Let the quilting begin.......

February BOM (Capricorn Quilts)



Two projects completed, I'm so excited! I love doing the hand stitching on the Block of the Month project. I've seen some gorgeous patterns out there that I am looking forward to starting soon.
Like the ones Natalie has at Cinderberry Stitches. She even has a list of places you can order those gorgeous patterns listed on her sidebar! Yikes, and I have a birthday coming up!! Yahoo!
Auntie's Quaint Quilts also has patterns she has posted from her recent trip at a quilting convention.
This is the quilt I've been working on for my daughter. We actually worked together on pinning the backing and batting together so it's ready to be quilted. I will be stippling and for some reason this makes me a little nervous. In my experience stippling is fun on a little project but a bit overwhelming on bigger quilts. I get tense and my back hurts! LOL! I'm thinking of random swirls, any suggestions??
It's snowy and cold here today, low twenties with high winds. Burrrrrrr!!

My Girls

Ladies Conference

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua 1:8

The past few weeks have been a bit stressful and I am so thankful I was able to attend the Ladies Conference at Milligan College, a local Christian College just a few minutes away from our home.
The speaker was Alicia Williamson Garcia!! Awesome speaker and woman of God! She truly has the hand of God on her life as she speaks to women all across the country! If you would like to read more about her you can check it out here at Women in Worship.
I'm telling you ladies, if Alicia is anywhere near the area where you can see her you simply must!! You will truly be blessed!
The theme was, Becoming A Woman of Worship.
I must share some of my notes from today.

Worship - Bow down; comes from the word worthship, meaning to ascribe to worthiness to give honor where honor is due.
Alicia's DESCRIPTION of WORSHIP - a response to truth, NOT a reaction to circumstances. This is truly an awesome statement! I needed this Word today!

To worship we must KNOW the WORD of GOD and the GOD of the WORD!! Read that again slooooowly now!

A reaction implies a negative outburst.
A response is an informed reply.

Prayer: Jesus, YOU are my firm foundation, I put my trust in your Holy Word.

What is righteousness? Loving what God loves, like He loves it, and hating what God hates, like He hates it.

God is TRUTH! Look these verses up and see the truth.

Isaiah 65:16 - God of truth
1 Samuel 15:29 - impossible for God to lie
James 1: 17-18 - every perfect gift is from above, and comes from the Father

Thank you Father for this special day. My heart was truly blessed as I continue to grow in your Word.
Amen

The Civil War Diary Quilt

The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will exalt Him.

Exodus 15:2




After reading so many blogs about this wonderful book I've decided to order it for myself. I surely don't need another project at the moment but I am very anxious to use this in our homeschooling to teach my daughter more about quilting history and the Civil War. We love history so this will be exciting! Thanks to all my quilting friends who have shared the progress of their blocks using this book. They are all so beautiful.
Take a look at Liberty Star Farm to see what I'm talking about, her blocks are fabulous!

God is go good and I would like to share that my dad is doing very well. He is still very weak but we are working on making sure he is eating well and the doctor suggested drinking Carnation Breakfast drink 2-3 times a day. He has lost a lot of weight and his blood pressure has been low so we are keeping a close eye on him. We have a doctor's appointment today at the blood doctor so we will be out and about today. He lost around 6-8 pints of blood during the emergency surgery and his platelets were very low so they are keeping an eye on this also. Praise God for His healing power, not only physical healing but emotional and spiritual!

Log Cabin Complete

This is the blue Log Cabin quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. I took it to my dad yesterday, a gift for him. I was working on it at his house while he was recouperating from heart surgery and he asked me if this one had his name on it? How could I say no? My bedroom is blue and I had planned on using it but I'd rather it be snuggled up with my dad for now.

We started our new unit for school and this is a picture of the book we are using. The reading is a bit harder than other books we've been using so it's taking a little longer to read the chapters. Since my daughter is a very good reader she is doing most of the reading.

We are home tonight and I must go and start dinner, looks like it will be chicken and dumplings tonight.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

I'm so looking forward to our Homeschool Mom's Meeting t0night. This is what I made! Looks so yummy!

LEMON POPPYSEED CAKE

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 1/2 c. Evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 T grated lemon rind
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c poppy seeds
4 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 deg. Grease a 10 inch bundt pan. Lightly beat two eggs. Add oil, evaporated milk, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon rind and beat well. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake about 35-45 minutes.
Lemon Glaze: Mix 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, 1 tsp. lemon extract, 2 tsp. grated lemon rind and 2-3 tablespoons water until a pourable glaze forms. Pour over cake while it finishes cooling.

