These two are part of my Bible Memory Verse series....numbers 12 and 13.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
First in a New Series for ACEOs
Starting a new series in my painted ACEOs - I use copyright free reference photos - for this new series I am using photos taken in our State and Nat'l parks....this first one is of a bison feeding taken in Yellowstone Nat'l Park. Also shown below is a recent raccoon aceo (not part of this new series).
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Felt Applique
I have enjoyed following this blog....And Sew Forth and thru it discovered Bucilla felt applique stockings. Well, I just had to try my hand at one.
This is all that I have finished so far - after more than a week of work...it has over 30 pieces on it at this point - and this kit has over 120 pieces total! so a lot more to go.... The technique intrigues me - I want to try to incorporate it into my quilt making.....
This is a pint jar gift wrap that I came up with before Christmas....they work up fast, depending upon how much decoration is put on them - but the basic cutting sewing time is less than 1/2 hour
So I decided to make one more with the felt applique technique.... to make this one, I used the pattern for one of the snowmen and the penguin at 70%....yes, the pieces were getting small
This is all that I have finished so far - after more than a week of work...it has over 30 pieces on it at this point - and this kit has over 120 pieces total! so a lot more to go.... The technique intrigues me - I want to try to incorporate it into my quilt making.....
This is a pint jar gift wrap that I came up with before Christmas....they work up fast, depending upon how much decoration is put on them - but the basic cutting sewing time is less than 1/2 hour
So I decided to make one more with the felt applique technique.... to make this one, I used the pattern for one of the snowmen and the penguin at 70%....yes, the pieces were getting small
One silly member of my family on her 50th birthday decided to go sledding.... my husband's son who was in his 40s at the time, went sledding also....what neither of them realized til it was too late - at the bottom of this snowy-icy and very fast hill was a barbed wire fence. Now, almost 7 years later, it is a story that always brings lots of laughter.... so of course I added a barbed wire fence!
Friday, December 27, 2013
My Best Christmas Gift
This blog has been just a way to record quilts and paintings that I have done over the years = but I feel compelled to share a very personal story about my Christmas 2013 and the very special gift that the Lord gave to me.........and I would encourage anyone reading this to go to Him, in faith, with your heartaches, your deepest needs - His word promises that He will comfort you....
Christmas was a tough day this year - no family close by - just a long slow day with a few tears shed. But I received the best present late in the day from the Lord - exactly what I needed and have needed since the 18th of June. Some would say it came my way by pure coincidence - as a woman of faith in God = I don’t have enough faith for that much coincidence. To explain, I have to go back 6 months….
My father, who would turn 93 on the 30th of June, was dying. He had been living with my husband and I since July of 2012. He had been on hospice since September of 2012 for a very bad heart….but he was dying from dementia. He had stopped eating - his body was shutting down.
At the end of May, we had to put Dad into a nursing home. Three weeks later on the 10th of June, I snatched him out of there - they just were not caring for him properly - his condition was deteriorating rapidly. And I am so thankful that the Lord gave me the guidance and strength to bring him home that day - for even 24 hours later, he was no longer able to sit up on his own - I would not have been able to bring him home…. To die.
The hospital bed that hospice provided consumed Dad’s small bedroom leaving no room for a cot. I had been sleeping just outside his room but on the night of the 17th, I knew I had to stay with him, so I piled quilts and blankets in a corner on the floor and slept in the room with Dad. His breathing was loud, labored - but being so tired, I was able to fall asleep. A little after 1am I woke up - the room was silent…..
I thought I had prepared myself for his passing…. I longed to be with Dad when the angel came to escort him to the Lord’s presence. And if I am completely honest - I was longing to see, hear or even just feel that angelic presence in the room. But there was nothing - not a thing........when I woke and no longer heard Dad breathing, I tried to take his pulse - but my own heart was beating so hard, I could not tell if the pulse I felt was his or mine. It was my own…….But I was there, awake and beside Dad when the last air left his lungs….and still, there was no light, no radiance, no sound no special sensation in the room….and for 6 months I have felt a letdown, a disappointment, a sadness, even an unease about that night - …………..
I am one of four girls - we all enjoy reading and have been sharing book recommendations for several years. I often check my library for the books that my sisters have read but living in a small town, the library often does not have them. So I have a growing list of ‘books to read’ and occasionally try to find some on the list. The week before Christmas I found two on this list that could be borrowed from other libraries here in TN. I asked my library if they could get one of the two titles for me - they did and I picked it up on the 23rd began reading it on the 24th and finished it on the 25th.
It was thru this book that the Lord gave me my Christmas gift - this random coincidence that of all the titles that my sisters had recommended to me, from finding two of them available thru the TN library system, of those two, getting the one that would bless me in a very personal, direct way…. And that I would suddenly try to get this book right before Christmas when I have had the recommendation for over a year…… a random coincidence - not!
In the book Ties That Bind by Marie Bostwick is a prayer - a very simple child’s prayer that I had never heard before which took away my letdown, my sadness, my unease about that night….as soon as I read these words - I knew the Lord was talking to my heart - and I thank Him and I praise Him…..
