Quilting Update

It has been a double edge sword where quilting is concerned here. I have spent hours working on "Basket Case" which has made me....well, a basket case. Crispy has been a tremendous help and her EQ skills have been put to the test for me. Because of that, I have had some success in my plan, but that will wait til I am certain of what I will do.

For now the pink and brown is back in the hoop and I am enjoying my time hand quilting on my old friend.I also started to piece the elongated hexagons together. Here are a few laid out to show how they attach. There will be 7 rows of 10. Those are 1 inch squares.All 70 are basted and ready to become a table runner for my counter top. I stitched one hexagon to another and stopped. I could see all my stitches on the other side. Any tips??? I used a cream thread, but still, should those stitches show?

I did finish DeNiece's table runner she won in my 2nd Blogoversary draw. I knew it would take a while, but I hope she will be pleased with the results.It is all washed and crinkly...just like a quilt should be. It will be mailed off tomorrow morning. Here is the back, because I know how much DeNiece loves the Lord, I thought she would like this fabric.Charlotte has been crocheting. She is learning to read patterns and has created a very unique wash cloth. She learns to put it together on August 3rd, her next crochet class.
That is all for now. My Sunday was a blessed and quiet one with my family attending church and my grandson spending the rest of day here playing. Monday morning brings with it laundry chores and a whole house blessing and then another afternoon at my sewing machine for some more baskets *sigh*. By evening, I will be stitching on the pink and brown again (bliss).

Have a productive Monday and be blessed!!

The Busiest Weekend Ever Part 2

My weekend ended up not as busy as I had thought. Still very busy though. Saturday morning I heard words every Grandma dreams of....

"You make the best pancakes in the WHOLE WORLD, Grandma!"

Yes, my life is now complete!

After a morning with the children, I had the first of 4 Ladies Teas where we are studying the book, "Becoming a Titus 2 Woman" by Martha Peace. I did not have to go set up at 11 like I thought so I had some down time I did not anticipate. I did go an hour early and prepare the set up of the little tea cakes and fruit bowl. Mini eclairs and cream puffs....pretty tea pots and tea cups and saucers. Caramel Truffle flavored coffee for people like me who MUST have coffee. It was beautiful. The ladies started arriving on time at 2 pm.The lady standing in the above picture is my friend Ronda. She is someone I have been mentoring. She is not much younger than I, but she is new in the Lord, and is hungry to learn about Biblical Womanhood, which I believe is a doctrine. I am watching her grow by leaps and bounds. She was very ill with Lupus and all her hair fell out. It has come back in and she is feeling better. She was amazed when her hair came back in a different color....a deep auburn instead of a light brown. Isn't God wonderful....she always wanted auburn hair!!!

Ronda did our craft at the Titus Tea...we all made charm bracelets. I have a new found admiration for Alesha and Donetta, and any one else who makes jewelry. It is NOT easy!! Rachel ended up making mine for me!

Candy (the lady who is one of my own mentors) and I co-led the study. It went very well and we covered all of Part 1, which is 3 chapters. The ladies do the study at home and we review key points.

A local Christian book store set up a corner for our ladies with all kinds of books regarding mentoring and Biblical Womanhood.I bought the book, "How Women Help Men Find God" by David Murrow. He has a book called "Why Men Hate Going To Church" that looked good too.

At the end of the 3 hour tea, the ladies were all given a crown. Why? Because they are Princesses! Their Father is the King of Kings! We asked them to put their crown in a place in their home where they will see it and be reminded of how they are royalty.Ronda brought beautiful roses...she has the most giving heart....and asked that everyone take 2 home with them.That evening was Praise Night at Church. A once every few months event where we have a special night of Praise and Worship. I love that! At one point, late that afternoon, Sweetheart said it would be nice to watch a family movie that evening. He had forgot about Praise Night. I decided to stay home with my family and have family movie night. I don't think he ever did remember, and I did not say anything or he would have pushed for me to go.

I did finish all the elongated hexagons over the weekend....They no longer fit in my little Tupperware container. I still need to baste more yellow 1 inch squares. I will work on those at crochet class this morning while Charlotte learns the triple crochet.

Sunday was full....no relaxing until bedtime....Membership class before the service, Church, a church BBQ after the service to honor our graduates, home for a minute and off to Target and Aldi. Sweetheart and Bud built another Corn Hole game for family who wanted one and we tried it out, playing several games....they got it done quicker this time. Many of you mentioned the washer throw game. We have that one too and I like it better....we call it "Warsher Pitchin"...not a misspelling.

I fell into bed last night and right to sleep. We had storms all through the night so I was awake a lot, but I feel rested and ready for another day.

I will leave you with the pic of Zach...I love it...he is taking a picture of me taking his picture! Such a bright boy!

