Kate's Quilts

Alzheimer's Garden

2010-09-06T12:34:00.001-05:00

This is my quilt "Out of Control: In Memory of Bill". It was designed for the "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece" exhibit sponsored by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative currated by Ami Simms. The exhibit has been traveling the U.S. since 2006 and is currently on display at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT until October 24th.

Unbeknownst to me, the Shelburne created a garden based on my quilt design. To read about it, click here.

Have a great week!

We Survived

2010-04-30T12:15:00.001-05:00

Dad had his eye surgery on April 14th. Sam and Kali stayed with Mom while I went to the hospital with Dad. He did great with the surgery. Mom came home with us that day. Rod went and brought Dad to our house the next day.

Dad's surgery was to repair a hole in the retina. After the surgery he had to have his face parallel to the floor! All day! He could be vertical for 1o minutes an hour. And on his stomach, face down to sleep. His whole body ached by the second day. But he was a trooper... no complaining! And by the third or fourth day, he was starting to get the vision back in his eye. He taught Miss K how to carve while he was here. And pretty soon, he had enough vision, he was back to carving too.

As far as Mom goes, well..............dementia is a horrible thing. She knows Dad sometimes. And he makes her feel more secure when he is around. One second she would know me, the next she was telling me all about her daughter. It's a horrible disease. By the time Mom and Dad went home, Miss K and I were exhausted from taking care of Mom. It is a hard job to care for her! I am amazed (and proud) of what good care my Dad gives Mom.

Anyway, we survived... and in about 10 weeks, we get to do it all over again when Dad and David go on their radio trip! (I need to figure out a way to nap now and store up sleep and energy ☺)

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the sunshine!

Cuddle Quilt #2

2010-03-23T17:02:00.001-05:00

Frogs instead of flying zebra angels!

Have a great day!

Ahhhh, Quilts!

2010-03-22T16:42:00.001-05:00

Okey Dokey! After a major struggle with blogg.er, they finally let me have my blog back!!!

I've been quilting the last couple days. This first is a QOV (Quilt of Valor). I cut it out and a friend, Sharon M., pieced it. Finally got around to quilting it on Saturday. Wanted to learn to use my groo.vy boards with my machine. The boards worked great... the thread, not so great. It kept shredding. So there are tons of tails to tie and hide :( But it will look pretty good when all of that is finished.

This is the cuddle quilt I quilted today. Again with the clam shell groo.vy boards. Only this time the thread co-operated. Result: quilt finished and a much happier kate!

This is a close up of the the clam shell quilting.

Don't you just love that zebra angel?

Don't you just love the sunshine and warm weather today!

Take care!

Postcards

2010-02-11T17:23:00.002-06:00

Got an email today from a friend. A co-worker of hers wanted to buy a couple valentines, could I bring them by the office. Sure...... and off I went to town. Twenty-two... yes count them, 22, valentines later I left her office and came home!

Kali and I both appreciate all of our friends who bought valentine postcards from her this year!

Hope you have a great Valentine's weekend!

A Four Letter Word

2010-01-24T20:50:00.001-06:00

Have you ever noticed that snow is a four letter word? Enough said!

These were taken this week after several "warm" days. Isn't it amazing how your definition of warm can change?!

Our road (98th) is finally cleared! Until a couple days ago, a long section was only open on the east half of the road. The west (left side) was totally drifted shut... snow about 10 feet high! As you drove down it, you hoped it wouldn't decide to fall on you :D

Keep in mind... these were after a couple days of melting.

Have a great week!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-23T20:50:00.000-06:00

Teach me to leave my computer on! Hope you enjoyed Max's little note yesterday!

Well, between the snow and the cold, we never got together for Christmas. Finally we decided to meet half way between my parents' house and ours... which works out basically at York. So we met my parents and my brother at a Chinese restaurant in York and finally had our Christmas!!! They were very nice and let us sit there half the afternoon. We opened presents, laughed, and talked the afternoon away.

Sam and my Mom...

Sam's girlfriend Ashley and Kali...

Rod...

My brother David. This is how he normally looks whenever there is a camera around!

My Dad and his new fishing pole!

Have a great weekend!

WoNkY HeArT

2010-01-22T20:42:00.001-06:00

In case you all think my human, Kate, has dropped off the face of the ball we all live on... well, she didn't. She just hasn't had anything to write about. But she left her computer on and I thought I would chat with you all! Hope my typing goes well :D

Kate said she started this last February or March. It was going to be the quilt for one month in the year long quilt journal challenge. But it was a bigger bone than she could chew on. (Personally, I don't understand how ANY bone could be considered too big!) At any rate, it is hand quilted and it took her 10 months, but she finally finished this little wallhanging... before Valentine's Day even. Not sure why that was important to her, but it was. And it was the only quilt finished for the journal quilt thingie.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed seeing this little quilt. Maybe Kate will get on and write to you tomorrow!

Max the dog

Postcard Time Again

2010-01-14T10:57:00.001-06:00

Kali is trying to raise money for camp. We're selling Valentine postcards again as a fund raiser.

Kate made the fabric postcards and Kali is selling them. You can see them here.

Each postcard is numbered. There is only ONE of each number.

$3.50 / card.

Each card comes with a clear envelope to mail it in. Almost all cards should mail for one first class stamp.

If there's a card you want, email Kate (hit the profile and it takes you to the email link) and tell her the number. We'll contact you about delivery. (And if you live out of town, we can mail them to you for an additional postage fee.)

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

paper by free.dig.ital scrapbooking

Happy Birthday Sam 2009

2009-12-24T14:48:00.000-06:00

paper by free.dig.ital scrapbooking

Joseph's Song

2009-12-24T00:01:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite songs.

Phil Boehr sang it at the Christmas Eve service the night Sam was born.

Enjoy!

Silent Night

2009-12-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

Silent Night by Bing Crosby

Immanuel by Michael Card

2009-12-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Homemade Presents

2009-12-18T15:13:00.001-06:00

Those words always provoke images of popsicle stick creations... or felt ornaments... or woven hot pads (remember making those!) or beaded something-or-others! "Homemade" or "handmade" ... these words have received such a bad rep over the years.

So what to do in a year when money is tight... and the list of gifts you need to give hasn't decreased. Get creative... look around the house... you just might be surprised.

The first was easy. The "lovely" green basket with the poinsettia on it was given to us last year by the neighbor on the south. Full of fresh fruit. It was a delightful change from all of the sweets we were eating. So, we recycled the basket... it will go to the neighbor on the north! The pineapple basket goes to the wonderful neighbor who plowed us out last week!

Ok, what else can we find. Hmmm... several years ago I found two delightful cross stitch patterns that were perfect for Christmas. And as usual, I did my overly obsessive compulsive thing... and made several of each. Why do one if you can do six at a time?

Anyway, we had three completed angels. Kali and I went shopping for frames... way too expensive. But we did find canvas stretchers! Rod put them together, Kali painted them, I helped her age them, and we mounted the pics. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself! ☺

And here are the four completed baby Jesus cross stitch. They didn't have enough of any one size stretcher bars, so we had to punt and make do. I think they worked out just fine. Maybe next year we'll get one framed for us!

That's it. Gotta go quilt for a cousin! Time's a wasting!

Enjoy your weekend!

Gloria by Michael W. Smith

2009-12-18T00:01:00.000-06:00

Reason for the Season

2009-12-14T00:01:00.001-06:00

Reason for the Season by Lonestar

I love this song!

Christmas Cards

2009-12-11T20:04:00.000-06:00

Gone are the days when we would sit the kids down at the table and have them each draw a nativity scene picture. A double fold card meant we could put all three pictures on the card... and still have a little room to write! Sadly, the kids outgrew this activity! Way too soon... or so it seems.

So, then we moved on to Christmas letters... with pictures of each kid. And an outline of what had happened during the year... trying NOT to become a contestant in the "Worst Christmas Letter of the Year" contest ☺ A friend and I would read the worst letter we received to each other each year. We threatened to write a really awful letter... you know, kids in jail, the dog died, etc!

And then the kids started moving out... and there was less to write...

...and then I started buying cards. The problem with buying cards is ... well... I find a card that has a really cool pic and message outside.... and the inside verse is stupid. Or the outside is stupid and the inside is wonderful. It's hard to find what you want without paying a fortune! And yes, if I were really organized like a certain "KJ" in SC, I could hand make cards... or make fabric postcards for everyone. Right, when pigs fly... that's when I'll have enough time to do that!!!

So for now, it's buy cards where the outside is good and the inside is adequate. Now... to find time to write out the cards!

Have a great weekend!

