What Day Is It, Anyway?

My days are all looking the same. Homeschool, quilting, housework, meal prep.None of that is a bad thing. In fact, they are all worth while things to do with my days.
Mother Nature had me down for 2 days, unable to do any of the above without great effort. Still, I did it. Math concepts were mastered, new words were spelled, prepositions were underlined, and God's Word was opened."Tomorrow" in my house will look much like it did today, and things will get accomplished. I am finding God will give you the strength you need for that day, and that day alone. I have given up expecting a weeks worth of strength, and focus only on what I need for this day.
Today is taken care of. I needed more strength than I thought I would, but right when I needed it, it was there for me. HE was there for me. When I am weak, my God is strong for me.
Thank you God, that You are my strength.

I Forgot.....

I forgot to tell you all which song belonged to which kid. Back a few posts, I had some videos and asked you to guess....

Here are the answers....

Bud and Rachel had "Everything" played at their wedding

Kyle's favorite is "I Can Only Imagine" (my own favorite at the moment)

Charlotte's is "The Lost Are Found"

Zach's fav is "Awesome God" He plays it DAILY!!

and TJ loves the Cartoon Song!

Emerson did great last night and is very tired but breathing great. TJ is still here and may spend one more night. We'll see....his mommy misses him terribly!! I am quilting and planning a tied quilt for Kyle for his Christmas gift. I have Bears fabric here and will do a checkerboard of that and a solid orange. He will love it!! Other Christmas projects are a couple of skirts for Charlotte and a pillow and Bible bag for Zach. It is coming up quick!!! What are you all making for Christmas gifts??

Cold Air and Warm Bread

The leaves on the tree in our front yard are falling fast! We actually got a peek at the sun today. It has not shined for 3 full days. It is not planning on sticking around too long, as the clouds are moving in late this afternoon. Tuesday is the next time we may get to feel it's warmth. It is cold and windy. Charlotte and I went out for a walk and only made it a block down before turning around and coming home. Brrrrr....that wind actually bites!

Today is a home blessing day. Charlotte is working on laundry.
Sweetheart is cleaning carpet, Zach is helping with his laundry, and Kyle...well Kyle will deep clean his room, eventually, today. He is in the middle of a movie and promises to get it done when the movie is over.
I baked a couple loaves of whole wheat bread. I used honey and molasses in place of brown sugar to feed the yeast. The kids loved it. One was sliced, using my Amish bread slicer.... ....and one is cooling for the freezer.I make 1 pound loaves so the portions are smaller.
Nothing to show in the area of quilting. I have done little the past week and really need to get moving on the gifts I have planned for Christmas. I will share a project from a swap I did a couple of years ago. Some of you may remember this. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this quilt and swore I would make another one for me...of course I didn't. I really do plan to though.It is hand applique, hand quilted and I did a double cross hatch behind the basket of fall colored flowers. The effect of double cross hatching is one of my favorites!!I would like to make one for each season for my home.
That is it for now. I have done a couple of posts at The Offering of Thanksgiving this last week, but don't think I was neglecting this blog....just nothing to write about.
Have a blessed weekend!!!!

Have You Ever......

.....seen anything more adorable in your entire life?????

I had a great weekend with the grandkids. We all went to Sunday service and then Emerson took a nice nap. They went home about dinner time last night. I am so blessed that they live nearby. I pray that stays the same for a while.

It is going to be a very busy week. I am suppose to be out of the house 4 nights in a row. Tonight, Zach has a birthday party to attend. Tomorrow is Bible Study, and Wednesday Awanas. Thursday is the neighborhood Bunco. My Mother in love is having a hip replacement tomorrow, and Sweetheart will be there, so I plan to stay home from Bible Study. 4 nights out is WAY too much, and I am relieved to be able to skip something.

I finished our morning homeschool, and the kids are eating lunch. We are heading to Lemstone's to get the gift for the party tonight. I love that store. I lost my favorite CD....Newsboys Adoration. I can not find it ANYWHERE....I know I had it.....I remember putting it someplace "special"....I can not remember where "special" is!! I plan to just pick up a new one. It is worth it....I love that CD.....did I already mention that?

