I am back in the quilting mode!

November has started off much better than the past three months, as far as my quilt projects are concerned. I have completed an early Christmas present (which was due in September!) I can share this one because I already gave it to the recipient. I wanted her to have fun sharing Advent and Christmas books with her granddaughter, while snuggled under this lap quilt. The fabric was excess after we made a Christmas stocking for the granddaughter last year.

I see the end of the work for the October quilt. My November one is finished for this year - the top is done and quilting will be on the list for 2014.

And don't forget to start locating your Christmas books to share during December! REad a picture book a day to all ages or share short chapter books with your children. I hope everyone has read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson. I was amazed when I saw the teacher's name was Miss Brandel - which is my maiden name, and the name I had when I first started teaching :-)

Picture Book Month!

This time of year is always packed with things to do, but if you crave some down time, click on the Picture Book Month icon to the left. Take time to enjoy picture books, with young children, OR by yourself. There is something for all ages to gain, as evidenced by the essays this month.

For Thanksgiving I recommend I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, by Alison Jackson. It is a fun read while getting ready for the holidays.

For the upcoming Advent season, I encourage everyone to make an Advent book basket. The instructions on Pinterest said to wrap 25 Christmas picture books and then unwrap and read one each day during Advent. Last year I picked 25 Christmas picture books, but read them myself, since I no longer have resident children! During December it is a great way to sit for a few precious moments, take time to enjoy the quiet of a story, and share a love of reading. I will share more about this idea when we are closer to Advent.

I still have a few quilts to finish before December 31, 2013 first!

October quilt?

After my trouble with the August UFO quilt I have decided to be happy with the seven projects that have already been completed! September was unproductive since we were not home for most of the month.

Now in October I have been catching up with everything I did not do last month. However, I did manage to do my stained glass squares for September and October.

I still need to work on pictures, Christmas gifts, baking, cleaning, and cards that were not done last month!

God gives hugs!

Wow, what a month. I did not get to post because we had several things planned, but then several unexpected things happened.

My husband, Wayne, put our feelings down for a different post and I am just going to use his words here. It is simply a way to show that God is always with us, especially when we think our plans have been interrupted.

Seventeen days on the road and we made it home last night….. (October 3)
Irene and I just returned from a very purposeful, safe trip visiting and staying with family and friends. The hospitality was great but man it was good to wake up in OUR bed and use OUR shower again this morning!!
When we left we were planning to celebrate Irene’s mother’s birthday with her, honor a former high school teacher of mine, visit my brother Lloyd and Judy – we had not been to their home for 25+ years and to connect with many other friends and family we had not seen for a long time. We were able to do all that and more. As it turned out we delayed the start of our return so we could see more people.
After delaying our return we learned that Bill, my sister Carol’s husband, was very sick, (thinking gall stones) and in the hospital. It became obvious that his condition was much worse than gall stones and we decided to return by way of their home in Clarksville, TN. When we arrived at the hospital on Thursday we learned that his condition was advanced small cell carcinoma and he was not expected to be with us very long. I visited with the hospital pathologist and was told that he was not expected to make it through the night. He died early that evening. We are very glad that we were able to be there with Carol at Bill’s death and be part of her support team. Though we do and will continue to miss him we know that Bill is with his Lord and Savior. We feel it was the hand of the Lord guiding us to see more people in Missouri forcing us to extend our trip so that we were available to return by way of Carol’s home.
While in Clarksville we were also able to spend time with Carol’s family and see Bill and Brad, her sons, and grandnieces and nephews whom we had never met. For the service on Tuesday two brothers and spouses, Don and Marvin arrived from Missouri. Diane and husband were able to change vacation plans to be with Carol as well. They will actually be gone from home and travel further than we did.
Carol appears to be doing well but keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Irene and I are most thankful that we were able to be part of her support group at a needy time.
Seventeen days, 5000 miles can have a cost – Being there when needed is PRICELESS!

Time for Books!

Another one of my activities in retirement was to spend time reading! It is still difficult to take time during the day to just sit and read, no matter how much I enjoy it. I do find myself using the local library more often, since I do not have my personal school library anymore.
    I still favor children and young adult books though. I just finished one I must recommend to anyone who has a love of children's  literature - Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, by Chris Graabenstein. It is exciting in a Bookworm kind of way. Besides the story and plot, titles from many children's books are used in the story - a wonderful test for elementary librarians!!

Then I got an email about the 2013 Picture Book Month celebration coming in October. Click on the Ambassador badge in the column on the right to learn more about the wonderful way to explore, enjoy and enrich children's stories with young ones.

Good bye August!

Come, September - I am ready for moving forward. August has not been the most productive month for me. I began with high hopes for the August quilt challenge - I had started a stained glass quilt (paper piecing 12" blocks) years ago. I needed to make the 4th section of a block and it would be the third one completed. As I looked at the three finished parts, I noticed they were slightly different in size than the paper pattern piece I was going to use.(Yes, I know there are only 3 here - I really did throw them away.)

