Happy Easter!

PRAISE GOD for HE is risen!!

I have to let you all know that the above picture of Jesus is actually a fabric collage!! 

WOW, huh?... even as I revisit the pictures, I can't get over the craftswomanship! Amy Engle & other church members at Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren here in PA created this to be part of the church's Lenten observance backdrop. Truly awe-inspiring...

Not sure how many of you are Believers?? For me Good Friday & Easter bring about reflection at how much Jesus gave up for me... 

how spoiled I am... how I want for nothing... have too much... give too little... and am surrounded by friends & family who love me. 

And how when I screw up & forget what I'm REALLY doing here on earth, I have His Word to remind me & refocusing occurs. 

I have much to be thankful for.

Birthday Burning, Birthday Blessing

Life has been busy, and I realize I'm letting some of my basic personal goals fall by the wayside a bit. I guess this happens to us moms now & then though, eh?

I haven't blogged for over a week, haven't sewed much, & haven't outlined my yearly goals (remember I base them on my birthday year which started as of April 10!)

But I HAVE managed to almost set my mom's house on fire! For my birthday, a group of us gathered at her house to hang out (AKA Stitch & Bitch.) We were admiring an anal retentive spreadsheet of her garden-- yes, that's right, I said her GARDEN!! She unfurled this magnificent diagram with all it's colored plots, we passed it around to admire, and since I was the last to look at it, I curled it back up & set it on the table next to me. 

My SIL, "Is something in the oven? I smell something burning."

My BFF, "Why do I see flames?!?!?" she was looking my way.

Unbeknownst to me, I'd set this impressive spreadsheet on a burning candle!! Ah yes, this one will go down in family history. 

I grabbed the roll & hurriedly went to pile napkins on it thinking I'd smother the small flames. But in the meantime a long, slow expletive exploded from my mouth & rendered part of the room speechless. Not my typical style of transferring information...

All turned out well & fine. Even after my mom blew on the flames causing them to fly toward me, we were able to contain it & not catch the lamp, the couch or my clothes on fire. 

 (My younger daughter is trying to shield us from her beauty, while my older looks at her in wonder.)

(Had to show a closer view just so you could appreciate the magnificence of this spreadsheet!!)

At least it was a second copy, so no real harm done :)

We've all got warped senses of humor & laughed uproariously over it all. We went on to gorge ourselves on lots of good food (still need some recipes ladies!!) & even got some stitching done.

Other news to stay tuned for: a finished table runner for a friend, a birthday placemat, and a Gratitude Journal idea borrowed from another blog...

p/s And for those who wondered... Yes, I did get an ice cream cake for dessert!! 

Dirty Details on Denise

I'm not sure if any of these will end up actually being "dirty" in any way whatsoever, but since I'm keen on alliteration, I'm keeping that title!! 

Both V.V. Denman & Leah Singer, writers/bloggers with whom I've recently become acquainted, did this kind of list on their blogs, and I found it to be so much fun. I hope it is for you, too, and that you'll do your own list of facts, because it's an interesting way to get to know one another better!

So here goes... the interesting, the obvious & the drivel:

Was a total tomboy who preferred having dirt bomb battles to playing Barbies

Hated History as a subject 

Chemistry & English are my favorites

I love to type after I've cut my nails (hate the click click of nails on a keyboard!)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read more than just about anything else

I got married when I was 17 & not yet graduated from high school, and I WAS NOT pregnant!!

Finished high school in a continuation school in the CA desert while married

(they didn't know what to do w/me when they looked at my transcripts -- they weren't capable of helping me finish many of my credits: Physics, French 4, British Lit... it was a weird experience)

AND I've been married to that high school sweetheart for 23 years now

I have three angel babies waiting in Heaven for me

(little Marshall lost at 20 weeks due to a knot in the umbilical cord, another at 9 weeks whom I always think in my mind as Maddie, and Montie @ 10yr)

I've lived in NJ, PA, CA, MD, and MI, but now we're back in PA 

I've gone to three colleges over the last 23 years, amassed 90+ credits & but STILL haven't earned a degree

My favorite place to be is at home, but if you'd force me to leave, I'd want to be at the beach

Rainy days give me creative urges

I read every night before bed (I would say 8 times out of 10 I read fiction)

I've homeschooled all three of my kiddos, graduated my oldest daughter, and am down to one either grader who's probably going to public school next year 

Longarm quilting is way more fun than piecing... just saying

My heart skipped a beat when I saw The Writer had come in the mail today :)

My favorite place to eat lately is Isaac's (The Club Canary-YUM)

For my birthday tomorrow I've requested an ice cream cake for dessert

I'm mostly introverted & love my alone time (NEED my alone time)