I posted on my other blog.....The Offering of Thanksgiving. The post was one I have been meditating on. I have had some really good times with God lately, and I am bursting at the seams, but I know this blog is a quilting/family blog and though I still plan to share some spiritual thoughts here, I will post my "deep" stuff over there for a while. There are no comments there....just a place for me to reflect and give thanks, though you are welcome to read if you wish.
That is all for now, except to share that I even got a pic of TJ this weekend....he was caught off guard!

Notice the quilts in the background. Yep...that is the pink and brown in the hoop. The latest miniature is still sitting just like you saw it last. It was impossible to get it marked and basted with Emerson here, so I decided to do another block on the albatross. The UGRR is sitting on the couch too, as I appliqued another flower into the border. Those 2 quilts are my top priorities after Christmas.....unless something else comes up!

Have a blessed Monday!!!

Sweet Saturday

Things have calmed here over the past couple of days (thank you for your prayers)....God has placed a peace over my home that is so comforting. I was able to finish the skirts for Charlotte and I last week....or is that Charlotte and me....yes I think it is "me". *whatever* (See I have been around pre-teen girls all week!) I plan to go to Joann's tomorrow for some more denim prints....it is 50% off. Charlotte needs a few more skirts to get her through til Spring. Maybe a new jumper for Christmas, too.

Our Saturday has been sweet. Praise and Worship music played for much of the morning. Household chores were worked on, including laundry.I had a helper......Charlotte worked on a Christmas gift for her Daddy (a Bears blanket) and watched a couple of episodes of The Brady Bunch with Kyle. She can't believe Jan is my age!I worked on the last side of a miniature.It just needs a binding now!
The next one is being marked and basted, and is probably in the hoop as you are reading this. My grand kids are coming for supper and spending the night and we will all go to church in the morning...ALL 7 of us! Life is sweet!!!!!
"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever." Psalm 30:11-12

A Quickie & A Sickie

I have a few minutes for a quick post. The days here are flying by. I am working on the Basket Case, quilting all the setting triangles as I go. I have 4 more baskets and 3 more setting triangles to do, and after the four corner sections the quilting will be done!! In the meantime I am preparing other Christmas gifts for the hoop. I can show you this one, because it is a dud!Yeah.....I know. You would think after quilting for 16+ years, I would have a clue!!!! Nope, not so much. I did complete 3 others that turned out beautiful. Here is a "peek" at one of them. These pieces are SOOOOO tiny.I said it would be a "peek"!!

I am back to making meals....I did not cook much those 2 weeks I was on restriction.Sweetheart was so wonderful during that time, along with my mother, and church family, who all made sure we were taken care of. It feels good to be able to "do" my life again. Thank you for all your warm regards concerning my upcoming surgery. I have a temporary fix for now and look forward to just getting it all over with. I need to decide if I want to wait til after the holidays, which I am leaning towards.

For now, there is only room for one sickie in the house.....Mr. Zach-Attack is just miserable! Cough, cough, cough.....and he is so dramatic about it!!! I heard him say, (to no one, as he was alone in the room), "When is this going to end?!"

A pair of jammies, hot from the dryer, a warm quilt, a dose of cough medicine, a bottle of OJ, a box of kleenex and the movie Chicken Little, and he is set for the morning!!!

I am off to homeschool the girls.

Blessings!!!!!

Decorating

How are you all spending your long weekend?? We are working. Yes....working on Labor Day. Sweetheart is working on the outside, and I am working on the inside. I put up some fall decorations today.
Not a lot....less than usual, but it is easy to get a fall feel in my home because I use fall colors to decorate all year long.I even put out my pilgrims and turkey planter. I know it is way too soon, but I like them, so I decided to enjoy them a little longer this year.A few extra splashes of Autumn color and some cinnamon scent and there you have it! Winona made me these wonderful harvest themed coasters last year. I spread them around to all the end tables in the room.
It all ends up being subtle little additions to a room that already has a fall feeling to it.One room in my house that needed special attention, was my bedroom.
The dust was thick and out of control!!! See the plea??? "Dust Me". I did a deep clean in here today!!!
Not a speck left!!!!! Dusted, vacuumed, and decluttered, with fresh washed sheets and starched pillow cases.....Now I can kick back for a while between loads of laundry. I may quilt....I may read....I may sew. What ever it is, I will enjoy it!

