Quilting...Again...ummmm???

The first thing I ever did was hand piece a little pillow cover. I just pieced together some pretty little scraps I had. In little squares. I just wanted to see if I could. I thought it was really cute.

I even sewed a cute little ruffle around the edges of it. It looks a little more uneven now than when I first made it, probably because it's been wallered around for years. 

Then I decided to make a quilt out of old leftover jeans. I had a lot of jeans and I thought it would be a good thing to take to the lake to sit on, to lay our air mattress on, and the like. So I sewed it, on the machine. It was quite an undertaking for my old Singer, but I got it done. I tacked it here and there, pretty haphazardly all over the quilt on the sewing machine. We have used that quilt a lot.

I made myself a quilt. Hand pieced and then I tacked it and hand hemmed it. I wanted to hand quilt it but time got away from me and I wanted to use it on my "guest room" bed so I went ahead and tacked it. Wonder if I could go back and quilt it. The world may never know.

I like the way it turned out, and I use it for my bedspread in my room now. Makenna even added some nail polish to it, and it blends it pretty well. I am not even going to try to get it out, it is just a memory of when she was little.

Next I made Danielle and Jared a quilt when they got married. I finally got it ready two or three months after they said "I do". I did not hand piece it, did it on the machine. I did not hand quilt it, I had Bob's Aunt June quilt it on her quilting machine and she did a fabulous job. I did hand stitch the hem, so there is that. 

I LOVE the way it turned out. I have always loved blue and white and used to want our bedroom in these colors. Just decided maybe the green/browns/and flowers would fit our room more. I even tried my hand at applique and I think it worked out pretty good!

Now I want to start a quilt for Courtney. She says her favorite color is a coral color, and she still likes it but she also likes aqua, turquoise, teal and those colors. She says any kind and any color of quilt is wonderful because she just wants a quilt! I have a pattern found that Courtney saw and really liked. Its just a simple nine patch pattern and I really like that because I said I would only piece squares and rectangles....no triangles! So I need to get busy and piece that baby, take it and get it quilted!





Sooooo.....I need to get busy and start finding fabric to make another quilt. I need to make one for Jessi, Hayden and Kyle too...I would like to make each grandkid I have a quilt, just something they can have that Grandma made for them.  And of course, all my kids too. I got to get to sewing!

Gone to Arkansas

Last weekend we left early in the morning on Saturday and took off to Arkansas. Just a 2 1/2 hour trip south. Love our road trips to Arkansas. We headed down to Gainesville then took Hwy 5 south all the way to Mountain View. Quite a pretty drive, even though it was rainy and some foggy..

We went to Mountain View, to the Ozark Folk Center, to the Mountain View Bluegrass Festival. Saw some really good groups. Probably our favorite was Flatt Lonesome. We also saw the Redmond Keisler Band, the Cobb Brothers, Farm Hands Quartet and Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers. We had seen a couple of them before but always enjoy seeing them again.

It was rainy and foggy last weekend so we decided to stay all night there instead of driving home in the fog. I booked a room in Mountain Home because I couldn't find anything online that looked good in Mountain View. I'll look a little harder next time because that hour drive back to Mountain Home was miserable. It was foggy and we weren't used to the road, made me a jumpy mess and I know Bob got tired driving in it.

We didn't get to the motel until 11:30 so we slept in the next morning and finally started home around 11:00, which of course was check-out time...hahaha.

I wanted to go back a different way than we went so we went west on Highway 412 which was a much better highway and that took us through Cotter. I wanted to go over the pretty bridge there at Big Spring so that is what we did.


I am bridge crazy. If there is a pretty bridge or an old bridge somewhere, I want to see it or drive over it. I don't know why I like them so much but I do. It's just part of who I am. I wish I had taken pictures of all the bridges I have seen and loved through the years but it didn't really occur to me to do that until I had a digital camera.

 I just love the arches on this old bridge. The inscription on it said it was built in 1930 and it looks as sturdy as ever to me. I think they must have added the light posts later but I think they are a very nice addition. At night the bridge just glows.

                                                                                                                                                              Cotter, Arkansas claims to be the "Trout Fishing Capital of the World". There were plenty of people out at Big Spring Park trying to catch them. We walked around and watched them for awhile. Bob hates trout. Says they are too bony and mushy for his taste. I guess I agree with him but I sure ate a lot of them when I was a kid. My dad would take me trout fishing in Lake Taneycomo and we ate all we caught, which were quite a few. If I ate them now, I would score them like we do suckers and I think they would be better, but Mom always just fried them up and we ate them, with lots of cornbread to catch any stray bones we missed. We thought they were good, but I do admit we probably spent as much time picking out bones as we did eating them! haha

It turned out to be a beautiful day Sunday, all the fog was gone and it was warm, even hot. Lots of flowers and bushes were bloomed out just that much farther south. All the redbuds were bloomed out. It was simply gorgeous.

