quilt postcards and Halloween candy.

Thanks so much, Jeanne, for a great giveaway.

Danetta had three prizes in her Fall Into Fall Giveaway and my name was picked for this great book. As you can see from part of my stash (forgive the messy stack), I can certainly make use of these patterns.

Thanks, Danetta! The book is great!!

After being the fortunate recipient of these ladies’ generosity, I plan to participate in Debi's next giveaway and pass along the kindness.

Quilting bloggers are the nicest people!!!

Seasonal Sewing

2008-10-21T07:38:00.004-05:00

Last week was a busy week of sewing gift goodies. I completed a spooky bookbag and a birthday apron. I forgot to take pictures of them before they were given.

One of my projects was a Halloween costume for our "granddog." Virginia is a beautiful Boston Terrier and she is so sweet to model her new costume! She is good girl, especially when cheese treats are involved!!!

The fall colors were calling me so I decided to use some of my autumn fabrics for a table runner as a gift. I am using this pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop. When I started piecing, I realized that I would be cutting off the triangles and not using them. So I started sewing them together. I got enough half squares and small hourglass blocks to make another table topper. I’m happy with the mixture of colors and patterns. I tend to be concerned that it is too busy…but looking at it makes me happy and it looks like the colors do in nature.
Here's the runner ready for the batting and backing.

There's a cold front on the way so I'm hoping for some rain and a real fall-feeling day tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by for a visit! Have a beautiful day.

Counting Down to Halloween

2008-10-13T08:34:00.006-05:00

Another beautiful fall weekend with just a little wind and the promise of rain coming this week. I'm enjoying this fall so much as comfortable days and cool nights stretch on.

One of my projects reached its new owner so I can show it now. You've had peeks of the fabrics

Here is the finished little quilt. I used the pattern Spider Pumpkin from Fall 2008 Easy Quilts. I made the spider webs with Fun Fur yarn.

It's now in the mountains of North Carolina at the home of our older daughter, Amy. She has loved Halloween since she was little and we always had so much fun decorating and celebrating this historical holiday.

We are sad that the OU Sooners lost to Texas on Saturday. The Red River Rivalry is always a big fall event. Maggie and her husband (both OU grads) went to Texas for the game. Amy earned her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt so we are also cheering for the Commodores. Her husband has his Ph.D. from Tennessee so we also support the Vols who are struggling this year. Needless to say, football is one of our major fall interests. We're also big basketball fans as well. Watching games on tv is a great time to cut out quilt pieces or do some hand stitching :)

Today I'm finishing more of the little quilted Halloween baskets. I also have an apron to finish as a gift.

Have a great Monday. Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.

Mellow Days

2008-09-30T13:59:00.007-05:00

It's 70 degrees and the sun is shining. It's been several years since we've had such a beautiful fall in Oklahoma.

Last Friday, my daughter, Maggie, treated me to a visit to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art to see this exhibit.

It was amazing and we spent several hours looking, reading exhibit captions and admiring these beautiful works of art. We had lunch at the museum cafe and it was a wonderful day!!!

My sweetheart spent the weekend doing yard work and finished with washing the windows. Now I can see the sunshine and the trees through sparkling clean glass.
It's so nice to get everything done up just right!!

I finished one project and decided this morning to make one of the fabric baskets I'd been admiring on several blogs. Pink Penguin has a wonderful tutorial here. It is so easy to make with her excellent instructions. I will definitely make more.

I think this will be really cute to hold candy or other goodies.

I'm off to fix vegetable soup for supper. Hope your days are filled with sunshine and stitching.

Autumn Arrives!!!

2008-09-25T10:37:00.018-05:00

There's a definite change in the air, nights are cool, and the warm days seem different! It's fall and it's my very favorite season!! I love the colors, the smells, the events and the feeling that the work of summer is over and it's time to gather in and ready our homes and hearts to snuggle in for the winter.