   Sooo, thinking smartly (or so I thought) I went to the scanner and made a new copy of the pattern. Went upstairs, made the 4th block and - it did not match the first 3 squares!! So I went to the computer, printed another copy of the original scans I had done, made the square and ....still did not fit! Then I did the only thing I could - threw it on the floor and started completely over.
   I looked at the other two blocks that were completed and realized they were 1/2 inch different in size! Time to REALLY start over. I got the pattern book, chose 12 block patterns and spent the rest of the afternoon scanning and printing for a new quilt.

   My August challenge has now turned into a block of the month quilt (or 2 blocks a month) and I will add it the stack of UFOs for 2014!!!  Here are the August blocks, CORRECT size!

Added to the sewing frustrations were some unexpected health situations that will need to be addressed in the upcoming months and I am ready for September.

Another card

I helped Wayne with thank you cards for a recent activity, but made a few extra to send to OWH.

Move over August!

With August here, that means fall is going to come before too long! It has actually been a pretty mild summer here in our area, but I am still ready for the days when other people want jackets and sweaters to wear!

With the heat I have not spent a lot of time quilting nor working on my August challenge. I did participate in the August card challenge for Operation Write Home,  sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs. We were to use the colors brown, green and pink on a card. This one let me use one of my seldom used Cricut cartridges - Twinkle Toes.

I was also able to send another package of cards to OWH in July. Now to start on the next group. It is really easy when I get challenges and suggestions every week from them. The trouble is taking the time to go in the craft room uninterrupted and get some done.

My August quilt challenge came up as the stained glass squares I had been working on. After spending one day to make a square, only to have it turn out too small, I went back to the computer and printed out new complete sets for each stained glass pattern. I went back to make the third square of the pattern I had already started and ---it came out too small too!!! (I had accidentally used one of the old patterns that had not been thrown away.)  :-(   So I am thinking this month's challenge is going to turn into a block of the month procedure for 2014!

May and July Quilt Pictures

Here are my pictures of the finished quilts for May and July. The first is one I started in 2007 with a pattern from the Quilting page-a-day calendar. It was one of my first attempts at paper piecing. While I am glad I made this quilt, I have not really had an interest in doing more paper piecing!

For July my quilt was one that I started from the beginning. When we were in Alaska last year I bought a pattern for a wall hanging as my souvenir from the trip. I now have the top done, but I think it will be best to save the quilting for one of my challenges in 2014!

The weather is still quite warm here, so I am spending extra time in the house. At least it is giving me more time to work on these projects. 

Feeling lonely...

Wow, I never thought this would happen - I have finished my July quilt AND May quilt challenges. I had nothing to work on while sitting with the family tonight.

Tomorrow will be another day though, and I have a Christmas present to quilt. :-)

I Love Christmas in July!

All who know me know that I do not appreciate hot, humid summers! Therefore, I have always enjoyed playing Christmas music in the summer in an effort to feel cool. This week, along with the Hallmark Channel, I have been celebrating Christmas in July with my collection of holiday movies.

While the DVD or VHS (yes, I still have TWO players and lots of tapes!) was running in the background, I was able to make my cards for Operation Write Home, work on the July UFO for my quilt challenge, do alterations on a friend's bridesmaid dress, and make birthday and sympathy cards to keep on hand.

So far I have enjoyed White Christmas, A Season for Miracles, Elf, and Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I have no problems continuing this marathon into next week so I can watch/listen to more!

Cards with a purpose

I am really enjoying the challenges from Operation Write Home each week as it gives me a starting point to make a few cards. This week there was a clean and simple challenge as well as a sketch challenge.

I made a few more for the sketch challenge.

A new month and a new quilting UFO number - this one will be a quilt from start to finish? with a pattern I bought last year in Alaska. I am hoping to at least make the top, and then maybe it will be quilted as part of my 2014 UFO challenge!!

Walking with Misty

Misty, our 12 1/2 year old Yellow Lab has been slowing down in recent months. Today we took a stroll before the heat got brutal and I took the camera along. Here are some of the things we saw:

The blue hydrangea is in our neighbor's yard. Our hydrangeas only produce pink and purple flowers.



Another neighbor has this sitting by the mailbox.
If you look closely you can see the moon in sky in the picture on the right.

June UFO is done!

I finished my UFO for June today! It is tied, but that helps keep it more light and fluffy for a play quilt or comforter. I don't think it will go to the original person it was started for - too much time has passed.

 But now I have to go back and work on May's challenge before July arrives. I have already finished 5 of the 6 months, plus two extra photo wall hangings. Not bad since I did none last year!!

I will link this to the challenge  on 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Operation Write Home

Last week I decided to try my hand at making cards for the Operation Write Home organization. They supply hand made greeting cards to our military personnel so they can send personal notes to loved ones back home. I made cards for them at a women's retreat I attended, but this was the first time to try on my own. My sample of five cards has been sent and now I hope to hear that my style is acceptable. These are just a few that I sent to them.

June UFO

Time is certainly going more quickly for me now. My May quilt project is still in progress, but I did not want to be two months behind already. I made this quilt top back in 2004, but then life intervened and it never was completed. I am going to tie it now and it is sitting on the quilt frame from my mother-in-law. I am hoping to get it finished this week, and then back to the May quilt!

