Civil War Diary Quilt Block

Did you all see the eclipse last night?? I snapped a pic of the beginning of it. The kids watched most of it happen.

I spent yesterday afternoon finishing up my 9-patches...1/2 of them (12) are in an envelope waiting to get posted to Oklahoma tomorrow. They are all so pretty, I can not pick a favorite. Today, so far, I have made my grocery list, had a service provider meeting here regarding Kyle, made my first CWDQ block, gave 2 math tests, along with my regular morning routines. It is only 11 am. How do you make your grocery list? I do mine at the computer. This morning I found 2 new meal recipes for the next week. Niki's Cabbage Roll Casserole, and Kim's meatloaf recipe. Mmmm. Tonight it is tacos.

I jumped in on the CWDQ (Civil War Diary Quilt) ring, "Sew Many Blocks". Everyone's blocks are just incredible! If you would like to see them, just click on the logo on my sidebar to make the rounds. I was trying to decide if I would hand or machine piece mine. Christine had me flip flopping...I love hand piecing, but I already had a hand piecing project in mind. Finally I decided to machine piece the CWDQ and hand quilt it, of course. Here is block #1...the easiest in the book..."Selling Off The Livestock". I couldn't get a decent picture, so I gave up...it looks much better in person!

I think I will do block #2 this afternoon. My hand piecing project that I have in mind is English Paper Piecing. I have been watching Libby and Cheryl work their hexagons and I love how their projects are coming out. I think I will do a little table runner for my new livingroom using the papers I bought at a quilt show several years ago. They are 1x2 inch elongated hexagons with 1 inch squares to join them. Who knows, it may look more fun than it is, but a table runner will be the test for me. Of course I will finish my current hand project before I start this. It is very close to done, so maybe some prep work would be good. The new room has colors that are not in my "box", so I may have a difficult time.

I am almost caught up on my blog reading. I got tagged many times while I was gone. Since I have shared so many random things about myself, there is nothing left to list. Linda, Darlene, and I had a wonderful 3 way phone conversation yesterday in which we all decided I was odd! It was also decided Linda is wicked (I can confirm this), and Darlene is evil (she will unplug your sewing machine while you are not looking, and may steal your needle too!), so I guess odd is not too bad! If I have not left a comment on your blog, please do not think I have not caught up with you. There are several blogs which freeze up on me in the last couple of days. My browser will not respond. I even downloaded a new browser and still had the same problem. I can read your posts in my feeds, but can not comment. Hopefully this will correct itself soon. Thank you Tamara, for the wonderful award you gave me. It is an honor! I want to pass this on to all the blogs on the new "Sew Many Blocks" ring. You have such talent and seeing your blocks makes my day!!!

A Little Of This And Alot Of That

Kyle got off to work and had a wonderful day. I want to thank everyone for your prayers! He is doing very well. Sweet Hubby on the other hand was home today. Not the usual, but things went smoothly. I did my deep clean of the powder bath and worked in my sewing room after finishing my normal daily chores. I only had 1 load of laundry, which was towels, so that was easy. TJ took his coat to his mom and said "Go to Grandma's house please." How can I resist?? He came for a couple of hours and really just wanted to play with Charlotte and Zach. They were done with school, so they spent the first half of his time here with him and then he managed to share himself with me and PawPaw. He loved this math manipulative.

Niki tagged me for the 7 random things meme. I have done this a couple of times and thought I could not come up with anything else, but with my mom and sister's help here goes:

1. I met Sweet Hubby the first day of high school. We were 13 & 14. We never dated until we graduated 4 years later, though he was my first kiss the year we met....(that doesn't sound good does it?)

2. All my uncles call me Bunny and have since I was 2.

3. I can't swim and am afraid of water.

4. I collect children's book with a quilt related theme.

5. A year and a half ago, I introduced my friend (of 28 years) and my cousin to each other. They fell in love and are living together. I can't talk her into getting married.

6. Several years ago, I drove a car 10 miles with the horn honking every two seconds. I had triggered the alarm and did not know how to turn it off. Very embarrassing.

