Tuesday's News

Good morning! I pray you had a good night's rest. Hubby and I must have, because we slept through the rain and any thunder that came through, so I guess we rested pretty well. I know I feel like I did. Thank you, God, because I needed it. 


Here in Alabama we got up to clouds, rain, and a tree down across the fence in the back yard. It was a dead Persimmon tree, but the electric fence was attached to it, so it has got to be gotten up and the fence attached to a new post. Ugh, poor hubby. I saw on the news where one area about fifty miles from us is flooded where people are having to be evacuated! They had five inches of rain overnight. That is a lot of water! Pray fr those people who have damaged homes and will now have to get them fixed.


Yesterday, DH and I went to the local Animal Control location and the League for Animal Welfare to see if they had a dog we fell in love with to add to our family after the death of ours three weeks ago today. We are still in mourning. I know, some of you will think that is crazy, but Cammie was part of our family. Our children are not close where they can just run over to visit and vice versa, so Cammie, for the past year, was our "child." She was my husband's shadow. She followed him everywhere he went outside. She loved catching moles, rats, squirrel's, etc. She loved road kill which is the reason for her getting hit. A dead armadillo called to her loud enough, she got distracted at the high way. :( Well, long story short, I enjoyed meeting some of the dogs, but did not find one that said I am the one. I am not sure if we are going to get one right now. We worried a lot about Cammie, and it is sort of nice not having that worry. Just pray for us that if we are supposed to get another dog, He will let us know when it is time.


Blog hops are bouncing around all over the place. The Christmas one I mentioned yesterday is going strong. I saw some beautiful blocks and designs yesterday. You need to make sure you check them out. The ones today can be found at The Cuddle Quilter at http://lesleythecuddlequilter.blogspot.com/. She has an awesome blog any way, but now she has the complete lists of blogs that are participating in the Think Christmas blog hop.


I am working on plans for my own Christmas quilt. I also plan to make another donation quilt soon for Wrap Them in Love with my group Bama Belles in Anniston, AL. Love these ladies! We work so well together. If any of you have any fabric you want to get rid of, you can contact me and I will get it to our group for use in the quilts we make for the kids. The group donated over forty quilts to the local children's home last December. I want to do as much as I can for them, too. I just have to get better organized. 


Okay, unless I think of something else to discuss, I will go for now. Oh wait, I did show you the finished donation quilt I've been working on! Let me do that today. Here it is:

I may have shown it to you earlier, but I forgot if I did. It warrants another showing anyway. :D


Have a blessed day, folks and May God pour His blessings down upon you and yours. He is faithful to supply our needs. Pray for all who are sick and in need of a touch from the Lord.


Blessings,
Teresa

I'm Back!

Just want to remind you that today is the beginning of the Christmas Blog Hop that is on the sidebar of my website. It is already proving to be awesome with the posts done for today. I am loving this especially since I am getting ready to make myself a Christmas quilt. I spent a good part of the day yesterday looking at blocks I could use to put into a quilt to give it variety. May try my hand at some paper piecing and some applique. Keep your fingers crossed.


http://lesleythecuddlequilter.blogspot.ca/2012/07/think-christmas-blog-hop-schedule.html

Go to above website to see lists of bloggers

I tried to get the thing to link on the picture, but I couldn't get it to work. :( 

Oh well, I hope you check it out to see what is going on. 

Have a blessed day!

Teresa

Friday Finish

Here it is! I have a quilt finished except washing it. What do you think? It is no where near perfect. I tried some of the stitches on my sewing machine for the border quilting. Not as pretty as I wanted, but it will have to do. Also, my stitch in the ditch quilting is not as good as it will be in the future. Still learning to guide the sewing. I've never been a great sewer, but I am learning and practicing.

The group I am a member of called Bama Belles makes quilts for Wrap Them in Love. We donated 43+/- quilts to the Presbyterian Children's Home in Talladega last December. I am so proud of them! I had just joined in August, and was busy working on the Desert Mirage quilt here, so I was not able to get one done to donate. :( But that will be different this year. I may not get as many done as some of the others do, but I am going to do my best. I have my first one above. I also have a rag quilt made for a girl. I have two more rows to clip then take it to wash at the laundry mat. I don't wash them in my own machine. I definitely don't want to mess my washer and dryer up.

