A Look Back---Moving Forward

 

What a year it has been.....

Milestones

Accomplishments

               

AND don't forget the pincushion Swap!  That was fun!  HERE

Small accomplishments in 2022, but the most important accomplishment this year was spending time with dad.  
I would not have given that up for anything...and how I miss him, every single day! 

And now I'm ready to say "goodbye" and "hello."

*From the Kitchen of "My 'Ol Kentucky Duplex": Black-Eyed Pea Salad.  Tradition has it starting a new year with black-eyed peas is supposed to be good luck. (Of course, if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ, your life is not based on "luck", but traditions are nice.)

Challenge Yourself

The American Patchwork and Quilting UFO Challenge.
I've participated in 2018, 2019 2020, 2021 and 2022 and I'll participate again in 2023.

My most successful year participating in this challenge was by far 2021....we'd become accustomed to sheltering in place;
I had not yet decided to pull up stakes and move across the country; I think I was generally more organized that year, and certainly more motivated.

These are not in order of importance:  How it works; each month APQ* posts a number on their FB page.  That is the item you are supposed to work on that month.  The object is at the end of the year you will have finished...or worked on....12 projects (supposedly having fewer UFO's....not sure that is exactly what happens knowing Quilter's propensity for starting new projects.  "Oh, Look!  A new pattern!  It looks fast and easy...."and a new UFO is born.)

My List

 

I believe it is a good thing to challenge yourself...to participate click HERE. 

P.S.  This just Posted: 
My #3 is going to be a new skill....stay tuned.

*APQ:  American Patchwork and Quilting

The Gifts We Give

There is no getting around it, even as a seventarian I look forward to opening gifts on Christmas morning.  But, is Christmas all about getting presents?  No, according to tradition, December 25 is the day Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary in the stable....we all know the story.  (It probably isn't that exact day, but it's as good a day as any to celebrate the birth of a King.)

But back to giving and receiving gifts....I love to give gifts that are meaningful to the person... it's a love thing.  What will touch their heart.  And, of course, I like receiving gifts that are thoughtful as well ... how much effort did that person go to to think about me and what I might enjoy.  

There is a gift given at Christmas, however, that mostly gets over-looked these days....
The Gift of  the birth of Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world (you and me) that He GAVE. 
God gave His one and only Son to pay a price you and I could never pay.  Our "sin debt."

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." – Isaiah 53:4-5

* We are ALL sinners.  (ALL of us...you, me and even our saintly grandma.)
* God is Holy....by His very nature He is not able to have a relationship with sin.  Without a relationship with God, when we die, we will NOT go to heaven, nor will we be "resting in peace." There are consequences for sin.  This is our "sin debt."*
* In the Old Testament there was the blood sacrifice that paid the sin debt for a time (not once for all.)
* But then God gave us a new sacrifice...Jesus Christ ... Jesus' birth leads up to Easter and Jesus' death and resurrection.
  The blood sacrifice that pays the sin debt once for all.  

But that is not the end...what happens after the sacrifice has been paid.  How does the sinner (you and me) appropriate the payment...the gift?  

Let's pretend you get a speeding ticket and the fine is $1,000 and you only have $20 in your bank account!  "Pay up or go to jail!" the Judge shouts.... You try to reason with the Judge but he is a just judge and he is firm. You resign yourself to the fact that you're going to jail because you just, plain don't have the money for the fine.  

Then a total stranger steps up and says "I'll pay the fine on their behalf."   The fine will be paid and you'll be free to go home.  Wow, how grateful you are ... how relieved and happy ... but you still need to reach out and accept the gift.  You need to tell your benefactor that you accept the gift.  (You both know this is a gift...not a loan...you do not have the means to pay him back.)

So, HOW do you accept the gift of Jesus' payment for your sin debt?  The debt you could never, ever pay on your own?

* You must admit that you are a sinner....you can't fake this....you can't just use words... this may take some time to really look into your soul.  While God cannot have a relationship with sin, He does hear the prayers of sinners...pray, ask for the Holy Spirit to show you your sin...it is a very humbling experience and will truly break your heart.*

* Believe that Jesus died to pay for your sin debt, and that He rose again on Easter, and is alive today.   This does not come naturally to us.  We don't just "Believe"  just like that.  Again, pray that the Holy Spirit will show you the truth of  your sin debt and Jesus' payment.

* Humble yourself, accept God's free gift of payment for your sin.  This may look different to different people.