We've already celebrated our younger daughter's September birthday and will celebrate our older daughter's birthday in November. What perfect planning that God blessed us with both of our babies in the fall :)

My sweetheart and I went to the Oklahoma State Fair. We love walking around and looking especially at the exhibit halls with all the quilts and other needlework. Last weekend was our rural electric coop's annual meeting and dinner. We enjoy going and seeing family as well as listening to a gospel singing group. There's always a booth from a local church featuring handwork the church ladies sell to help their mission fund. I found a sweet set of kitchen towels decorated with cows...I collect cows for my kitchen. They were decorated with fabric paint but I had to feel to tell it wasn't stitchery. When I started to pay, the lady who made them showed me the blue ribbon she had won at her county fair for the beautiful job she did on these towels. She gave me the ribbon!!! I think these towels will have to be decorative and everytime I look at them I will think of that sweet lady.

Our home is beginning to look like fall as well.

My sewing room is stacked with Halloween and fall projects. Since these are surprises I'll have to show you through October once they have reached their new homes. I'm also working on more blazers. The ones I made earlier made "older daughter" very happy and that just makes my day :)

My next quilt project will be a baby quilt. Our niece and her husband are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in December. The mother-to-be has chosen yellow, green, light brown and maybe soft rose. I found this combination that I think would look good and match the color choices. I HAD to use the rose color since it fit a baby girl so well. I'm still considering the deep rose and darker print..I think they will be the "pop" but I don't want them to be too strong. What do you think?
The stripe will be the binding.

I plan to use this pattern called Flower Patch from Fall 2008 Easy Quilts magazine.

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions on the fabric combination. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Celebrating 39 Years!!

2008-08-28T15:24:00.012-05:00

My sweetheart and I celebrated our 39th anniversary on August 22. We celebrated by spending a few days in northwest Arkansas. We love to go to antique shops and flea markets and there are many in that area. We enjoy seeing things we remember from our childhood and occasionally we find something we must have. We always have to go to the AQ Chicken House for an excellent dinner. Here’s some of the “finds” that came home with me.

I love the gray-green of the plate. I collect pieces decorated with fruits and vegetables.

The yellow check and burgundy striped fabrics are vintage fabrics I found as well.

I really fell in love with these fabrics...they looked like fall to me.

History and historical sites are also a favorite of ours (I’m a retired history teacher) so we took time to visit Prairie Grove State Park…a Civil War battlefield. If any of you remember the mini-series, The Blue and the Gray, you have seen Prairie Grove since many of the scenes were filmed there. It was gray and rainy and set the mood perfectly for a site where there were so many casualties of war. From there we took the Trail of Tears route to Tahlequah, OK, the national capital of the Cherokee nation. Driving down the main street of Tahlequah, my sweetheart spotted this quilt shop. We went in and had a very nice visit.

Of course, I found some fat quarters to add to my collection.
What I love most about travel is coming home!!! I always say I’ll go anywhere as long as I can come home at night!!!

This week has been a time of catch-up and more sewing. We're looking forward to a relaxing Labor Day weekend. Hope all of you are enjoying the end of summer and happily stitching away!

2008-08-18T18:20:00.009-05:00

It’s almost the end of August and I can’t believe I haven’t posted for a month. The time flies by and I’ve been happily keeping my sewing machine humming. My oldest daughter asked for a blazer from a pattern I made for her in college. I still had the pattern and it still fits perfectly so I’ve been sewing blazers. It’s fun to sew clothes again.

I’m also working on some gifts so I can only show peeks.

We took time yesterday to drive to Norman and visit the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. My sweetheart wanted to see the “Super Croc” exhibit. It’s a beautiful museum and I will never look at those SciFi channel crocodile movies after seeing this monster!!! It’s cool and rainy today and should be the same for most of the week. August has been a surprising month….July was superhot, but this feels more like October. Certainly makes me anxious for fall.