Be Blessed,

Bren

The Busiest Weekend Ever Part 1

Look who's watching me write this post. Yep. It is Miss Emerson. She is still in bed...and rightfully so since she woke me up at 5:45 with her cooing through the monitor. She stops feeding on that bottle every once in a while to blow raspberries at me! Both of my grandkids spent the night last night. It was a fun Friday. They arrived a little after lunch time and TJ spent the whole day outside while his sister gave me a few (more) gray hairs. First she decided she could climb up to things on her knees. She had no idea how to get down, but she had not figured out if she let go so would fall. At one point I put her in TJ's old infant car seat while I worked in the kitchen. Sweetheart came through and said, "You know she is out of there, right?" NO! Yes she was. She had climbed right out of that thing. What else could I do???
She is strapped in there! When she woke up from her very short nap, we went outside to play. I narrowed these pics down...really I did.Girls and phones....

Paw Paw joined in for some Emerson time.

She told him some stories. Pretty soon TJ wanted some Paw Paw time too.

Emerson decided she did not want anything to do with tickle wars! She was outta there.

Tickle wars begins....

I think Paw Paw won....

Emerson headed for Grandma's sewing....that's my girl!

We enjoyed the outdoors. It was a cool 72 degrees in the shade and the yard was gorgeous. Sweetheart has worked so hard in the front yard the past week.

"Kunckle Kyle" and TJ worked on some bike repairs....

In the backyard we have roses blooming! It is the first rose these bushes produced in the 6 years they have been there. Thanks to a bloggers comments (I can not remember who) last year when I shared Sweethearts distress over his rose bushes not blooming! He took her advice and viola! (I went back and looked and it was Gina who gave us the advice on pruning! Thanks Gina!)

We had a dinner of swiss steak cooked in tomatoes, onions and green peppers over brown rice. It was wonderful.

Before bed, TJ wanted to see how much he had grown since he fit in his old car seat....

When you are an adult, TJ, and you look at this, you can see what a dork you could be sometimes!!!! Grandma still loves you!!!

The kids all went to bed wonderfully....they were tired. Me too, but I did spend some time in my cozy corner, at the end of the couch, basting hexagons. Only 6 more to go and I will be ready to attach them into a stunning table runner!I get the morning with the kids and then I need to be at church by 11 am to set up the Ladies Titus Tea. After that, today will be a whirlwind that will not end until I fall into bed very late tonight. It will be unusually busy, but a good busy. I am excited for Sunday after church when I can sit back and relax for a while! Until then I better get going.....

Be Blessed,
Bren

Progress

I have been busy, but have had great progress in several areas! TJ took a trip to The Discovery Center and then to Chuck E. Cheese on Wednesday. He and his mom and dad had a great time. They shared some pics with me. It was hard to choose what ones to share with you as they were all so good. He looks so happy in these!
What fun! And where was Emerson??? Why at Grandma's, of course!!! This Chicky wants to move!!!She is grandma's girl!!
So where is all that progress??? Well I made a nice dinner Wednesday evening before we headed out for Awana's....

My mother-in-love bought me a new set of ceramic bake ware (just to bless me) and I LOVE it! There are 3 different sizes and 4 pieces...plus each piece has a lid and a wire rack with a wicker placemat in the bottom. Beautiful. This one is a deep casserole, larger than a 9x13. I made a double batch of Chicken Dressing Casserole for our family and my son's family. It was wonderful!

Other progress is the doors are finally on the storage room in the new "Man Room". It took 2 days!!! Sweetheart says he understands why people make "pre-hung" doors!Don't they look great??!! He is glad that is over. Next is carpet and trim. Zach has been a big help. They sat back this evening and admired their work.I love the color of the walls. I had that color picked out for my bedroom! Now what will I do?

Charlotte and Rachel have made progress on their lap blankets....I forgot to get a picture of Rachel's. It is gorgeous! I love it. Poor Charlotte had to rip hers all out. She was doing something wrong that would have gave her a big circle, but Rachel helped her figure it out and she is on the right path again. I told her it takes practice....I have made my own progress. I got another load of books done and ready to take back to church tomorrow. I am getting closer....

I also started basting my elongated hexagons. I have really enjoyed this process and had to make myself put it away. I can see this becoming an addiction!I have 14 out of 70 done...plus I need 77 yellow squares. I have 3. All of those only took a couple of hours, maybe less. It goes very fast. Still, I needed to stay on task with my goals. I worked many hours on my sister's quilt over the last 2 days, and there is much to show for it.I have moved the hoop many times and it is starting to feel like a quilt. I will spend tomorrow and most of the weekend pounding away at it. When my fingers get too sore to go on, I can always pull out some hexagons!! Just kidding...I will persevere, bloody fingers or not!

It was in the 60's today and I was able to get a couple of walks in. Tomorrow is to be warm again, but I think we will get some rain. If possible, I plan to get out and walk some more.

Now, I will turn in and rest for tomorrow...sitting on your rump quilting all day takes alot out of you!!!!!