I'm back, and sewing again.

I know I haven't posted anything in a very long time.

It is hard for me to find time to blog, and also have inspiration of what to blog about.

But I'll try to get a few more posts up to update you all (are there any of you out there that read this?) on how our summer is going and all that.

For now I'll show you a few sewing projects I've been doing.

First, my favorite! I put soo much into this quilt. I collected the fabrics for a long time. It took me awhile to find and acquire all the colors and prints that I wanted. Then, I slowing made progress on it. The quilt top was done for quite sometime before I pulled it out again and got it basted and quilted.
It's a huge accomplishment for me. Being a queen size it's the biggest I've ever machine quilted on my humble little Kennmore sewing machine.

I'm surprise at how well it went and turned out.

Here it is finished, basted and ready to be quilted.

Some quilting in progress and marking.

Finished and some up close of quilting details. 

And we now how a new bed quilt. This quilt is pretty lightweight, so were using it during the summer months. Our old heavy duvet comforter will probably go back on soon when it gets cold.

Here's another large quilt I made this year. It's almost a Twin size (more of like a bed topper).
They are my usual colors. But I kinda like the vintage inspired colors and prints.

 The Piano Keys border is always a favorite of mine.

 This was another first for me. Learning the Baptist Fan quilting pattern. It was easier than I thought, and I really like it on this quilt.

 I did different quilting designs for the borders though.

This quilt is for sale in the Etsy shop. Go check it out and share it if you want!!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192721963/topiary-tiles-twin-bed-quilt?ref=shop_home_active_2


I've got another baby blanket and a throw quilt in the works. Just picked up more batting so I should be quilting them soon.
I also am searching creative ways to use scraps, so I've got some table runners I'm finishing up as well.

Would really be great to sell some of this, so I don't go broke with this quilting hobby of mine.

However, recently I've been trying to be more frugal, and almost all of these recent projects have come from my fabric stash. I've just had to purchase extra fabric for matching backings/bindings/borders, etc.

I'll be showing some purely scrappy projects supplied purely from my stash without any additional purchases soon.

Baby Proofing

My little 8 month old daughter is now a master crawler! Has been for a couple of weeks.

I've had to pay more attention to things on ground level. I also vacuum and mop more frequently than I used to. The living room, where she plays most of the time and where I sit and watch her has been mostly baby proof for awhile. But, now she follows us, everywhere! She's getting more familiar with the Kitchen, and explored the laundry room a couple of times.

I reorganized my laundry room awhile ago, mostly because it was just a mess. And in the process I considered making sure nothing harmful was down on Baby's level.

My Kitchen though, I have been putting off. And now, I can't put it off anymore.
I'm a little frustrated.
I want functional organization. But, the majority of my storage is cupboards below the counter top. Suddenly everything seems to have a blaring hazard sign all over it.
Where do I put my glass mixing bowls, blender, food processor, aluminum foil & saran wrap? None of these things seemed particularly harmful before. Now, as a mom, I'm realizing the kitchen is a very dangerous place.

I never took the whole "baby proof" your house thing very seriously. When I was growing up I never remember a baby gate, or outlet covers, or drawer/cupboard door locks. Your child grows up, explores, is curious about their world, and you watch them closely, tell them "no" to things they may not touch, and they learn. A few bumps and bruises never harmed anyone, that's how you learn, right?

I mean, I obviously keep extremely harmful things out of reach. We have a pellet stove and have put up a baby gate around it, because it can cause serious burns, we close doors, and keep a close watch on our baby.

But, maybe there is more to this baby proofing than I originally thought.


Maybe someday I'll find a kitchen set up that I like, works well and is safe.
In the meantime, I'll be at home watching my curious baby explore and be amazed at how she grows and learns.

Garden 2014 - Starting Seeds!!

I have very ambitious plans for a home garden this year. Maybe too ambitious, because the truth is. I don't have much experience and am not 100% sure of what I'm doing. But I'm doing some research, and experimentations and hoping I'll be at least a little successful this year.

Yesterday I got some seeds started.

 I reused toilet paper tubes, plastic lettuce containers, and some wooden skewers.

Placed cardboard tubes in plastic containers and filled with organic potting soil.
Then placed seeds in each one, wrapped washi tape around the end of a wooden skewer and stuck into the dirt as a "label".
Each plant got it's own washi tape color/design.

