I have been out of the swing of blogging for a long time…….however, I hope to rekindle things but am starting my blog under a new name and location. I have a blogger website for my very special son and thought it would be easier to keep everything under one host so you will now find me at:

Yesterday we went out to a local farm and picked raspberries and blueberries! Oh, they are so good. It was a great afternoon. I am a little sunburned but it was well worth it and the weather was so lovely.
There are a few photos below from the farm. There were such lovely flowers there! DH was very helpful today in laying them all out on trays to dry and getting them into freezer bags for me. Now we will have berries in the, not so nice, west coast months (if we don’t eat them all before then)

It has been a week of finishing up some projects that have been sitting around for a little while. I shared photos above of a couple of swaps that are currently out in the mail on there way to their new owners. It is a ’secret’ swap so I am sharing a picture but that is all I can share for now. I also put in a photo of the skirt that I was telling you about that I made last week. I have 2 more cut out to go. I wore this little white, pink and brown one to church this morning. It fit so nice and the most important thing, it was so comfy! I also finished up putting the charm squares together for a quilt top for our bed. I bought 4 packs of charm square by Moda (all the same) and wanted to make a very simple quilt to put on our bed. I need to get a very plain, linen coloured duvet cover and then I want to lay this on the top. Our walls were recently painted a chocolate brown colour (which I love!) We are adding some simple living/rustic type decor and I want to add some simple quilts (but pretty) to our bedroom decor. Would you believe I have never made a quilt for our bed!! For the kids, yes, but never for us! So….. it was time to make one for us and, with all the other things on the go, I knew if it wasn’t an easy one I wouldn’t get it done. I have to get a fabric for the borders and blocker and back so………off to check off the online shops to see what I can find.

Where is the summer going?? Last week my 3 older kids were all helping at VBS from church. They all loved being involved in their different jobs. I have actually been doing some sewing………but this week I did sewing meaning clothes!! I haven’t sewed clothes since the kids were toddlers. Well, I wanted to make a couple of lightweight skirts for me to take on our vacation in a couple of weeks. I couldn’t find what I wanted at the stores so I am making 3! The first one turned out really well and went together really fast. It is a simple A line that sits just above the knee. Very casual! So today I cut out two more while Andrew’s nurse was here! I have been doing a little sewing on my bedcover/charm square quilt. When I go away I usually find a pattern that I will buy quilt fabric for at the different stores that we come across. Well, I found this wonderful pattern in my stash that I bought at the Western Washington Quilt hop a couple of years ago. It is volkswagen buses with surfboards, hibatchis, etc on them. I thought that was the perfect quilt to pick up fabric for while we are on the Oregon Coast. In fact, my 3 older kids are talking about taking a surf lessons while we are down there!

KidsQuilts is doing well and we are very busy making our first two quilts and one completed quilt was so generously donated and already sent to a special young girl. If you haven’t checked out the KidsQuilts site please do www.quiltsforcomfort.wordpress.com</a

Pincushion swap

My pincushion swap gift is on it’s way FAR FAR AWAY! That is all I will say for the moment so as not to spoil the suprise. It is pictures above, not in too much detail as I don’t want to totally give it away. It was fun to participate and, I will confess, I have NEVER made a pincushion before. I also completed both my 4Seasons summer swap and my Doll Quilt Swap this week. Just the hand sewing on the binding on those two! Then I am completed up to date for the moment with swaps! I have some big quilts that I need to pick up and work on and I have two quilt alongs that I need to hussle on too……….where is the time to do it??!!

Please pop on over to

www.quiltsforcomfort.wordpress.com

and see if you would like to help!!

I keep meaning to share updates but life here has been getting the better of me. I have one son having surgery this afternoon and another having surgery next Thursday so to say things are crazy is a slight understatement.

Anyhow I wanted to pop over to my blog real quick to share a few little tidbit photos of the Doll Quilt I am making for my ’secret partner’. I used a charm pack I had and it is looking very colourful!!!

Some may have seen my vision for a special ministry/outreach to the siblings of children with serious/critical illnesses. I have begun a blog for this venture. Several of you emailed or replied at the time of the post that you would love to help. THANK YOU! It looks like Quilts For Comfort is nearing it’s launch. Please take a peek and, if you think you would like to help, leave me a note over on Quilts For Comfort.

I’ll blog more personal quilting stuff tomorrow. I want this to have a post of it’s own.

www.quiltsforcomfort.wordpress.com

Last Saturday we went to the Fraser Valley Quilt Show. I bought 4 charm packs (48 each) all the same. They were a Moda Line in blues, browns, reds, very pretty! I want to make a very simple quilt top to go on our bed. We just painted the room brown and it looks very pretty. I think that this will look nice. A question for those who have made charm square quilts before. Did you plan it out or just grab and sew?? I have made a stack of 2 patches and then plan to put them into 4s and grow it from there but I haven’t really planned out a pattern of any type.

