Bundles of Love for Iraq

I have just heard about the most wonderful gift. A soldier in Iraq is ending his tour of duty in October, and the blessed man would like to give back to the people of Iraq.



After reading the book, 3 Cups of Tea, he has come up with the idea

to give the women whose lives have been turned upside down, bundles of love. He said they use and re-use everything there, every thread, every square inch of fabric, every scrap of yarn! The ultimate recycle circle. So, I have thrown in my hat, I know I have stash, needles, and yarn galore to share, do you? The quilting community has given me soooo much in the way of friendship, so I am happy to give a little back. You can help, too, if you'd like, You can read the post about it here at his wife's page...kristinlaflamme.com. He really is Mr. Incredible. There are links to the "411" pages at the bottom of her post...

I'm off to the post office in the morning to get my box and send it off. The flat rate boxes cost $11.95 to send, doesn't matter how much it weighs. Too bad we don't have a place for this in the US, like Every Women's Place, or homeless shelters...any body know of a place here we send a bundle of love?

Hope all your bundles are full of love,

lyn

Have you ever?

Have you ever just played with fabric, just because you loved the fabric?
Sara, the quiltingbookworm, sent some fabrics with her PIF and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! So, I putzed for a while and thought I would make a practice bag because, in a moment of weakness, I joined the Friendship Bag Swap. (the link is on the right column) and I have no idea what to make.

My Mr. Wonderful makes the best little model, doesn't he? He was out in the garden, and found our first tomato!! Hip Hip Hooray!!! Let the feeding frenzy begin!

Rachel has a great tutorial on her blog, friendship-bag-tutorial., but it seemed too small, so I amended the measurements and ended up with this little sweetie. I love it! (thanks Sara, for the four patches!)

I think I might do some little stitcherie and start there?

What fun! how do you make up your mind?

Hope all your tomatoes are ripe!

lyn

Just a little stitching

I have not been completely lazy, I have sewn a few things, this little quilt was for a fund raiser that my SIL Kathy was puting together. A family in upper New York lost 3 daughters in a car accident, so I sent a quilt and a lot of prayers. I took the girls to a little quilt show just north of me last weekend, and they were so impressed! They oohh-ed and aahh-ed all over the quilts. They voted for their favorites and had such a hard time making up their minds.

But, boy the minute we got home, they wanted to do crafts right away, they were so inspired! I didn't want to get the sewing machine going because we had Jonathan, who is two, and is more interested in pushing buttons than sewing the fabric, So, we crocheted,,,and we crocheted!

Until it became too quiet! I looked in the toy room, no baby, I looked in the family room, no baby,,,I was getting nervous! the girls found him in the living room....Jonathan had almost fallen asleep in the corner with Cubbie. Thank Goodness for Cubbie, she is a better babysitter than Granny is!

This week, the girls are still stitching, one way or another, so I've made up my mind that we are going to every quilt show we can, just to keep them interested and maybe,,,just maybe,,,they will someday be so moved, they might finish a project!!???!!!

The weather has been cool here, lately, which I love! high 60's to mid 70's. But today was back to normal, and got up to 80. Humid. Sticky. My tomatoes love it!

Hope all your babies have loving dogs to cuddle with!

lyn

What a nice homecoming!!!

Mr. Wonderful and I just got home from Virginia, we had a lovely time with family, full of fun, love, and a few giggles. As we were pulling into our drive, we both mentioned how nice the trip was, and how nice it was to come home. Our neighbor took care of the dog-dogs and picked up the mail every day...and just look what I came home to.

Sara, also known as the quiltingbookworm a PIF that I jumped in on, and she has sooo many wonderful things in this package!! I LOVE the bookbag she made, and she even threw in some blocks,,,I just might have to make another bag to match!! The little pin cushion is so adorable!! I'm going to have to hide it from Jakey, he is always wanting pillows for his little animals...tee hee

She also made this candle mat,,,and it matches my family room perfectly!! How did you know, Sara???

Inside the book bag was a book, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (I would like to put a link in here, but I'm link-impaired) and just a few weeks ago, I almost bought that book at Barnes and Noble, but thought I should wait till the paper back came out...Now I have it!! And I just finished my last book last night, so I'll have to start on this one tonite.

