Can I Have a Bag for This??

If you've been reading this for some time, you know we have 8 children. Having 10 people in a room at one time does pose seating challenges. We've been in this house nearly 3 years. Time to make the upstairs hearth useful (translation: into seating space). I ordered this huge piece of foam to make a cushion for the hearth. It's 4" thick, and that brings it up to a regular chair height. That was my DH's idea.


Rachel and I went to pick up the foam (they had to glue 2 piece together because we wanted a piece 87" long). When we were leaving the store where the foam was purchased, Rachel turned to the clerk and asked, "Can I have a bag for this?" I laughed so hard. There is nothing like a good laugh, is there?


Below is the hearth before cushion. I might add that we have only used the fireplace 2-3 times in 3 years. It's just so warm here all the time. We have not one but TWO seldom-used fireplaces. See what I did to the one downstairs.






And here is my model showing where the foam will be placed. I am going to cover it to look like a couch cushion, but that's where it will live.





I am eager to get that project finished.

~Joan

My Favorite Muffin

Emily baked some muffins/cupcakes to take for dessert tomorrow for her lunch at church. We feed some college guys, plus one of my sons and my DH there every week. Emily like to make good meals (she is there to eat, too!). She baked these delicious chocolate/cream cheese muffins to take tomorrow and is leaving some for US to have at home. Guess which one she made for me??

The one in the middle, of course. Emily really puts her heart in her food preparation!

~Joan

Finished White Star Quilt Top ~ All Thimbleberries

Today was the first day of "triples" at Harris Teeter. My shopping sidekick, Susanna, got up at the crack, I say the crack of dawn, to accompany me. It was 18 degrees when we passed the bank thermometer. Knowing that made us colder. But we got some hot deals, so we felt better.

During the rest of the day, I was able to finish up this quilt top while riding herd on my students. I have heard this pattern called a lot of names, but the most popular is White Stars. In my previous posts, I called it Stardust Quilt (in case you want to look back). It is all scraps of Thimbleberries fabrics, with the same cream for all the stars. It measures about 70" x 76". I would love to hand quilt it, but the progress on those is so painstakingly s-l-o-w. It will be folded and stored for the immediate future. At least the piecing is finished.

I will do more hand sewing and quilting while waiting to grade or assist with school. I'm just home so little (or so it seems...or would that be sew it seams).

Susanna is getting her tonsils (and possibly adenoids) out in a few weeks, so there are pre- and post-op visits for that as well as everyday life.

My DH and I are going out for supper tonight. Emily put on a pot of beef veggie stew earlier today that smells (and tastes--oops) terrific. Great comfort food for this cold weather we are having.

Hope you are getting a few stitches in today.

~Joan

Another Mosaic

I finished sewing and pressing the block units together this AM for six more blocks. Here is a potential layout of the blocks I have finished. I like to use slightly darker and lighter scraps to give the piece some movement. At this point I start being a bit more selective in my fabric choices to make sure I don't have too many darks or lights.

~Joan

Snow Day Tomorrow??

That's a home school joke--we don't have "snow days" here at Shiloh Academy. This picture was taken just a few minutes ago, about 9:45 PM here. Those white things are snowflakes falling towards my camera. The big white dot at 10 o'clock in the picture is the moon. Real snow, right here in NC. Who would have thought?

~Joan

Quilts Are A Many Splendored Thing

This is my newest piecing project. The pattern is called Another Mosaic. It's from a scrap quilting book. I think it is called Save The Scraps. These blocks go together so much easier than they look.

The blocks finish at 8-1/2" square. I am using up a lot of scraps in this. Many wonderful ladies sent me small pieces to use in my ongoing Seeds of Kindness quilt. I am using up the leftovers on this new project, Another Mosaic.

Meanwhile, my hand-quilted Christmas quilt from 2008 is nearly finished. I just have to do about halfway across the green divider at the top and all the way across at the bottom.

Until later,
~Joan

Ingles Trip Update

Here's the lowdown on my recent trip. What we kept (baking powder, tomato sauce, grape jelly, brownie mixes, noodles, pasta, powdered creamers, Chex mix, Ziploc bags, and Puffs tissues) cost me $24. I was paid $73 for the rest of the items, which I sold to a local salvage store. So I profitted $49 from the trip. Definitely worth the time, don't you think?

Another great grocery shopping day today. I don't know if I can ever go back to my old way of shopping again.

~Joan