Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, I can't believe it is here and I'm not really in the "spirit of Christmas". I don't know why either. I wanted to decorate more, but we can't figure out where the rest of the deocrations went...hahaha...that is funny though. I don't want to go spend money on something we truly don't need, other things must be taken care of first. Presents this year are lean, we spent the money on the boys...they wanted larger presents this year...and John no longer wants toys. I officially am a mom to teenagers!

Today I do have to begin cooking. We have our big dinner today! We are having dinner with the Nichols family, Larry, Melissa, Marissa and Bryce. Their other two children, Cody and Myiah will be with their mom until later on in the evening. So prime rib is on the menu! I'm looking forward to our day together.

Joe took two weeks off from work this time. He spent his first two days off doing not much of anything. He needed to just rest. Yesterday he worked on a couple of projects, some repairs on the house, that kept him busy.

I've been dealing with somethings and I need to figure out if this is how to handle the situation. This will be a huge year for education on dealing with women, being a part of the leadership of our church's women minisitry. I'm somewhat nervous and overwhelmed. Prayers are needed. I know that when something wonderful is going to happen that satan can't stand it and he gets his dirty little hands in wherever he can and causes chaos...and he did just that. Lord, please give us guidance!

My sewing has been kind of well...not so much these last few days. I've had to keep myself occupied with other things and today will be cleaning and cooking. Tomorrow after the kids open their presents I will be able to play with fabric. I think I'm going to rip the quilt apart that I pieced together and place the blocks in another direction/pattern.

The week after Christmas I have several tasks that I need to do. I have to read for school, trying to figure out the biblical allusions for our 2nd semester, prepare the high school kids for the term paper, get the middle school kids writing more and catch them up in their workbooks (the books arrived about a month late) and finish planning the school year. I need to find some great essay topics too.

I have a quilt project though that is going to require some attention. My chiropractor has ordered a whole cloth quilt from me. I have the fabric, now I have to lay the pattern out, basically draw it on a regular sheet of paper then transfe the design to fabric....except the fabric is dark green...you can't see the drawing lines which will become the stitiching lines...this is going to be fun!

Speaking of quilting, I'm going to upload my latest blocks. I've been working on the mystery quilt "Carolina Christmas" from Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com Bonnie designs fantastic scrappy quilts and she has outdone herself again!

Falling behind and snowflakes are falling

Winter is arriving and I am falling further behind with my sewing projects. This school year has played a huge role in my falling behind in quilting, along with church activities. But I am enjoying this year. It has been a stressful year but very enjoyable so far.
I'm now seeing a podiatrist and have learned that I have 3 neuroma (3 pinched nerves in each foot) and my arches are falling. So now I have orthodic inserts in my new shoes, joy! I'm also seeing a chiropractor, my bones and muscles are not too terribly bad, just a few adjustments. I'm basically really tight in my mid back from all the sewing!
I'm going to make this a simple entry today, I will have to upload pictures later!

Auntumn is in the air...and so is winter

Autumn is in the air and so is winter...we are waking up to frost in the morning and the heat is on in the house. I'm feeling the need to get the yard ready for the winter. I will have to close up my "passion pit" (side screened in porch that my sister named passion pit). We will have to put the glass back into the window openings, take the screens and store them in the basement. Plants will have to be brought in that I would like to attempt to save over the winter and hopefully they can live in the house. I'm going to have the boys bring in the wicker furniture and store it in one of the rooms in the basement too.
I'm also ready to paint more rooms in my home! My friend's husband is going to paint our foyer for us, it is a 2 story foyer. They need the money so I don't mind helping them out at all. They are a great family! Speaking of painting, there are other rooms that need to be painted. Chris' room is ready and so is his bathroom. That will probably be first on my list, then paint the stairwell to the basement. My plan is while my friend's husband is painting the foyer, I can paint the hallway that comes off the foyer. That would be nice to have that all done at once!
Quilting: not much going on in the quilt world for me. I did manage to finish 2 quilt tops that I gave away and a friend's quilt. I have about 10 quilts now that need to go on the machine, I'm glad I have no deadlines for those quilts! This Saturday, my quilting group is coming over. We are going to head over to the Village Quilt Shoppe for the quilt show, then come back here for lunch and head down to the basement for a day of sewing! Some of us are going to begin piecing a "weaver fever" quilt. Yep, starting another project when I have not finished the other one....that would be Steve's quilt that should have been finish over a year ago...oops! I get distracted very easily.
My weeks are so busy right now. Monday is the middle school level co-op, every other Tuesday is Meadows co-op, Tuesday night I host a women's bible study here, Wednesday is the high school co-op, afterwards we all rush out of the house to head for church. There we have youth praise band practice and bible study classes. Man when Thursday gets here I am absolutely exhuasted! I look forward to sitting in my bed wrapped up in blankets, door closed and I watch Grey's Anatomy! I noticed in the last show that they have Meredith in bed...she is pregnant...you could tell. Funny. oh well that is Hollywood.
Today though, after our Meadows group, I am taking my son Chris to the doctor. He has lost 40lbs in about 3 months. I've noticed that he is tiring very easily, some days he is so pale. I'm hoping it is because he grew. He is already over 6ft, but he looks like he could be almost 6'3" now! Praying there is nothing wrong with him and that it was only a growth spurt.
Last night I hosted a Premier Jewelry party. I had a blast and made a new friend at church. She is the rep. for PJewelry. Glenda is her name, and she is so nice! Learned a lot about her last night, I really like her!
Well, I have to get moving now, time to go get my day moving.
~till next time....taking it one~stitch~at~a~time Nancy