Maybe next week I will have even more finishes! Hope so. Take care of yourselves, and have a blessed day!

WIP Wednesday

I am getting excited!!! I am now to the hand part of binding my first donation quilt! Yea!!! See it here below

I have been working on this for a little while. I don't sew everyday, and I had a little trouble getting everything put the way I thought it should be on this pattern. I am not completely happy with my quilting on this, but I am still learning. My stitch in the ditch doesn't stay in the ditch. LOL I see now why my mentor, Linda Jimerson, uses the clear thread for the top. I will begin doing that on my next quilt. I think it will make a difference. She has taught me sew much! I have something I want her to help me with on Tuesday when Bama Belles meet. This is the group I belong to who welcomed me in and do so to everyone who comes. We are a bunch of ladies who love to make quilts for children. We love to make quilts period! But our main goal is to make as many quilts to donate to Wrap Them in Love and whomever else who needs them. I so enjoy the fellowship we have when we get together. I don't always get to go, and I have missed the past two meetings. :( I usually have a doctor's appointment or another obligation that causes me to miss the meeting. I already informed my DH that I was going on Tuesday.

Any way, another project I've been working on is the baby quilt I was making for our son's friend and his little son. I tried using the quilt binding you buy in the package, because I was having a lazy day. Well, it in not wide enough to go over the edge where I can sew it down!! I am very frustrated! I will now have to undo all the sewing I did on that little quilt. Thankfully it isn't that large. It shouldn't be too hard to do. See that quilt here(or at least part of it):

As I stated in yesterday's post, I plan to start on a Christmas quilt for us. My daughter left a comment to add her name to the list for one, too. I just need to get an idea of what she wants. I have lots of scrap Christmas fabric and a few fat quarters of reds and greens that I can add to the scrap pieces. I just want a pretty and simple pattern to use. I have downloaded and saved a few applique blocks that I may try and include in it. I love snowmen and I love Santa Claus, but I also would love to have the Nativity scene in it, too. Just a jumble of ideas floating. Wow! I better stop my mind wondering. It is getting over loaded. LOL 

I want to wish you all a fantastic day, and may God richly bless you and yours. 

Teresa

Tuesday's Tellings

How is everyone today? I just want to tell you how much I appreciate my followers. I know, I only have nineteen, but you mean a lot to me. Please feel free to post my button on your blog, or share my blog with your friends. I would appreciate it. 


I want to know what types of projects you all are working on this week. I love hearing about others projects and they give me so many ideas on what I want to do next. My mind gets to reeling sometimes with all the projects I want to do. Just leave me a comment and tell me what you are working on, please.


I did some hand binding yesterday on my Desert Mirage quilt. You can see the picture of it on my page of projects. This morning I sewed on a bought binding, but it isn't going to work, so I will have to take it off. I think I may put that aside for a little bit. I have another baby quilt I want to hand quilt. I'm not good at it, yet, but I think it will look better hand quilted. I have a wall hanging that I want to finish. I plan to make us a Christmas quilt. I am debating between a log cabin and pineapple blossom design. I also plan to make a RWB quilt. The RWB blog hop that just finished started by Madam Samm at Sew We Quilt inspired me to make one of those. I am thinking I may use the blocks on the Beginner's Quilt Along to make that one. I want to make some Christmas presents, so I guess I better get busy. LOL


I pray you have a blessed day. Check out the various blog hops coming up on Sew We Quilt hosted by various bloggers. See my side bar for the buttons. 


Be Blessed!

A Tough Week

I want to apologize for not having posted a new blog post since the 6Th of July. We have had a whirlwind of a week; some good, some bad. We have had our grandson with us all week and took him back to his parents on Saturday. He is six and is a joy to be around, but he wears his Mimi out. LOL We love him so much and hate that we don't get to see him every week. He lives too far from us to do that. We went to the museum of natural history in our local area, and he so enjoyed it. Of course, Mimi and Papa enjoyed it, too. I have a degree in biology, so of course I love seeing all the different animals and it also focuses on wildlife found in Alabama. It was a lot of fun and he left with a new stuffed elephant he named, Ele. Jackson is so precious and so smart. He can also be so funny. He loved petting the goats with his "goat hat" on and loved going out and calling them up where he could see them. He spent more time outside this week than he has in a while. 