Mary Did You Know by Mark Lowry

2009-12-11T15:15:00.002-06:00

We finally escaped! Dan came and plowed us out last night! Bless you Dan ☺ For those familiar with our driveway, it was about 24" deep from our garage out almost 2/3 of the way to the road!!!

I was thinking of this song last night. It is one of my favorite songs. Here it is..... again this year!

Miss K and I are watching A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is NOT nearly as good as I remembered. We Enjoyed Much Ado About Nothing sooooooo much last week that this is rather disappointing :(

Have a great weekend!

A Moo-ey Christmas Tradition

2009-12-09T00:01:00.001-06:00

Snow!

2009-12-08T16:24:00.006-06:00

Snow... it is a four letter word, you know!

Ok, not as much as there could be... still way more than wanted!

It's so deep... Max won't even try to go out into it!

Stay warm!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-08T13:35:00.001-06:00

Ok, so according to my friend, J., I never post! And she's right ☺ Seems like I put everything up on fa.ce.book now and forget to come over here. So here we go.........

Thanksgiving was at our house. I cooked like a maniac the day before: 2 turkeys, sweet potato casserole, smashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, and 4 pies! Yikes. The good news is we ate lunch and supper... and several more days... and I still have almost a whole turkey cooked and in the freezer ready to heat and eat!

Here's the family... minus Chad and Ryssa :(

Like my cow? Marti & Julie gave her to me!

This is the most disgusting thing on the table that day.... mincemeat pie for my Dad. Yuck!

Two years ago I went to a local chain store and found Christmas fabrics for 70% off before Christmas. So quick planning while I stood in the store and I bought fabric for 5 quilts. And started sewing. I finally had the tops finished just before Thanksgiving 2008.... I had all summer to quilt them. Did I? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally in November, I got 2 quilted. Here are Mom and Dad with theirs. I finished it at 2:45 a.m. Thanksgiving morning!

And here is Sam with his... I finished it the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Still have to finish Miss K's for this year.

Well, that's it........take care.

Fall Retreat 2009

2009-10-20T23:22:00.001-05:00

Retreat was this past weekend. And once again, I had a wonderful time. We were at the 4-H camp again. Beautiful scenery... the trees were brilliant colors! The theme this year was Survivor: Anterg. We used different colored "buffs" to mix up the participants. Each "tribe" had one challenge to do sometime during the weekend.

The blue tribe had to put their buff over their eyes... and then eat something gross. They had to eat a gummy eyeball!

The orange tribe played a quilters' version of tug-of-war.

And of course, there were quilts hung for viewing as the quilt or top was finished. Enjoy this feast for your eyes!

This was one of my favorites.

And I loved this one also.

This was a two-sided quilt.

That's all. 360 days until the next fall retreat!

Have a great week!

Finally Some Quilts!!!

2009-10-09T12:15:00.001-05:00

It seems like we waited forever this year.... for a calm day with no wind. Why? So we could shoot quilt pictures! I was driving home from town one day around noon... and realized it was fairly calm outside. NO wind! Ran in the house, yelled for Miss K and Rod, and in a half hour, we had taken all four quilt pics!! Wow ☺ Max decided he wanted in the pics too!

The first is Pocket Change.

This is Mittens Mittens Mittens. Miss K and I took the pic last fall at the neighbor's house.

This is Stars and Geese. Miss K and I also took it last fall.

And this is Toad in My Garden.

That's all for now. We're in the final pattern proofing stage for one more quilt this year. The quilt is finished and the picture has been taken.

Have a great weekend!

The Quilt from ...

2009-09-26T17:45:00.001-05:00

arrrrrghhhhhhhh!

I have never had sooooooooo much trouble with a quilt!!! It made me feel stupid!

My friend J. made the top as a wedding quilt for the son of our friends. It's gorgeous! I love all the black and white prints! And it has a piece of his mother's wedding dress in it! Ahhhhhh...

The problem... first I found out I hate hate hate the batting we used. I had never used it before and I don't want to use it ever again! It feels awful... and you touch it a lot when you quilt.

The quilt is actually black black and bright white... don't know what happened to my pic!

My biggest problem though was the quilting... which I did :( Because of the setting white triangles, I decided to quilt it with white thread. Had to wait a couple weeks for the thread to come in (yes, I had to wait for white thread!!!). Then I had to figure out how to quilt it. Since it's a wedding quilt, I decided flowers, ribbons, vines, and leaves would be okay. I finally got it loaded on the frame and started quilting.

And.... could.... not.... see.... the.... quilting!!!

The fabrics are soooooo busy, I could not see the thread from the quilting. So it became quilt a flower, stop and feel where I'd already quilted, move to the next spot, quilt, stop and feel where I'd already quilted, move to the next spot, quilt, stop and feel where.......

Get the idea? I tried ever combination of lights.... everything I could thing to try. Finally today, bright sunlight, overhead lights, and shut off the machine lights... and I could see! Oh well, it's done! I spent some time de-cat-hairing it. Now it's ready for another friend to bind it!

For several years, I've been collecting the fabrics for a b&w quilt. Makes me think I may be crazy! OR....... maybe I'll just quilt mine in lime green ☺

Fall

2009-09-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

It's September already! I'm still thinking it should be spring... not fall!!!

Anyway, I did remember to make a new desktop pic. As you may have noticed, I've fallen into a rut with the layout, but it fits with the wid.gets I use everyday... and I love the pics in the frame, so why change?

Have a great week!

scrappy thingies by gunhil.d, andrea me.negassi, and ras.pberry road - her ja.va joe collection is great...I love the colors and the elements! (even if it is about coffee!!!!)

Play: Inspired by the Child

2009-08-13T14:45:00.002-05:00

Play: Inspired by the Child

is a new exhibit of fabric art that is opening this evening.

August 13th - September 8th

Bernina Sewing Studio

1501 Pine Lake Road, Suite 12

Exhibits the work of

Elaine Johnson

Elizabeth Sterns

Judy Bucklin Lane

Lois Puckett Wilson

Margrethe Ahlschwede

Martha Eischeid

Zita Schneider

Here are just a few to whet your appetite!

Margrethe

Lois

Elizabeth

Judy

(excuse the bad pic... couldn't get a straight on shot)

Judy

Make time to run out and see this exhibit. It's just plain adorable!

Sorensen Reunion 2009

2009-08-12T00:01:00.015-05:00

This last Sunday was the Sorensen Reunion. We have it each year at my cousin Judy and Randy's cabin out at South Bend. We pot luck it. Randy and Larry grill hot dogs and hamburgers. We talk... and show what we've worked on during the last year. Usually the kids swim and tube. We go for a pontoon ride. The ride and the swimming were curtailed because of huge thunder storm. The talking and eating continued!

Cousin Judy was bitten by the quilting bug this last year. She's hooked! This is a quilt she made for her granddaughter Sloan. Isn't it cool?!!

This is another little quilt she made for granddaughter Bailey's doll.

Aunt Velma started this quilt. It's called South Dakota Butterflies. Her daughter Marilyn (on the left) finished it. Marilyn's sisters Jean (right) and Leesa (in the middle) helped show it. Isn't it pretty?!

I don't have the giant clan picture of all 58 of us. This is the sibling picture. L-R: Uncle Bud, Aunt Kathryn, Dad, Mom, Aunt Elsie, Uncle Ray (Elsie's husband).

Cousin Barb and her husband Richard.

Judy's kitchen. Aunt Kathryn, Jean, Jean's son Brian and his girlfriend.

The cousins and Aunt Elsie. L-R: Lois, Elsie, Deanna, Judy, Marilyn, Barb, and Leesa.

Aunt Kathryn and Mom. NOT a good pic of Mom, sorry ☺

We had a great time.

Finally

2009-08-11T12:56:00.002-05:00

All summer I having waiting for a sunshiny day with NO wind. When I was going to be home. When Miss K and/or Rod were home.

All summer.........

And it was mostly the wind that was the problem.........

Finally, today while I was driving home from an errand in town, I realized there was NO wind!!! Grab everyone and quick, get the screen doors set up, grab the camera, let's go!

We were able to shoot the cover pics for three different patterns! In about 20 minutes!!! That has to be a record for us. Max decided he wanted to be in each pic. We'd hang the quilt(s) and he run over and lay down in front of the quilt! Quite the diva!

So, we quick snapped this one of Miss K and Max.

And another one of my flowers. There are more blooming than in the pic I took the other day.

Somehow, the pic just loses some of the color intensity no matter how I try to tweek it!

Hope you're having a great week.

p.s. You'll have to wait until the patts are published to see the quilts!

August 7, 2009

2009-08-07T17:50:00.001-05:00

I have tried for years to get wildflowers established on our hill. With varying success. The coneflowers are still coming up... tall yellow coneflowers... short yellow coneflowers... purple coneflowers in two shades... a few red hats... and gaillardia (most have disappeared... not sure where they went)... and a little snowy partridge pea.

