Finished!

All three projects are finished!  And, before July1!
Completed my table runner late last evening,
Saturday.

The pattern for this came from American Patchwork
& Quilting, August 2013 issue.  I fell in love with it
the moment I saw it and knew it would be a great
way to use up some of my patriotic fabrics as well
as some reds, blues and creams I have had forever. 

Although all the reds and blues vary, they look good
when all together.

I'm really glad I took the time to hand quilt each
row.  The stitches are in the ditch and really seem
to make the rows stand out.

As I was finishing this late last night I thought of
a piece I had written for my history entitled
"Unpicking Stitches". 

 

An old wives tales states:  “If you sew anything on Sunday; 

when you get to heaven you will have to pick all the stitches 

out with your nose.” 

That alone should be a deterrent  to sewing on Sunday.  

Whenever we wanted to sew on Sunday 

Mother would always discourage us by stating the above.  

I’m not sure if it referred more to sewing on the sewing

machine or doing hand work, but as a young girl, I refrained 

from sewing on Sundays. 

As I grew older and started my business, I did not like to 

sew on Sunday because I felt it was breaking the Sabbath 

and sewing for profit was not acceptable.  However, I did 

and do like to sit quietly and do hand work.

 

A few months ago, I decided to quickly sew together a little

project I had been working on before church so I could do 

some hand stitching on it in the evening.  In my rush to 

complete it, I accidentally sewed two rows together upside 

down and  had to unpick them.

As I sat  there with my little blue “unpicker” pulling out the 

stitches, into my head popped this saying.  I hadn’t thought 

of it in years.  I had to smile as I thought of all the hand

sewing I have done through the years on Sunday and of 

all the stitches I am going to have to unpick with my nose 

when I get to the other side.

If the saying holds true, I best get my nose “sharpened” before 

I leave this mortal existence.  Just wish I could chat with 

Mother for a short time and see if she is finding it difficult 

to ”unpick her stitches with her nose.”

At least there will now be one less thing I have to unpick
with my nose by completing this last evening!

"Freedom For All" Completed!

Finished and framed my "Freedom For All" stitchery
from "Liberty Gardens" and can now cross it
off my list.  Only have the table runner to finish quilting
which I hope to finish this weekend.

I am a little disappointed in the stitchery as it had to go
in a larger frame, 11 x 14.  I was hoping I could squeeze
it into an 8 x 10, but it was just a little too big and I
didn't want to spend the money to have it custom
framed right now.  Really don't like having all the
extra white space around the embroidery, but for now
it will have to do as I want to enjoy its patriotic feeling.
It really does "cheer the heart and delight the soul" as
the patterns are designed to do according to the
designer, Sandy McKee.

Maybe when I take down my patriotic things, I'll
turn it into a quilted wall hanging or have a frame
made.  Or, maybe some other way of displaying
it will come to mind and then again, it may just
remain in the frame.  But, at least it's done and I
can enjoy it!

Red Letter Day!

After ten months I have reached my goal weight!
I'm sorry, but I just had to brag and say that I am
very proud of myself.  It has been a long journey
been quite easy once I decided there would be no
more dieting, but a healthy lifestyle change.

I had forgotten how good it feels to not carry excess
weight around and to have more energy.  I have
even taking up jogging mixed in with my daily
walks and that is also getting easier; especially
since I got some good shoes.  Now to maintain.

Ok, enough of that! 

Finished one of three patriotic projects today.
"Liberty Blooms"

 
















It is a free pattern from:
http://this-n-thatfabrics.com

Almost finished with the other two.
With our temperatures hovering around
100 degrees, I am staying in the house
more during the day and working down
stairs where it is cooler.  The heat is
supposed to continue through next week
so hopefully I can finish the others
before the 4th of July.

