Mountain Musings

A New Blog!

Thanks to Susan for finding a new blog and posting the link. I've loved Karla Dornacher's books and am delighted to know she has her own blog. I can't wait to go visit.

~Deb

Birdhouse Wallhanging - Day 2

Yesterday's goal for Day 2 was completed. Yay!  The inner border was sewn on first --top, bottom, and then sides. Then the outer border really gave it some color as it was added. Here's a picture of the background cloth with the borders added. I've stretched it out across the ironing board and our trusty ping pong table where we do all our craft work.

Next it was tracing time. I positioned a bright light at the table where I was working so I could see the birdhouse patterns well enough to trace them onto the Heat-n-Bond iron-on adhesive. Lots of little tedious bird beaks and leaves to trace, but the patterns were all finished by the end of the afternoon with only one re-do.

I'm sure I could work faster and put more into my day, but I'm only scheduling a certain amount each afternoon so I won't tire of the project and so I'll take my time and do a good job. So far it's been very fun!

What's next? Stay tuned for Day 3's activities.

~Deb

Birdhouse Wallhanging - Day 1

The icy birdhouses outside yesterday put me in the mood to start on my McKenna Ryan "Sleeps Six" art quilt. This is my next wallhanging after taking the class for the "Wooly Good Friends" sheep quilt--which still needs those little plastic rings on the back so I can hang it. I'll purchase some as soon as the ice melts on Teeter Hill. Today's high is a non-melting 28 degrees, and tonight it's back down to a chilly 10, so it may be the weekend before we emerge from our quilting workshop.

It was a good afternoon for beginning the borders. I am not a whiz at rotary cutting, so I was a little shaky until I measured, re-measured, and made sure I was cutting the batik correctly.

I love the background fabric on the left. I purchased 1/3 yard of the recommended Hoffman PN014, Amethyst. You can tell that the colors bleed into one another. The bottom portion is deep purple and gradually fades into light purple, which leads to an aqua-greenish blue, which eventually turns light blue.  I cut a piece 31-1/2 inches by 9-1/2 inches, so it was up to me to decide if I wanted the background to include more of the purple or more of the blue. I opted for about equal.

The bright splashes of jumbled reds, purples, and blues of the outer border fabric (top right in the picture) are quite wild. The fabric store didn't carry the Hoffman 884 Raspberry recommended, so we had to pick and choose our matches. In fact, of all the fabrics recommended in the pattern--which means McKenna Ryan has matched and chosen all the perfect blends for each birdhouse color and literally has done a ton of work already in color coordination--the store only carries the one background fabric. All the other matching was up to me, with lots of help from Hannah.

So...what I completed on Day 1 afternoon: thoroughly read the directions before beginning, ironed my fabric, trial and error with the rotary cutter, completed the cutting of the background, and cut inner and outer borders. I held off sewing all the borders because Sarah was using the machine to finish the last of her quilt blocks, which are looking very nice.

This afternoon on Day 2 I will sew all the borders to the background piece and begin tracing the individual applique pieces. Hopefully, I'll have pictures tomorrow to share.

*** For those asking...Tom made it home late last night just in time to ask about our day and then crashed. He was up again at 4 a.m. this morning and will have another late night. Extra crews are being brought in today to help with the outages, so we are praying this marathon day will be the end of the dubbed Valentine's Day Ice Storm!

~Deb

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're having a very icy Valentine's Day here in the Valley. I feel sorry for all the florists who have deliveries today! Tom has been working hard with little sleep in preparation for the storm, but so far we still have power, we're warm, and there's plenty of food in the fridge...and English muffins in the breadbox!

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

~Deb

Sourdough English Muffins

Yesterday while the wintry mix was coming down outside, I was staying toasty inside while making some English muffins. This was my second time trying these, although the first time Sarah helped me by cutting them out and baking them. I wanted to try making them really from start to finish, and this time used a slightly different recipe. They cooked up just right on our griddle. Since Dad loves English muffins, I thought I would make some homemade ones after the Thomas Brand ones we usually buy changed their "look"/recipe to where they weren't his favorite anymore.

