Where does the time go?

I completely missed out on February and March, this is what happens when I'm in school. I have managed to complete a few more quilts and begun to emulate a project I found on line at Craftster.org that was posted by  Keena http://keenascloset.bigcartel.com/ -Hats for the homeless. My idea was to take this on for Lent (40 hats in 40 days or 40/40 challenge), but while the hat pattern she posted from Ravelry is easy and quick, I got bored so I began a few different/new styles to challenge my addled brain. I've only managed about 10 so far but will probably continue long after the Easter Season is through with.

Putting my heart out there....

Decided to take a short break from the "scheduled" quilts, to create a quilt for my daughter Maggie's first apartment. She's flown the coop and is off to adventures in college. Such a proud Momma I am! It's really enjoyable to visit with my grown children...so having finished her quilt I found myself with a lot of red leftovers and of course inspired by the upcoming Valentine's holiday, I went in search of a fun way to use them up. I came across the Crazy Patch Heart block from Carol Doak ( http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html ) and added in a few more scrappy blocks to creat this scrappy heart quilt--I love this type of quilting as there is no true pattern and I get to play with what I have on hand.  As I had a few heart blocks leftover, four went into a table runner and the rest will be incorporated into another quilt using the Chinese Coin pattern...

A Year to Begin Anew

With the holidays over and the kiddos back in school, I pretty much have the days to spend cavorting with my sewing machine. Exciting stuff, a friend of mine has asked me to create some quilts to be used as baby shower gifts! I finished my first one this week using the colors found in the Enchanted Hollow bedding set (Eddie Bauer)

 and a Hopscotch pattern found on http://quilting.about.com/od/babyquiltpatterns/ss/hopscotch-quilt-pattern.htm . I really enjoyed the pattern, so simple but looks so elegant. It turned out so lovely.

Have to say, I'm pretty happy with this one...I'm rather excited by the challenge of creating quilts using colors schemes chosen by someone else.  This gives me the opportunity to explore new patterns which stretches my ability. I am tickled and a little proud that she has so much faith in me. I appreciate the work and the chance to share the joy of quilts.

Christmas Eve Morn....

As I sit here waiting for my hair dye to cover my gray on this morning of Christmas Eve, I can think of so many things to be grateful for. Safety of my three soldiers (daughter, son, hubby), healthy kids, a roof, a good life all around.

I recently re-read "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom" by Slavomir Rawicz. It's a fascinating story about 7 men who are wrongfully imprisoned in a Siberia and escape to freedom. These men spent a year enduring things no man should be able to. Although I've never had to walk across the Gobi desert w/o food or water, the story placed a new perspective on the issues I've struggled with this past year. And perhaps it's the season, but I began to see it almost as the story of Christ's struggles to save our souls...I'm far from being a religious nutball, I have my beliefs and try to live a life in
Christ, but this was only after I'd fallen, wrongfully imprisoned myself so to speak, and escaped with nothing but sheer will power and a renewed faith in Our Lord.
 Last night my dear friend posted a reminder of this holiday season (unfortunately it was after I nearly bashed my head against the wall trying to figure out gifts for my 4 teenage daughters)- The Story of Christmas as found in Luke 2:1-38, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed..." 
You should read it, it's a good story.

Happy Birthday Mum

A picture of my mum and pop taken in the early 1960's...My pop was a dashing US Air Force soldier and my mum a fresh faced British nursing student....