Trading Up?...

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As I sewed the borders on the 2011 Butterfly quilt last night, my mind began to consider....

I had just finished the Jacob's Ladder quilt and had pinned the label on the back to be sewn down.  I set it aside and began sewing the borders on the butterfly quilt.  

I thought to myself... "now I need a machine that could do a little bit of embroidery... that way I can stitch out my labels instead of writing them out with permanent marker..."

This of course is added to the wish list I have with a long arm quilting machine on it.    But seriously... got to thinking about it... I think I'll search for a sewing machine that I can use for sewing and just a little bit of embroidery. 

The long arm quilting machine is still on the list... that one I will have plan and budget for. :)

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GIVEAWAYS

Alderwood Quilts is having their March giveaway.  You could win a copy of  Weekend Wonders by Pamela Mostek.  Sue will select a winner on April 1st.

Blushing Rose is having a CSN giveaway.  You could win a $45 gift certificate to this online store.  Marydon says the giveaway will end on March 17th.

Quilty Habit is having a giveaway.  You could win 4 adorable hand made magnet made by Jessica.  This giveaway ends Saturday, March 12.

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 QUILT PATTERN

For easy instruction on how to make the Jacob's Ladder block... 

go to the Quilt Pattern tab at the top of the page. 

 

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IN CLOSING...

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ephesians 1:2

God bless and keep you,
Sonia 

YAY!!

I REACHED MY GOAL TODAY!!!

I finished the "Jacob's Ladder" and its boxed up and ready to ship.

I also got the borders sewn onto the 2011 Butterfly Quilt and its ready for the quilter.

Sewing a big quilt top like the 2011 Butterfly quilt is pretty tough in the small space I have for sewing... 

but I discovered plastic spring clamps a couple of years ago and they work like a charm!

 I roll the quilt top up and clamp it.  

This helps keep the weight of the top under control while I sew.  

The clamps work well during the binding process too.

I feel wore out.. but good... it always feels good to accomplish something, doesn't it?

Well, since it's late.. I'll stop for now. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

God bless and keep you,

Sonia

Sew busy and I got the message

Started out sewing this morning around 9:00 a.m. 
Stopped long enough for lunch around 2:00 p.m.
Got sleepy around 2:30 p.m.
Laid down... fell asleep until 5:00 p.m.
Started sewing again at 5:15 p.m.
Made myself stop at 8:00 p.m.  (got most of the Jacob's Ladder quilt top done...)

Realized I had not studied for my Sunday school  lesson, I'm teaching tomorrow.  Studied until 9:00 p.m.

Then realized I had not done the summary for the week of a woman's Bible study I'm doing, titled "Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed, A Study of David" by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore and Kay Arthur.

Popped in the DVD to listen to Kay Arthur.   She gave 5 things about sin.

1. Sin will take you farther than you ever intended to go. (2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Chronicles 11:41)
2.  When you sin, you are despising God.  (1 Samuel 12:9)  This pierced my heart.  How many times do we despise God in one day?
3. Sin is evil (2 Samuel 12:9)
4. The temptation to sin is not more than you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)  Praise God for that!
5. Sin costs you more than you expected to pay. (Numbers 32:23)

Needless to say, but I will anyway... the part about despising God, broke me down. 

I wasn't expecting that.

You know, you go along thinking everything is okay... your sins are covered up... at least from the human perspective, forgetting that God sees and knows everything your doing or is going through your mind.   Then He sends a message to let you know that He is still very present in your life.

Well I got the message. 

On twitter tonight Max Lucado... asked  "Weary of the shoulda, woulda, coulda?"  His message tomorrow will be on that subject.

Yes, I'm weary.  But after the message I got today, I know I can press forward and not let the "covered" sin or the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" hold me back.

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Goal for tomorrow

To finish the "Jacob's Ladder" quilt top I'm working on in the afternoon.

I can then start tying it on Monday evening and then mail it out either Tuesday or Wednesday.

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  Have a great rest of the weekend!

God bless and keep you,

Sonia 

Foiled and Jacob's Ladder

Earlier today, we had the doors open at work.

  Yesterday there was a controlled burn somewhere nearby and when we opened up the office this morning, the smell of the smoke was still with us.   The air outside was clean and fresh, so the doors flew open and stayed opened.

This of course, made it very hard for me to stay indoors!!  I was on the verge of running.

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We had an employee get sick this morning and Bonnie (co-worker) took her to the doctor’s office.   I received a call shortly after they left. 

   

Bonnie had a flat.  She had picked up a nail or something on the way to the doctor’s office.  

She was able to get her vehicle to a shop and I went to pick her up.  When she got in the car I asked her if she had her handbag.   She didn’t.  Everything happened so fast, when she took our employee to the doctor’s; she left without her bag.  

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Thus my escape was foiled!  

I told her, if she had her handbag we could have taken off to Russellville and gone shopping.  

We got back to work and told our HR Director about the close call.  She laughed and said she was glad we returned.  

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 Quote for today

"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins." 

~Benjamin Franklin~ 

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I awoke this morning with this pattern in my mind.

I looked it up in one of my books and found it.

Tonight, I cut the fabric needed for the blocks and pieced my first Jacob's Ladder block.  

I will have to trim it up and square it off.  The blocks will be 9" blocks with finished.  

It seems my lighting isn't the best and this picture doesn't do the colors justice.  I will have to make sure my  lighting is better when I take a picture of the finished product.

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 Final Thoughts

Tomorrow is Friday!

God bless and keep you,

Sonia

 

Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar. 
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Tonight I finished my "Spring Trip Around the World" quilt top.  Here's a pic, though my lighting wasn't very good.

 

 

I then proceeded to plan out a quilt for a friend of mine who will be starting radiation and chemo treatments soon.  Please remember him in your prayers! 

I will put off quilting the "Spring Trip Around the World" until I am done with this quilt.   The colors I plan to use are dark blue, maroon red, aqua and cream.

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I just finished updating my blog background and such.  

Maybe I will stay with this one for awhile.

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God bless and keep you,

Sonia 

A Baker? Me?...

Let me begin by stating a fact.

Fact:  God did not create me to be a baker or a chef. 
Plain and simple that's just not my "cup of tea".

Now, having stated that fact I will admit that from time to time I do get out of my comfort zone and try to bake something from scratch.

Today, a neighbor of mine brought over some lemons.  Her lemon tree was loaded down with lemons and she was giving them away.  

As the saying goes... when life gives you lemons....

Thus my step of bravery.



I baked a Lemon Bread.  You can see the recipe on the Recipe tab above.

Then of course, because I'm not a baker at heart I tend to make a mess... 

 thus... clean up is inevitable.  yuck!


 Well... the Lemon Bread turned out pretty tasty. 

Now I have three more lemons to figure out what to do with.

Got any suggestions?