I’ve been keeping up with many of your blogs and the summer seems to have been a busy time for many of you with beautiful projects galore! It’s so nice to visit blogs and see the choices of fabrics and patterns. It’s both restful and inspiring! Thanks for sharing!

Mail Call!!!

2008-07-18T17:50:00.006-05:00

I love to get mail and today was special when I received the fat quarters I won from Janelle in their giveaway.

The fabrics are such soft colors. An unexpected treat was a pattern for a pin cushion and scissors/seam ripper keeper. These ladies have a shop with patterns for quilts, wall hangings, redwork and kits. You might want to check out their free stitchery patterns as well. Thank you, ladies, for the fabrics and pattern.

Hope you have a relaxing weekend. We have a lot of yard work to do but I hope to work in some sewing! Thanks for visiting.

Giveaway!

2008-07-16T11:28:00.004-05:00

You must visit Jen and enjoy her beautiful batik folded flowers. She is giving away gorgeous batik fabrics and sample folded flowers perfect for someone to try this technique and create a project. These fabrics and flowers would be lovely for a number of project ideas. Jen is having a different giveaway each week with something for everyone so be sure and check back often.

Hope you are having a successful sewing week. I have finished two gifts but I have to be very careful since the recipients read my blog. Let's just say these are birthday or Christmas gifts for two beautiful ladies who were both born in the fall (which is coincidentally my favorite season :)

Here's a peek at a couple of the fabrics.

I can hear some chuckles now :) I have some ideas for coordinating items. We'll see :)

Have a nice day and do visit again. Wishing you blessings.

Getting Back to My Sewing Room

2008-07-11T11:36:00.011-05:00

The wedding day finally arrived and the ceremony was beautiful! There were many smiles and tears as our youngest married the love of her life. Our oldest daughter was the matron of honor and her husband (our dear son-in-law) was an usher and my escort during the ceremony. It was exactly as Maggie had dreamed and the reception was a time of celebration. We love our new son-in-law and his family. We are waiting on pictures of the wedding but here is Maggie's bridal portrait.

It was wonderful to share the day with family and friends. We will cherish the memories of the day forever!

I've spent the week getting the house back to normal and readying my sewing room for happy hours of cutting and sewing. I thought I'd show you where all this fabric fun will take place. This is the wall above my sewing machine. I like keeping everything in view so I can reach up and grab what I need.

From my chair, I can sew, cut, press and reach piles of fabric. To the left is a shelf with bins for all kinds of necessities.

Here's my little sewing buddy "Bessie." She watches over my fabric stash and makes me smile!

Long before we moved to the country, two dear friends made this for me to decorate my sewing room. Bessie thinks it is most appropriate for her!

That's all for today. I'll be sharing more of my sewing collection as well as projects in progress in the days to come.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day and come back again!

Showers and Blessings

2008-06-22T15:25:00.004-05:00

It's been a month since I've posted! It's two weeks until Maggie's wedding and we're anxious and excited for the big day. Last weekend Maggie's aunts hosted an "afternoon tea party bridal shower" for her. We all had a lovely time and Maggie was so blessed by best wishes and beautiful gifts. It was so good to spend time with the several generations of the ladies of the family and some of my daughter's good friends. I was inspired by many of your blogs about aprons, old and new, to make an apron for Maggie. I used fabrics she had admired at Hancock's and this was the result.She loved it! And so did everyone else! I realized what wonderful gifts aprons would make so, after the wedding, I'm going to make several along with getting back to my quilting ideas. (And I'm going to make an apron for myself!)

Though I haven't been posting or commenting, I have been reading and keeping up with many of your projects and admiring your work! Thanks for sharing!

Busy, Busy!!

2008-05-20T09:43:00.008-05:00

Time has flown since I last posted. I intend to post more often but seem to get wrapped up in projects and the day is over before I realize. Wedding plans for Maggie (our younger daughter)and her sweetheart are in full swing. All the preparations are complete but now we are tying up loose ends and organizing everything for the big day in early July. Until then, I'm sure my time will mostly be spent on wedding activities with a little time for planning post-wedding projects.