Papa and Jackson with two of the goat babies.

In the picture below, you will see the "bad" part of our week. On Tuesday of last week, we lost our dog to a pick-up truck incident. We don't think she felt anything or knew what happened. Yesterday was one year from the time we got her. At first hubby wasn't too thrilled with her because he had his heart and mind set on getting an Australian Shepherd/ Blue Heeler mix. We didn't find one, and I fell in love with Cammie. Her daddy is a Great Dane and her mommy was a mix between English bulldog and American Bulldog. She got big quick, and she was a pain in the backside for a while. We even tried to get rid of her last fall. But this spring/summer, she was the best dog. She still had her time when she would want to bite playfully on my hands, or chew my shoes. She also chewed up my flip-flops, but I loved her and my husband loved her so much! She followed him everywhere he went. We live on about 12 acres, and we have my BIL's goats, so hubby had to check the electric fence, etc. Cammie was right there with him. She loved to sleep on our couch. We have NEVER allowed a dog in the house much, and DH kept saying she was not going to be a house dog. Yes, she slept outside at night, but during the day, especially since it has been so hot, she stayed inside a big part of the day. She was so loving. She loved people and would get so excited when someone came in the yard. She loved Uncle David and Uncle Jim when they came to visit or do something with the goats or the garden. She and our grandson became friends on Sunday and Monday before she was killed. He was afraid of her because she was so big and liked to jump on him to lick him. He was such a big help comforting me when this happened. I wish he hadn't have had to be here, but he was and he took care of his Mimi. When I was sewing, Cammie would come into the sewing room and check on me every so often. Especially if she and daddy had been outside and came in. She loved to grab batting or fabric scraps and play tug of war with me. LOL We have laughed at her antics and loved her with our whole hearts. She is greatly missed and will be for a long time. There will never be another Cammie. Keep us in your prayers, please.

Well, as far as sewing and quilting, I haven't done much at all this past week. With a six year old around who wants his Mimi to spend time with him, one doesn't do much sewing. :D I will have some finishes this week to show later in the week. One will be the Toy Story donation quilt, a baby quilt, and possibly a second baby quilt. I want to work on a Christmas quilt, a RWB quilt, a pineapple blossom, etc., etc. It never ends with all I want to do. 


I will post, hopefully, tomorrow, so stay tuned. Don't forget to check out Leona's Quilting Adventure giveaway. Who knows, I may have one sometime in the future myself. On July 30th, the Christmas blog hop hosted by The Cuddle Quilter, will begin. Check out these sites and see what Christmasy quilty things you may see. 


Be blessed. Pray for DH and I and we will pray for you in return.


Love to all,
Teresa

Leona's Giveaway!!

I want you to go to Leona's Quilting Adventure at  http://oneygirl-myquiltingadventure.blogspot.com and sign up for her giveaway. She has some fat quarters, notions, and a quilting book to give away. I wish you luck, but I am trying for it, too! LOL I follow her blog and you will have to be a follower for a chance at the giveaway. 

I really enjoy reading Leona's blog and receive it via email.  You can follow her feed, by email, or by joining her site. She is a very generous quilter by having giveaways, and she loves reading your comments. Check out her blog!

Thanks,

Teresa

It's Friday! The Day Before......

It is getting closer! The day before we go pick up our wonderful grandson, Jackson! I am getting excited. I still have some house work to get done. The dishes are done for now, I've dusted our bedroom and his room, I'm washing clothes, etc. But, I still have to dust the living room furniture, vacuum the couch and replace Cammie's sheet she lays on, sweep/vacuum the floors and mop. Then we will be ready for our little man to come stay with us for a week. We may not get to do a whole lot, but who knows what we may get in to. I hope that it will be cool enough, that we can take him fishing, and I might teach him how to sew something, we may do some painting, etc. We will come up with something other than watching TV all the time. He loves his Mimi and Papa, but we don't get to see each other as often as we did for the first two years of his life. They moved 500 miles away from us. But we are meeting his parents about half way to get him. He has been telling me all week on the phone how many days it is before he comes up here. He loves petting the goats and watching them. So, at least that is a little bit of entertainment.

