My cup runneth over...

What an amazing time we have had this last few months!
Graduations, weddings and now the announcements that these two little guys are getting SIBLINGS!!!!
We are so happy around here we are about to burst!
Both new Grandbabies aka GBs are due in January 2015! #s four and five!!!!!
Truly our cup runneth over!

The guest book...

When my daughter...(aka baby girl) said yes...a plan was set in motion.

A wedding was in the works!

As any new bride knows...Pinterest is the place to go!

She found a wonderful quilt pattern called HST Love by Sew Katie Did...

The colors and pattern were just perfect for what she was looking for in a signature quilt.

We just modified it on the back to allow for the guests to sign it.

Her request was to have a throw quilt that they could have out in their living room in their new home.

Samantha chose almost the same colors..

but added the colors of mint green and salmon 

to match her wedding color choices...As you can see above, 

I bought all the fabrics...cut out all the triangles...

and then set about making this beautiful quilt pattern. 

Then the problem arose.

Katie's quilt wasn't made with triangles.

I only had her photos on her blog to go by and although it was made with HST's ...

my brain translated it to me as triangles.

WRONG!

So, I set all those triangles aside and went to re-buy the fabrics.

PROBLEM.

I found them all again, except the salmon color.

SIX FABRIC shops LATER...

all I could find was one with a very muted print.

I prayed and then sent a photo of it to Samantha...

SHE LOVED IT!

WHEW!

So, armed with this new fabric, I went about re-cutting!

Oh, did I mention the wedding was now a week away???

How hard could it be to make this simple pattern?

Goodness.

It wasn't hard to put the blocks together...

What WAS hard was figuring out the pattern.

I even had to pull my sweet man in on the job.

After nearly an ENTIRE day,

We came up with the above photo.

Samantha chose the back fabric for the subtle gray and it's pattern.

Great choice!

I just had to figure out all the measurements for the white fabric that people would sign.

"HONEY....Please come back and HELP!!!"

(isn't it great when you have a husband that is a math guru?)

Now to sandwich it.

Not an easy task when you live with a bad back.

Lucky for me, I found this tutorial literally minutes before on Pinterest 

from Color Me Quilty on Board Basting!!!!

So again...enter sweet man to the rescue.

He cut two boards for me and I added one little touch to make

 it easier to wrap the boards with my quilt.

I wrapped my boards with batting so it would 

cling to the quilt top/back without sliding.

I was hoping it would help me "load" my quilt top/back 

a little straighter and without any creases.

IT WORKED!!!!

Thank goodness my Janome is so easy to quilt with!!!

And there you have it.

With two days to spare!

(is it just me or is it everyone's favorite part of quilting

 when you finally get to trim the quilt for binding?)

I was in love with how it had turned out...

and I already knew what binding to use.

Kona Cotton Charcoal.

Enough said.

The day of the wedding was lovely.

But nothing out-shined the beauty of my youngest daughter.

To brag just a bit...

This young lady went from graduating with her Master's 

just a month earlier to preparing for an entire wedding...

and she did it wonderfully and it was amazing.

Once the wedding was over and the honeymooners returned...

The newlyweds finally had the opportunity to

 read all the well wishes on their 

wedding "guest book". 

What an amazing moment...

These wishes from friends and family

 will live on this quilt forever.

They were so excited to get back to read them

 and to hug on their new quilt.

(I can't remember being anxious to get home from my

 honeymoon just to look at my guestbook...were you?)

I think they had a very wonderful idea to do this.

These two always think outside the box...

You gotta love that!

Aren't they adorable?

And look at all those well wishes and signatures...

Most treasured I am sure are those from people

 like her 83 yr young grandfather...that, with her Dad

walked her down the isle.  It was a beautiful moment.

I say this often, but this quilt really was a hard one to let go of...

maybe mostly because it was wrapped around a daughter I dearly love and her new love.

The next day, this quilt and these two

 lovebirds left to move to Ohio for his new job

and their new life...

Our Stories...

You have a story to your life...
You have dreams...hopes...wishes...maybe even moments you can picture in your mind right now that changed your life.
Where did those moments send you? Do you keep track of them? Where are you now in that journey?
I was 18. I was loved. I was in love. I married. I looked forward to a new life...and then it was gone.
His name was David and he was murdered....along with four others.
Life changing.
My world stopped,  but the world around me did not.
Our son was born six months later...and  joy returned...
Nearly 25 years later...those responsible were convicted. Years of work, tears and waiting ended. Relief set in...and forgiveness took hold.
All the while, God went about His restoration of all that was stolen.
Sometimes resistance on my part changed my course, but He continued to pursue me...He had so much more to give me.
Sometimes shame blocked those gifts. Sometimes my stubbornness kept me from His goodness. Most times, I thought I could do it alone...
But God has loved me so much He waited.
He worked behind the scenes. He set people around me that nurtured my soul...held my hand...and looked at me with love.
How do you comprehend that sort of love from a Father when you barely knew your own?
You can't.
God never expected me to comprehend it.
He did it all for me.
The greatest Father gave his very own son for me.
He knew my pain of loss. He felt the anger of the crimes against His own son. He GOT me.
and He possesses the ultimate ability to shower forgiveness.
Today He's reaching to you too...to shower you with His goodness...

