~ For Mom ~

Barb Davis, my Mom in Love, went home to be with Jesus this past week. She spent Mother's Day in heaven! She has been a valuable asset in many lives, mine included, and she is greatly missed. I have been absent from here in my sorrow, please forgive me.

Barb was a "get 'er dun" kinda gal. Where I may struggle with something I've made being not quite perfect, she would say "Keep going, learn from it for next time." She was industrious, creative, busy, ... constantly doing. 
 

At 80, she had a part in sewing on my dd Lydia's wedding gown, and serving at the reception! She kept me challenged with my quilting, but she was so accomplished at any kind of sewing. When I was in my senior year of high school, she was our home ec. sewing instructor. She made matching gym bags for the basketball team that year from red, white and blue vinyl. I helped her make the cheerleader outfits. I kid you not, the only thing she wore at the time that she did not sew for herself was her nylon stockings-!! Truthfully, my own dear mom was who had taught me to sew and I was making garments proficiently by that age, so Barb would have me assist in the class, and I loved it. I found out later that she had pointed me out to Larry way back when (Larry and I began dating just before that year). 


She carried a crochet hook and thread with her wherever she went, making huge wall hangings with fillet crochet. We have a piano topper custom made by her, plus a crocheted bedspread and numerous doilies. In her last years she was legally blind, but she made yarn rugs and several of them are in my home. 

She was funny, spunky, feisty, outspoken, willing to pitch in where needed. She and Papa were faithful to each other, their kids and grandkids, and to the Lord. She served in church where needed, too, and her children are good people. Many of us are laymen in our churches, or are serving in the ministry today. 
 
I've already said more than I was going to, but do you get the feeling there could be more to tell? Yes, there is.

This is what came to mind this week, so I'll close with this song.

 

 




"And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." Psalm 9:10

This Week in October~

The Second Graders went to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen, California. We are doing a historical studies of the colonists of early America.

We participated in activities such as loom weaving, grinding apples for cider,



 

churning butter, dipping candles,














writing with quills and ink,















 

and trying to stay cool in the 95 degree heat wave we had this week (it was over 100 at home). I felt bad for the folks in their heavy costumes ~

 We had toast with apple butter and sorghum molasses as a treat at school the next day!




 

 I finished this rug for a friend, better not say too much as she might figure it out, ahem, but it's done in time, yippee! With a few of you asking about the how to's on these rugs, I'm sharing the simplicity of their construction.

On the blue and green rugs I used cotton yarn, the weight that you use to make the little washcloths or dish cloths, three threads at a time.

I used one skein of yarn from start to finish to keep the unity of color in it, but I was using up scraps of yarns for the most part.

It's all single crochet.






This multi colored rug is all acrylic, and I used 4 threads. The full skein I used was a variegated one that went from burgundy to hot pink, and I was using a beige to try to tone it down a bit-!



 The hook is a size P.  It came packaged with a larger Q hook, the size I use in rag rugs.

I chained 20 to 30 loose chains, and single crocheted around both sides. I added 3 or 4 stitches to the ends each time around, unless I felt it was looking ripply, and then I'd go around once and not add any stitches at all!



I would also put the added stitches at different intervals on the ends, never just in the center of the end, so that the holes didn't show up in a pattern.

Edited to add:

1.                                                     2.                                                 3.

I was asked how I tied on the color/yarn changes. 

1. I knot about a 3 inch tail from both the leader and the ender thread.
2. add the next stitch
3. and pull so the knot is tucked inside the stitch (it doesn't always work out perfectly!) The tails are laying along the edge of the rug-
4. and are covered over with your stitches as you go   
5. until you don't see them any more! By leaving the tails long, they are well  anchored.

       

4.                                                    5.

See? not a tough "THIS IS HOW YOU MUST DO IT" set of rules.

Here are three of Mom's rugs. 

This one is mostly white acrylic 

with a chocolate brown 

cotton crochet thread 

(what I call doily weight), 

I think she used 4 threads.

( I'm sorry I didn't wash before pictures, they're getting washed now!!!)

Can you see the variety of thread weights in this rug?

These first two were gifts 

Mom recently made,

on our trip home this summer.

 This is one of my favorites, it is all doily weight, 8 threads at once! This rug is about 8 years old, before Mom lost so much of her vision...

And seriously, Mom uses Anything and mixes Everything, including the smaller doily threads in with acrylics, and they turn out kinda cute.


