Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunday Something--Thanksgiving




Thankgiving Proclaimation 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
George Washington

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sunday Something

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, 
though the earth give way and the mountains fall
into the heart of the sea,
though it's waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake 
with their surging.
The Lord Almighty is with us,
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:1-3,7

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Farmer's Wife Friday--Independence and Charm

The farmer's wife is back today after being on "sick leave" for a few weeks...have you missed her? This week's wife is from my home state of Missouri and she has nothing but good things to say about  country living: "There is a wholesomeness about farm life, an independence and charm not found in any other industry."
Mrs. R.C.W, from Jasper County, doesn't mince words about any "drudge' wife who can't find the time for pleasures during the day and blames "a lack of management, lack of order and lack of backbone and brains" as the source. Well, we all can learn from that, probably!
She definitely hopes for a farmer son-in-law someday; someone who gives her daughter a  home on a farm, perhaps just like the one where she is growing up..."with all the joys and pleasures of an American home in God's wonderful out-of-doors."
The blocks today both reflect one of my personal favorite things about county living, and that is visits from my feathered friends to the bird feeders. I love to watch the darting antics of all the different species, especially in the winter after a snowstorm.
Block 27-Darting Birds
Once in a while, a sharp eyed hawk will swoop down to try and snatch up an unsuspecting little bird perched on my feeder. 
Block 52-Hovering Hawks
The first time I witnessed a successful catch, it was a little dismaying and I was more than glad that one of my grand daughters wasn't watching at the window with me as feathers fell to the ground. But, then, that's the circle of life, especially in the country. 
Be sure to visit Cindy today and read her thoughts on the charming life of a farmer! I can't wait to see her blocks...always so different from mine!



Monday, November 14, 2011

Fence Line

Here is my entry for the Habitat Challenge in the Modern Quilt Guild. I've been wanting to do a quilt using several shades of white as the background and decided this was the perfect time. Because the fabric design isn't really my usual style, I also thought that cutting it into small pieces would make it more to my liking.  
Creating the blocks looks more complicated than it really is. I used Linda's instructions for swap blocks I'd made for her a few months ago. Piecing a few random Habitat bits here and there into the border helps carry the theme to the edges of the quilt. My quilting is just simple wavy lines running vertically throughout the quilt. (I had to do something easy since I'm still hampered by a cast on my hand.....Although, wait! I usually always do something easy anyway!)
The sky blue back has an inset of the gravel colored border fabric plus one strip of each of the six Habitat fabrics used to make the front. I also added a piece of selvage as testimony to the challenge. The binding is a dark grey Habitat dot with 3 sections of orange solid spliced in.
My idea for naming the quilt came from seeing fence posts around a neighboring field that all have a rock sitting on top them. The fence surrounds a field of pumpkins, so I added some pumpkin colors in two of the rows.  
I like the neutral, but funky feel, my quilt ended up having.  I'm glad that I participated in the "challenge" of using fabric that I would not normally choose! You can see other Habitat Challenge quilts here and here.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Habitat Challenge Reveal

The 2nd Thursday of every month is always special for me because it's time again to jump in the car and make a 45 minute drive to meet with the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild.  I always come away with my tank filled with inspiration and excitement for quilting. Last night's meeting was especially anticipated ...the long awaited Habitat Challenge Reveal!
Here's what we all started with last August....
 ... Neat little packets containing six fat-eighths of Habitat fabric donated by the designer, Jay McCarroll. Our guild chose the earth color way. These are the fabrics that were in my packet. The challenge was to create a quilt (or other sewn item) using some of each fabric either on the front or back of the quilt. We were allowed to add solids and/or more Habitat only.
 I may just be prejudiced, but I have to say that the quilters in the KCMQG are one creative bunch! 
 Fifty one stunning quilts and projects were revealed and every one of them, without exception, was fantastic.
We each could vote for our favorite quilt and, boy, was it hard to choose just one!
 You can see close ups of all of the quilts on the MQG flickr site here.
Here are a few of the more "creative" entries that I was able to get a good picture of...