School has started...leaves are turning

Summer is suppose to still be here, but the leaves are already turning...sigh...you know what that means....winter is not far off...sigh

We have started our new school year with a bang! I'm hosting a middle school level history, science, literature and writing class, and a high school level here in my home.
I have not been able to piece (quilt) very often these days due to home schooling. I'm going through withdrawals so I decided to have all my quilting buddies over on Saturday! I can't wait to see everyone! We clear out my family room and set up tables for everyone to sew at. There will be about 8 of us, it is going to be a blast!!!

Back to homeschooling, I'm a little disappointed in 2 of my high school students. They have been in this writing class for 2 years and their first essay for this year was extremely poor. I will be sending their essays back home for them to rework. I was impressed with the others' though! Very good content! Way to go kids! I think this group is going to be a blast! I have 3 girls too...a little distracting for those boys though...the girls are cute.

That is all for now....

What happened to summer?

This has been one of the coolest, temperature wise, July's I have experienced in years! I'm enjoying the cooler temps!! I wish it would stay this way all year, but I hear you have to move to Hawaii to enjoy this, hahaha.
Chris and Steve were gone for a week to Vanderbilt, Michigan. Our church's youth took our VBS program there. I missed my two boys! I'm glad they are home! And I heard nothing but great reports on how well both boys were and how helpful they are! While Chris and Steve were gone we painted John's bedroom. It was a brick red color, we could not stand it any longer...it is not a nice soothing camel brown color. His room looks fantastic!! Now to just get Chris's room done!!!
The drama is still continueing in other areas, but I will not post them on my blog, that is not a nice thing to do. I will pray that all works out.
Speaking of prayer, Bonnie and her family are on their way to Baylor Hospital in Houston, TX. Pray Pray Pray for Bonnie!! I know the Lord can heal her!
School is going to be starting soon. I need to get busy and start planning.
I also need to work out in my yard, it looks horrible! The flowers have gotten way to big! I can't move them though until September! Lots of work ahead!
Summer feels as if it is almost over and yet at the same time it feels that it has just gotten started!! *sniff sniff* I need more time, but don't we all!! I need to piece another quilt! I feel it in my bones! LOL... Time to get moving off the computer!

Thursday morning

Wow, I did not realize it has been several weeks since I have posted anything. I guess I've been busy. This morning I received news that our Pastor's wife, Bonnie, ...well her cancer is back. This is very upsetting! She is such a wonderful person and I just don't understand how this could happen. God is in control!! For those of you who follow my blog, please pray for Bonnie.
Last night I finally finished a friend's quilt. Took me forever, but it is done! YEAH! 1 down and 9 more to go...joy.
I discovered last night that these strange little bug bites on my hand and elbow, well they are not bug bites, it is poison ivy...great! So far I only have two spots, lets hope that it will stay that way and go away!
Not much else is happening, my son Chris bought himself a used 1997 Honda Civic on Monday. oh this makes 11 vehicles at my home...I think my husband needs to sell and get rid of some! Chris is very proud of himself, he saved for a year! We are proud of him too.
Time to get myself into my Bible study then on to working on a quilt.
~Nancy

Monday Monday

This past Saturday evening we held our Sunday School party here at my home. I enjoy having everyone over! We sat outside till about 11pm around the fire pit. We were blessed with beautiful weather! The kids had a wonderful time running up and down our big hill, the little kids did that not the big kids.
Yesterday, I worked a little on the quilt that I am designing and then decided to work on the longarm machine. My friend Dawn dropped off her Weaver Fever quilt she made. Blues and yellows! Love it! I'm almost finished with it, it is taking a little longer than I anticipated, but I am almost finished with it. Dawn took all my scrap batting home and is making me large batting pieces for my quilts. We are bartering services....she is piecing my batting scraps into large pieces and I am quilting for her. Once I finish my own 24 quilts then I will send them to "Aunt" Chris for binding...I like exchanging services!
My son Chris has found a car that he wants to purchase. Hopefully one day this week we can go look at it. I hope we can do this before it gets sold to someone else, it is a really nice Honda Accord...nothing like a foreign vehicle in your driveway! lol...well time for me to go work on my Bible study. I love sitting outside on my backporch reading!

