She Spends Saturday Sewing Sea Shells

I am working on the brown border of the Pink & Brown quilt and loving it! It is such a cool design. Very classy.Here is a peek at the back. It will be a nice finished edge.I only have 3 sides to go and then on to the binding. Sorry if you are all getting tired of looking at this quilt. I am just so excited about the progress I am making. I plan to spend the rest of today working toward getting a second side done.

Yesterday, my grand children came for an overnight. It was such a blessing to have them two weeks in a row. TJ had his first "piano lesson". He learned middle C and is learning to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb".Emerson has forgotten how to walk and RUNS everywhere, which is why I have no pictures of her that are not a blur! She also says "poo" when it is appropriate! She wrinkles her nose and says "icky" while you are fixing her problem. I think she will potty train early. So cute, that little one. TJ pulled a toe nail and was quite freaked out, yelling, "Hurry, Grandma, it's almost gonna bleed!" Grandma hurried and a bandaide took care of everything!He wore his pj's backwards last night, on purpose. Don't ask why, cause when I did, he had no answer except that he wanted to. My type A- personality let him do it and I was not too disturbed! LOL

Tomorrow I am having dinner for 15. It is Kyle's 24th birthday and Sherry is in town with 3 of her kids and 2 of her grandkids and will bring along her "special" friend. It has been a year and a half since Scott passed away. I am so glad she is finding happiness again. I will try to get lots of pictures.

If you get a chance, check out Pam's web page. It is a fun place to visit!!! I want one of the shirts!!!!

More than 3 Years Later.....

It's Done!!!

Well, ok, not technically done, but the body of the quilt is finished!!!!That is a LOT of quilting!!!! Whew!!! Three and a half years later......I did put this aside quite often in favor of other projects, but I am so thrilled with the outcome. The borders have already been started and are quilting up pretty fast! In just an hour and a half, I think I have half a side of the pink border done.
I also wanted to share some of Charlotte's newest projects. She has begun a blanket for her bed. It will be twin size, so she has quite a ways to go, though she just started this 4 days ago.
So pretty!!!! In that 4 days she has also crocheted 3 of the 6 dishcloths that were special ordered by her Aunt Debbie. She is making one a day and then working on her own project. Great plan! Here are 2 of the dishcloths.....She certainly has gotten to be quite the crocheter!! Is that a word???
And as for Sass.....the other female in the house.....though she has no skills with a needle, she can certainly appreciate the benefits of being in a family of yarn and fabric lovers!Grandkids are coming tomorrow! WOOHOO!!! See you next week! Have a blessed weekend!

A Hug From God

Has it been a week already??? I have been spending much time with my new best friend.........my Neti Pot. It is a freaky little contraption, but I am seeing positive effects, so I will keep him close by! Anyone with sinus problems, really should invest in one.

Yesterday was Charlotte's crochet class. I go along and hand quilt while they all crochet. Charlotte's teacher, Miss Mary, had a large bag with her this week. She handed it to me and told me not to be "offended". I was puzzled by that, but opened the bag and inside was the most beautiful crocheted afghan EVER made! She made it to look like a quilt. I laid it out to take a picture and instantly a cat and a kid climbed on it!!!I could get the kid off, but the cat had other ideas!Isn't it gorgeous! I cried big-fat-baby tears and hugged her neck. She said, "God told me to make this for you so you could feel his love. It is from Him." More big-fat-baby tears!!It is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Mary has no idea of the things going on in my life and I barely know her. God knows, though, and Mary hears His voice. I am speechless.While suffering in silence with my sinus, (say that 3 times really fast!), I have been doing a lot of hand quilting. Between laying with the heating pad on my face and the Neti Pot up my nose, I have managed to get a jump on Emerson's quilt. Some cutting and piecing.Mostly, though, it has been hand quilting.That entire cream triangle was finished last night and now I have 2 and 1/2 blocks and the entire body of the Pink and Brown will be finished!!! Once that is done, the borders will be quilted up and the binding put on! I even remember where the binding fabric is!!!!

I was able to spend yesterday afternoon with my mom, out to lunch and some shopping. It was great to get out of here, and I love my time with her. I think, other than a couple of trips to Walgreens, I have been couped up in the house all week.

Sassy, though still a bit stuffy in the mornings, is recovering from her sinus infection quite nicely. She was a tad irritated with me yesterday when I disturbed her nap with some picture taking.Today is a special day....It is Winona's birthday!!!!

She has taken a blogging break, but I know she reads her emails, so leave a Happy Birthday message on her last post and she will get it! She is a wonderful friend and I count it an honor that I have gotten to know and love her!!

That is about it for now. Hopefully it won't be a whole week before I get back here.

Have a blessed day!!!

Help, I'm Trapped In Here!!!!

It's been a while since I posted. I always realize that when my mom asks me if I posted on the blog. Since finishing up the big project, I have had some trouble getting back into my routines. Instead of picking up my needle, I picked up a novel.

GREAT book and I have the next two ready to begin. I did, however, get my quilting groove back in the last couple of days. (I think the book helped in that department!) I have been hand quilting the Pink and Brown and turned a corner on the edge.....The Hidden Star piecing has picked up again. I decided to change the size and layout, so I needed to cut 2 more blocks to add to the 40 I already had planned. Now it will lay 6x7 blocks instead of the 5x8 I had planned for the super single water bed my son had back when I cut this quilt!Very soon, I will be helping a friend cut out her first quilt....a Jacob's Ladder. One of my favorite blocks, as you can do so much with the layout and create a totally different look with one single block.

