Post Christmas update la la la...

Hey there folks. Been busy here in Florida trying to keep warm, reading, quilting, cleaning and snuggling.

All our Christmas company (we had 11 people here at one time) went back home to the great state of Texas (without me). Boo hoo. This is my mom with 4 grandchildren. Who is ready to open presents and is sick of taking pictures? LOL



My daughter left for her second semester at college. This is her in the green. She's the oldest grandchild and everyone's right hand girl. Our home doesn't glow nearly as bright when her light is gone.



My husband left to work in Pennsylvania. I'm um....pretty certain he's coming home at the end of this week...Lord willing. :)



My son and I are working hard on his school, and started back to co-op last week.



I've bound 4 quilts, started a new one and my fingers are super sore. Ouch. No, I can't use a thimble. I try, but I can't. "Tex" is what I'm called by the people who will receive this baby quilt. I guess if your going to be called something other than your name, Tex is at least a kind endearment


...But the real reason my poor blog has been abandoned is because I got a Kindle for Christmas and I've read 4 books. Time to put it down and get the house put back together. I still need to put Christmas away. Yikes! Look at my domesticated "shadows". They go every where with me and they think they own the place. They're always invading my body bubble!



Grandma's Quilted Stocking

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

I thought I would post a picture or two about where I was exactly this time a year ago. I was sitting with my mother-in-law...my precious Naomi...in ICU.  I wanted so badly to curl up in bed with her and love on her, but didn't want to get in trouble with the nurses.  If I had known she was going to die, I would have done it. I miss her tender, delicate manicured hands when she held my hand in return.

Allyson (who was 18 at the time)  made a scrappy stocking using up some of my Christmas scraps to hang in grandma's room.  There were pictures of all the grandchildren and great grandchildren hanging on the wall in front of her so when she woke up she could see her family.  Ally hung her stocking there too.

Grandma woke up and pointed at the wall. We all pointed to different pictures trying to understand which grandchild she wanted. She couldn't speak. Lastly we pointed to the stocking and that's what she wanted. Being a hand piecer and a hand quilter forever, we should have guessed the stocking first. LOL She wanted to hold it.

She snuggled with it like a child does a stuffed animal or a treasured blanky all night. It was in her bed when we got there the next morning. 20 minutes later, God called her home. I'm so glad my daughter had thought to make something so last minute and silly for Grandma's Christmas ICU room. Turned out not to be so silly after all.





This is one of my favorite pictures. It's sad I guess, but I love it. I sat and crocheted for 12 hours, watching her chest go up and down all day, thinking her little body suuuuuure was fighting hard and thinking, this doesn't look so good, BUT she's gonna make it, I just know!!!! I watched her heart beat on that monitor all day long, until family came in and told me it was time to leave.

I love this picture because I see her heart beating on the monitor. She was alive, God love her. It was a beautiful day I spent in silence with her and my God. I'll forever be grateful He let her live long enough for us to get there and be with her one last 24 hour day.

*********************************************************************************   Choose Joy

Colored Pencil Wraps

I saw this on Pink Chalk Studio a long, long time ago and now you can find the pattern in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, which I've really enjoyed and recommend to others.

My nephew Hay Hay is getting one and maybe some other children if I'm in the mood to finish them. :) My things to do list is long and time is getting short.

My tip for this pencil roll is to use the walking foot as is suggested. I can't find mine since we moved and I thought I could get by without it. I did, but it doesn't look near as pretty. Hoooo Boy! Hayden won't care, in the end. :)

 

Robin's Egg Blue Kitchen

We're not quite finished with the decorating but here is a late evening snap shot of the eating area. We were exhausted after painting all day but I was so excited over how it turned out, I had to take a picture before bed. It's a spa blue paint from Home Depot.

When I first began with the cut in work, I thought, "oh no...what have I done???...I hate it!"....wishing I had gone yellow or something else for the kitchen. Robin's Egg Blue is my favorite color (it's already in the master bedroom). It works almost as a neutral, as everything seems to go with it, especially browns, yellows and reds...especially reds! Yummy! In this picture, it goes nice with the greens I set out for Christmas.

It turned out so pretty and it's sweet during the day when the sunlight hits it, giving it a peaceful, cozy glow.

I love allowing my inner rebellious child write on the walls of my house. I wrote a quick blessing behind the fridge. Now I have to go and hunt down more secret places to write more messages. LOL It's so much fun.