The quilting in Beth's 'home' quilt featured all of the addresses where she has lived as well as words that come to mind when her family thinks of home...
Robin's log cabin quilt, right above it, was one of my favorites...
 This quilt is called "The Other Side" because the quilter used the back side of all of the fabrics...
 Jennifer's simple birds and awesome quilting details made this quilt look more like art... 
 "Training the Girls" was the name and theme of this conversation starter!.....
 Barbara cleverly used all  of the trimmings saved from the day we put together the Habitat packets to create "Spaghetti and Meatballs".....
 The fabric's colors looked like Easter eggs in this clever quilt, complete with an embroidered recipe for potato salad along the border..
 I would never have thought of using olive green and orange with the pastel fabrics, but this quilt shows how well they work...
 On the other hand, pastel pink was very effective in Jaime's quilt....
 Therese liked the golden yellow in some of the fabrics and effectively emphasized it in her popular quilt....
 Using white as the background really let the fabrics sing in this quilt....
You are probably wondering which of these wonderful creations was voted  the "Viewer's Choice". Here is the fantastic winner by Tracy Lewien featuring 30 different liberated blocks combining the Habitat prints with bold solids on a burgundy background. You can see a full view of Tracy's quilt here.
Hope you enjoyed the quilt show and were as inspired as we all were. Next time I'll show you some photos of my entry in the challenge. Have a lovely weekend!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Retreat

Saturday morning found me meeting up with Linda, grabbing a yummy at Starbucks, and heading to the tiny town of Bucyrus, Kansas for an all day quilt retreat with the Blue Valley Quilters Guild on the grounds of  this beautiful old church, The Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church.
 The large facility was perfect for spreading out our sewing machines, ironing boards, food, fabric, projects, food, design walls, and food! The lighting was so good I didn't even think about getting out the lamp I'd packed.
 Linda came up with a project for the two of us to work on that involved using our large stashes of fabric strips.
 Since we both cut our scraps into strips for convenience, it was simply a matter of hauling it all into the building and enduring the teasing that followed as everyone else wondered what we could be doing that would require 4 boxes of fabric! This is just one box of it here............(what?!)
 I guess that I was making others nervous as I used my pink forearm and elbow to hold down the ruler while rotary cutting....
...because it wasn't long before Robin coaxed me into letting her do all my cutting! In the end, Linda wondered why I'd made more blocks for our project than she...there are some advantages to having a cast, I've learned!! Thanks, Robin....sorry you didn't get as much of your hand work accomplished, though.
 The room was filled with lovely quilt projects of every description and color.....
 If there'd been a prize for working on the most projects during the day, I'm positive that Nikki would have easily won. Here's one she was making with batik charms she's been collecting....
 I really liked her spider web quilt, complete with hand embroidered spiders!
 By the end of the day, Linda and I had managed to put a small dent in our scrap boxes to create this 3D design from the book, String Quilts by Elsie Campbell. After this picture was taken, we took down all the blocks and divided them up between us for twin quilts, one for each of us. 
A good time was had by all!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sunday Something

For you have been my hope,
O Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother's womb.
I will ever praise you.
Psalm 71: 5, 6

Friday, November 4, 2011

Pause Button

The pause button has been pushed on Farmer's Wife Friday for another week to give my pretty pink hand a chance to heal up a bit before I try sewing those tiny pieces again. Since maneuvering a shopping cart around the grocery store is hard with only one good arm, I've been pushing the pause button on lots of cooking as well! Ahhhh.....what a shame!!
Just in case you are collecting ideas for next year's Halloween costumes, here's an adorable sock monkey that uses a thrift store sweater as the main ingredient......
My daughter, Megan, wrote up a great tutorial about how she made Janie's costume here. You might enjoy some of her other creative ideas for "repurposing" as well.
Since there has been a hiccup in my quilt making for the last week or so, I thought I would show you a fun 'I Spy Quilt' made by my friend, Robin. She showed us the quilt during Show and Tell at quilt guild this week. Some of the charms are ones Robin received during the charm exchange with Lollyquiltz readers last spring. I love the clever way Robin arranged the squares by background color.
The shading makes a perfect border. I like the striped sashing too. What a fun quilt!
There is a lot to look at on the back too. Some little child is going be thrilled with this colorful quilt. 
Because I am not one to let much slow me down, I'm planning to attend a quilting retreat over the weekend. Where there's a will, there's a way, right! Stay tuned for the One Armed Quilter's report on that next week! Welcome to my new readers who found me by way of the Blogger's Quilt Festival. (I'm still looking through all the beautiful entries.) Enjoy your weekend!