A Privilege and A Honor

Today I had the honor and privilege to sign a  prayer flag,
as a cancer survivor, that will be carried by a dear family
friend to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa along with
his Mother's.  Colby Thackeray's Mother passed away from
cancer one year ago.  He has been working to help raise
funds that will go to help build a cancer center in Moshi,
Tanzania.  There are no cancer services available there.
His Mother's oncologist, Dr. Brandon Fisher,
founded this foundation and treated his Mother over 2 1/2 years.
You can read about it here:
 http://www.gofundme.com/radiatinghope

Signing the Prayer Flag

Grandkids adding to the flag

Completed Flag

Colby and myself

 











This was a very tender and emotional time for
all of us.  I had invited my daughter and grandkids
to come over as Kerri and Colby's wife are best
friends and have been since elementary school.
Colby said I couldn't cry or he would lose it, also.
So, I waited until he left.

Cancer is never far away and it is times like this
that my experience is brought to the forefront.
How grateful I am to be a survivor and to be
able to share in this healing process with Colby
and Rachelle.

Where Have I Been and .....

What have I been doing?  That is what I have
been asking myself lately.  It is almost the middle
of February and it seems like it was Christmas
just yesterday.

A good part of January was spent sorting,
cleaning and organizing my sewing room,
eliminating patterns that I have printed off
the computer and decided that I no longer
wanted.  I need to be more realistic
about collecting everything I see.  It did feel
good to downsize and re-organize.

While sorting through some Valentine fabric
I found some small scraps and thought I would
make me a new Mug Rug.

When it was all done, I chose not to use it for
that purpose after all.  So now it hangs on a little
metal stand.

Made these little "hearts in a hoop" for Valentine
gifts.  This one was done with variegated thread.

My time has also been spent working on Relief Society
assignments for my church.  In January I was asked
to chairman the Stake Relief Society Birthday luncheon
for 350 ladies, March 7.  I have a wonderful committee and
things are moving along very nicely.  But, all that
has to be done is never far from my mind.

Then I am on the Relief Society Committee for my
ward and our February evening meeting theme
was "Staying on the Path."  We had three workshops
and a little treat for the ladies at the end which I
made:  "Deeelicious Popcorn"

It is to die for!  You can not eat just a little!  It is a
caramel/cinnamon popcorn that has drizzled melted
chocolate and vanilla melts over it. And since it
was February, I put the popcorn in these cute little
Valentine bags.

It is time once again for "Grandma's Valentine Party"
and I've been busy shopping for inexpensive prizes,
searching the web for new game ideas and wrapping
all the prizes.  Everyone gets a prize for each game--
win or lose.  The prizes are put in bags for each
person and when a game is completed they can
reach in their sack and pick a wrapped prize.

The grandchildren love receiving an invitation so I
made heart shaped envelopes with the information
on the inside, added a little chocolate and will deliver
these Thursday.

I have also been working on my personal history
once again.  Took a much need break from writing
in the fall.  Just too much to do with the holidays,
fall yard work, etc.  I have started writing about my
childhood pets.  I was blessed to have some amazing,
caring, loving, loyal, and protective pets.

This is me and my first dog, Spotty, a Border Collie.
We were inseparable and he was very protective
of me.  He literally saved me from falling into a
ditch by my grandparents home that was filled
with irrigation water.

We have had such a mild winter--very little snow.
Temperatures have been above normal and I'm
having a hard time staying in doors to work.
But, I must get back at it!

Can Anyone Help Me?

Back in 2010-2011 a free snowflake BOM was offered
by Gabi.  I stitched a couple and then, for some reason,
put them away.

 
















They are one of the projects I have pulled out to work
on and complete, if possible, in the next few months. 
However, I do not have the instructions showing how
to assemble the quilt.

I have gone back to her website and was able to find
a picture of the finished quilt, but no instructions.  So,
I was hoping that someone out in blogland may have
copied these and has instructions that they would share
with me.  I have left her a message on her blog and
perhaps she will respond, but in the meantime, if
anyone has them and would share, I'd appreciate it.

Happy New Year!

I'm excited to begin a New Year with new possibilities,
projects and challenges.  I've already pulled out some
unfinished projects and am working on them.  Some
have been sitting around for a few years.  There are
also a few that I really don't care for anymore and I
think they will be finding new homes.

