Wedding Day is Here!

Wedding Day at our house! Lydia has her beautician fixing her hair in the dining room. Daddy (Larry) and PaPa (Gil grandad) have run for ice and trash bags. Grandma (Barb) is mixing the pasta salad after one last dusting of the house. Jerry (honorary uncle) is out sweeping sidewalks. Jeff is here already, playing a tune on the piano in the front room. He's dressed and ready. I ironed the linens, and said thanks to the family well-wishers that cannot be here. All is well. We are blessed!

More later....

Happy Days,
Pokey

A Minute to Play

I hope these games aren't negative ones, I picked the images for the silly faces!

This is for my friend, Sue of Bits & Pieces, This & That. But you can join in! Copy and paste, and then answer the questions, and tell me you did!

1. Sweet or Savoury?
2. Dresses or Jeans?
3. House or Apartment?
4. Shop Online or Offline?
5. DVDs or Downloads?
6. Cocktails or Juice?
7. Chocolate or Strawberry?
8. Laptop or PC?
9. Magazines or Newspapers?
10. Facebook or Twitter?
11. CDs or MP3s?
12. Kids or Pets?
13. Cookies or Cupcakes?
14. Walk or Run?
15. Breakfast in Bed or Breakfast Out?
16. Market or Supermarket?
17. Sourdough or Grainy?
18. Heels or Flats?
19. Late nights or Not?
20. Coffee or Tea?

1. Sweet or Savoury? Love the sweet stuff...
   
2. Dresses or Jeans? I'm both
   
3. House or Apartment? I love our house
   
4. Shop Online or Offline? Online, especially Fabric.com!
   
5. DVDs or Downloads? Dvd's are easier for me
   
6. Cocktails or Juice? Juice blends are fun, always no alcohol
   
7. Chocolate or Strawberry? Depends on the day...
   
8. Laptop or PC? IMac computer
   
9. Magazines or Newspapers? Magazines, I'm addicted to quilt mags
   
10. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook if I need to
    
11. CDs or MP3s? MP3's I love to make my own!
    
12. Kids or Pets? I love them all
    
13. Cookies or Cupcakes? I'm the cookie monster, or at least his cousin...
    
14. Walk or Run? walk
    
15. Breakfast in Bed or Breakfast Out? I cook breakfast almost every morning. Today, oatmeal with brown sugar
    
16. Market or Supermarket? Supermarket. I just don't have time for more stops.
    
17. Sourdough or Grainy? grainy, I like those ones that have nuts even
    
18. Heels or Flats? flats. no heel taller than 2 inches anymore
    
19. Late nights or Not? I am up no later than 6:15 am without an alarm. No late nights
    
20. Coffee or Tea? TEA, for sure. Current favorite: Vanilla Chai, with Nestle's Cream Brulee

Thanks Sue! that's the break I needed this morning...!

Blessings,
Pokey

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33

The End of the Long Weekend

On the table beside a comfy chair, all the necessities to do the job: pin cushion, scissors,
Ott light, needle, thread, and a glass of mint iced tea.

So, I was blessed by so many things this week, were you? God is good.
Lydia and I had Saturday morning to ourselves, and so we watched "27 Dresses" - good wedding/chick flick I guess, and we sewed and fitted on her dress to our heart's content!

I'm doing the (dreaded) hand sewing of lace applique for her neckline. It has yellow-head quilting pins showing, and I'm sorry the lighting is so poor (see the pincushion above, the lace is winter white!), but it's coming along! I worked on the three layers of skirt, and the zipper,

but I decided to finish the neckline before adding the heavy skirt, and it seems to be easier.


Here is what is left of the tree:

and here is the hole. I think it will stay this way for a while...

There are 3 busy days of school for the little guys, with a big Pilgrim and Indian PowWow. We cook on Tuesday, making Pumpkin Pie Cake, and Corny Corn Bread. On Wednesday, we'll be cooking Pilgrim Stew. After that, I'm out of school until the wedding is over. Larry's folks come in on Thursday, I cannot wait to have them here! See you all around, I'm sure.

Happy Creativity!
Pokey

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise." Psalm 98:4

We Had Some WIND Through Our Neck of the Woods~

And the wind blew so hard ~

~ what WAS a wonderful shade tree is down. So sad!

I was home alone, and I picked up my three potted trees 2 times each.



The window shade was beat into pieces and it had to be collected from across the back yard.


When I called Larry and Lydia to tell them about the major tree falling, they both thought I was talking about the potted Ficus on the front porch.



They both told me I sounded more excited about the accomplishment of hanging up the two towel racks, than the 25 foot tree falling, lol






Now, this is my neighbor, Toney, and his son, working the tree over this morning. Yes, folks, you can have great neighbors even in Southern California...!

