Think Spring!

I've been thinking that for a while, actually.  It seems to finally be working.  

• The wood lot is floating in a green haze. 
• John camped out there, last night. 
• Will has plowed the garden.  
• I'm keeping my eye on the perennials sprouting in the flower garden. 
• Been doing some spotty Spring cleaning. Eva is mostly in charge of that.  The girl actually likes to clean.  I have no idea where that comes from.  I don't mind cleaning, there's just so many other things I'd rather be doing.  
• Sewed up some new curtains for the kitchen window from some- well, virtually all- of the 1930's reproduction stash. 
• Hung the painting of potted plants over the dining room window.  Brightens the room up nicely.  Thank you, Sandy. 
• Will trimmed out the windows, doors, and floor in our bedroom after 13 years of doing without. The field mice know it's Spring and like to come visiting in the middle of the night.  Seems to have worked.
• Changing out the wall quilts for lighter, brighter ones.

Welcome Spring!!         

Crown of Thorns made from West African basin and batiks

  
Crown of Thorns...

Done!  I got this quilt cut, sewn, quilted and bound in only two and a half weeks.  And I just love how it turned out.  Phil and Kim seemed to like it and that makes me a very happy camper.  Phil took a picture of it with Will and me, last night, and plans to send it to the lady who gave him the basin, Juliet Contay.  Living in Sierra Leone, I'm sure she has never even seen a quilt so it might be interesting to know what she thinks of this strange technique of cutting perfectly good fabric up into little pieces and then sewing them back together again. A strange practice, indeed!

For the quilters out there, I thought I'd share a couple of things that make my life so much easier.  Most of the veterans of quilting already use these tools but, for the newbies, I thought you'd like to check 'em out. 

Strip tube ruler in action

The first is a strip tube ruler. Love, love, LOVE this tool! There are 192 HST in this one quilt. I made all of them- the cutting and the sewing- in about an hour.  Maybe a little less. All you do is sew down BOTH sides of a WOF tube, set the line(the finished size of the block you want) on the seam and cut.  Flip the ruler and do the same on the other side of the tube.  Press open and, voila!  a HST that is smack on size- no need to square up! No drawing lines on the diagonal and the hassle of feeding that pointed end of the square into the pressure foot. It is so fast and so easy- it makes the bedrock of quilting- half square triangles- a cinch.

project board

The second thing that I'm growing to love is this silly little board made out of foam board you can get at the dollar store.  You just cut yourself a big square- I think this is an 18" square for a 12" block.  Something like that.  It certainly doesn't have to be exact.  Then I covered mine in some batting- I attached mine with loops of packing tape on the underside.  So simple.  But it makes moving block parts- from the cutting table to the sewing machine to the ironing board and back to the sewing machine- a lovely thing, indeed.  The batting keeps it all from shifting or floating away on a breeze. Plus, my sewing table can get a little cramped and this gives me a bit more wiggle room.  My ironing board is right next to my sewing machine but is more narrow than it should be, so I end up stacking pieces and then, wouldn't you know it?  I get them sewn together in the wrong order.  So frustrating.  This little board really helps me keep things much more orderly.  Sandy showed me this little trick.  She is an over-achiever and actually put binding on her boards. Hers do look prettier. But mine are still very functional.

insulin pump- all girly

And I'm showing off my new insulin pump that came via UPS, today.  I was so excited, I started clapping my hands and doing a happy-happy dance.  Then I said to Will, "This is pathetic! All this rapture over a piece of medical equipment." To which he said, "Well, it seems reasonable to me.  It's attached to you, literally, and you use it more than you do the bathroom." And I think he's right. Smiles all around! 

yet another doily

And lastly, a new doily.  Actually, I have a growing stack of them.  Cold winter weather seems very conducive to crocheting, dontcha think?  While I don't crochet much during the day- way too much to do- I do like to sit up at night and watch a movie and around and around I go.  Hard to put down as you see the pattern emerge.  I'm thinking a doily give away is in my- and your- future.  Stay tuned.  Have a blessed week! 

 

One of my latest doilies

Amazing...
 what 13 hours of sleep will do for a girl...

