Dear Charlotte

I am a pretty articulate person. Would you agree? I usually have no trouble putting into words what I am feeling, or thinking. Once in a great while, I will run across something said by someone else that is EXACTLY what I would say......if I had the courage. Today was one of those times. If you would like to read it, click here. (careful, as there is a bit of language, but it would take no courage not to use it as there are no other words to suffice) I would only change the first couple of words to

"Dear Charlotte,"

A Rad-ical Day

I got my sewing room all cleaned up. It is all tidy and neat once again. It has been a RAD week. What that means is I have been dealing with trauma behaviors from my daughter. In the midst of that, I decided I needed some sewing therapy. Today, Sweetheart went to his mom's house, so hiding down in the sewing room was not an option. I decided not to let that stop me!I brought all I needed upstairs for the day. I was able to finish all the blocks for the Hidden Star. I had 10 of the 42 left to assemble.I had lots of company, of course! Sassy kept attacking my foot as I sewed.She liked the cord to the iron so that was a bit of a concern.
Finally she settled down and just watched from a safe distance. Tomorrow I can spend some time messing up the sewing room again. I will put the blocks into rows and then assemble the rows into a top. This quilt could easily be in the hoop as the mini is coming out! As for the RAD issues going on here, we will survive....at least I hope so!!!! I should take a cue from Sassy!

A Weeks Worth

I did not mean for an entire week to go by without a blog post! It has been a nice kind of busy around here. I had my Thursday with Mom and that was wonderful. Thursday night was Bunco night. I spent part of Wednesday with my oldest son, which was heaven. Other than that I have been busy around the house. Yesterday, I spent the day in Chicago at my sister's house. She has the above piece hanging in her kitchen. It is one of my earlier quilts. I was amazed at the difference in my quilting stitches. Back then, I got 12 stitches per inch. Now I get 9. Wonder what happened? It has to be age!! LOLThe geranium is painted on using a stencil. In my old house, I had painted these potted geraniums going down my stairway on each stair. On the bottom step I had painted a pot laying on it's side with dirt spilling out onto the landing. I loved that stencil. It was nice to see this forgotten piece from the past.

The reason for the trip was my sister's grandson turned 6!!!Dominic is one of those kids that just steals your heart in an instant!They cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill and we had fresh fruit and veggies, baked beans and chips and dip. It was a wonderful day filled with laughter and great food.

Speaking of food.....I have been indulging too much in the last year! I am heavier than I have ever been in my life. It is time for a lifestyle change. Add that to the new food budget and I go from rocket Scientist to miracle worker! My first change is to cut out all white flour and sugar. No, I did not have a bun, nor did I have cake and ice cream yesterday! Here at home, I made some whole wheat bread.Even with that, I will limit it to bread, once a day only.I have been having some blood sugar issues, so that will help me stay on track also.

Sassy went through a growth spurt last week. She was eating like crazy and has gotten quite big. She has doubled her weight since coming to us! My neighbor, Cindy, bought her a new toy.She loves it!! Since she got this, she has not been working her claws in my furniture. I bought her that Emery Cat, claw thingy, but she would work her claws in the carpet right next to the thing!!! Sass still loves to be involved with my quilting. While marking Rose Marie's prize, she kept a close watch from the chair....look carefully and you can see her looking up at me!My quilting time last week was spent doing the hand applique on Rose Marie's little quilt. Blessedly, Rose Marie is a hand quilter and understands patience. She told me I had 2 years to complete it!! LOL.....she will get it well before that. I can not (I will not) show you the mini until Rose Marie gets it, but I will give you a "peek".That is the best I can do! I am on the hand quilting and hope to finish it by next week. I am sure enjoying the hand quilting process after spending so much time on applique. I have not hand quilted anything since the Pink and Brown was finished.

Now I have really messed up my sewing room. With all the fabric being pulled for the flowers on the UGRR and all the cutting and piecing of the give away, my sewing room went from this.....To this........Oh. My. Gosh. What a mess!!! From one end of the table,to the other,it looks like a tornado came through. Really, it was Hurricane Brenda!! This is on the list for this week.

