This post will be a bit of a ramble as I try to catch up on what has been going on in my life and sharing the progress of one of my project. I intended to share a bit of an end of the year review, but God had other plans...I'll start with the most major life event...

On December 21, my beloved father in law, Wayne, went to be with the Lord Jesus. He was 87 years old and I loved him dearly. 

Here he is working on a puzzle with Russ a week after he was moved into memory care last August. His passing wasn't unexpected as he has been getting more frailer these last few months, but it was surprising. 

It all began with a fall on December 15 at our family Christmas (5 minutes after we arrived, so he missed the whole thing!) which resulted in several fractures in several of his ribs. The dr at the ER called it a "catastrophic life event" due to age and prior lung damage due to smoking years back. By the end of the day, the news kept getting worse. A neck fracture was found as well as an aneurysm. The decision was made to make him comfortable in hospice, as he did not want any extraordinary means to be taken to keep him alive and that's what would have had to take place. He said, in one of his lucid moments that night (he had mild dementia), "I have lived a good life. I am ready to go." The blessings of that week, though sad and stressful at times,  we (all the children, grandchildren, brother, etc) were all able to say what needed to be said and could love up on him until he met the Lord on the other side of the veil. I am thankful I could be there the whole week to sit with him and with my mother in law, Mathena. Wayne's funeral was December 26...

Christmas in my home was simple and low key. No complaints there! Russ got a battery. Exciting, huh?? He is converting his recumbent bike into an electric bike. Why? I don't question is choice of "toys" because I appreciate he doesn't make me justify my sewing toys. =)

My Christmas gifts were all fountain pen related. I fell into the fountain pen hobby last year and haven't stopped loving them! I received a Pilot DecimoVanishing Point pen and lots of ink. You can never have too much ink! Or pens for that matter. ;-) 

With the week-long stay at hospice with Wayne, his funeral and Christmas all bunched on top of each other, my sewing time was non-existent until New Year's Day when I finished up my 2018 Temperature quilt. 

In the last two rows, I added a temperature key. The actual temperatures are not written on them in any way but they do show what the colors were in order from coldest to hottest temperatures. That way you can look at the quilt and get an idea of what the temperature was. 

Here it is all finished!! It measures 72" x 88". I still have the first of the months marked with a piece paper pinned to the quilt. I am not sure if I want to mark those days in some way or not. I am leaning towards not, but I'm not ready to take the papers off until I am sure. 

  

I am organized to start another temperature quilt for 2019 but haven't firmed up my choice on block and layout yet. What I do know is it won't involve applique!! ;-)  I am going to use the same colors/fabric and same temperature key. You can read more about my process and find out what colors I chose on this post from April - Temperature Quilt.

 My quilting goals for 2019:

1 - Make more donation quilts for Bridgehaven. 

2 - Continue to use up my stash. 

3 - Continue with being very selective about what I add to my stash. 

4 - Learn one new technique out of my comfort zone. Last year I did curves! Not sure what I want this year's challenge to be. 

My personal goals for 2019:

1 - Love my husband more.  

2 - Memorize at least one new scripture verse a month. I have this months already mostly memorized, so I expect to exceed my goal. 

3 - Continue to stay on the Low Carb High-Fat eating plan. I haven't been on it very long, but I feel better already! 

4 - Be an encouragement with those I meet. Greg Koukl at Stand To Reason sums it up well in his mentoring letter: Give 'Em Heaven

Whew! If you stuck with me all through this post, thank you!! 

I wish you and yours a year of PEACE! 

This post will be a bit of a ramble as I try to catch up on what has been going on in my life and sharing the progress of one of my project. I intended to share a bit of an end of the year review, but God had other plans...I'll start with the most major life event...

On December 21, my beloved father in law, Wayne, went to be with the Lord Jesus. He was 87 years old and I loved him dearly. 

Here he is working on a puzzle with Russ a week after he was moved into memory care last August. His passing wasn't unexpected as he has been getting more frailer these last few months, but it was surprising. 

It all began with a fall on December 15 at our family Christmas (5 minutes after we arrived, so he missed the whole thing!) which resulted in several fractures in several of his ribs. The dr at the ER called it a "catastrophic life event" due to age and prior lung damage due to smoking years back. By the end of the day, the news kept getting worse. A neck fracture was found as well as an aneurysm. The decision was made to make him comfortable in hospice, as he did not want any extraordinary means to be taken to keep him alive and that's what would have had to take place. He said, in one of his lucid moments that night (he had mild dementia), "I have lived a good life. I am ready to go." The blessings of that week, though sad and stressful at times,  we (all the children, grandchildren, brother, etc) were all able to say what needed to be said and could love up on him until he met the Lord on the other side of the veil. I am thankful I could be there the whole week to sit with him and with my mother in law, Mathena. Wayne's funeral was December 26...

