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.