Disappearing, Surprising, and Organizing

Disappearing

Last blog I began sharing about my WIP (works in progress). That disappearing pen has an inconsistent temperament :0/

Surprising

A few weeks ago, my blogging friend at Notes of Sincerity

chose me to be one of her recipients in a Pay it Forward activity.

Well,

this arrived yesterday afternoon . . . 

An envelope with tissue wrapped bundles.

Inside, I discovered

these treasures :0)

First, was this cute DREAM bunting (which my son's girlfriend REALLY likes . . . I will be making one for her birthday at the end of the month with something else I had planned. I love how things work out that way)

I hung it from the mantle in my kitchen :0)

 

YES, I have a fireplace with a mantle in my kitchen but, I have very little counter space and no storage :0/

The pear fabric goes perfectly with my "Fruit of the Spirit" theme. 

Next was a wonderful mini quilt/mug rug/mini table runner :0) It's almost like Trish has been to my house and noticed my bookshelf and mantle needed a small touch of sweetness.

I had the perfect place for it :0)

Next to my Uncle Sam candle holder and flag tin with pine cones.

Then a cover for my tissues. I don't go anywhere without tissues. How did she know?

Finally, a wonderful cut of fabric covered in POLKA DOTS!!!

LOVE, love, love this :0)

 

 

Once again, Thank you for the wonderful SURPRISE!

Organizing

Jenn and Aaron's quilt is all cut out. I love cutting into new fabric.

Now the organizing and a dilemma.

The directions stated to use a design wall so, I tried

 this 

Quilt batting hung from china cabinet with skirt hangers.

But it didn't work :0(

Then I tried numbering the illustration in the magazine and that wasn't working either.

 So, I laid out the top quarter of the quilt on the floor.

Then stuck post-its on all the blocks to label them.

Now, 

they are ready to sew together (at least 1/4 of the quilt is ready.) I will repeat this process 3 more times :0) Happy dance, I am looking forward to sewing all the seams as I pray for my daughter and her future husband.

Cute bundles of joy :0)

Hopefully you enjoyed my musings and will stop by again because I do need to Pay it Forward to some lucky persons who read my blog, love to quilt/craft, and want to play along, too.

Blessings of joy,

Michelle

Disappearing (this was suppose to be about more but BLOGGER is not cooperating so, I am going to continue tomorrow)

I was intrigued, then mesmerized which led to being hypnotized by all the loveliness happening with this book . . . 

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

So, I purchased some fabric and began to make my blocks. The blocks are created using templates. There are pros and cons with using templates and many in the flickr group are not enjoying the challenge. I have enjoyed the change in technique. It is making my quilting interesting. Here are the blocks I have finished.

Disappearing

So, I traced the templates for block 7 Sunday evening but I was not able to cut them out. Here is what I discovered Monday afternoon when I sat down to cut and sew the pieces.

The "disappearing" quilting pen actually worked this time. I have other traced pieces that were done last week and the purple lines are still there.

How has time gone so quickly?

Almost 24 years ago, a ray of sunshine entered our lives.

Jennifer Suzanne (February 1988 ~ 5 months)

and

now

there is . . . 

A ring on her finger!

My baby girl is engaged to a wonderful man of God. I have prayed for this young man since Jennifer was a very small baby.

Jenn and Aaron at Alexandra & Tom's wedding

So, what is a mom who quilts to do you may ask?

Go shopping for fabric of course :0)
First,

Jenn and I went to our favorite pre-shopping lunch spot.

which is so much fun with their new ketchup dip & squeeze packets!

Then to the Fabric Gallery to choose wonderful shades of green, with a touch of yellow and pink for good measure.

Our bag of goodness!

I will be making this quilt for their bed

from American Patchwork & Quilting June 2010

So, the plan is to accompany my husband to Michigan over the weekend to deliver those radios, visit with some friends, and camp at Van Buren State Park;
while this lovely fabric waits for me here next to my sewing machine :0/

THEN, on Monday I will begin cutting everything into their designated sizes. I usually don't cut and begin sewing on the same day but we will see . . . 

Blessings of joy,

Michelle

Sharing my sewing space :0)

Jenn, Josh, and me in Gaeta, Italy 1997

Gaeta, Italy 1997

My husband is a retired Senior Chief Petty Officer from the United States Navy. While he was in the Navy we were blessed to live for three years in the small village of Gaeta which is north of Naples and south of Rome.

The whole experience was wonderful! Homeschooling in the heart of where the Renaissance took place. Our children learned Latin and put on plays in the ruins of amphitheaters. We visited art museums and walked along aqueducts. It is a time in our lives that I would love to go back too . . . except for the very small apartment where we lived.

So, when we returned to the Midwest and began house hunting our current house looked ENORMOUS!!

However, over the last 13 years it has very quickly lost that look.

I share my sewing space with my husband. In the last few months, he has been preparing a lot of electronic equipment for a teacher's institute in Michigan.

So, here is what our shared space looks like at the moment . . . 

16 bundles of 75' coax cable!

His HF receiver used for satellite weather and communication with other amateur radio operators (affectionately called HAMS) and the controls to an antenna rotor for the satellite institute.   

His soldering station to create all the cables for the 8 rotors and HF receivers for the class being taught in Michigan.

  Finally, my machine which I can't get to. Thankfully,  ALL those radios, rotors, and cables will be delivered to Michigan on Saturday. WOOHOO!!!

I am really looking forward to cleaning and organizing our shared space so that creating can happen in both corners of our small space.

Blessings of joy,

Michelle

Quilting the days of my life

First a confession, I have been slowly (sloth pace) working on a certain quilt since 1994. Wow, that seems like a long time but there were many, many years where I did not complete any squares. Here is what I have so far . . .

Cathedral Window charm quilt (& Holly)

Originally, the quilt was for our queen size bed. We now have a king size bed, which is great for us but not so much for the progress of this quilt :0/

My goal for the last couple weeks was to work on it most evenings while watching/listening to the television. I completed a four square during the finals of American Idol!!

So, I will continue to hand quilt while watching tv in the evenings :0)

Other works in progress . . . 

Original sunflower design mini quilt

Bottled Rainbow Ruby block

Fresh Flowers pinwheel table runner for my daughter

Are you wondering if I complete anything? Well, I am wondering the same thing. The answer is yes. I completed . . . 

1 Table runner for my mom for Mother's Day

(see blog post titled: Table runner)

1 12x12 Something from Nothing Quilt swap quilt

I am going to end this blog for now because Blogger has locked up my computer once while creating this and I don't want to rewrite this blog :0)

Blessings of joy,

Michelle