A Day of Hiking

Spent yesterday with my daughter and grandson's
hiking.  It was a perfect day, not too hot and shady
along parts of the trail.  Plus there was a little
breeze coming back down.  The boys did a great job,
even little Ty.  He walked up and down the trail, only
asking to be carried just a short distance at the
end.  Of course we came back with all kinds of
treasures, flowers, rocks, sticks, etc. that were
too special to leave behind.

Getting ready to head up the trail

Perfectly formed "chair" rock formation

What is a hike without a tree to climb

What is it with boys and rocks?

Taking a little break

So nice when other hikers stop to snap our picture

Ian found this unique rock and carried it all the way back

Brrr!  It's cold!

Best little hikers!

Kohler took over the back pack so Kerri could carry Ty

I had such a fun time and was so happy to be invited.

These boys and their Mom are real troopers!

Bloglovin

Not sure if I have done this correctly or not, but
I've made the switch and you can now follow me
with

http://www.bloglovin.com
 
I have also put a button on the sidebar.

Hope it works!

Gotta Love Weddings!

Last evening my children, grandchildren and I drove
to Orem to visit with my SIL who had flown in from
Iowa for our nephews wedding.  She is staying with
my other SIL and BIL.  We had a great visit and
it was so good to be together.

(My daughter and her two sons along with my
granddaughter posing with Anna Beth who just
turned 93 and Genie, who is a young 82.)

Weddings and funerals have a way of bringing
family together and today was a happy gathering
for the wedding of my nephew, Louis to his
sweetheart, Nancy, at the Jordan River Temple.

We are so happy he has found her.  His first wife,
Carole, passed away a few years ago after a
long, lingering and debilitating illness.  They are
a sweet couple.

Parents of the groom, my sil and bil who are
93 and 94 years young.  Nancy and Louis and
my sil, Genie.  They are amazing.
Anna Beth still line dances twice a week.

I have been and am blessed to be part of this
wonderful family.

This has been a busy, but fun weekend.  Loved
being with everyone and sharing in Louis and
Nancy's special day.

Getting There!

I can't believe June is already half over with.  I had
planned to have my patriotic projects finished, but
not sure if I'm going to make it by the end of the
month.  But, I did get my "Lincoln" by Schnibbles
back from the quilters and the binding is on and it's
sitting on my table.  I love it and am so pleased how
it turned out.  Myrna did a beautiful job quilting it
for me

It looks lovely on my kitchen table:

Using up a few more pieces of patriotic fabrics I
finished my skinny table runner.  I have wanted to
make something for this sofa table, but everything
seemed too big or took more time than I wanted
to spend.  This is the perfect width and length.
It really is straight!

For now these little items will decorate the
runner.










But as soon as this stitchery is finished, it will replace
the one on the table and I'll make a different floral piece
that will make a good accent.

My other table runner is about half quilted
and I have all the flowers appliqued to
the wall hanging.  (posted about these
earlier)  Now I can baste it and do some
simple quilting, bind it and it will be ready to
hang.



 

Feeling Patriotic

Do you realize in one month the 4th of July will have
come and gone?  It suddenly hit me like a ton of
bricks and I decided I best get busy on some projects
I'd like to complete before July rolls in.

About this time of the year, I put away all my
spring decorations and pull out my patriotic
items.  They are left out all summer and I try to
add a new item or so each year.

I started this little project yesterday.

It is laying across my chair in the family room
waiting for me to decide if I like the flowers or if
I want to cut them down a little more.  They seem
to overpower the rest of the wall hanging.  So, I'll
just stare at them for a day or two until I feel good
about leaving them or trimming them more.

Today I worked on this using fabric that I have
had forever.  I have a plastic file box with
what I call "patriotic fabric" (reds, blues and
creams) that really needs to be used up.  Most of
the pieces are several years old, but when I started
putting them together, they didn't look too bad.
Kind of a scrappy look. 

I have also been doing a little stitching.
Just about have this done and then I can
border it and hang it on the cute little
hanger I bought a couple of months ago.

Hopefully, I can finish up these projects this week
and get some binding on a couple of little quilts
I just got back from being quilted.