Christmas in my home was simple and low key. No complaints there! Russ got a battery. Exciting, huh?? He is converting his recumbent bike into an electric bike. Why? I don't question is choice of "toys" because I appreciate he doesn't make me justify my sewing toys. =)

My Christmas gifts were all fountain pen related. I fell into the fountain pen hobby last year and haven't stopped loving them! I received a Pilot DecimoVanishing Point pen and lots of ink. You can never have too much ink! Or pens for that matter. ;-) 

With the week-long stay at hospice with Wayne, his funeral and Christmas all bunched on top of each other, my sewing time was non-existent until New Year's Day when I finished up my 2018 Temperature quilt. 

In the last two rows, I added a temperature key. The actual temperatures are not written on them in any way but they do show what the colors were in order from coldest to hottest temperatures. That way you can look at the quilt and get an idea of what the temperature was. 

Here it is all finished!! It measures 72" x 88". I still have the first of the months marked with a piece paper pinned to the quilt. I am not sure if I want to mark those days in some way or not. I am leaning towards not, but I'm not ready to take the papers off until I am sure. 

  

I am organized to start another temperature quilt for 2019 but haven't firmed up my choice on block and layout yet. What I do know is it won't involve applique!! ;-)  I am going to use the same colors/fabric and same temperature key. You can read more about my process and find out what colors I chose on this post from April - Temperature Quilt.

 My quilting goals for 2019:

1 - Make more donation quilts for Bridgehaven. 

2 - Continue to use up my stash. 

3 - Continue with being very selective about what I add to my stash. 

4 - Learn one new technique out of my comfort zone. Last year I did curves! Not sure what I want this year's challenge to be. 

My personal goals for 2019:

1 - Love my husband more.  

2 - Memorize at least one new scripture verse a month. I have this months already mostly memorized, so I expect to exceed my goal. 

3 - Continue to stay on the Low Carb High-Fat eating plan. I haven't been on it very long, but I feel better already! 

4 - Be an encouragement with those I meet. Greg Koukl at Stand To Reason sums it up well in his mentoring letter: Give 'Em Heaven

Whew! If you stuck with me all through this post, thank you!! 

I wish you and yours a year of PEACE! 

It's been a while since I have shared how my temperature quilt has been progressing. As you can see from the grass, it is a frosty morning here in Iowa and fall is in full swing. I fully expect the leaves to come tumbling out of the trees in full force in the next week or so. 

I love seeing the color changes in the quilt as the temperatures change in the seasons. If you look closely on the bottom row, the temperature stayed within 5 degrees so the high and low temperature for that day used the same color! 

You can find the other updates on this quilt here, here and here. 

 Since my faithful friend Clay was outside keeping watch on the deck on this beautiful fall morning, I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him. I fear this will be his last fall with us. He will be 15 in a few months, so my time with him is limited. I am grateful to have had him this long. He is a good dog...

Have a sweet day!! 

It's been a while since I have shared how my temperature quilt has been progressing. As you can see from the grass, it is a frosty morning here in Iowa and fall is in full swing. I fully expect the leaves to come tumbling out of the trees in full force in the next week or so. 

I love seeing the color changes in the quilt as the temperatures change in the seasons. If you look closely on the bottom row, the temperature stayed within 5 degrees so the high and low temperature for that day used the same color! 

You can find the other updates on this quilt here, here and here. 

 Since my faithful friend Clay was outside keeping watch on the deck on this beautiful fall morning, I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him. I fear this will be his last fall with us. He will be 15 in a few months, so my time with him is limited. I am grateful to have had him this long. He is a good dog...

Have a sweet day!! 

This weekend I made a pillow using this pattern. 😀 It's a paper pieced pattern, but very simple so don't let that intimidate you. 

I chose a charm pack of Grunge Stars for the triangles and a natural linen and cotton for the background. 

I messed up on the first quadrant by not reversing the colors. I forgot paper piecing turns things backward. Oh, well!😉 

Halfway done!

All quilted! 

All finished! The blog where the tutorial was shared on how to make a Quilted Zipper Pillow Cover no longer exists, but I had a copy that I placed on Dropbox. Let me know if the link works for you.

  Quilted Zipper Pillow Cover. 

One of these days I'll share my progress on the Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt. Sewing curves is a first for me! 

What have you been working on? 