As you can see, this is not a 10 minute process....it may take some time.  Get alone in the mornings before your busy day.  Get a Bible, start reading the book of John in the New Testament.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see God's truth in God's Word.  Honestly, this will change your life.  This will change your eternity!

Don't wait.  None of us knows when we will breath our last.  After that, we stand before God and He asks only one question.....What did you do with the knowledge of the birth, death and resurrection of my Son, Jesus Christ. 
Your answer will determine where you spend your eternity.

Please send me a private message if I can be of any help to you in any way. 

*If you are thinking you are a "good person" and never sin....just think back on the past week and count the number of lies you've told.
Lying is a sin, even the "little white" ones.

The Tyranny of the Urgent

 

When I was in my 20's I worked at Campus Crusade for Christ* at Arrowhead Springs, their headquarters in the foothills of the Southern California mountains.  I think they have a good ministry, especially on college campuses.  But, back then, working at Headquarters, honestly, it felt like a big click.  It makes me chuckle now, we were young and oh-so serious.  

One of the click-ish things we did was read certain books...everybody read the same book.  At the time it was The Tyranny of the Urgent.  In a nutshell, as best as I can remember, it was nearly 50 years ago (wow...50 years!)...it was  a book is about things that feel Urgent  and may be stealing your time and keeping you from truly important things. Kind-of like "The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Gease" whether it's the main wheel or not.

 

As we wind down 2022 I'm feeling anxious and urgent....what must I finish before the end of the year?!   I want to finish something -- need to finish something -- end this year, 2022, on a positive note. 

And, so I did, well, almost.  Who knew anxiety would drive me back to the sewing studio.  I've left this quilt top in a good, positive place.  But it was NOT easy getting even this far...Jack and I have spent some quality time together lately....dontjaknow.  (Don't look too closely, let's just say "done is better than perfect.")

 

 

Hummmm....hastily thrown up on the design wall...this is NOT turning out the way EQ8 and I envisioned....oh, well.....it'll be perfect to the young lady who will receive it.  Of course, there will be many adjustments before the final layout is stitched together.

Reminder of the general idea of the layout.

 

Now I can fly off to California (leaving the chilly KY weather behind**) and spend time with The Babes.  

*Now called Cru  Arrowhead Springs Hotel history.  HERE

**In case you're not following Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube....BIG arctic cold front moving down across most of the lower 48.

*** From the kitchen of "My 'ol Kentucky Duplex": French Onion Chicken Skillet HERE. This is a yummy chicken skillet. 
Served with roasted vegetables, it was a big hit with the Baby Sis and her D.H.

The Passing Quilt

The Needlers lost one of its own.

Miss Wanda

 

 

 

I remember well when Miss Wanda moved into the apartments where I lived at the time, she was my next-door neighbor and that was the first thing she said to me
"Hi Neighbor."  

As you might guess, being an older person she had her share of health issues and certainly many life events, but she was always so positive.  And funny stories! 
She was full of them!  She made us Needlers laugh a lot!

 

In the Needlers' sewing room

Taco Tuesday in Wanda's new, small place.  I believe that was our last Needlers face-to-face gathering that included
Miss Wanda, right before the "Lock Down."  But, even during Covid, we'd text and I'd drive over and visit with her through the fence.  There are just some people who enter your life and you're friends forever.

I happened upon this story a while back:  The Passing Quilt HERE 

This is a nice piece, but get a tissue before reading it.

Come to think of it, when my dad passed just a month-or-so ago the funeral home people come to take him, and they DID have a quilt to cover him!  I didn't think of it at the time but now I'm so grateful that in his last journey he was covered with a little splash of beauty.  One last hug.

Miss Wanda, you'll always be in my heart and you'll always be working on a quilt.

It's Official !

 ...it was a dark and stormy afternoon.... well, not too dark, or stormy....
but it is Winter so it was cloudy, drizzly and chilly... we braved the elements and gathered for our second meeting...

 

Charlotte                          Cheryl                                                      Andi                        Rachael *                    

 

The First Saturday needle group is born.

Our second meeting was much like the first, sitting around munching and sipping and chatting about our first quilts....
Rachael brought her award-winning wall quilt she made when she was only 10 years old.  It was good, too...I was impressed.

January will be "Hand Work" and February we're planning "Quilt 'til You Wilt!"  Meeting with my new friends brings back memories of the California Needlers. HERE   

These lovely ladies are my first real Kentucky friends and I'm excited for our meet ups. (Except for my sister, but she has to be my friend...she's my sister...)