Early in May I enjoyed visiting the local quilt guild with Linda. It was our first time to meet and she is every bit as nice in person as she is on her blog. And her applique is even more stunning than the pictures! Thank you, Linda, for introducing me to the guild. The speaker talked to us about depression era quilts and had some beautiful quilts to show. I love those scrappy bright colors! It's a nice group of quilters and I joined hoping for quilting fellowship and the opportunity to learn.

At the meeting I picked up a nice quilt pattern from Eleanor Burns.

I found some fabrics in my stash that I had been wanting to use and they will work in this quilt. I added a couple of accents that I MIGHT use but I'm still experimenting with colors. I see quilts that I love because of the combinations of fabrics but am not very confident in some of my own choices. My family tells me to use what I love and enjoy it! These are the fabrics I want to use.

I really love the floral in the middle and the two fabrics on the bottom coordinate with it. The one on the bottom right is more the soft green of the floral than the grayish tone in the photo. The top fabrics pick up colors in the floral. I think they are so pretty together...I'll have to see how they look in the quilt block.

I'm off to call the florist. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Making Memories

2008-04-15T12:10:00.009-05:00

Thank you to each of you who were so kind in your comments about the passing of my father. Your caring and prayers meant so much to me. We said goodbye to Daddy at the funeral on Saturday and spent time with family.

After a difficult weekend, my younger daughter, Maggie, and I spent a wonderful Monday together. She is our scientist with a master's degree in meteorology and a talent for all kinds of needlework. These doilies she crocheted were part of my birthday gift this year and I treasure them!

Yesteday's project was to get a quilt she had pieced ready for quilting. This is her first quilt project and she did a great job with all the fussy cutting and matching!

We pinned the quilt sandwich and she decided on hand quilting. Here she is working on the first block. And here's how the quilting pattern looks on the back.

She knows the hand quilting will be slow but also a nice way to relax after work and while planning her wedding in July! Can you tell I'm a very proud momma!!!! Now I need to get busy and get my own quilt projects underway again!

Sadness and Celebration

2008-04-10T11:45:00.009-05:00

It is a very sad day as my father went to be with the Lord early yesterday morning. His condition had worsened last week but the end came more quickly than anyone thought it would. He passed quietly in his sleep. Though my heart is very heavy and our family is grieving, I can just imagine the scene as Daddy opened his eyes in Heaven to see his Savior and my mother waiting for him with open arms and a smile. I know his father (who passed away when my father was in his teens) and his mother were there to greet him as well. His older sister was eight years old when Daddy was born and she "mothered" him all her life. She passed away last summer and I know she was waiting to welcome her "baby brother." Our sadness is balanced with the celebration of a long life, well-lived, and the assurance of life eternal. My younger daughter requested the hymn "Victory in Jesus" for the funeral and we asked the pastor to make that the theme of his message. Our prayer is that someone who hears will find that same victory in their life.

Stitches and Memories

2008-03-25T15:52:00.005-05:00

Inspired by Linda's lovely stitchery, I am relearning an old craft. I remember my grandmother and aunts doing redwork and other embroidery. I'm delighted to find out that my hands remember the needlework even if my mind is a bit foggy on particular stitches. I was intrigued by Lynette Anderson's adorable Noah's Ark BOM here and, since I have a dear friend who collects Noah's Ark, I decided this is a perfect stitchery to make for her. If you haven't seen this BOM, go to Lynette's site and scroll down on the left for the pattern. Here's my first BOM of the rabbits...I can't wait to see what comes next. (I did decide to make two so I can keep one for myself. I just fell in love with these tiny blocks.)

