Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy February 2nd, Mr. Groundhog is overshadowed this year due to some football game playing today. Okay, it was "Go Broncos!" at the Davis' house. Too bad....Anyway, on to other stuff ~



Larry is settling in to his art classes, doing well but tired. Not as easy as when we were young. He is surprised at how many of the classmates do not even attempt to do assignments. He has received comments from students like"How do you know all this stuff?" (when he helped them do something on the computer, he is not one to speak out or draw attention to himself), to one teacher seeing a caricature drawing he submitted, and stating aloud, "We have an illustrator in our midst!" ~ Insert cheeky grin, I'm proud of my honey! ~

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The last two weeks have been report cards for the little people in my life, and the grand field trip: lighthouse tour, mariner's museum, whale watching at lunch time, marine museum with touch tank and lastly, the actual tide pools at oceanside. The Kids L.O.V.E. all the exploring time, and the parents enjoy it all, too ~

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I wrote out my UFO list, or rather my PhD's. Either way I started writing, and thought I wouldn't reach the end. 

 

 Look at the little note pad sheets...

I needed four pages, LOL!

 I do not plan to finish all 24 on the list, But I wanted to have them all written down. Let me show the ones I'm hoping to complete. 

 

• Jeanette's Comfort Quilt. This has been a casualty of the unorganized sewing room, but I found it last week! It needs the backing, and then quilted and bound. from June 2012
  
  
• Temecula Quilt Company projects: two samplers from 2012, 
  
• and the cakestand from June 2013. All three are small. The cakestand is bigger, but the quilt on point is what stymied me.... 
•  half hexagon. First 110 inch quilt finished on my quiltframe, and the back had some big winkles in it. It was half ripped out, and then pushed into the cedar chest. That quilt WILL be finished and used.
   
• Larry's Blue Kitchen Sink. Another monster size quilt. I have trimmed it; we have even had this on the bed, but it is not bound! Must. do. this. 2011
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• Great Granny. I love this. Even the backing is ready. Hmm. 2012
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• Friendship Stars, and Bright Hopes. Both inspired by Tina of Seaside Stitches.  2013
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• Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street, 2013. This needs a border and backing purchased. This may have to wait a bit ~ 
• Checkerboard and Dresdens, using a prized Amy Butler jelly roll. Quite a bit of sewing to complete the top, but it will be special! 2011.
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• Wiggly Whimsy with Terry, 2013. Half assembled.
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• BOM 2014 with Quilt Doodle Doodles
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• Spools, 2013. need to find a backing, and quilt it!
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•  Tiny Pinwheels- I dnk why I called them windmills on my list. 2013
  
• One I do not have a picture of is another comfort quilt for my friend Sharon, made from her husband's shirts. She gave me them this past fall, 2013.
• These are pictures of other UFO's I'll just show you:
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• flower garden scraps in green ~ Block Lotto coin stacks ~  Pineapple blossom

 Well, that is a list! I must admit, I so enjoy the learning process of the sewing project, and I see many tutorials that I want to try, that sometimes some sewing is started just for the educational experience. Does that sound like an excuse? I feel it is only an excuse if I tried the steps and decided to not take it to a project. The pictures I've shown all moved to the project stage!

My list is for the UFO and NEWFO

Now, let's see what is possible!

 

"Jesus said, 'If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'" Mark 9:23

"...with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

 

Life's Little, Scrappy Distractions ~

I've been messin' around with little sewing bits--tiny, actually--just for the challenge. Oh yes, I have been way busy with school and cannot believe I'm
working on the first quarter grades! But, I've been trying to reintroduce 

~ B a l a n c E ~

which somehow evaporates with life demands. 

I'm gonna share some photos, it's up to you 

if you want to read the messages in between ~

 



These spools were my summer project from Bonnie Hunter, 3"finished, and all from scraps. I used a spool fabric print for sashing, but my favorite print is the top view of spools that are in the cornerstones. Needs to be quilted.
   
That thin turquoise flange was a chore for some reason, but I'm happy with the results.
Edited to add: Miss P. had a good idea for this to be linked to the challenge on Jo's Country Junction; maybe I'll up the game to get this one quilted! Thank you, P!

 

From each spool block was 4 bonus, or what I prefer to call "redeemed" hst's.
 



They were tiny, but I thought, "Why not?," and would get a tiny pinwheel with each spool.


 


This pinwheel Irish chain block is the result of those redeemed blocks! Set together in a 12 inch finished block, the math is 335 pieces per 12 inches! 

 

I have 4 completed blocks to make a 24" table topper. I've run out of my pretty confetti background, so it is sitting for the next fabric selection....

From there, I've moved to these 1 1/2 inch half square trianges...jus' cuz'... no real plans.....
 

This are the final photos from the quilt I made from Leanna's embroidered blocks. It was finished this summer, but she let me borrow it to share at quilt class and get photos taken.

~ Love this quilt ~

In the other "household" news,  Larry is not feeling well, and is facing another surgery, bless his heart. He is also unemployed, but working constantly with anything he can. It is wearing, as you can imagine.... We have been doing our Bible studies on the Sovereignty of God. Amazing blessings to be had...!

My second grade students are adorable, but quite a challenge this year. Over half of the class has diagnosed learning disabilities on various levels, and its hard work trying to bring them up to the mark. These are the years you question your own capabilities! Hopefully, we will get through with some growth in each of us, student and teacher, lol

Lastly, I just am not happy with bloglovin'. More times than not I cannot leave a comment on a friend's blog, without pulling the blog up on a separate window. It has caused me to slow down on my connections, and mostly I just connect though my own bloglist. Sorry for the grumbles, but one more reason I've felt a little lost from blogland.

 So, all that to say hello, and we are still kicking. Hope to get the posts coming a little better than one a month. Happy Saturday!


Happy Quilting, 

"Thus says the LORD: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength… Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but her leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.'" Jeremiah 17:5a, 7-8

 

Life, and of Course, Sewing ~

One month since I posted...and there has been some sewing mixed in with fun, work, and life.

• Easy Street is fixed! ...haven't picked a border or backing yet....

 

• Quick flannel baby blanket for a co-worker. Her little boy Hunter made his debut today!

• I quilted and bound 2 table runners for my dear friend Ginny, but somehow only got a picture of the simple one...they both were reversible. Also made a pillowcase for her I Spy quilted last year ~

• Sewing along with online friend Terry again. I hope to make a quilt, but wanted to try this in a table runner first. Need to pick a binding.

 my charm square pack

 quilted last night!

~ the back ~

• Remember my checkerboard blocks back in November? Some have made it into a quilt for a wedding gift. Rajeana grew up with my dd Lydia, so a couple of the scrappy pieces are actually from Lydia's clothing of the past, I think 'Jeana recognized one of the pieces. The backing is made and this one is next on the frame....

• My sweet honey is in the Philippines for a missions trip with the church. It's his 3rd time to go, he is so excited. I have a constant pang of missing my Larry, but it is a perfect reminder to lift the team in prayer.  
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• Oh, and just before he left, he had to file for unemployment...work has slowed down at his job  :-(
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• I have found a bit of time to play with that new "toy", the Accuquilt Go!
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• What I didn't share, it was purchased for me with gift certificates from my class!!
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•   Larry bought a couple dies I wanted-fun!
  
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• Last, a late-posted photo of my sweet second graders in their Nativity program. They memorized and recited "Luke 2, The Christmas Story." 

 I love these kiddos! 

"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31