Well, I hope to be back before next week! Today I am home schooling and hopefully, getting the sewing room back to presentable. Other than that, laundry is done, the house is clean and I can hand quilt the rest of my time away!

How is your week shaping up?

A Pocket Full of Posies

I had the most incredible weekend with the grandkids. They were SO excited to be here. Emmie gets cuter and cuter and is talking like you would not believe. The postman brought a special package from Oklahoma which contained something special for Emerson.
My dear friend, Linda, made Emerson this darling little top. The detail is gorgeous and it fits beautifully!!! Emerson was thrilled with it.Also, the most precious little dress was included.Emmie kept saying, "pwetty" and looking down at it as she walked. It is so sweet!!! You can not buy clothes like this!!!! The workmanship is gorgeous.
Linda also made the most beautiful dress for Charlotte.It is lovely!! All those flowers around the white band at the bottom are fussy cut and stitched on. Purple ric rac is below that. Just gorgeous!!!! Charlotte loves it and all the garments fit the girls perfectly! Linda also enclosed matching handmade hair ribbons for Charlotte, which I forgot to take pictures of. I promise I will get them next time. Linda, your generous heart is such a blessing to my family. I know there is SO much work involved in these beautiful dresses and the intricate top, and I greatly appreciate it. (Linda knows I so want to make my girls dresses, but am not skilled enough)
Now I will wipe my eyes and show you all a few more pics of the kids. The sandbox is always a huge hit here.Emerson can't get the lid off, but she sure does try hard! Daddy to the rescue!!!Sand is fun!!!!That is until you take your first big bite of it and Daddy has to dig it out of your mouth!Poor Daddy has to keep his eyes on 2 at a time! He is doing really well at this single parent thing. I am very proud of him.Let me tell you something about that little Emerson....the girl loves her food!!!There is NOTHING she will not eat. She likes everything and will eat until it's gone. I gave her a toll house cookie for the first time.....she took a bite while I held it. You could see the eyes get big and the smile widen. I am not kidding, that girl ATTACKED me! She came at that cookie with both hands. Me, feeding her bites, was NOT going to do. Later that evening Paw Paw had a cookie and she spotted it. She got so excited and tickled that she was not able to contain herself. She was giggling out loud and running as fast as she could to get to him. Well, ok, not HIM, but the cookie!
TJ is not the eater that Emerson is, but he sure likes to help me in the kitchen. Every time he is here, he helps me prepare some part of the meal.His little face is covered in freckles. Just like his Daddy and Paw Paw before him, he will look like a speckled pup all summer!
They got to spend some time with their Great Grandma this time.TJ calls her "Old Grandma".....I am "New Grandma" when she is around. He was trying really hard to give a nice smile!!!Neither one of them quite pulled it off, but they sure did enjoy each other!!!
It will be another 2 weeks before I see them again. *sigh* I am thankful for the time I do get to see them and they are always happy to come and sad to go. We are the place for them that is familiar and safe and I am honored to be that. In June we will have them for 10 days in a row, on top of our regular bi monthly time.....well, they will be with their Daddy for much of that time, but they will be just down the road and I can see them everyday if I want to....and you know I want to.
Well, that is all. I am planning to have a cleaning/sewing day....all that new eye candy fabric is cut up and waiting for an applique needle. Sweetheart is working at his mom's house today and we have testing in homeschool. Kyle is home for a "fun day", which I am sure will include spending more time with Sassy. I give him one every once in a while as a reward for working so hard the other days. What is for dinner??? Maybe burgers on the grill.
Have a Blessed Week!!!
Blessings, Bren

