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The center is the pinwheel, I made with my serger, the other day. It measures 42"x42". There are Veterans, in our local nursing home, who will like this lap quilt.
I will tie this quilt, and the nine patch with hearts, I showed last week.
I tie my quilts continuously, then trim the yarn or embroidery thread at the end of a row, or at the end of the thread length I choose to work with. I don't have a video to show how I do that, but I did find a video displaying a needle, which looks like it will make tying easier. Check it out.
It turned out to be a beautiful day today. I enjoyed it the best I could, since this was my last Friday scheduled off. I'm going back to 40 hours next week. That's good news! Then in two weeks, I'll be on 20 hours a week, for two weeks, and then back to my regular 40 hours again. Crazy huh?
I've learned to take my having a job, one day at a time.
If I go in and still have a job, Praise the Lord!
If I go in and no longer have a job, Praise the Lord!, that's the burned out side of me, ha ha. Seriously though, I have faith, God is going to take care of my needs. He has thus far. :)
One of the things I did today was crochet my second block for my Scripture Afghan. This block is called Crosses.
Here's a top and side view, the purple thread makes it hard to see the pattern, but the way it is crocheted, you have two triple crochets crossing over two others.
I did my research and in the KJV, there are 29 scriptures that have the word cross in them.
Obadiah 1:14 (used as crossway) Matthew 10:38
Matthew 16:24 Matthew 27:32
Matthew 27:40 Matthew 27:42
Mark 8:34 Mark 10:21
Mark 15:21 Mark 15:30
Mark 15:32 Luke 9:23
Luke 14:27 Luck 23:26
John 19:17 John 19:19
John 19:25 John 19:31
1 Corinthians 1:17 1 Corinthians 1:18
Galatians 5:11 Galatians 6:12
Galatians 6:14 Ephesians 2:16
Philippians 2:8 Philippians 3:18
Colossians 1:20 Colossians 2:14
Hebrews 12:2
I read them all and chose to share Hebrews 12:1-2, with verse 2 underlined. This is how I can take one day at a time.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.
On medium low heat, melt butter in sauce pan, add salt, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar and stir.
Add sliced apples, stir, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until apples are soft. Be sure to stir at least once or twice, the butter mixture will thicken slightly, like a syrup.
Add the sliced bananas, stir, turn down heat to low, cover and cook and additional two-three minutes, to heat bananas through. Remove from heat and serve.
This very good on its own, but would be delicious on french toast or vanilla ice cream.
As the rain beats against the windows, I can tell it's going to be one of those days... the kind of day I'd like to stay home and cozy up with a good book and a hot cappuchino.
I had a bowl of pistachio ice cream this evening. I've tasted it before, but it has been a long time. I mentioned to my husband, the taste made me think of cherries.
This is the reaction I got...
Needless to say he didn't agree with me. :) Who knows? Maybe my taster is off or something.
That's like the other day, I poured a glass of "apple juice".
It looked like apple juice.
Just before I took a drink, my husband tells me it a is a peach and berry blend.
Microsoft clip art
Boy, talk about throwing you off. If he had not told me it was something other than apple before I took a sip, can you imagine what might have been going through my mind. Definitely not apple. :)
I guess that's it. Not much else to say this evening.
Wait...
Though my taster, may be wonky, I'm thankful I can taste. :)
A few weeks ago, I was blessed with winning this T-shirt and CD from Kingdom Bound Quartet.
I have to tell you, I like these guys!
I first heard them, live, about 5 years ago and I was hooked. I've seen them another time since, and both times I bought what cd they had, that I didn't have already, and a shirt or two. :)
When these young southern men get together, there is sweet harmony. Not only that... you can tell they love what they do. That is, they love sharing the gospel of the Lord through music.
I've already played this new CD in my car. This evening, while traveling to and from my parents home, I was in the car long enough to hear the whole CD. I will listen to it some more, on the way to work in morning.
Thanks Ben, Ross, David and Chad for sharing the gospel!!
I took off sewing this morning and before I knew it, it was 2:00 pm and David was saying lunch was ready.
Here's what I got done during that time. This will be one of the lap quilts for the Logan County PieceMakers. It measures 40"x40".
Then after I ate my lunch, I decided to try my serger out.
When I opened the box, took the top styrofoam piece out and the plastic bag off the machine, I was pleasantly surprised it was already threaded.
Thank You Lord!
I had some patriotic triangles, I decided to serge together, just to get a feel of how this thing was going work. It went well. SWEET!, I thought, as the fabric flew under the presser foot.
Then it happened...
I ended my stitch, raised the presser foot, then began to pull my piece off the machine... the thread doesn't release and pull free, like it does on a regular sewing machine.
I messed the threading up, wouldn't you know.
So... I got a crash coarse on how to thread the serger. I'm happy to report it is threaded correctly, once again, and in good working order. I learned my lesson, and will do my best not to let that happen again.
Here's my first serged item.
Isn't the seam pretty? :)
I went ahead and stitched up a big pinwheel block, 20" x 20".
This will most likely be part of another lap quilt.