Half a dozen years ago I flew to London w/my hubby & saw Depeche Mode perform 

at Wembly Stadium

My first car was a Honda Civic -really old & blew a lot of exhaust into the air daily (clouds of it that rendered me thoroughly embarrassed in the high school parking lot)

My first job was as a Pharmacy Technician. Between PA & CA I worked a few years in pharmacy & so I'm able to decipher doctor's prescriptions

Before we had kids, we lived in Baltimore City, and I walked to & from work every day

My younger daughter & I have "seen" the same images in our 222 year old home during the same night in different bedrooms

Our old house has been a blacksmith shop, a working tavern where people also paid to sleep,  a bed & breakfast, and now it's just our home

In 9th grade I won first place at both our school & then our regional science fairs for my Physics project on friction

 

My all-time favorite movie is The Sound of Music

I was so proud of myself when at around 16/17 years old I could play the entire Rogers & Hammersteins music from The Sound of Music!

I took 10+ years of piano lessons

We have a very out of tune baby grand piano

I love coffee & most sweets

Am running out of things to say

But I still have room until I get to the bottom of this Sound of Music pic

Almost there...

Okay all, now it's your turn. Let me know when you've posted your own list of little-known-facts!

My birthday is coming up next weekend. I'll admit that the ages of my children make me feel older then my actual age. Why is that? 

Regardless, in preparation of this momentous day (I LOVE being pampered on my b-day!), I've pulled out the goals I'd written for myself last birthday. Last year I decided that establishing goals based on my annual, personal "road trip" made more sense than the random Jan 1st date.

 So last year on my birthday I compiled a list of just 13 things I thought I'd want to work on and/or accomplish in the upcoming year. And I'm a little embarrassed & sad to say, I've only been able to cross off one.

Maybe that's okay for this year.  I like the concept, but I'm being kind to myself because I know I'm still finding my way.

A little over two years ago, on 3/19/09, our 10 year old son, Montie, passed away due to complications associated with his Marfan Syndrome. My world stopped. My purpose stopped. Time seemed to stop when Montie's heart stopped.

And for a whole year I just WAS. I did what was necessary to keep my girls, my hubby & myself afloat in the world, believing in faith that God would carry us through. Somehow. Someday.

Slowly.... very slowly it's happening. I still look around & wonder what's the purpose of it all, when my growing children need me less, and I've never attained the career goals I'd originally thought were so important.

God had changed my heart & showed me  how much being a mommy meant. I'll never regret giving up the career moments for being here the whole time my kiddos were growing up & finding their ways.

But now what?? I know many moms go through this phase. Mine just happened differently. More suddenly.

I feel my branches beginning to sprout...
Where once they lay heavy-laden with sorrow on the ground,
bare of leaves & devoid of sunshine;
they are stretching to find the warm glow,
which urges budding.

Just the latest...

Thought I'd pop in & say hello! Has everyone got the TGIF feeling??

Me too! I got all my grading caught up, which means I can work on the report card Monday (imagine evil music & tittering in the background here.) 

And other than looking forward to having lunch with my BFF tomorrow, there's nothing on my calendar. I'm hoping this means I'll have some serious sewing time, but time will tell.

How often as Moms do we set out with one plan in mind, only to have our kids stomp them into the ground?? I really don't mean that to sound harsh. After all, I love it when my kids & their friends hang out here.

BUT they can shake things up a bit :) 

(Just this past week, in fact, we've unexpectedly made red velvet cupcakes, played 500 Rummy, watched Sixteen Candles, and taught a teen how to cross stitch-- How cool is that?!?!?!?)

Anyway, this is a client quilt I finished up & delivered this week. It's a memory quilt (for a daughter whose Dad passed away) made of t-shirt blocks & denim sashing.

I thought it turned out well. The client picked out this meandering heart pattern. My only trouble was some smooshing going on with the shirt fabric here & there. I had to pick a couple areas to avoid wrinkles in the quilting. Not sure why because they had interfacing? It's the first one I've quilted... I wonder if this is typical?

And I always like to show the backs. Sometimes it's easier to see the actual quilting this way.

Sew my agenda for the next couple days is: 

write

sew

work on a client table runner (which is code for SEW)

have lunch with BFF

and enjoy a slow Sunday with my peeps (my Day of Rest) eh hem.... MORE SEWING

Happy Weekend!

Quilt Show Ramblings & Some Eye Candy

I'll admit to not being particularly inspired to write much of anything this last week. Lots of emotional stuff just clouding my thoughts. 