Quite the pretty hole of water. You could see the spring running out of the ground. I am glad we came home this way. We really needed a weekend to just get away, and our little Arkansas getaway fit the bill. We will be going back to the Fall Bluegrass Festival at the same place. Only thing about fall that I can find to brag about.

It turned out to be a beautiful day Sunday, all the fog was gone and it was warm, even hot. Lots of flowers and bushes were bloomed out just that much farther south. All the redbuds were bloomed out. It was simply gorgeous.

We came home up Hwy 125 through Peel, and rode the ferry across Bull Shoals. We stopped at Protem and got a sandwich for lunch and came on home. A good time was had by all....

Grandma Mary and the Pattern

When Lynn was in the 5th grade and Alicia was in the 1st grade I made them both a shirt to get their school pictures taken in. Lynn's was at tiny blue flowered print and Alicia's was the same in pink. I thought I did a good job and they were very cute. When my Grandma Mary saw them, she said, "Did you use a pattern?"...I said "yes?" and she just nodded and kinda gave a little smirk. She said when she made clothes back in the day, she just sewed them up, no pattern. But when she said that and gave that little smirk, the shirts I made became worthless in my eyes. They didn't measure up. I still think of her comment whenever I sew (which I don't like to do very well anyway-ha). I say they became worthless because I felt like she was putting me down. They were still pretty little blouses. 

Now I loved my Grandma Mary very much. She was a very independent woman. Her husband abandoned her and their three boys when my dad (the baby) was 5 years old. I admire how she got out and raised her kids by herself, back in the late 20s and through the 30s, often doing what everybody considered a man's work like pitching hay on a wagon, or cutting heating wood for her own house. She did all the things that needed doing to keep her and her boys fed and clothed.

She did a lot of things the hardest way possible, because of the times she lived in, the place she lived in and how she chose to live. Lots of people made clothes without patterns. Grandma probably couldn't afford a pattern if even if she wanted to use one or not. She probably HAD to sew without one. I admire her for that. I admire anyone that does things they have to do. 

I have also had certain people ask me why I wasn't making a garden, why I wasn't canning, why I wasn't sewing, why, why, why??? It could make a person feel worthless. It's a good thing I have a healthy self appreciation. I have always thought I could do just about anything I put my mind to. 

On top of that every person does not know another person's circumstances and why or why not they can or cannot do something. Maybe they physically can't, maybe they can't rake up the money to get started in some pursuit, no matter how small an amount. It's easy to sit on the outside of someone elses' life and decide what they need to do. 

As I think about these memories, I think people could be a little more careful about comparing what they can do to what others can do. I don't mean just telling or showing something you have done. Everybody likes to see what other people can do, but don't put yourself above somebody else or feel superior because you can do it all and they can't. Not everybody has the same gifts or maybe don't want or need to do some things that others feel are necessary to know how to do. 

It's nice to know how to do any number of things and it's good if you know how to do LOTS of things, like sewing, quilting, cooking, crocheting, knitting, gardening...I could go on and on...but it does not make you a better person in my eyes than anybody else. I still want to see the pretty quilts, the yummy food pictures, the crocheted items and beautiful flowers. Please just don't put down somebody else for doing things differently.

Just my thoughts.

4-H Club

I saw a post on facebook today about 4H and I was remembering when I was young, maybe 10 or 11 and belonged to 4H for a couple of years. Maybe it was just one year. I am not good at remembering how long that was some 50 years ago. Seemed like a long time but looking back at what I did it couldn't have been all that long a time.

I learned stuff in 4H. I learned how to bake chocolate chip cookies, and even won a blue ribbon for them at the county fair that year.

I learned I could bake an edible cookie. By the way, that was the first I had ever heard of a chocolate chip cookie. Yes, my life was sheltered. I don't think "sheltered" is the right word. Nothing wrong with chocolate chip cookies and who on earth would want to be sheltered from those little morsels of deliciousness anyway!!!  Truth of the matter was, my dad liked oatmeal raisin cookies and my mom could make the best oatmeal raisin cookies in the world, and that is the only kind of cookie she ever made!

I learned how to knit...a little. Knit, purl, knit, purl. I knitted a little square. Didn't really think I could learn to knit, but I did learn that much, and I'm sure would have learned more if I had stayed in 4H.