Shew!  I was that tired.  Feeling a whole lot better, today.  I despise running.  Going here, then there, and back to hither and yon.  I just wanna stay home and do laundry, cook, sweep floors and sew!!  Busy like that doesn't wear me out like the running does. Well, yeah, by the look of these pictures, it may seem like I've been sewing. But this is the sum total of over a month of sewing and that's just not near enough!

January, February, and March

every bit of fabric I had left over

Redwork:  I'm making these words to go around my redwork quilt which has two little children from each of the twelve months for a total of 24 clocks.  Now, I know I have a picture of that quilt here, somewhere.  oh, yes, I know...

12 months of redwork

 The words represent each month.  It takes me longer than it should because so much time elapses between making each word and I forget how I did the last so it's like starting from scratch. I ran out of white with red fabrics to make the background of the words. I squeezed every inch of life out of the ones that I had. I was piecing the smallest bits of fabric you can imagine just to make it work- crawling under the sewing table to retrieve clippings. Sandy to the rescue and now I have enough for the last five months.

basin fabric from West Africa

ironing board cover of shame

Crown of Thorns

African Basin Fabric...

Our friend, Phil, came back from a trip to Sierra Leone with two yards of fabric, hand-dyed and batiked. It was a gift to him from a mother whose children he had befriended.  I imagine that this was a very valuable gift. I'm making him a throw-size quilt of it. It was as stiff as cardboard when I first got it and since I was expecting a large amount of dye to be released when washing it, I put it in the washer- hoping for the best. But not a drop came out.  Amazing for such a saturated color. The fabric, itself, is very thin- rather like working with gauze.  So I starched it heavily and I'm having to take great care when pressing and sewing- the amount of bias stretch is epic.  I mighta-shoulda picked a pattern with less bias... but I liked this one for Phil, so...  I slowly and carefully march on.  I've drawn a 3" and a 12.5" square on my ironing board to help me block as I go along- very helpful.  Yes, the ironing board is a disaster- don't judge me- but it alleviates the guilt of drawing on a perfectly nice ironing board cover with a permanent marker.  

And a set of zippy bags I made for a friend for her Nook and sundries.  She's a big fan of butterflies.

  

After- notice the cloud of batting.  It had to go somewhere.

Before- yeah, it's a mess.  But I got a lot done!

My new assistant

Finished top

Out in the quiltin' room...

OK.  Was kinda busy during the holiday season. I made most of the kids' gifts.  And well, when I'm whirling around like a dervish... picking up after myself just seems so... pointless.  I know it serves a purpose, really.  I do. But when I'm all wrapped up in the moment, I just can't seem to pause and change gears and divert my attention away from the task at hand.  I just need to make clearing clutter a "task at hand," huh?  And here I am shamelessly sharing the disheveled state of my space.  But if I didn't share the "before" picture than you wouldn't be able to share in my joy at the new organization I've accomplished. Fabric is back in the bins, the horizontal surfaces are cleared of all non-essential personnel, floor swept. I even cleared a space on the shelf next to my table(which I also changed out.  Musical tables around here.  The sewing table went into the kitchen.  The kitchen table went into the dining room and the dining room table went into the sewing room.  Wasn't sure it would all work out and I was dreading returning everything back to it's original station... But all's well.  I might be able to get sweet William to build me a new dining room table... the present one will suffice, but it looks a little pathetic.) I stowed my favorite, most used machines- the Singer 301, the Singer serger, the Singer Featherweight, and the Brother Project Runway on the newly vacated shelf.  I labeled all the pedals and stowed them in a Rubbermaid drawer on the shelf below the machines.  It's working beautifully.

