Oh, the pressure. Time is ticking and this quilt is still on the frame! The quilt show is scheduled for April 16th and 17th. I'm counting on the last minute, it's always the best minute for me! Stay tuned for a the photo finish on this one. I'm killing myself to meet the deadline, I don't suppose that word is a coincidence.
Easter fills the world with hope and promise. The big (almost) Easter announcement made in our family today has had the same result! (Okay, so it was a Palm Sunday announcement!) Our son and daughter-in-law are expecting in the late fall; we'll be grandparents once again! Hope and promise has never seemed more wonderful.
I am blessed with the best when it comes to friends; Quiltkeemosabe sent this to me and I am passing it on to you. You know all about the power of perseverance, that "ant and the rubber tree plant" mentality that is the key to success in life. Watch this short movie; you won't be disappointed, I promise. In fact, this may just be the best two minutes you spend today. I had the opportunity to hear Alex Anderson give a lecture. She told her life story through her quilts. She challenged her audience to step up to the plate in whatever it is they want to accomplish, she explained how she was reticent to accept the offer to host "Simply Quilts", but then she realized how sad it would be to look back on her life one day and see all the opportunities that she had missed. I understand that logic; I don't want to look back with regret either! There is something that I really want to do; I have decided to keep at it until it occurs. What's the worst thing that can happen, I get tired from trying? I can live with that. And so, for me, I will persevere. Wish me luck, and enjoy the film clip!
Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close
they were to success when they gave up.~Thomas Edison
You know me, I LOVE thread; all kinds. My greatest love affair with thread has been with the glow-in-the-dark variety for stitching swirls and squiggles onto quilts for children. Move over NiteLite and make room for SunBurst! I first saw this thread at the Superior Threads booth at MidAtlantic Quilt festival last month. Naturally, I had to purchase a spool; the biggest dilemma was which color to choose. They are all white on the spool indoors, it's when sunlight is added that the magic happens... presto, change-o! I chose blue and you can see the difference between the top photo and the bottom photo after one minute of exposure to the sun. You'll have to believe me on this one... the thread on the spool is completely white. The moment that I placed it down to photograph it yesterday (top) it began to turn blue! I think a picnic quilt or patio placemats would be so much fun quilted up with SunBurst thread. Click on the link to see the other colors available. Shine on!!
So, I was driving home last night from a Bee meeting when a warning light started flashing on the instrument panel of my car, a lighted symbol that looked like this:
I had no idea what this represented but I knew I'd better check it out immediately. I pulled into a church parking lot and got the manual out of the glove compartment. This symbol is the tire pressure monitor. Groan. I got out and inspected all four tires, they looked fine to me, no low pressure that I could detect. I drove less than a mile and thought I could sense a sound, a thumping noise... maybe? I pulled over a second time, at the entrance to the water treatment plant, and did a second, more thorough, inspection. This time I felt the tires, all around, with my hands. Why? Who knows. Now my hands were black and greasy and I still didn't know any more than I did before. (Except not to manually inspect tires without a rag in the car!) By the time I got home (another few miles) I was imagining all sorts of horrible things regarding the car/tires as well as trying to convince myself that the warning light was malfunctioning. I pulled into the garage and looked at the tires under more sufficient overhead lighting. Yep, I had a low tire alright. I came in and told my husband, he looked first at me and then at my hands and asked me what I had tried to do. I told him that I had gotten out and felt them; which, in hindsight, seemed really silly when I tried to explain it. I'm grateful he didn't laugh at me. He took the tire off this morning to find a decent-sized screw (with a washer attached) embedded deep in my tire. All is well again, the tire is fixed. A word to the wise here: (from the now wiser) the warning lights on your vehicle can be trusted and you really can't tell a whole lot by giving a tire a rub-down with your bare hands!
Dreams and Visions, that was the theme of our retreat weekend and our study of the book of Revelation. One of the highlights was a pajama party (picture 150 women dressed similarly and wearing crowns!) featuring a PJ fashion show that culminated with fruit, cake and pretzels arranged to be dipped in a flowing chocolate fountain! Here I am with my daughter posing for a quick snapshot before the festivities began. It was an amazing time away together spent in Bible study as well as fun, food and fellowship. On Sunday morning we arrived for worship to find a small book placed at our seats about dreams (and symbols) for us to take home. I randomly opened my book to the following page:
How about that? The presiding Pastor for the weekend talked to us quite a bit about dreams; our feelings in response to our own dreams and the importance of dreaming big KINGDOM DREAMS, plus giving voice to them so that they may be realized. Well, if I were dreaming of quilts my big dream would be that they were all finished-- quilted and bound, now that would be heaven for sure. Oh yeah, I forgot, these are dreams we're talking about... not fairy tales!
... but not TOO Wild, I'm a Lutheran after all!
We had a wonderful visit with Mason, he continues to grow at the speed of light. He just loves books and to be read to, he will grab a book and back into your lap for a story and a snuggle, it is just the sweetest thing. He likes things to be a certain way, too-- Mason's way! He carefully arranged Elmo and White Bear with their heads side by side on his little pillow, when "Papa" rearranged them he immediately put them back the way he wanted them! Where, oh where, have the last 20 months gone? I must have blinked.
On the subject of keeping track of time, Quiltkeemosabe sent me this link for a virtual egg-timer. It's great; go to the link and set however many minutes you can allot to being on the computer (or whatever else you're doing). The countdown begins and it will alert you when time's up! I love it, if only it could s-l-o-w time down... sigh.
