Mountain Musings

Quilt-Alongs ~ More Blocks Finished!

Monday and Tuesday were sewing days. If you read the previous A Different Sunday post, you already know that we didn't have our regular Sunday fellowship at our house this past weekend.

That means....drum roll, please....we didn't have to move the sewing machines from the living room to make way for church chairs!! We just left everything a mess! What fun! :)

So this week the tables were already waiting for me on Monday morning to get started on this week's newly posted instructions for the next blocks. I'm working on both the Jelly Roll Sampler and the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-Alongs, and Hannah is working on her picnic quilt at a table alongside me.

So here are my finished blocks. What do you think? This is Block 3 again using Charisma from Chez Moi fabrics. Every time I look at this block with such prominent images my eyes do blurry somersaults!

And below are the two Pinwheels ~ Blocks 11 & 12 using the Verna fabric line. I decided that it was time to add in some duller colors from the layer cake for these blocks...hence, the brown and orange block!

To see all the blocks I've completed in each quilt-along, click on my Flickr (button link in right sidebar).

Okay, sewing's all done for this week. Outside I go these next sunny days to work in the mulch pile.

There's just no end to the fun!

~Deb

A Different Sunday

Here's what our main living area looks like on a typical Sunday morning before guests arrive. Clean-up, setup, and cooking begin on Saturday.

The chairs are brought out and arranged around the room and behind the sofa for our church family and any guests. A box of songbooks is available for families to grab several as they walk in.

This past Sunday some of the families in our fellowship were planning to be out of town. So what happens when a very small fellowship dwindles down to the host family?

Well, we took advantage of that fact, researched a bit, and planned a visit to a family-integrated church about two hours away. We loaded up Pepper in the back of the van and headed out bright and early...allowing time for a doggie walk, of course, before we arrived.

Our main goal was to possibly meet some like-minded families, to hear the Word of God taught, and really just for a fun weekend excursion. As it turned out, the family who sat in front of us was a family of eight who has an older daughter who writes a blog that Hannah and Sarah read. They felt like they knew Amber already!

If you want to read Amber's version of our visit, check out her blog, The Fruit of Her Hands. She writes the story from her point of view very creatively!

So that was our different Sunday. And we look forward to our own church family being together again this weekend.

~Deb

Work Day in the Garden

Ooooh, there's so much work to do outside this spring! And I love it all!

On Saturday morning Tom rented an auger for all the new posts that will go around the garden. Our friend, Erich, came over to lend some muscle to the job!

All the old rickety posts and wire were torn down to make way for a new picket fence. I left instructions with everyone about big boots in my flower beds! "Watch those tender plants just coming up, y'all!"

This is the perfect time to put a fence in since all the cone flowers, yarrow, and hibiscus aren't blooming yet and getting in the way. Plus, Hannah hasn't planted any early veggies that need protection from the rabbits.

Gradually working a little each Saturday...it will be awhile before the fence is ready and the flower beds can be mulched on the outside of the pickets. If you want to see what I'm envisioning when the project is all done, see Susan Branch's garden here.

So this is what kept us busy on Saturday:

• holes augered and garden posts were put in
• Hannah's raised beds were better secured after falling over from 7 years of use and the rough winter we experienced
• stacks of bricks leftover from building the new addition were carted down to the second garden and shed and arranged for a flower bed border
• all of the old thorny blackberry bushes were dug up and put in the burn pile
• a tall poled birdhouse was relocated to a new spot
• a cookout to reward all the hard workers
• an evening looking at Jonathan's pictures from Panama

Hopefully, we'll get some more items on the "honey-do" list crossed off this weekend!

~Deb

Headed Home From Panama!

Well...thankfully, Jonathan left Tocumen International Airport tonight and is winging his way back home from Panama City, Panama, and he's in the air right now, hopefully arriving here by 3 a.m. 

It's a dark and stormy night in Virginia with heavy rain predicted so we're praying he'll make it back safely.

Seeing as he was needed to repair Sky Connects and ELTs on several planes located in Panama, Jonathan traveled this past weekend from Dulles airport outside of D.C. and flew on a direct flight to Panama as we tracked his flight via Flight Aware.

We'll be tracking his flight again tonight as soon as his plane gets into track-able airspace. He's actually on a Mexican airline which is run by Continental--so the plane pictured above probably doesn't look quite like what he'll be arriving in.

Sarah has been chatting with him online a couple of hours each night, so we've learned:

• there were armed guards at his hotel and at the grocery mart where he shopped for peanut butter, oreos, and bottled water;
• he's seen drug runner trackers all over the airport where he's been working; 
• he was touring the Panama Canal today before leaving;
• it's been 96 degrees, and he's coming home to temps in the 40's;
• I'm now known as Mamasita!

We've missed him (and his humor) all week long! Who knew the house could feel so empty with five other people here but only one Jonathan missing?? :)

~ Mamasita Deb

Graceful Designs Giveaway

Warmer days are finally here in Virginia, so are you ready for a SPRING giveaway? I am eager for this season to get underway, especially making my way outside to the garden! What better way to start off spring with a bang than by a giveaway! Go to my blog to find out how you can sign up to win products from Graceful Designs, as well as earn extra chances by passing on the news about the giveaway to your friends.