Even though I did not get the May UFO done, I did make a bonus quilt - another photo album quilt that I gave to friends who are both retiring this summer. We spent the day in Annapolis, MD, helping them celebrate his retirement.

Photography time

I had the chance to take a few photographs recently that were serendipitous - I just happened to be at the right place with my camera! I was really struck by the colors in the first picture, although I don't think I was able to capture the color completely. I think I need to make a card or quilt using blue, green, beige and a little orange for accent.

They are here!

This is the year of the 17 year cicadas in our area. We have been hearing them for about ten days now, but they just came into our yard this week. They really do cover everything, although I think other areas have more than we do here.

Time is flying...

Well, since we went to the Sprick sibling reunion time has been moving very quickly. I do not have to make any plans to keep busy! There were 14 of us Spricks at Meramec State Park in Missouri for four days. We had cold, then hot, then rainy weather, but it did not slow us down. Talking, playing bocce ball, Farkle, talking, Catch Phrase, visiting Meramec Caverns and talking kept everyone busy. We also had a night of "home movies" where we watched a slide presentation of photos from the past. Everyone enjoyed seeing their personal "back to the future".

My May quilting UFO has taken a back seat this month - it is a small wall hanging that just needs to be quilted, but I have not started it yet. We did not get home from our travels until May 7, went to a 4-H/FFA livestock show and sale on May 8, and then got to take care of three of our favorite kids while their parents were in New Orleans for 4 days! By then it was May 13 and I still had not begun work on the May project. Fast forward a week and we were able to have other family friends live with us for a week while they were between homes - their house sold a week before they were able to get into the new house!

Maybe I can get some quilting done after Memorial Day!

My April UFO

This month my UFO was actually started from scratch. I have always tried to keep several baby quilts on hand for surprise gifts, but my cupboard has been bare lately! The April challenge gave me the incentive to make another "quilt as you go" baby quilt, this time for our newest great-nephew. We will be seeing him for the first time in April and now I have his gift ready to share.

His parents LOVE baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals, so this is his carry around blanket for many years to come, I hope.

The only trouble I have now, is my baby quilt cupboard is still bare!

Catching up time

I have been very busy preparing for Easter and its celebration.  Plus I finished another photo quilt, began the hand quilting on my April UFO for the monthly challenge and read three books! We have had 4 great days with our grandchildren who gave me many opportunities for taking photographs!

We went to the farm - finally- where our friends keep their 4-H projects. Emma had a blast there.

 Wayne is thrilled now - he got his firepit set up and functioning. Hotdogs were the entree for supper tonight!

Now we are focusing on our trip to Missouri for the Sprick sibling reunion, a 50th high school reunion, and time with both of our families. It has been a year since I saw my parents so I am really looking forward to visiting in person instead of our weekly phone chats. When we get home, I hope to put in a straw bale garden - hopefully the book will come before we leave for Missouri!

Snow Day?

Yes, we had an unexpected snow day today - schools were cancelled after starting with a 2 hour delay. Although we only had about 2 inches, it was slick during the rush hour for buses, so....

I may not go to school everyday anymore, but I still get excited about snow days. I was able to go out and get some pictures of our daffodils in snow, and some trees have already started to bud.

This week I was able to work on some paper projects, since my March quilt is done. I have made Easter houses for my grandchildren and the other four special kids in our lives. I am so glad I decided to get my Cricut machine, even if I did not plan to do scrapbooks! I have been making cards and now have found some wonderful 3D items, such as the houses here.

Photography is for another day in my week. I still try to take a picture every day, but do not always succeed. These are some recent ones that were just for fun.

I had to leave this banner up until we really got some snow!

This was a bouquet J and K had at Eli's birthday party.

March challenge is completed!

I have been very lucky that the first 3 quilting UFOs picked were pretty easy to complete. I am afraid that the more labor intense ones will not be drawn until November and December - then I will be in trouble! It is drying in the dryer now, so photos will be later.

And here we are:

March UFO challenge - Jeans rag quilt

Since I have had to "chop" every pair of jeans for husband, daughter and one son over the past 38 years, I accumulated quite a collection of denim material. Now we have something to show for it!

My UFO challenge for 2013

I found a quilter's challenge online this year. The plan is to complete 13 UFOs (unfinished objects) in 2013. I easily found 13 unfinished quilting projects, numbered them and got ready to go. Here is January's completed  quilt! I bought the pattern at our Sprick reunion in Minnesota, back in 2007. Each section holds a 4x6 photo and they can easily be changed out as the grandchildren grow.

For February I was able to complete this top that my mother had quilted last year. It only needed the binding. Somehow I never moved it to the top of the pile though. Now it will be ready for next Christmas.

I have to begin sometime

I have wanted to do a blog since retiring in June, 2011. Now, at 5:00am I have finally started to write.

I was always asked "What are you going to do when you retire?" so I created a picture to share. I called it Eight Days a Week. Each day I had an activity planned, including sewing, paper crafting, photography, quilting, reading, shopping, and baby sitting. The eighth day would have to be cleaning!

My plan is to report on how well I have managed to fill seven days a week.