Comfort Quilt #2, and ~

Larry is home, Merry Christmas! He spent 8 days in the hospital, and it was so-o long to us both! He came home Thursday night and had his first good night of sleep. He still needs to have some tests done, but I'm glad to have him home!

Here is the second quilt, completed in time for Christmas. This one is for the oldest daughter (who turned 18 since her father's passing in September). Again, the quilt was made up from her Daddy's shirts, chosen by her for colors and/or memories of hers. 

The first label was from the collar...









 and the second from the buttonhole placket.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas. We are thankful for friends, family, and the love of the Lord!

"
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2

A Two Year Tradition at Christmas...

We are visiting the hospital again this year... Larry is in the hospital for another surgery, bless his heart. The poor guy never regained his strength from last year, his endurance waned, he was tired all the time. The last 2 months found him with an upset stomach, and then he started a low grade fever that would come and go. He didn't go to the Dr. until I insisted that fever was not a normal state.

Our Dr. said it was gall bladder disease, since he was showing symptoms and was hurting where he was. We tried a natural remedy with good results, actually, but the pain did not go away, and he still was with a low grade fever every other day it seemed. On Thursday, December 15, that was it. He was admitted into the emergency room, then into the hospital. It took blood tests, IV's with strong antibiotics, chest x-ray, ultra-sound, ekg's, and finally a CT scan revealed he had a good sized abdominal abscess located right under where his gall bladder is located.

They chose to make an incision and insert a drain tube. Interestingly enough, the abscess was right where last year's drain tube was placed...hmmm-m....

We are hoping he can come home soon, but until then, I guess you know where I'll be, and why I've seemed absent... I love that man, I hope he gets to feeling stronger... he said he's feeling old. :-(

We laughed yesterday when he and I were walking around in the hospital. I was telling him I wondered what this place looked like when it wasn't Christmas. The lobby is decorated with huge trees and greenery, and the halls and nurses stations all have their own touches. The outdoor gardens are full of the most beautiful red and white poinsettias. There is even a decoration on each door.

A little cheer for everyone this time of year.

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." II Corinthians 12 :9,10

Comfort Quilt #1

 This is the first quilt top for Jesse's girls, I'm hoping to find a navy for the border.

Here is one of the pockets from her Daddy's shirts....




























Keep them in your prayers, please. Jesse died from a motorcycle accident. This will be the 
first Christmas without their Daddy.


 

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10  

What WAS on the Frame

How many of you heard about our winds hear in Southern California? Yesterday, I taught in a class with no lights, all. day. long. I arrived at school at 7:15 a.m., and my lights weren't on (my friend Sherri who opens the daycare usually turns them on for me), and it stayed that way! We do have a wall of windows, and the sun was out so it wasn't as dark as it could have been. My kids were great, we continued on as if it were "normal" (HaH! Does such a thing really exist?) day. Eight out of 23 students said they did not have electricity at home either. You would think that some of them would miss school, but not my kids, lol! There were more than usual late, with traffic lights out and debris on the roads. (Since I live so far from school, my morning at home wasn't affected as severely.)

From the classroom perspective, the worst of it was no background instrumental music that really helps the day to flow, and, there is no windows in our classroom bathrooms. It just meant being a bit creative, as the flashlight batteries were not working either :-}

At 2:30 or so, we were told we wouldn't have school today -boo-hoo- I had 2 boys literally get up and start dancing! I can remember as a child having snow days, but I do not think I've ever missed as a teacher for any reason like weather. I feel like it's a gift day for sewing!

 This is Ginny's beautiful hydrangea quilt for her oldest granddaughter Ashley.  It was quilted last Saturday, I'm hoping to put the binding on this weekend. The quilt was a kit, we tackled it together. Ginny wanted it to not finish square like the pattern called for, so she found some more fabric from the same line and we added length in the white butterfly print. This was the last quilt to be finished in her goal of a quilt for each grandchild. 

 

Her next one is an I Spy, and she has started this one all by herself! I can't wait to share those, since we both are making one.

