A Gray Kinda Day

I am just in this edgy kind of mood today. Those kind of moods usually come with major headaches. I've been very sharp with the kids today. I am sure Jeff, Elena,Grant,Alan,and Cyrus are glad they are out of town today.

I was WAY over ambitious this week with my quilting goals. Here my first quilt sits only partly done. It is the biggest of all the quilts I have to quilt so after I finish up this one the rest will go fast.



Joel is a very touchy kid who knows very little of respecting the personal space of others.Usually Lily gets bothered when he is in her space too long hugging her or something but at this moment she is enjoying the brotherly affection.



I found a very long gray hair today. Two grey hairs,in fact. I just had to pull them out and measure them. They were each about 10 inches long!

To top it off, I thought I would try on a pair of jeans I wore before I was pregnant with Lily who is two years old. I will not say the size because that would be,well,too open for blog land.I will just say I am not a tiny lady size... Anyway, why I decided to do that right after I found the long gray hairs I do not know. Of course, they STILL DID NOT fit.

I think my headache is getting worse.


Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

A Pot of Good Looking Beans and Fun in The Mail

Isn't this a beautiful sight?



I got creative.

Two pounds of beautiful mixed dry beans
about 24 cups of water
a bunch of onions
one 26 ounce can of spaghetti sauce
one pound of cooked sausage

Very tasty




Carmel sent me these lovely things all the way from Israel! Thank you SO very much Carmel!!!

Carmel hand made the pretty bag.It is so very sweet. The girls went crazy over it.




Carmel also sent me some very pretty fabric Pieces. I have a project in mind for them.



I have been enjoying reading the Arabesque needlework book. Most of you know that I had desired to be an Archaeologist when I 'grew up'. Of course, the job I have now trumps any ancient find. A close second to Archaeology was historical costume design. I personally think those two areas are connected in a way but maybe only in my mind. Anyway, Arabesque has been a very enjoyable book to read.

Read this: "Embroidery from the Holy Land,like other crafts, preserve ancient motifs that have been passed down from generation to generation. The motifs reveal traces of the various empires and cultures that have flourished in this part of the world."

Isn't that so neat!? See how the book is very fitting for me.

Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

Onions and M&Ms

We have a big surplus of onions almost begging to be used.



Let's heat up some oil and mix up a little batter.



The end result is tasty onion rings! Much thanks to my cooks Alan and Nolan!!




Here is a math problem for you:

What do (or is it does?) a pile of M&Ms, three bottle caps, and a bunch of kids who are fond of sweets equal?

About 30 minutes of fun!! If I had more m&ms the quiet house I mean the fun might have lasted a little longer.





Lily, I'm noticing you are not looking like your cute toddler self in this picture...good thing a mom's love sees beyond messy hair and chocolaty mouth.Ok,ok maybe you are actually looking quite cute but it could be the camera (or the photographer) is to blame.Maybe???


Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

A Quick Hello

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

1 Chronicles 16:8-9

Thank you for loving me,Lord!




I have ten quilts all ready to machine quilt. This must be about 8 yards of Warm and Natural! If I do three a day,I'll finish before the weekend. That sounds a little too ambitious. Ok,I will settle with getting four finished by Thursday so Jeff can get them in the mail on their way to Alaska before Jeff and a few of the kids leave for the weekend. They are heading to Illinois for Bram's Bar Mitzvah. Bram is Jeff's nephew.

It is hard to tell from this picture what the quilt tops actually look like. But aren't the backing fabrics very pretty? Five girl quilts and five boy quilts.




Here is a peek of a few. As you can see,a few of the quilts are pretty simple ones but I just enjoy making patchwork quilts like these.

Gotta love those little retro looking cowboys and Indians!







I will show you them as I finish them. I'm exited!


Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

What a Man,What a Mighty Fine Man...And a Few Cute Kids

As the father of many, Jeff sure does sacrifice the fancier things of life.



Last year Jeff's small work car was beyond fixing.

We had $450 dollars to find him a new car.

Here was what he found.



It was held together by duck tape and bungee cords but it got him where he needed to go.



