It's been a productive day

I had a bit of time to myself today. I had somethings that needed mended and those are finished, YEAH!

This little project is one I started with my granddaughter Evie, the day before Easter. She picked out the fabric, the thread and set up her name just how she wanted it on my embroidery machine. We had a lot of fun doing it. We ran out of time to finish it, so I told her I would get it done and send it to her. I left a blank white label so she can write on it. She told me when we were making it that she wanted to write on the back. That's my girl, she wants to document her creativity! She can write whatever she wants on the back.

I worked on my Geese in the Forest blocks. I'm really behind, but now I'm on a roll. I sorted my scrap fabrics by color, which will help in sewing these together a little faster. I really like the paper piecing...it's so precise!

I also cut up the rest of my freezer paper into 8.5 x 11 inch sheets. That will help me in the log run, too.

Well, I've got to get to the store, I need fruit and rice cakes. LOVE both of those items...staple foods around here! Oh gosh, I got such a good deal on blackberries!!! I should buy bunches and freeze some. They are delicious!

Beautiful Friday, beautiful weather!!

I'm going to go upstairs and sew.

It's been a really tough week at work, but now it's over and the weekend has arrived. Thank goodness.

I am behind on my Geese in the Forest blocks, so I'm going to go upstairs and whip up a few.

I'll post progress a bit later. In the meantime, I took advantage of the glorious weather today to take a picture of a quilt I made a while back.

A prayer

Sigh...

I'm sad today. We had a tragedy at our school.

One of our students (10th grade) killed himself. We received a call from the Sheriff's department about 11:30 this morning. The boy's grandmother was coming to pick up his older brother. The Sheriff's office said only..."he has been hit by a train".

How sad.

Our principal took us (the secretaries) out to lunch to celebrate Secretaries Day. During our luncheon he received "the call". The student died.

After we returned to school there was a lot of activity...the superintendent, assistant superintendent and other administrators were in a meeting. We (in the office) were told that this boy...10th grade...had killed himself. He lay down on the railroad tracks and waited for a train. So sad.

At the end of the day the faculty and staff were called to the auditorium to gather as a unit and hear the news. The last time we had one of "these" meetings was when a beloved teacher died in an automobile accident.

It was sad. My heart goes out to the family. My heart goes out to this boy who was so desperate that he took his own life. I feel empty.

Tomorrow the students will probably know. From what we were told, there will be a broadcast call to our students' homes tonight, telling them. It will probably be on the news later tonight. There will probably be news crews at our school tomorrow. I hope the news crews don't come. It's horrible to prey on people as they grieve.

Dear Father in Heaven, I pray for the family of this young man. Please comfort them as they try to deal with the grief and the horror of this situation. I pray for your forgiveness of this boy's taking of his life, as he had to be so desperate to do this...a person has to be so lost do such a thing. Please look after the students and staff at school tomorrow. Give our counselors the guidance they need as they help students sort out this awful tragedy. In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a wonderful day

Happy Administrative Professionals...you know, you used to be called "secretaries".



To those of you who administrate professionally---you know who you are--have a wonderful day.



(Every woman I know administrates her home, family and self, so have a wonderful day...each and every one of you).



God bless.

Quilt Festival Entry - Spring 2009

I love this quilt for many reasons. It's lively and fun, the colors are sweet. It's the first "grandchild" quilt I ever made. This quilt was designed for Evelyn while in utero.

I wanted something along the lines of an I spy. Each center was fussy cut and lovingly stitched in the same matter.

This quilt is mostly hand quilted (I love handwork). The border is machine quilted and I would love to get better at it. It's fun to do.

I've made other grandchild quilts since (I'm a lucky Mimi) and each is different. The back of this quilt is pictured below.

Please leave me a comment if you have a moment. I'd love to hear from you.

So much news, so little time!!!

I have so much to say!

I hate to pile it all in one post, so I'm going to spread it out a bit.

Let me start by saying that Easter with our whole family together was incredibly wonderful. I gratefully thank my wonderful daughters who made the weekend absolutely fantastic. Jennifer, thank you for having us all at your house and being such a welcoming hostess.

Want to hear some big news? Here's a link that will lead you to my older daughter's (Kelly) blog. She and her dear husband are presenting us with another grandchild. She is a full-time working woman with three children so far. Number 4 is due in October!! Her blog is filled with pictures of their children. Please feel free to stop by her site and see pictures.