We have a bit more to get done, now. Hmm.

Blessings, Pokey

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise." Psalm 98:4

A Moment of Silence...

"No School" is a happy announcement to the second graders in my classroom. You do not have to give a reason, they just know it is an undemanding day for them. Hooray!

But, I try to give instruction on why Veteran's Day is not just another day out of school. What is a Veteran, and why do we honor them? Being an "Air Force Brat" myself, as was my Larry, having deep ties to our country was built in. I love my country, but the people in its armed services are the true heroes that made our country ~ America. Unfortunately for our little guys in my classroom, when I explained that any person in the military, or "army" in general is what they recognized, was what Veteran's Day was for, they all could raise their hand that they had someone serving, be it uncle, aunt, brother or cousin (none had a parent in duty currently).

Respect is earned, but it is taught, also. In our classroom of 7 and 8 year olds, we spoke of people who went into military service. While we all agreed that we do not like fighting, we did understand helping to keep people safe when there was danger. You have to agree, war being explained to the young is a hard subject. But, I always want a child to have the respect of a person who serves, including police, firefighters and others that give, to protect them. Me. Our nation. Our freedom to worship Jesus, too, as we just finished up our studies on the Separatists, who then became our Pilgrims. (They thought there was a tie to Vet's Day, since we read of the Mayflower landing on November 11, 1620. Kids are cute!)

After the discussion, we observed a moment of silence.
Always, this is most touching, as you rarely catch a group of children still.
Straight and tall, proud as the soldiers they honor.
We stand for one minute,
(I have also showed them how to watch the sweeping second hand),
and then we bow and pray.
We pray for all that we know serving, and Grandparents and Dads that have served, and all those we do not know.

and to all you know, too. God bless our Veterans!

Our America Quilt, September 2010

Thank You, Veterans,
Pokey

Two Weeks of Time, Three to Go

It is amazing to have so much going on, and not having alot of crafty things to show for it.
It is the end of the third quarter at school, which means MANDATORY Parent Teacher conferences, report cards, meeting with each home and it is a good thing, but takes some time.
In the same time, my class needed a new air conditioner, new ducting and a new heating unit (we had 97 degrees last week, Mrs. Davis has built in "nuclear flashes" and man, I need the a/c!). Because of the huge construction involved, we had to move out.

My class is currently "camping out" in an unused classroom, which required cleaning, moving, organizing and preparing for these conferences. With the help of friends (God bless 'em, where would I be?), the students walked in with their projects already hung up to give this room a feel of us belonging, and they were thrilled. We call it camping, because we do not have all the comforts of our regular classroom, but we plan to make the best of it, and know it's for a short time.

You know I'm trying to sew a dress, excuse me, THE dress for Lydia's wedding. For the 27th. I'm not worried, The design calls are the time consuming part to me; once we have the idea nailed down, we can usually move forward without too much problem in the construction process. But she keeps struggling on the final decisions, and usually we talk over the section until I jump in and do something, she likes it, (so far), and we move on. The current sewing/designing is on the skirt. It has 4 layers, a ruffle and then we will add embellishments. It's hard these days to find a more modest dress, but my Momma made my dress, and I'm proud to make Lydia's too.
Then, I'll work on mine...!

So, I wanted to share about my snowgirls. Here they are, laid out in my classroom on the desks. It's funny, my ice tea was in my purse and the camera was in its case up against the cold tea bottle. It caused a frosty lens, and it looks as if the girls are in the cold air.

Anyway, this was the last time they were all together. I still made a few more for others, but these were for my quilting class exchange. I shared with the class that the snowflake took me 30 minutes to sew on, and gradually I improved to 20-something. All of the snowflakes were cut with the Accuquitl Go! cutter, borrowed from a dear friend. (I keep trying, one day I'll get one!) My Larry, the graphic (SO TALENTED!!) artist of the house drew my little red Cardinal. I think the birdie and the snowflake make her so cute. All sewing was done in the machine, except the black Swarovski crystal eye on the bird, that Beth sewed on for me. (Really, I'm not good with needle and thread by hand!!)



So, here are the snowmen that came home with me in the exchange.



Some were designed by the others like I did, and some were purchased patterns.



Some are needle turned by hand (wow) and some were fusible applique.





Some of the students participating had never done an exchange before.



The rules were only on the background square, being 1-blue, and 2-13 inches in cut size.



All of them are wonderful!



I think we were all very happy that we participated.



They will all come together, with a few others who seemed to be camera shy, later. AfTeR the wedding!


Happy Quilting!
Pokey

Psalm 9:1 "I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works."

Go! Giveaway

You know I want it. . . here is another one!

Lavender Ridge Go! Giveaway

Happy Quilting!
Pokey