It lasted almost a year. Good-bye car!! Now he is off to look for another car. Maybe the next one will need a little less duck tape.



Pretty Gracie (5) petting our cat Pippy.



My three youngest (Joel, Lily, and Grace) playing what they call 'the nighttime game' where they pretend to go to sleep. I like that game. It makes for a quiet house.

Check out Lily's folded hands...she is so pleased that she can now fold her hands like that so she does it a lot. Aw, SO cute!!


Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

A Little Obsession of a Few Kinds

How about a little material obsession!

I did not use my free time very wisely this evening. I spent half of it looking at this book.

Material Obsession: Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots by Sarah Fielk and Kathy Doughty

It is just the most beautiful quilt book. I have yet to make anything from it. The Quilts seem pretty challenging.

I was thinking it would be a great book to use my stash fabric for. Maybe one of these days I will go through and make all 23 quilts in this book. It would probably take me about five years at least.



Here are a few of the quilts




This one is my ultimate favorite




Ok, my all time obsession is kissing warm cozy baby cheeks right after a baby nap and that cute baby crib head.



I spent the second half of my quiet house time taking pictures of Lily.Who could blame me! She is pretty fun.





Don't worry. It's decaf. What a kind hubby to bring me a special drink to enjoy with my quiet night.



Lily is a pro at making mac and cheese. How many boxes? Seven tonight because Elena and Grant will not be home to eat with us.




Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

A Real Quick Post

Today there was an early out for the public school and FCA had a fun sports activity at the Jr High gym. Cyrus,Joyce,and Alan went up to join in on the fun.

Apparently,the jr High school office called for Alan over the loud speaker yesterday during school hours.Of course,Alan was home here because he is home schooled but stopped by the office this afternoon shortly after he arrived for the FCA event.I wonder if he was nervous.The office was just holding his basketball pictures.

Oh,I enjoy the boys pictures so much...

Here are Alan's 7th grade basketball pictures. Isn't he a very handsome young man?!




Just for fun I dug out this picture of my dad at about the same age as my boys.

Jeff did not play organised sports when he was young.It would have been fun to compare Jeff and the boys as well.



Grant on the left, my dad, Alan on the right



Note: I am going to write my dad's full name just by chance he might be googled sometime James Albert Weiss He would be turning 66 next week.He died in '93at 49. He would have just loved playing with my boys.


Anyway,I have the house almost all to myself while everyone (but me and Lily) are at AWANA this evening. I will see what sewing I can get done.

Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

Poky Little Puppy

I'm on my last back post which is actually not a back post at all because it is almost in 'real time'. Almost,anyway.

What do you think of my newest creation? I finished it up today.I changed the quilt design a little from my original plan but the change was a good change. I even backed the quilt with jean fabric. I had a few mishaps.One of which was not noticed until after I finished it {HUGE eye roll} so I had to take a bit of the quilt apart and re-do it. With that fixed I am very pleased with it!



and of course the cute little matching cloth book.



I already have about half of my Saggy Baggy Elephant quilt together.It will be just like the puppy one but the middle square will be Saggy Baggy Elephant instead of Poky.

Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

I'm sad...

My beautiful dream house in Luck looks like it has been sold.

Don't ask me why I'm so disappointed about it because it was not like we could have actually bought it right now.

*Sigh*

I just prayed almost every day for God to work something out.I guess he did but just not for us. I think I will get over it...but I'm still a little sad.

Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy

Fun On A Sunday

Jeff was out today playing with the kids in the snow and took some great pictures!

Lily and her love/hate relationship with the snow



A few of the kids on the snowbank in out driveway.The impressive thing about this snowbank is that it was all created by the effort of our kids.We do not have a snow blower so the pile was created with shovel power!



Josh



Ekie



Odell and Grace(NO I mean Odell and Lily)



Joyce (being her crazy goofy self)



Cyrus digging a snow house



A few of the things we did in our Sunday school today.



Odell in the pretty outfit she received from her grandparents for her birthday. Doesn't she look just beautiful?!




Warmly,
A Patchwork Mommy