Rescued

I know I posted this on social media but I wanted to make a blog post too.

I'm so glad I found this quilt!

I rescued it from the pet blanket bin at our local thrift store.

I paid a whopping $1.61 for it.

It's 67 1/2" x 77"

I've never had the desire to buy a quilt, antique or new.

When I saw this I knew it was a crazy quilt.

I knew that it looked old.

It wasn't until I started spreading it out in the store that I found the date.

I really didn't want to leave it in the store.

Another lady passed by me and commented that it looked like a crazy quilt.

I told her I thought the same thing and I was rescuing it.

The details and stitching are quite amazing.

There are several leaves and flowers spread about.

There are also several silk patches that have frayed.

I have learned what I need to do to protect it.

(I'm sure it will involve another post.)

:)

It now resides in my living room on this quilt rack I also found that day.

I really liked that it had a Sunbonnet Sue on one side and Overall Sam on the other.

 I inherited 12 unfinished Overall Sam blocks a long time ago.

It was several years before I decided to work on them.

Then it took several more years to finish those 12 blocks.

(I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing.)

And that's how I started quilting.

Third Anniversary

I have such mixed emotions regarding this day. It's the third anniversary of my dad's murder. As I've said before, I don't know what to do with this day. I can't ignore it. I can't forget it. What I can do is choose how I think about it. This time, however, the jury trial has actually happened so that is not hanging in my mind. I didn't blog about it because there's not much to say other than it happened. The murderer was convicted and sentenced to a long time behind bars. I've had people express to me that it must be good to have closure. I'm not sure what that means. There is no "getting over it". I have learned that that statement is not quite accurate. I don't like the phrase "move on" either. That has the "get over it" kind of attitude to it too. I have learned to live with it and that, to me, is moving forward.

The key word being live. So many people experience tragedy or hardship and never step forward again. They're stuck in the "what if's" or "woe is me" or "why me" or whatever. Yes, there is a time for grief and sadness after the shock of something wears off. There is also a time to step forward, move on as most people say. But moving on sounds like leaving something behind or walking away as if nothing happened. Something did happen. Something awful. Something horrific. Something I will never be able to forget. And there are still brief times of grief.

I will, however, choose to look at it from God's perspective. With God's words melded in my mind, it's easier to look at this messed up world. I choose to see the truth that Papa is in heaven with God, as promised to those who believe. I've never gone down the "why didn't God stop this?" road. We live in a sinful world, with sinful people who do sinful acts. As a result we suffer the consequences. None of us are exempt from that. All of us are sinners. As sinners we are all condemned. We are condemned unless we believe that Jesus died in our place for our sin. As a believer, there is a promise of eternity with God. An eternity without sin's effects or punishments. How awesome is that! I do not need to pay a price for my sin, it has already been paid. I do not need to suffer punishment because Jesus suffered for me. He got what was coming to me. I am eternally grateful for His sacrifice! AND IT'S FREE!

To the best of my knowledge, my dad was also a believer. I know I will see him again. None of us knew on this day three years ago that it would be his last. Thank God his soul was ready. Is yours? If you died today would God let you into heaven? It is impossible to do enough good deeds to satisfy a holy God. It is impossible to be religious enough to please the only true God. Going to church will not satisfy God, neither will baptism. If you don't believe, you just got wet. My point is that to avoid condemnation you have to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. He is the perfect son of God who died in your place for your sins, and rose from the dead. Jesus said himself, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John14:6) That's it, there is only one way. Not complicated.  So, if you died today, where would you spend eternity? Are you trusting in your works or His?

For this day, I choose joy.

My joy is based on truth.

The truth of God's saving grace.

That joy cannot be erased, even by murder.

I choose joy.

Quilt Quack 11

It's been a long time since there was a Quilt Quack post!

We now have 13 ducks (11 hens and 2 drakes).

Our lone Pekin bachelor (not pictured) has a date for freezer camp.

AKA he's getting butchered today.

The ducks were following me around thinking they were getting peas.

I didn't disappoint them.

This is Hazel, our youngest hen.

I think this might be her first egg.

When they're this size, they are called "fairy eggs".

This is probably the smallest fairy egg we've ever had.

Ironically, it weighs about the same as the quarter.

The Runners are typically skittish even if I have peas.

Connor still loves his chickens.

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I have had several successful fabric shopping trips at our local thrift store.

I have lots of fabric to sort and wash!

This pile had plenty of cut squares and yardage.

I found some fun prints on my most recent trip.

Cow, zebra, blue flames, galaxies, and several others.

I have finally decided on a blue border for my confetti table runner.

Now I need to cut it and pin it in place.

I will hand sew the borders to the hexagons.

Just one of the many blocks I'm making for one of my current projects.

My goal is six of these per week.

I am hopeful to have the top done before November.

I have a couple more quilts in the planning stages as well.

First Day of School

I realized the other day that I neglected to post pictures from the first day of school.

I'm not sure what happened but here they are.

Sorry, they're a little fuzzy.

The first day of school was August 9th.

It was supposed to the day before but it got cancelled due to the broken AC.

Connor's in 8th grade.

Nolan's a junior this year.

We're already looking ahead to post high school...

It's so hard to believe he graduates in two years!

CBC 2018

A couple of weeks ago Connor and I went to Checkpoint Bible Camp.