 

Graceful Designs carries a colorful array of unique nature stationery which can help get you in the mood for the spring days ahead. Sending one of these greeting or note cards is just the thing for spring birthdays, Mother's Day, or other special and everyday occasions. The cards especially make lovely gifts, and remember, the photo cards can be frameable!

 

You have the chance to win several of these cards until March 31st when one winner's name will be drawn randomly. Open to those in the USA and Canada.

 

Happy Spring!

 

~Hannah

Bloomin' Tuesday ~ Daffodils

Today begins a new season of Bloomin' Tuesday over at MsGreen "thumb" Jean's blog, and you can check out all the participants' spring photos on her Mister Linky list--I'm trying not to be jealous of all those beautiful flowers blooming in Southern California!

Walking around our yard here in Virginia yesterday, I saw that our small clump of daffodils had bloomed! Yes, something for Bloomin' Tuesday! I always look forward to seeing these first signs of spring down by the garden gate.

And speaking of signs of spring, last evening two dump trucks dropped off a couple of loads of beautiful mulch. Check out that steam rising from the pile already!

Today it's a bit chilly and breezy for working outside, but I have a feeling that sewing will take a backseat as the warmer days of April call me outside to play in the mulch!

Thank you to MsGreen "thumb" Jean for organizing Bloomin' Tuesday posts again this year! I'll be participating as often as I can this spring.

~Deb

National Quilting Day

In honor of National Quilting Day I'm posting a picture of the thirty blocks I made on Thursday afternoon. It's hard to see the fabrics, but I'll post a picture when this one is completed.

Last fall I made a quilt by this same pattern for my sister, and this will be another Piece of Cake quilt using a Hello Betty layer cake, which is designed to look like fabric from the 50's.

The Piece of Cake pattern is from Thimble Blossoms, Camille Roskelley, and it is such an easy pattern to put together! The whole top can be finished in an afternoon.

I hastily laid the blocks out for this picture but will be finalizing the exact placement this coming week and sewing the top. Completed size of this quilt will be 62 x 69 and will be a gift for a friend later this spring.

The theme for this year's National Quilting Day is Tie One On...for the Troops! You can go here for a free pattern. Are you doing anything quilt related to celebrate National Quilting Day?

~Deb

Chocolate Grasshopper Cheesecake

As promised, here is the cheesecake post! While searching for a yummy GREEN dessert for St. Patrick's Day, I ran across this recipe online. Since the combo of mint and chocolate is a favorite of a certain member of this family (Jonathan), I went with it! I needed to make the fudge mint cookies to crush for the crust as we didn't have any from the store, and I found a recipe here (omitting the chocolate chips.) I used peppermint extract and green food coloring for the cheesecake, and substituted Hershey's bars for garnish, instead of Andes mints. :)

I'd say this dessert was a success - Jonathan, who dislikes cheesecake, and Mom, who dislikes most minty foods, both loved it! Yay!

~Sarah

St. Patrick-ness

Our family has Irish roots, and looking back at our blog, we have posted without fail every year on St. Patrick's Day, either with GREEN recipes, Celtic music, or with a bit of history on the man St. Patrick himself. So here we are again in 2010, making sure we don't break the tradition! Currently, Sarah has a Chocolate Mint Cheesecake cooling, which I'm sure she will post about later. Meanwhile, here is an excerpt to an article we have linked to in the past that gives a good overview of the life of St. Patrick, and reminds us of the reason he is remembered today.

Patrick, a young man raised by loving Christian parents, was thoroughly acquainted with the Bible and the evangelical faith. He was also greatly influenced towards faith in Christ by an old family friend by the name of Julias, who had been a slave in Ireland many years before.

One day when Patrick was sixteen years old, he was out working on his Father's farm and became alerted to a disturbance on the beach near his house. He could tell something was going on by the loud cries of the sea gulls. Upon further investigation he discovered that "sea raiders" from Ireland had invaded the English coast and were preparing to attack the nearby village of Banavem. Knowing that he should warn his Father and Mother who were in the village Patrick tried to slip away undetected, but in his haste slipped and fell from a cliff overlooking the beach....  Continue reading article>>

Our past year's posts for your enjoyment:

Wearing o' the Green 2005

Patrick: Courageous Missionary 2006

Happy St. Patricks Day 2007

Happy St. Patricks Day 2008

Pound Cake with Lime Custard and Lime Sherbet 2009

Also, read how this family uses St. Patrick's Day as a springboard to share the gospel.

~Hannah

 

Jelly Roll Sampler ~ Block 2

Yesterday new instructions were posted over at Moose on the Porch Quilts for Block 2 of the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt-Along. I started cutting and sewing right away, and this is my finished block:

I love these colors in the Charisma jelly roll, although it's not as much of a contrast in the blocks as I was aiming for. Still...it's all done, and I like this one, too.

Today I begin p.s. i quilt's  Block 4 of the pinwheel sampler using the Verna layer cake fabrics. I'll post a picture when it's all finished.

And I haven't even posted about the monthly Saturday Sampler class that Sarah and I attended this past Saturday at our local quilt shop. We picked up the new fabric for our next block in the Queen and Her Court quilt we're sewing, and maybe, just maybe, I'll start that this week.

Mulch could be delivered next week if the weather turns warm enough for working outside, so I'm rushing to finish up all the sewing projects before spring weather calls my name.

~Deb