Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know that we have so much to be thankful for. At the risk of sounding common, there's - Family, good Friends, homeschooling, food in our home, a home to live in, my sweet Hubby, and the list could go on. Mostly I am thankful for a God that gives grace, forgiveness, and love. 

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I had to laugh at my husbands Grandmother (97yr.), I fixed her plate and set it in front of her. She looked up at me and said, "Well you are getting nice!" I laughed and told her I've always been nice, she's just always been a do it myself type of person who wouldn't let anyone help her. She really is a sweet precious lady.

  On Friday, we put up our Christmas tree. Our girls love setting it up and putting up the Christmas village on our sideboard. We have just a few more decorations to put out and then we will be ready to start our Christmas baking in about a week. I have been working on crocheting dish cloths and small doilies. These are going to be put in little tea cups along with a little sampling of baked goodies for my neighbors. I am heading to a wonderful little thrift store to buy the tea cups. 

   Well I am off to go clean and then work on the pink and white baby quilt.

   Blessings to all, S

It's Monday

Wow, it's Monday already. What happened to the weekend? Saturday we worked in the yard, cleaning up branches and burning them. Then turning the compost pile and adding mulched up leaves to it. I'm planning on having an herb garden this spring. Yummy basil, oregano, thyme, etc for cooking with and maybe some lavender and such to use for potpourri and mint for tasty tea.
 Today, I have to go to the pharmacy for my dear husband who isn't feeling to well. I think that he has caught the cold that everyone else in the house has had for the past two weeks. I feel bad for him today, but yesterday I wanted to punch him. Why does my husband do this? I guess he wasn't feeling well yesterday and was cranky and fussy. But, I didn't realize that and yes... I was being a little self centered.  I would like to defend myself and say that I was focused on doing the right things, but I really must call it as I see it. I was thinking of myself and not being sensitive to him.
   Let me tell you about yesterday (Sunday). I felt like it was going to be the greatest day ever. Then, Aimee decided that she wasn't feeling well enough yet for church and decided to stay home with her Daddy. Daddy got fussy about that (I think God is convicting him about the example that he sets). I wasn't quite ready for church yet and I hate to be late for things, and when people don't do like I want or expect them to I get irritated. Then a few minutes later Jessica came in and said I think the laptop has a virus. Well, this just put the icing on the cake! We use our computers for so much. Seems that she had tried to open something on a facebook page that had been hacked and downloaded some malware. I was so upset at this point that I had almost decided not to go to church. I knew I didn't need to drive with the attitude that I had now developed.
    Kelly came in and gave me a hug, encouraged me to finish getting ready and to leave everything in God's hands. So, trying to be a good Mommy and realizing that she was right, I made myself take a deep breath and turn it all over to God.  Well, don't you know that God is awesome and the God of ALL things! Wes and Bobby were at church and both know more than a thing or two about computers. We now have virus protection, the malware is gone and the computers are back up and running better than ever. We watched an awesome movie, The Mysterious Islands (an Erwin Brothers Movie). Everyone was full of hugs and laughter. Just what I needed to get my week going. And today I have insight into why Hubby was so fussy. (He really doesn't like getting sick because he carries the weight of this family on his shoulders and worries that he might have to miss work) So today I pray that he will be quickly healed of this cold. That God will give him the strength he needs and protect him from the worries of this world.
   I will make him some chicken soup, and cater to his needs and be the wife that he really needed yesterday. I will work on the quilt, clean the house and teach the girls. Look out Literature, Geometry, and Algebra! I love our Bible time too, it really helps us to keep focused on Who is truly at the center of and in control of our world.
The LORD is my strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7
Praising Jesus, S

Just Old Fashioned

I know there are many quilters out there who will go buy new fabric when they want to make a quilt. I sometimes wish that I had this option. But then again, in the spirit of my Grandmas, I don't think that would be good either. At least not for me. My Grandma, would go to yard sales and spot old blankets that could be cut up or clothes that would make beautiful quilts. She often saved my Dad's and his brothers and sisters clothes to recycle into beautiful quilts. When she went to yard sales she would only take $30 or $35 and never spend over that. Sometimes the old blankets were used for batting. Always thrifty, she would often tell me that beauty doesn't have to cost. I have inherited her love for fabrics. I love to look at fabrics, and touch them, to think about what a piece of fabric will look like cut up into a quilt.  

  I have been given much fabric and sometimes struggle with how to turn them into quilts like my Grandma did. I second guess myself often, thinking that two fabrics might not go together. What came naturally to my Grandma, I have to work at. Sometimes I think that I suffer from information overload. Too much to be seen on the web. Grandma often took her cues from Gods creation on how to put colors together and what pattern to use.  So I've been thinking this weekend as I worked on the baby quilt that I must take many of these fabrics and allow God to show me what to do with them. How to combine them into beautiful masterpieces. He is the ultimate Creator after all. I pray that He will help me turn them in to  many quilts for children and grandchildren. I hope that someday my daughters and future daughter-in-love will want to sit and spend time quilting and sharing and praying together. (no, Tony isn't seeing anyone, but I still pray for the one that God has chosen for him as I do for the girls future husbands, for He knows who they are.)

  Yes, I know these are old fashioned thoughts but, I guess I am just an old fashioned type of girl.

  Blessings, S

A couple more pictures