 

 

 

*We were expecting a couple more, but it's flu season....

**My new hobby...cooking.  This week's recipe:  Turkey Sausage, White Bean Soup....so delicious!  HERE

Room For Improvement

Realizing it is a bit early, have you thought about your New Year's Resolutions for 2023? 
I stopped making resolutions years ago...it felt like such a setup for failure.  But, that does not mean there isn't room for improvement.

It's no secret this past year has left me stagnant, marking time, what with the big move, then dad's illness and subsequent passing.... But, I have made progress...I have been making small changes....

 

*spend some quiet time each day being thankful to God
*cooking...REAL cooking, not just assembling*
*do some sewing each day (lately it has been working on my Glorious Hexies while watching documentaries on Netflix)**
*signed up for ukulele lessons with Josh of Time on a String.
*floss

Small steps are certainly better than no steps at all, right?

**(My office space is behind that ugly zoom screen. I'm open to suggestions on
how to make the transition between office and living space more aesthetic.)

 

So, with the start of a new year, it just feels fresh and clean and begging for change.  

I love Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts.  HERE  

Beginning January 1, 2023 she is again presenting her Declutter Challenge.

 

My sewing space is not that old....I've only been in this house 10 months, but I think there is room for improvement where STUFF is concerned.  I believe I will follow along and implement what is relevant and let pass what is not.  And, it's a connection...moving in a positive direction.

And, you....do you need a nudge to get back in your sewing space, or tidy up, or just make a connection? 
Follow the Link and Register with me.

*I've been following Becky at Acre Homestead on YouTube.  She has inspired me.  I even bought a freezer!

New Kid In Town

Small businesses suffered a lot as a result of the pandemic...some to the point of death... to be sure quilt shops and fabric stores closed left-and-right!   And, if you were a small business in a small town...well, let's just say the cards were stacked against you.

After moving to Paducah (a small town) earlier this year, I was surprised to see a lot of empty storefronts downtown.  It did not look the same as I remember from previous-years visits with the Quilting Auntie during Quilt Week.  It was disappointing to see how much quilting was not happening in Quilt City, USA.

Of course there is the quilt show every year in April and Hancocks of Paducah and the Quilt Museum, but other than that....

Enter Cheryl Sleboda and Mauppin's Sewing Emporium...all the way from Chicago to our small town!

Apparently Cheryl knows/and is known around the quilting community.   

She has a YouTube channel and a presence on Instagram.

When this notice popped up on Nextdoor, I decided to go have a look.

 

 

And, what fun!  So delightful to get to know her.   She is a number of years younger than me and our styles are very different, but I love her vision; i.e., classes, lectures, community.  And I love that she is already promoting Paducah as a fiber arts kind of town.

 

As we chatted, in walked Norma....another new best friend after today.  She talked about the one official sewing guild in town, Paducah Stitch & Quilt Guild.  I have not visited because they meet during the day, on week days...a work day for me. 
But after today, I may take an afternoon off to go visit.

It was such a fun morning.  I learned a lot about other fiber arts shops open in downtown and a pottery shop opening up right next door in the former "Quilt In A Day" shop.  It gives me hope.

The Sewing Emporium is not even officially open yet, but loved visiting with Cheryl and Norma, looking at some of her fun notions, kits, etc.  and just generally talking "quilt." Who knows Paducah just might become the next Hamilton, MO!

Thankful

 Wishing everyone a wonderful, Thankful, day.

UPDATE:

Lot's of fun, food and family.

Joy & Michael's, Paducah, KY

SNOW !

 And just like that....the weather went from 80 degrees and sleeping with the A/C on to SNOW!!

 

Nothing like a chilly 26 degrees outside to keep you INSIDE! 
Soup Weather!

But, I'm not complaining....really...

According to the Farmer's Almanac, this winter is supposed to be colder and snowier than normal.  I don't like to be cold, and I most definitely will not like my power bill when it comes, but I am embracing my first full winter in my new digs and spending time INSIDE and in the studio.

 

Messy is Beautiful

 

Not long ago I read a FB post -- Pat Sloan's FB page -- about creating a test block when beginning a new quilt project. 
I've never done that although it sounds like a good idea this time...I suppose.... because I changed the block size on the
You're Invited pattern from 10.5" blocks to 12" blocks to accommodate the pictures in this panel.