7. I have never broke a bone or had surgery. (My little toe may have been broken last year??)

I am to tag 7 others. I want to tag new-to-me blogs so I tag Idaho Quilter, Steph, Coleen, Kelley, Monique, Tammy, and even though she is not new to me, she has the BEST sense of humor and I am in the mood for a laugh...Corin (please do it even if you already did, and make me laugh!!!)

I also want to thank MarilynR and Gudrun for the sweet "You Make My Day" award. I love both of your blogs. You are truly creative and I get inspired every time I visit either of you. I pass it on to the blogs I just tagged for the 7 Random Things Meme, along with Katie. Katie really made my day this past weekend! Thank you!

Also, Donetta gave me this award and I want to thank you! I am so honored to even "know" Donetta. Here is what the originator of the award said:
"So here's to all the blogs that you've discovered that you can't possibly live without. They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog".

From Xandra: creator, The Daily Dose Award

I have too may blogs that I feel this way about, and it is hard to pick just a few, but again I think this needs to be passed on. I am sure the blogs I name will pass it on to the others I love so much...I will do one in each category of blog I read:

Homemaking/Cooking: Niki's Rural Writings (My kindred spirit...or who I aspire to)

Quilting: Linda's All Stitched Up (she is the first quilting blog I read, even before I had my own blog!)

Parenting: Ann's Tis The Gift To Be Simple (gotta love those boys and the 1 ballerina! Ann is a really good mom)

Country Life: Joni's My Piece of Heaven (She named cows after my kids...that is love!)

Inspirational: Cheryl...better known as CoppersWife (She already got this a bunch of times but she is a HUGE inspiration to me personally and I drink my coffee every morning to her blog post.)

Whew! That was a lot of linking!!!!

Ooooh...one more thing, I won the prize on Debi's 100th (112th) post drawing!! You can see what I won here. I have never had a jelly roll before. What do you think the odds are I will unroll it??? Thank you so much Debi. It was a very GENEROUS prize!! I look forward to another 112 posts from you!!

Well I think that is enough for one post! Thanks for being patient while I went all over the place!

Back On Track

Ok, so I repented and now I feel better. Forgive my previous rant post. Kyle's family doctor's office called back and will continue to find him a specialist. They will continue to see him even though he is 100% medical card. Oh how horrible for our disabled, what they must endure.

Onto other things. It is 1 am. Kyle wakes up EVERY NIGHT at 12:30 to go potty. I did not know this, but for the last several nights he has slept in my room, like clockwork he gets up at 12:30. So therefore I get up at 12:30. Tonight I could not go back to sleep, so here I am. Joni and the Farmer made the kids day today!! They received this wonderful game. Zach can read now. Did I mention that? When the package came, he met the mailman at the door, tipped him 11 cents, and read the package. He knew it was from Joni and it was addressed to our last name, so he opened it. Charlotte came in on it too. It was ok...it gave them HOURS of fun! Thanks Joni. She received my package today too. Remember those cute girls? They were for Joni. Here is Rachel, modeling Joni's apron.

Joni does not raise this kind of cow, but Zach insisted right in the middle of the fabric store that "Joni loves ALL cows!" He seemed horrified that I would even question it. I do believe she does love all cows.

I spent yesterday morning making Cinnamon rolls for Sweet Hubby to take to work. These are a long drawn out process, but so worth it. Not a healthy snack...they contain 2 pounds of butter...8 sticks!! (2 are in the icing) I filled 3 disposable cake pans for Sweet Hubby to take to work in the morning. The above picture is taken just before the final rise. They turned out beautiful and the cream cheese frosting is the BEST EVER!

Wednesday, I received a beautiful fabric post card from Linda. My first ever! It is gorgeous Linda! Thank you! I also wanted to share Charlotte's new quilt design. She did it herself. She also drew a laptop on a piece of paper and asked me if I would help her think of her new blog name!!! Boy, they really watch us don't they!? Her quilt design has a Spring/Winter theme...I think applique will be her thing! She started with the butterfly theme, but like her mother, needed to "move on" and added snowmen. She was very proud of it, and she should be! I was honored with an award from Angelina and wanted to share it. This award was created by Kelley and you can read more about it here.

