Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Yesterday was a busy day.. doctors appointments for 3 of the 6 children.. JB isn't feeling well hopefully the medicine kicks in because if it doesn't we will need to go to the childrens' hospital for a sick visit.. Tomorrow we are having another 4-H sewing day I hope the day is very productive. So much to do .. today I am doing laundry and maybe I will get some sewing in in the spaces.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Trashy Monday!

It is Monday again and we had a very busy weekend. Jodi was asked to take out the trash and she put it in the garage. I had to tell her that it needed to go out to the barrel and she said that the garage door was shut and she couldn't do it because the door was shut. I told her she needed to open the door and then put it in the barrel. She made pretend like she was doing it and lo and behold she got up this morning and there was trash all over the garage. Such a bummer for her but apparently the dogs snuck into the garage and tore up the trash. Poor Jodi Monday stinks for her... but next time she won't leave the trash out of the barrel.


On a lighter note I finished my angel stitching for my friend. I am happy to be finished with my work. It is my first commissioned piece. It came out okay. My friend was happy with it and that is all that matters.I am happy enough with it and now I have some money to invest in my craft.  Through this work I have come to love this bible verse. God is right it is my job to Be Still and let God do his work. Thankfully I don't have to help God decide what to do.

I am so glad that we had a rainy weekend. My garden is eternally grateful and now maybe my peas will feel like popping up their little heads as they have been reluctant to do so because of how dry it has been. I am also grateful for the rain because this allowed JB to stay in the house. He hasn't been feeling the greatest this weekend but the sun can't help but enticing him to go out side to play, with the rain and cold it has been much easier to convince him to stay inside.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Flowers from the heart

My offering from the little ones, to brighten my day!
Yet another nice day for the kids to play outside.. but I think we are on borrowed time as it is supposed to rain this weekend. I am making Amish Friendship bread today and my kitchen smells delicious. Also it is a day to buy pizza for dinner so I don't have to work too hard to cook later since I am using up all my cooking energy on desserts today!! I am really enjoying writing down a small  portion of my day as it helps me focus on all of the positives and not the negatives which is uplifting as the negatives can really get a person down....... Yesterday wasn't all that productive after all.. as the dogs pooped in their bed for the second day in a row, then my older dog had an upset stomach and puked on the floor, then my son overflowed the toilet.. then I just got the messes cleaned up and sat down for some sewing therapy and didn't make sure my backing was in right so i sewed the backing flipped over into the design, which of course means I had to take all that work out. It is amazing that 10 min of sewing is 45 min of ripping... but all is well and it isn't always about the product but about the process and how I get there!! Have a great day and remember that even though bad things happen they aren't the end of the world.

Jesus said "these things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" John 16:33

Thursday, April 19, 2012

It is morning and another sunny day, What a great spring we are having... At 7:30 the kids are already saying can we play outside?  I do make them wait a little while as the grass is wet and it is still kind of cold until the sun comes up. So off to entertain the horde until the sand box is dry enough to play in. Also hope to do some FMQ on Leah's quilt-a-long. I am going to continue working on my whole cloth quilt and maybe put on a practice sandwich and try her pointy stippling....  These ideas of doodling are always stretching me as I am not a natural artist or doodler but it is fun being stretched as any learning feels well deserved.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

This is the day that the Lord has made!!

Got the lawn mowed today... this is a great accomplishment since there are five little ones here but they were very accomadating and played very well together and lo and behold the yard was soon  mowed. We have had a great day playing outside. When we came in for a break this afternoon we made brownies and colored pictures. It is now almost time for the big kids to be home from school. When they arrive at home we are going to have a delicious snack. I am a little tired and think that I may treat myself to another cup of coffee. And while the baby sleeps may spend some time stippling on my free motion quilting project and see if I can get another set of hearts done. I am extremely happy to be able to have some time to stitch as I thought it would be completely out of the question with some extra children. I also hope to be able to have some time to work on some handwork today as I promised a friend that a project I was working on for her would be done this week. I will post pictures when it is finished...

