Gracie's Quilt...

Several weeks ago, I shared a picture of the quilt my mom made for my nephew (and that I helped quilt.)  This is the slightly smaller purple version she made for my niece.  (I know it looks kind of blue in the picture, but it's ALL purple.)

This one is only about 70" x 87", because she has a smaller bed.  My goal was to have it quilted by Thanksgiving when they came to visit.  Although I'm only now getting around to sharing pictures, I did have it finished in time!

I used a new pantograph on this one.  It was very labor intensive, but I love how it looks on this quilt.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it or where I got it from.  (It's been sitting in my drawer for a long time and there's no writing on it so I can't remember the details!)

Once my mom finishes sewing the binding to the back, my niece will have a new quilt for her bed - and in her favorite color!

Moses kept me company while I worked on Gracie's quilt.  (You can see it on the frame in the background.)  She's lying on a stack of quilts still waiting their turn to be quilted.  Every time I'd come down to that end of the quilt, she'd rub up against me, begging to be petted.  It made for some slow going!

Moses - My sewing buddy

Until later...

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people. 

Colossians 3:23 (TEV)

My sewing buddy...

Recently, I had some family come to visit.  My niece is on summer vacation and she came to play for a week with her favorite Aunt (coincidentally her only one).  While I worked on my Leap Year quilt, she was busy working on her very first quilt, a recent birthday gift from her Uncle.

My temporary sewing buddy

The kit is a beginner quilt kit from Connecting Threads and has the softest flannels in it.  I did all the rotary cutting (because she's still a little too young to do it on her own), but she helped organize and label all the fabric.  She also sewed every piece in the first couple of rows together by herself.  (We practiced on some scrap fabrics to get the hang of the quarter inch seam first.)  She did all of the pressing by herself too.

My niece ironing her quilt

We only had time to do the first couple of rows.  She still has 4 more to put together and a border.  Now that she's back home, she has Grandma to help her out with the rest of it.  Perhaps if she enjoys quilting as much as her Grandma and I do, we might have to see about getting her her own sewing machine in the future.  She certainly did a much better job with her quarter inch seam than I did when I started quilting!

Her quilt in progress

We were so busy during her visit here with exercising and shopping and sewing and swimming and so many other things that I think she was just exhausted.  Gabriel has also been on a new exercise regimen and has been extremely tired too.

Aren't they just adorable together?

Until later...

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. 

Proverbs 3:13 (NLT)

Someone needs a nap...

The last couple of weeks have been insanely, crazy busy and I'm having trouble keeping up.  Obviously some things are falling by the wayside (including blogging and getting enough sleep).  It started went I traveled to visit my family to celebrate Easter and my niece's birthday.  I always have a wonderful time visiting them, but this time, one of them followed me back.  This week is Spring Break for my niece Gracie and she came to stay for a few days.

Gracie and Sam

This is the first time she's stayed over and the pets didn't know what to make of it.  The cats weren't quite sure if they liked it, while our dog Gabriel loved having her own 'kid' around.  Unfortunately, Gracie is very allergic to cats and we weren't sure how she would do around 4 of them.  Especially when one of them climbed on top of her luggage within minutes of her arriving...

Sam on Gracie's luggage

I was very careful to keep all of her stuff in a plastic bag for the rest of her visit and she didn't have a single issue with her allergies.  Praise God!

I had SO MUCH FUN while she was visiting.  We ate, worked out, sewed, played, ran errands and basically did everything except sleep.  Having no children of my own, I also learned 2 very important lessons: (1) kids are very expensive, and (2) kids are exhausting!  I now have a much greater sympathy/empathy for her mom.  (I'm also hoping she'll let her come back and play for another week during the summer.)

Gracie is just now interested in learning to sew and has finished her very first embroidery block.  It's from one of the Nancy Halvorsen books although I can't recall which right now.

Gracie's First Embroidery Block

She's working on her second one and has told me that I need to send her another one once she's finished with it.  While she worked on hers, I managed to finish my 3rd Snowman A to ZZZZ block...

Block 3 - C is for Candy Canes

The Candy Canes took a little while to stitch up, but otherwise this block finished pretty quickly.

Block 3 - Closeup

I was planning on putting these aside and finishing my Baltimore Halloween quilt now, but I'm going on a quilt retreat next week and this will be great to work on in the evenings.  Once I return though, I really, really have to finish the Halloween quilt - after I catch up on all the missed sleep that is!

Until later...

"But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" 

Habakkuk 2:3 (LB)

Visiting family...

Gabriel and I are taking a long over due trip to visit family for a week.  Do you think she's enjoying herself?

Gabriel and Gracie hanging out together

I also forgot to bring one of her babies with me.  Even though she's 5, she still plays with them every day.  So we picked up a new one for her today.

Gabriel and her new baby

It's a dog's life here!

Don't forget I'm having a giveaway to celebrate my 2 year blog anniversary.  Leave a comment on the post here to enter.

Until  later...

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time - to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 

2 Timothy 1:9 (NLT)

Settling in...

I haven't been doing much sewing lately. I've been trying to get David settled in and everyone adjusted to his presence. He had surgery yesterday to get fixed and for his claws, but you couldn't guess it from looking at him. He has no bandages and appears to be in no pain. Actually, our greatest issue is getting him to be less active. I've prayed about it and the whole transition is going easier (so far) than I had hoped for!

I promised this post would have something other than pets in it, so let's move on. I realized looking at old posts that I forgot to show you the last Ladies of the Sea ship I finished. She's called the Elissa. She's the last ship I'll be working on until I get some other things finished up.


I read on a blog some time ago a post asking quilters to show the first quilt they ever made and the latest. I show you all of my latest projects but I didn't have a picture of my first until now. I made this quilt for my mom about 5 years ago. Two weeks before Christmas I decided that I wanted to get my mom something else as a gift, but I didn't have any idea what. I saw this BOM (block of the month) at JoAnn's on clearance. The colors and the pattern were perfect for my mom. Having never made a quilt before, I figured it would be easy. The pieces in the kits were all pre-cut and I think I'm pretty good at following directions. And the store had all 12 kits plus the setting kit.

Working furiously, I managed to finish the quilt top in time for Christmas. I think my mom was both surprised and I believe pleased when she opened it on Christmas Day. I thought this would be a one time thing - making a quilt. But I so enjoyed making it, that I was hooked. It took another year for me to turn the top into a quilt. I tried to hand-quilt it, but was discouraged by my stitches and took them out. Finally, I just tied it.


My mom used it for a long time and washed it almost every week. It's now a bit faded and some of the seams are starting to open, but I still like to sleep under it whenever I visit. It's far from perfect, but I still love it.


I've made about 25 quilts since then and given most of them away. Of the completed quilts I've made (not just tops), I have 3 wall hangings hanging in our house. They're in the living room, the half-bath and the laundry room. It seems a little weird to have 2 of the 3 hanging in utility rooms, but one day I hope every room will have one.

To end this post, I'd like to share a couple more pictures from this past weekend. The first is a picture of my niece, Gracie. Her personality is just as sweet as she is pretty. She's also very much a girlie girl.


And finally, here's one more picture of David down at the farm.


Until later...