Celebrate LOVE

 We are big on celebrating birthdays

and FAMILY!!!

"Happy Birthday"

to my nephew.

Praising God for my family

and friends who

God has placed in our life!!

 

 Pure JOY!!

She makes my heart sing!

Family Reunion and hand quilting

 We attended a

Family reunion picnic over the weekend

on my mother's side of the family.

It was great to visit with

cousins, aunts, and uncles that I grew up

with. Everyone has their own children and grandchildren

now and we hardly see each other.

Just a few photos of the day

My uncle has beautiful chickens

 Just chillin after lunch

Quilting

Last week I took a few hours and pinned  together this quilt

I actually started stippling and decided to rip out the stitches and

hand stitch at the last minute. Stippling really stresses me out.....hand

stitching takes me longer but it's so relaxing. 

 

Pinwheel Sampler

  We are finally settling into school and our daily routine once again around our home. The weather is absolutely gorgeous with blue skies and warm days. 

Yes, the past two weeks I've gradually found my way into my little sewing room and wadded through the unfinished projects. 

First, I just had to make a cute little baby bib for a shower gift.

Next, I tackled the piecing for the blocks in the Pinwheel Sampler.

We've been enjoying the abundance of fresh fruit like peaches and blueberries!!

Making pies, jellies, and freezer jam....yummy!!

Enjoyed a little day trip on the Blueridge Parkway....beautiful scenery!! 

I'm back......finally

Wow, it sure has been a while since I've posted here. Our family has experienced sickness and the death of my grandmother and stepfather over the past few weeks.
My grandmother was 87 years old and ready to go home.
My stepfather was diagnosed with stage four pancriatic cancer the first of June. We were amazed how fast his health declined and finally God was gracious and took him home.
Amazing how fast the summer has flown by since we have been so busy with helping care for our family members. I have done absolutely no sewing since I haven't been home very much lately. Barely enough time to harvest our small garden of squash, green beans, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. I canned tomatoes yesterday and picked a few beans last night.
God has been with us and given us strength and grace the last few weeks. We have been able to show His love during this sad time.
I'm looking forward to spending more time at home and doing a bit of quilting soon.
Look forward to visiting your blog.

Cabinet Man

My husband is know as the "Cabinet Man" around here. Yes, he's a pretty awesome cabinet maker. He's very humble and never brags but I wanted to post a few pictures of the cabinets he's just finished on the last job. Gorgeous, don't you think?

 

Wonky Log Cabin

OK, so I am rested up and ready to begin a new week. The long weekend was truly needed! Yesterday I washed clothes, sewed between loads and just had a very relaxing day!
I'm so glad I was able to enjoy a day at home because this week looks pretty busy already as I look over my calendar.

My oldest daughter and I are taking a cake decorating class together. What fun we are having! So much laughing I think the teacher thinks we are a bit crazy! Last week she was so busy that I ended up making both cakes and 3 batches of icing for our class on Saturday! WHew, I was tired before we got there. We've both learned so much from the class and look forward to each Saturday.
I hope to post some pictures of our cakes soon. We had such a mess and were in such a hurry I forgot to take pictures during class.

Now, I want to share a wonderful tutorial with you! I came across the neatest blog, Quilt Dad, and love his tutorial on Wonky Log Cabin Blocks! I actually learned how to make these blocks a few months ago and have some blocks that are just waiting to be made into something useful. I think I love these blocks so much because they are so improvisational! OOOOHHHH, what a big word! Yeah, they are easy as pie! I really like working outside the lines, go against the grain, etc. That would be what makes these little cuties so fun! Take a look at his very visual step-by-step tutorial.

Enjoy Your Day!

Canning Queen

Fresh Peas from the garden. They are so sweet!

We have busy canning green beans this week. This is our first year to use
a pressure canner and it's been so much fun!
Just call me the "Canning Queen."
We canned twenty-one quarts just today!

We are looking forward to putting corn
in the freezer soon!

Congratulations to Jenna as she has just opened her
new Etsy shop! Take a look at her blog, Mustard Seeds.
Oh, her handmade items are so cute! Bags, dresses, and more.

Also, my friend Randi at i have to say...... has some gorgeous new fabric in her shop!
The bright colors are perfect for summer!
When things slow down a bit I would love to order
one of the beautiful quilt patterns!

Have a great weekend!