Summer is here!

YES!! Summer is finally here! I missed that taste of heat and humidity, only for a few minutes though, then I decided that spring's temperatures are better! This morning I am collecting some free quilt patterns for the quilting ministry that I will be starting in August at church. My first lesson will be to make sure everyone knows how to use their sewing machines! LOL Next I will then begin teaching the ladies basic quilting terminology, 1/4inch seam, hst, 4patch units...we will make all of these. I think I would like to have each one them have a notebook that will have cardstock pages with sheet protectors so that the blocks they make can reference to. I hope that idea works.
The rest of my morning will be filled with just straighting up the house to prepare for our Sunday School bbq that is this evening. Not much house work to do, just basic stuff. I enjoy having everyone over.
This past Thursday we had a meeting with our homeschool co-op and drama group moms. The church that sponsors us, allows us to use their building is having some financial problems. They are an itsy bitsy church and we want to help them raise money to help pay for the new roof and to pay the heat bills. Winter is brutal to the heat bills! I hope all goes well with this and our fund raiser ideas do well for the church. I think it is absolutely wonderful what that church does for us, and it is not even my church, but I want to help! The fact that they open the doors to us, all denominations is absolutely fantastic!
Dawn came over yesterday and she took home all of my batting scraps. She is going to match them up and make the scraps into large battings for me!! I think this is going to be great! I have had those bags and bins of scrap batting for years, now I need to do something about it. In exchange for her doing this for me, I'm going to quilt her weaver fever quilt!
One more thought, it is time to start planning for the fall semester. Yep, I can't believe it, but before I know what will hit me fall will be here! If I don't plan for the lessons starting in July then I will not be ready for September! If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail! I don't want that hanging over me!
Well, time to get to moving with this morning's chores and of course eat breakfast.
~Nancy....

Airport, Prom, Graduation!

Here we go! Today is the day that we are supper busy! My sister, Renee and her family, are flying in from Charlotte. We have to be at the church for Prom pictures by 5, the boys head up to the prom with their dates around 6:10...they have a night of fun!! and then they come home wiped out! LOL I can't wait for Saturday! Graduation day! Matt and Joe have made a video for their graduation ceremony...hmmm...I wonder if Joe has written his graduation speech yet? Yesterday I managed to piece 3 pillowcases. My original plan was to only make 2 but I decided "what the heck, let's make a third!" So I did! I also rearranged my family room, I put the 4 birds into the living room and brought in to the family room 4 more chairs. With having 12 people in my home I needed to have available as many chairs as possible in there. The room is large enough so it looks nice. The video is of Joe and Matt preparing for their graduation ceremony! It is fantastic! Matt has a great eye for filming and I hope he pursues this as a career. My son Steve has told me that he thinks he has found his career! He has been helping Matt in filming, and has really enjoyed it! Way to go boys!! Enjoy the video!!

updating before graduation!

I have a lot to accomplish this week before the big day! Joe graduates this coming Saturday!! The kids' band is playing and I wanted to post some pictures of them and other things that have gone on since I last posted. The boys managed to take down the umbrella tree that was over grown. They took off the top of the tree first, then finished by cutting down the trunk. They hauled all the debris with the old blue pick up truck! The other pictures are of the latest quilt projects. The red and cream colored is a log cabin for my neice. The black and tan is a quilt that I am designing, it has an alternate block that makes the quilt appear to have circles! LOVE IT! Later gator!

Busy day on the longarm machine

Yesterday was a very busy day on the longarm machine. I completed 3 quilts and put a 4th on the machine! I only have 4 more to go and then all customer/friend quilts are done! I will work on Steve's quilt while I wait for the Mississippi quilts to arrive. I have 7 coming from Mississippi. I also have to finish my sister Renee's quilts and pillowcases. She always has an order for me.
Camelot is on! Our summer project, Camelot! I can't believe we are going to put on another play before school starts back up again. I have to start lesson plans asap so that I have time to breathe after the play. That will be the entire month of August. I will have a month off between play and school. I'm so thankful that my boys can work alone for about 75% of the subjects. To save money this year, I'm going to write out my own lessons, bringing in lots of resources that I already have. Today I must run some errands before I get started back on the longarm machine. I also need to call some of the kids' friends so that I can get some help in moving rocks out of a large flowerbed. I'm calling it a rock party! How clever! I will feed the kids that come over and help. That is all for now....

