Wow...over a year!

Not being able to get pictures posted stopped me from posting.  NOT today though.  Typing out my thoughts is healthy and...fun.  So, I'm baaa-aaack.
I've been quilting a LOT and I WILL have son #3 help me get some pictures up when he's back from camp.  He and 3 of his siblings are away this week.  I still have oldest son and the two littles here, but it is SO much quieter and the potato salad and baked beans I made last night seem to have barely been hit!
I get to sew with my little quilting party tonight.  I'm blessed to have a group of 5 other ladies to regularly meet with.  We haul our smallest machines and gobs of fabric and food and laugh and pray together about once a week.  It is SWEEE-EET.  They inspire me and encourage me, but they also pray for me.

Those two little girls just got up and gave me hugs.  They want the treat they got at the "food store" (as the littlest called it).  Poptarts!  Ick, but fun.  Taking just the two of them was...interesting.  They wanted EVERYTHING and Mommy was in a spoiling mood.  I'm glad fruit is their most common treat of choice, but there's plenty of chocolate milk here too now.  LOL!

So, I'll be back again SOON.  With pictures and stories about how my quilting is going.  But, for now, I'm taking the poptarts out of the toaster for the littles, then figuring out what I'll be sewing tonight.

I hope you find time to sew tonight.
Lucy~

Just taking a minute

I'm caught up on my swaps for quilting at the moment.  I am trying to do too much.  I tried Subee's group to swap 1 1/2" squares and am expecting those to arrive back today...whooo hoo!  I'll use those for leaders and enders Bonnie Hunter style.  I do a 3.5 inch "niblet" ninepatch swap almost every month also on yahoo, and I also enjoy the postcard (4.5" by 6.5") themed swaps Christine does on about.com.  I've also been swapping vintage sheet fat quarters and am waiting on 80 (!!!) of those to be swapped and sent back soon.  It is like Christmas when some of these come.   Sometimes though, I realize I need to be QUILTING with these instead of preparing to quilt. 

My list of ongoing projects is kept in a place nobody can find.  Some only need bindings!  I have a lot of tops done just awaiting quilting.  Several are even marked. 

I *HAVE TO* quilt.  This is SO delightful.  And, when I go into one of my children's room and see them snuggled under one of my creations...oh, the delight!  SO worth it!  They love the feel of my quilts.  It is SO different than anything you can purchase.  I have yet to figure out why even.  I use whatever I have, recycled fabrics, swapped items, and secondhand all cotton blankets as batting.  Sometimes, I use all cotton sheets on the back (I am loving that more and more as I try it), but sometimes I use up leftover blocks and chunks of fabric.  It doesn't matter...they all have that homey loving feel.  Like my grandma's old scrappy quilts had for me before I wore them totally to shreds.  She'd used feedsacks and the batting under my favorite one (revealed as it finally wore totally apart) was two holey stained tablecloths folded in half and sewn together.  It was CUDDLY and comfy.  I loved it when I could peek in and see what the "magician's secret" was...those tablecloths.  But, it was NOT the tablecloths.  Some of my quilts have had the same "feel".  It is clearly the LOVE sewn in.  I've heard of some women putting a strand of their hair into the batting of their quilt so they could tell their loved ones that they put a "bit of themselves" into the quilt.  LOL, but I am pretty sure when my children see the silly things I do, like fussy cutting, or sewing a favorite fabrics bits together to make enough usable, they'll know Mom was there.  I hope they always feel my love through my quilts...that is why I do it.  They don't always see that, but I do.  I know it when I'm shopping and I see the color, or a novelty that reminds me of the one I love and all the way through the process to the point I have the last stitch in the label.

I'm GOING to get a little more time in to quilt today...after I wash the hair on the two little ones (4yo and 6yo) playing in the tub while I type.  And, after I make sure the chores are going with the teens.  There are ALWAYS zillions of things to do, but quilting really is one of the ~best~!

Happy 4th of July weekend.  This is always a special weekend for my family.  I hope it is for you too.~

Lucy~

Deb Robertson  of  http://deb-robertson.blogspot.com/2010/06/today-is-day-i-giveaway-quilt.html    is giving away a GORGEEEEEEEEEEEOUS vintage sheet (actually pillowcases) quilt.~

Only a week to sign up.  Wow, I would love to win that pretty quilt.

Go and sign up.

Lucy~

Outside my window. . .it is getting very warm.  I'm trying to cut utilities down, so laundry goes on the line, and we get hot when it hits the 90s as it has the last few days.




I am thinking. . . of ways to organize my lovely vintage sheets from Katie's swap.  I can't decide where to put them and the kitchen table is NOT working.. .