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Good morning blogging world... it is again another beautiful day in Ohio... which by the way is amazing since the Ohio River Valley is the second cloudiest region in the United States. It is still early and I am trying to get housework and JB's treatment done so I can have some quiet time crafting while the baby is asleep. Today we are going to be having some company come and stay for five days... Hopefully they are fun filled as the company is a 3 year old and a 4 year old...I must get out beds for the kids and make sure the floors are all picked up.. this might mean I don't have much time this week to work on things but this is OK.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Well I did it.. I linked up to the free motion quilting experiment. Some of this technically challenging stuff is hard for me. Hoping to learn how to follow peoples blogs from mine. If anyone knows how to do this I would appreciate some ideas. If I don't get any ideas I will see if my husband can help me out since he is usually the brains of most of my operations. I am off here now to play with the baby and if she takes an afternoon nap I will try to work on my quilt so that I can catch up with the rest of the quilt -a- long. Even though my quilt isn't perfect I have learned a lot and I intend to give it as a present for a special lady. I also plan to make a second one to gain some more practice. I also have been working on a king size quilt that I was just stitching in the ditch with my walking foot. It took me about 2 weeks of work to do half of it then I saw Leah suggest doing the ditch quilting free motion style. It is no where near perfect but it was very much faster as I did the second half of the quilt in about 3 days. Also even with the walking foot it wasn't perfect. I, like Leah didn't realize that it was "allowed" to go back over my quilting lines so I was happy that she suggested it. I am just as happy as if I didn't go over the lines and I can see with time my ditch stitching will improve with practice. The quilt has a large 4 inch square in the middle of each block, and I am going to use it to fool around with some of Leah's other fillers. There is no theme with the quilt but since it is just intended to be used as a bed quilt (the first I have made for me and my husband since we have been married, since most of the stuff I make gets given away) it won't matter if I use it for practice. Thanks again for your vision Leah and for allowing a light bulb to go off in my head... it is a most freeing experience!

Spring in Ohio

Today is a beautiful April Monday. I have the bathrooms clean and the windows open to air out the house after a long winter. I am so glad that spring is on the way. The renewal of the season is powerfully uplifting. I have currently been extremely involved with quilting and have met a new friend online..... of course she doesn't know we are friends yet as I have been following her blog but am just getting my blog started and therefore she hasn't technically met me yet. Yes I am talking about Leah Day and her free motion quilting project. I have throughly enjoyed reading through her posts and learning more than I ever thought possible about quilting in such a short period of time. Since meeting her she has posted a FMQ (free motion quilt-a-along - for you non-quilters) of a whole cloth quilt that I have since decided to try. Above is the picture of how far I have come in such a short time (approximately 2 weeks). I have also finished piecing the red and black and yellow quilt that our four H club has been working on for the fair and give away for a local civil service worker in our community. Obviously we have inspired to make our quilt with a fire theme. It isn't perfectly pieced but it is striking and I am extremely proud of all of the kids who have joined in to work on this fantastic piece of work. We have a great four H club and a great bunch of kids who work hard at appreciating the people of our comm
unity.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Free Motion Quilting Project: Free Motion Quilt Along

The Free Motion Quilting Project: Free Motion Quilt Along: In 2012, having completed the original goal of 365 designs for the Free Motion Quilting Project, I decided to start teaching free motion qui...

April 15, 2012

It is Sunday and we had pigs in a blanket and ice cream for dinner. Easy and not our normal fare but every once in a while it is fun to have something different. I have been sewing all weekend but feel that I haven't accomplished much. I got the top together for the four H quilt that will go to a public service person in the fall. I brought it to the meeting last night and everyone was impressed with how it came out. I also have worked on the FMQ quilt along that I have started a couple of weeks ago with Leah Day. I am impressed with how great it is coming out and even though there are quite a few mistakes it will still make a nice gift for someone and I have learned a lot of information. I also am taking the time to set up this blog. I tried it once before a few years ago but I wasn't able to be successful, but now I want to be able to post to the FMQ and be able to let others see what I am doing so I have decided to give this a shot. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures to the blog yet, hopefully my ineptness at all things computer related does not hold me back too much in this fantastic endeavor.