Saturday, January 26, 2013

One of those days...




Several friends are in need of healing...


So, today I am praying for them as the Lord leads them to me. Sometimes I want to do "more" and then I remember that releasing them to Him is more.



Blessings all,
Kathy

Thursday, January 24, 2013

More Basket Blocks AND...Socks too!!!

At Guild today, my special friend gave me two more basket blocks for my president's wall hanging...




aren't they pretty!!!




AND in the same gift bag...knitted socks...oh my gracious....such a wonderful gift...



you know us crafters NEVER get handmade gifts...we just give them away to others...



Blessings all,
Kathy

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Sewing...and Shopping!!!

I have been working on an   Etsy  Special Order  Baby Quilt and you know they are always just plain FUN...you know you will never meet this child so I get to pray for her/him and the parents too!!!

This one is an applique name in raspberry and grey chevron...




Also brought out my basket blocks that the Guild gave me for my two term presidency gift.



Squared up each one to 6 1/2 " and you know these wonderful ladies, young & old, were not too sure about making this block because of the rick rack handle and how to attach it...so some are hand stitched with love and some machine stitched (which is how I would have done it..easy)

I asked them NOT to square them so I could adjust IF needed...all were easy to square...

good job girls!!!

Trying to decide on a layout is difficult, isn't it....




I want to add some pin wheel blocks, flowers and aqua rick rack so it will look good in my new guest room/sewing room that I am redecorating.

Each signed their blocks in the bottom triangle...





Also, take a look at our local quilt store in a neighboring town that has moved and had a grand re-opening day today...



The Thistlebee Quilt Shoppe in Goldsboro

now on Center Street in an historic building downtown, just past the traffic circle.

So many cute quilts to make and a lot of fabric to purchase to make them!!!






Here is one of my guild buddies...



Mary Ellen, the owner, does absolutely beautiful hand embroidery and hand quilting and these Crabapple and Hill Studio patterns are my fav!!!!! I have this one when I can get around to starting it...but I want to use green and red floss for the embroidery.

You may remember from an earlier post...



And here is my lovely gift that I found in my bag when I got home!!! THANKS Mary Ellen...



Check out her website and make a purchase if you do not live close enough to visit.


Blessings all,
Kathy



Saturday, January 5, 2013

Making Crosses...

I have a small wall hanging that I placed by the back door to cover a telephone receptacle no longer in use... it has a single cross that I pieced together with scraps. When my sister and niece were leaving after our Christmas dinner, they commented that they would like one. So, of course, I got started.



I selected scraps from my basket that I thought would match each of their homes...yellow, greens, teals, blues, and I threw in some shockers in pink and red. You simply sew one scrap to the next and cut in three rectangles...one for the center and two for the sides. No measuring needed, just eye ball it.




While cutting the scraps into smaller pieces, I began to think about a radio show I heard on one of my Christian shows that I listen to while in the car. The guest speaker was talking about how to raise our children/teens to be selfless...??? !!!!!  the life of the CROSS...Quilt a job...you know taking the kids to shop at the Dollar Store for Christmas presents for the homeless and them deciding they really did not want presents for themselves OR emptying a friend's dirty lunch tray at school without them knowing who did it OR making a bed EVERY morning.

After I heard this show, I went into our local grocery store and at the check out was one of these teens who was only thinking about herself...her morning started with her hair not looking right (of course it was lovely and thick and looked great to me...) and then her GRANDMOTHER had fixed sausage for her breakfast and she stated "she knows that I do not like sausage"...and by then I did not even  hear the other things that caused her to "get up on the wrong side of the bed" as she referred to it... and was thinking that she needed a mother OR grandmother like the one I had just heard on the radio show!!!

But most of us do not have that kind of mother...I , however, did!! But you know what, I still had to learn the hard way and still do!!!

The life of the cross...






Blessings all,
Kathy