                                        Practice Block                                                       Paper Block from EQ8

I think the practice block came out rather nice.  It's almost perfect. I did lose some points.

Creating practice blocks seems like a good idea...but what do you do with a bunch of practice blocks?*

*Just Get It Done Quilts video on orphan blocks HERE

You're Invited

 Ahhhh, yes....I remember now....the joys of changing up the pattern.... Isn't that why we're quilters?

The Designer's version
(Original size 54.5" X 54.5")

I liked the original well enough.  What I really liked was the Alice in Wonderland squares and the Halloween colors.  (I'm not a fan of Halloween, but I like Halloween fabrics, go figure.)

 

I'd already decided to add another setting row to the top and bottom.

But in the process of  preparing to fussy cut the panel
I discovered the pattern said to cut the panel into 10.5 inch squares.....

OK.....

 

But by doing that the cutest part of the panel squares
would be cut off! (Why would anyone do that?!)

What to do...what to do....  I ALMOST  just followed the pattern.  But I would have forever regretted that decision. 
Why not cut the squares at 12.5 X 12.5.....  sure.....  Enter EQ8*  

In the process of enlarging the blocks, I redesigned the quilt. I wasn't really that crazy about the corner blocks anyway.

The grey squares are where the panel blocks will sit.
(New size 70.5" by 70.5")

The process of redesigning this quilt made me dig deep into the recesses of my memory to fish out how to use the features in EQ8.  Thank you, YouTube, for the help!

The original panel was designed by Riley Blake Designs using the fabric line Mad Masquerader.

I've already made 60 flying geese THE ORIGINAL SIZE!!  So, we'll see how that goes.

*Electric Quilt 8

Just DO it!

There are a few life-changing moments that shake your world....one of them is the death of a parent.  

Dad's airplane quilt - 2011
Yellow Brick Road, on point.

 

 

But that was a month ago!  Life should be normal again, right?  But, the weeks roll by and here I sit....twiddling my thumbs.... I just don't know what to do with myself!  Every night when I finish work I think "... now what do I do..."  until it's a respectful time to just go to bed.

 

 

 

 

I'd heard it said if you do something for 21 days straight, it becomes a habit. That is true statement...for more than 21 days, every day ... morning and night.... I'd drive over to sit with dad. 
I swear, now every time I get in my car, it fights me to drive to dad's.

 

 

 

While you need to give yourself grace, there comes a point in time when you simply just Pick Yourself Up and Just DO IT!

 

 

 

So, that is what I'm doing....forcing myself to sit down at the sewing machine every evening and sew, even if it is for only 10 minutes
(usually turns into an hour or so.)  

 

 

I'm starting with the project purchased from Country Sampler in Omaha last month.  HERE

It's new and fresh and fun...and easy, mostly....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hardest part...flying geese.  I only need 60.

 

 

 

 Other things to restart my life;

*perusing quilt sites and saving pictures of quilts I like; 

*this Saturday my quilting friend, Carolyn, is coming over for tapas and wine and she's bring a show-n-tell....what else.... Oh, yes, 

*A niece, Lauren, (who I met for the first time when she and her family came to Paducah for dad's memorial) is a new quilter!  She lives in Chicago, but there is Zoom, so we'll connect.

 

 

That makes two nieces who are quilters!

 (Dez's first nine patch.)

 

 

There IS life after death....both for me and for dad....
He is alive in heaven, worshiping at the feet of Christ all day long.  Psalms 95:6

Gentlemen! (Gentlewoman) Re-Start Your Engines!

 

It has been an exhausting few months with dad's accident and subsequent hospitalization and finally his passing late last month.

Since then, it's been a busy two weeks with a constant stream of family and friends coming and going...planning a memorial and starting the process of cleaning out dad's things.

The Memorial was very nice and, much to my surprise, quite a number of people traveled long distances to attend. 
It's not that easy getting in this small community and about 45 family members made the effort, including 8 of the 9 kids and a good sampling of grandkids and great grandkids. Coming from California, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Colorado and Tennessee to name just a few places.  (What is it they say about "Marrying and Burying" bringing families together?)

 

My dad was well loved so people came from far and near.  There was a lot of  food, some laughing, telling funny stories, lots of tears and quite a few rounds of margaritas.  

 

 

And then all too soon we were saying goodbye with a farewell breakfast at
Cracker Barrel,  keeping our family tradition alive.

 

Now it is time to get back to a normal life.  That would include quilting and ukuleleing.