Maddie's Birthday Present

Today is my Grand daughter Maddie's Birthday.
Happy Birthday Maddie!
This is is a picture of her present.

I decided this was the year I would make each of my grand kids and their spouses quilts for their birthdays. Since I have 14 to make it is going to be a busy year in the sewing room. Maddie's is number three.
My sister in law Maxine, another quilter, came for a visit last summer. We spent most of the time in the sewing room. One of our projects was making a Kaleidoscope Quilt for our grand kids. We were joined by my daughter Dana who also made one.
Here is a close up of the pattern. Unfortunately this picture does not do it justice. The black is not solid but has swirls of colors with a black background. The cream is really a bright yellow.
This was a challenge. None of us had ever used a triangle ruler before and trying to get all the points to match was a hair puller. We learned that three heads are better than one.

Where Does Time Go?

It can not have been a month since my last post. Gosh where does time go.

I celebrated my 70th birthday yesterday. Unfortunately spent most of the day in bed with a cold. Not the kind of present I was hoping for. You know what ... 70 years is a long time. You know something else ... I use to think people who were in their 70's were old, but not anymore!
Here are a few of my favorite quotes on aging:
Yeah, being young is beautiful but being old is comfortable. Forget the health food, my body needs all the preservatives I can get.
I finally got my head together and my body fell apart.
You don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stopped laughing.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

OK enough of that! On to what has been happing on the farm.
We have some new yard art!
Well, that all depends on who you are talking to, yard art or a vision.

My son has a new hobby but no place to put it. "Dad you have all that room out at your place can I store it at your house?"

His new hobby restoring a 1927 something?

Here is my take on this...My son wanted something he and his son, Logan could work on together. However, he also knew if he brought his project to our house his Dad could not help but become involved. What was my son's hobby is now a three generation project...a little male bonding for the men in the family.


Like Grandfather

Like Father

Like Son

What a team

What Is Black, White and Red?

The first of the year, I entered a challenge with an online quilting group. We have until June to complete at least 15 UFO's, (unfinished projects). The quilt on the left is my first completed quilt for the challenge. The quilt pattern is called a Disappearing Nine Patch and several of the blocks were from a swap I participated in a few years ago. Another goal I have for this year is to make a lap quilt for all my grandkids. I added to the collection of swap blocks to make this quilt for my grandson, James, killing two birds at the same time.


The second quilt on the right was made for another grandson, Cory, but was not part of the UFO challenge. So far, I have made three black, red, and white quilts.


The bottom quilt was the first one I did and was a wedding quilt for my grand daughter, Sara and her husband Andy. The color theme for their wedding was Red, Black and White. Each person in the wedding party signed a block.

When another grandson wanted a black and white quilt, I told him to pick another color, I was done with black, white and red quilts.

What a Difference - Winter 2010

Last Saturday my grandson, Dustin, his wife Cina and my great granson Sylas come out for lunch. It was such a nice spring like???? day we decided to take Sylas outside for a ride on the lawn tractor. As I was looking over the pictures we took, it came to mind the difference between this winter and last. We had record breaking snowfall in the winter of 2008 - 2009. This year we have set new records for the least amount of snow. Well that is North Idaho for you.

Sunday's thoughts

Let me walk with You, dear Savior,

Side by side and hand in hand;

Keep me clean and pure and faithful

Till I reach the heavenly land - Hess

Sunday, what better day to share two life changing events. Both these events are somewhat related and have to do with my Faith and my walk with Jesus. Yes, I am a Christian and have been all my life. I am not sure at what age I accepted Jesus as my Savior, probably during one of my Sunday School Classes that I attended as a child. Like most Christians, I went to church off and on, cried out to God in prayer when things went wrong and out of my control, and occasionally read the Bible. I tried to raise my kids with Christian values and when convenient took them to church. This practice would all change after we moved to "the farm".

The first event really began with Jim. He was asked by a long time male friend to attend a bible study class. I too was asked by this friend's wife, but I was dragging my feet. After the first session, Jim came home and told me he was going to begin this Bible Study Program, a seven year commitment. I thought, heck, if he was going to make that kind of commitment, perhaps I should too.

Let me digress a minute, Jim was not the spiritual leader in our home and even though he believed in Jesus and was a Christian, he rarely went to church and even more rarely read his bible. So this was huge for him.

Four years later, we both are committed, active members of Bible Study Fellowship International. This was one of the best decisions we have made in our lives. Through this Bible Study, we both have grown in our spiritual walk and for the first time in my life, I am realizing just what it means to say, "I am a Christian". My day does not begin without asking God to direct my path for that day. In addition, a portion of my day is now spent in prayer and reading the scriptures for guidance. Jesus is my Rock. One of my favorite verses is: The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7 He truly does care and has blessed us over and over.

It was through this daily reading of the scriptures that Jim and I realized the importance of attending a church on a regularly bases. It was our desire to find one locally so we could take an active role and meet some new Christian friends in our small little community.

We knew we wanted to find a Church that taught word for word from the bible, so the search began. Our little town has over eight churches, so the decision as to which one to try first was a hard one. Many Sundays when I drove into town, I kept seeing this yellow sign along the side of the road. I told Jim how about trying the church with the yellow sign.

The second life changing event was the Sunday we went to the church with the yellow sign. From the first time we stepped foot in the doors, we felt so welcome and knew we had found the perfect church for us. It has been over two years now and we feel so blessed that the Lord directed our path to that church with the yellow sign. We now attend church on a weekly bases, both are active in the women's and men's fellowships and Jim was recently asked to be an Elder. Neither one of us can imagine our lives without Christ in the center.

Welcome to the Farm

Welcome to our little piece of heaven here on earth and my blog. Blogging is something new for me and I look forward to sharing a little about my life, hobbies, craft projects, quilting and rambling thoughts.

When my hubby, Jim, and I were done workin', we decided to sell our home in the city and move out to the country. We began searching for just the right spot to build our retirement dream home. Our search brought us to the little community of Spirit Lake and a five acre parcel in the country. As soon as we put our feet on the land we knew we were "home".

It is here that we now spend our days enjoying a quieter life style and playing with our various hobbies. Jim is a collector of Insulators and dabbles in woodworking projects, mostly those that are on the "honey do" list. Once we were settled, I took up a new hobby, quilting, which takes up most of my time. Other passions of mine include Scrap booking, photography and gardening once the snow has melted.

Our little farm is also the gathering place for our large family. We have three children, two girls and a boy who have blessed us with eight grandchildren. Four of our grand kids are married and two have blessed us with one great grand son and another on the way. We are fortunate that all live within a 25 mile radius from our home.

About a year ago my sister, Sharon, came to live with us. We now share the farm with her, our two "boys", Buddy and Scamper, both cockapoos as well as Sharon's two cats, BooBoo Kitty and Pip.