Well.... this year the snowy partridge pea has exploded. It probably covered a ten by fifteen area last year. It covers the hill this year!!! Not sure now if it qualifies as a wildflower or a weed! Who cares... it's blooming and pretty.

On a totally separate note, just because she needs to be remembered somewhere, today would have been my little sister Amy's 40th birthday.

Take care.

Have a great weekend.......

One More Watermelon

2009-08-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

One more watermelon to show. This is also from the Grandma's Quilt Cookbook. I love tablerunners. Too bad Maggie the cat thinks I make them for her!

Have a great weekend!

More Watermelon

2009-08-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Back in 2005, I did a quilt book called Grandma's Quilt Cookbook. This is one of the quilts from the book. A great way to showcase favorite fabrics! And as many watermelon slices as you want!

Take care.

Hamburger Time!

2009-08-04T00:01:00.004-05:00

Sam and Ashley came out for supper last night. Sam grilled hamburgers.

And then!!!! It was time for dessert ☺

There's always room for one more burger!

Does anyone besides me remember the "hamburger" cookies we made back in the late 80's or early 90's? Two vanilla wafers with a mint patty between and frosting squirted on them for lettuce and ketchup. The kids loved them. Kali and Sam don't remember them. Guess maybe we'll have to make a batch this fall ☺

Watermelon Time

2009-08-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

I love watermelon! It smells great! It tastes great! Too bad it doesn't love me!!!

So I must be content with watermelon in other things... body splash... quilts... candles... penny rugs.

This is a penny rug I made in 2003 called Watermelon Time. I love it. I love the watermelon paired with the daisies.

Hope your week is going well!

Things have changed...

2009-08-02T13:05:00.001-05:00

Things have changed so much. I'll explain in a minute.

Good friends of Miss K moved last year. All the way to South Carolina. She has missed them soooooo much. They were back in Nebraska a couple weeks ago. (Yes, I know, I'm slow ☺) They did manage to come to VBS for one morning while they were here. Miss K got to see them for a very short time.

(Thanx to Sandy for the great pics!)

Back to things changing. One of my best friends moved our freshman year (or maybe eighth grade). Back to Pennsylvania. Back before computers and email. Back before cell phones. Back before unlimited long distance. Back in the stone ages where people wrote letters... or they didn't. We wrote off and on (ok, more off!). And I was fortunate to be able to go see her the summer after my sophomore year. And then a few more letters and Christmas cards each year for almost 25 years. And then suddenly, no more letters.... she moved. And no more contact. (Yes, I know in this day and age, I could probably find her. It's just that it seemed it was time to end... you know?)

The difference? Miss K and the three J-boys set "play dates". Some how, with all this technology, they each get on their video game.... the J-boys in South Carolina and Miss K in Nebraska... and they play against each other through the magic of the internet. (Personally, I think that sentence should have been: they play against each other through magic!)

Cell phones and unlimited long distance means she can talk with them ... and with their Mom. Miss K misses her too!

And for me? Have you heard of Sk.ype? Wonderful tool!!! It means we can call Chad and Ryssa on the computer. They're in Arizona and we're here in Nebraska. We can see them while we talk! It's wonderful! (Wish we had known about it at Christmas!) That's like magic too!

All of these things making it not quite so bad having family and friends so far away!

Have a great week!

Driving with Miss K

2009-07-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

While Mom stayed with us, we needed something to occupy some very long days! So almost every day Mom was here, Miss K took us for a drive. Gotta rack up those driving hours!

Well, Max thought this was just a fine idea! He got to go and Mom's dog had to stay home ☺

Mom doesn't look too frightened!

A really cool tree we saw each day down at Wagon Train Lake.

And after six days, the travelers finally returned! That's my brother David on the left and my Dad on the right.

Hope you're having a great week!

Bugs!

2009-07-20T17:54:00.000-05:00

I picked Miss K up in town a couple Saturdays again. We took a different route home... and we saw these incredible bug sculptures! Corner of 17th and Van Dorn, I think. In front of a restaurant.

We're at VBS all week!

Hope you have a great week!!!

Quilt Humor

2009-07-13T09:55:00.002-05:00

Check out this great blog.... she found some quilters' sayings/artwork that are a hoot!

p.s. quilt humor NOT to be confused with Good.Humor ice cream ☺

The Fourth Revisited

2009-07-09T18:05:00.004-05:00

Ryssa put a fourth pic up on f.b. where she cropped Chad and herself into the pic in front of us. I decided to try my hand at it.

Not too bad for a few minutes work!

Neighbors

2009-07-09T13:06:00.000-05:00

We had some new neighbors come over on Tuesday afternoon. Miss K managed to snap a pic of them in our backyard!

Wednesday (yesterday) was Rod's 55th birthday! And my Mom came to stay with us for a week while David and Dad go to Michigan for a radio something-or-other!

Today Miss K took Mom and me for a ride. Down to Wagon Train Lake and all around the lake. Saw another baby deer in the cornfield right across the road from Wagon Train.

Hope you're having a great week!

The Hill is Growing

2009-07-06T00:01:00.006-05:00

I sent Miss K out with my camera yesterday. I have flowers on the hill and they're beautiful !!!

Have a great week!

It was a Happy Fourth

2009-07-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

The whole family... we missed Chad and Ryssa!

And a few fireworks........

Hope you had a great time!

Postcards Galore!

2009-07-04T00:01:00.002-05:00

For more than a week now, I've been busily scrambling making fabric valentine postcards! Oodles and oodles of them! Miss K sold them back in 2007 to raise money for camp. And we're going to try it again. Here's what I've been looking at for the last 10 days or so...

Fabric covered blanks ready to embellish...

Ribbons and brads and whatnot for embellishing...

Some of the cards ready for backs and edging...

Who knows how many and counting. I have about 225 cards with fabric to be embellished. We'll see how many actually get finished!

Hope you're having a great fourth!

p.s. I finished all the embellishing last night. I counted 235 embellished cards waiting to be finished!

B's Shower

2009-07-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we had a bridal shower for Bethany... soon to be Mrs. Jake B! We had a really nice time. Lots of friends. Lots of great gifts. Lots of scones... made by Gary!

L - R: sister Cori, Bethany, soon to be S-I-L Megan, and friend Rachel.

Tomorrow... pics of what I've been working on for the last week!

A Little Early

2009-06-18T14:54:00.001-05:00

Kali and I ran some errands today.

When we pulled in the drive, guess who we saw?

I think he's just a little bit early for the holidays.

p.s. He's been wandering around the yard for the last hour or so!

Road Trip

2009-06-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I was supposed to go on a road trip for the day with three friends... and one of them became ill. We postponed the trip. Later in the day, it dawned on me that I didn't want to wait another two or three weeks for the sewing machine bobbin for my Sadie (quilting machine) that I was going to pick up on the trip. So, I called Martha and off we went.

Went to Fremont, got the part, and bought some fabric. Drove around Fremont and looked at the houses, stores, the mall. Found a nice little bead shop.

On the way home, we drove through Cedar Bluffs... because it was there and because we had never gone there before! Saw this great house there. It actually had more lime in it than olive. Drove through the one block down town. As I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw the sheriff flip his lights on, park behind a van blocking it in, and get out of the car heading for the man from the van! Oh excitement!!! We kept on driving away from the action ☺

Drove past a nice looking school... looked like elementary through high school. Then we saw this across the street!!! A wonderful, old church for sale... for $105,900! Wish it were closer to our house....

Took the scenic route through Wahoo and looked at houses. This was actually a grayed pinkish plum color. Very pretty.

This picture does not do this house justice. It was beautiful. And a strange color... sort of a burgundy mauve mix. Sounds weird, but looked wonderful on this house. Well maintained and a nice yard too. Wow.

Lastly, this house with the great fence. The house was very striking in person. All three houses were within a couple blocks of each other.

That's all. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Flowers

2009-05-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

Mother's Day has come and gone... but my clematis is still blooming. Rod bought one for me for my very first Mother's Day after Chad was born. We moved it out with us to the country (in the middle of December!) ... and added another. Now you can't tell where one stops and the other begins! It's blooming and growing. Looks great!!! (That cool black thing is my bird feeder.)

These are some of the plants I got this year. Rod planted them at the bottom of the flower hill. So far, so good!

I love blanket flower!!!

This is on the front porch. I cobbled that bench together... probably 12 or 13 years ago! A Christmas cactus. Love the gnome with the lime green hat!