Thank you, you little bookworm, what a gem!!

But, now I have to get 3 joiners so I can Pay It Forward to them...Any takers??

Hope all your pin cushions are accounted for.

lyn

Tea parties on the Deck...

...are the most fun when you have little girls in dresses, wearing Granny's high heels, and party hats, Our summer is going so fast, I cannot believe July is half gone already!!

We have cooked out, we have had kids on skates, bikes, boats, and parades, we have done all the beaches, and we have ***giggled.***

And in between all that, I even managed to put a few stitches in a quilt or two. This is one I putzed at for about a month, it started out to be just a project, I had scraps and have always wanted to do a Double Irish Chain, so I slooowwwlllyyy worked on this one.

We have had so much company this summer, that it took over a month to finish it, but I love it now that it is done. the scrappy look is so appealing to me.

And I wonder if finn recognises any of her scraps? She knows I love scraps!!!

And, how do you like my $1.00 headboard? When I bought it at a yard sale, it was broken, and some of the finials were missing, Mr. Wonderful about had a hissy fit!!!! This thing was UGLY!!! But I saw the potential, so I took two legs off a broken stool for the missing finials, cut some one by fours to replace the legs, and slapped some black paint on the whole mess. I love it, but Mr. Wonderful is mortified when I tell everybody that it only cost $1.00...I'm so proud of my thriftiness, and he is sooooo proud of my efforts, but God forbid that I tell anybody how cheap I am!! tee hee...so don't tell anybody, okay? It will be just our secret.

Hope all your finials are glued on tight!!!

lyn

Whattya Know?

She remembers how to blog...Shall I apologize for being gone so long or shall I just slip in here like I've been here the whole time? Actually, I have been lurking here and there, and loving every body's posts. Now I've worked up the gumption to be a big girl and blog myself!

Besides, I am so proud to show off these pictures...

Elizabeth is sewing....and she is doing such a good job of it, too! She is only 6 years old, and she is a whiz at the machine, her and Bessie have become best of friends! Just look at those lines, and the form, and the curved seam allowances give it soooooo much character...don't you think?? :-) I have not put one stitch in these blocks! (ok, I did the cutting of the strips, but she selected the scraps, and the yellows, she stitched, and she designed)

(When I started taking pictures, she HAD to stop...run into the bedroom....and get her Hanna Montana slippers to show off,,,,too cute!!)

And the absolute BEST part of all this is...50 years from now, she will be (hopefully) sitting at her machine, telling her grand babies about making her first quilt with HER granny...brings tears to my eyes!

Thanks to you all for hanging in there with me! and for giving me HOURS of entertainment with your blogs...

Hope all of you remember how to strip! tee hee

lyn

Virtual Spring Quilt Festival!!!

I have been busy for the last two days...busy being totally engrossed in the First Virtual Quit Festival over at http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/. She has come up with such a wonderful idea.

So, the whole time I'm devouring all of the other entrant's quilts, I have been thinking of my own quilts,,,can you pick a favorite? Is it like babies, you love each one different, and the same? This squirmy little bundle is my very first attempt at quilting. My son and his wife was expecting a pink little baby girl, and so I pulled out one of my great-grandmother's aprons, one of my grandmother's tablecloths, and ran over to my mother's to grab one of her blouses.

I used an old blanket of my Grampa's for the batting, and one of my other grandma's curtains for the backing...it turned out to be the most comfy little thing in the world, and Elizabeth still thinks of it as her "best blanket."

What more could a granny ask for?

Not only did it pass some of our family "feelings" down to this baby, but it also made me leap into a new world of quilting. Each one of my quilts tell a story, but this one has history....sigh....feels so comfy!!

now, your job is to jump over to Park City Girl's blog and let us know about your favorite quilt! Be prepared to spend HOURS there!!

hope all your quilts are squirmy!!

lyn

Moving forward

We have had the pleasure of our little Jakey here the last week, his sister has a rotten cold, and Jakey;s counts are not good enough to fight off a cold,,,We have read so many books, and colored so many pictures of Lightning McQueen that our eyes are blurry.

