Horse Quilt

     I finally did it. I finished the quilt that I started 2 years ago for my daughter. Normally it doesn't take me two years to finish a quilt. This one was different though.

     It started out by my wanting to learn to do a Y seam. So, I made one patch using the window pane block. I put a piece of fabric in the center that had horses on it. When my daughter saw the square, she said that she wanted a quilt with all horses. That started a hunt for horse fabric. This took a little while because we were a little picky about the fabric that we wanted. In the mean time a dear friend of mine, Miss Francis, gave me a large bag of fabric. Actually three large bags. In the process of going through these bags we found several squares that had been cut out that had horses on them. My daughter decided that she wanted to include these squares in the quilt because of who they had come from. So the quilt was rearranged again.

      Some where in the midst of all of this, several young people from our church and other friends got married, or were having babies. So my daughters quilt took a back burner until I finished all of these gifts. But that was OK. I'm thankful that she is such an easy going, patient child. Having said that though, I have to be careful that she doesn't get overlooked. 

      Well, all of the wedding showers and baby showers finally slowed down and I picked up the horse quilt again. I finished piecing the squares together and then finished the top. I machine quilted it and finished the binding on 2 Aug. 2010.

      Now it is on to other stuff. I have another baby blanket to make and another wedding gift to crochet that I need to have finished before the end of this month. Oh my goodness, buy my hands do stay busy.  I thank God that I have been blessed with so many dear friends and such an awesome family.

   Blessings to all ~ S (The Quilted YaYa)

The very center of the quilt.

This is a pillow case that I made from some of the fabric that Miss Francis gave us. The horses were much to big for the quilt, but we wanted to use them somehow.

Summer

     Wow! I just realized that summer is here and almost over with already. Where has the time gone? Yes, I know that everyone asks that question. Our summer has been very busy. We've canned jars of peas and green beans, and getting ready to can tomatoes very soon. There's been babysitting, and summer classes taken to get the credits required for graduation. Cleaning houses and cleaning out our basement.
     I've been working on the quilt that I started for Jessica about two years ago. I finally sat at the sewing machine and got the blocks sewn together. Now the quilting is complete and I'm sewing the binding on.
     I was also very blessed this summer with several vintage quilt tops that I've been trying to clean up and repair. I plan on getting at least one or two of them on the hoop this winter and using them as a project to teach my daughters hand quilting.
      It's been a little dry the last few weeks so, we've had to get out and water our little garden and our yard lately. I do pray for rain. God waters so much better than I can. So much more thoroughly than I ever could.
     There are only a few more weeks left before my neighbors go back to school and then the babysitting will be done. The time will come for full time school work for us again and before you know it Autumn will be here. I look forward to the stillness that comes with the winding down and settling into winter.  There is a routine that we get into with school work and our regular duties. We've worked hard this year preparing for the winter months and it will be good to take the time to rest from the business of summer.
    Kelly is almost done with cosmetology school and will soon be going to work. She is very glad of that. It's been a pretty long year for her with some very intense school work. She is looking forward to graduation and then moving on with her life.
     I think the biggest thing for me this summer has been, trying to learn how not to stress. Stress causes so many problems. For me it has been sore muscles, tension in my jaw and a back that seems to always have pain. I would love to be able to say that my pains were from hard work,  not that I haven't worked hard this summer, but I can't blame that for my pains. I have been praying and I have been learning to relax and let God handle all the worries of the day. I just get so caught up in all of the busyness sometimes that I forget God has a bigger and better plan and that His timing is just perfect.
 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Phl. 4:6
    Pictures of the quilts will follow when I get them done. 
Blessing to all, S
The Quilted YaYa
  

Ewww Science

   We've been studying our Biology. This past week we've been doing the dissecting that we've read about this year. We saved the dissecting for warm weather so that we could take the preserved and somewhat smelly, OK STINKY! specimens on the back deck where they wouldn't make the house smell. So far the girls have dissected a perch, a frog, a clam, and a grasshopper. I think we need a sharper scalpel though. The one we have would probably have a hard time cutting through melted butter. We have managed though.
    We've discovered a few things along the way.

       1. God's creation is Amazing!

       2. Everything was designed with a purpose

       3. Everything, including us has been given everything we need by God.

       4. Finally forensics is fascinating!

Well, we already knew 1-3  from our Bible study, but it's great to see it first hand.
 Here are a few of the pictures that we took while we dissected.

Our small frog

Oh Wow! 

playing with the crayfish, Ewwww

Blessings ~ S
The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. Psalm 145:9

I'm just sayin...

Check out my The Quilted YaYa 2
Sometimes I just have to say something.
Love and Blessings to all, S