A Clean Slate

My mom appreciated all your wonderful birthday wishes for her and says "thank you". She had a great day! Breakfast with a friend, lunch with her sister, and then.....well, she came to my house to take me to the doctor. Yes, I will be 49 in a month or so and I needed my mommy! She opened her gifts from us while she was there. A large cut crystal with a rod iron stand (she loves all that shimmers and sparkles) and a sunflower candle holder for her kitchen. She loved it all, but said her blog post was the best gift ever! We had a bunco night last night too, so the lady partied from morning til bedtime!!!

I have not shared on my blog the health issues I have been experiencing, but now that I know the outcome, I will share that I will be facing a hysterectomy in the very near future. I am feeling it will be a great relief in my life and am trusting God in this situation.

I was able to get to the opening day of Acorn Quilts.The fabrics are incredible!!!! Look what I got. 1/2 yard cuts of these pretties for use in upcoming gifts.I was quite disappointed that there were no hand quilting supplies. We need very little, but what we need is very important. Little did I know, the owner was just waiting to speak to a hand quilter to find out what we would want her to carry!! WOO HOO!!! I gave her my list and she will be getting those things immediately! LOVE IT! I plan on taking my camera in and doing a post on Acorn Quilts....the owner was thrilled with that!

This morning was a "no school" time, so I decided to clean up the sty my sewing room/office had become. No before pics, but believe me, it was as bad as it had ever been. FILTHY and the dust was so thick you could write in it!....really. No floor space was empty, as my mess from sorting scraps was still everywhere. My cutting table, computer table, and ironing board were loaded with clutter. The closet....well that has been bad for quite a while. I started there....the closet. Now organized and neat!You can walk right into the room and not trip on anything!The cutting table is cleaned off, and Pine Ridge is split between the design wall and the paisley box under the left side of the desk, waiting til those Christmas projects are finished!Fabrics for those Christmas miniatures are set out and ready to be cut up!A clean slate. Ready to begin again!!!!!Thanks for stopping in!! Don't forget to give part of your day to Him.

Happy Birthday MOM

Here are some things about my mom.....

She grew up in an unstable home and had to grow up very fast. She married at 17 and had 2 girls. She is a devoted mom.....words can not express the devotion she has to her children. She will be married 50 years in February, so I would say she is also a devoted wife!When her sister was 11 years old, she took guardianship and raised her with the same love she gave her daughters. Ooops....I will explain later.....here....this is better.She was a wonderful daughter and daughter in law.She has 6 grandchildren, and she has a special relationship with each one of them.She has 4 great-grandchildren and was present at the birth of 3 of them!She is a great friend and has maintained close friendships for decades!She treats her animals better than most people treat their kids!!!!!Now, let's get personal......(insert evil laugh)
It takes several attempts to get a decent picture of her, because she will not stop talking!!!!....or she closes her eyes!!!!
My dad eventually gives up trying to "pose". Finally you get a decent pic of her, but you lost him!!!You DO NOT want to make her mad!!! She gets over it very quickly, but her wrath is not fun!She has a BIG potty mouth and is not afraid to use it!!!
Despite her sailor talk, her favorite word is "neat" and she uses it every opportunity.Her nails and toes are always done in hot pink!!She carries a Tide Pen in her purse. She should by all rights be required to wear a bib, but she opts for the Tide Pen. This day (my 30th anniversary celebration) it did no good....note the large soda stain on her belly.She loves the boats. Casino boats, that is. Give her a row of penny slots and she is content for an entire day!She never fails to amuse her girls. We have a story for every single trip we have ever taken with our mother (and they are many). Most of them have to do with bodily functions things that can not be mentioned here, but when we all get together, there is unmatched laughter at our poor mother's expense!
My mom is all of those wonderful and quirky things. She is a foundation in my life that I do not take for granted. Her very presence brings peace and safety and her heart can be felt by anyone who is near her.

Happy Birthday Mom....I love you!!!