I also finished off the top and bottom borders of the Summer Swap Quilt. The watering can was a pattern from a Debbie Mumm book. I tried to get creative by adding the vine and flowers at the top and the ‘tablecloth’ at the bottom. I think it is quite pretty and will look nice on my special friends wall or door.

I kept the sewing simple today as we are still doing a lot of IV medications etc for Andrew. It takes up so many hours of the day and is mentally and physically very tired. I always feel a little rejuvenated when I have the chance to sew a little. It is very much a therapeutic thing for me.

For those who believe in prayer, as we do, please pray that Andrew can get over this infection. The types of infections Andrew gets are not simple little ear infection type issues. Andrew gets horrible life threatening infections in his blood stream. We hope to be over the most serious part of this infection but the emotional and physical toll takes a little while to pass.  We now need a chance to rest and recover to continue on this path that God has placed before us.

Blessing to all,

Good Morning! I actually got into My Stitching Corner and got a little bit accomplished now that Andrew is feeling a little bit better. I haven’t touched Little Wings since Saturday but here is a photo of the progress to date anyhow. It is so nice the way Marilyn’s ladies have flowing dresses and watching the colour come together to form a picture is a pleasure. I was far too tired the past couple of days to work on her but maybe today. Everyone knows there is only regret when you try and work on a complicated piece when you are tired!!

Last night I finally was able to get started on my Star Quilt along blocks from Crazy Mom Quilts site! I chose the colours a few days ago but hadn’t been able to get things started. I am doing the stars in blues and the setting blocks may be with a fairly deep red as some of the blue fabrics (like the one on the left above) have a bit of red in them. I will see as they come together, if that combination will work. I have to confess, even as a fairly experienced quilter, I had to completely take apart block 1 and resew it after it was done. It was so wonky!! I wish that bias triangles wouldn’t move about like they do!! Anyhow I took it apart and am much more happy now. Block 2 came out good first time. They are only 12.25 though not 12. 5 but as long as they are all the same I should be ok!! Now…..only 4 more to do to catch up by Monday.

To everyone who responded about my Quilts for Special Siblings idea. Thank you!!! Your posts and emails have been very encouraging. I am going to tackle getting the logistics of everything figured out next week when Andrew, is hopefully, well enough to go to school. So if I haven’t emailed you back I most definately will!!

Blessing to all,

Good morning, I poured a coffee, turned on the computer and see that I have been tagged by Dee at www.bubbachic.typepad.com/my_blog

I recently found and visited Dee’s blog and am enjoying going back for ‘tea’ frequently.

* Link the person who tagged you
* Mention the rules in your blog
* Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours
* Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them.

6 unspectacular things about me………..hmmm………………..

1. If there is leftover cake, cheesecake dessert etc in the fridge…..I will eat it for breakfast the next day.

2. I can’t stand the noise from crunchy food!

3. I go crazy if someone touches my feet.

4. I sing loudly in the car and talk to all the other lovely drivers on the road!!

5. When my kids were smaller on Special lunch fridays (like old fashioned hot dog days) I would do the Special lunch dance for my kids in the morning in my pj’s cause I didn’t have to make lunches. Now they are teens they would be mortified!!

6 This weekend, we went hiking, I took photos of slugs and fungus………..I like nature photography and there weren’t many flowers!!

*** cane back to add I’ve tagged 6 new quilting friends. I thought I would randomly select 6 bloggers who are also listed as participating in Amanda Jeans Star Block Quilt along. I thought it was a great way to meet some new blogger friends and find out something new about them:
- www.quiltilicious.blogspot.com (I love her Liberty Melon blogs and the blog name)
- Nicolette at www.deviliegendekoe.blogspot.com (She shared photos of the most wonderful sewing basket she made.
- Nichole at www.vanilla-spice.net/wordpress.com – She is a lovely young woman who shares her fun decorating style on the entry I read
- Hobby Mommy at hobbymommy.blogspot.com (I adore the blog name and she shared photos of some coasters that I also made very recently)
- www.jennicakes.com/blogspot (A lovely site and I love the name. It just sounds so cute)**** Thanks everyone for having fun blogs to read and for brightening up my afternoon!!

I will link my 6 in a little bit ( I will come back and add them to this post). I am using my son’s laptop at this time and have a hard time figuring out how to do things on it. In all seriousness, my littlest son came down very sick in the night Sunday night. Andrew has a critical illness but has times when infection etc make his condition worse which is where we are at today. We are giving him IV antibiotics etc and he will feel better in the next couple of days. Today is starting better than yesterday so that is good! I am going to settle him on my bed watching tv, then, fter some house work, I will go into my little sewing room (which is off our bedroom) and I will do some simple sewing as the eyes are a bit blurry from my lack of sleep. So I promise I will come back and link 6 people this evening, if not before.

If you want to read more about my special angel, there is a link to his caringbridge page in the more about me section above!

Have a wonderful day everyone.