A Day At The Quilt Shop

Saturday, I taught a hand quilting class at Acorn Quilts. As you can see, I could not gather my supplies without Sassy thinking I had made her a new bed! I am a self taught quilter and have never taught a class before! I was given some "coaching" by Jan Ragaller, who works at Acorn and is a pretty noted quilt designer/quilt tester in many national quilt magazines. Some of her quilts have made the cover....I know! How famous is that??? Her color skills are incredible. I highly respect this lady. She use to teach a hand quilting class, years ago, and so she took some time and gave me her tips. They were invaluable! Still, I figured if I took gifties (homemade needle books and some different needles) and a box of donuts, they would be happy and fed, which would make for a nice start!!!The class went off without a hitch. There were 7 including my friend Coleen, so it was nice to have a familiar face there. I took sample quilts done by 4 different quilters, including myself, and that was the best thing I could have done. I came up with that idea just as I was gathering my supplies! It gave the ladies a chance to see that not all quilting should look like one example. Everyone looks at stitch length and that is really not where the focus should be....it is in the evenness of the stitches. It helped them to relax and not reach for perfection, or for the idea of the stitch made by one other person. Some had no trouble learning to make that necessary hill, and others struggled a bit and all of a sudden you would hear, "I got it!!!" All in all, it was so satisfying. It helped that every one of them were so sweet and kind. Here are Barb, Luella, and Joanne. Luella has made several quilts and wanted a refresher. Joanne had never made a hand quilting stitch before. She was doing GREAT by the time class was over.Barb who is holding up her hoop, already knew how to hand quilt, but she always used a spoon underneath. She wanted to learn to hand quilt without the spoon. She was doing it on her own after only watching me demonstrate a hand quilting stitch for a minute!Another sweet lady was a knitter since the age of 4, and struggled a bit, but was well on her way to the perfection she felt she needed.....I told her she had to let go of that. ;) Of course, there was the youngest of the group....she had to be early 30's. When we went around introducing ourselves and telling about any of our quilting abilities, she said, "I play softball and volleyball, and that is the extent of my quilting abilities." What a charachter...I loved her. By the time she left, she was a "quilter" who played softball and volleyball!

Yet, another, older, lady, Mary, came in last and was quite stoic and not a chatterbox AT ALL. She had hand quilted some, but could never get her stitches to go through to the back....this is a pretty important detail. She had taken a hand quilting class in the past at another place and still could not get it down. I worked with her and she had it in 10 minutes time. Her face beamed and she began to visit and was so enjoyable! That night, my phone rang and it was Mary. She wanted to say thank you to me. She told me she needed to let me know how grateful she was that I taught my class in such a way that uncomplicated the whole process for her. She said she had always wanted to hand quilt and had just given up after the first class she took. She said things were complicated for her to the point that she felt she could not do it. Also, she was told she needed a minimum of so many stitches per inch and that was that. I actually told everyone the opposite....oops. Well, it is what I believe. Even is more important than size. Mary had went home and had her little sample well underway. That phone call was such a blessing!!!

The 3 hours flew by and everyone went home happy....which was my ultimate goal. Jan said all the ladies gave very positive feedback. I had nightmares of unsatisfied ladies who would throw their brand new hand quilting supplies in the trash after my class!!!

I also got a nice check! I had fabric purchases I saved for just this day. With the 20% discount I got that day for teaching the class, and the paycheck in my purse, I was able to make them (plus put half of the money in the bank!). I needed a fabric for the final border on the Underground Railroad Sampler. I decided I want it bigger, queen size to be exact.....Jan, who is fabulous with color helped me pick this one. I LOVE IT! I got enough for the border and binding.Sorry....Sassy jumped up there and took a snooze before I could snap the picture. You get the idea. It is a perfect fit!

I also got fabric for the back of the Hidden Star. I already had the batting, so now I can get this in the hoop. Christmas gifts being made in the summer....how perfect is that?!And finally, some fun fabrics. I saw this focus fabric and fell in love. It has a folk arty feel to it. A few fat quarters to accent it, and it becomes eye candy!I have a plan.....Shhhhhhh.

My Saturday was spent sharing something I love, with people who were incredible to be around. How does it get any better???

Well it does....I also had the grandkids this weekend and will see them again today. I will come back with pictures, I promise!

Have a Blessed Lord's Day!

Blessings, Bren