Good Morning

I decided to post a new comment today because I am get tired of seeing the same post for months. Sonny and I have been busy. I am not sure what we are doing, but quilting is not happening around here. Makes me sad--I have so many projects in mind and started. I really have been working on a queen size quilt, and it has lots of applique, so that has slowed down progress on the quilt. I cannot wait to get it on the quilting machine. Quilt photos later.

You would think I had a "Bucket List" with my experiences since June:

First, Sonny and I, traveled on my fourth (his fifth) Peru Mission (June 2012). We love Peru and our friends there. Here is a photo of me as I arrived at the top of the Sun Gate (8924 feet) at Machu Picchu.



Then in July we traveled to one of my favorite places to visit--Shipshewanna, IN. We met our son and his family there and had a great time. The highlight was having our grandson, Nikolas, traveling with us.

Cousins getting together.

Andrew excited about getting to ride in Amish buggie.

Nikolas exploring on Natchez Trace. 

On Labor Day weekend we traveled to Michigan to camp with my son and his family. First time in a tent.

We spent a day on Mackinaw Island where we enjoyed an 8-mile bike ride around the island on Lake Huron.

Relaxed to sunset on Lake Michigan.

Visited White Fish point on shores of Lake Superior. Loved this star quilt displayed in the LightHouse.

Maggie and I on the shores of Lake Superior.

This is me at the finish of the 5-mile walk across the Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day. Fun time had by all!

Six days and over 2000 miles in a car -- Home Again!

My Crosses Wall

I have been wanting a crosses wall for a while. Think I will enjoy it. The examples on Pinterest really had no rhyme or reason to them. This arrangement is angled by choice. I may change that as I add new crosses.

The two larger crosses were gifts from two of my daughters-in-law. The rest of the crosses are a collection -- two from a former student who shares her ceramic skills; one ceramic cross made by my daughter-in-law; the rest are from the collection of my mother-in-law who is now with the Lord.

One Day at a Time

I have been absent for quite a while. I have been working on a large quilt that I cannot post or show progress. But I took a little time today to work on a craft.

Have you ever seen items in a store and said, "Oh, I can make that."? Well, a friend of mine received a small towel embellished with a cross. I went to my stash to see if I could make this towel with a cross. The following picture shows my creation. Again, awful picture. I just do not have a skill in photography. Think I will try a smaller cross but you get the general idea. I think I can work on this and maybe makes some for gifts.

Samuel's Quilt

This is a photo of a baby quilt for my new grandson, Samuel. He is so precious!!!

I am still in love with the Farm Fresh fabric and the tumbler pattern. This is very similar (almost a duplicate) to the quilt I made for my nephew, Jonathan. Remarkably enough--the two boys favor each other; hence, similar quilts. Samuel was born in December and Jonathan was born in February.

Not too long ago I found a label I really have fun making. Print or hand write your label, add a border, and sew on a backing then turn it right side out and hand sew to a back corner of the quilt. So easy and neat!!

Jonquil Poster Quilt

I have been wanting to create this quilt for a while. I had a full photo of yellow jonquils (daffodils) to use for this quilt, but then found a photo of the jonquils in the foreground and my parents' home in the background. I just had to create this for my parents since they live 200 miles away in an assisted living home and cannot see the flowers. I printed the photo on white material backed with freezer paper. I did not treat the fabric since this is a wall quilt and will not be washed. I cut the material slightly smaller than the 8.5 x 11 piece of freezer paper and it printed perfectly on my inkjet printer.

I created the word "jonquils" by typing in a Word file. After printing, I then used my light table to trace the words on freezer paper. I ironed the freezer paper to top of fabric, and then ironed the fabric on fusible web. Then cut the words out and ironed on fabric. I loved the whole process. My biggest problem was how to quilt the photos. I chose to only quilt the black fabric.

First Quilt of 2012

Oh, I have forgotten how I enjoy making a quilt. I wanted to make a boy baby quilt for my niece's baby--expecting in February. I wanted a blue, soft color. However, when I went to fabric store I saw this precious fabric called Farm Fresh. The cows and the pigs had me at first sight. I had seen a precious tumbler quilt on Accuquilt and wanted to make one. The Accuquilt quilt was made from 3" tumbler die cutter. My die cutter was a 6" tumbler--Oh, such as life. I still like it. I have added a few photos. Just had to show the back with those cows and pigs. I also "heart" the red and white polkadot binding.

2011 Christmas Stockings

Just took down my Christmas stockings and thought I would post for my records. I have 11 stockings -- one for each grandchild. The 11th was born on December 27.

Happy Day

We welcomed Samuel Easley Coon into our family today. He was born at 8:20 a.m. this morning weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 19" long. We are so thankful he and mother are doing great. God is so good!

Sharing a Little

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures.

Picture 1 -- Sonny made doll picnic tables for the granddaughters. This is a picture of J and JC playing on the stairs with one of the picnic tables. 

The girls played "Dirty Santa" but the gifts had to be a gift made by the giver. We had a nice variety of gifts. This is the gift I made.

Sonny's Quilt

Last year I started a Layer Cake QuiltAlong and began making two quilts--one for my mother and one for Sonny's mom. Sonny's mom got sick about this time last year and went to her heavenly home in February. I put the quilt on hold and recently decided to finish it for Sonny and he loves it. Right now, my grandson, Jase, is snuggled in the quilt.