Zach has done some creating too. He put this 3-D dinosaur puzzle together with NO help at all!!!He has carried it with him everywhere he goes since putting it together! Thank you, Miss Cindy!!!!
I have also been working on my fitness routines. Ugly Betty the treadmill and I have been together alot the past week. I have dropped 4 pounds in 5 days, so it was worth it. Have you ever seen the movie, The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy?There is a scene where he falls asleep and dreams he gets fatter and fatter until he is like this HUGE creature and everyone runs in fear of him.It is a terrifying dream for him. I had one similar last night. I was not as tall as a skyscraper, but I kept getting fatter and fatter and I was yelling for someone to help me and that I was trapped inside all that fat! That is about how I feel! I am lost in here....I need to get out, but no one else is going to rescue me....I have to do the hard work. I plan to up my treadmill time to 2-3 times a day instead of once....I only can do 30 minutes right now before my legs scream at me to stop! That is so sad!

Well, I don't want to end this post on a fat note, but I have nothing else to share....I am going to spend the afternoon piecing the Hidden Star blocks and the evening quilting. Lest you think I have let my chores go, I have already spent my morning doing 4 loads of laundry and blessing my house with a mop and a dust rag! Now it is time for fun!!

Meeting Goals

This is my new favorite spot in the house. I am working hard on the Pink and Brown and have put a lot of thought into my goals. I pondered why this quilt, along with a couple of others, have been on my goals list for the last couple of years....this being the third. I concluded that I set a goal that was too generalized for such big projects. Its not like a wallhanging or tablerunner....these are queen-sized quilts! I decided to get a bit more specific and set shorter-termed, more specific goals. As for the Pink and Brown, I just finished the entire middle and have the blocks around the outside to quilt along with 2 borders. My immediate goal is to finish 1 side of the quilt (not counting borders) each week. That will mean the quilt (minus borders) will be done by the end of the month. At that time I will set another specific goal regarding borders.That is a lot of quilting in a week....there are motifs and 1 inch crosshatching all along those outer 12" blocks. I plan to spend much time in my new favorite spot. It is relaxing and set apart, yet very available to family. Directly across from my spot, is the new piano....The kids are playing on it everyday. They do not pound on it, but "play" nicely, and seem quite eager to begin lessons. My quilt frame is no more, but that is fine. I did not enjoy quilting on it enough to find another place for it just now. Besides....it is not on my goal list, right?

I did go to the quilt shop and picked up a new book with my gift card. This will be my "week between Christmas and New Year" book.
Lots of wonderful designs I can use and interesting stories from 1810-1940....some of my favorite eras of quilting.
I am not finished talking about goals just yet, but my personal goals are still unfinished. For now I best head back to that chair for some needle time!
Blessings, Bren

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!!

Beautiful Hands

Me and my little sister. Circa 1964

I am almost done with my Christmas preparations. I still have some shopping to do. Rachel and I will go tomorrow morning and then to lunch. I will come home and start wrapping gifts. Hopefully I can get it all done in one day!! The weather outside is frightful....sounds familiar somehow...with temps today reaching a HIGH of -6. It did get up to -3 in the evening and the 50+ mph winds were a highlight of the day, making the wind chills drop to -30 below. Tomorrow is more of the same. Zach even wore his hat to breakfast!!!

I spent the weekend inside. I played with grandbabies while Rachel ran an errand for me. Sweetheart went to Chicago to get our son who is home for 2 weeks now. I am so excited for him. He is on the road alot! If you live in the US, I am sure you have seen him on the highway and one time or another this last year! He is home most weekends, and if not, then he usually has several days home in a row to make up for it. His goal, of course, is a local trucking job. For now he does what he has to do, though he does love it!

I did not do much housework, though I got some laundry done.I spent most of the weekend quilting. I finished the Whirl Into Winter giveaway...you'll have to wait til January 1st to see it. I also finished a gift up. I will show you the whole thing when it is received. With all the hand quilting on my list marked off, I was able to spend a good amount of time this weekend working on the Pink and Brown, which is back in the hoop. Will I ever finish it??? I was able to get 2+ hoop fulls quilted!Also, I was able to do some goal setting for the coming year. Have you done any goal setting for 2009 yet? I still have more categories to cover, but my quilting goals are pretty much set. I know other things will be added to the list, but for now this is it.I put this in my Home Management Binder under "Quilting". I will have no problem crossing these off in BLACK ink and making the page ugly!!

I looked at my hands today. Do you ever do that? Hands are the heart of a homemaker. Some of us have long, thin fingers, some have short stubby fingers, some of us have age spots and wrinkles, and are watching our skin thin out, while others have youthful looking hands with firm unmarred skin. Some have manicured nails, while others have chewed nubs....Niki's daughter, Jennifer, has some of the most beautiful hands I have ever seen, as I have watched the fruit of those unique hands create a wonderful new home. Our hands show love as they stroke the head of a sick child. They show understanding as they write out a sympathy card to a friend who lost a father. They show provision as they take simple ingredients and prepare a delicious meal for those they love. They show creativity as they work with needle and thread in many forms, or maybe through pottery or a set of paints and a brush. Now, look at your hands. They are beautiful.

The hands of a hand quilter are unique. A hand quilter will have a thick callous on the pad of her index and middle fingers...if they are diligent their ring finger may also be calloused. To others this would not be a beautiful sight. It would appear quite ugly even, and I have actually been asked if there was an injury. Still, I look at those callouses and I see something beautiful. It is the hand of a quilter. It means I am doing something to promote comfort and beauty for someone. Have your hands done anything similar lately? Maybe as you set goals for 2009, you can make a goal to get creative with those beautiful hands God gave you!

In case, you haven't figured out, I do go into some deep (and some not so deep) thought while hand quilting!! That is a good thing!

I will close for now and plan to post one more time before Christmas....just a quick Merry Christmas post, but if I don't make it, you all have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our most precious gift...Jesus.