What is on my design wall this Monday..

Well let me see, I should have finished piecing this quilt this past weekend, but my mind was in other places!!

This is Steve's quilt. I had made him a quilt almost identical to this one over the summer 2008. After I finished the twin size version, we decided to get him a queen size bed...needless to say the quilt did not fit his bed. I'm trying to finish the quilt now, but I was just not motivated enough to work on it yesterday...so it is on my wall still, along with a friend's quilt on the longarm machine. I need to finish these projects!! the little white squares...that is just batting, I use batting pinned to my wall for my design wall. I did work on the quilt for just a short bit yesterday, I added red and brown 1 1/2 inch squares to cover up all those white spots! Steve's room is painted that lighter color green.

Till next time....

going through photos

This afternoon while I was going through photos I found this video from the boys' practice "Fiddler on the Roof" this is one of my favorite scenes. They are not in costume, and I'm walking all around props to try to video this scene. Turn up the volume! I love Joe's line of, "I like it I like it" He played a fantastic Tevhe!

We made it!

We made it! We survived Hell week! and yes, that is the proper name to call it! Every night since the previous Monday we did not get home before midnight!! Take the sets up and down, breaking down the bake sale tables and goodies and was a huge task every night. If we would not have had the team of parents we did none of us would have survived the week!!
The play, Fiddler on the Roof, was an amazing success! So many of the audience members came up to ask me if Joe (he played Tevhe the Poppa) was going to pursue acting as a career. I told them all no, this was just a way for him to go end his senior year of high school with a bang! And that he did! He was fantastic!! He surprised his mom and dad with his acting!! The audience loved him and the entire cast!
Steve's role of Mendel was fantastic! I loved the bottle dance!! And the scene at the cart when he is trying to get the Rabbi's cream! If the audience only knew that Tevye and Mendel were brothers and to see the action going on between the two of them! I loved it!! Chris played Sasha. He learned to play the mandolin for the play and he did it exceptionally well!! I'm so proud of all my sons!!
My sister, Renee flew in from South Carolina to see the play. I felt so bad for her, because I was so busy that I did not get to spend enough time with her. I love it when she comes up here!! I have such a wonderful time with her. She spoils my kids too, so they love it when Aunt Nay-Nay is coming up for a visit! She takes them all out to eat and buys them starbucks!! LOL Well, that is all for now. Tonight we have to go pick up the sets from the school/theater. UGH! I hope it is not another late night!
~Nancy

Fiddler on the Roof!!

Fiddler on the Roof, opening night was last night Thursday, May 7, 2009!! What a night! Joe did a phenominal job with his role as Tevye!! Oh my goodness he made me cry as soon as he began playing the part! All the kids did fantastic! I hope to get pictures up soon!! Every night this week I have not gotten back home before midnight, hopefully this night I will. We don't have to break the bake sale down nor the green room! So we should be able to just pack ourselves up and go!
I will write more later!

~Nancy

Double Delight gift

Double delight quilt has been given away to a very special person! I know she will take good care of the quilt and it will be well treasured! We had a wonderful day on our last day of IEW co-op. Good food, great conversation, and giving the quilt to Paula. I hope she understands just how much all of us love her and care for her.

To add to our count down, we have less than a week now to our first night of production "Fiddler on the Roof"! Everyone is excited and very stressed at the same time! We sold out of our first three shows, added a fourth one (Saturday matinee) and now we are scrammbling to make sure everything and everyone is taken care of.

Yesterday, my friend Carrie came over and we began painting the family room! Why in the world I decided to do this now I have no idea what I was thinking!! But I am determined to get rid of that depressing gray color in that room. The previous owners painted the house very dreary colors, I need brightness in my life. The room is being painted a soft creamy yellow. We need the light to bounce off the walls, not sink in.

Last night, in the pouring rain, we had to load up the insturments and head over to a senior center. The Rotary Club was having a talent show night, no prizes, just come show us your talent. They were having a fund raiser for their organization and they were serving a speghetti dinner to raise funds. The entertainment was free. A couple of local dance studios had their students do a routine. A group from the local high school sang acapella, fantastic too! and there were a few other acts. My kids' group, the McPeakLee Experience performed last!! Man are they good!! They sang "Everyday" by Buddy Holly and "Don't you want somebyody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane. The audience loved them! I just might have a video of them performing from a previous concert night. I will try to upload that as well.

Till later.....I hope next week to have some of Fiddler pictures up for viewing!