But in an effort to push past, I thought I'd share something that does make me feel inspired...

my trip the the AQS Lancaster Quilt Show!!

This venue was anticipating upward of 20,000 attendees representing 48 states & 4 countries! This amazes me, since we live right in the middle of Cow Town USA, BUT we are known for our quilts!

I don't me "we" as if I'm known for my quilts, because I most certainly am not -just meaning in the more collective Lancaster County, PA way ;-P

I like to look at the spectacular quilts, BUT, they do often give me a bit of the "will I ever grow up to quilt like that????" feeling. The talent can be a bit overwhelming. 

Of course I try to reassure myself that I COULD if I REALLY put my mind to it. I just choose not to. I'll concede that some of the quilts, those with the perfect, tiny stitches that just about cause your eyeballs to implode from strain, would more than likely truly push me over the edge into the oblivion of insanity. 

(Or wait, am I already there?)

I didn't take any classes while there. I'd been hoping for a longarm quilt class, but there wasn't anything offered for me. (Looking forward to Hershey's show in July for that!)

And really, if I'm going to be honest here, I go for the shopping. Period. It's something akin to the giddy pre-teen girl feelings over boys -- only it's not. It's middle-to-older-aged women getting giddy over fat quarters, notions, threads, and patterns out the wazoo!!!

So here's my loot:

Big cones of thread for the longarm machine!

 I'm loving this Australian woman's designs -she combines simple embroidery stitches with piecing/quilting. (The two on the left are Lynette Anderson Designs.)

These patterns below are for my mini 12"X12" standing quilt frame.

 My good friend, Suzanne, and I bought the red "Holster". It's touted as a rotary cutter holster, but we thought it looked a little small for our rotaries & decided they'd be perfect for holstering our cell phones to our jeans!!

Then there are some fabric markers, a scary looking scalpel I use for mega stitching errors, and some Handy Nets for my big cones of thread.

 I was beyond ecstatic when I saw AQS had added THIMBLES to their collectibles this year!!!!! Yes, I collect thimbles! 

And I always get a pin at the bigger shows that offer them. Not last year, though, because they were overrun by our masses & ran out.

 And the real Eye Candy is the fabric...

I guess you realize I didn't happen up this kitty at the quilt show. No, but my Furry Purry Stan Stan the Hairy Man was waiting for me when I got home.

Thankful to be dry

We watched the rising waters of the Susquehanna River back up into this massive storm drain which leads into our little town. 

The 1st picture was taken this past Friday morning after most of the rain had already stopped pelting. Usually there's barely a trickle in there, but we weren't concerned at this point because it was well below the halfway mark of being full.

However, since we're "down river", this 2nd picture shows how on Saturday, well after the rain had quit falling, we were still watching the river by us rise. 

And by Sunday afternoon, finally, thankfully, the river crested & we could breathe a small sigh of relief. 

(Don't ask me who thought hanging the figure was fun, but it was there... in the way, so it's in my photo >:-/ )

Homes are in danger of flooding here once the water hits the 49' mark. Personally, since we sit a bit higher, we're not in danger of flooding until it hits about 55', just to give a point of reference.

A lot of people who visit us don't understand how the river can possibly flood over the railroad embankment towards our homes. But see that's not how it happens! The picture below shows the view from my front door. The river doesn't flow over the embankment but rather backs up through the above-shown storm drain and then up through the drainage grates by our homes.

During normal weather our rain water runs down our grates into the storm drain and then into the Susquehanna River. But when we have a combination of heavy rains & snow melting up north, it all flows downward towards us & backs everything up.

This last picture shows the view if I walk up onto the railroad embankment & look down to the river. Within those trees are where I usually walk my spastic lab puppy. He'd probably like it down there now --sloshing through the water & mud are his thing. But if he'd take off, it's currently too cold for me to want to go in after him. So yeah, I think we'll just walk the neighborhood until we dry out a bit!

But in the grand scheme of it all... thinking about how scary it can be to worry about my house flooding left me feeling a little....sigh.... what's the word I'm looking for???? .... small, insignificant, but a speck in the realm of world horrors...

You know dinner is a bust when....

...people head to Burger King afterwards!! LOL

I tried making spaghetti & meatballs, and I've made this numerous times with great success in the past. In fact, it's been a favorite staple dinner in our house for years. 

I especially love to let the saucy meatballs percolate in the crock pot for the day.

HOWEVER, I've been on this organic food kick lately. My older DD became a vegetarian a few years ago, which deepened my investigations into fresher foods.

After reading the book Skinny Bitch recently, I furthered my efforts to buy foods in a healthier way.