Stitching and Waiting

Wishing all my blogging friends a Happy Valentine's Day a little late! This is a picture of a little wall hanging I made from scraps. I adore the Log Cabin block since this was the very first block I learned to make when my friend Becky introduced me to quilting many years ago.
Below the wall hanging is a beautiful walking stick hand made for me by my brother in law. He has recently taken up wood carving and is making some beautiful pieces of art. I will post some of his work soon. We enjoy camping and hiking when we camp so I will be using this a lot.





Upon returning to the doctor for my dad's checkup he was admitted to the hospital for a bit of surgery on the wound where the stints were placed during the initial surgery. The area wasn't healing properly and they thought it best to clean out the incision and place a wound vac on the area for a few weeks.
My sister, grandmother, and I spent most of the day waiting together in the hospital. I took the opportunity to gather my little bag with thread, scissors, needle, and my BOM pattern for February before heading out the door. I just can't sit very long and would pace the halls so I didn't complete the pattern but did get a good start. Hope to get it finished today.
Hopefully I can work on the quilt blocks for my daughters quilt today. Dad is coming home and I will be fixing dinner for him this evening so I have a good portion of the day to spend at home.Yeah! I look forward to stippling this little quilt before too long! I am adding one more row to make it bigger so I'm piecing a few scraps to make the blocks. Having so much fun piecing this little darling!
Well, I'm off to start a few loads of laundry today while I'm home.

Favorite Things

Today the rains came, and so did the ducks! My daughter was excited to see our neighbor's ducks in grandma's driveway, just next door. She wanted to go visit and I agreed.

As we made progress with homeschooling today I also made progress on my daughter's quilt. Here's a picture of some of the blocks as I've labeled them for easy assembly. I love the bright colors together. I can't wait to get all the blocks finished and start to arrange the blocks.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things today.

A winter wallhanging quilt made of flannel that I adore! Isn't he cute!

My lovable rag doll collection.

After being away from home for the past two weeks I have been very motivated to get some UFO's completed and did very well today. I finally finished the blue and white lap quilt I had posted in the hoop earlier on my blog. Adding the binding today and voila, it's finished! The feeling of accomplishment is very nice! I will post a picture soon.
We're off to the doctor today for dad's check-up.

Home Sweet Home

It's so nice to be home. My sister and I have been taking turns staying with my dad at his home, which is about a thirty minute drive for me. He is recovering from the heart surgery and can stay by himself for short periods at this point. Thanks to all my blogging friends who left such sweet comments and wishing him well, it means a lot.
My dad lives in the woods about thirty minutes from town and the view is beautiful from his deck. My sister lives next door and the sweet dog is named Lucy. She kept us company during our visits.

This is pictures of the gorgeous material I purchased. The pattern is so very easy that I cut out all the pieces on Sunday afternoon after church and began making the blocks. I found the pattern in a cute little fabric shop, "The Quilting Bee", in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee a few weeks ago and returned over the weekend to purchase the fabric. It is called, "Take Five", by The Teacher's Pet.

Miracles still happen!!

This has been quite a week. It has been an emotional roller coaster for sure. My sister called on Monday morning to let me know my dad was very sick and one of us needed to take him to the ER. Since my nephew was sick and she needed to be with him I said I'd go. Well, he was in so much pain she took him and I met them there. We were thinking it was his gallbladder since he'd been having pain all weekend in the same area I did when i had my gallbladder attacks. In the ER they discovered he was having a heart attack at that moment. Rushing him by Rescue Squad to another hospital that specializes in Cardiac Care we followed. They actually placed two stints in the right artery which was blocked completely. He was doing well afterwards and later in the day complications began to arise. We knew something was wrong when his blood pressure continued to fall drastically. After further tests they found that he was bleeding and ended up taking him to emergency surgery. Whew, were we scared! A few hours later the surgeon spoke with us and explained that they didn't know for sure where the bleeding was coming from and they didn't know if he would make it. Many prayers were being prayed for my dad during these long hours of uncertainty. I know the Lord had plans for my father to stay here with us! The bleeding stopped and slowly, very slowly, he has recovered and may come home from the hospital tomorrow. He is gaining his strength back and eagerly looking forward to going home. Please pray for my dad!
I will be staying with him and will not be blogging very much but I am so encouraged as I read some of the other blogs today and have decided not to quit. I will blog when I can.
I have started the BOM and do not have the website where the pattern is located. If Bren could get this to me I would appreciate it greatly. I can work on this while I am caring for him.