I had the grandkids yesterday.

They are out of town today with their parents, visiting their other grandparents. They will be back Monday, but I sure enjoyed my time with them yesterday!!! Lots of TJ snuggles (which I don't get too often any more) and Emerson is just as darling as could be. She seemed to want a nap at one point, but only rested for a while. My son and Rachel came to get them after dinner and spent a couple of hours with us too. It was wonderful to have my whole family here at once. With my son's work schedule, that does not happen too often. He just got off 11, ten hour nights in a row, so he can enjoy his long weekend while he plays in a golf tournament with his father in law.

I can hear all the kids (mine, plus the neighborhood) playing kickball in the backyard. Sweetheart is working in the front yard and I could take advantage of being in the house by myself.....I think my rotary cutter is calling me!!!!

Chit Chat

It has been a full week already. Sweetheart has been so sick with a terrible cold, and I also caught it, though mine is not near as bad. Still, my baskets are progressing much slower than I wanted. Tomorrow I will have a full row done to show you all. I have one more block to do and I will complete that tonight or early tomorrow. The fabrics are cut and prepped.I miscalculated and only need to make 9 of these blocks instead of 12 which brings the total number of pieces in the quilt from 1426, down to 1162. Sounds better, eh? I needed some more fabrics, so I grabbed several fat quarters at my LQS.I am building quite a stash of pastels. I can not wait to make my next quilt....it will be all earth tones, and DEEP ones!

I wanted to share a couple of pics from our monthly Titus 2 Tea held last Saturday. Look at these wonderful Titus 2 women....Alice, Mary, and Esther.We learned about having Biblical Character and also how to mentor a younger woman. It was strange teaching this class with these wonderfully wise women in it, but they shared their hearts and I learned more than I taught! We also made a flower arrangement. Another craft I am not the greatest at!! Rachel was really good at it and Esther was a pro! Here is Marg (standing) and Ronda (the jewelry pro) making her arrangement.
Though jewelry making (last months craft) and flower arranging are not my forte, I did finish this cute little mini quilt. It made it to it's new home with Alesha and she was quite happy with it. I was glad it arrived on her Anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Alesha and Doug!
During my Bible time this morning, I noticed something was not right when I opened my Bible....It was not laying right. Here is the reason....The binding is coming off. :( I applied some wood glue (paper is wood, right?) and it seems to have taken hold very well. I will need to be more careful. This is my only copy of a KJV Bible, which is my preferred reading. I got it back in 86 and have loved it much. Makes a person sound old to say "back in the day"!Here is my little bruiser....Sweetheart has called him "bandaide head" all day. He deserves it though! His boo-boo was the result of a lighter and a stick. Yep. BIG TROUBLE for mister Zachary.Charlotte was not much better....at the church softball game last night, I found her 20 feet up into a tree!!! Yes, she (who is terrified of heights) did. I was FREAKING out! She has NO gross motor skills and was up that tree! Why? There was a boy 25 ft. up there...you figure it out. I think I have 5 more grey hairs just in the last couple of days!
Sweetheart kept busy in spite of his horrid cold. He did play a double header last night (we won both games) so he must have been feeling better. He re-painted and fixed up a lawn ornament belonging to his mom. It turned out beautiful. I love that black water pump. She will be happy with it.My garden is really taking off! I have tons of little green tomatoes!!! At least a half dozen or so little bell peppers....And look at this.....It is heaven bound!! Sweetheart even staked it a while back. It is growing like a WEED! BECAUSE IT IS A WEED! LOL!!!! I have been waiting for him to ask what it is. Finally he did. When I told him it was a weed, he did not believe me. My neighbor and I have been chuckling over this. He was certain it was something important! How many of you stake your weeds??? That's what I thought!
Well thanks for listening to me chit chat! I better get those little baskets whipped up!