Above you can see the muffins bottom side up on the griddle and to the left cooled and stacked on a plate. The recipe made 30 muffins, so I am freezing some for later. Please click on "continue reading" for the recipe, from the Sue Gregg More than Breakfasts Cookbook.

~Hannah

Valentine Busy-ness

There's something about February that makes me want to write a letter to every name in my address book. It's uncanny how it happens every year about this time.

Since Valentine's Day coincides with my yearly letter-writing marathon, red paper, sticky hearts, and stamps have been crowding my desk the past few days. It seems to be the perfect time to send a special note to friends.

Blogging will be set aside again today as the last epistles need to go in the mail this morning. Friends of mine....be watching your mailbox. :)

~Deb

Who is Martha Peace?

A commenter recently asked the question, "Who is Martha Peace?" after seeing a couple of books Hannah and I are reading by this author listed on our sidebar.

I originally became acquainted with Martha Peace years ago when I first read one of her well-known books, The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective. You can find some readers' reviews of The Excellent Wife on the Amazon site here by scrolling down the page.

The book I am reading now, Becoming a Titus 2 Woman, is very applicable at this stage in my life seeing as I have two single adult daughters and a new daughter-in-law I can practice on. :) Here's a quick blurb from the book:

"God intends the older woman to teach and encourage the younger woman. The process should be as natural as slipping your hand into a glove that fits perfectly. If both will do what is right--the older one reaching out in love to the younger and the younger one responding in humility with a teachable heart--God will be glorified, the older woman will overcome her fear, and the younger woman will grow in grace by leaps and bounds.

Instead of complaining about or being afraid of the younger women, the older Christian women should pray for them, involve themselves in their lives, and teach and encourage the younger women. The rest of this chapter and book explains how."

The Martha Peace book Hannah is reading now is called, Attitudes of a Transformed Heart. Hopefully she will write her own review once she's finished reading.

Here's Martha's website where you can read more about her life, books, and speaking schedule.

~Deb

My Son's in Jail!

A mom's nightmare for sure! Today Micah is spending the day in jail--at the Augusta Correctional Center; hopefully, we'll hear all about his experiences later.

Just beginning the psychiatric portion of his medical rotations, Micah is assigned to Western State Hospital for the month of February. Today as part of his duties he is over at the jail interviewing inmates and making evaluations.

We are thinking that this isn't as much of a nightmare as it at first sounds...it means instead of driving back and forth every day he will stay on this side of the mountain and have supper with us and spend a few nights here out of the week. Not a bad deal for this rotation.

Of course, this mama is headed to the recipe box to concoct some of his favorite meals! And he likes chocolate as much as I do! Hmm, what will it be?

~Deb

Snowy Scene

The snow everyone has been blogging about finally arrived in Mountain Musings country last night--I'd guess almost 4 inches here. With the sun out today, views from every window are gorgeous and a testimony to the Creator. I love it here! Sledding down the back hill is on the agenda today, and I'll have the camera handy.

Later...

~Deb

Treasure Tuesday

Here's a picture of a cross-stitch I finished years ago. It's a treasure to me because, in addition to all four children's names being stitched around the sides, "Families Are Forever" with our family name is stitched at the bottom (right clicking and opening in a new window will give you the entire picture enlarged).

Actually, I finished cross-stitching this picture years before I stitched in the names. I just knew the Lord might give us one or more children in addition to these four, and I wanted to wait so their names could be included.

I finally decided to go ahead and complete it with Micah and Hannah's names on one side and Jonathan and Sarah's on the other and have it framed. It has always been a special cross-stitch reminding me that the Lord is the One who gives life and puts families together with just the number of children He wants us to have.

"I will put my trust in him....Behold I and the children which God hath given me."  ~ Hebrews 2:13

~Deb