  

Lest I put off a certain unappreciated vibe, let's just be clear that I'm not really trying to be "skinny" or a "bitch"- just heard this book had good information!! 

I'm much more interested in just doing the best I can to feed my family as healthily as I can afford.

One downside to this fresher, greener eating is a slightly different food bill. And another downside would be starting to experiment with the brands out there & not having many people to ask, "Which brand do you think tastes great?"

So I bought this organic spaghetti, and I'm thinking it was made out of some kind of freeze-dried veggies, so that when it hit water for the directed time of 4.5 minutes, it immediately became mush. 

Our spaghetti was in 1-2" pieces & tasted very much like cardboard.

This picture has loaded funny, and it's showing the fettuccine when I, in fact, bought the spaghetti, but it's the correct brand & the boxes look almost identical.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any type or brand of pasta in any way, shape, or form!**

My DH & younger DD hit the BK this evening. I hit the Oreo bag...

A Couple Finishes!

I'm still doing a good job of trying to hack up my lungs. Having the flu has been horrible! It's been a good 10 years since I've been this sick. 

Normally I can't sit still for long, especially if it's during the day. I like to be busy & I'm very fidgety. BUT I've done a lot of sitting around this week... watching a lot of garbage tv with my younger daughter... going through some old magazines... and when not engaged in coughing up loogies, wielding needles & doing some stitching! (sorry, bad visual)

This Winter piece was stitched last week, but I finished it this week -put on the backing, binding & the hanger.

I finished hand-quilting the table runner this week too. Since I've been pulling this project out here & there for about a year, it was very satisfying to put those last stitches in & tack down the binding & call it done! 

 A little bit of the back...

And this is my newest start: Walking in a Winter Snapperland- Villa by Bent Creek.

Smokey-the-Spastic-Lab sprawled on our couch. He was literally lying there in all his glory watching tv! lol I still have a love/hate relationship with this big boy. He likes to be RIGHT THERE with us all the time, but being he's big & doppy & drooly & sometimes smelly & usually knocking things over with his uncoordinated bod, his commotion can be quite overwhelming & unwanted at times!!

Hope you all are gearing up for a relaxing, fantastic weekend :) 

Tomorrow is our 23rd anniversary, but we're too sick to be doing much. We'll postpone dinner & hanging out for another weekend when we're up for more than sitting around on the couch.

This week gone by

A gift was received...

Smokey the spastic lab ate a mitten ornament...

 And I got the flu :(  

Below is most of my arsenal in fighting the battle of the bug: 

DayQuil & NyQuil for the few days my skin felt as though tarantulas were crawling all about it.

Vitamins to load up my immune system after-the-fact. 

Green Tea with antioxidants.

Water for hydration & flushing the system.

And last but not least Agave Nectar to sweeten the tea & sometimes straight down my throat during a coughing fit. (The Chloraseptic in the background wasn't mine -makes me gag!)

Fortunately, the tarantula-skin feeling has gone away, but I am left with coughing fits that as my daughter said, "Ought to leave us with rock-hard abs"!!! 

I WISH!

Are these boxes smaller this year, or is it just me??

I made some little girl scouts in the next town over very happy. I'm admitting my addiction caused me to spend slightly over $31 on Girl Scout cookies. I bought a few different kinds as a token gesture so that my hubby knows he wasn't overlooked, but the majority of my purchase was those THIN MINTS!! 

There was a brief moment of horror as I took note of the short box. What the heck?!?!?! When did this start? Did I not buy them last year that I missed some notified transition? Or did they switch the size & keep the price all whilst I was unaware? 

Hmmm.... I'd love some feedback on this, but I do realize not everyone is so obsessed about their cookies & some of you probably couldn't care less. But I'm a cheap motha, and I'd like to know... 

WHEN DID THE SHORT BOX COME ABOUT?

Of course the other sad fact that comes with having spent more money on a shorter box of Thin Mints is that it takes a lot less time to eat an entire sleeve... or two... or heck, the whole dang box!

NOM NOM NOM....

Quite Possibly THE Most Touching Gift Ever

Yesterday marked the 23rd month anniversary of my 10 year old son's passing. 

Montie had Marfan Syndrome & on March 19, 2009 his heart stopped beating while he slept on the couch.... a fire was going & I was sleeping on the floor next to him. He'd just had his 7th back surgery to adjust his titanium rods, and we weren't able to make it up to his bed.

Montie was the happiest child I've ever known! His vulnerability met with a smile seemed to draw in both adults & other kids. 

But he never met one of his best friends in person. Mont met T during an online PS3 game. I want to guess it was one of the Call of Duty versions, because they (a gaggle of kids, including my younger daughter, Morgan, and my hubby) played it constantly. Not only did they play the actual game, but the kids over the years created their own games within the games. 

