Something that inspires me

This was meant to be the top for a cushion, I think, because of its corners...my mother-in-law or grandmother-in-law probably made it. It's pretty much guaranteed that the fabric pieces are scraps from various and sundry sources, whether it be leftovers from something made at home to salvaged scraps from a worn-out something-or-other. I love the tiny squares and the precion of their setting-together. I rescued it from an attic-clearing-out at the beginning of the year when my sister-in-law was getting rid of stuff in a major way. There were so many handmade things, from a crocheted rag rug I salvaged (pic later) to this to all sorts of quilts and quilt tops I didn't feel like laying claim to since I'm just an in-law.....however, I'm a little worried as to what has happened to them in the meantime. Anyway, I did manage to scrounge this little goody and haven't yet figured out what in the world to do with it. I'm NOT a seamstress, so the idea of making a 3-dimensional pillow scares me. (Don't know if you can tell, but the clever maker has already rounded the corners and worked down so that there are short sides - like for a square cushion. If it were flat, I'd have no problem.) Simple suggestions welcomed here!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I've been at work all day (end-of-month blues) and will be at work tomorrow afternoon after church. I've still managed to enjoy a bit of conversation with my sweetie and hope to take a few stitches a bit later.

Enjoy!! Life is short!!

It's Ugly, but it was Fun

Not quite sure why I even scanned this, other than we had a new multi-function machine and needed (at least I thought so) to test the scanning part. You know, like when as a kid you had some change in your pocket that cried out to be spent. This little orphan block was handy. That's why it was scanned and was available to put here in the blog. So I did. I had been playing with doing "wonky" stuff with no pattern or clear plan after poking around in Gwen Marston's book Liberated Quiltmaking and used some scraps bought at the local quilt store back when they sold bags of pieces and strips left from the making of kits, etc. for $1. (No, those pieces aren't dirty - they're batiks!) Great stuff for experimenting with because you had no real investment! And I even got some cool Jan Mullen pieces and some reproduction fabric pieces that way, too. It was an educational process, too, because I learned that taking 1/4" out of two sides of a strip doesn't leave you much sometimes! And I didn't pay any attention to how it was placed on the scanner, I realize, from looking at it....it's sideways.....I had no intention of the center piece looking like an outhouse! (maybe only folks from the hills of Tennessee would even think about that . . . teehee)

And so we travel on.

Gratitudes of the morning:

• the sight and sound of all the birds as they go about their morning routines



• the mist over the pond



• the sunshine on the trees of the hill opposite my window (it will be here shortly)



• the fact that God gave us this gloriously beautiful place to live when He could have given us flat and grey and we wouldn't have known the difference

Journeying means . . .

LIFE itself is a journey, rather than a destination - we're all somewhere on the journey. There's no such thing as "having arrived" - duh! We're going from being young to being older, we're a bit further down the road toward heaven, etc. Hobbies like quilting are journeys, too - you have an idea or see a pattern, you fondle your fabric and pull out bits and pieces and make some cuts....then you put some of them together and marvel at the wonder colors and patterns produce! You still don't have a quilt, though - you're on the journey to a quilt, and it is wonderful. You pick an embroidery project like the wonderful Crabapple Hill patterns...you transfer the pattern and find the floss....and enjoy the stitching - again, it's the journey you're on and the journey you're enjoying.
I love the commercial for some kind of celebrity cruising where after having folks comment on their special celebrity treatment there is the man, obviously back in his everyday environment at the window saying, "I look on this as a temporary exile." Well, that's exactly what it is!!! We're here on earth temporarily! We don't live here forever - we're pilgrims on a journey. And, O, how sweet it can be! I am so blessed with my family, my church family, the beautiful spot on earth where we live...and on and on!! Yet wonderful as this is, it's nothing to compare with what's ahead! The journey is often wonderful, sometimes very, very difficult....but it is leading to the best of all possible destinations.

Here are a couple of pics . . . I hope . . .