No Worries

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything!!  Master of the obvious, I am. LOL  Lots of things going on...Most of it worrisome, at least in my mind!  Truth is, I don't have all that many problems!!
I'll explain more about that in a minute, though...

I've never considered myself much of a worrier.  I'm mostly an eternal optimist, much to the dismay of most of my friends.  "You are the happiest person we've ever known!" people tell me.  So what's got my panties in a wad for the last couple of months?

One...
I worry about not getting much done!!  Last you heard I was struggling to finish projects for classes I was scheduled to teach in January.  My great friend Jennifer, up from Florida to teach also (and nursemaid me!), stayed up with me into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row, including the night before I taught Sam's Boxer Rebellion.  I didn't get the top completely finished, but I did get the center together.  Crisis averted. Sorta. :-D
The original pattern is "Dizzy Geese" by Joan K. Streck in the book Quick Quilts from Your Scrap Bag.  I haven't decided how to finish it yet, although the original pattern has a fabulous flying geese border.  I worry that it'll be another UFO. :-P

Likewise, another class had an unfinished sample.  My Contrary Wife in Kansas quilt didn't get completed, but there was enough to demonstrate how it goes together to the class.

Two...
I worry about my new business.  I made a major decision a few months after Sam passed away.  They say you should wait a year after a tragedy to make any big changes, but I needed to find a way to do what matters most...bless people! And Mary Kay has given me a platform to do just that.   And I'm loving my new business!!

And I want to do well, as much to honor Sam's memory as to make extra money for my family.  I'm working for some major goals...one of which is a top sales position which would garner me a diamond ring (2.45 carats) and (what I really want:) the opportunity to make a speech to 15,000 women at our annual Seminar!!  (If you don't have a consultant, feel free to follow the link to order products online!)  I'd get to talk about what inspired me; I'd get to talk about Sam! 

It's sometimes hard to be focused, though, when there are other things I want to do.  I was doing some Farmer's Wife blocks at a hotel a couple of weeks ago while Jeff attended meetings.  My poor old sewing machine had been neglected.  Luckily Mary Kay came to the rescue when I didn't have a machine brush handy!! LOL

Three...
I worry about talking about Sam too much.  I told a friend a few days ago that some days missing him is a palpable ache with many tears.  Other days I can laugh and miss him with great joy.  But I worry that his name comes too easily to me.   I worry that I'll bore you and other friends to tears with it.  I've been so excited by the precious gift my friend Pat-from-upstate-New-York arranged for me....the fabulous Judi at Green Fairy Quilts will be quilting Sam's Darlin' Hearts!!!  But I've hated to mention it because this is a blog about quilting, and not about grief or Sam.  He is part of the fabric of my life, so it's OK to share, but I worry that I overdo it.

But it's time for some perspective on my worries!!

"Therefore, I tell you," Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, "do not worry about your life..." (v. 25)  The Apostle Peter admonished, "Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you." (I Peter 5:7) 

And given that tornadoes destroyed some 65 homes and injured 200 or more people this past weekend (including a dear friend's daughter who lost part of her leg) just a couple of miles from my home (and our porch furniture didn't even move! We had NO damage!! Thank the Lord!), my worries seem very small indeed.

What worries you?  Did you know the word "anxieties" in the passage from I Peter can also be interpreted as "divisions"?  It indicates a heart divided...whose focus is on worries or self instead of wholly centered on God. 

So I'm puttin' ol' Bobby McFerrin on in the soundtrack of my mind.  "Don't worry, be happy!"  God is too good and life is too short to worry too much!!

Blessings!!





P.S. A hearty big ol' "Thank you!!" to all you who wrote, worried about me!!!  Your concern and good words were such a blessing!!!  I hope to get back into the swing of things.  :-D  I've missed you all  greatly!

Kilt

I wish I could say I was getting in touch with my Scots/Irish/English heritage with a title like that, but of course, in eastern KY, being "kilt" has an entirely different meaning!

I allowed myself yesterday, January 1st, to continue my completely self-absorbed devil-may-care descent into hog-heaven.  For those of you who don't know, hog heaven is that blissful place where you do what you want, when you want, for as long as you want....

My hog heaven?  Movies (Lord of the Rings trilogy!!), Facebook, Words with Friends, gallons of ice-cold Pepsi, cheddar jalapeno crunchy Cheetos and these seasonal favorites:  Snyder's of Hanover's White Chocolate covered Pretzel Dips.....Bliss in a salty/sweet combo that melts in your mouth.  Yummy goodness that is highly addictive! Sigh.

And today, of course, the New Year really began for all us self-improvement, get the heck-outta-hog-heaven individuals.