She says:

When the girls and I want to express our mutual admiration in public we say ‘Less than Three’ . The symbol forms a sideways heart, representing love.

I pass this award on to the blogs I read. I trust you will grab this award and post it. I am so thrilled with all the quilter's that took the "treasure" award. Keep passing it to other quilt related blogs. They are all such a treasure!

Oh, and last but not least, my apron swap partner got her apron, so I can share it with you. And a scrunchi to match!!

Awards

Lib gave me these awards today. I am honored and love to visit her blog. I had to look up the word bodacious as I am an old fuddy dud and was not sure of the meaning. Here is what I found.

Bodacious can mean:
A full-figured female body shape, also known as a voluptuous or Rubenesque figure
Bodacious the Bull
In CB radio jargon, a general-purpose word of praise
A variety of iris (plant)
Extremely cool, most excellent, "that is bodacious!"



I have a feeling the award has the definition of "extremely cool, most excellent." So I will give this to the blog that I think is "Bodacious".... Charlene....Living Life Outloud. Just the name of her blog is really cool! (Also, if you are "voluptuous" feel free to take this award!)


Now the treasure award...based on my post from yesterday, "Quilters" I want to give this award to all the quilting blogs out there! PLEASE take it if you have a blog and you are a quilter! I plan to visit you and want to SEE this, otherwise you will prove my point that unless you are NAMED, awards are not taken. SO...again, if you are a quilter and you blog take this award and pass it on to other treasured blogs. Don't let this one die. If I see no one took it, I will be forced to come back and list the entire quilt ring membership...please do not make me do that!
Thank you again Lib!!

Honored

I have been through 2 LARGE boxes of Kleenex in 4 days! Finally, I think I am on the otherside of this virus. I slept on and off all morning yesterday until 2:30 in the afternoon. We were under an ice storm warning and I took the day off from homeschool. The sun never did come out, but the mailman brought a ray of sunshine to me anyway. A package from Niki arrived and things felt brighter. We swapped homemade candles. I sent her some of my soy jar candles and she sent me some beeswax tapers that she makes. I could not smell them yesterday as my sense of smell was gone from this bug, but this morning I can get a "sense" of what they smell like and they are wonderful! She also enclosed a beautiful dishcloth and a Christmas tree ornament. There was a gift wrapped package for Charlotte and Zach too. Niki sent them a card game called Skipbo. Our whole family will enjoy that! The ornament is on the tree and the game is with the kids, but here are the candles and dishcloth.I want to mention that Niki does an incredible job with presentation. Everything was so nicely wrapped and put in the box with such care that I hated to disturb anything. She had the most elegant gift tags and I remembered her post regarding these. Go here to find out how she does this!

Donetta at A Life Uncommon gave me this award.

The award was started by the Shameless Lion Writing Circle and is "the chance to scream from the mountains the good news about the powerful posts that are produced every day in the blogosphere, despite what some mainstream columnists and journalists claim."

I never thought of my posts as powerful, so I am sure she is referring to my Face of Trauma series. I accept this award and am honored by it. Thank you, Donetta. You have been a healing balm in my life and in the life of my daughter. You have opened up your own wounds to help heal those of a child you do not even know. No award could show how much you have blessed those who know you and your courage. Your reward is in heaven!

I am to give this to 5 other bloggers who write powerful posts. What is powerful? I suppose powerful is in the mind of the reader. So this reader will give this award to 5 blogs which when read by me seemed powerful.

Meggie from Life's Free Treats....Meggie and I are from different sides of the world and different sides of the political and spiritual fence. I must say that she has always respected my views and even on my most spiritual posts she leaves a sweet comment letting me know she read it. I respect her and her writing style which is powerful and unmatched. Someday I am sure she will write a book.

Because They Are Quiet. This blog is powerful because it never has one word. It consists of all pictures from a mother and her 2 grown daughters. Cheryl, Corin and Dani post 3 pics each, every week and they are always powerful in what the "say".