This is Jackson and his beautiful mama (our daughter) at his sixth birthday party at McDonald's. Isn't he a cutie patootie? He is such a joy to be around. He is very smart and so loving.

I have been quilting a baby quilt I made until yesterday when I was having issues with my new sewing machine. I am going to try to clean out the bobbin area before I try sewing again. I only have one side border and about six inches on another side and binding to have it finished. I also have another baby quilt that I think I may try hand quilting it. Don't know how that will go, but I would like to try to do it.  Below you will see a small part of the quilt.

While working on the above quilt, my sister called to see if I wanted to come sew. She had started working on a quilt pattern she purchased at Joann's a while back. She has sewn clothes for years, but has never made a quilt. I encouraged her to give it a try. She was having some problems understanding the directions, so I went to see what I could do to help. The problem was that she did not have enough strips. So, she will have to purchase another jelly roll to go with the one she has. It is going to be a pretty quilt when she gets it done. Keep her in your prayers as she is having some vascular problems and is having surgery to take care of it.

I have so many projects in my head that I want to make. My head gets to spinning. LOL I think I may try to make some hanging dish towels, I need to make me another hand bag. I want to try my hand at making a pineapple quilt (Bonnie Hunter's version). I want to make a us a Christmas quilt. I want to make a quilt with my purple fabric. Oh so many things to do. LOL

I want to wish you all a wonderful day. I will post pictures of the finished baby quilt(s). I still am doing some binding on our Desert Mirage quilt, too.

What are you working on?

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Happy 4Th of July to all  my friends and family! I pray you are healthy this morning. If you plan to shoot fireworks, please follow all the precautions and safety measures. I would not want anyone getting hurt or starting a fire. There are too many fires burning in the USA all ready. 


It is warm here in Alabama, but I will be as cool as possible working on a quilt I need to get quilted.  I also will be doing a little cleaning here and there getting ready for my grandson to come for a visit. I've done the dishes and vacuumed the main part of the house this morning all ready.  I am getting excited, but not with doing housework. LOL That is one of my least favorite things. Especially since I never "feel" well enough to do a good job. I had to sit down and cool down for a little bit before tackling the sewing room. I wanted to get a shout out for the 4Th before I got started and check how everyone is doing on Facebook. 


Once again, I pray you will be safe today. Enjoy time with family and/or friends. Eat some great goodies, too. May God Bless you all.


Your friend,
Teresa

I Won!

Today I received a box from a fellow blogger, facebook friend, etc. I won a giveaway she offered on her blog WeLoveQuilting.com. I am so excited!!!! She included all types of goodies. How did she know I needed some of this stuff! I love it all!!!! Eighteen, yes I said eighteen fat quarters of my favorite colors; an extra small yo-yo maker, Fons & Porter ergonomic seam ripper, nail file, beautiful bag that looks like a quilt, a postcard pattern, needle guide, flat flower pins, five ink pens with her website on it, a cool beaded spider on a flower stem, a pad to put on my hand to pick up loose threads (needed it badly), a sewing kit to put in my purse. I will just show you a picture of my goodies.

Look at those absolutely beautiful fabric! Now to decide what I want to make out of them. Any suggestions?

I also, want to ask for your prayers. I have been having pain to the left of my spine (trapezius area) for several months now. I also have had arthritis flare up in my clavical/sternum joint that is in the front of where the other pain has been. I have had days that I did nothing but sit in my recliner and cry at times because of the pain. I finally gave up and went to my family doctor about the pain. I had already gotten a cortisone shot there in March that did not do any good. I was sent to have an MRI done and found out yesterday that I need to see a neurosurgeon. I have arthritis and a protruding disk that is pressing on my spinal cord. I pray that I don't have to have surgery, but something has to be done where I can continue to make quilts and function. I am trying to figure out which neurosurgeon to see that takes our insurance. I don't want a doctor who tells me that my weight is what is causing my pain. I want one to take me seriously and will figure out a way to stop my pain.

I hope you are having a crafty day. I want to wish you a happy Fourth of July. I am so thankful for our freedoms that others have fought to keep. We are so blessed in the USA. We all need to pray for our country and for our leaders. I wish you all a blessed day.

What has been going on with you?