An Apple A Day...

Above is an up-to-the-minute picture of my Seeds of Kindness quilt. I've sewn on it in the last few days. Plus, I've finished cutting out all my donation pieces. In case you just started reading my blog...this is an apple core charm quilt. I threw all dignity aside some time ago and begged for scraps from others. Not just any scraps. I am a scrap snob for this quilt. Only Thimbleberries (new or vintage) will do.

If you click on "seeds of kindness" at the bottom of the post, Blogger will bring up all the posts on this project. It truly is growing. I remember way back when it was 4 lonely apple cores, and look at my baby now! Eighteen rows by 16 rows, and more to come! This is about 52" wide and a little shorter.

I think it's looking great. If you're afraid to make a scrap quilt, study this and others carefully. Notice that the extreme darks and lights are spread out over the quilt? That keeps you from looking at the dark (or light) blob and wondering why they are so attention-getting. I even have a few huge florals, but they don't call attention to themselves because they are far away from their friends!

Donations are still welcome. Your scrap needs to be at least 4" x 5". Email me for details!

The farthest right column is not sewn all the way down. It's a little less than halfway.

~Joan

Order of The Day

The order of the day? First I walk uphill (this hill is Mt. Everest in my mind...it's not far into my walking route). It's not that big of a grade. For a woman like me who is physically phphphphphittttttt (read that "fit"), this is a mountain. I am so glad to say that even though this is only the 3rd day in a row that I've gotten up early and walked, it was a little easier than the past two days, which were agonizing torture. That was one my excuses in the past..."I can't exercise...it's too hard." Hopefully it will get easier as I shed some pounds and get used to the routine. Then at the end, I join my lovely walking partner of the AM (in this case, Rachel), and gently stroll down to our house, only to repeat the circle one more time.

If you look closely, you will see "for sale" signs in 3 of the yards, one on the left and two on the right. Signs of our times for sure. I thank God daily for food and raiment (that's KJV). A house is just a bonus, but I surely am grateful for that, too.

I did my best not to exceed the speed limit!
And last, but certainly not LEAST, is my Bible-reading time. I read while I'm cooling down from the walk before I shower and wash my hair. I'm reading in Deuteronomy. Those children of Israel just didn't get it, but God made it very clear...follow His way and be blessed, or go your own way and be cursed. It was as plain as the nose on your face. But I am the same way. I do something that is not "just right" and think it won't matter. Then I cry and lament when I have troubles. Could some of those troubles be brought on by my own wrongdoings? Preachin' to the choir here. Hmmm...definitely food for thought.
I can hardly believe that I've gotten up early (that might be the most shocking of all), walked (also shocking) and read my Bible first thing in the AM for 3 days in the road. This is not of my own strength. Any glory for this should go to God. I am not a naturally disciplined person.

We've been trying to involve our children in more family activities. Left to themselves, they'd be watching movies (albeit, approved-by-us movies) and playing computer games on Friday nights. When I saw the 100-degree-reading thermometer yesterday, I had a brainstorm (you probably thought that was heat lightning!). Susanna made our homemade pizza for Friday night as usual. I suggested we eat in the basement. Our former kitchen table (bless its sad little existence) is now in my sewing room. I called while I was still out doing errands and had a couple of the boys clear off the table and put the 3 leaves in, once again making it a table that can seat ten. We gathered up chairs and ate down there. It felt 15 degrees cooler than upstairs. Then the fun really began...

We all played Bible Pictionary. Ever drawn an ambush? or a leek? or Gideon? It was fun (at least *I* thought so).

I had to stay up until 10 to pick up my son when he finished work. That was a challenge since we've been getting up at 5:30. So I sewed a few units of my Scrappy Stars quilt together to occupy my time. Only a few units as I was drawn into a Dutch Blitz card game in the meantime.

Today I hope to clean up my sewing area. Too many odd units floating around down there. I want to find a jumper pattern that my oldests daughter wants to use this coming week. It just might be buried under a pile of scraps.

~Joan

Triple Digits!!

Yes--that's right. One HUNDRED degrees this AM. That's for those of you who were jealous earlier this year because my spring bulbs were blooming (while you were staying indoors because you didn't want to get out in the snow!). It has been unseasonably hot here the past few days. I was still surprised to see the thermometer readout go from 98 to 99 than 100 degrees in just a few minutes. It was 75 degrees when I was outside walking this AM at 5:45!

Stay cool--
~Joan

New Day...New Way!

I know it's more interesting to read a post with a great picture. The above is a quilt top I made for my oldest son. I hope to quilt it soon. I saw one similar to it on the Internet somewhere and kept the photo as a guideline. The center is made of Jacob's Ladders blocks. I like the small inner border followed by the Tri-Recs ruler triangles going around. It's queen-bed sized.

But that's not the big news for today (that's the news from months ago...maybe a year). I was just looking for a good picture. I searched online for a cartoon or pic to depict my AM, but I couldn't find one.

For the past week or so, my WH has exercised with my 4 boys. They walk, run, walk (or is it run, walk, run?) then do calisthenic-type exercises. My oldest daughter walks with a friend who lives a few streets over. My 2nd oldest daughter does a DVD workout video. They get up at 5:30 to do this. I, on the other hand, would be annoyed that my sleep had been disturbed. Even after going back to sleep (which would sometimes take 30 minutes or so), I would wake up grumpy because I could only sleep a little while, amidst door bangings, etc. Just keepin' it real.