Although I do not make resolutions, I am setting a goal
to work on already purchased projects and complete
them.  But, knowing me, I will be continually picking
up new items to work on and eventually old projects will
once again be set to the side.  How many times have I
said this in the past that I wasn't gong to get new things
until old things were completed?  Well, what's a girl to
do when there are so many wonderful things calling to
me?

Christmas was a wonderful time for me and my family.
but went oh so quickly.  Thought I'd share a couple of
gifts I received from Di and Miss Gracie  and
Karen:

From Di:

This sweet little friendship mug rug sits on the little table
next to me where I stitch and constantly reminds me
how blessed I am to have hers and others friendships.
Thank you again, Di.

From Karen:

Six lovely hexagon coasters and a delightful, scrappy
hexagon table topper.  I can't imagine the hours of
work that went into the making of these.
Thank you, Karen

For Di and other friends I made these little needle
keepers using the pattern from Amy.
 http://nanacompany.typepad.com/

   

These were such fun to do that I think I'll make a few
more to give as gifts throughout the year to my quilting
and sewing friends.

This little stitchery reminded me of Karen and her
love of birds, flowers and the outdoors.

For a few friends at work I knit scarves.  I have a
tendency to wake up very early and so I would sit in
bed and knit...great therapy.

Other friends received mug cozies and cups filled
with a few of my favorite things:  hot chocolate and
hot cider mixes and a bag of cookies for dunking.

Couldn't resist this sweet stitchery for another friend,
JoAnn, to hang on her little quilt stand.

It was so much fun making these gifts.  As I worked
on these, sweet thoughts and feelings of those they
were going to really brought the Christmas Spirit
home to me.

Navy Instead of Blackwork

Bird Brain Designs featured a seasonal quilt of
four blackwork designs to be embroidered in the
October 2014, issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

I fell in love with the stitchery and was
even more excited as I also had a quilt hanger
that would be perfect to display my little
quilt when it was done.  Decided to stitch mine in a dark
navy blue thread instead of black for a change.

This morning while I was auditioning navy
fabric to use in the borders, I decided I no longer
wanted to piece the borders and quilt it.  So, I added a
small border and placed it in a 10inch square frame.

 Very happy with how it turned out.  Really like
stitching with navy floss for a change.

Getting There

Last year I purchased the pattern "Festive Season"
by Hatched and Patched--a delightful table runner.
Thought it would be a welcome addition to my
Christmas decorations.

Instead of using the red embroidery floss I normally
do, I decided to try a different red.  After stitching
close to one-fourth of the design, decided that I
didn't like that red.  So, I put it to the side.

I recently pulled it out again thinking maybe the
red would be ok.  Sadly, I still didn't like it...
not that it isn't a lovely shade of red, but it just
wasn't the right shade for me.

Decided that I would unpick it and start over.
Two and a half hours later all the stitched threads
had been removed.  I was ready to start all over.

I have just now passed the area I unpicked and
I can't believe how much happier I am with it.
It makes me smile instead of frown!

Maybe now I can finish it for this year!

I also found a new project calling for hexagons.  I
love hexagons, but don't do many projects using them.
However, this one intrigued me and a friend and
we decided to do them together, hoping that by doing
so we would motivate each other to complete the
project---THIS YEAR!

Thanks to her checking up on me, I am making good
progress.

Probably should set these aside and put the borders
on a little fall design sitting down on my sewing
table.  But, they are so fun and relaxing to do!

Meet the Mormons

I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the documentary,
Meet the Mormons   ( Mormon.org ) with my family at our
local theater.   The film examines the lives of six members
living around the world (Nepal, Costa Rica, Germany,
South Africa, and the USA) who share their experiences as they
try to balance faith and family with work, hobbies and culture.

I was touched by the stories of these diverse, wonderful members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, each
striving for the same goals.
 https://www.lds.org .

The documentary is wonderful, entertaining, uplifting and
very touching.  One minute we were laughing and then we
would find ourselves in tears. Even my young grandchildren
could relate to it.  In fact, after the movie was over, my
11 year-old grandson said, "I've never cried in a movie before.
I think I cried more than you, Grandma."

 If you have an opportunity to see this documentary, I hope
you will take the opportunity to do so. Even though members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are
diverse, I believe that it shows that we are all part of a big
family striving for the same goals.
.
If it comes to a theater near you, I encourage you to
see it.  It will be well worth your time.