Sowing Seeds of Love

This packet of wildflower seeds was a favor at a bridal shower for our Pastor's new bride at the end of April. Not knowing what the mix was I planted the seeds, crossed my fingers and waited. Today I'm happy to report that L💗VE is heavily budded and beginning to bloom!

I believe that every little seed is a miracle, a promise in a tiny shell.

Life is Good!

Every Quilt Tells A Story

Back in the spring our daughter-in-law's father asked me if I could help him; he wanted to make a quilt to give to his wife to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their first date. Naturally, the first question I asked was "when's the anniversary?" He told me that it was in mid-November. "Sure", I said, "there's plenty of time, be thinking about what you'd like, design-wise". Since then, off and on, we'd gotten together to discuss his ideas. He knew that he wanted fifty hearts and it was his idea to vary the sizes. From the beginning of the project, once the design and the colors (our daughter-in-law suggested that her Mama's favorite colors were ocean shades) were decided upon, he was very hands-on. He did all of the initial pressing, cutting out and placement. 

All of the outside hearts were appliqued into place by machine, I did lend a hand and applique the large background heart into position, the remaining hearts were then machine appliqued on top. He came out one day and stitched the borders on. The top was done! All of this was, of course, top secret! He's a golfer and it's not unusual for him to be gone for large chunks of the day. And so, the quilt studio became his "golf course"! Thank goodness his wife doesn't have a tracker on his phone. 😉

We made an executive decision to piece the remaining fabrics from the top for the backing.

At long last, it was loaded onto Snowbird and this golfer became a longarm quilter!

The proud quilter and his almost-finished anniversary gift for his beloved. The smile says it all!

He chose an ambitious pantograph for his first-ever quilting job; his work reflects complete dedication!

I received this photograph last Saturday morning! His wife was absolutely delighted with this gift of love and is using it frequently. She told me on Sunday that she'd napped under it already! I just know that every dream she has under this 'Quilt of Hearts' will come true, how could it be any other way?

Yes, every quilt has a story and this is one that's full to overflowing with love!

💗

Life is Good!

Going On, Growing On...

You may remember that I began this perennial garden, located just outside of my sewing room, two years ago. I've had some good luck, some bad luck and have learned a TON along the way! So, two years later, I have a lovely and peaceful space that is filling in and providing much enjoyment. I have moved, dug up and transplanted many things, all part of the learning curve. I'm rewarded with the reemergence of old "friends" and have added a few new ones this spring. 

This area has become a haven for birds, "hummers" and butterflies too. Those handmade stepping stones are weathering in nicely and have developed a nice patina. 

On the subject of growing on... our two youngest grandchildren spent the weekend with us. Gregory is now ten years old and Lynnleigh, eight; they're finishing up the fourth and second grades, resectively. We had a great time going to Cracker Barrel for dinner, playing games, helping with church responsibilities, practicing piano and exploring the wonders of sparkling maple syrup on waffles! 

We delighted in every minute that they were with us, the house is very quiet this morning. Today is our forty-sixth wedding anniversary, as far as how we're celebrating: Mr. Goodneedle is outside splitting wood and I am quilting at the longarm today. We'll thoroughly enjoy a dinner out tonight, as we did these roses recycled from yesterday's worship service on our breakfast table today. Time marches on and so do we.

May 24, 1975

Going on and growing on... together.

💕

Life is Good!

Valentine's Day

Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day. 💗I finished this cute little cross-stitch just in time for the occasion. It's been a very long time since I've done any of this, Quiltkeemosabe made me up a little kit with this pattern, the linen and the thread. She introduced me to stitching over two and I just love it. 

This sweet little applique piece was a birthday gift from a dear friend twenty two years ago. She sent it to me when we were living overseas, at a time when I missed all of my friends and family so very much. It meant the world to me then, as it still does today. I get it out in time for Valentine's Day every year. 