This was a square for a special someone, just wanted to share it. It was a neat block and I liked the way the prints worked together. It's in the mail, finding its way to a secret quilt gift.

Happy first year to our kids! Time flies ~

The last share is one of the Love quilts for Jesse's girls. We asked for some of Jesse's shirts to make quilts for his 2 daughters and for his wife. It's still a goal to complete them before Christmas. Larry and Jerry helped to cut the shirts apart during a couple evenings in front of the tv, and I was trying to come up with a plan that would fit a special little girl.

 



This one is for his youngest daughter, who just turned 7. She liked Daddy's blue shirts because they are so soft. I put a gold one with them, and a couple of white shirts and fabric to extend the quilt to a good snuggle size.

The finish will have a couple of pockets from Daddy's shirts. Daddy's heart was right there under those pockets once, and it's a place she can put her hand to remember that his heart is still with her here.

Again, I am really thankful to have the day to sew! Hope you get to enjoy this day, too ~


"Oh 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

Happy Thanksgiving ~

This is truly a time for the Davis family to be thankful! As Lydia and Jeff are approaching their first anniversary, and my sweet Larry's health is doing so much better than last year, I'm grateful. We have dinner in the works. The house smells like Pumpkin Pie Cake today, yum! The still frozen turkey is thawing. Cornbread stuffin' with my Momma's recipe is happening either later today or early tomorrow. The zucchini is grated for bread, here's the recipe for you:


Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup oil (sometimes I use 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping:
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup softened butter

Directions:

1. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch pans.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3.  Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars together in a large bowl.  Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined.  Pour batter into the prepared pans.
4. Combine topping ingredients, cutting in butter.  Topping can be sprinkled on before baking, or after the first 10 minutes of baking to keep it from sinking.
5. Bake for 40 - 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ginny's two quilts for Kaylee were quilted this weekend, one is a dolly quilt made to match Kaylee's, and both are adorable ~

We planned both blankets around the cute paper doll print, which when she bought it a year back, she only got one yard. Much planning around the little amount made us use all but a couple of 4 inch squares!

We chose the coordinates to match prints of the little doll dresses ~

 

 

~ To all the sweet ladies who come visiting via the blog, thank you for your friendship and comments! They bless my heart, and I'm sending back many hugs to you. I'm grateful for you, your creativity and inspiration through your blogs. Happy Thanksgiving, be it your holiday now or on another day ~


Psalm 100: 1-5 
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD He is God: It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations. 

The Week That Was ~

Mandatory Parent Teacher Conferences are complete! I've met with all of my 23 student's parents, but my schedule had me at school until 5:30 or 6 because of the working parents needing later times. Even with all the business, I've had a good week. I taught Monday and Tuesday and jury duty Wednesday which ended up being 2 phone calls before dismissal (for which I was grateful). 

Thursday morning Ginny and I went and directed the swapping of 48 sets of I Spy bags, 2 prints each (so we ended up with 96 prints). Our teacher has 5 classes she instructs, ours is on Monday night in a different city, but Susan travels between three cities, and the 3 quilting classes participated in the swap. It took all of a 3 hour class time to do the exchange! The ladies in that class were friendly and helpful, everyone oo-ohed and awed over the prints, and yes I'd host a swap again. So many people were interested that missed out on this swap, that we may end up hosting the same thing in the Spring semester. There were a few repeats but that is to be expected.

With the I Spy swap I participated in online, thanks to dear Karen of Sew Many Ways, I now have enough prints to do a couple of these novelty quilts. I want to finish one for my class of second graders. I Spy books have been a favorite of this age group for every year I've worked with 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds.

These are my 4 blocks for Block Lotto this month. This is another great pattern of Bonnie Hunter. I'm always a bit surprised when I speak of her to quilters who don't know about her!

 I wanted to do at least 4 blocks, so I could lay then out in the diamond, and the X.

 

Friday, Ginny and I worked to complete the borders on the last of her grandkid's gift quilts. Now, they are ready for the quilting machine. Maybe my next post will be a "what's on the frame" ...hoo,hoo!

"Seeing that we are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith..." Hebrews 12:1,2