It was all fascinating to watch... how these deep relationships were created virtually & carried over later to phone conversations & plans being made to meet up with a few of these friends and their parents.

Unfortunately, we never got to carry out these plans to meet before Montie passed away. And later when we did meet T & his parents, it was all so bittersweet. We laughed, set off fireworks, and  carried on with T & his parents for two days. Throughout thoroughly enjoying hanging out in person with someone whom Montie had treasured as a friend. Oh but it was sad knowing he wasn't here physically to experience it with us.

Morgan & T have kept in touch, part of each other's virtual world of friends that span the country. 

And yesterday T & his parents surprised us with a gift we will treasure forever. Below is a drawing T commissioned his aunt to do as a gift to us... 

The personal additions are reminders of how much fun T & Montie had playing Little Big Planet & Call of Duty. And Turkeylip was Montie's call-sign online...

This was drawn from one of the last pictures taken of Montie. 

Thank you T <3

Snowman Stitchery

At the end of the day when I'm too tired to keep working or cleaning but not tired enough to go to bed, I've been doing a fair amount of hand stitching. 

I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing it (edging it) so thought I'd just show it now. I think I want to back it with fabric & make it into an "ornament" to hang on an artificial tree we've put in the dining room. I thought it'd be cute to sew and/or stitch up little, seasonal ornaments that I could switch out.

Dang, I've been doing a lot of "thinking" by the words of that last paragraph! Now if I could only translate that into more productivity!! I can't help that I don't seem to have very many productive hours lately!! At least I don't think I can. I don't seem to be much of an early bird OR a night owl. Oh I'm up till midnight or later, however, as I've alluded to earlier, I'm mostly incoherent after I'd say about 10pm. I'm awake but my brain starts shutting down & the politeness in me starts to sleep as well ;-)  After 11pm I like to be deeply immersed in a good book while snuggled under my electric blanket.  But I digress...

I have a thing for snowmen...

-a close up.

Hmm... seems a silly day to share a snowman when it's so springlike outside! Ah well, we still have all of March to go through, so I think the snowmen can hang around a while longer.

I have another little snowman stitchery started, but since I'm either a very slow stitcher or just mostly incoherent by the time I'm stitching, perhaps I should start on the spring/summer set now??

Hot off the quilt machine...

These beautiful quilts were made by a very talented young lady whom works at Stitch and Craft  ... she's not much older than my eldest but she's been teaching us quilting classes for years!

I was honored she asked me to quilt them for her

... and the back.

And the second quilt, Lover's Knot...

 ... and the back.

 That's all for tonight. I'm not feeling particularly chatty, since I'm keeping track of what's going on with the Grammy's.

And not to start any hate talk, but my daughter is 14 so WE ARE BELIEBERS!! Totally enjoyed the Bieber & Usher performance, amongst others...

Friends are a blessing!

Being blessed with great friends is awesome!

Just having someone to connect with on an emotional level deeper than "What are we having for dinner?", "Where are my shin guards?", "Can you take me to ______ ?", etc., is a wonderful gift from God.

It's made all the sweeter if you share interests, hobbies, viewpoints...

My two sewing buddies & I finally got together after a several month hiatus to sew (duh) & exchange Christmas goodies! See the show & tell below...

Look closely at this clock K gave to see what's in place of what is usually numbers...

so cute!

 Also from K, she knows I've become more interested in canning/freezing in the last few years as we keep expanding our gardens. I have no natural ability whatsoever in the kitchen, so having clear, concise instructions to tell me what the heck I'm doing will be most helpful.

These goodies were actually for Valentine's Day but just had to show off the little bag my friend, S, made that held the rest of the items. (those are little heart pins to the left there)

... and a subscription to this magazine! 

K, S & I share several obsessions: sewing, quilting, and FOOD. We laugh because as we're sitting at one sewing get-together & beginning to look ahead to our next gathering, most often we talk about what "food theme" to have BEFORE we figure out where/when!! hahaha

For example, when we sewed this past weekend we had a breakfast food theme. S made these delicious egg/bacon in toast cups, K made a very yummy baked oatmeal, and I'd brought a totally unhealthy but sinfully tasty Monkey Bread.

And though we haven't yet set a date for our next sew-in, we've already decided we're making finger foods for next time... 

Friends make my grown-up days more tolerable & help me stay sane! I'm so thankful for my girlfriends :-)

p/s I'm blessed many times over because in addition to S & K whom I share those obsessions already mentioned, I also happen to consider a handful of family members some of my best friends as well. But I'll save that for another day....