I learned a little bit about sewing. This was while I was still in grade school and hadn't had anything classes like Home Ec. yet and my mom didn't sew. So I learned to sew a little. Lay a pattern out on paper, pin it just so, cut it out, sew it up! I didn't even enjoy it then. Thought I was supposed to enjoy it because I was a GIRL, and girls were supposed to like stuff like sewing, weren't they now???

I wanted to take the horsemanship class because I was crazy about horses. Only problem was, I lived right in Bradleyville and didn't have a horse and knew nothing about horses. So, of course, I didn't/couldn't take that class.

We met after school. Had refreshments. Learned skills. Learned good citizenship.

Judge Not!

I was shocked, confused, bewildered

As I entered Heaven's door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its décor.

But it was the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp --

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

George, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?

I would love to hear Your take.

How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake.

And why is everyone so quiet,

So somber -- give me a clue.

Hush, child,' He said,

They're all in shock!

No one thought they'd see you.

~~Author Unknown

(Though possibly written by either the worst sinner or
the most thankful person in heaven, or both!)

JUDGE NOT!

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a
Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!

PORCH LOVE

I have a new porch on the front of my house!

I can't wait for warm spring mornings in the near future when I will be sitting out on the porch, drinking delicious coffee and watching the grandbabies playing on the porch or in the yard. In my mind I can hear the birds singing, the peepers peeping, the babies yelling and laughing, and I am enjoying every minute of it.

My kids gave me a new porch swing for Christmas. I have always always always wanted a porch swing but never really thought I would have one. Heck, I didn't have a porch. I had a deck my dad built on right after we moved in and it was fine but it had no roof.

Now I will be sitting in the porch swing, sipping delicious coffee or refreshing iced tea, watching the babies play, listening to the birds sing, looking at the hanging baskets of flowers that I will hang from the porch rafters.

What else do I need on my porch? Well, rocking chairs of course! It wouldn't be a proper front porch without a couple of rocking chairs would it? I can see myself, sitting in a rocking chair, rocking and watching the kids playing, listening to the birds singing, looking at the beautiful flowers and bushes planted around the porch, drinking coffee or iced tea, and just enjoying the wonderful porch.

I think of the rain storms I will sit through on my beautiful new porch. There is nothing more enjoyable to me than sitting under a roof, watching it rain. I can feel the breeze blowing a mist of rain across my skin while I am sitting in my rocker or on the porch swing. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Oh, the lazy hot days and twilight evenings I will spend on that porch, just relaxing, watching the kids play, the kittens tumbling over each other, hummingbirds buzzing around feeders.

The possibilities are endless!

REVELATION 21

One of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. I just can't read through it without goosebumps and getting emotional and maybe, yeah, probably crying a little. I love the whole chapter but my favorite verse in the chapter, yes, in the whole Bible, is Revelation 21:4....

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

What a thought! What a revelation! What a promise! Sometimes it seems I can't wait for that day to come!

The whole chapter... Revelation 21:

1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.
5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13. On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20. The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsover worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Finishing Danielle and Jared's Quilt...Finally!

Hmmmmm....finally got Danielle and Jared's quilt top sewn up. It is really pretty if I do say so myself. She wanted royal blue and white and so that is the only colors I used, except for one piece of red I used on the front that I didn't really plan. I don't know what the pattern is called or if it has a name. Danielle had pinned a picture on Pinterest showing a quilt and so I figured out how big to make the pieces for the quilt. I had lots of interesting times setting the pieces together but finally got the top done.

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I was ironing the sheet for the back of the quilt and got to the last square foot of the sheet and found a little tear. I didn't make the tear because when I took the hem out it was chain-stitched and I was very careful to only cut the end of the hem and then I just pulled it out. I think it was done when they were taking the sheets out of the box to shelve them or something.

My temper got me when I saw that little tear and I grabbed the sheet, crumpled it up in my hands and kinda screamed/roared a while. Julie was here and she said she was surprised I didn't rip it to shreds. Yes, I do have an awful temper. Most of the time I control it just fine anymore, but when I can take it out on an inanimate object and I have a lot of anger stored up I just let it go!

I called June, who was going to do the quilting on her quilting machine for me and told her I found a tear and wouldn't be bringing it up that day after all. I was soooo disappointed.

I thought about taking it back to Walmart but I had already taken the hem out of it and they would probably think I made the tear when I was taking the hem out. I knew I would probably have to argue them about it to get them to take it back. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to spend the extra time going back, getting another sheet, taking the hem out again and ironing another one. I didn't know what else to do though.