Another treasured Valentine memento, an antique Valentine from Quiltkeemosabe many years ago. Today, during the children's sermon at church, our pastor explained about St. Valentine and how, as a Roman priest under the rule of Emperor Claudius, he defied a decree that all soldiers remain unmarried; Valentine continued to marry Christian couples in the church, albeit secretly. He believed that the government had no say in love and matters of the heart, and if couples came to him to be joined in marriage he did just that. Ultimately he was killed for his beliefs and acts contrary to those laws set down by Claudius. I never fully understood the story behind St. Valentine's martyrdom until today. Now I better comprehend the covertness associated with slipping a Valentine to a secret love. Who says that children's sermons are only for children? After all, aren't we all children of God?

My Valentine surprised me at the breakfast table this morning with this beautiful orchid.

He's been my one-and-only bestest Valentine for a very long time now, and that's no secret at all!

💗 

Love never fails!

Blessed Beyond Measure

Yesterday was one day to reflect on what we're truly thankful for, to give voice to the blessings in our lives. We gathered with family around our son's table and did just that. My greatest blessing is the love of this one man. We've been together since high school; the span between these two snapshots in time is almost fifty years. We are thankful to God for health, for family and for blessings beyond measure.

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. 

Love never ends." 1 Corinthians 31:7-8

Life is Good!

A Quilted Hug

After learning the news about my dear friend (and former neighbor) who's currently going through chemotherapy for a recent lymphoma diagnosis all I could think of is "what can I do?" She lives in Oklahoma, so not only is distance a factor in feeling helpless, but my current state of worry over infecting someone with anything, (let alone a dreaded virus) when their immune system is wiped out is another, even if I still lived next door to her! I thought about her having to endure the treatments and worried about her being warm and comfortable throughout those procedures. What could I do? I quilted up the most recently completed top that I had on hand and quickly put together a matching tote bag which I personalized for her; my thinking was that this could be her "go bag", it could stay in her car and be ready whenever she needed it. I shipped it off on Wednesday. It's all that I could think of that I could do right away, I sent it along with love and prayers; I included a note and explained to her that this was a quilted hug, directly from me to her. She received it yesterday and I heard from her immediately; she began her first chemotherapy treatment on Thursday, it lasted for eight hours and will recur every three weeks. She loved the quilt but was concerned because her skin is leaching toxins out through her pores and, if she used it, that the quilt will need to be washed constantly, in hot water. I assured her there was no problem whatsoever with that, everything had been prewashed and if the quilt wore out (is there any higher praise for a quiltmaker?) over time that I would make her another! I know that she feels the love and the prayers; thank you for praying for Janis; please, keep them coming! Through tortured hours of repeated questions running on a loop within my brain: "how could I help, what could I do", God whispered directly to my heart: "send off a quilt"~  that's exactly what I did!

💗

 Isn't this why we do what we do?

💗 

We cover those that we know, and many times those we'll never meet, 

with love and quilted hugs, warming their bodies and their souls. 

Life is Good!

May 24, 1975

Forty five years ago we said " I do";  and today, I'm blessed to be dancing with the same partner. I'm thankful every day for this man, for our shared faith and commitment to God and His church, for families that have supported us along the way, for two healthy, loving children with families of their own, and for a lifetime of shared memories. Thanks be to God!

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." -1 Corinthinians 13:4-8

Life is Good!

Signed, Sealed and Delivered!