So off to Step Aerobics this morning.  My first foray there in over 3 months, and I haven't been regular since back when Jeff came home from Afghanistan in May!!  So, yeah!  Might be time.

Surprisingly, I've only gained about 5 lbs (and 3 or more of that has been holiday eating!!  But I'm sure it had nothing to do with the pretzels!!!! :-D)

Working through the routine today was difficult.  Manageable, but difficult! :-)  I had too much pride to go back down a level on the step, or to use less than the 8 lb weights I was using when I was a regular worker-outer.  So, tonight, as soreness settles in, I am well and truly kilt!!!

 I'm sure my dilemma would seem less serious if I could drink an ice-cold Pepsi, but I'm off those, too -- AGAIN.  It's only about the 103rd time I've quit them.  But I really mean it this time!! LOL 

Otherwise, it's been a good second day of the new year.  I started my "Boxer Rebellion" quilt with Sam's boxers! :-D  What a hoot!! The "Dizzy Geese" pattern is one I've wanted to do for a long time, and Sam's plaids (kinda makes you think of kilts, too, huh!? :-D) are gonna be just perfect!

I've got this and another quilt top to finish in time for classes I'm teaching in a couple of weeks!!  My "Contrary Wife in Kansas" quilt uses two traditional blocks, and I'm waffling over the fabrics I wanna use.  Need to have both these quilt tops done by January 18th!

This deadline is why I've not "joined up" with Judy's UFO Challenge for 2012!  I will get there! It's just gonna be February.  So, no time for wallowing in Hog Heaven! No time to be well and truly kilt!

Paul wrote to the Philippians,

 ^"Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (Philippians 3:17-21 NIV)

"...their god is their stomach...
our citizenship is in heaven..."

I'm pretty sure Paul didn't mean Hog Heaven.
Here's hoping that step aerobics, better eating habits and the Lord Jesus Christ will "transform our lowly bodies!"

Blessings,

Tribute

You can tell by my few blog posts in the last several month that I've not quilted a whole lot. Farmer's Wife blocks for a class I was teaching, memorial quilts that I'd contracted before Sam passed away, the club mystery quilt...That's about it! :-(   Very unusual for someone who usually quilted every single day!!  My friend Jennifer says it's 'cause when I'm sewing at home, I'm usually alone, and too much alone time was resulting in too many tears. True enough, I suppose.

The gals at the local quilt shop talked me into doing Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery.  I got them into Roll, Roll Cotton Boll last year, so turn about was fair play.  Just rifling through fabric and cutting fabric and sitting with them each Friday to work on it together -- all these seem to have brought some of my quilting joy back!!  And after completing a particularly difficult (for me) memorial quilt for a friend, I tied into Sam's Darlin' Hearts!  And today, I finished the quilt top.

And I'm just in awe.

Not of my work. Far from it.

I'm in awe all over again of the beauty of friendships and heartfelt sympathy and prayers and love that was given to me in the weeks following Sam's death. Who could believe people are so kind! And to me!! As I've looked over the blocks, many are from "close" quilting blog friends. And just as many are from people whose blog paths I've never crossed, or if I have, it was a periferal thing. And yet they cared enough to make a block (or two, or FOUR!) and send them to me in the most difficult days of my life!!

There are no words to properly thank you!! I tried to send cards (I saved every card, envelope and note! :-D), but my tears smeared the ink.   Maybe this small recognition will let you know how grateful I am.  Each name is a link to their blog (if they have one and I know it :-D ) Check them out! They are all amazing!

Row 1

Sharon, Miki, Jacque (1 block of 2 she made!), Stephanie (1 of 2 she made! and I think that's the right blog!) and Ann...

Row 2

Selma Jean, Rhonda (the first block I received!), Cassey, and Rebecca...

Row 3

Debbie (the strawberry fabric was a definite clue! :-D), Sarah, and Teresa...

Row 4

Mary, Crispy (this is the one that sparked the quilt name --  because it made me cry like Charlene Darling on Andy Griffith! :-D), Barb (the sparrow story is amazing!), and Janet...

Row 5

Diane (my Hands 2 Help quilt-for-Romania exchange partner through Sarah's blog), Ann (1 of 4 blocks!!), and LuAnn (who also checked on me through Jeff's deployment! Thank you!!)...

Row 6

Sue (1 of 2 blocks!), Jacque, Ann, and Stephanie...

Row 7

Ann, and Sue, and Cindy Lou :-)...

Row 8

Beth, Tonya,  Paulette, and Staci (this is the only one I'm not sure of...and isn't that a hoot, Stace, since your blog is The Confused Quilter! :-D)...  Correction! :-) The last one on this row is Kate's (Kathleen, below)!! So. is the blue pieced one Staci's!?!?  LOL  Let me know, if you know!)