10 days and counting

Yep! we have 10 days till our first performance of Fiddler on the Roof! I'm so excited for my boys and the entire cast! I know they are going to do a fantastic job!! We are having 3 shows, and guess what? All 3 shows have sold out! They are now talking about having a matinee on Saturday which would make 4 shows! Can you imagine!?
It appears that no quilting will be done my me between now and after the show. I am just way to busy. I'm getting excited too because my sister is flying in just to see the boys! I think this is fantastic that she is doing this. My husband's parents are driving in from Florida to see the show, that is one LONG trip, they live way down in Marco Island!!
Today is Kate's birthday! Beautiful wonderful Kate is now 23!! What a beautiful person she is. I hope she has a wonderful day today.
Later ~Nancy

oops, I forgot

I totally forgot to post that we purchased a truck bed topper for my truck!! It is not the same color as my truck, but that is ok! We needed a topper to protect the family's musical instruments from the weather.
this morning I began making up our reading list for next year...our school year. I can't believe I do this every year! I plan so far ahead, but as they say, "those who fail to plan, plan to fail"!! I cannot fail my family's home school!
So far I have to use: Sonlight's IG 7 (www.sonlight.com) and Tapestry of Grace yr 2(www.tapestryofgrace.com)! Teaching the Classics Worldview Supplement (www.centerforlit.com), IEW's High School Essay Intensive and Elegant Essay (www.writing-edu.com). Math, it is a given, we only use Teaching Textbooks (www.teachingtextbooks.com) Science, I thought I had science as a given also, but as things are turning out, I had to purchase bju's biology (www.bjupress.com) for Chris this year. The other boys are using Apologia's science. John struggled this year with General Science, so I had to allow him to take a break from it. Instead he is reading "It Couldn't Just Happen".
Time to get moving, time to go play with fabric!!

The birds are singing...

Yes, spring has arrived! It is 6:30am, about 60degrees outside and the birds are singing! Ah the sounds of spring, the smell of fresh air and pollen. Yesterday the weather was gorgeous! And the gorgeous weather also brought with it winds filled with pollen. Hmmm, I bet you the doctors in the area will be having lots more visits from their allergy suffering patients! I woke up at 5:30am and could not get back to sleep due to my allergies acting up. Guess I will take my allergy pill and get ready for my friends to arrive in several hours.
Today is come over and sew day! This group is rather small this time, many cannot attend, but that is ok we are still sewing. We will be sewing in my sewing room located in the basement. I already have my project ready to go, well for the most part.
Presently, I'm listening to Beth Moore online study: http://lproof.org We are in I Peter. I need to get back into the Word, deeper! Next week we are starting a new study, unfortunately I can't remember the entire title of the book, something about being a wallflower...wallflower, I am not, but there is a message for me!
till next time,

~Nancy

Listening to the Lord

Do you know how hard it is to actually listen to the Lord and do His will? This past year I was to begin a quilting ministry. I used every excuse to not get it off the ground! I found myself so busy that I allowed the ministry to be put on the back burner.

Yesterday I made a decision, no more! I had to call my friend Carrie, left a message for her, texted her....she never picked up or answered....so I gave up and sent her an email! I was determined she was going to get my message. I was suppose to help take over Carrie's Fellowship Committee position at church. Carrie and her husband are moving out of state. When Carrie explained her duties, showed me her calendar, I became overwhelmed yet excited! I thought I could do her job!! Except, I was not listening to what God was telling me to do. I could hear that little whisper in the back of my mind...remember the quilting ministry? ..... ok

Yesterday I also spoke with a friend who reminded me that, maybe all these different ways I was trying to help was not right. I might be taking over something that I have no business doing. I was not asked to do this, so step back and let the person assigned to do the job do it. Wow! What a relief! I'm so thankful to have the friends I have!

So as of now, I'm going to listen and do what I am supposed to be doing. Yes, I will fail, and yes, I will succeed also! I need to keep my eyes on what is right and follow God. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful husband, a bundle of absolutely wonderful children, fantastic church, quilting friends, oh my list can go on and on!!

Life will be great being able to check off my "to do" list, of all the things I was suppose to finish last year!!

For the last two weeks I have been diligently working on Paula's quilt. She has no idea she is going to be receiving the quilt, it is a present from me. To help her get through her life crisis. The quilt pattern is the Double Delight by Bonnie Hunter, mystery quilt Jan. 2009. I have the quilt on the longarm machine now and I have quilted about 1/3 of it as of last night. I'm hoping to have it completely quilted by the weekend. I at least need to have it off the machine by Friday.

Fiddler on the Roof is two weeks away! I'm getting so nervous for my boys and well myself because I am in charge of the bake sale!! I've never done anything like this before!!! Well that is all for now.

I have added some pictures. The double delight and a log cabin. The log cabin is just blocks up on the design wall, I have not put them together yet. This is going to go to my neice Steph. Ok, enough for today...till later y'all!