That night we went to a ballgame. On the drive there I just kept going over and over in my mind what I could do with the quilt. I had appliqued  a row of words on the front of the quilt that read "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" and on the first "A" in Always I had to take out some of the stitches. I had made a tear in the fabric right beside the letter. I would have had to take out all the stitches around the letter and chance more tears so I decided to cut a heart out of red fabric and position over the tear. It looked really cute so I thought, well, maybe I could put a patch on the tear on the back someway. When I got to the ballgame I went over and was telling June about it all and I asked, what about putting....and at the same time, she said....you could patch it! OKAY! A word from an expert is always encouraging!





I came home and decided to use some of the material I had used for the front to patch the back. I decided to put a row of patches across the top of the back.

It has been a long, hard trip for me to get this quilt finished. I am still not sure whether I am a quilter or not. I really don't like to sew much, but I do love to create something that only I have made. I know that I would like to make the kids and grandkids a quilt apiece at least since I have started this quilting madness, so by the time I get all those quilts made I will either enjoy it or be stark raving mad. Pictures of the quilt to be added when it is finished.

And here it is:

 It is so much more bright blue when you see it for real but it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself...

Maybe I'll do it again.

Crafty!

I've always wanted to be crafty, but I kinda have to force myself to do it. I like the thought but when it comes down to it I really don't do anything. Of course now I am trying to learn to quilt and I half way enjoy that but I don't know if I really want to craft or not. 

For one thing, crafting gets expensive. Picking out fabrics for a quilt, buying the fabric or a sheet for the back and then paying to have it quilted adds up.

I always want to make things I see on Pinterest but seems to add up to lots of money when I count the cost.

My oldest daughter, Lynn is a good crafter. She quilts a little, crochets a lot, makes beautiful afgans, and has started making sock monkeys. She really enjoys it I think.

Well, this fall we got crafty, and made some things for a craft fair the seniors had for a fundraiser. My second daughter, Alicia has a son who is a senior this year so we felt like we needed to contribute. Felt like we needed to contribute and plus if he didn't come up with vendors there would be a hefty fine. blaahhh.

So Alicia and I decided to make a few things. My granddaughter Danielle had sent me a picture of snowmen made out of sections of tree branches and I decided to do that.

Picture on the top is what they looked like half way through the process. I thought they turned out cute.



I also made several sets of those little blocks that spell out words on both sides. Mine said "Always be Thankful" on one side and "Merry Christmas" on the other side.






I was going to make some cute little signs also but ran out of time. I did get just one made. I didn't get a picture of it but it was painted red and said in white lettering, "Don't get your tinsel in a Tangle"...very cute and it was one of the first things that sold.

Alicia made some oil candles in pint jars, filled with red berries, pine cones and cinnamon sticks. They turned out very pretty. She also made several wreaths that were really nice.

Daughter Julie made a Dr. Seuss Christmas tree out of scrap lumber. I wish I had a picture of it. It was very very cute and sold fast.

We wanted Lynn to bring some of her sock monkeys over but she didn't have time to get them ready because she has been working two jobs for months now. Someday we will all get together and do a craft fair.

We sold quite a lot of our crafts so I felt like it was a success. I really enjoyed it too but I am going to have to quit my procrastinating ways and also develop some organizational skills if I do much of that!

Beautiful City of Gold

Heard the Gary Waldrep Band sing this at Starvy Creek this past summer. The guy that played the mandolin sang it and absolutely tore it up! He had such a powerful voice and while I use the word "annointed" very carefully, I will use it here. He sang it in their first set and when they came back for the  second set they said they had so many requests from people to sing it again that they DID sing it again. I was absolutely taken with this song. It was stuck in my head for a good 2 months, the words running through my mind again and again.

Beautiful City of Gold (I wanna hear the Gary Waldrep Band sing it! Again and again)

Well there a city that looks o'er the valley of death

And it's glory has never been told

Where the lamb is the light, in the midst of the night...

in that beautiful city of gold

chorus:

Oh where the sun never sets

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...

There will be no more sorrow, pain, sickness or death

and the saints, they will never grow old...

oh how I long for that city, where there never comes a night

In that beautiful city of gold...

chorus:

Oh where the sun never setsG

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...

repeat 2^nd verse:

There will be no more sorrow, pain, sickness or death

and the saints, they will never grow old...

oh how I long for that city, where there never comes a night

In that beautiful city of gold...

chorus:

Oh where the sun never sets

and the leaves, they never fade

and the righteous forever will shine like the stars

in that beautiful city of gold...