Last night I realized how out-of-shape I am (again). I can't do much at all before I'm huffin' and puffin'. But this time, I decided to do something about it. I decided that this AM, instead of stumbling, bleary-eyed to the bathroom and then the computer chair, I would get dressed and walk a mile, then have my Bible-reading time, and then check the blogs I read, etc. That gave me time to cool off before I showered and washed my hair. I figured I'd be motivated to do the first things first if I had the reward of blog reading at the end. I really look forward to that...several times a day (in other words, too much--I'm cutting it back to once a day, in the AMs). The truly shocking thing is that that is exactly what I did. And I'm so happy about it that I wanted YOU to know.

Have a great day!

~Joan

A Little More Sewing...Very Little

Above is a runner I finished yesterday. Susanna wanted to make some runners (just tops--add your own quilting). She had made the blocks. I added the sashing and outer border just because I could.

It turned out cute, don't you think? It's on eBay now.

My oldest son got his wisdom teeth out this past week. All the little things in life take up some time, don't they? He is doing well. Very smooth recovery.

Hope you take time today to enjoy some of the little things.

~Joan

What's for Supper? Crow!!

I debated about whether to post this. I would not offend our friends for the world. This is such a funny story, that I just had to share it. I don't think our friends even have internet access at their house, or know I have a blog.

It had already been a weird day. I had only been home from the boys' violin lessons a short time. Our whole day was already "off". Several of the ten of us did not eat "lunch" until 4:30 or 5:00 PM. We usually have supper (the evening meal) around 6 or so.

My Susanna wanted to cut and start piecing a table runner to sell to earn a few extra dollars. She only wanted to work on it with me present. You know how little I've sewn in the past few months. We were down in the basement sewing room together. I had just sent a messenger around to tell the children we'd be having must-go for supper. You know, you look in the frig and say "this must-go" and "that must-go". Then I had a little messenger of my own and realized what I'd be having--CROW!One of my sons yelled down the steps, "The _____s are here! They just pulled in the driveway!" In the next fraction of a second, I vaguely recall my WH telling me this past Sunday that this couple was coming over for supper...TONIGHT! Very vaguely. Like I could fit it into my memory, but barely remember the actual occurrence. My next concrete thought was "What will I serve them for supper?" My third was "Where can I hide for the next several hours?" Milliseconds later, Mr. ______ walks into my sewing room, eliciting an "Oh, hi!" from me.

While the little ones ran interference by visiting with the company in the living room, Emily and I quickly whipped up what I thought was a decent meal--Chicken Tetrazzini (we had planned to let everyone heat up individual servings as must-go, but instead heated up the whole thing and transferred it to a clean serving dish), green beans, freshly made whole wheat bread that Emily happened to make late this afternoon (we grind the flour ourselves), tossed salad with cucumbers and broccoli, and th-th-th-that's all, folks! As we are sitting down, Mr. ______ says, "We'll just have water. I forgot to tell my wife we were coming, and we ate before we came!" I didn't want to add to his embarrassment, so we all just sat down as if we hadn't eaten half an hour before. We were all smiling very large smiles. I think they thought we were just really cheerful (and not very hungry, as we all took miniscule portions).

A funny but true story!

~Joan

Flags Aflutter, Again

Above is one of my Flags Aflutter little quilt tops. This would be darling on a wall or table. The pattern was intended for place mats. I have two up for auction on eBay separately right now. I actually sewed them myself yesterday. I had already affixed the Battenburg doilies to the red triangle units. Sewing didn't take long, and that is a good thing as I had very little. On the pattern, they used white buttons to make a star shape in the blue Union area of the flag.

This past weekend we hosted a family of 11 for a few days. Let that sink in for a moment. We have TEN in our family at home. We do not live in a mansion. I only met the family once 13 months ago for about 10 minutes in person. I never had personal contact with them before that.

The only time we talked on the phone (the mother and I) was when they were on their way here from Wisconsin (as in, too late to change my mind!). We live in North Carolina. By now some, if not most, of you are wondering "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? We knew they were a family of very similar values and practices. We share the same faith and ideas. That much we knew.

We hated to see them go when they left Sunday afternoon.

We were kindred spirits with them at once. My WH (he's one step up from a DH) and the father have been emailing occasionally during the past year (only a handful of times) about church-related matters. The mom and I were instant Anne-and-Dianna-type (from Anne of Green Gables) kindred spirits. The fellowship our families would share was evident from the second they pulled into the driveway. All of their children (age 20 down to 5) were so well behaved and HELPFUL. It was not a hardship at all to have them here. The good news is that they are moving to our area (happy dance!).

There were numerous times when I would make a comment and one of their children would say, "My mother says the EXACT same thing!" Even they were shocked at how much alike we are.

The older children brought their instruments. One evening we played our little 2-family orchestra of 3 trumpets, 2 violins, 1 viola, 2 flutes, 1 recorder, 1 cello, 1 lap harp and piano. We enjoyed singing to the Lord and reading His Word together in the evenings.

Meals were so enjoyable. I had planned the menu out ahead of time naturally. All the older children (teens and up) helped clear the table, wipe it, sweep the floor, load the dishwasher, wash the too-large pans by hand, etc. after each meal. It was a breeze.

Their older sons and mine fixed a few items that have been on the to-do list for far too long. That in itself was an incredible blessing.

We also had several volleyball games involving young and old (that would be me), short and tall, and those of all skill levels.

I am looking forward to a long and deep friendship with these folks, face-to-face!! I have a picture of our 17 children together. I was going to post it, but I want to preserve the anonymity of the other family. Let me just say that the picture is a wonder to behold!

~Joan