Happy Easter!

A bit of progress

Once I got home from work tonight I went upstairs to my sewing heaven and worked a bit more on the gigantic mess I've created.

A few years back a very nice woman sent me TONS of old chenille. I was tickled with it at the time, but it was mostly too old and too tattered to do much with. There are a few pieces that I can use for baby bibs and such, but the rest I bagged up and took out to the trash. I hate throwing fabric away, but when it's really not usable, it's trash. (Something wrong with my statement, makes me feel harsh or mean, somehow. Why is this?)

I folded more fabric and straightened up a bit more, not to say that I don't have an enormous task still ahead. Tomorrow I plan to go up and do more. I'm trying not to overdo it and get really crazy about it, but I can't wait to get things straightened up more.

My goal is to have my fabrics NEAT and displayed enough so I can choose without going through a bin. I also want to be able to walk around my cutting table. I've always had it against a wall and pulling it out and trying to get around it is a PITA (pain in the a**). It's coming along, just not coming along quickly enough to suit me.

As I mentioned before, I'm a clutterer and a keeper. I have always been messy for as long as I can remember and it's one trait I have that I absolutely hate about myself. (There are one or two more, but I won't go there right now.)

Well, it's getting late and I should put the computer away for tonight.

Hugs and God bless us all.

WHEW! Can I get activity points for this?

Well, it's not really aerobic exercise, but working on organizing my sewing heaven. WHAT A MESS!!!

Why is it when you clean something up it gets worse before it gets better? I'm in the REALLY BAD MESS stage right now.

I've decided to go through all my fabrics. Some are not worth keeping; they were cast offs from others who had no use for them either, so those will go to a charity. I'm refolding, sorting, stacking and all that fun (notice the sarcasm) stuff that we quilters must go through from time to time.

As mentioned before that I'm such a clutterer. I'm not good at this organizational thing...I just have too much stuff. Not only do I want to reorganize the fabric, but my work space, too. Sometimes tears are just around the corner. I wish there were someone close in proximity with who(m?) I could bare my soul and beg for assistance. SIGH...

I'll post again on my progress.

Wishing I were Samantha from Bewitched....

Saturday, Saturday...Isn't there a song that starts that way?

Well, there might be a song, but I'm not singing. I promise!!!

I was just inspired by reading a post by Mrs. Goodneedle and I'm making a small to do list for today. It's small, but focused. I'm SURE I can do it.

1. Smile! I can't help but smile at this picture. It's Easter Bunny Evie. She's my first grandchild. Isn't she a cute bunny!?

2. Clutterbust the computer room. This involves working with my underorganized photos, putting my greeting card stash in a more appropriate place (the file cabinet) and putting away my clutter.

3. Return item to library

4. Wash up my new fabrics

Yep, I can do those four things today. It's ok if I add other things to the list (after I complete them...that's my way of making me feel better about things).

Have a great Saturday. Above all, enjoy your day.

Ramblings...

I'm so excited that tomorrow is Friday. I love the weekend and the freedom it brings.

The weather here is beautiful today, the only thing bad about it is that I wasn't able to get out in it much. I think I'm going to take Gracie and go for a little walk here in a few minutes.

Today's work was super hectic. Senior Retreat was huge and continues tomorrow, too. Good thing about it is that it's all entered!! Woo hoo!!! I worked through lunch and stayed about 40 minutes more to get the work complete, but I am all done. I even got tomorrow's field trips entered so I have a bit of a jump on Friday.

Looks like tomorrow will bring us rain. Bah! After the rain our temperatures will be cooling down...getting really cold on Tuesday. I am paying attention to this because Rick has joined a golf league on Tuesdays. We are expecting snow on Tuesday!! I doubt he will golf that day!!

I think I'll wash up all my fabrics I bought in Vegas this weekend. I like having all my stash washed and sometimes ironed...ready for use when the time is right. While on the quilt shop tour one of our topics was "Wash or Not Wash?"

What are your feelings? Do you wash your fabrics before using?

I was in the minority. I love having mine all ready to use. When I wash it all and store it, I don't have to wait when I want to use it. I often iron it, but sometimes I just fold it nicely and store it by color.

My dear niece, Kathy, was cleaning out her sewing room/office and gave me a lot of her fabric scraps. BIG scraps!! I still haven't brought it all in from the car as yet, but I should bring it in and wash it up this weekend, too.

Well, enough rambling on for now...