We have three birthday grandies this week alone,

So we partied all weekend! the kids were so fun,

We are planing a benefit to help the kids with the extra costs of Jacob's care, ie: travel, work loss, costs to stay in Grand Rapids, etc. So, my Aunt Biggie made a quilt to raffle off, this is a rotten picture of it, but the quilt is awesome,,,hand quilted, machine pieced.

oddly enough, she did not know that this pattern was called "Jacob's Ladder" funny how things happen. ??

Hope all your grandies are giggling!

lyn

My Family has Tragedies

Last year, my grandson, Jacob, was diagnosed with Leukemia. He has had very large doses of chemo, and since he is a male, he will have to have the treatments for over three years. I'm not sure why I haven't blogged about it before, it was so raw that I was not settled in my own mind enough to talk about it. He is three years old, and the most charming little boy you ever saw. He quickly got to the point where he did not want to go to the clinic for all the procedures, and he would cry, the poor baby...then, one of the nurses had a birthday, and Jakey and his parents brought a treat to share with all the staff at the clinic...he didn't put up a fuss...he was glad to go and to share his treats...so now they take a treat every time, and that precious little child is glad to go have a spinal tap, just so he can give. What a wonderful insight to his personality!

We were just reeling from that news, when my darling daughter passed away in her sleep. The autopsy is not back yet, but I know the cause of death, the Lord needed an angel.

My heart is so full, I'm not sure how to share all my feelings, I miss my little African Star, she was my baby, and always will be. My girlfriend left a comment on the last post telling you all what happened, I just don't have the gumption to write it all.

So, please say prayers for us, Mr. Wonderful did not only lose a daughter, he lost his best friend.

Hope all your heartaches are healing,

lyn

Where the Heck Have I Been?

As you all have seen on the news, Michigan has had bad weather for as long as I can remember. We live on Lake Michigan, and we get what is lovingly called "lake effect snows." We have already had 68.3 inches of snow in the month of December, then we had a thaw and a freeze, then rain...and another freeze. so we had about three inches of solid ice.

Now, anybody with a Mr. Wonderful of their own knows you can't keep a good man down...unless you break his legs. God took care of that during a trip to the mail box. I was sitting in the living room with my daughter and I thought he was in his office. I heard a muffled moan, listened for it again, and finally said to DD, "Do you hear Dad yelling at us?" We found him flat on the driveway, unable to get a foot hold, and twisted, in a weird way, You guessed it, Surgery Room #6C . A normal person would have pain after a surgery like that, but he said he had the worst of the pain before. Still, he has progressed from walker, to crutches, now he is using a cane, and in the morning he walks without anything. (In the mean time, guess who has to do all the menial little chores that a Mr. Wonderful is responsible for??? Guess who can't remember to take something out for dinner??? Guess who forgot how to turn on a crock pot??? that's right, this old fat granny, that's who!!!)

Plus, we have had tricklers for the Holidays, I finally got my Rob and Lucy, I haven't had them for an extended time in a couple years, they came for weddings and funerals, but then Rob had to rush off to get back to work. (He is an air traffic controller) so, I finally got my hands on those little girls, we did everything!! and we giggled while we did it!!!

Angela and Al just left on Sunday, she helped with her Dad, blogger would not let me add any more pictures, so I can't show her off, she is 107 pounds of heart, and the most loving daughter a mom could ask for.

I got all but one of my kids home this year, so that is pretty good odds. People tease me about having a tribe, and if they were all home at once, we'd have to rent a hall to have dinner together...tee hee

I did not get the yellow sunshine done for Finn's UFO challenge, I'm still plucking away at it, one stitch at a time. My first hand stitched bedsize quilt. I will feel like a big kid when I get it all done..... but I did get the Ethnic Star done, and my little ethnic star loved it!!! I'll have to show a picture when blogger feels more generous.

This was the last of the gifts I got completed. Digging around in bins for all my UFO's for the challenge, I found stuff I forgot I had. I"ll save the stories of them for another blog.

Hope all your Mr. Wonderfuls are able to cook for you!!!

lyn