The plant at the bottom is a gardenia. My friend, Merrilee, sent it to me. It looked wonderful and smelled wonderful too! Unfortunately, it didn't like the dry house in a cold Nebraska spring! It's lost more than half its leaves. It is liking being outdoors now that it has warmed up. Merrilee lives in American Samoa. She said they just keep them outside on their patios!

Hope your weekend is going great!

Someone New

2009-05-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

We have a new addition to the household!

Isn't he cute?! I found him last week. I just think he's adorable. By fall, he should just be peeking out from behind a bunch of flowers! Hard to imagine with how scrawny they look in the pic!

Have a great weekend!

QOV #1

2009-05-28T15:39:00.001-05:00

QOV = Quilts of Valor

I met a woman online named Alycia. She started her own Quilts of Valor program out in Colorado with the fifth graders at her sons' school. They work on different blocks together. Sometimes high school students help out. And they make several quilts each year. The quilts are donated to wounded soldiers at the base near them. Anyway, the chaplain at the base expressed a need for more quilts...way more quilts....and Alycia put out the call for quilts on an internet quilt group. She got more than she hoped for! In 2009, she has already received more than 700 quilts! Most have been delivered, I believe.

Ok, so how does that tie into to me? Well, on the Fourth of July, 2008, I spent the day cutting up fabric for Quilts of Valor. Almost all of my reds and blues. A lot of tan and white. And then I found a bunch of state flower fabrics left over from a project several years ago. Added the white and a few other fabrics and actually had enough for two throw size quilts. Not all QOVs have to be in patriotic colors....right? Maybe some female soldier would like a flower quilt.

Anyway, I finally got one top quilted over Memorial weekend!

Now I only have six (?) more to go!!!! A friend from quilt guild, Sharon, has been piecing the blue, red, and tan tops. She pieces much faster than I quilt :-0

Better get busy. Thanx for stopping by.

Young Quilt Artists Project

2009-05-19T20:38:00.004-05:00

I've mentioned before that I go quilt with high school girls each week.
I've shown some pics too.
Here is a cool little article on the LPS site about it.

The reception for their quilt show is Thursday, May 21st,

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

at the Bernina Sewing Studio, 1501 Pine Lake Road.

Everyone is welcome!

The show will continue to hang through May 29th.

Weekend Blogger

2009-05-16T13:30:00.002-05:00

It seems I have become a weekend blogger! That's what happens to you when so little happens in your life during the week.... you can fit it all into one or two blogs on the weekends! Oh well, boring is good... right???

Rod got a new wheel barrow/wagon. Miss K thought Max needed a ride. Max however did NOT think it was such a great idea!

Friday afternoon, Sam checked my birdhouse for me. Last week he found the eggs. This week, there are five babies!!! (Sam checks it because his mother is a coward. The first time she checked a house, she was divebombed by the momma and poppa birds! Almost couldn't get the house back on the pole! So now, it is Sam's job because Miss K won't do it either!!!!)

Last night (Friday), Miss K and I went to Sam Sam's graduation party! And then on to the TPOS concert. (Thirty Pieces of Silver) The HSB (High School Band...such an original name ☺) opened. Then Broken Cistern. That's Jon on guitar and Jake on drums...Kyle's not in the pic. Jon and Jake were two of Chad's closest friends in high school. You can hear their music here. They were great! (I nabbed their pic off their web site!)

And then it was time for the old guys... TPOS! They were awesome! Check them out here. There's a spot on the right to click to hear them. We had a great night... and they raised some money for high school camp this summer! (I snagged these pics off their site too!)

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

Another Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Kali and I took off spur of the moment on Thursday morning and drove to Grand Island. (I hadn't been out of Lincoln since March!) Picked up my parents and went out a great little Chinese restaurant. Had a good time and a great meal!!!

Then we took Mom shopping. That was a first...Kali, Mom, and I all clothes shopping! Got Mom a nice sweater. Miss K ended up with shoes and smilie face socks... and some other things. Mom got a kick out of watching her try stuff on... especially more weird shoes!

Hope you have a great week!

Sam's Graduation Quilt

2009-05-09T00:01:00.002-05:00

Heard of better late than never? Well, that seems to apply to my quilting these days. I started Sam's graduation quilt a couple years ago... before he graduated! Got it all quilted back in December before my surgery. Even got the binding machine sewn onto it. And got the binding hand sewn between Christmas and New Years! Then it took 4-1/2 months to get the label on it!

So here it is with Sam on Friday afternoon. It's made from Ami Simms' Twisted Sister pattern... obviously known here as a Twisted Brother quilt! And no those are not swastikas! I made a variation of the quilt... the first block is red with black and the alternate block is black with red. Not until I saw this picture did I realize it formed the weirder larger crosses!!! Oh well, it's in great colors! And Sam likes it.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

2009-05-08T22:31:00.013-05:00

Miss K and I went shopping for flowers this morning! We went to Low.e's and I was very surprised at the variety of plants there. It was hard to decide what to pick!!!

Impatiens... notice the white stars in the centers.

Asparagus ferns, pansies, bee balm, and dusty miller...

More pansies, dusty miller, snapdragons, and asparagus ferns...

More impatiens...

Creeping phlox... to add to what has survived all the years we've lived out here in the country (that would be 14 years and counting!)...

I forget what this is... (and I'm too lazy to walk out and read the card!)

Or these... I know those are gerber daisies at the bottom... The yellow thingie in the middle is a bush.

And blanket flowers.... I love them and bought four large pots of them.

That's it... now it's up to Rod and Miss K to plant them this weekend!

Have a great day!

May Day 2009

2009-05-01T00:01:00.004-05:00

I've been busy doing some for the last couple weeks, but don't ask me what! I've been knitting a lot and that's about it.... Oh yeah, I forgot about the shopping marathon last week when my SIL, Nancy, came to town. Nancy, Miss K, and I went shopping for 12 hours in two evenings! Ugh!!!! That doesn't include the 5+ more hours Kali and I did in the next couple of days. It adds up to something like 20 hours in 8 days....oh poor me!

Another week is gone...and it dawned on me I needed my May desktop, so here it is.

Have a great weekend.

scrappy thingies by scrap.shana, andrea.mene.gassi, digi.treats, sword.ascrapin, and gun.hild.

Quilt Challenge Revisited

2009-04-19T00:01:00.009-05:00

The other day I talked about the quilt guild challenge for this year. As I pulled the quilts out of the suitcase to hang them, I fell in love with one quilt. I wish I had made it. It is a quilt I would love to own. The quilt was made by Rebecka Schafer and I think it is incredible.

I love this giant 3-D flower...

It is sewn and turned right side out... not fused!

Look at these cool doo-dads around the flower center!

And the cool 3-D leaf!

Rebecka took the Mary Lou Weidman class in January too. Those green triangles are Hoochy Mama blocks! You should see all the beeds and buttons ☺

More detail...

Wow.........no more words.

Have a great week!

2009-04-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

Easter Sunday Mom and Dad came down for a late lunch. We're a pretty small bunch with Chad and Ryssa in Arizona... and David didn't come.

Sunday was also Miss K's 16th birthday!!! Here she is with her cake and goofy brother Sam in the back!

Home is Where Your Challenge Is...

2009-04-17T15:16:00.000-05:00

This year the guild had another quilt challenge and I was on the committee that planned it. Starting in September, each month we gave them three options: a color, a technique, and a shape. They had to use two of that month's options in their quilts.

Monday night at guild we had an "open house" to view the quilts that were finished. We only had 11 turned in, but they were great! And here are the winners of the viewers' choice voting.

First Place to Gloria Smith...

Second place to Rebecka Schafer...

And third place to Sandy Anderson...

If you look closely at Sandy's quilt there is a miniature Chinese checkers board on the top right and a regular checker board on the bottom left. The doors on the top left and bottom right open!

It was great fun to see all the various ideas the members used in their quilts.

Have a great weekend!!!

Guild

2009-04-16T11:59:00.002-05:00

Monday night's speaker at guild was Patty Hawkins from Colorado. I didn't know what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. I didn't get any pics, but Rebecka from guild did. Check out the great pics here on Rebecka's blog!...it's well worth the click!

Hope you're having a great week!

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T00:01:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter!

I looked on that you.tu.be place and found a couple versions of Dallas' Holm singing I'll Rise Again...but they had movie clips with them or strange still pics, so decided to just put the song here...nothing for you to looks at, sorry!

Hope you're having a great Easter.

p.s. It's Miss K's 16th birthday! Happy Birthday Miss K!