As you can tell, I have a relatively new companion in the quilting room.  Will has been doing some quilting for me. And so, I "have" to stay out there with him so that I can answer any questions he might have, right?  (I tore my rotator cuff and my bicep tendon-making pushing the quilting machine around less than entirely pleasant.  No worries.  I've had one steroid shot and looks like I'll need at least one more.  Rotator feels great, bicep tendon, not so much.  Guess how I injured myself?  Now this should be a cautionary tale to all quilters.  I was folding a quilt.  Yep, pop!  I felt kinda silly about that.  But it is what it is. Doing the shots and physical therapy and some day soon, I may even be able to pull up my jeans with both hands.  It's the little things you miss when you don't have them.)  Will is doing great at the whole quilting thing.  He hasn't attempted free-handing, yet.  I think he was kinda intimidated but now that he's used to the noise and everything, he's ready.  He loves it and even says he's hooked. If you know my Will... you'd see how... strange... that whole sentence is.  

So I've been productive in the areas of binding and finishing up projects. The applique is an example of a project that needed doing.  I started it last New Years, and kinda got bored with all that applique. Didn't plan on finishing as I was pretty certain I'd get bored again.  Amazingly, not.  And that braided border was a blast.  I'd never done one before and I am pretty sure I'll use it again.  One problem with this project... What, exactly, does one do with a quilt measuring 55" square?  Seems too small for a throw, and too big for a wall hanging.  I'm thinking.  The rod over the piano might work...but I think it'll seem kinda disproportionately short.  Still thinking.  And, realistically, I have plenty of time to decide as it isn't quilted or bound, yet.  It got stowed in a tub and will re-emerge some day.

See ya!

All of my girls. L-R: Laurie, Eva, Bekah, Mel, and Mary

The tortilla assembly line.

Our whole family: Back row L-R: Dan,John,Paul. Front row L-R: Laurie,Eva,Joe,Mary,Jacob,Abe,Nines,Bekah,Will

Nines' Feast...

My feast is the last one of the season.  (Paul has been in Alabama for the past six months, so we might be able to get his feast in before he leaves on his next trip.) I'm 45- thought it only fair since I mentioned everyone elses' age. I'm letting my gray hair grow out, today.  I might change my mind, tomorrow. I'm emotional- I cry when I hear/read a story I like. I especially love to hear about people's stories- I'm never bored.  I don't laugh at jokes, but I do laugh when I find something funny.  I love to do things with my hands- gardening- especially flowers, quilting, crocheting.  I have to set time limits for myself in those areas, because I can do them for hours on end. I can only input information for about two hours, tops. So seminars and lectureships are completely wasted on me. I'm a sponge for minutiae- I am filled with useless bits of information but find it all very fascinating. But, because of the limited attention span, ya better get to the point relatively quickly.  I don't much care for being told how I should do things, but I like being told how things are done.  I love snow.  My husband, Will, is my favorite person.  I am amazed by my children in so many ways. How can eight people be so different when they spent the majority of their lives together?  They fascinate me and I find each of them absolutely delightful. I am so proud of them and the people they are, but when others mention what a good parent I am, I look at them as if they are aliens.  I tried, I did, but it's a very gracious God who smoothed over all of my mistakes.  And I made so very many. Praise be to God for His grace!  I am happiest when in their company.  I'm blessed- my cup overflows.

I never keep my feast a secret because I don't like being sequestered from the family. I invoked the five girls' help with my meal. What a delight to have them all bustling around the kitchen, chopping vegetables, getting things into serving bowls and on the buffet in the dining room. Eva and Bekah decorated the table for me with bright table clothes, oil lamps and crepe paper.  The three oldest girls made tortillas.  I whipped up the dough and they rolled and grilled and pressed and twirled.  Mary showed them how it was done. When Mary dusted the front of her shirt off, saying she got flour on herself, she stopped and said, "Hey!  I've got an apron now!  She went to her little pile of presents and pulled out her apron I made for her with dogs on it- she's an animal lover.  And then all of the girls scattered and came back wearing their aprons. I think I've never seen anything more adorable than all five of them in their aprons, with specially made hand towels hanging from the side loops- embroidered with cupcakes to match. The rest of the prep work we all shared. So we had tortillas, meat, refried beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, salsa(Mary made), sour cream, black olives, jalapenos and I don't remember what else.  And there was ketchup for Will because he eats Gringo tacos. I made hot fudge pudding cake a couple hours later because everyone was too stuffed to eat anymore right after dinner.  All in all, I think it was tasty and it was such a thrill to have them all sitting at the table.

