At Last! At Last! Finished at Last!

I finally did it!   I finished my turquoise diamond quilt.    I started working on it about 15 years ago, when my mother was sick with cancer.   It became my therapy quilt, she passed away and I worked furiously on it and then I put it away for a while.   I would take it out periodically and work on it a while and then put it away, and then take it out again.   I put the borders on it last year, but couldn't find the inspiration for the back.    I thought I would send it to a long arm quilter to be quilted, so I was saving my money to pay for that, when I realized I wanted to finish it myself, so that it would be mine from start to finish.   I call it "A Girl Can Get Tired of Diamonds"  

These pictures do not do it justice.   The colors are vibrant and soothing at the same time.   It is king size 105'' x 92'' and is for my bed.   The top is hand pieced diamonds, done with the english paper piecing technique, but using the plastic "Brandy's" templates.   I have been asked so many times how I did it, that I feel a tutorial coming on.     We slept under it last night and felt so wonderful.    I may be buried with this one.    Finishing it was so emotional that I had tears as I sewed the last few stitches on the binding.   I have never had that happen before.  I love the peacock fabric on the back, as my maiden name is Peacock and I have been collecting peacock fabrics for years.   

I am very pleased with how it turned out.   

Watermelon with Granddad!

Today is another Favorite Thing Friday and I have been kind of out the loop. But today I have a favorite thing to share and that is dinner at my house with my kids and grandkids.    Now I am not the best cook, and dinner normally consists of something I have let simmer in the crockpot all day.   Throw a salad together  and some frozen garlic bread and that is about it.     The food is not my favorite thing.   My favorite thing is sitting around the table afterward, enjoying the company of my children and grandchildren.

My granddaughter letting her granddad know how much she appreciates him sharing his watermelon.  

The kids are in the playroom, playing with whatever siblings or cousins are there for the day and the grownups are talking and laughing and sharing.    That is my favorite thing.    I always try to snap a few pictures at these dinners, which happen every couple of weeks.   I never know who will be there or what event we will celebrate, but they are one of my favorite things.

Thanks to Shay at "Quilting in My Pajamas" for this opportunity to link up.

Art with a Heart!

My DIL, Amy is a very talented young woman, and my son is blessed to be married to her.     Like most young couples they occasionally struggle to make ends meet.   But an occasion never goes by that I don't get a wonderful homemade card from my grandchildren.    Amy uses her creative talents to help my grandchildren and the kids that she teaches in the daycare where she works to make wonderfully creative art.   

She teaches them the skills a preschooler needs to learn, while making the learning fun.   I just wanted to give her a shout out for how she puts her heart into teaching and loving my grandchildren.  

See the wonderfully creative "Get Well" card she helped them make for one of the teachers who had surgery.   Each little bug and butterfly is the fingerprint of one of the students.    Such imagination!  I love it.

You are special Amy!

Those Who Serve

This post would be more aptly posted in July when we are celebrating our independence and everyone is sporting red, white & blue, but I think that in light of the recent tragedy that took the lives of the brave men who finally got Osama Bin Ladin, it is very appropriate for this month.  

Our Sit N Stitch group, called "Patchwork & Prayer", recently decided to make a "Quilt of Valor".   You can learn about the Quilt of Valor project at http://www.qovf.org/.     But basically it is quilters donating their time and talents to cover a wounded war veteran with a homemade quilt and a reminder that there are people out here that are grateful for their service to their country.

Our group recently made this beautiful red, white and blue star quilt to donate to this worthy cause, and we say "Thank You!" to the men and women who serve.

A Promise In The Sky!

Our church has a family life group called "The Master's Gardeners".  We get together twice a month and exchange plants, gardening tips and ideas, and share some food and fellowship with others who are interested in gardening.   

Yesterday evening we met at our worship pastor's new house to help him and his wife plant a herb garden and identify some of the trees and plants on their new property.  It was sprinkling slightly and threatening to rain, but the sky never fully opened up.

We spent a little while planting, rosemary, basil, thyme, mint, oregano and aloe, in some wonderful boxes that surround their pool deck.    It will be great for them to step outside their kitchen and pick fresh herbs.

After sharing a great pot luck meal we looked up into the sky and this beautiful double rainbow was in the sky.    It was so vivid and in the sky for so long.     You can barely see the double reflection in this photo, but it was beautiful and reminded us all, what a faithful God we serve.

Thank you God for your promises!

Forgive Me!

Forgive me for I have sinned.   It has been a month since my last posting!   I can't believe it has been that long.    What can I say a lot has happened during the last month.  On July 6th a new Parker grandchild was born.   Joshua Wyatt Parker  came into the world at 11:00pm CST, in Pensacola, FL.   I always tell everyone, "Grandchildren are Good!"  

I also had my 6 grandchildren from Missouri at my house for a week.     Heart bursting love and chaos reigned for those 7 days.    We made trips to the beach, the park, the pool and had a wonderful time.

We still can't show close up facial shots of the soon to be adopted grands, but they have gotten good news about the time frame for making things permanent.   When that happens I will come back and update these pictures.

I have also been doing some quilting, and will wait and share those pictures tomorrow.

It feels good to be back.