Wednesday Mornings

2009-04-09T17:02:00.000-05:00

Most Wednesday mornings during the school year, you will find me at the Bry.an Comm.unity working with a group of teen-agers who are learning to quilt. We start in the fall. We handed out papers with six different patterns from which to choose. They took a trip to The Cos.mic Cow to see the different fabrics available and do a little shopping. Then we started. Each made a happy block. These blocks were sewn into tops by Margrethe, a guild member. I volunteered Martha and myself to quilt them and Judy and Marlene to bind them. (They should never have made me guild president...it's just too easy now to "volunteer" people!)

Then the girls started on their quilts! It's wonderful to see what color combinations they chose! And the variety of patterns they chose.

Here are some pics from this last Wednesday.

The most of the girls are making an extra block. The blocks will be combined to make a quilt for a classmate. Here S. is helping me by sewing the backing fabric together. Note the cutting glove on her right hand. She kept sticking herself on the pins. This worked!

Her top is finished and ready for me to do some machine applique on my machine at home. (The machines we have at the school don't do this.) She should be ready to envelop her quilt next week... and then it's time to tie it!

Winding a bobbin. By the end of class, this girl had her top finished, layered, sewed, and turned right side out. She's ready to tie.

This is Ginny helping make a split rail. The "yellow" fabric is actually lime green! Don't know what happened to the color in the pic...because the blue is very close to correct!

This is the other speedy person in the group. She also had her top finished, layered, sewed, turned right side out, and ready to tie.

Yes, we do have a young man with us. That's Barb behind him.

This is Martha with Chris hiding behind her.

One of the quilts ready to be pinned. This is one that is ready to be tied next week.

That's it. We have a blast working with the kids.

Dull Dull Dull

2009-04-04T09:55:00.001-05:00

So it's Saturday morning. What did I accomplish this week? Not much!

Monday our friend Elizabeth had her baby... a darling, beautiful baby girl named Claire. And Rod finally got home late Monday night after 11 days in the Panhandle. Me... got school started for the week...and finally did 30 minutes on the beast. First time for 30 minutes since November before the surgery.

Tuesday.... school. Oh yes, and got patterns printed.

Wednesday.... Went to Bryan school in the morning and then school with Miss K. And made the patterns. Can you see the pattern of excitement in my week☺

Thursday... Mailed the patterns, ran errands, and more school.

Friday... School and my computer on the fritz! No internet for four hours! Rod and Miss K both gone in the evening. I knitted. I've been doing a lot of knitting again on baby gifts. It's mindless, but turns out so nice.

Saturday... Well, after I pay the bills, there's college basketball tonight. The semi-finals!

Now, don't get me wrong. My life is dull. That's okay... I like dull. Dull means no calamities! No chaos! Just wish I could figure out how to put more quilting time in... and still sleep!

Since I didn't get any quilting done this week, I'll show you one more quilt from the Hot! Bright book. (The quilt is square...the photographer just isn't very good ☺)

The edges of both layers of circles are clipped so they get all raggy when washed. It's fun to finger the raggy edges! Great texture. This is a throw... about 60" square. I love all those fabrics. It was great fun to go shopping for yards and yards and yards of those bright fabrics! Many of the scraps have appeared in many quilts since ☺

That's it for now. Thanx for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

In the Dining Room

2009-04-03T03:40:00.000-05:00

This quilt is also from the Hot! Brights book from 2005. Who knows where the wacky idea came from for these asymmetric stars. Yes, the outside borders are different widths too! (I didn't just crop the pic wrong!)

If I had to do this quilt again, I would put a purple border on it. Or maybe blue. I think this border is too wishy-washy! Oh well, at least I learned a couple things from this quilt. (The other was never design something that has a zillion different pieces to cut and label...makes writing the directions just TOO hard!)

In the Sewing Room

2009-04-02T03:29:00.001-05:00

And for our viewing pleasure in my sewing room, Fractured Stars from the Hot! Brights book I did in 2005. I love the intesnse color.

The quilting is a hoot. If you look on the yellow and the medium orange, you can see quilted swirls. Don't confuse them with the swirls in the dark orange fabric. The dark orange is also quilted in swirls, but they don't show up well in the pic.

The week's almost over!

It Never Rains....

2009-04-01T03:17:00.003-05:00

...but it pours!!!

Seems like that old saying sure applies to my blogging lately☺ Days go by with nothing to show... and then beware, several blogs in a row!

You've seen this quilt before, but I decided to show what's hanging in the house right now. This is finally hanging in my bedroom!!! Kali and I jury rigged a way to hang it. My wonderful quilt hanger has kinda bit the dust. The knobs don't tighten ... and a couple have disappeared. But, wa la! Add a curtain rod and twine... slide the tight twine for the pegs in the hanger... and the quilt is hanging! I love looking at it. I think I like it more now than when I made it!

Today is my Mom's birthday... #73! Hope you have a great day Mom!

More Progress

2009-03-31T02:51:00.003-05:00

Here's the other quilt I worked on last week. I quilted it on Friday and Saturday. Started hand sewing the binding on Sunday.

This will be another new pattern.... called Toad in the Garden. Why? Because it is made from flower fabrics...and the toads (or are they frogs?) were sitting and croaking outside by sewing room window while I worked on it! Doesn't the pattern in the blue backing fabric remind you of the hard candies Grandma used to have?

That's all. Thanx for stopping by. Hope your week is going well.

Progress

2009-03-30T14:50:00.000-05:00

I did actually get some quilting done during the school break last week! In fact, I spent many, many hours quilting on Sadie. Got some wonderful threads the week before. A purple, blue, and lime green thread for the top of the Maynard's Heart quilt. And a solid lime green thread for the back. Here's a quick peek at the bright version of Maynard's Heart. This will go on the pattern cover. Well, actually, a nice pic with the quilt unfolded will be on the cover ☺
Don't you just love those colors?! Got the top fabrics at the Cosmic Cow. I looooove that shop!

Here's the back of the quilt. If you click on the pic, I think you will be able to see the quilting... in lime green thread. Yeah! Love that backing fabric too!

Hope you all have a great week. Maybe if we ALL ignore that "sn--" word, it won't come out tomorrow!!!

Home Ec

2009-03-27T18:51:00.002-05:00

In November of 2007, I told Miss K she would need to make a charity quilt (part of Home Ec) to donate to the guild's Cuddle Quilt project. We went fabric shopping, got it washed, and cut out. She actually started sewing. And then it got put aside too often for other more "necessary" school activities.

Last week, I decided... enough. We had "home ec" and textile arts classes all week! ☺ Translation, work on the quilt.

Miss K's friend Cori spent last night with us. Cori is a quilting fiend! (Or more accurately, a pixie!) Cori brought out her latest quilting project to work on (black and white cool fabrics). They sat at the dining room table and worked on their quilt! (Insert heavy sigh here!) Miss K finished her last block. And later this afternoon, Miss K finished her second quilt top! (It's a Disappearing Nine Patch.)

Now to get it quilted!

Miss K's next project is already cut out. She's going to make a blue/aqua and brown Disappearing Nine Patch for her room.

Have a great weekend!

p.s. I got one quilt quilted this week. The second is in the frame and about 30% quilted!!! Yeah for spring break!

It's Gone

2009-03-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

The less than brilliant county employees came and ripped it down in seconds. Literally seconds. All evidence was gone in about five minutes. A lovely tree that I've stared at for 14 years... gone.

Now I suppose I'm going to sit here and have to watch them rip out more trees this afternoon. The question is how many of ours will they rip out? They already took out 40 feet of wild plum bushes last week. Do these people have a brain? Don't they realize the wild plums feed the birds and wild life? It's not like the bushes or trees are bothering anything.

Red Hawk

2009-03-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday was the Red Hawk class with John Flynn. I got one block made. Saturday I finally got around to working on the remaining three blocks. And I got the blocks set together. John sure has worked out a cool way of doing all of those points! And yes, this is as large as it's going to get... I ran out of fabric!

Birthday Lunch 2009

2009-03-16T15:11:00.000-05:00

We, Sam, Kali, Rod, and I, went to lunch today (for my birthday that I didn't have yesterday!). We went to the Parthenon...yummy! Kali and I both had the Portabello Chicken (topped with melted Kaseri cheese and sauteed portabello mushrooms and served over orzo pasta). Sam had the Chicken Breast Spaniki (seasoned & broiled chicken breast, stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and feta cheese, served over a bed of rice). Rod had the Lamb Souvlaki (marinated tender cuts of lamb, skewered, broiled, and served on a bed of rice). It was ALL wonderful!

Then it was dessert time. Kali had a chocolate mousse that was wonderfully rich! In a cool glass with chocolate sauce layered in and topped with chocolate chips and M.&Ms. We all helped her and Sam took some of it home. Rod had a chocolate mousse shaped like a mouse! I had half of the Greek Canolli, Sam took the other half. And Sam had half of his cake...filled with a cream and spritzed with a sauce of some kind. He took half of it home too!