Spring is coming...

Ah, Spring is coming, I know it is! I have not posted in a month, life has been busy and well some days I just did not feel like doing anything. I had the winter blahs! Spring is coming though. Yes, we had that little teaser that Ol' man winter is still here (4+inches of snow on Monday), the grass is still green under the snow...it is melting!!

I've been working on my double delight quilt (Bonnie Hunter's design http://www.quiltville.com/) I have blocks 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, mini 9-patches, set in triangles and corner stones all ready to be sewn. Actually, I have to square up the 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b blocks...and there are a lot of them!!

My boys are in the play Fiddler on the Roof. We, the moms, have been making costumes for the play. That was one project I don't like! I don't like sewing clothes. None the less, I helped with the costumes. My friend, Dawn N., came over to help with the costumes, she is such a great friend!! Dawn came over, cut out the pieces, made the adjustments, showed me how to operate the serger...and off we went a sewin' costumes!

Last month, my family was involved in a fund raising concert for Fiddler on the Roof. I did not know, but their band "The McPeakLee Experience" was put in the newspaper! How cool is that!? http://www.theclarkstonnews.com/ April 1st edition I need to get copies of the paper.

The pictures I've included in this blog are what I have been working on for the past month.

Visionary or Stationary

This past Sunday, our Pastor's message was on being a visionary or stationary. This spoke volumnes to me. What am I? Am I a visionary that can make a plan and act on it or do I just sit and listen and be stationary? I don't move? I wonder what others see themselves as. Are you too comfortable in your life to make changes. Hey, you've done enough, should you do more? or do you just let someone else do the work?

Lately, I feel stationary. I don't have motivation to do much. I make plans, but they seem more like dreams...I don't act upon them. I think I have what is known as the winter blahs! I'm waiting for spring to arrive, I can't wait to get outside and feel the sun on my skin and the warm breeze!

Presently, I am listening to Beth Moore's Bible study message "Developing Enormously Effective Prayer". I found these lessons online for free. I need this! Communication, prayer time, prayer life. Thank you Lord for this!

This morning Joe and I were woke up from high winds hitting the house. The wind was so strong that the power went out 4x! We did not sleep well from about 3am until it was time to get up at 6am. I feel as if it is going to be a long day...

This past Saturday, I hosted another come and sew day at my house. As usual we transformed the family room into one big sewing room! We all had a blast looking at each other's creations and what each was working on. I believe there were a total of 9 of us here. Of course we had great food!! That is required by law! "where two or three are gathered, there shall be food"!! LOL, sorry, I just could not resist! The pictures show how much fun we had!! Enjoy!

updating me and the family

I like that title "updating me", lol makes me chuckle. The last time I posted was around mid-Feb. life has been busy, but I've just not had very much to say. I am waiting for winter to end and spring to be here!

I'm looking forward to being outside, planning my son Joe's graduation, open house, planting flowers, painting the house and hopefully we will be traveling to see relatives in late May. I don't know though because of the 5%pay cut my husband had to take.

This past Monday, March 2, we had 24 deer come into our yard. I was very shocked by this, that is a lot of deer all at once. I wish I would have been able to take a picture of them, but I was not. A group of 10 came to my master bedroom window and began eating the leaves on the small bushes. All I could do was stand there and watch them, I was in the house, of course.

This Saturday, the 7th, I am hosting another come and sew day at my house!! I love this! I'm looking forward to having everyone here. There are about 8 attending including myself. Everyone can work on any project they choose! We will have great conversation, great food and some fantastic show and tell!! But of course "some" sewing will get done! It is so funny because we all end up "reconnecting" for the first hour or so! The joys of friendship.

My husband gets to travel to Austria next month. I would love to go with him, but we just cannot afford it. I'm looking forward to the "goodies" he brings back for us. I should make him take pictures. I hope he has time to go sight seeing.

I played around with my dining room recently. I cleaned it up! I still want to change the decor in the dining room, but I have to wait till I have the funds to do so.

I worked on my mystery quilt some and decided I was not happy with the delectable mountain blocks, instead of making each a variety of colors I controled the colors too much. So I decided to use all the DM blocks in a different quilt. I then just put a border on the blocks that look like they have spin in them. Now to figure out what to do with that quilt.

The picture of the boys is the musical band the kids came up with. The McPeakeLee Experience. They played 9 songs for the Happy Days fund raiser concert. I was so proud of them!!

John designed another pinewood derby car this year for the RA race. He won a couple of prizes this year! He was very proud of himself and I too was proud of him!

I've also included the beginning of my Bearpaw quilt pattern fabrics. I have to recharge my camera battery before I can take any more pictures of the quilt blocks!! Hopefully I will get everything accomplished today.