Will officiated at Jacob and Mary's wedding

Sweet William's Feast...

He's the love of my life.  My rock.  We've been married for 25 years and I can't imagine my life without him. He's very affectionate.  I love all of his hugs and kisses.  He gives his all to everything he does. He's thoughtful and even if he doesn't always say anything, you can be sure that if he knows you, you're in his prayers.  My Dad won't often call on Bill to say prayer because my Dad wants to get to bed sometime in the next eight hours!  The food on the dinner table will rarely be piping hot because he always seems to have one more thing to say to the Lord.  And really, what's more important?  Hot food or a heartfelt talk with your Father?  He's wise.  So often, I can't see the problem with certain actions and then he'll elaborate on the consequence of those decisions. Ahhh... now I get it.  He adores his kids and is the strong Dad they need him to be. There's nothing he wouldn't do for them. He's such a good guy.  I wish you could all get to know him. I love him so much it breaks my heart.     

Will always has his feast on our Xmas Eve.  As most of you know, I don't have any attachment, whatsoever, to December 25th. Any time I can get my family under the same roof is cause for celebration.  So, tomorrow will be present opening day. (And wouldn't you know it?  It'll be white.  It's always white on my Xmas.  I think everyone else should wait to celebrate with me!) 

This year, Will insisted he make things as easy as possible for me so that I was rested for our big day.  I think the guy in him sees all of the kids creativity when it comes to feasts and just can't wait to give it a try.  In the theme of keeping it simple, he recycled some of John's idea with boarding the windows up with some loose lumber- John used PVC pipes.  And he used John's gate. He had me cook up a big pot of... gruel.  I guess that's what you'd call it. (I boiled some water and added some oats- didn't have enough- the kids would have been thrilled with oatmeal.  They're weird that way. So I added... all the stale cereal, crackers and chips in the pantry.  Been meaning to clean that out for a while now.  Giggle.  You know, around here, the kids hate to throw food away, but they also hate to be the one to discover that something is stale.  If it's a possibility, they'd rather someone else discover that fact and testify to that effect. By the time the pot was full, it was a thick, gooey, gluey, grey, glumpy... well, it looked very bad, indeed.) He divided the gruel between two pots and set them out on a long table with styrofoam plates and a ladle.  A big, military ladle. 

He went out to invite his "guests" in by carrying a big stick and using a loud bark.  The man has a set of lungs on him.  He transformed himself into the prison warden and got them into single file. If the giggles were anything to judge by, I don't think anyone was too intimidated. "You know the routine.  I hear any complaints, you'll be eating through a straw!"  So when he said, "Next!" the next person in line would file in through the curtain and down to the table.  He asked if they wanted turkey or chicken.  Whatever they asked for, he gave them the opposite- 'cause that's how it works in the pen. And of course, the gruel was the same in both pots so it didn't really matter.  You should have seen the look on their faces when that gelatinous mess would hit their plates.  They would stand there and stare it... and then ask for a spoon!  Will would bark at them and say they'd get a spoon when he decided to give them a spoon- now get in your seat!  Finally, they all sat there at the table looking like a pack of kicked dogs. So sad.  We had the Bible reading, but I'm afraid the kids were too distressed to pay proper attention. 

Will hops up after the prayer and says he'll clean those plates away, now.  The kids were so relieved and when he brought out a stack of eight Little Caesar's pizzas with eight orders of crazy bread, I thought there might be a riot.  You should have heard the whoops of joy!  Pizza!  And he had about eight bottles of different flavored pop- so they could have anything they asked for.  As is his custom, he gave the kids chocolate for his gift. Two big bars, this year. Mine even have almonds in them! I made a pan of Mountain Mama Mudslide for dessert and, aside from the gruel, that was my only contribution to his feast.  That was so sweet and considerate of him to be especially careful to make it a breeze for me. 

Scripture reading: Romans 6:16-18
"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either to sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

Well folks, as unsavory as slavery is, that's what we all are- slaves.  The good news- we can choose who our master will be.