It was delicious... and Kali and I have leftovers for supper....perfect!

Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy eating!

Rock of Ages

2009-03-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

My favorite quartet by far is the Statler Brothers. They do Amazing Grace on an album I have... wow. Here's a different version. Watch and listen to the man playing the piano. Wow.

For your listening pleasure and mine, Rock of Ages. We listen to both songs often in the car.

Have a great week.

Amazing Grace

2009-03-15T12:37:00.000-05:00

My friend Gail sent this video of a pretty good male quartet singing Amazing Grace. Enjoy your listen!

Have a great week!

Quilting Class

2009-03-12T12:01:00.018-05:00

I came home from retreat on Sunday afternoon. Monday night was guild. Tuesday was a quilting class with John Flynn. Check out his stuff here. I took his spiral triangles class at Quilt Nebraska back in July. That's the quilt I fixed here.

The class was called Red Hawk. It's John's variation of the New York Beauty block. Here it is in red, white, and black.

I love it in these fabrics.

And it amazed us when he pulled this top out in repro fabrics.

Chris sewing away...

Martha...

Elizabeth and Judy...

And Mr. Flynn himself, cutting pieces for Margrethe. Lucky her! The rest of us had to cut our own!!! Look at how he holds that rotary cutter... like it was a pencil. (It was Martha's...she will never wash it again!)

Kathy and her finished block.

The other Kathy and her block.

A slightly fuzzy Dani and her block.

Kris' block. That was her head behind the first Kathy's block!

Martha's block. Can you believe someone was actually faster than Martha? Actually, two someones were faster!!!

And last... my poor little block. Believe it or not, it was the first time I had ever sewn curves!

We all had a blast! And shopped and bought oodles of his other templates. A couple people actually bought the templates for the dreaded triangle spirals!!!! Oh no!!!! ☺

Retreat!!!

2009-03-11T18:49:00.002-05:00

Retreat was last week from Thursday through Sunday. Thursday and Friday were gorgeous days! Seventy degrees outside... and happy inside! The next two days weren't so hot outside, but the machines were running hard inside! And as usually, the food was incredible! A year between retreats is TOO long!

Break time for some of the quilters... they look soooooo serious. Believe me, that didn't happen very often!

More quilters...

The Shelleys... Dan and Patty drive up each year from Texas!

Barb's quilt... finally finished after 2 years. That's Sally in the picture.

Donna's quilt. Isn't it gorgeous. The picture doesn't show how much it glows!

Carol's quilt... with Carol in front of it.

The quilt on the left is Elizabeth's. The pink and brown one is a quilt I worked on for one of the girls at the Bryan Community. The quilt on the right was made by Lin. The pink quilt and the one on the right are both Disappearing Nine Patch quilts. That's Martha sewing away.

Another Disappearing Nine Patch. This was made by Sharon for the LQG cuddle quilts. That's Deb in front of it.

The quilt on the left, the center quilt and the yellow, green, and orange quilt are all Disappearing Nine Patch quilts. Chris is on the left and Cathie on the right.

This quilt was made by Glenda. That's Jeanne on the left and Carol on the right.

This quilt was made by Dana.

That's it. Retreat is over for another year :(

March!!!

2009-03-01T00:01:00.004-06:00

March already!!!

Nine weeks of 2009 already gone!

What can I say? Not much. And here I thought 2009 would be way more productive than 2008! Oh well, here's my computer desktop for March.

Have a great week!

scrappy thingies: frame by Gunhil.d, flowers by Andrea Men.egassi, and the rest by Digi.Treats

Woo Hoo

2009-02-28T11:41:00.000-06:00

Warning: Danger Will Robinson.... Danger Will Robinson... Danger Will Robinson!!!! The pictures you are about to see are not pretty!

They really aren't good pictures, but hopefully you get the idea. Back in December, I told you about going to get track lighting. And then....no quilting. That's right, I hadn't put one quilt in the frame to try out my wonderful new lights.

Until yesterday. Here is Maynard's Heart (a new pattern) in the late afternoon... about 4:30 p.m. (This quilt is actually for Maynard. Something else will be on the pattern cover.) It's still daylight outside. This is without the lights. See how dark the door is... and the right edge of the quilt? And the back wall?

Below is with the lights. The picture is much yellower... but look at the difference in the wall and the door. And there is very little shadow along the right edge of the quilt. I quilted for at least two hours while it was dark outside... and no problem with seeing. The light was great!!!

Four quilting hours (that is quilting time and rolling time and double checking time) later, the quilt was quilted. I used a variegated tan/beige thread instead of the tan I had planned on using. (Paul had pointed out some problems with the tan which would cause problems while quilting, so I pulled hundreds of yards of thread off the bobbins!!!) And Sadie (my machine) worked just fine. However Rosie and Paul tweeked my bobbin case, it was working well! Thanx to both of them.

Ok, time to go so I can get Maynard's heart bound.

Vitamins

2009-02-27T11:25:00.000-06:00

It's been one of those days...the last couple of days! I have a quilt ready to quilt on the frame... and then I remembered how much trouble I was having the last time I quilted... back the first part of December. Took stuff to a friend's house and we checked it out. We were sure it's a bobbin case problem. Took that to a repairman this morning...someone I really trust... and he said no it isn't the bobbin case. So now I don't know what is wrong.

Frankly, I was in a bummer mood. And then I opened an email from a good friend, Sharon. It was all about vitamins.

SPIRITUAL VITAMINS A TO Z

Remember to take your vitamins every day!

Anxious? Take Vitamin A. "All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28

Blue? Take Vitamin B. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." (Psalm 103:1

Crushed? Take Vitamin C. "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

Depressed? Take Vitamin D. "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." (James 4:8)

Empty? Take Vitamin E. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name." (Psalm 100:4)

Fearful? Take Vitamin F. "Fear not, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God." (Isaiah 41:10)

Greedy? Take Vitamin G. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put unto your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back." (Luke6:38)

Hesitant? Take Vitamin H. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7)

Insecure? Take Vitamin I. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

Jittery? Take Vitamin J. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

Know nothing? Take Vitamin K. "Know this that the Lord is God, it is He that made us and not we ourselves. (Psalm 100:3)

Lonely? Take Vitamin L. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Mortgaged? Take Vitamin M. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power ismade perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Nervous? Take Vitamin N. "Never, no never will I leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Overwhelmed? Take Vitamin O. "Overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

Perplexed or puzzled? Take Vitamin P. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." (John 14:27)

Quitting? Take Vitamin Q. "Quit you like men and women, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Restless? Take Vitamin R. "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him."(Psalm 37:7)

Scared? Take Vitamin S. "Stay with me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your life; you will be safe with me." (1 Samuel22:23)

Tired? Take Vitamin T. "Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Uncertain? Take Vitamin U. "Understand that I am (the Lord). Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me." (Isaiah 43:10)

Vain? Take Vitamin V. "Vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. (Acts 5:16)

Wondering what to do? Take Vitamin W. "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"(Micah 6:8)

eXhausted? Take Vitamin X. "eXercise thyself rather unto godliness." (1Timothy 4:7)

Yearning for hope? Take Vitamin Y. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you art with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

Zapped? Take Vitamin Z. "Zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:14)

-- Author Unknown

Yep, I needed a good dose of vitamins!

Have a great weekend.

More Triangle Spirals

2009-02-26T15:08:00.002-06:00

Sunday I mentioned the mistake in my triangle spirals quilt. Well, I didn't touch the quilt over the weekend! Saturday I got Maynard's heart quilt cut out and the top half put together. Sunday I worked on it some more. Finally, Tuesday night I finished the top. Miss K and I are going to put it in the frame when I get off the computer.

Last night I finally got around to the spirals quilt. Four long hours later, the offending pieces were removed and the correct fabric inserted. See for yourself. Looks much better, doesn't it?

Hope you're having a great day....even though it is gloomy and gray here.

What Should I DO?

2009-02-22T00:01:00.001-06:00

Last summer I took the Triangle Spirals class at QNE from John Fly.nn...Mr. Perfectionist. And in October, I finally got all of my blocks together. When I showed the first pic below, I asked you all if you could spot the mistake. A couple people have spotted it, but most miss it.

Well, JF will be at the March LQG meeting. I wanted to have the whole thing quilted and bound for show and tell that night. I keep putting off quilting it.

Why? Because I see the mistake. Although I initially thought it was funny, now I find it irritating. All that work....and a big mistake. (The idea of deliberately putting in a mistake is soooooooooooo funny. Who needs to make a mistake on purpose? It comes naturally on its own!)

The problem is...... it's a wicked block to piece. And ripping wouldn't be a lot of fun now!