Amanda at Much Forgiven. Amanda is one of those writers that shares her heart but will do it in a way that is profound. She touches on areas that others will skate over. She has shared her convictions and then some.

Patty at Morning Ramble. Patty is a new blog I have been reading. She is a gifted writer who has a powerful style. I leave her blog thinking deeper.

Niki at Rural Writings. I give this award to Niki because her blog has been powerful in my life. It has been life changing for me and I look forward to each post. Her posts have the power to make me smile each and every time I visit.

There are so many more I could name. I felt I needed to give this award to actual blogs as it is a huge award. Many times when we say "I think all the blogs I read are deserving of this award, so please take it if you are on my blogroll.", that may be the absolute truth, but NO ONE takes it. I felt the above blogs needed to be honored.

Courageous Blogger

Sweet Mummy gave me this awesome award. I am so touched, as the reason she gave me this award has been a huge step of faith for me. I certainly did not feel courageous when I pressed the "publish now" button on The Face Of Trauma post. My heart was pounding and my hand was shaking. Maybe it is courageous to go ahead and do something in the face of fear. Thank you Sweet Mummy for my award. I did not link back to her blog as it is private. If I get her permission I will come back and change that. Here is what she wrote about me.

Bren - Over at Pieces from Me, Bren has also been very brave to share the stories of raising children born of difficult circumstances. She's a relatively new blog friend for me. She said right away that she knows the people who are moved by her story have been brought to her blog by the Lord. She is real about how hard it has been and continues to be, and about the fact that she needs prayer warriors to surround her on this journey. I have enjoyed getting to know her. Check out all of her blog, but this is the first story of hers that I read... WOW!

Now for the award rules!
Award Rules

1) If you have received an award simply choose either the dark or light background image (from Writer's Reviews website) and save it to your files, then post it proudly on your blog!

2) Pass the award on to five other people, you can choose any of the awards from the series (there are 5 awards to choose from), you do not have to pass out the exact award you received. Choose whichever of the awards below that you'd like to give out. You can give out one of each or five of the same one, whatever you prefer.

3) You can change the size and color of awards to suit your blog, that's up to you, it's your blog, just leave the titles the same.

4) Please link back to the original post so that people can read these rules and so that the meanings of the awards will not be lost.

5) If you feel that you or a friend are deserving of an award and no one has given one to you yet then email Christy Z, the award originator, at sayhitochristy@hotmail.com and tell me about your website.

I like this, because I can choose from 5 awards and hand them out to 5 different people. I read such a variety of blogs and I am excited there are a variety of awards.

First I want to pass out the Thoughtful Blogger Award. This goes to :

Nadine. She is about the most thoughtful person I have ever had the pleasure to know. If you comment that you like something on her blog, you can bet the pattern will be in the mail the same day! What a sweetheart she is!

Next is the Creative Blogger Award. I give this one to:

Rose. As the owner of Threadbare Creations, she is always designing beautiful quilt patterns and embroidery designs. Her daughter Maddi carries her mother's creative gene too, so she can share this award!

Then we have the Inspirational Blogger Award. There are SO many I could give this too, and some of you already have it., but I will give this award to:

Coppers Wife. Not just because she inspires me, but if you read her comments, she is a huge inspiration to all her readers. Inspiration comes in all forms. She covers it all!

Next is the Charity Blogger Award. There are so many bloggers out there giving of themselves and their talents. I know a blogger who gives to a mission in my own home town. I give this award to :

PorchRocker. She makes "heartstrings" quilts for our local homeless mission. You are a wonderful giving soul JT!

And finally the Courageous Blogger Award. I give this to my dear friend,

Linda. She has shared her heart on more than one occasion. She has graciously put herself out there, the good, the bad and the ugly (though she is a BEAUTIFUL woman). She has shared several post that earn her this award, but her post titled Friendships: Mail Delivery is the one that I think of when giving her this award.

Congratulations Ladies. You are more than deserving.

Change Begins At Home

Karolee at My Montana Moments gave me this wonderful award. I take this one very personal because it says something about what is most precious to me. "My Home", not my house...my HOME.