Sorting

No, it is not laundry sorting. It is scraps. I had several boxes of scraps that needed sorting out. This is not stash fabric, but those strips and pieces that are too small to put with stash, but too large to just throw away. I keep anything 2" or wider, myself. I know some people keep anything 1" or wider. I would probably not use it, so I throw those scraps in the trash. I ended up with a box of darks, a box of lights, and a box of mediums.
Also, a large pile for my friend Sue, who makes the most wonderful strip quilts!Sue recently made up a challenge for herself called The Over The Top Challenge. Pop over to her blog to read all about it. She encouraged me to challenge myself also, and though my goals are not a lofty as hers, I am working hard on the ones I have set. I am focusing on the goals that have to do with Christmas, though I do have others recorded. Right now, the Basket Case is FULL priority and then I have 5 miniature quilts to do for Christmas gifts. The minis will be 18 inches square and hand quilted, so I have my work cut out for me. As for the sorting, a log cabin mini may be on that list....not sure yet, but I know that my queen sized log cabin is on my challenge list, so the sorting will help the process greatly! I will share my challenge list later.
The kids all came Sunday to watch the Bears beat the garbage out of the Steelers!!! My son is a HUGE Steelers fan since his early teen years, and Sweetheart is a die-hard Bears fan. It was sweet!! The kids all played nice together...Emerson had to be right in the mix!She wanted to play in my pots and pans while I made dinner.She eventually settled for her toy drawer.....She is a sweet baby and gets sweeter every time I see her. TJ started school today. His mommy is homeschooling him this year for preschool. No, she is not homeschooling him for elementary, but I support them in their choices. They took TJ to get tested for preschool and he tested at a first grade level.....did I already tell you all that? My mind is going!! Anyway, Rachel will work with him at home and he goes to Cubbies, Sunday School, and MOPS so there is enough socialization for him right there. He had a great first day and was very proud of his accomplishments.
Tomorrow is a busy day here. The kids and I will be at the church for a couple of hours tomorrow morning while the staff is at a funeral. We will homeschool there and answer phones and collect food coming in for the funeral dinner that afternoon. Then I plan to go to the BRAND NEW QUILT STORE that is opening just half a mile from my house! Acorn Quilts, Inc is opening it's doors tomorrow. I have been holding my breath. I have told SO many people about it and they just look at me like, "Oh, that's nice." Don't they get it??? A new QUILT SHOP!!! HELLOOOOOO.....ok, so maybe they don't get it!
Tomorrow night is the second week in our new year of Women's Bible Study. We are doing this book.....We had our first meeting last week (we take the summer off and do the Titus Tea's) and I was pretty disappointed. I thought the book study was very dry. I complained only within myself and said nothing to anyone. I prayed about it and was certain that God would understand what I meant. He did not. I got a very clear stirring in my spirit that I was way off. How can God's Word be dry? I was not looking deep enough. So now I look forward to digging in with an open heart and a willing spirit. Must be a big lesson in there for me somewhere and I am bound and determined to find it.
I will come home in time to watch my DVR'ed Biggest Loser with Sweetheart. I love that show and look forward to it each season. I am also a Survivor fan and OH. MY. GOODNESS. There is a player that is out and out EVIL.....His mother did not hug him enough, I am certain of that!!!!!!
Have a blessed day and go hug your kids or they may end up a reality show villian!!!!!

School Daze

I love red!! My neighbor, Cindy, brought me a gorgeous bouquet of red flowers. They include roses, zinnias, carnations, and daisy's.....All beautiful and red! My poor sunflowers are not as cheerful looking.....They look so sad. Well, the weather is cool here though the sun has been shining full throttle for days! Beautiful weather. The kids have been working hard at school. Charlotte has difficulty focusing on her own work, so she does her math at a side table in the dining room (where we home school this year)Anya is doing WONDERFUL, as is Alphia. Yesterday was Anya's day here and Alphia home schooled at her house with her mom (my neighbor and friend, Cindy)
Zach follows me wherever I go. If I go to the kitchen, he brings his book and comes along.... They have been enjoying afternoon read aloud. We are reading "Miracle at Camp Friendship" and studying the book of Romans.On Friday mornings, the 3 girls and I are doing "Raising Maidens of Virtue" as a study and they are creating scrapbooks as we go. The 2 girls go on vacation for 2 weeks starting tomorrow, and when they return we will add history through living books to our afternoons, and spelling to our mornings.
The Basket Case has had lots of attention. While the kids do their school work, I sit with them and hand quilt. I have reached the outer edges!!

I am looking forward to a quiet weekend. More hand quilting and maybe a little machine time....we'll see. Have a blessed weekend and don't forget to give some of your day to Him.