Well I need to close my blog, time to get moving with my day...it is going to be another busy one!

Quilts from the past

"Quilts from the Past", I'm not referring to historical quilts, but my own quilts. About ten years ago I began piecing a quilt known as "Shakespeare in the Park". I really and truly don't know what I was thinking trying to make this quilt, but I made it a goal. I remember getting frustrated with the quilt blocks, so many pieces and working with triangles that had bias edges. I even went as for as to cut another color wave. I was gluten for punishment (I hope I spelled that correctly)
I put the quilt away from the frustration and not being able to see a completed top any time in the near future. I've picked the quilt up again and put it on my UFO list. When I was rumaging through the bag labeled "Shakespeare in the Park" I realized I had finished more blocks than I had thought. I had 20 of the Snail's Trail blocks finished. hmmm, now that was inspiring, maybe just maybe I can finish this quilt. Still take my time, but finish it this year. I think I can do this. I separated the blocks out into little workable/doable sections. I don't get as overwhelmed this way. I also have to do that with the Double Delight quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilts from January www.quiltville.com I will take all year to work on both of these quilt.
I've uploaded my progress of Shakespeare in the Park, including a picture of the book and a picture of what the completed quilt show look like. Except I went with a different color pallete.

Ah the joys of home schooling

We are heading towards the end of the school year. Normally by this time of each school year, I'm done! I'm burned out, but not this one. I'm full steam ahead now! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This year we graduate our oldest son, Joe. I can't believe that he is graduating this year, then Chris will follow! Life is changing as I type!
I need to get busy and plan graduation, open house, buy his high school ring (which I must add that he wants the Eagle Scout ring), pictures, and cap & gown. Along with planning all of this we are preparing for Fiddler on the Roof. I'm so proud of Joe for landing the lead role of the father!
I also need to contact my friends at church who want to learn how to sew. I'm going to have to host a workshop day for everyone to come and learn the terms, and how to sew certain blocks. I can't wait to get this quilting ministry off the ground!
Speaking of sewing, last night I finished quilting my neighbors gift quilt. The gift is because Steve, the husband, came over and used his snow blower on our driveway several times this winter! Even though we have 4-wheel drive vehicles, friends were getting stuck in our driveway! It is not fun trying to get our friends out of 18inches of snow!
Back to homeschooling. I have several textbooks that it is time to get rid of. All of my boys are past the elementary years, so it is time to say good bye to those books that I have been holding on to..you know the "just incase I need it". And while I am at it, I think I will attack this computer room and clean it up! It is such a mess.
Oh, I learned an interesting piece of news this morning. Detroit public schools offers an incentive to the students that show up to school today! Do you wanna know why? Because today is the day they take a head count...the school gets $7,000.00 per student that shows up today! What?! They offer the students, actually it is a bribe, cd's, dvds and such to come today! What is wrong with that picture?! Does anyone else get upset by this? I don't even use 1/7th of that amount to buy textbooks for my kids! I realize that this also pays salaries, textbooks and such..but are other school districts around the USA getting that much money per student? let's ponder this thought for a while.....

Heading for the weekend

I'm looking forward to the weekend! It is only Tuesday though, but the weekend is not far off. It seems that all I think about is my next quilting project. Today and tomorrow there will be no sewing though, too much to do. Today we have our home school co-op called Meadows Home Team, afterwards the boys have to stay for play practice "Fiddler on the Roof". Tomorrow we have another co-op that meets here in my home. BUT, if son Chris is not better we will have to postpone it again. Last night we learned that Chris has an upper respiratory infection and influenza...how great does he feel??? It is a wait and see game. He will be resting for the next several days, poor kid! Normally, Chris does not get this sick, but this time it got him the worst.

This past weekend I hosted a come and sew all day at my house. I love having everyone over! We clear out the family room, set up the tables, have great food, chit chat, show and tell...what a blast! You work on whatever you choose. I worked on my mystery quilt from my friend Diantha Stafford of Mississippi. Speaking of quilts I guess this would be a good time to post some more pictures. I've included several new pictures this morning. The bright pink quilt is the mystery quilt my friend designed from MS. I have a large delectable mountain quilt with a light pink center, the pink center is NOT staying, I do not like it. I will have to figure out something different there. Then there is the pile of autumn colored fabrics. Originally I had made my son Steve a quilt, a twin size quilt... completely pieced, quilted and bound...notice I said twin size! That week after I finished the quilt we purchased him a queen size bed, this was not planned, it just happened. So now I have to make him a queen size quilt out of those autumn colored fabrics. That brings me to talk about the new Block of the Month I found from Heather Finnell of Burning the Midnight Oil Quilts. I absolutely love this quilt and I think my son is going to like it as well! The last quilt picture of pieces of fabric is the blue quilt. These strips came from a French Braid that was made about 3 years ago. I cut the strips on the wrong 45degree angle so I wasted all that fabric. Not knowing what to do with those strips I tucked them away. Hoping I would discover something to do with them. Well I did! I was exploring Bonnie Hunter's blog, her website is www.quiltville.com and found the perfect plan for these strips. I will have to include a picture later, I'm running out of time. The other new pictures are of my sewing room. I moved things around and I need to see if I like them this way or should I put them back the way I had them. Until then....Happy sewing!