Do you see the mistake now?

I guess we'll see what the weekend... or next couple of weeks brings.

Teaching Girls to Quilt

2009-02-21T00:01:00.000-06:00

Lincoln Quilters Guild started a new project in 2007 called the Young Quilt Artists Project with two of the Lincoln high schools. I worked at The Bryan Community last year. We had 12 young women finish their quilts.

This year we are again working at Bryan. And we have 18 young women working with us! Wow, some days it seems like slightly controlled chaos! Yesterday, I told you I had worked on one girl's blocks. Last Wednesday, we worked on arranging them. Each block you see in the pic below is actually a stack of blocks. We were trying to get the arrangement figured out so we didn't unstack them. Each stack will be sewn into a disappearing nine patch block. The quilt will be 3½ blocks wide by 4 blocks high. Ms. C picked some really cool fabrics.

This will be the quilt for another student. She was trying to decide on color placement last Wednesday. Don't you just love the batiks? She is making what we call the "cuddle quilt" block. Both years we have had each student and each adult volunteer make one CQ block. Another volunteer puts them all together into a quilt or two! Then she quilts it and binds it. The girls then donate it to the LQG cuddle quilt project.

Hope your weekend is going well!

Brain Dead...

2009-02-20T14:03:00.005-06:00

... yep, that's me! Don't ask me how they did it.... but they made an incision in my abdomen... and some how, sucked out most of my functioning brain cells! It's been nine weeks and I'm still having trouble concentrating!

That cute little sign sure seems to fit!!! I got online a couple minutes ago to write this blog while Miss K is doing the dreaded math. Decided to check my wordsc.raper games on Faceb.ook. Saw that two friends had played again today so it's my turn... and totally forgot why I got online in the first place!!! Miss K laughed her head off. But that's ok... someday she will be my age!

Sunday I worked on some blocks for one of the girls at the high school where we are teaching quilting. I had so much fun sewing again... for the first time in ages. The only thing I've worked on this year has been my quilt top from the Mary Lou class. I dug out a couple fabrics and threw together this heart... ala Mary Lou. (I didn't get one made in class.) I'm thinking about hand quilting it (since it doesn't have to be finished until next Valentine's Day!) with the three different embroidery flosses that are on the little quilt. And NO the blah fabric on the edges is not going to be the binding. It's a piece of fabric from the stash. I have no idea why I ever bought it... but it makes an ok backing!

Monday I went to visit the father of an old (as in long time) friend of mine. He had heart surgery on Friday the 13th! Anyway, he asked if I had a heart pattern and I don't. But I told him about making the little heart top the day before. So on the three mile drive home, my brain was churning and I came up with a heart pattern. I opened up the quilt program and in minutes I had drawn the quilt. I've been working on writing the pattern this week. That's when I discovered all of the missing brain cells. It's been really hard figuring out how to write the pattern... mostly because I haven't done this in months!!! Oh well............

Guess I'll go get busy and try to write the pattern.

Have a great weekend!

Cutie

2009-02-07T10:00:00.003-06:00

Isn't he a cutie?

Miss K had an ortho appointment yesterday. This cute fellow lives at the ortho office.

Hope your weekend is going well!

First Week of February 2009 !!!

2009-02-06T16:14:00.000-06:00

Where has the year gone? We're already one month + one week into the new year... seems like yesterday we were doing nothing on New Year's Eve!!!

This last week I finally got this sign on the front porch. I like the sign much better than I like real snow. If we're gonna have snow, I want a hugomongous amount, so everyone has a snow day! Otherwise, forget it, I'm ready for spring. But I still like my sign. (I haven't been able to put it out because we've had so much horrible wind!)

I took Mary Lou Weidman's class back in January. The next week (I think) I started on the flying geese for the borders. Took me forever. Got the two side borders on without much problem. BUT.... I was 10" of geese short for each of the two remaining sides. Joy......... NOT! I had some leftover geese cut, so put them down with the geese I had and measured and thought and put it away.

Last weekend I decided to tackle it again. Now the problem was... this is a wonky style of piecing. No math involved... just do it. Only I'm a very math type person. If it had been doing something the regular way that I could sit down with a calculator, figure what I needed, and cut it... no problem. But no this was wonky with no math. Four plus hours later... the borders were on the quilt. I love it... it will fit over the mantel in my sewing room when I get it quilted ... some day!

That's it. Have a great weekend!

Bad Blogger

2009-01-23T12:39:00.007-06:00

Really, it seems like I just wrote something yesterday.... and I look and it was just over a week ago! Oops ☺ Where does the time go? Maybe I haven't been writing because I haven't been doing anything!!!! Well, not anything fun. I've spent several hour each day for over a week trying to get the Homespun Charm books caught up on the computer. I hadn't done ANY bookwork since last March! Oh My! And it had to be done so we could pay sales tax this week... oh the glamorous life of having your own business...NOT!!!

So what else has been happening? I'm still recuperating.... Going to Mary Lou's wonderful class took a lot out of me. Spent the rest of the week resting. It's now been 5½ weeks. And I finally noticed this week that I'm feeling much better. Just frustrated because I still get tired so easily. Hopefully when I get back on "the beast", I'll start building back more endurance. (If I'm too tired to quilt, you know I'm tired☺)

What else is happening? Can we all say Australian Open? Two of my favorite eight weeks of the year (the other six are the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open). ☺☺☺ Makes it hard to get up, because the live matches start at 10 pm central time and go through the night. I did stay up late and watch Roddick last night. Yeah!

This was the sunset out the sunporch windows on Sunday night. What can I say, but "awesome!" The picture doesn't capture how "on fire" the sky looked there for about 15 minutes.

Tuesday a stranger walked in our door... formerly known as Sam our son. Since he moved to town, we only see him once in a while.... translation from mom's perspective.... we never see him!!!! Max went bonkers. Sam's birthday is Christmas Eve and we didn't do his birthday dinner because Mom wasn't up to going out. So, spur of the moment, we decided to go out for lunch. Went to a Chinese buffet, yum yum. Sam's fortune cookie was the best of the bunch: You will be a great success both in business and socially. Check out his favorite bright red pants! They go so well with the striped shirt.

Wednesday I made it back to Bryan school for quilting with the high school girls. It is sooooo much fun. And hectic. We are outnumbered about two to one (girls to adults). Makes it busy, busy, busy... but so much fun. Most are starting to figure out what they want to make. A few have started cutting fabric. And, we gained three new girls with the new semester starting!

Thursday, I went shopping for more fabric by myself! I went to the Cosmic Cow... I love that store. So did Mary Lou! Got more background fabric for a new project. Hmmm, I should take pics to show you!

And today.... right now I'm sitting inside all warm watching it blowing snow. Yes, snow! It was 60 degrees out yesterday. It was a wonderful day. Now it's back to being winter. Yes, I know, it's still January! Ugh, isn't it spring yet? Ok, enough whining!

Have a great weekend!

More Mary Lou

2009-01-18T10:19:00.000-06:00

Mary Lou has continued to make glowing comments about her time in Lincoln.

Check them out here and here and here and here and here !

I started working on my flying geese strips Friday night. No I couldn't do anything simple! Each strip has 17 geese in it!!! I am so slow it was taking almost two hours to make the geese... and they're just sitting in piles!

Have a great week!

A Change

2009-01-18T09:58:00.000-06:00

Just a small change. I got up this morning and had a little time to read email before church started at 10. (It's live streamed at http://www.ihcc.org/ Sunday mornings at 10 and Sunday nights at 6.) Surprise... and not the good kind. A less than kind person hit my blog last night and posted unwanted comments on about 15 posts. It took me almost a half an hour to get things cleaned up!

So now when you post, you have to go through the "type the letters/numbers" verification thingie. Sorry, if only people would just place nicely with others!

What a Weekend!

2009-01-15T15:45:00.001-06:00

Way last summer I signed up for the Hoochy Mama class scheduled for this last weekend. It was taught by Mary Lou Weidman from Spokane. Little did I know that Dr. IDon'tLikeHim would goof up my surgery plans!!! Last week I thought I was doing great... Kali and I would run one errand. Then I would go home and collapse! Ok, I can make it through the weekend... right?

Rod took me both days... and unloaded everything... and lifted my machine for me. Saturday was a long day... 9 - 3:30! Thought I was gonna have to take a nap right there! By the end of the day, I had six blocks finished with the parts of one more ready to put together. Rod picked me up that night. Sunday I finished block number seven, made two more, and set them together. Then I sat... and took pics... and watched everyone else. I was out of steam! A bunch of us took Mary Lou to Val's for supper. We had a blast. Then Martha took me home and I dragged myself into the house. On Monday, Martha and I picked up Mary Lou and took her to lunch at the Engine.House in Havelock. Then on for shopping at the Cosmic.Cow and Calico.House. Then an hour to rest. On to Board dinner with Mary Lou. Then Guild. Martha took me home...... that's it. Stick a fork in me.... I'm done!!!