On the way home from Fort Smith, this evening, I realized I haven't posted the weekly recipe. Then I realized, or at least thought, I haven't cooked all week. I think, David has done most of the cooking or we have eaten out. So, I'm sharing a recipe that I planned on making this week, but didn't get around to it. It most likely will be one of the meals for next week.
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups mild salsa
Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a
boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, place chicken breast halves into a large
saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20
minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. When cool enough to
handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In a medium bowl, combine Monterey Jack and Cheddar
cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream
of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/2 of the
chicken, 1/2 of the soup and salsa mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese
mixture in prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly.
Planning, cutting, sewing stitch by stitch. A puzzle, artwork, I've found my niche. Pieces, patches of every hue, Let me sew a quilt for you. A story can be spun and told, in colors pastel or bold. In another world, I do dwell, When needle and thread I do wield.
Worked 'til noon today and then spent time this afternoon reading a manual.
I've been wanting a serger for some time, and I was blessed to buy a brand new Singer Serger for a bargain this morning.
My friend, Charlotte, told me about the serger earlier in the week and asked if I was interested. She knew of a lady who had received the serger as a Christmas gift, who doesn't sew a stitch, and was going to sell it. I told her if the price was right, I would buy it. And whoopi! it worked out good for me. :)
I plan to play with it tomorrow and see how I do. I will admit, I'm a little concerned about threading it, but I'm sure it will work out fine.
This evening I finished my first block for my Scripture Afghan. The pattern is called a honeycomb.
Here's a close up of the stitch.
Each block will be a different color and trimmed in white.
I looked it up, and there are eight verses in the Bible with the word honeycomb.
1 Samuel 14.27
Psalms 19:10
Proverbs 5:3
Proverbs 16:24
Proverbs 24:13
Proverbs 27:7
Song of Solomon 4:11
Song of Solomon 5:1
Luke 24:42
I read them all, and the one that spoke to me was Luke 24:42.
And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
This was when Christ appeared to the eleven after His resurrection.
He had loved them while He lived, saved them when He died, carried their sins faraway when He was buried, and justified them freely when He arose from the dead.
How awesome is that! And the really cool part is... He did all that for us too.
Then, in chapter 24, He returns to them, eats with them and opens their eyes and minds, so that they will understand all that He had taught them.
One of the things my dad likes to do is create glow in the dark pictures and shapes. He gave me one of his creations a few weeks ago. I have it sitting in my little home office area and it glows really good when I turn the lights out.
Here it is with the lights on....
and with the lights off.
I wasn't sure if I could get a good picture without light, but like I said, it glows pretty good in the dark. :)
I watched a cute movie with my daughter and hubby this evening.
I got so caught up in the movie, that at one point I had tears in my eyes, and that's all I'm going to say. I don't want to give the story away, by any means. If you're looking for a cute but touching movie, check this one out. :)
Warm, is what I have wanted all day. I have been chilled all day and at this moment I have a space heater blowing toward me. I'm still trying to warm up.
Last night, I saw more batting, than I ever have, in one place. At the guild meeting, last night, we cut 75 yards of batting. The batting was 96" wide. We cut it lengthwise into 48" widths, then cut it down into 50" lengths, so that we ended up with 48"X50" pieces. The batting was cut this way for guild members to take and use for love and lap quilts.
I brought home three pieces, to begin with. I'm planning on making two lap quilts and a love quilt with these three pieces. The lap quilts will go to a local nursing home and the love quilts go to a local child development service.
Another goal I have this year, is to get back to donating blankets to Project Linus. I have done so in the past, but got away from it, in the past few years.
The other day, I mentioned that I requested permission to share the crochet pattern for the Scripture Afghan, I have started. Permission was denied, due to copyright stipulations. So, I will show the blocks as I finish them, but will not be able to share the pattern with you. I hope to have my first block done by the end of the week. The cool thing is, I will be learning a new stitch or pattern with each block.
The old quilt top, I chose the other day, to finish off... I have decided to square it up and add simple, dark borders. This will frame the quilt and showcase the blocks.
Today, I heard a song on the radio that brought to mind, my friend Sherry. She has moved away and I miss seeing her in church and choir, the conversations we had and the laughter we shared.
I've been thinking of finishing up some old quilts and quilt blocks, I have acquired over the years. I looked at two today.
I looked at this quilt top first. It is hand pieced with tiny stitches and held together very good. It is not finished and I do not have the fabrics to finish it off. I'm planning on blocking it off and adding borders. The bed it is on, is a queen size, so this quilt is a nice size to begin with.
This is the other quilt top I looked at. Like the first one, it is not finished and is a nice size. This quilt is also hand pieced. The stitches are much larger and looser then the first quilt, and this one has more character, if you will.
This top has a few problems I will have to address, like stains and seams that have come undone.
I like both of these tops. The colors are bright and I think they will make pretty quilts when finished. I have decided I will work on the first top I viewed, as it will be the easier of the two, to repair and finish.
Yesterday I mentioned the next afghan I work on, will be the scripture afghan. Today I wound yarn into balls. It took some time to do and about half way through, I was thinking I need to buy one of those automatic yarn ball winders.