I have a master list with the tape, which plant it labels, how many plants, and the date I planted seeds. 

Hoping to see some sprouts in the coming days and weeks!! 

A Few Little Things

It's officially Spring now. Which I really like!
The temperature warms up a little bit. Everything starts turning green and coming to life again.
It's pleasant and makes me happy.

I'm working on making seasonal wreaths for my front door. I have one for fall that I made a couple years ago. And one for Christmas/Winter. But don't have anything appropriate for the Spring/Summer months.

I had most of the supplies for this Spring Tulip wreath. I had to pick up a grapevine wreath and a few extra tulips.

Now my front door is bright and Spring-y!!

I've slowly been working on decorating my entry way. Awhile ago I got a shelf and coat rack for the wall so we had a place for coats and things. And the shelf just do display pretty things.

Wasn't really sure what I wanted up there and the things I had in mind ended up just not looking right in that space.
I decided on a monogram. And came up with this little project.
I ordered the letter L. Then had to find a way to display it.

What I did was take a cardboard shoebox lid, cover it with a scrap of fabric and secure it on the back with hot glue. I put washi tape on the letter using a collection of greys and blacks I had. Then secured it to the fabric-covered lid with hot glue.
It actually worked! I wasn't sure if the glue would hold the letter up or not. But hasn't fallen down yet!!

I really like the outcome of my faux canvas wrapped monogram!!

Now I need to do some less exciting projects around the house. Like rearranging my kitchen to make it more baby-safe.

Nephew's Quilt

Yep! I have another Nephew, Noah Page!

Big congrats to my Sister Laura and her Husband Neal, and the big bro Silas!!

So I actually had Baby Page in mind while making the quilt I gave you a preview of last week. I just didn't know he was a boy yet ;)

Anyway, here's the finished product!

All pin basted and ready to be quilted.

And I actually had the binding ready before the quilting was done!

All finished!!

And even baby approved ;)

Sewing again.

So, I would say I'm quilting again. But since I'm not to the actual quilting part yet, I'm technically just sewing. Which is what piecing the quilt top together is.
Most quilters don't do the quilting step themselves. So, for them sewing a quilt top together is quilting. 

Anyway, I'll stop being all technical.
Here's a preview of what I'm working on.

It's coming together quickly. Picked up some batting for it yesterday and I'm hoping today will allow me time to pin and baste to prepare for quilting it.

Most of all, I'm just enjoying having the sewing machine out again. 

Update

I'm still here.
I am aware that I severely neglect this blog.
Sometimes I think about it, not able to remember the last thing I wrote. And wonder why it's even floating around out here on the internet. Blogging/writing isn't really my thing. But, sometimes I want an outlet for things that I need a better space than Facebook for.

So, I'm back, just to give an update for the past 3 months. And hopefully I'll be more consistent on here in the future.

So, Uhhmm...
Holidays were good and fun! We had such a great time enjoying Esther experience her first Christmas, learn to tear paper of packages, see Christmas lights, etc.
We spent the week before Christmas with family in Idaho. And then had our own celebration at home together.

December brought back new friends, for good! Some visitors from last year finished school and needed a place to settle down so they choose this little town. This has been good in a very challenging way for our little home-gym Crossfit experience. The tiny little workout group has grown from about 4 to about 10 or so and we've been slowly adding to the gym equipment and doing some construction to expand the gym space. Lots of fun!!

Come January, and the new year. Some friends all decided to try a "Paleo Challenge" to eat strict paleo diet for 31 days! I had been thinking of changing up the diet anyway, so joining a few friends sounded like a good way to get started. The hubby was unsure how it would go, but after a couple weeks, he was hooked too!
We are not addicted to Larabars, eating veggies for every meal, and have added several recipes to the favorites list. The paleo experience was good, we learned what worked and what didn't and have kept to it with a few exception. Maybe I'll do a more thorough post on it someday soon.
Ohh, and we both lost 5 pounds in a month of eating Paleo. Which was the extra lingering pounds I was hoping to shed after pregnancy.