This weekend I made a pillow using this pattern. 😀 It's a paper pieced pattern, but very simple so don't let that intimidate you. 

I chose a charm pack of Grunge Stars for the triangles and a natural linen and cotton for the background. 

I messed up on the first quadrant by not reversing the colors. I forgot paper piecing turns things backward. Oh, well!😉 

Halfway done!

All quilted! 

All finished! The blog where the tutorial was shared on how to make a Quilted Zipper Pillow Cover no longer exists, but I had a copy that I placed on Dropbox. Let me know if the link works for you.

  Quilted Zipper Pillow Cover. 

One of these days I'll share my progress on the Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt. Sewing curves is a first for me! 

What have you been working on? 

After weeks of agonizing over this decision, these are the fabrics I have pulled from my stash and purchased for my Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt by Denyse Schmidt.  Notice the pink fabric with the sheep. =) 

Fabrics: Flea Market Fancy, Grunge by Moda, various other fabrics lines by Denyse Schmidt and Cotton and Steel. The background is a safe Kona Snow. 

You can find more information in this blog post about the sew along that has just begun. Come join us!! 

After weeks of agonizing over this decision, these are the fabrics I have pulled from my stash and purchased for my Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt by Denyse Schmidt.  Notice the pink fabric with the sheep. =) 

Fabrics: Flea Market Fancy, Grunge by Moda, various other fabrics lines by Denyse Schmidt and Cotton and Steel. The background is a safe Kona Snow. 

You can find more information in this blog post about the sew along that has just begun. Come join us!! 

I made an oversized (52"x52") Swoon baby quilt earlier this year for the class I taught. I finally got around to getting it quilted and it's now ready to be gifted to some sweet baby.  =) 

Have a happy day! 

I made an oversized (52"x52") Swoon baby quilt earlier this year for the class I taught. I finally got around to getting it quilted and it's now ready to be gifted to some sweet baby.  =) 

Have a happy day! 

I needed to build my confidence after the quilt fail I had last month. Something fast and easy was in order. I settled on the Spiced Chai pattern found in Vintage Quilt Revival. 

My original fabric choices were all Grunge by Basic Grey: (top to bottom) fig, lime punch, tangerine, sunflower, grey paper, silver, cordite, black dress and white paper. 

As you can see, the grey paper fabric was way too light. Not near enough contrast. Notice the green-blue block in the upper left corner. I ran short of the fig color to make a second block for that spot. I added a green-blue Grunge from my stash, I have no idea what the name of that color is. 

I placed the leftover scraps from the other two greys over the too light gray blocks to see how it would look.  

So much better!! I only had to do a little bit of rearranging! 

Quilting in progress....I used a grey and white variegated Aurifil thread. 

And the finish!! 

It took me three days to get this one done, start to finish and the quilting went so well. It was a relief to not have any issues at all! 

Love these colors!

Making the Spiced Chai quilt gave me the confidence I needed to get the binding on the Ombre Gems quilt and let it shine just the way it is. It really is beautiful...Faults and all...

I am going to take another break from sewing and quilting to get some much-needed painting, and other home maintenance things done. First up, painting my bedroom! It's been at least 10 years since we painted it and it needs a serious freshening up. 

Until then, have a happy weekend and sew on!! 

I needed to build my confidence after the quilt fail I had last month. Something fast and easy was in order. I settled on the Spiced Chai pattern found in Vintage Quilt Revival. 

My original fabric choices were all Grunge by Basic Grey: (top to bottom) fig, lime punch, tangerine, sunflower, grey paper, silver, cordite, black dress and white paper. 

As you can see, the grey paper fabric was way too light. Not near enough contrast. Notice the green-blue block in the upper left corner. I ran short of the fig color to make a second block for that spot. I added a green-blue Grunge from my stash, I have no idea what the name of that color is. 

I placed the leftover scraps from the other two greys over the too light gray blocks to see how it would look.  

So much better!! I only had to do a little bit of rearranging! 

Quilting in progress....I used a grey and white variegated Aurifil thread. 

And the finish!! 

It took me three days to get this one done, start to finish and the quilting went so well. It was a relief to not have any issues at all! 

Love these colors!

Making the Spiced Chai quilt gave me the confidence I needed to get the binding on the Ombre Gems quilt and let it shine just the way it is. It really is beautiful...Faults and all...

I am going to take another break from sewing and quilting to get some much-needed painting, and other home maintenance things done. First up, painting my bedroom! It's been at least 10 years since we painted it and it needs a serious freshening up. 

Until then, have a happy weekend and sew on!!