From the kitchen. . . coffee . . . so far.  Yesterday, we had this (except with beef sausage rings cut up)http://flashbangfibers.blogspot.com/2010/05/roasted-italian-sausages-and-potatoes.html
It was SO delicious!  I haven't decided what to have today, but we have leftover spaghetti and a bit of leftover meatloaf, so I will, likely, redo that...make it cheesy?  Grilled cheese sounds good too.




I am wearing. . . a dark turquoise dress, A DRESS (!), whooo hooo (as in happy, not sexy)...I couldn't wear dresses while nursing for over 21 years straight, but I can wear dresses now and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Dresses used to be impossible to nurse in unless I happened to be wearing a nursing dress ($$$ and not really comfy).  My cotton knit Old Navy (from the thriftstore...thank you whoever donated it) dress is utter delight...nothing binding on my tummy and loose and cool.~  I feel pretty.~  It has detail at the collar of little sewn tucks.  I love Old Navy for LOTS of cottons and a little artsy detail (but then, I thrift and just happen to notice lots of items I love are from Old Navy).  Dark colors aren't usually my thing, but I don't intend to be in the sun much today, since the garden is DONE waiting on God-designed growth.  We finished planting YESTERDAY!  I'm still achy.





I am creating. . . some rows for a couple row robins my friends and I are doing here in my hometown. . .I'd like to get a quilt for my firstborn, Gabriel, done soon for his birthday...





I am remembering. . .how my dad put his garden in.  I wonder if there was a reason he used a coffee can to pour water into each hole for tomato plants.  And, did he ever try different kinds of lettuce?  He liked experimenting.  When I am telling the children the new things we are going to try with the garden, I remember Dad and his, "Hey, it's dirt and a few pennies of seeds" philosophy for trying new gardening ideas.




I am reading. . . a stack of old Country Living magazines from the Salvation Army.  The older ones are DEFINITELY better than the new.





I am hoping . . .dh gets a job soon.  He had an interview Monday.  I'm SO grateful to God for peace during this time.





I am hearing. . . Birds chirping and frogs croaking.  Mil's old farberware camp coffee pot perking...mmmm...I enjoy this coffee pot SO much.  I'm the only coffee drinker here, so I made the 2 cups it makes and refrigerate one for the next morning to have over ice.  LOL, I'm NOT picky about coffee.  I'm putting half decaf in lately.



I don't want to. . .clean up my counter.  I spilled a little coffee mixing decaf with regular (much cheaper to mix myself).  Karilee has morning dishes and won't be happy with me...but, I can either type this OR clean it up...ACK!





Around the house. . . vintage sheets and fabrics everywhere, EVERYWHERE...a few schoolbooks found thrifting that looked fun (AND, the little ones DELIGHTED in them...we were laughing and loving doing some "new" books), and NO muddy garden shoes...they are still out by the garden!  We are even less tidy than usual since the garden took time.





I am going. . . to stay home today, even though I am aching to get out and thrift a bit.   Hmmm...dh just NOW said I could go along with him to the next town over.  He has some paperwork to get taken care of and will then go to the hardware while I check out the thriftstore there!  HURRAH!





One of my favorite things. . . my porchswing.  Darling man had Caleb stain and put together a glider swing on my front porch.  I love how cool it is out there on the westside of the house, and nowadays, I love remembering holding the youngest little ones and nursing many hours away out there while caressing little toes and gazing into the eyes of my sweeties.  I sure don't regret nursing.



Plans for the rest of the week. . .just trying to organize mostly.  I have to plan a birthday gift and some sewing for next week's time with friends.  I'll miss LOST.  I hope to see little plants poking up soon!  It looks like I didn't lose tomato plants.  We didn't have to purchase plants...the garden volunteered TONS of plants from the few tomatos that got frosted at the end of last season!  I had started seedlings, but they got tipped over (a few times) by a little one anxious to help mama.  We put the seedlings back in, but they are still small...probably SCARED to grow!  LOL!

OOooo...darling man says, "Let's go", so I'd better run.  I miss blogging.  Will try to get Caleb to help me get some pics up later.

Go forth and CONQUER today!   Lucy~

I've known this sweet friend for years and she is always cooking lovely smelling stuff when I run by there.  LOL, look around her blog and try to win her recipes.~   I'm sure they'll delight!


http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/menu/779797/
 
Lucy~

More sheets being gifted:

http://vintagesheets.blogspot.com/2010/04/grand-opening-giveaway-day-seven.html

L~

An entire sheet being given away!

Jen has another blogger gifting those of us who enjoy vintage sheets (VS) again:

http://vintagesheets.blogspot.com/2010/04/grand-opening-giveaway-day-five.html

Lucy~