And Row 9

Kathy,  Ann, Robbie, Kathleen, and Karen.

Many of the blocks came from quilters who participated in Sarah's Hands 2 Help challenge.  Such generous gals!! Thank you so much!

I think the quilt top is just stunning!! I have a couple of quilters in mind to complete it, and then it's snuggle time. :-)

This is the first of three pieced quilts I'll make in Sam's memory -- I'll be piecing one with his boxers :-D (there are 24 pair of them!! :-D) in the next couple of weeks, and I have a bunch of blue fat quarters that my quilt club gave me to use in another. 

I received a quilt from Mary at Quilt Hollow, and it's already a favorite. She won the quilt top, then quilted it and sent it to me to bind.  What a blessing!!

And then I have his t-shirts and other memorabilia to place in quilts for Emily and Will. Sweet!!

Philippians 1:3-8 expresses some of what I feel for you all. :-)  I like the Message translation...

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

 It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!

Thank you for being God's grace to me.  Thank you for giving from the heart.  Thank you for, as was said of Sam, loving "without filters."  Thank you for being a part of my finding my quilt joy again!  May you be blessed  a hundred fold!!

Blessings,

Angels, Blessings and Christmas

It's hard to believe that another Christmas is here...another year we've been blessed to celebrate the birth of Christ, the gift of Hope to the world, the promise of abundant life to all who receive Him.

I find myself drawn to the story of God made flesh -- even though it is old and familiar, this year it seems amazing to me again in a way I hadn't experienced in a while.  Perhaps because I'm remembering the birth of my own children.

We've been singing a song at church this month by Chris Tomlin called Hallowed Manger Ground.  The last verse begins, "The Son of God, here born to bleed, a crown of thorns would pierce His brow..."  And I wonder that He came at all, knowing all that was in store for Him.

And I'm struck that another son -- my Sam -- was also known by God, and sent by Him, and all that has transpired this year with his homegoing and our loss....none of it was a surprise to God, and He is still working a plan, the fruit of which I have yet to see.  Hard to fathom! Hard to understand. Hard to take, sometimes. :-) And yet, as Mary must have understood, we have to trust God.

 

I guess I've cried just about every day.  But blessings abound.  Some new angels on the  mantle...

"Remember" from a friend at church. So appropriate, so perfect.   Just to the left of Remember is the "Angel of Summer" that Mary at Quilt Hollow sent me last Christmas because Jeff was deployed and she knew there'd not be much under the tree for me. :-)  What good friends!!

Another dear friend gave me "Heart of Gold," also a Willow Tree figurine...  just the perfect representation of our Sam.

Sam's Boot Camp friends gave us ornaments from a race he ran last winter called the "Jingle Bell Run." :-D  Last year's race photo becomes the current year's trophy ornament...and the Boot Campers checked out the engraving, contacted the company and added Sam's name to it for them and for us to have as keepsakes.  Awesome! :-)

Sam is number 110--'bout fourth in the start, and he looks cold, but not as cold as those guys without shirts! LOL

So many changes this year.  I look back over all that I've written here in the last several months...It feels like eons ago.  It feels like yesterday!!  I'm in awe at what God has done and is doing. 

Ephesians 3:14-21 (The Message)

^14-19My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
^20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!  

Just like the angels sang to the shepherds on that first Christmas morn!
"Glory to God in the Highest!"

May every blessing of Christmas be yours today and in the New Year!

Timing

We had a very large package arrive on our doorstep a few days ago.  One I'm not too excited about...

The freight guy wasn't thrilled either.  This thing was over 300 pounds!! So it wasn't going any further than the front porch 'til Jeff got home!  After a brief chat about politics (he was a conservative like me, so we were able to groan about the state of the union together! LOL), Delivery Guy skedaddled and left me with this monstrosity.

Jeff has high hopes for it.
He spent the better part of the evening assembling it...

I'm still not impressed.

It's in the basement.  How can I convert the basement into a Quilt Cave (like Teresa's over at Fabric Therapy) with this THING in the way!?!

He expects I'll use it.  Maybe.  If I can figure out how to unfold it!! Goans!!
This is normal me (see, I don't have on my Mary Kay face yet! And don't mind the facial hair!  LOL).


This is me contemplating the use of a treadmill.

Definite groans!!

I seriously don't know why Santa has covered his face.  Maybe because he doesn't have one!! I don't really like embroidery, so this is one block of a wall hanging I may never get done!  It's a beautiful pattern, but I'd rather applique than embroider.

I probably will use the treadmill, eventually.  But not right now!!  I have mysteries to solve!!

I've been working on Orca Bay, Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.