I hear no voice
I feel no touch
I see no glory bright.
But yet I know that God is near,
In darkness as in light.
He watches ever by my side and hears my whispered prayer.
The Father for his little child, both day and night doth care. Amen.
Christmas was a tough day this year - no family close by - just a long slow day with a few tears shed. But I received the best present late in the day from the Lord - exactly what I needed and have needed since the 18th of June. Some would say it came my way by pure coincidence - as a woman of faith in God = I don’t have enough faith for that much coincidence. To explain, I have to go back 6 months….
My father, who would turn 93 on the 30th of June, was dying. He had been living with my husband and I since July of 2012. He had been on hospice since September of 2012 for a very bad heart….but he was dying from dementia. He had stopped eating - his body was shutting down.
At the end of May, we had to put Dad into a nursing home. Three weeks later on the 10th of June, I snatched him out of there - they just were not caring for him properly - his condition was deteriorating rapidly. And I am so thankful that the Lord gave me the guidance and strength to bring him home that day - for even 24 hours later, he was no longer able to sit up on his own - I would not have been able to bring him home…. To die.
The hospital bed that hospice provided consumed Dad’s small bedroom leaving no room for a cot. I had been sleeping just outside his room but on the night of the 17th, I knew I had to stay with him, so I piled quilts and blankets in a corner on the floor and slept in the room with Dad. His breathing was loud, labored - but being so tired, I was able to fall asleep. A little after 1am I woke up - the room was silent…..
I thought I had prepared myself for his passing…. I longed to be with Dad when the angel came to escort him to the Lord’s presence. And if I am completely honest - I was longing to see, hear or even just feel that angelic presence in the room. But there was nothing - not a thing........when I woke and no longer heard Dad breathing, I tried to take his pulse - but my own heart was beating so hard, I could not tell if the pulse I felt was his or mine. It was my own…….But I was there, awake and beside Dad when the last air left his lungs….and still, there was no light, no radiance, no sound no special sensation in the room….and for 6 months I have felt a letdown, a disappointment, a sadness, even an unease about that night - …………..
I am one of four girls - we all enjoy reading and have been sharing book recommendations for several years. I often check my library for the books that my sisters have read but living in a small town, the library often does not have them. So I have a growing list of ‘books to read’ and occasionally try to find some on the list. The week before Christmas I found two on this list that could be borrowed from other libraries here in TN. I asked my library if they could get one of the two titles for me - they did and I picked it up on the 23rd began reading it on the 24th and finished it on the 25th.
It was thru this book that the Lord gave me my Christmas gift - this random coincidence that of all the titles that my sisters had recommended to me, from finding two of them available thru the TN library system, of those two, getting the one that would bless me in a very personal, direct way…. And that I would suddenly try to get this book right before Christmas when I have had the recommendation for over a year…… a random coincidence - not!
In the book Ties That Bind by Marie Bostwick is a prayer - a very simple child’s prayer that I had never heard before which took away my letdown, my sadness, my unease about that night….as soon as I read these words - I knew the Lord was talking to my heart - and I thank Him and I praise Him…..
I hear no voice
I feel no touch
I see no glory bright.
But yet I know that God is near,
In darkness as in light.
He watches ever by my side and hears my whispered prayer.
The Father for his little child, both day and night doth care. Amen.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
More pics, Baltimore Album Quilt
Jan's beautiful quilt is finished and delivered - and she like it! yeah! Don't have a pic of the overall quilt but here are most of her beautiful blocks and how they are quilted.....
Monday, December 16, 2013
Quilting the Baltimore Album Quilt
I normally show pictures after the quilting is finished - but this is a project that I am currently working on.... I am both honored and scared to be quilting this beautiful hand-applique quilt for a dear lady in the local quilt guild, Jan. She wishes to give this quilt to her granddaughter for Christmas - yup, just 10 days away. But the granddaughter lives in FL - Jan and her husband leave on Thursday so I have 2 days to finish it....
Here are pictures of my start on quilting the Baltimore Album quilt – I am adding lots of feathers – but debating on how much outline quilting to do around the applique – I just don’t have the control to do a good job outlining on the gammil - so I am thinking...
My plan right now is to quilt the feathers as close to the applique as possible then when I unload the quilt, judge which parts need further quilting with outline – and do only those spots, hopefully will be less than 50%!
Isn't it a gorgeous quilt!
Here are pictures of my start on quilting the Baltimore Album quilt – I am adding lots of feathers – but debating on how much outline quilting to do around the applique – I just don’t have the control to do a good job outlining on the gammil - so I am thinking...
- add all the feathers,
- unload it
- then on my Viking, add the outline quilting –
- Oh, the size of that task just feels overwhelming!
My plan right now is to quilt the feathers as close to the applique as possible then when I unload the quilt, judge which parts need further quilting with outline – and do only those spots, hopefully will be less than 50%!
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