Hope you all are having a good weekend! I still need to get to my studies, and next time, I'll share what Ginny and I did today...! Here's the hint ~

 

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

Hi~

 

Hi, friends, just popping in with a hello. I've had my typical end-of-September bronchitis which slowed me down a bit, and I picked up the crochet needle for some evening rug hooking. I've finished 3 rugs, and want to make a few more for Christmas. When we went back to Nebraska, Larry's mom Barb was rug making like crazy, with whatever she puts her hands on! With her vision loss, her fine crochet doilies are no more. It's hard to see that, as she was always, ALWAYS crocheting in her spare time. We all have pretty doilies around our houses because of her! So, her inspiration continues in these yarn rugs.

The blue one I made for my Larry, and it's mostly cotton. Lydia gave me a bag full of colorful cotton yarn scraps, and I bought the big cones of blue yarn, I think they were around 12 ounces? for $8 from Walmart. I stitched with 3 threads at once using a hook smaller than Q (the Q is the one I used for rag rugs). From these 2 cones, I have enough left to make another one!

The green one is for Ginny for Christmas (it's her favorite color),

 and this funky, bright one is for Beth (sh! Don't tell!). 

I used all scraps on this one, and 4 colors of thread going. Larry said I ought to add the purple at the end, and I love it! We'll see if I can keep them a secret. More likely, I'll poke them away and not remember where. lol




This school year has me teaching 2 new curriculums, one for Bible and one for science. I mentioned to Dora that one (Bible) I'm having to make weekly quizzes for, and I'm hitting the books like a college kid! I've just finished the quiz and study sheet for next week...don't you know I'll be glad to just pull out the lessons next year! It's always good to grow, right? It's just stealing from my sewing time. . . .

No sewing right now, but helping Ginny with another granddaughter's quilt, this one from a kit using hydrangeas in purples, greens and cream, oh, so pretty! 

I'm working on 3 memory quilts for the wife and daughters of our fallen friend. I was inspired by Nifty Quilts post that she called "Sacred Work". Her quilts are really cool! I really appreciated the idea behind adding a shirt pocket. The girls have only asked for squares, but each kinda told me what colors they liked of Daddy's shirts. Larry has been helping me cut the seams and remove buttons. I'll share more as I go along. 

Please remember to pray for our little friend Jake. His leg is getting quite painful, keeping him awake at night, and the MRI's have given no answers.



 Thanks for visiting ~

Philippians 4:19:  "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

My First Summer Class of E.S.L. Students

click to enlarge

How do you approach the unknown? Do you jump in, excited for the challenge and looking forward to the adventure to come? I was very unsure of this past week's "job". I was approached to teach a group of Jr. High Chinese students English as a Second Language for the week. I've taught children for about 30 years now. high school, preschool and all in between. I've even taught an adult ed. quilting class. (Rudimentary quilting, just to share the joy of it.)

43 in the classroom, can you believe it?

I knew that teaching Chinese speaking students was something I had never done before, and, I knew Jr. High is a miserable age (sorry, but this is my experience) to be responsible for. All those hormones, I guess. You would have to know so many events that led up to this, but, I knew God was in the opportunity. I knew that, and I was still nervous to do this.

Until I met the kids. And I realized, they are just kids. You know, the kind of little people I have spent a l-o-n-g time working with. This was one great week for me. I hope for them, too.
I've said to friends, once I got the first group taught, I'd either breathe a sigh of relief and feel more relaxed facing the next two groups, or I'd be crying, dreading the next two weeks.

Well, Whew! (I'm smiling, too!)

Basketball: this is what they would do during any free time they had.

On our last afternoon, we had a BBQ with the students and their host stay families. It was a fun time for all.



Yummy food on the grill, and the girls were having fun cooking!

...and here are the hungry boys!

Thanks to you friends for your prayers, and thank you kids.
The week was a memorable one for me, too.

On the creative side, here is a better picture I took while visiting in Nebraska. This is the little table topper quilt I made for Mom's birthday last year. I love squares, and this was a fun floral four patch.

It's still a favorite of mine...

...and this one was cotton florals, with 2 layers of cream flannel. I quilted this with hearts stitched on each triangle.

Lastly, I gave this purse as a kit; I purchased the pattern and chose the fabrics, and my Larry helped with the stylish B (for Barb). I didn't get it done, so I took it to her, and she finished it - beautifully, too!

~ Oh, you may want to go enter this giveaway, Cath has some great wool designs ~

That's how it is here this week. I'll be looking in on you!
Happy Quilting,
Pokey