Esther is the "perfect baby" or so she's been called by some. We just love and adore our sweet baby girl. Seriously, though. I think she might be the perfect baby. Sleeps 12 hours a night (all night), healthy, happy, rarely cries, etc. I'm already mentally preparing for #2 to be the worst child ever since I know there is no way we will get this lucky twice. (No, I'm not pregnant again) ;)
We truely are blessed by our daughter Esther. And though she's a good, easy baby. She's still a baby. This 7 month (thus far) journey of motherhood has not been easy. I have moments, more than I'd like to admit to, of wanting to get away from her. To do my own things, sleep in past 6:30am, do some crafting instead of wash diapers. Learning to give myself to another person, and be completely selfless is not easy, but worth it!

We've settled into a good routine. Meshing a baby's schedule with my husbands graveyard schedule isn't ideal. But we've made it work for us. But guess what!?!! After countless months of graves... in the near future dayshifts will be back again!! Yay!

The weather is warming up here, doubt it will last. But the 60 degrees, clear blue sky days are nice. I've been thinking about the garden boxes in the backyard and how to use them this year. So, maybe I'll keep y'all updated on that in the coming months.

I'm hoping to get the ol' Etsy shop up and running. Also been clearing out the fabric stash, trying to use what's there before I purchase anything new. However, I decided to be a good girl and work before play. So, I'm doing some "spring cleaning" around the house. The laundry room got reorganized and I'm currently in the process of getting the storage room and guest room manageable. The end is in sight, so hopefully the sewing machine can get dusted off and used again soon!

Whew! How did that get so long? Ugh, I'm so wordy! So much for "quick" update. Ha Ha!!

Anyway! I'll try to be more frequent on her. Thanks for reading!

Grief and Sorrow for the Christian

A little over a year ago I heard a sermon on James 5: 7-12.
Some very hard things in life had just happened, and within a couple weeks of that this sermon was preached. God's sovereignty and perfect timing in meeting my needs was awesome!


James 5: 7 - 12
"Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation."


Here is a short section of that sermon that really spoke to me...

The promise of redemption began and redemption is simply that part of the story that says in the person of Christ God's going to clean up our mess. We made the mess, God didn't, but God is coming to clean it up in the person of Jesus. God came in the person of Jesus to clean up the mess that we made which is why we can say the miracles of Jesus were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again, a world of peace and justice without death, and without disease, and without conflict, and that means, Christians, that to grieve as a Christian, listen, to grieve as a Christian is a down deep emotional statement of faith that one day things won't be this way. That's what grief is, grief is a down deep emotional acknowledgement that things weren't always this way. There's a sense of remembrance in our grief, whether we're conscious of it or not. Grief is an emotional response to the realization that things aren't right. When Christians grieve it's a down deep emotional statement of faith that one day things won't be this way. It's a down deep emotional statement of faith that our King is coming back and when he does he will fully and finally put this broken world back together again.


There is great comfort in this truth. God created a perfect world. Mankind messed it up and brought a curse upon it. But God is going to fix it. He sent Christ Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin, and through Christ's sacrifice will one day restore all to perfection once again.

The trials, sorrow, pain, suffering and grief of this life are only temporary. And our grief is good, in that we feel sad/sorrow/pain etc. because we know this is not the way it's supposed to be. And we have hope that someday soon all will be right again through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I hope you find hope and comfort in this as much as I did.

Esther's First Thanksgiving

We had the opportunity to travel to Idaho and spend a few days there during the week of Thanksgiving. Esther is an awesome traveler, as she just slept the entire way.


We got to see my good friend and her family. Her son Pierson is only a day older than Esther.
We had a great time!

Later in the week we got to meet all the relatives.
We had a good visit with my Grandma.

Meeting Great Grandma

 And with Matthew's Grandparents.

Meeting Great Grandparents

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family on Wednesday.

Spending time with the Aunts!

 Preparing Thanksgving Dinner

Dad carving the turkey

Grandpa and Grandma Dickey

Playing with Grandpa

Traditional thanksgiving board games

Spent Thanksgiving Day with Matthew's family, and got to eat another delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Meeting Uncle Isaac

Nana's turn

Esther enjoyed her uncle Jacob so much!

Meeting Great, Great Grammie

 5 Generations here, from 4 months to 96 years!!

Meeting Great Grandma

 More game playing traditions

We had a great time in Idaho with everybody! Our time there was too short, as always!!