The "Change Begins at Home" award originated at Bean Sprouts Blog (thanks for starting a new award Bean Sprouts!)

Here is what she says about it:

The "Change begins at home" award, this is given to bloggers who live what they preach, who try to make the changes in their own lives that they would like to see in the world.

The award rules are:
1. Nominate three bloggers who epitomise "Change begins at home"
2. Link back to the person who nominated you, and link back to this post.
3. When you receive the award, you may display the "Change begins at home" button on your blog.

There are so many inspirational blogs that I read. I am inspired daily through seeing the creation of quilts and the wonderful homemakers who blog about their lives. I really had to give this one some thought as it limits me to 3 names. Here they are in random order.

Corin at The Botzy Blog. She has recently been presented with some challenges that we ALL go through as young mothers. She handled this in a way that most of us would not have. She put ALL else aside to tend to the needs of her children, sacrificing her own desires to take care of those most pressing. Alot of us would have (and have) ignored the situation or just complained.

Ann at Tis The Gift To Be Simple is such a wonderful wife, mother and her home is so very important to her...no hostess treats for her kids!!! She makes sure that her guys all have her own lovingly created treats. I am very impressed by her posts.

Rose at Thread Bare whose daughter Maddi is a completely lovely girl. She is pen pals with my daughter Charlotte and anyone who has raised this beautiful young lady is deserving of this award!!!
All of these ladies have made their homes a place that is deserving of this award. Thank you ladies for letting us "in" to your homes and lives so that we may learn how to improve on our own.

Wednesday is a day that Sweet Hubby is home and we have a very light home schooling day. It is in essence our "Saturday". Daddy is always at work on Saturday, so we rarely, if ever, get 2 days in a row with him. Today has been a productive day for him. He took down the pool. I took this picture through a screen on the second floor.

He also mowed the lawn, probably for the last time this year.

We had a light home school day. Mostly correcting spelling and some critical thinking assignments. Charlotte has grown! I know you are thinking, "Well of course...she is a child and they do that." Well Charlotte does it very slowly. When she actually has a growth that is very noticeable, we get excited. We went on a little spree yesterday and got a new fall/winter wardrobe. She is 10 1/2 and wears a 7/8. Now in some things she is requiring an 8! The girl has some normal sized feet which on her small frame look larger. She is very conscience of this and was thrilled that she found shoes that made her feet look smaller. It is difficult to find shoes that fit because her feet are long and narrow, especially at the heel. Here she is in one of her new outfits.
I ordered her a couple of jumpers from Lilies of the Field yesterday too. I am going to have our matching Thanksgiving dresses made through them. Yeah, yeah, I know...well I am not giving up my clothing thing...just not now.

Zach needed very little as far as clothes go. He had a growth spurt before summer so got new winter clothes twice last year. The second batch still fit. He did need new shoes. He said these were so fast he needed to wear his Superman shirt so he could have "super speed"! I spent my day visiting with my neighbor and cleaning. I always enjoy any time I spend with Beth Ann. We are, together, going to try a new church on Sunday. She is the neighbor who gave Kyle the treat for helping with her basement. Like me, she has biological and adoptive kids...just more than I have on both levels! Plus she runs a day camp out of her home. Children are definitely her thing! We connect on a couple of life issues! Out of our 7 house cul de sac, 3 of us have adoptive kids (only 4 of us have kids at home still) and all 3 of us have kids with trauma. That poor 4th family! Actually they are very supportive and understanding.

I found a new-to-me cleaner. I only share those that I feel are excellent and this one I LOVE...the only thing that I do not like is the name. "Holy Cow" I did not notice it until I got it home. Now, I doubt I am giving money to a group of people who worship cows, though they are a green company and they only sell natural products-hence the name, I am sure. This is the BEST grease cutter EVER! Plus you can use it on carpet, bathrooms, well really anywhere! I found it in my local drug store, but you can get it online by clicking on the link above. The price is very good...I paid under $4 for a large bottle. So now I am off to pick up dry cleaning and a quick stop for medications and then home. Dinner and a movie tonight.... Evan Almighty. I heard it is good. Hope you all had a great middle of the week!