He was a camper and I was part of the kitchen staff.

I had a record number of special food need campers this year.

I was so thankful to have a helper!

I also helped out more than normal in the kitchen.

Most years I have tried to stay out of the way.

There were usually enough people that I wasn't really needed.

This year, however, we had fewer kitchen staff than in past years.

I helped out as much as I could.

Depending on the day, we feed between 180 and 200 people three times a day.

It was a lot of work but we had a lot fun too.

Besides working, I went swimming, kayaking, and did the float trip too.

The week went by really fast!

Why I don't take selfies...

I have little to no selfie skills.

That and I was afraid to drop my phone in the pond.

Blurry success!

The weather was perfect for camp this year.

Not too hot and not stormy either.

I think it rained lightly the first afternoon, but that was it.

We were glad it wasn't super hot, especially considering the air

conditioner wasn't working in the kitchen. It got a little warm in there!

We survived.

See the reeds in the above picture?

I thought it would be a good idea to go through

the little clearing that was in them.

Bad idea.

I didn't get stuck.

I picked up some hitch hikers.

At least two spiders were crawling on the rim above my shins.

I'm OK with spiders but not confined in a kayak on a pond with nothing to smash them with.

I really thought I might flip the boat trying to kill them...

especially when they dropped down inside.

No thanks, lesson learned.

Avoid the reeds next time.

I don't have tons of pictures. I was having phone issues.

We did pop a lot of popcorn!

It took two evenings (and possibly an adventure or two).

This pile was for the middle school camp after their float trip.

It was my first time going on the trip.

It was a nice relaxing two hours of floating down the Tippecanoe River in inner tubes.

Many laughs during that adventure as well.

A few years ago I took on the snack drop.

All campers get a snack in the afternoon.

 The snack tally sheets are filled out every day by each cabin.
Eventually the slips make their way to me.
One day we got this on the back of one of them.
It was very sweet of them to thank us.

Camp was awesome this year in so many ways.
Lots of work and lots of laughs.
But the most important thing was that there was clear Bible teaching happening.
I really wish I would have sat in on more middle school camp teaching.
It was on prayer and it was really good.

Teeny Tiny Quilt

 I have officially finished another quilt!
Quilt 23. It was fitting that I finished it Sunday, my dad's birthday.
He was my biggest quilting cheerleader.

This quilt was one I have been wanting to make for a while.

I made many mistakes but I love it!

Plus I found the cutest little quilt rack to display it.

I will most definitely make more this size.

 A close up of the stitching.

I machine quilted it.

It might have taken me a whole five minutes to quilt.

:)

This quilt is the smallest I've ever worked on.

I had no idea what I was doing when it came time to add the binding.

It was a little rough going at first.

It didn't look too bad from the front.

The backside, however, clearly showed I needed a do-over.

Ugh.

So, even though I had sewn about 3/4 of it, a date with Jack ensued.

It didn't take long to rip out the stitches.

The second time around I decided to ditch the machine and do it by hand.

It took a little longer but it was worth it.

Almost all of the triangles for the squares came from my scrap triangle jar.

I was only two squares shy of my size goal.

Those were quickly cut from other scraps.

The backing came from fabric found at the thrift store.

I keep all of my left over binding strips in a box.

I found the exact length and color I needed.

The only thing I did was cut it skinnier.

So what size is this tiny quilt?

6 3/8" x 8 3/8"

Isn't this small quilt rack the cutest thing ever?
I saw it at our thrift store months ago.
I actually forgot about it.
I was in the store last week for their fifty percent off day and happened to see it.
It sat on the topmost shelf above my eyesight, so I could have easily missed it.
I couldn't believe it was still there.
I hem hawed around and decided not to get it. I'm not a nick-knack kind of person.
After I got home I couldn't stop thinking about it... it was half-price after all. ;)

So I called Dwayne and had him pick it up for me on his way home from work.
I knew there was a chance someone else would pick it up before he got there.
That was OK with me.
As you can see, it was still at the store.
(Crazy quilter happy dance.)

Now my plan is to make more quilts and change them out with the seasons and holidays.
I can't wait to make more!

No Problem!

I think I started this thing two years ago.

I have finally finished sewing the rows.

I'm super excited!

I have been watching videos on how to add a border.

Now I just need to decide what color.

Hm. I'll have to see what's in my stash.

My goal is to make the entire thing from scraps.

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A while back I posted about my scrap triangle jar.

I decided two days before leaving for camp, to sew some.

One thing led to another and before I knew it I had a mini quilt!

:)

I chain pieced like no tomorrow.

Then I had a pile of half square triangles to snip apart and trim.

Four swipes with the rotary cutter on each of the 48 squares.

I have a rotating cutting mat that makes this job easy.

I quickly had a pile of half square triangles to work with.

I laid them out and started sewing rows.

 I squared it up as best as I could.

The bottom row is a little askew.

I did not starch my fabric before I started...lesson learned.

I have it all sandwiched and basted.

I haven't decided how to quilt it just yet.

It took a whole two days to do this.

It probably would take only one afternoon if I had time to do it in one sitting.

So it definitely falls under the QDD or squirrel project!

I've got a couple more projects in my head.

Not to mention more scrap triangles. ;)

I think I'm beginning to lose count of projects...that's another post for another day.