He knows your story and wants you to know His thoughts of you are of your value...your worth.

Because YOUR story has worth...

Happy Father's Day to my most precious Father who knows me and loves me...and who continues to write my story...

Surgery...

UPDATE:

Our little GB is raising his hand in VICTORY!!!!  He sailed right through!!!!

Today our little grandbaby Grayson is in surgery as I am writing this to repair his cleft lip and nose. This is the first of two surgeries he will need ...the second one will be to correct the hole in his palette once he stops drinking from a bottle.
Sometimes it's hard being a parent...and grandparent...but he will be glad we did it someday....
We will miss his sweet smile that we have grown to love so much...but know that God is guiding his doctors hands...and  little Grayson's new smile will be just perfect too!

A new finish..

I love making quilts for my friends...i tell them they can only have one if they promise to love it , use it and wear it out so I can make them another one! Of course I am being funny...but I want them to use them and make memories with them of their own..
Here's one I made for my friend Carrie for her birthday...

I love Sweetwater fabrics...and this worked out so cheery!

What have you been working on this week?

We are now on the countdown for the youngest daughter's wedding this weekend...Guess I had better go and finish up her quilt!!!

Be Forever Amazing...

Thank you for the music of your poetry...

Ranch Life...

Spending the day at the ranch...with much needed rain...and a little hand sewing... and still trying to figure out my new phone when it comes to posting pictures...lol!

Blogging on the go!

 

I have to say...I love technology!  

When my old phone started dying I was mortified! 

I loved the camera and I had all my stuff on my phone. 

I didn't want a new phone. I was almost kicking and screaming not to get one.

However when your hubby travels, it becomes very lonely when you can't talk to him for a week.

AN ENTIRE SEVEN DAYS! (insert panic)

Well...my sweet man came home and took me right to the phone store.

Can I just say...I am in heaven! I am sitting outside and writing this post!

It just doesn't get any better than this...

Hopefully now...no matter how busy I am, I can post to my much neglected blog.

WhoooHoooo!

Now, if I can just figure out how to place pictures!  (By George I think I've got it!)

So much has happened...take a look!

The baby girl graduated AGAIN!!

Now she's our Master Graduate!

This newest G.B. is already 3 months old and owning it!!!

Miss Pauline Francis sent me this adorable 

Tammy purse for winning in a recent superpowers blog hop....

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Isn't this the cutest thing you have ever seen?

And finally...

This girl is cooking more these days and has lost nearly 18 lbs and almost two dress sizes!!!

Just in time...for this little girl's wedding...

In TWO WEEKS!!!

Whew.....

Life has been very very busy!!!

And there is still more to come...

(shhhh...like another little GB...)

hehehehe...

A Mom's love...

My Mom and me on the right when we lived in Okinawa

Here in Texas we call our Mothers - Mom.

My Mom...so lovely.

My Mom has been in heaven for a long time but I still miss her...she was the only person in my life that knew me as a little girl...when she was gone, it felt like my history disappeared with her.
I was nobody's little girl anymore...even though by that time I was 29 years old. 

Isn't it funny how the Lord hears our hearts sometimes when we don't even know it...

and graciously gives us someone in our lives that picks up the slack,
stands in that gap and loves us from that point on.

My other Mom...

I am blessed beyond words to have a "Mom" like that...

My friend Patty and I met at our church when they moved to East Texas. She and I were fast friends for life from the moment I dragged her out of the pew before the service started, raced her across the church to the nearest sun-lit door to show her my new red highlights in my hair...she still thinks I am nuts, but it works!

I don't know how or why, but Patty's mother decided I still needed a Mom...

and since that time, she adopted me and has loved me ferociously and graciously 

and has pulled me into their family and has never let go.

 In fact, this week, she sent me yet another beautiful 

Mother's day card with the sweetest personal note that only she could write...

and again at the precise moment I needed to hear words of love, there they were.

It always makes me cry...and I always feel loved.

(Thank you Patty, my dear friend, for sharing her)

So, I decided to make a little something extra for this sweet Mom of mine.

It doesn't look like much unless you realize two things.

In all of the 20+ years I have sewn for my children, 

myself and others...I have NEVER been brave enough to use or install a zipper! 

This was my very first ONE!
 (thanks to YouTube and some talented teachers of zipper conquering!)

Second...that little bead bauble is ANOTHER first.
 It's not a great work of art, but it will serve a purpose and she likes a little bling!

I thought she could use this for jewelry when she travels.

She and Patty are QUEENS of GREAT SPARKLY JEWELRY and

their motto is "THE BIGGER, THE BETTER"!   

Anyway, I just wanted to send her something handmade this year...

something I spent time on and that she could use 

and know that she is all those words and more...

She didn't have to love me...she just did. I will never forget that.

I love both my Moms very much.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you

 that either have children or have "adopted" children. 

You Count...to all of us.

And the Winner is....

Happy Friday!!!!

I just love Giveaways, don't you?!!!

This is much prettier in person than my picture shows it to be....

In order of how you commented in one or both posts beginning with the first post offering this giveaway...

So the winner is by RANDOM.ORG

 #32  Michelle May 

Congratulations!!!!

I will mail your package out on Monday...