Summer Projects and Fun Giveaway

We are so busy during the school year that sometimes we neglect teaching our children the importance of homemaking skills. Often, our busy schedules dictate our lives, meals, chores, etc.

Slow down this summer and take time to teach some of these simple homemaking skills to your children. Take a look at this awesome FREE ebook from Future Christian Homemakers.
Includes lessons, devotions, and recipes for free!! The recipes for teaching little ones in the kitchen look yummy! I would love to incorporate this into our homechool meetings this fall.

Oh yeah.........Take a look at Vickie's giveaway over at Mid-Ohio Quilter!! What gorgeous gifts, Moda Charm packs, fat eighth bundle, and a cute little pin cushion.

Happy Birthday

My friend Randi over at i have to say...... is celebrating a birthday for her one year old Etsy shop, Fresh Squeezed! There is also a super giveaway you won't want to miss.
I hope you will take a look at her awesome blog with so much inspiration~ She has the most gorgeous selection of fabric, along with some great tutorials!

The past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind. We have been working furiously finishing up school, preparing for our camping trip, a couple of family surgeries, and so many little things going on around here. Whew, it's good to be home and think about how we will spend our summer. First, my sweet little home needs a good cleaning, the garden needs weeding, and laundry needs washing! So, that's what's on the agenda for today! I'm off to get my home in order.

Holiday endings, New Beginnings

The past few days we have been busy taking down the Christmas decorations and packing it all away. We actually enjoyed getting our house back as it's usually a little crowded with the tree and Christmas decorations. The girls love having the tree in front of the picture window instead of in the corner of the living room so we give in and live with the furniture crowded for a few weeks to please them.
Above I have posted a few pictures from our Christmas pictures.
From top to bottom: My girls with cousins, hubby Christmas morning, my sis and mom with one of her wonderful baked delights, Christmas gifts: my sweet little Electrolux vacuum, new tea pot from my MIL which I love!

We did have a wonderful Christmas and as always I'm excited to begin a new year! Each year I ponder the journey of the previous year and my goals and anticipation for the new year ahead.
I love to write out my list of blessings from the previous year and the goals for the coming year.
God has been so good to us this past year and I'm so thankful for his love, mercy, protection, and blessings during 2008!!

One of the things I have done is claim a VERSE FOR THE YEAR, as suggested at HEART OF THE MATTER. I spent a while this afternoon praying, reading, and journaling in some quiet time with the Lord! Oh, my goodness, it's really difficult for me to choose ONE verse! I love so many of God's precious promises!

But..........I have prayed and chose two verses..........

"But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."
Isaish 40:31

also.......

"Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
Isaish 41:10

As I read from Beth Moore's devotional book, Voices of the Faithful, my heart was truly blessed as I read her words.

She says, "Our souls crave new beginnings. Fresh starts. Calculate with me just how willing our compassionate God was to accommodate."
"God Himself came up with the concept of an annual New Year's Day when He ordered creation and gave the sun and moon their instructions" (Gen. 1:14).
"God didn't think an annual new start was nearly enough. He who created the human psyche also compartmentalized those hundreds of days into 12 months. Every month we get another first. But 12 new starts were not enough, either. The very first verses of scripture unfold a seven- day period of time we call a week. Think how we look forward to a "weekend" and a subsequent new beginning on Sunday. Fifty-two new beginnings a year sounds like plenty, doesn't it? Ah, but not to God, He who configured our needy souls ordained the sun to rise every single morning and set every single evening. A curtain of darkness falls systematically on the scene of every single day, calling it history."

Lamantations 3:22,23
"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness."

Praise God for New Beginnings and his compassion each and every morning!!

Countdown till Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

With only a few more days till Christmas.........
we have so much we want to do!!

I did find time to stitch this little pillow to decorate our home for
Christmas

Our Country Theme Christmas Tree with a few handmade ornaments
and store bought ornaments made to look homemade

Here the kids are making sugar cookies and decorating

Gingerbread House made with friends

Making Memories

Checking in to let you all know I'm still here. We are having a wonderful time "Celebrating Christmas" with lots of activities to fill our days. Fun with friends and family are what makes the Christmas season so special.
Although we have been pretty busy I make sure we are taking time to relax and enjoy the season and spend time together as a family! Here are some ideas to help enjoy the season to the fullest! These sound simple but sometimes we need to be reminded to slow down and enjoy the season.

