a prayer quilt finish

I've been working on a prayer quilt for a beautiful lady at church who is battling that demon cancer. I had one more batch of my green and grey swap blocks left and I thought they would make a cheerful quilt for her as she goes through her treatments. Yesterday, I recruited some helpers to tie the quilt and pray for their friend...

 The ladies in the Mary Circle at our church are the dearest women I have ever known. They laugh a lot, pray for our church and for each other and support each other. They are a wonderful example of what Christian women should be. I always enjoy being in their company and learning from their example.

 Today I finished sewing on the binding and the label so the quilt can be delivered.

 A beautiful fall day here in Texas (look at that blue sky!)

I pray our quilt brings her comfort and healing.

believe

Today we are revealing our Secret Sisters at church. I have so much fun doing this! This year my secret sister has been Lori, who is also a dear friend. She chose a word of the year this year, can you guess what it is?

 Do you recognize the mini quilt where I appliquéd her word? That's right! It's my little shadow quilt. I put her word on it in wool felt and gave it to her at our luncheon today. I hope she likes it!

check that one off the list!

Today I put the final stitches into our Presbyterian Women's quilt! I even got the sleeve sewn on the back so we are ready to hang in on the wall of the church for Easter. So many stories in this quilt! So many different ladies, all ages and stages of life. It's amazing what you can learn about another lady while you are gathered around a table coloring!

It took us more than a year to complete (ok, my fault mostly) but now it can hang in the church forever, spreading our stories with future generations.

During a recent workday at the church, 2 more quilts were discovered. One is from the ladies Biblestudy group but has no date on it... I don't remember it being made so it must be at least 8 years old. The other was made by some of the churches first preschool groups & is dated 1987! So amazing to think that the little hands that drew the pictures on that quilt are now adults, possibly with little people of their own!

I have put hanging sleeves on both of those quilts too, so they can all hang together! Now on to finish some more projects...

Happy Spring

When I saw these lovely daffodils at the grocery store, I knew it was spring! I brought home three (yes, three!) bundles of them! I know that they never last very long, so when I find them I tend to buy bundles! They just make me smile! We woke up on Sunday morning, the first full day of spring, to 8 inches of snow! Seriously? I thought I was in Texas! Silly Texas. Of course, it has warmed up nicely now & the sun is shining....


So here is my question for you. What is it that makes you think SPRING!???


You already know one of my answers. Daffodils! I also love to buy a cheerful springy tablecloth like the one above, for my kitchen table. You know the ones I mean, the ones you can get at Walmart for less than $5! Ok, it's confession time, I actually bought TWO this year! So when this one gets worn out, I have another, different, one tucked away.


My crafting tends to change in the spring too. I am just finishing up my granny-a-day afghan (yes, the one I started nearly a year ago! it took a while) & I will be happy to have that heavy yarn off my lap for the warmer weather! I am also finishing up a big quilt that the ladies at church have been working on. No more big heavy projects! Spring means bright colored fabric (oh wait, I pretty much sew with those year round, don't I?), summer clothes (Ally has requested some ruffly spring skirts this year) and small projects.


Welcome spring! I hope you stick around for a good long time. I'm not that fond of Texas summers after all.

new projects

I've been having a lot of fun in my sewing room lately.... working on odds & ends. I got several new sewing books for my birthday, like One Yard Wonders, there are soooo many cute ideas in there! And Sew Liberated. Well I've already delved into this one! There is the cutest little art smock in here & I just had to make one. No, I don't have anyone here tiny enough to wear this, but isn't it darling?I used some more of my IKEA fabric. Oh, & I changed the back a bit. The pattern calls for the elastic to go all the way around the neck. The child would then pull it over their head. I added ties instead. Here's the back:I had another fun project this week. I have to tell you a little story about this one. Ten years ago, a friend of mine asked me to make her little girl, who was turning three, a dress out of her favorite fabric. She had a blankie that she loved out of fish fabric. Of course I said yes! I made her a little jumper style dress and a matching one for her doll. Well...... just a few weeks ago her mom emailed me again. Seems her daughter JUST outgrew that little dress! Apparently she was wearing it as a little swing top over leggings all these years! She's a tiny little thing. Well, I found a very similar fabric (amazing after 10 years!) and made her a pair of pj pants to replace the little dress. I hope she likes them!You might remember about a year ago, I shared with you that I had been on a retreat with the women from my church. On that retreat, all of the ladies made quilt blocks with their favorite Bible verses on them. Well, this past Saturday we retreated again! I had stitched the quilt blocks into a top & had it ready for the ladies to help with the tying.... here's a peak!