I took advantage of the beautiful fall day to take my photos with Jase's help. The quilt measures 60 X 70. I machine quilted it in an overall pattern. On the bottom border I quilted the name of each of our 10 grandchildren. Grandchild #11 will be here in December but name and gender will be a surprise so will add name later.

Thought I would add picture of Jase and Josie Clare dressed in their Halloween costumes.

Latest Quilt

This quilt was a wedding gift for my nephew, David, and his wife, Taylor. I made the top a couple of years ago and wanted to custom quilt it but did not feel comfortable quilting it with a sewing machine. So this was my first custom quilt on my longarm. It was so much fun. The quilt was a mystery quilt from Hugs from Helen. This was to be MY quilt. I would pull it out and just look at it. One day I pulled it out and my heart said this quilt belongs to Taylor and David. I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making and quilting. (Again, my lighting it poor so camera shot is not best.)

Welcome Fall!

I saw this happy pattern and could not resist. After looking a little on Internet, I realize it is a familiar pattern. Oh, well--I enjoyed learning how to do prairie points. I was pointing out the candy corn to my 4-year old grandson. He studied it a minute and then said, "but that middle one is not candy corn, it's camouflage." Takes a child to see your creations in another light.  My one fall creation, next on my list--finish a WIP and make some Christmas items.

Red and White Completed

My Red and White Quilt from the Red and White 5 inch Square Swap. The beautiful red squares came from all over the world: 37 US States, Canada, Australia, Holland, Scotland, Malaysia, Slovakia, Israel, United Kingdom and Thailand!  I loved this swap and making this quilt. My original idea was to make an Irish Chain but saw this quilt made by Sunshine Yellow and asked permission to use her idea.

The quilt measures 68" by 68" and is quilted by me on my new Gammill longarm. This was my first project on the Gammill and I quilted in an all-over flower pattern.

 

Monday Morning

This is a gloomy Monday morning from my hill, but no one is complaining about rain. I had a wonderful weekend with my friend, Virginia, and family. I am sharing this photo because it makes me smile when I see it. We were celebrating my SIL's birthday. My husband was at the deer camp, so Virginia and I set out on a 3 - 4 - 5 hour trip--oh, we had a good time. First we met at the Bottletree Bakery in Oxford, MS for "The Help" birthday party. Oh, there were some dressed for the part and they looked so cute.  The party was fun. We even had chocolate pie. Then we gathered again for a nice dinner at a local restaurant--hence, the photo below.

 In photo is Shirley, SIL; Marilyn, sister; Virginia, friend; Oby, brother; Richard, Nephew-I-L; Jane, niece; Mary Claire, niece; Marianne, sister; James, BIL; and me.

The invitation said "no gifts" so I took the "happy" below. I have been busy and have not had time in my quilt shack so took time and made these potholders. I had so much fun making these and vowed to spend more time this week in my quilt shack. I have a quilt on the quilting frame and must get it finished and another one waiting the frame. Potholder pattern from Pretty Potholder.

Red and White

Getting ready to quilt my Red and White quilt.

Women of Bible Blocks

Wanted to post a little about each block but I have gotten way behind so think I will post the ones I have completed. These are 6" blocks and a challenge for me.

This is Hannah's Altar Steps

This is Abligail's basket block

This is for Ruth--Farmer's Wife

 Rizpah -- Night Watch

 Michal -- Open Window










Queen of Sheba -- Queen's Delight

Woman of Abel --  Save All Ways











This is Woman of Endor -- Wheel of Fortune

Bathsheba -- Whirlpool

Women of the Bible Sarah

Sarah means "Princess". Sarah was the wife of Abraham and at the age of ninety, she gave birth to Isaac, child of the promise. Her life was not an easy journey. God had promised he would give her a child--but in His time. Sarah, being impatient, took matters into her own hand--as we tend to do. Sarah gave Abraham permission to sleep with Hagar, her Egyptian maid. Ishmael was born. This brought bad relations between Sarah and Hagar. Several years later, the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him Sarah would have a child this time next year. Sarah laughed and the Lord said, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?"  (Genesis 18:14).Wow!

One last thought from my study of Sarah--"It is heartening to realize that God accomplishes his purposes despite our frailties, our little faith, our entrenched self-reliance."

This 6 " block is called Sarah's Choice.

My Mug Rug

Now I have made a mug rug. I really need some around my house for my coffee cup or tea glass. I saw this pattern and tutorial and wanted to make one. The material is from Farmer's Market. This mug rug is about 8 inches.                

Tutorial is from Freshly Pieced Blog and also Lily's Quilt.

Women of the Bible Eve

Since January I have been in an online Bible Study Women of the Bible. We study one women a week and make a 6" quilt block. I have loved the study but have been very challenged making the small blocks. There are very little instructions and I have struggled through each block and you can tell. I may need to make some blocks over but not yet.

I have had a very busy year and have not kept up with all the blocks, but hopefully I can catch up. I will posting a couple of blocks each day for a while. This will be my journal of my study.

The first block I completed is Eve. Right now, I will confess these are not perfect blocks, but nor were any of the women I have studied. Now that I say not perfect--the Garden of Eden was a perfect place with a perfect companion and a perfect relationship with God.  Perfect--until Eve throught she could have more. Eve means "Life-Giving".

Thought from Women of the Bible by Ann Spangler: Throughout scripture, God's grace is often most beautifully evident within his judgments.

A scripture: From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. John 1:16

This block is called Garden of Eden.

Oh, this week we are studying Jezebel--cannot wait to study her life and see how she fit in God's plan.