Here are pictures from Sunday's class and Monday at guild.

Someone made a cool block. Mary Lou's drawings and flying geese strips.

Martha and Elizabeth hard at work.

Our teacher, Mary Lou.

Close up of Elizabeth. She's the head of the Young Artists Program in the guild.

This is Cathie. Yes, she looks like this most of the time. She makes everyone around her laugh.

Some of the blocks made in class. Amazing how they go together!

My blocks sewn together into a top. It still needs borders.

Martha's blocks put together. The next day she added flying geese across the top and wonky spikes along the bottom.

Sunday night after class, we went to a restaurant that sings happy birthday to those celebrating their birthday. A certain VP thought it would be a good prank to get them to sing to our teacher. Well, it backfired. We told the waitress it was both of their birthdays. And she was a good sport and played along with us. Surprised a certain VP!!!

Surprised the teacher too!

Oh....... check out the nice things Mary Lou said about Lincoln here and here and here.

This is Meylonie's flower block.

And I believe these are Lynne's flying geese.

This is one of Mary Lou's quilts that was shown at the guild meeting on Monday night.

That's it. It was a great, exhausting 3-day weekend. I'm still recovering. And wishing I had time to put my borders on my quilt!!!

Nothing More....

2009-01-15T14:02:00.001-06:00

needs be said!

I think the graphic is from www.tht2pic.com

What Might Have Been..........

2009-01-07T00:08:00.000-06:00

Sometime last summer, I was at a quilt shop in Fremont (Country.Traditions) and found the Mary Engelb.reit line of garden fabric and fell in love with it! I got it and have a top (for a pattern) made out of it. I also found her Christmas line of fabric and took pictures of it. I had this great idea... I would come home, design a pattern to use the Christmas fabric, go back to Fremont and get the fabric, come home and make the top.... and have a new design all ready for Christmas!

Here are the fabrics. Aren't they wonderful? Reminds me of Christmases past.

Well, so much for the best laid plans. No design. No shopping. Just pictures of what might have been for my blog!

Oh well, I'm sure there will be cool fabrics again this year! Ya think?

And Then There Was Light

2009-01-06T12:05:00.001-06:00

One of the biggest frustrations with my machine quilting (other than tension with Y.LI multi-colored threads!!!) has been the poor light in my sewing room. I love to machine quilt when it is all sunshiny. It's great. I can see. But late afternoon in the winter or evenings... it's impossible!!! I've tried at least three different light setups and nothing has worked well. I have great light under Sadie (my machine)... but I can't see where I'm going off to the sides. It makes the whole process much slower.

Enter shopping on the internet before Christmas. I found some track lights that didn't have to be hard wired in...they have a cord that sticks into the track. Ok, great idea. Then surgery and Christmas.

So, on December 29th, after seeing the Doctor, the first place we went was Lo.we's! And yep, they had the cord thingie (technical term) for the track light. Got the track, an extra light, and the cord thingie. And Rod actually put it up that night!!! Still haven't tried it out, but I'm hoping there is some practice quilting coming up later this week. ☺

Doesn't it look great?!

Yikes, I just looked at the calendar. The Hoochy Mama quilt class is THIS Saturday and Sunday! Thought I had another weeks! Yikes!

Have a great week!

p.s. Way to go Longhorns!!!

Where'd it Go??????????

2009-01-01T00:08:00.001-06:00

Hard to imagine it's 2009. Seems like only the day before yesterday we were all fritzing and worried about Y2K and all that stuff!!! And now it's the start of 2009. Seems to me like I missed most of 2008... and I probably did with not feeling well. Here's to a great New Year!

Time for another desktop. In case you've wondered, yes, I have been using the same frame set and pictures. I like the frame. And all of last year, we forgot to take any family photos. And now it's a little difficult with Chad and Ryssa in Arizona. We even forgot to take pictures on Christmas day when Mom, Dad, and David were here!!! Oh well....

Have a wonderful, great New Year!

scrappie thingies: papers by Summ.er Driggs, other thingies by Stacey.Stehley of DSP, Gun.hild, and Yin

Now That I've Held Him

2008-12-31T00:01:00.002-06:00

Another Michael Card song.

Enjoy!

Christmas 2008...

2008-12-27T09:40:00.004-06:00

...was definitely a new experience for us! Back in the oldie days, Rod and I would go celebrate with my family. One year with Mom's mother, Grandma Sorensen. It was always a smaller group...Rod, me, Mom and Dad, David, Grandma, and sometimes Aunt Leona. Add in a kid (Chad), then a couple dogs, then Sam, and finally Kali. Always small....eating and gift opening.

The opposite years were at the McCartney's...Dad's side of the family. And usually three of the four "McCartney kids" and their families would be there. We filled Grandma and Grandpa's house just fine. We could actually fit in the house (as opposed to summer bashes when the B. clan came home...and then we filled the garage! The only garage I know built and finished with family gatherings in mind!!!). We ate. We laughed over what clever plan Grandma had come up with that year to assign cleanup chores. (No one sat down at the table without looking under their plate, their table favor, their glass trying to figure out this year's plan!) We cleaned up. (One year, 4 aunties and uncles loaded up all the dishes, carried them two blocks away, and put them through auntie's dishwasher!!!) Then it was gift time! We used to draw names and exchange gifts. Eventually, Grandma started buying small white elephant type things. She'd wrap them up. We each drew one. If you didn't like it (a huge possibility ☺), you left the wrapping paper on it and tried to "con" someone else into trading with you. We had more fun with this silly game than any "real" present we ever received!

Fast forward to Christmas 2000. No more big family get togethers. But Grandma, Mom, Dad, and David would come to our house. With Sam's birthday on Christmas Eve, we were busy. We'd do birthday all day, then go to Christmas Eve service. Home for pizza...which later became all kinds of snackies. And then on to opening presents. This would last well beyond midnight. And then up the next day for dinner together.

Grandma moved to Colorado, but Ryssa joined the family in 2005. We still had a great time.

Fast forward again, this time to 2008. Chad and Ryssa are in Phoenix. Sam lives in town. I got home from the hospital on the 22nd. Rod, Sam, and Kali went to Christmas Eve service... fortunately it was live streamed on the internet, so I got to see it also. Home...eat the snackies... and it took all of 20 minutes to open presents! Kali played with her new thingamabob, Rod was busy doing something, and Sam & I watched a James Bond movie...until 11:15 p.m. We gave up! I was in bed before 11:30...the first time since I've been married that I was in bed before midnight on Christmas Eve!!!

Mom, Dad, and David came down for Christmas Day. Sam did most of the cooking for lunch... and did a great job. We opened presents. Then Sam had to leave to do Christmas with a friend. And the folks left...and at 4:30 p.m. Christmas Day, it was over. Just Rod, Kali, and me. Sam did come back later to have his birthday cheesecake that we forgot! A very quiet, different day.

Am I complaining? No.... It's just weird how much things have changed... and I know, will keep changing!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Now on to a great New Year!

Joseph's Song

2008-12-24T00:01:00.001-06:00

Joseph's song by Michael Card is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Can you imagine trying to be the earthly father to God's Son?

Mind boggling.

Enjoy!

The Christmas Eve that Sam was born,

Phil B. sang this at our Christmas Eve service.

Sam and I missed it ☺

Immanuel

2008-12-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

Immanuel...

Michael Card on piano

Steve Green singing

Enjoy!

Gloria

2008-12-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Gloria by Michael W. Smith

Enjoy ☺

I bought the CD for one song!!!

Silent Night

2008-12-18T00:01:00.000-06:00

Silent Night by Bing

Enjoy!

Joyful, Joyful

2008-12-16T11:30:00.002-06:00

From Sister.Act 2... Enjoy!

Tell me that didn't make you smile ☺

Over the next few days, I've left some of my favorite Christmas songs to come up while I'm gone. Enjoy...and Merry CHRISTmas!

Reason for the Season

2008-12-15T13:07:00.004-06:00

This is one of my favorite Christmas Songs.

I heard it playing in a big chain store a couple years ago...

so I tracked down a clerk to find out what they were playing.

The album is by Lonestar.

Just because I'm not home
doesn't mean you shouldn't keep stopping by.

Starting tomorrow...and the following "even" days until Christmas, I've left you a few of my favorite Christmas songs by some of my favorite musicians.

Merry Christmas!

p.s. I finished quilting Ryssa's quilt late last night...but don't tell her! ☺