This yarn is from a project, I started a year or two ago and decided I didn't like the pattern. I have had it stored away, and decided today to wind it all up into balls, to use in the scripture quilt. I have the remaining yarn, in these colors, still in skeins.
My wrist will probably pay the price tomorrow, but it had to be done.
Today, I thought it would be nice to have a little bit of "Spring" in the house. So I put together this little bouquet.
I worked on this month's block of the month. It is posted below. I also made a new easier block of last month's block. Check it out on the AQST Block of the Month tab above, it is labeled Block #3.
Earlier in the week, when I visited my brother, sister-n-law and new niece in the hospital, I forgot to take the afghan I made for my niece. So I will have to take it to them, when they get all settled at home. I thought I'd go ahead and share the afghan with you. Though this picture doesn't show the colors well, I made it with a pretty, baby soft, pastel yarn.
Today, I decide the next afghan I'm going to make will be a scripture afghan. It is made up of 24 different blocks, each using a different stitch that coincides with a scripture. I decided to do this, so that I can make one block at a time, in between projects.
Have you made an afghan using separate blocks or a pieced afghan?
It is easier than a "whole cloth" afghan?
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BLOCK OF THE MONTH #4
This month's block is a simple four patch.
Using a solid colored fabric and a theme fabric, cut two of each, 6 inch blocks
Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. ~ Hosea 6:3
What a cold day it turned out be! The wind blew, and cut right through you. I believe, if the wind had not been blowing, it would not have felt as cold as it did.
The cold air today, and my going through paper files at work to clean out all those no longer needed, has done a job on my hands. They are dry and feel like they could crack at any moment. This is not a good situation, when one is working with fabric or yarn.
Something I like to use is a cream called Udderly Smooth. It was developed for dairy cows, but works great for dry chapped skin. The best part is, it does not leave a greasy feel on your hands that can stain fabrics. I keep a tube of it in my handbag and have a tub of it in my sewing area. You can find it on-line or ask your local pharmacist for it.
Today was my Friday at work. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.
The windows on my side of the office, at work, are drafty and the cool temps put me in mind for hot soup this evening.
WEEKLY RECIPE
2 X 4 Soup
2 lbs ground chuck
2 cans minestrone soup
2 cans rote'l
2 cans pinto beans
In a large dutch oven, brown meat with salt and pepper to taste. When the meat is done, drain off any fat. Add the minestrone soup, rote'l, and pinto beans. Bring to a boil and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with cornbread or crackers.
2 cups dried spiral noodles (I used wheat noodles)
1 10.75 ounce can of cream of chicken soup
1 15 ounce can of chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
In a 12-inch skillet, add olive oil and heat. Stir in ham and onion over medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in frozen veggies, noodles, soup, broth, water, thyme and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring it from time to time, until noodles are done.
Another version, I think would taste good, is to use chicken and egg noodles in place of the ham and spiral noodles.
One of the things I like about the winter months, is the fact that you can see a sunset and a moon rise at the same time. Here's what I saw when I got home form work today.
The sun setting in the West
and
the moon rising in the East.
My hubby took the pics for me with his camera. I told him, I need to get a camera with a zoom like his.
Since I was out the first two days, today felt like a Tuesday at work. It's nice to know though, that I only work until noon tomorrow and then the weekend begins. YEAH! lol... yes, I always look forward to the weekend.
This evening, I did some therapeutic culling of my closet. Unfortunately I have out grown several of my clothes. Thus, they are to be donated. They were taking up valuable space, and I have finally come to the conclusion, I will most likely not get back into them again. Not that I'm planning on gaining more weight but there comes a time where you plateau, so to speak, and you know you are not going to be the same size you were, in younger days.
As I sit here, relaxing and writing to you, my thoughts stray to a few of my blogging friends who are suffering from sickness at this time. I wish I could take the pain and discomfort they feel away, but I don't have that kind of power.
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. ~ Matthew 21:22
So I lift them up in prayer and place them God's hands.
As I begin to close, my hubby and son are discussing "hand whistling", ?, not sure what to call it...
Anyway... do you remember the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and the theme song for that movie? Well, my hubby started whistling the theme song, by blowing through his cupped hands. The things men do... I can't help but have a smile on my face, listening to my hubby and son, at times. You can hear the original tune by clicking on the video.
Here's a top and side view, the purple thread makes it hard to see the pattern, but the way it is crocheted, you have two triple crochets crossing over two others.
Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole
Hello!
Earlier in the week, when I visited my brother, sister-n-law and new niece in the hospital, I forgot to take the afghan I made for my niece. So I will have to take it to them, when they get all settled at home. I thought I'd go ahead and share the afghan with you. Though this picture doesn't show the colors well, I made it with a pretty, baby soft, pastel yarn.
This month's block is a simple four patch.
Something I like to use is a cream called Udderly Smooth. It was developed for dairy cows, but works great for dry chapped skin. The best part is, it does not leave a greasy feel on your hands that can stain fabrics. I keep a tube of it in my handbag and have a tub of it in my sewing area. You can find it on-line or ask your local pharmacist for it.