Enjoy hot chocolate together often
Read a good Christmas book or better yet the Christmas Story from the Bible
Make cookies together
Visit a nursing home or elderly person
Take a meal to a neighbor
Set up a night with friends, church members, etc. to go Caroling
Play in the snow
Sing and learn about Christmas Carols together
Watch a Christmas Movie

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14

FRIENDS

We have a very special home school group that we love very much and we are spending time doing lots of fun activities such as:
ice skating, join together to see a symphony and a ballet, The Christmas Carol, caroling at an elderly apartment complex, Christmas party, and next week we will meet with a few close friends to make cookies and ginger bread houses.

The kids are not the only ones who are having much fun and fellowship, our mom's had a Mom's Christmas party and had a blast!! We sang and acted out The Twelve Days of Christmas
and also exchanged gifts as we played the game of "stealing the gift" theme. What a hoot these ladies are!! We had such a great time as we laughed, enjoyed wonderful food and fellowship and even danced a bit!

FAMILY

Taking time out to visit our family is something we are doing this year as we try to show the LOVE OF CHRIST during this special time of year. Little visits, helping with wrapping gifts, shopping, and anything else needed that me and my girls can do to help others.
We have also enjoyed shopping together with family and of course grandma who lives next door always makes Christmas special by baking cookies together and making special recipes that are traditional each year. Now, mind you, our children and the nieces and nephews are all teens now, but, grandma still has a stocking as she has every year filled with goodies for them to enjoy before Christmas. Spoiled I tell you! Spoiled rotten.

SERVANTS

As we continue to teach our children (young adults) to serve others by example, we can lead in guiding them to serve during the holidays.
The youth in our church served in a homeless shelter a couple of weeks ago and this has been such a blessing for them to reach out to others less fortunate. The timing of being so close to Christmas really touched the hearts of our teens as they realize giving is better than receiving.
Many of them testified about how much this meant during a special Youth Service during the morning worship service.
Another way they helped to serve is by buying for two children from an Angel Tree set up in our local Mall. The youth did the shopping, budgeting, and wrapping of this project.

HOMESCHOOL

Yes, we continue to do school between all the wonderful activities that surround the Christmas season. We are doing a bit of a Unit Study on Christmas which includes reading several good books for the season.

The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
The Christmas Barn by C.L. Davis
The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

We are also using several of the wonderful resources found here.

HOMEMADE GIFTS

A few of our gifts this year are homemade. It's become a tradition to make the GIFT JARS like the ones found here and here.
Oh, what fun we have making these, especially the cookies using M&M's are really pretty for Christmas and the most YUMMY and very pretty are the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal!!

We hope you are enjoying this Christmas season as much as we are!!!

Christmas Shopping

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family and had lots of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and also much laughter. It seems to have become a tradition with my side of the family to watch the Home Alone Christmas movies each year to officially begin Christmas! What a great time we had. No matter how many times we watch this movie we always laugh just as hard as we did the first time, which is till we cry!

Then the next morning my sister, mom, daughter, nephew and I were among the crazy early bird shoppers! Yes, I was at JC Penny at 4 a.m.!
As usual, around 10 a.m. I begin to wonder why in the world I have lost my mind as I'm standing among the other shoppers......mad crazy women. Silliness begins to set in as we wonder from department to department and store to store. We had such a great time and we really did get a lot of shopping under way!!

Later in the evening, after my little nap, we also trimmed the tree and decorated the house. Wow, all this in one day! Needless to say, I was draggin by the time we finished. Hurray.........Christmas is here!

Happy Fall

Burr, it was pretty cool here this morning, even the dog wanted inside. Isn't she cute??

We are enjoying the sunny days and mild temperatures so much....... fall is in the air. We enjoy every day because it goes by so very fast.

I was able to capture some of the fall beauty in nature today.

We had a very productive day today, finished projects, yahoo!
Allison's embroidery, which she drew freehand on the fabric and placed a beautiful border, and my pocketbook.


My oldest sweetie, "college girl" studying so hard while we had fun with our sewing.

My dad usually brings me a little something when he comes to visit. He owned a produce stand for several years so he loves to share tomatoes, pears, apples, and whatever fruit is in season.
Today this is what he appeared with at our door.



**Check back as I will be posting about the fall giveaway October 1st.**

Horsing Around

Very quietly we sneaked up to the back door and got a picture of our sweet little "Ellie" taking a nap. She loves this fall weather!

What a gorgeous day for our homeschool group as we met for our Horse field trip. Lots of sunshine, fun, and horsing around!! We had a great day!