So where do you keep your potato parts and pieces? This has become a problem for my grandson... okay, so maybe not so much of a problem for Mason, but it was a nuisance for Mason's mom. She requested a simple drawstring bag for the bits and parts associated with Mr. Potato Head. I thought I could probably whip something up that would fit the bill. I made some preliminary measurements and got to work. A little spud fabric, some embroidery and...voilà , this was the result! We're off to the Capital City today to put the new bag to the test. Hopefully all parts and pieces can be successfully stowed and will no longer be underfoot! We wouldn't want any mashed potato pieces, now would we?
“God never made a promise that was too good to be true.” ~Dwight L. Moody
With a hopeful heart I planted a few daffodil bulbs on a cold autumn afternoon when we moved into our home nine years ago. Today it is simply amazing to see how they have multiplied; large, spreading masses of yellow blossoms brighten up our natural areas, heralding new life and warmer days to come. On Saturday we had a few heavy downpours which succeeded in trampling some of the early blooms down to the ground. I cut the broken stems away from the clumps laden with buds and put the soggy, sorry-looking flowers into a vase overnight, hoping for the best... I wasn't disappointed. And so it is, Spring returns once again, with every hope and promise fulfilled!
Life is Good!
…It’s Finally Over!"
45.5" X 54.5"
~ hand embroidered, hand appliqued, machine quilted~
I'm big on saving and managing time. This should come as no surprise to those of you who aren't reading here for the first time, I'm forever looking for the most efficient way to do just about anything. Last Saturday evening we attended a function at our local fire department. The station's chaplain, a retired Moravian Pastor, approached me and extended a hand in greeting. Looking me straight in the eye he asked, without any small-talk, "so, where do you go to church?" I was certainly prepared with an answer but was caught off-guard by his direct, to the point, method. We spoke for a few minutes about mutual friends when he learned my congregational affiliation and then he moved on. I heard him inviting several individuals to worship with him as the evening progressed. I have continued to ponder his direct objective all week. He employs every tactic I'm in favor of, time management and direct and focused action; why then did I find his no-beating-around-the bush way of doing business so noteworthy? Probably because, as Lutherans, we're not as quick to ask our friends and neighbors to join us at church. I've heard that the average Lutheran only invites one person every twenty-seven years! I've invited folks to worship, my average isn't quite that shameful, but I may just try my new friend's more direct approach to Evangelism from now on. I know this one thing to be sure, it does save time and certainly grabs one's attention, it got mine! In Matthew 22, the parable of the wedding feast, the table is spread for all to come. Jesus is issuing the invitation for all to join him as God's guests. I need to do that too, simply issue the invitation. I need not fear being direct and to the point, I simply need to do the asking!
On the recommendation of a friend I bought a package of these new, Black Gold, needles from a vendor at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. There was much buzz (among my friends!) about them being almost one dollar apiece! That is a high price to pay for a hand sewing needle, no question about it, but... then I used one! This is, without any doubt, the smoothest needle I have ever used! I stitched some binding down last evening and the difference is remarkable, my stitches have never looked better and the process was virtually effortless. Yep, these are expensive needles... and, as far as I am concerned, worth every penny! Isn't it amazing when you discover something you didn't even know you needed until you use it? That's the way I was about my first microwave too. Check these out, you'll be a convert; they come in Sharps and Betweens.
I have my work cut out for me. I have been grabbing up arm loads of scraps accumulated from years of quilt making and turning them into usable sizes. The task seemed daunting until I broke it up into small snatches of time. For me, the time available is pre-dawn; I have been getting up an hour earlier than usual and spending that hour sorting, pressing and cutting. I am finally beginning to see progress, my bins of cut pieces are full to overflowing! One thing leads to another, which means that soon my scrap-cutting time will lead to sewing time. Oh yeah, my work is cut out for me alright, that hour is time I would have only been sleeping anyway...yawn. This isn't an original idea, it's the method promoted by Bonnie Hunter, she calls it her Scrap User's System; and, by the way, I'm fairly sure that she doesn't sleep either! A word of caution here, if you begin to tame your scraps you might want to keep that little tidbit of information to yourself, once your generous quilting friends learn that you collect small pieces for future projects they will be all too happy to donate their leftovers... ask me how I know. As I said, one thing leads to another, and with an endless supply of scraps and snippets your nights' sleep may just become shorter and shorter... shhhh!
Take a look at this phenomenal quilt, it received my vote for viewer's choice while visiting Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival last week. It is titled "Sweet Surrender" and made by Cindy Seitz-Krug of Bakersfield, CA. The incredible quilting on this one with the finest pink thread left me speechless; and, naturally, the piping called to me! It was a great weekend all around, but it's good to be home. I've been gone a lot lately and it's so good to have no trips planned again for awhile. My little laptop is home again, too, after a tune up, thank goodness! I attended a lecture last weekend by Libby Lehman, she showed slides of her studio and remarked that she keeps her computer outside of her creative space so that her communications and paperwork are separate. I like that idea. Too much of my day is spent checking e-mail and accessing the computer for other tasks. I will be more mindful from now on of placing the computer away and apart when I am sewing and quilting so that it's magnetic draw doesn't become too strong. I have fallen short this past month in meeting all of my goals and need to spend this early part of March playing catch-up; sigh. Oh yes... it's good, very good, to be back home again!
