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!