Mystery Quilt update

This week I have been working on my Mystery Quilt. I'm determined to finish it! As of yesterday afternoon I had finished all but 4 Delectable Mountain blocks. These blocks are acting as a border. Before I began working on the DM blocks yesterday morning, I decided that I needed to clean my sewing room. I found a fabric that is perfect for the final border! I hit the jackpot!! I was so excited that I found this fabric. It has all the colors that I included in the MQ blocks!!

Tomorrow my quilting friends are coming over for a day sewing. Work on whatever you want!! I'm so excited. Dawn is going to bring white chilli for lunch and I will provide the sandwhiches "stuff".

Not much else to say, the boys are getting over their colds, the weekend is here and I'm going to clean my house this afternoon!

Great News!!

Today I received fantastic news from my doctor. I tested negetive for LUPUS! Unfortunately, my test results did not come in for my thyroid because the lab did not run the test for it. So I have to wait a little longer for those results. The dr. also said she wants to run allergy patch testing on me, I'm okay with that. We need to find out what is wrong. That is what is important, but Praise God I don't have lupus!!
My boys, my 4 wonderful boys are all getting the cold bug that is running rapid around these parts! I'm giving them a day of rest so they can be well for the rest of the week.
Tomorrow is Steve's 15th birthday. That means their ages will go: 17, 16, 15 and 12! Talk about stair steps!
I have no pictures to post today, no quilting as of yet. Today I must clean my house! I can't stand the filth any longer.
Till tomorrow...good day!

More UFO's finished...

What a weekend, it is only Saturday though, still have tomorrow to work on my UFO's. I have finished 3 UFO's that I began a while back. The first one I worked on is the burgandy and cream colored quilt. I began this quilt about 5 years ago when we lived in IL. I just got bored with it, didn't really know what I wanted to do with it so I put it away. Today I picked it up, placed it on my design wall and away I went a'sewin' I had 4 rows already pieced so why did I not finish the other 4 rows?? Who knows?!

The next quilt I worked on was a Delictable Mountain design. I was on a kick that year to make several of that design because the block was easy to make and fast! I had been trying to finish that one for several years, but was not inspired enough to finish it. Now I know that I am going to do some fancy longarm quilting to take away from the bright yellow/orange.

And last but not least was the blue, white and yellow quilt! That was a block of the month that I was involved in way down in Mississippi! I got frustrated with that quilt also, could not get the blocks to line up at all. I worked with it tonight and walla! She is done! Phew, what a weekend. I think I will take it easy tomorrow.

Oh I even ended my day by remembering to put the pork roast in the marinade! YIPEE, we have Sunday dinner already prepared! Life is good!

Till tomorrow or the next time we meet....Nancy

Heather's Baby shower gift

I can't believe I made this! LOL I began making a quilt and had two rows completed. But I just could not shake the feeling that this is not the right gift, let's do something different! Something that no one else would expect from me. So, I began reading my new McCall's Quilting magazine and there was the pattern!! Page 12 as a matter of fact (April 2009 issue)

I've already called Heather and sent her a picture of the bag! I can't attend the baby shower that is tomorrow, I have to attend a longarm quilting meeting instead that I had already rsvp'd to. So, here is a picture of the bag!

I began working on the bag this morning at around 9am and finished it around 4:15pm this afternoon. Wow, took me longer than I expected, but I am very proud that I made this!

I wonder what else I could make now....

Totally forgot to mention...

I totally forgot to mention that I sent one of my favorite quilts down to my sister's to be auctioned off. They are hosting an auction to raise money for a family that needs assistance in medical bills/procedures. I'm hoping all is a success for them!! The picture I have loaded was not taken in my house, this at Canterbury Village for a recent quilt show. I did not have a picture of the quilt in my house.

I also made my sister's family pillowcases. They loved them. Oh and I can't forget that I made my sister a set of cozy coasters. I plan on making her a couple more to go in her bedroom to match the quilt I made for her over a year ago. Ok, I think that is all for now.

Taking life 0ne-stitch-at-a-time

Nancy