...and The Rain, Rain, Rain, Came Down, Down, Down

We had torrential rain storms all night with a lightning show like I've never seen. I went out back at 6 AM to see what was causing a loud noise. The creek at the back of our property had overflowed its banks and was about ten feet from our basement wall. Our upstream neighbor's shed had floated off its foundation and was now in our backyard. Three of the fence sections between our houses were broken off and on the far edge of our yard now. We also have most of the yard debris from the upstream neighbors' yards collected against our fence.

I was praying hard for the rain to stop and the waters to recede. Thank God they did. God's power is awesome. We had a little damage to the house because of a leak in the roof of our back porch, but the worse of it is the yard mess. Thank God for protecting us. I tried to get pictures, but it was so dark that they did not turn out.

Who is This Man?

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's...my daughter's boyfriend!! A couple of you have asked for a picture of our reason for the Florida trip, my daughter's reason for the same trip a couple days later, and the man who flew up to visit with us this past week. Yes--he was also the reason I got up at 3 AM on Monday. But...he's worth it.

~Joan

Making a Hand Quilting Stencil

I was doing some more hand quilting on this little runner and realized it would be neat to use the shape of the six-pointed star in the center of the "rings" and in the edges. It was easy to make a stencil template to trace around. I got a plastic file folder and set it on the block, then traced with a Sharpie marker. I put it where I wanted on the quilt to see how it would fit. I cut it out with scissors inside the marker lines. Perfect! and FREE!! The perfect price.

I just realized that on the next picture, I would need to rotate the shape a little to get it to form the diamond where the pieced star falls.

~Joan

Third Post Today

I cut and sewed up a few more scraps from my sister. Here is my NPOP so far...

~Joan

Patriotic Baby Quilt Finished

The quilt is in the dryer, and Lord willing, will be delivered on Wednesday night. I have really enjoyed making and giving baby quilts.

Upward and onward...

~Joan

Not Enough Hours in the Day

There has been so much going on around our house. Too much to even tell about, so I'll recap the last few weeks...

After getting back from my parents' house, my husband, our two youngest children and I went to Florida for a week. A couple days after we arrived home, four of our children arrived home from PA with a mountain of dirty laundry. (my nose wrinkles just thinking about it). Then two of my girls drove back to where we had been in Florida to visit the same family we had just left! They stayed for a week. While they were gone, I frantically painted our shutters, doors, and house and stained our deck in preparation for Steve arriving (I don't think he was looking at the house!). My husband helped me one day. That. is. monumental. Here he is in action...in the last picture you can see where the deck is stained and where it is bare wood.

The day after the girls arrived home, the young man (Steve) they went down to visit flew up here to stay for a few days. He left for 24 hours during the visit to see a friend graduate from Marine Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA. While he was gone we kept some children overnight whose grandmother is in the hospital and needs 24 hour a day help. Steve arrived back here (yippee), and we continued visiting with him. By the time he left, he was officially courting our second oldest daughter. Smiles all around. He missed his flight Sunday night, so I got up at three on Monday AM to get him to the airport. Airports are very eerie at that time of the AM. My oldest daughter arrived home Monday night after being in CO for six weeks. Today we just regrouped. The end. For now.

I just listed two quilts on eBay. Here they are. Click the button for auctions to the left if you want to bid on them.

In a few days, I'll have two daughters commuting to college, both working as many hours a week as they can, we will start our home school year on Monday, and Steve wants to fly up every weekend. Pray for me!! I'm in overload, and the button to reset my stress level just flew off.


~Joan