I am anxious to get started on my swap quilt for the Winter Time mini quilt swap! I think I'll do that next.... I have checked out my swap partner's blog & flickr site & we have very similar tastes! This is going to be fun.

American Idol tonight! Hollywood week! I'm excited... anybody else?

fun in the kitchen

Yesterday I decided to try something new (always a good idea!). I had pulled a recipe for homemade marshmallows out of a magazine a long time ago & it was time to make them! Here's a similar recipe to the one I used. I put a little drop of red food coloring in mine... look at the yummy pink color! Here's a shot of the whole pan, setting overnight. They were a little sticky to cut this morning, but after some experimenting (sharp knife worked best, not serrated) I got the job done.

I put a dozen cubed marshmallows in each ziploc bag then boxed them up in pretty Christmas boxes & gave them to my Biblestudy friends at our brunch this morning. Hopefully they will enjoy them! Of course I had to taste test a couple myself. Yummy!

Just thought I would share with you, my favorite Christmas Tree ornament. This little caroller has hung on my tree since I was a little girl. A couple years ago my mom gave it to me! I don't know if she knew how much I loved it, but I will cherish it forever!

Do you have a favorite ornament or decoration? Why not tell me about it in the comments? Better yet, post a picture on your blog so we can all see!

renewed & refreshed!

Wow, has it really been 2 weeks since I've written here? Sorry! I do have an excuse for the past week though. I've been in Louisville with my buddy Faith (& 2500 other women!) at the Presbyterian Women's Churchwide Gathering. What a wonderful time we had! There were incredible speakers, workshops, music (I even sang in the gathering choir!). It was 4 1/2 days of nonstop fun, learning, worshiping..... & I'm sooooo tired! We squeezed in a visit with Faith's mom & her family & they were so welcoming & kind to me. Oh, & my mom was at the Gathering too! Here she is with her buddies......

Don't you just love their shirts? The gathering shirts were so boring, white with the logo at the top..... so they tie dyed theirs! They came out so cute. Faith & I dyed ours an aqua blue, but not tie dyed, just one color. They looked pretty good too.

I also had the chance to catch up with 2 dear old friends from Ohio.... Mary & Sara. It was so great to spend time with them & hear about their wonderful families & other friends from back "Home".

So it's back to reality now! I need to get Allyson's afghan done, here it is with 80 granny squares before I left. 2 more rows & some borders & it'll be done!

I can't believe how the summer is flying by!

IKEA finds & an owl

Today the girls & I went to IKEA. Ally has been bugging me to go for a while. She is ready to remodel the gameroom.....

So she found this rug, which will be her jumping off point for the decorating! Lots of possibilities here (& apparently it's really soft!)

I bought myself a new ironing board! It's really sturdy, & much wider than my old one, almost 18 inches wide! I had seen it last time I was there & didn't get it. Today it was on sale! YAY! I love the little rack for my iron too (don't mind the mess around it....)

But the cover is really boring. Ally thinks I should make a new cover out of this fabric (also from IKEA). What do you think? I think it just might work!

Next week I am heading to Louisville with a friend from church. We'll be attending the Churchwide gathering of Presbyterian Women. I'm really excited about it! I have a huge list of things to get done before I go. Today I got my hair cut (CHECK!). Here's something else that was on my list..... the other day at Target I bought a solid yellow nightshirt that looked comfy for the trip. Ally said "Mom that's really plain. It needs an owl on the front."

Owl. (CHECK!)

On to the next project!

hats, more grannys & my creative journey...

Yesterday the ladies at church had a luncheon & we shared our baby pictures.... here's mine! Nobody guessed it was me... even with my mouth wide open. After I told them though, someone asked if I was singing! Probably. We also wore hats at our gathering yesterday, in honor of the Kentucky Derby. Here I am, making a goony face, in my hat...& here is my friend Nancy, who had the fanciest hat at the party...I'm still working away at my granny squares. Here's the chain on day four (I told you I wouldn't be able to stick to one a day!) I've actually added 2 or 3 more since I took this picture.
Jodi, over on This, That and The Other shared her Creative Journey in her last blog post. What a great idea! So I thought I'd share some of mine too....