Beautiful Eva

Eva's Feast...
Eva(13y) is a dear, dear girl.  She is sweet and loving.  Doesn't know a stranger.  She's very artistic- as all of my children are.  She loves to draw pictures- the more detailed the better.  She will cover the entire page- no white spaces for her. She's a hard worker- she loves to clean her room- no joke.  I rarely have to remind her to do her chores.  She is the fastest dish washer in the house.  She just pops in her ear buds and off she goes. And the sink will absolutely sparkle when she's done.  FlyLady would be proud. She joined me in my Nanowrimo this year. She's even illustrating hers.  She's the goofy one of the two girls and gets downright punchy at times.  Late at night, I'll hear her squealing and laughing while Bekah is saying, "Eva!  Be quiet! I wanna go to sleep!"  She loves being outside and will go out no matter the weather.  She loves to do acts of daring on the tire swing.  Sometimes she can talk Bekah into joining her in her silliness- if the weather is pleasant. She's just an all- around fun girl and we love her bushels and barrels.




pomegranate blood

poor Daniel

He looks upset to be the appetizer

Fingers, toes, and eyeballs in sweet and sour sauce

Her feast... Every year at least one of the kids completely floor me and this year, it was Eva's turn.  This is where you'll see her silly side.  Her theme was the Zombie Apocalypse.  Really.  This was a first.  She completely destroyed the dining room. She tore up pieces of newspaper and scattered them about, along with other debris. The tablecloth was all rumpled. Kerosene scattered around the room- because there will be no electricity during the zombie Apocalypse. Machetes abounded. So... Will, Eva and I put on a audio skit before she invited her guests in.  We pretended that Daniel(who's still in Boston) was being chased by zombies and comes crashing through the door.  We all start screaming for him to get in.  We fire our guns(slamming blocks of wood together.)  NO!!  Daniel was killed.  We cry and sob only to start getting attacked by the zombies, ourselves.  First Eva is killed and then me and Will valiantly tries to hold them at bay, but as he shuffles his pump action shotgun(yes, we believe in the second amendment- you never know when zombies might attack) it is obvious he is out of rounds.  He screams his last breath and collapses to the floor.  The laughter in the next room was proof that they were being highly entertained by our demise- should I be concerned?  Never once was the word "zombie" mentioned, but they clearly understood what was happening! The dining room is silent.  After a minute or so, gurgling and moaning began to fill the air and it was time to invite the guests in.  Eva pretended to bite each of her guests.(For those of you out of the "zombie apocalypse" loop, that's how you become infected.)  So now we're all one big happy family of zombies.  Daniel is spread out on the dining room table(I am so sorry, Daniel.  We were all really sad to be eating you, but we are mindless zombies remember.) Eva had sweet and sour hot dogs and meatballs in a crock as his head and spaghetti in a larger crock as his belly- we all agreed that he was much too fat to be Daniel.  Garlic bread made up his arms and feet.  There were pomegranate seeds scattered around the body giving everything a rather bloody and gruesome appearance.  We were a little dismayed by the requirement that we eat with our hands.  She was considerate enough to provide serving spoons. Most of us were inventive in using our bread as eating utensils.  Her beverage was tropical punch and her dessert was a strawberry jello cake topped with whipped cream and sliced strawberries. Her gifts were hair clippies for the girls- to keep their hair out of their food- and the guys got paddle balls. And so I think, "How can we top this one?"  and I know that one of them will.

Will was hesitant to read a scripture before this feast as he was concerned about blasphemy. He asked everyone to try and ignore the body on the table and concentrate on the passage as he read:

 Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

I love how Paul uses the "therefore" card.  He does it so frequently.  There's something relevant to these verses before this passage. Chapter 11 is rich, indeed, in the illustration of the mercy God has extended to us, sinners.  The forgiveness of sin, grafting us onto His root. The depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.  "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

And so offering yourself as a living and set-apart sacrifice is a reasonable and rational thing. Don't be like the world, but completely change yourself by the new understanding you gain of the wisdom and knowledge of God and his mercies. By doing this, you prove what God's good, well-pleasing and perfect will is.