Amidst the chaos of my sewing room is this pile of my progress...

I've almost finished the blue strings, and I'm still working on black/neutral quarter and half-square triangles. 

In the meantime, I've also got Farmer's Wife blocks to finish (my class is finishing up the last of the 111 blocks this month!), a memory quilt to finish for a client in time for Christmas (oh the pressure!), a Mary Kay open house and several parties to complete...

And all I wanna do is play in this....

Not a real snow yet.
But it could be.
It will be.
Soon, I hope!! :-)

Timing is everything.  A white Christmas in Kentucky!?  Maybe.

God knows all about timing.  In the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul talks about the coming of Jesus.

"But when the time had fully come," Galatians 4:4 tells us, "God sent his Son..."

I've no doubt the snows will come to Kentucky.  They've been here before, and I've relished their beauty and the joy they've brought.

Just like God's grace.  I've seen it and felt it, experienced it daily.  His timing is always perfect!

And when the snows come, I just might give that old treadmill a try!

Blessings!

Never Alone

I'm finding it hard this just-turned Thanksgiving morning to find words...

This is our first without Sam, and it surely feels like something vital is missing...laughter, noise, and that greatest of all holiday accessories, the teenage-boy-eating-machine!!  :-)  I've dreaded the holidays this year, knowing these "firsts" will be difficult. Funny...we anticipate with such impatience the firsts of life's beginning. First teeth, first steps, first words.  Not so much those firsts of life's end.

I spent some time earlier this evening looking at photos from last Thanksgiving...

We traveled to Mississippi with "adopted" family -- ties forged between children and mothers who share adventures and hobbies, and time and treasures. What a blessed, sweet time we had together! 

And I find myself thankful for friends and family and times that can never be recaptured but can always be remembered. 

And thankful for here and now...

And all that is to come.

As I shed a few tears tonight, a Word came to me from Joshua...

The book of Joshua in the Old Testament begins, "After the death of Moses..." and God gives a charge to Joshua as he is to be the leader of Israel.  "Be strong and courageous" God tells him, three different times!

The final time He says, "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  (Joshua 1: 9 NIV)

Perhaps I can find words, after all.

Thank You, Lord, for so many blessings.  Beautiful children that You entrused to me and Jeff, one who has already accomplished all You purposed for him and who is with You now!, a wonderful home, memories that are not only precious to this momma's heart, but include testimony of Your goodness and mercy and what You can do with a life given to You.

And thank You for Your Presence and Your promises to never leave nor forsake.  How well I know You keep Your word!!

May God richly bless YOU this Thanksgiving!!

Blessings,

Following

I have always enjoyed Bonnie Hunter's pics.  You know the ones...taken from her car as she travels along.  Sunrises, sunsets, trees, highways, byways... It's a fascinating look at her perspective in life, a snapshot of adventures we are all taking with her as we quilt!!

I was traveling home after spending Thursday, Friday and Saturday with my "posse" of Mountain Laurel Quilters at our fall retreat, and I had to pull out my camera and snap what was in front of my minivan!

Let me get a little closer so you can see...

Uh-huh.
Bonnie gets vistas; I get...
Well!  LOL

That would be the worst of my retreat this past weekend! :-D  I got some much needed quilt therapy, working on some projects that have been lanquishing far too long (kinda like my blog!!)!




I finally got the alternate blocks pieced for Sam's Darlin' Hearts! I was able to put them up on the design wall when I got home.  My wall is not quite big enough to hold all the blocks (and it's behind my sewing table, so I have to get an angle shot to capture the bottom. :-D)...but they are simply gorgeous.






I also pieced blocks for the Shiners View quilt that I found through Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict blog.  I love how the big prints play in this design!!

I "leader-ed and ender-ed" 1 1/2" squares for my Crabapples (one of Bonnie Hunter's
:-D), and just for funsies, also worked a little on a Tumbler quilt for which I've had a kit for at least a couple of years.  These 5+" blocks make for easy piecing!! And wonderful scrappy, dark fabrics -- my usual pallette, unlike the other blocks I worked on during the weekend!

It's the most time I've spent on quilting since Sam passed away.  It was much needed therapy!!  Being around other quilters is always good for the soul!

And following a donkey all the way home was a reminder....

I need to be sure I'm following the right people!!
I don't mean the rich or famous, or government leaders, or ambitious or even influential people, or even people exactly like me...

But people who are positive.  People I want to emulate because they are excellent quilters, excellent designers, excellent people.  People who have HEART!!

Paul writes, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV).  Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:27-28 NIV). 

I pray I'll be someone who always follows the right Person -- so that if others find themselves behind me, they won't be jerking out their camera to capture a jackass in all her glory!! :-D

Blessings!