I think I got the crafty gene early on. My mom was always crafting & sewing... making us clothes, halloween costumes, fancy pillowcases, all kinds of things! I just naturally joined right in.

I think I first sat at the sewing machine on my own when I was about 8 or 9. That's when I made my yellow halter top . By the time I took home ec in 8th grade, I was sewing all kinds of things. My classmates were still trying to figure out how to cut out their skirts (with a waistband & 7 inch zipper) & I was putting in my blind hem. My skirt was pink & I made a pink gingham blouse to match! I remember embroidering when I was about this age too.

During college I worked at Minnesota Fabrics. What a great job! I got to make a lot of the samples then, & learned new skills. Candlewicking was big then (remember that?), & I went through a cross stitch phase. I just loved being around all that fabric & creative people!

Fast forward to the 90s when maternity & baby clothes kept me busy! I loved sewing for my little ones & still enjoy making them things today. Lucky for me, they appreciate it! Along the way I have also learned to crochet, quilt & even to weave baskets. I go through waves of scrapbook mania.... my books are sporadic. Some day I will pull that all together!

Now I am enjoying putting some of my designs on paper & hope to find an outlet for them soon. I do love to sew other people's patterns, but love creating my own even more. So that's my story!

what's in a name?

Ahhhh I am feeling a tad bit guilty about something & I have to get it off my chest. You see, this weekend at the retreat there was some sharing of what names mean & how they are important. We also spent some time discussing Ruth, remember her from the old testament? She's Naomi's loyal daughter-in-law, the one who followed her all the way back to Bethlehem even though Naomi was whining & moaning about having "nothing" & how bitter she was (so what was Ruth anyways, chopped liver???? but I digress) Ruth is the one we often quote at our weddings... you know, "whereever you go, I will go..... your people will be my people, your God will be my God"? & what does Ruth mean? Confidant! Loyal friend. So, what does this have to do with me???

Well here's the thing. My name, the one my parents gave me at birth, is Ellyn Ruth. Ellyn (light) Ruth (loyal friend). The Ruth is in honor of my Aunt Ruth, a wonderful woman who has an adventurous spirit (That's her in the picture above, ziplining in Thailand!) & a big heart. So what did I do when I got married? I ditched the "Ruth"!! That's right. I just up & dumped my middle name. & now I'm feeling very guilty. Like perhaps I should take it back! Can you do that? I imagine it would be quite a hassle with the social security office, the credit reporters, all of that. sigh....

So, I don't think I'll go through the formal process of taking back my Ruth... but I will no longer leave it out when someone asks for my full name. Because I like it. & I hope I can live up to it & always be a Loyal Friend.

Thanks for letting me pour my heart out! Oh & while we're at it, Thanks Tracey for nudging me to get back to writing more. You're right, it needs to happen! Are you sorry now?

retreat

This weekend 16 women from my church enjoyed a wonderful retreat at Springhill Retreat Center in Richardson Texas. Our theme was "Remaining Faithful through Change". We had such a great time. Part of our weekend was spent learning journalling techniques. Here's my pal Laura, working on her journal. She just looked so peaceful & reflective there in the window!

Something else we did was make quilt squares representing each woman, which I am going to sew into a quilt when they are all done. I ironed 9 inch squares of cotton muslin onto freezer paper & the ladies decorated them with fabric markers. Many of them added their favorite Bible verses....

I just love these wonderful ladies. Each of them brings something so special to the mix. Our pastor's wife, Janie, led our study sessions & she is so insightful & wise. Ahhhh.... I feel so refreshed! Maybe we should do this every weekend?

what do you do when you have a cold?

...you find a project to work on of course! This is a 12 inch quilt square I created to send in for the PW Gathering in Louisville in July. My first attempt at an "art quilt" of sorts. The teapot represents God, pouring out His love into all the little teacups..... those are the women. Notice they are all different? Just like us. It's not perfect but I had fun doing it & it helped me forget my sniffles for a while.

While I was quilting I was listening to podcasts. My sweetie bought me a fabulous radio for Christmas... it's a big job shop radio from Home Depot, indistructible (if you know me, you know that is a great idea!) & I can hook my ipod up to it... So I was catching up on podcasts, listening to Annie Smith & I hear my name! I won a book! & she announced it on the podcast... I was so excited.