The year was 1970, it was a Saturday morning, I was a junior in high school. My mother answered the door to receive an Easter floral arrangement from her employer at the time. After she closed the door she called to me from the kitchen and asked me if I knew the boy delivering flowers for the local florist shop. I glanced out the living room window and saw him walking back down our walkway toward the driveway where the delivery van was parked. I did know him, he was in my Chemistry class. "He was so polite" my mother said, in the background. I intently watched the delivery boy back out of our driveway. He had the driver's door opened and he leaned out, looking backward, as he maneuvered out of our driveway. I was impressed at his driving ability. Hey, I was 16; at that time I didn't even have a driver's license yet, this skill made an impression.  When I saw him on Monday at school he spoke first: "I was at your house on Saturday." We lived in a very small town, I had already figured that he knew where I lived after the delivery. I still recall my response: "you're a very good backer." He smiled at the compliment and I remember thinking that was the stupidest remark I could have made, I was embarrassed and thought of so many other replies that would have been so much better, so much more clever, but those remained forever in my head as he walked away.
Fast forward to 2020. The back of our car is filled with Easter lilies ordered for our Easter worship service tomorrow. That service that won't occur. The lilies were ordered before restrictions on gathering, before we understood how widespread the virus would be, before the world turned upside down. 🙃 We left the order standing with the small, family-run greenhouse, they need the business. What to do with the lilies though? They would be delivered to doorsteps, that's what! Mr. Goodneedle took to the streets early yesterday morning, one by one, the Easter lilies were delivered to homes for online Easter worship tomorrow morning. Yes, you guessed it, fifty years later that cute delivery boy with the impressive driving skills is doing the very same thing. Apparently he wasn't appalled at what I thought was a stupid reply regarding his ability to drive in reverse, he was flattered. Some days I still watch him through the window when he's working outside and wonder how I ever got so lucky. He has been a constant blessing in my life. It wasn't until years later that my mother told me that he had inquired of her, when he handed off the flowers, if I lived at that address too. She knew that he knew me, and that's what prompted her to ask me if I knew him as he was leaving. Five short years later I married that boy; I've never looked back.

It was true love-- signed sealed and delivered!

Life is Good!

 

Forty-Four

May 24, 1975

Forty-four years. Two children. Four grandchildren. Ten homes in three countries. 

Thanks be to God for each and every blessing: for the incalculable number of special moments,

exciting adventures and treasured memories bestowed upon us as we've built our lives together.

Forty-four wonderful years have passed in what seems like the blink of an eye. 

Yes, "I do"; and I would absolutely do it all over again! 

💕

From this morning's most timely devotion, Ephesians 5:2:

"And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, 

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God".

Life is Good!

Quilting Day

Well, if the truth were told I would love for every day to be quilting day at my house; wouldn't you? But, as we all well know, life creeps in around the edges and the time we have to dedicate to our favorite passion is often squeezed in where we can fit it. I took a whole day a week or so ago and quilted up these two long-forgotten quilt tops for my Mom. She only recently found them in a box retrieved from their attic space where they had resided for decades. She barely even remembered piecing them! I brought them home with me and promised to quilt them up for her. It was my pleasure to bring them to life; especially after all this time!

This soft and sweet Rail Fence variation was quilted with a Pantograph by Timeless Quilting: "Hearts in Bloom".

This graphic strip pieced lap quilt was quilted with my newest Pantograph: "Diamonds are Forever" by Urban Elementz. I love the texture created by quilting this design on such a linear quilt. 

I finished up the binding for her too; I found the perfect complementary fabrics in a bin of scraps that she gave me recently, they were meant to be reunited!  I do believe that Mom will be pleased. I thought about how happy she will be to get them back with each stitch as I hand-stitched these bindings down to the back.  I hope that she will enjoy them for many years to come.  💗

Life is Good!

First Night

I dropped off her finished quilt while she was at preschool on Friday, her Mommy helped me to smooth it onto her bed; Lynnleigh knew that Nana was going to deliver it and that it would be waiting. My daughter-in-law related this conversation that happened that morning, Lynnleigh was planning an overnight stay with one of her friends for Friday night: 

Lynnleigh: "Oh, NO! I just remembered, I can't sleep at --------'s house tonight!" 

Mommy & Daddy: "Why not?"

Lynnleigh: "Because it's the first night with my new quilt!"

Yes, it's why we quilt. 💗

Life is Good!

Be Attitudes

The February addition to my growing pile from Nancy Halvorsen's "Be Attitudes" pattern. 

I am working my way through the year, one block at a time; can a finished quilt be far behind? 

💗

Life id Good!