As I worked on the stitches, I remembered when I entered junior high and had to buy my first gym suit. The Tulsa Public Schools required this horrible twill one-piece garment that was short sleeved and had shorts with attached bloomers underneath! (Really I'm not that old...this was in 1960.) We were required to have our name above the shirt pocket. Some people wrote it in fabric marker while others paid to have it embroidered. I asked my mother to have mine embroidered but time was short. When my father heard that, he told me he could do it! When he was a little boy, he would sit under the quilt frame while my grandmother and other ladies quilted. To keep him occupied, my grandmother taught my father to embroider. He loved having a needle and thread and his own piece of fabric. All those years later, my father, an engineer who worked on the missile and space programs, embroidered my name on my gym suit...not in block letters, but in beautiful cursive handwriting!! You can imagine the reaction I got when people commented on my embroidered name and I told them "Daddy did it!" I was so proud!!

That memory is especially poignant right now as my father is now 86 years old and in very fragile health. Last week we moved him from his assisted living apartment to a nursing unit and called in hospice. February 2007 my precious mother went to be with Jesus. My father tried very hard to carry on but misses her very much. They would have been married 65 years last August. It's a very difficult time for our family. We are so thankful for faith in our Lord and His comfort and the promise of eternal life with Him.

It's a Beautiful Day!

2008-02-27T14:55:00.006-06:00

It's a warm, sunny day and I'm hoping spring is in the air! Thank you to Linda for introducing me to the quilting blog community. Linda does beautiful quilting and needlework. I appreciate the warm welcome from so many of you and lovely comments to my postings. I enjoy reading your blogs so very much. I get inspiration from your creativity and look forward to sharing ideas and projects with you.

I have finished the blocks for the Road to Oklahoma Shop Hop quilt. I really like the blocks but I'm not sure about the setting. I bought the fabric and instructions for the setting from one of my favorite quilt shops, the Patchwork Place, in Norman, Oklahoma. This is a photo of the finished quilt per the instructions.

I like the center baskets and flying geese but I'm thinking another color combination might make the center more appealing...maybe each of the baskets in a primary color? I'm also going to change the solid color of the borders. I like the green but may use blue in place of the lavendar. I'm just not sure why but something about this finishing doesn't work for me and I would like to change it. The scrappy border is really cute and I plan to make that. Any comments or suggestions about color or border placement would be appreciated. Thanks for visiting and reading. Have a great day!

Another Project!

2008-02-20T11:32:00.005-06:00

I took a break from the quilt world to knit. This was a great project to work on while we watch Sooner basketball. I made a set of fingerless gloves and a hat for each of my daughters. The red hat to match was finished after I took the picture. Now back to my shop hop blocks!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T15:24:00.009-06:00

Valentine's Day is a day of love and caring and quilts are a way of showing love to others. One of my treasures is a collection of old quilts made by my great grandmothers, grandmother, grandmother-in-law, and mother-in-law. For Christmas my sweetheart gave me a quilt chest so these quilts could be seen and enjoyed. One of these quilts (the fourth from the bottom) has quite a history. When my great-grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1935, my great-grandmother presented each of her grown children with a handmade quilt. I treasure that quilt and the love that is represents! I love the picture taken of these great-grandparents and their children and families (including my mother as a little girl) at that anniversary celebration.

Lots of Blocks

2008-02-01T09:07:00.001-06:00

For the past two years, my daughter and I have taken part in the Road to Oklahoma Quilt Shop Hop in June. We had so much fun! We visited many quilt shops and bought materials for the featured quilt for that year. Recently I have been working on the 2006 Quilt Shop Hop quilt called Meadowbrook. I especially love it because it's made with reproduction fabrics and Kansas City Star patterns from the 1930s. I have three blocks to finish and then the center basket motif. Here's what I've accomplished so far.

First Post!

2008-02-01T09:05:00.000-06:00

Since I have enjoyed reading so many quilting blogs, I decided to join the conversation and share my love of quilting and other needlecrafts as well as thoughts of country life.