Room To Grow

This is but one of many little dish gardens that sweetly sat on the tables at our son and daughter-in-law's wedding reception. The dish gardens were given to friends and family members to take home after the wedding reception was over, that was back in May of 2008, nine and a half years ago. Since then there has been growth, lots of it: over time our son and daughter in law bought a home and spread their roots. In 2010 their son was born and in 2013, their daughter; more growth, their family has changed a lot since that day back in 2008.  Given room, love and the right conditions, growth will happen. I remember a pastor friend telling me many years ago that change is growth and growth is life. Well, that is most certainly true, and especially in the case of this little plant. One of the dish gardens from that wedding reception nine and a half years ago went to my good friend, Quiltkeemosabe. A few weeks ago she asked me if I would like this plant. You see, it is a surviving Palm plant from one of those original dish gardens; it had outgrown its space at her home, she was looking to tame her jungle. "Yes", I said; "I would love it". And so, it has come to live at our home now. It is a floor plant today and it's been given room to grow and spread its roots in my husband's study.

Given room, love and the right conditions, growth will occur.

Once there was a little palm plant, it didn't understand the word "can't". 

It spread its roots, its limbs stretched too. 

It did the only thing it knew to do, because it was cared for through and through,

it GREW! 

What are you cultivating in your life today? 

What needs room, and love, to stretch and grow?  

Life is Good!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I continue to pore through boxes of books that belonged to my mother-in-law, she and Dad collected books with a passion. I go through them slowly, carefully deciding which to keep and which to donate. Earlier this month I ran across this devotional book  entitled "This Is God's Day" by Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl. It was a Christmas gift given to my in-laws in 1956. I have done some research on the book as well as the author. Dr. Youngdahl was a Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis, MN. He turned a relatively small Lutheran church there, Mt. Olivet, into what would be considered, by today's standards, to be a mega-church; he served that congregation from 1938 until his death in 1968. The book that we have is a first edition devotional volume, published by Augustana Press, Rock Island, IL in 1956. It is a gem. I cherish this book, altogether unbeknownst to me until now. Somehow it connects me, in a very tangible way, to my husband's precious family. We have added "This Is God's Day" to our daily devotional time each and every day, it helps me to miss my astounding mother-in-law just a teeny bit less; she was a faith model for me, and finding this book is almost like a secret gift she had saved for me to find now.

Beginning with a scripture verse, enforced by a compelling human interest story and, finally, punctuated with "Today's Thought" each day's entry is clear, concise and inspirational. What was timely decades ago stands today as well; just as God's word is wholly relevant--yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen. Thanks, Mom!

"You need not ask a man if he is at peace-- his life will tell you."

Life is Good!

Discovered Treasures Providing Smiles

We've been dining by candlelight the last few days, from the glow cast by candles standing in vintage silver candlesticks no less. These, and other treasures, have recently come to live here as we continue the monumental task of cleaning out my dear mother-in-law's home. These candlesticks represent the blending of two families when my husband's parents wed; these belonged, at one time, to both sets of his grandparents and were passed down decades ago. Now they reside here. Their shine and patina are thanks to a generous amount of elbow grease and silver polish. They make me smile.  

While cleaning out drawers in the kitchen I ran across this gem. Mom had a terrific sense of humor and this made me smile too, I can just hear her chuckling when she bought this tea towel. I had never seen it before, it was brand-new; of course it was, she was probably "saving it" as she did items "too nice" to use! 

This grand-prize of all treasures is not brand-new, but it is in brand-new condition! According to my husband's sister, Mom used to sew a good bit; that statement, and the contents of the cabinet's drawers, prove that may have been the case at one time. However, in the past 42 years that I had been her daughter-in-law, I never once saw this cabinet opened out and had absolutely no knowledge of what model machine was contained therein! I was beyond thrilled to discover a pristine Singer 301 nestled inside. The 301 has long been prized for its stitch quality and dependability. According to some tracking that I have done using the serial number, it appears that this machine was manufactured in Anderson, SC in October of 1952. It has followed me to our house, Mom can rest assured that I will give it a loving home; I do believe that fact is providing an approving smile, from her, in Heaven.💗

Life is Good!