Mountain Musings

Canada Part 2 ~ Bloomin' Tuesday ~ Public Gardens

For this week's Bloomin' Tuesday I'm taking you along on our trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

I was very impressed with the flower gardens I saw all over Canada. The gardens were quite colorful and very healthy and well nourished...definitely flowers that weren't subjected to temperatures of 90+ degrees like we've had here in Virginia this summer.

The afternoon that we strolled around the Public Gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was great! Tom was very patient with me as I was taking pictures of every flower in sight!

The flowers here are from regions all around the world; I didn't know the names of a lot of them. The gravel paths wind throughout the entire area--beautiful but not quite the best walking when wearing Crocs on a pebbly path. Hmm...

Also, there is a gazebo that was built for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The Public Gardens feature over 16 acres of trees, flower beds, fountains, and a duck pond.

Here's another shot of the gazebo:

The dahlia garden was especially popular and and boasted quite a variety of blooms. I loved the dark rich soil, much different from our hard clay. Every area was well-maintained.

The collage below shows some of the individual dahlias.

I hope you've enjoyed touring the Halifax Public Gardens on our Nova Scotia trip. This post is also part of MsGreen Thumb Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday. Go here to see more flower gardens across the country.

~Deb

Also in this series: Canada Part 1 ~ Meeting Island Sparrow in Real Life!

Canada Part 1 ~ Meeting "Island Sparrow" In Real Life!

This week I'll write a series of posts with pictures of our anniversary trip to Canada. Watch for quilt shop excursions, flower gardens for Bloomin' Tuesday, newly purchased yarn for Work-in-Progress Wednesday, and wonderful scenery from Anne of Green Gables countryside!

One of the highlights of our Prince Edward Island trip was meeting Kathie (Island Sparrow) and her husband who are true Islanders. Kathie blogs over at A Sparrow's Home, and if you want to see some really beautiful photos of the Island, visit Kathie's blog.

Here's our ferry getting ready to dock, load, and then take us over to Prince Edward Island. The views were absolutely terrific as we crossed from Caribou over to Wood Island, and the deep blue water was exceptionally beautiful!

This is one example of some beautiful scenery leaving Nova Scotia and heading towards Prince Edward Island.

Tom enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine as the weather was beautiful almost every day we were away! Amazing!

In planning the trip, when we knew for sure that we would be traveling close to where Kathie lived on the Island, we emailed each other and set up a time to meet for the first time in real life!

We met at a little restaurant called Higher Ground and enjoyed a delicious meal together. It was so much fun! I loved meeting Kathie, Roger, and their daughter Sarah who waitress-ed our table.

Remember the table runner I recently made? Kathie was the recipient as I wanted to bring a gift from Virginia to share with her, so it was all the more fun making it knowing that it would travel so far from home! Kathie posted a picture of the table runner in her home here (scroll down).

Here's a picture of the four of us at the end of the evening. What a very pleasant introduction to a beautiful Island. Thanks again, Kathie and Roger!

~Deb

Star Struck Quilts Blog Tour ~ Stop #6 ~ Giveaway!

Hello! And a warm welcome to everyone visiting Stop #6 for Barbara Cline's Star Struck Quilts Blog Tour! We are delighted to be a part of introducing our quilt teacher's new book to the quilting community.

You will have a chance to win a copy of Barbara's book by commenting at the end of this post. But first, here are some questions we asked Barbara so our readers can get to know her a little better:

1. Tell us about yourself, Barbara.
I am married to Terry Cline, a poultry farmer and carpenter. A few days out of the year I "get" to help him in the turkey house. We have five children, and our oldest just got married. You can see a picture of my family here. I'm the seventh girl of eight children and come from a close-knit Mennonite family of quilters.

2.  How did you first get started quilting?

I started quilting when I was 11 or 12 and hand quilted my first stitches taught by my grandmother. My parents owned a fabric store which started the sewing juices running. I worked in their fabric store all through my growing up years. When I got married and had children, I quit working at the store, but my sewing never stopped. I would piece quilt tops to sell and made hundreds and hundreds of sun bonnets for the store, as well as clothing and quilts for my children.

3.  It must have been quite the job to get all the quilts made for publication. How did you schedule all the sewing for the deadline and handle the pressure to make sure everything was perfect for pictures for the book?

Half of the quilts were made before the book idea began which was very helpful. Deadlines for the book are spaced out at different times, and the folks at C&T Publishing were wonderful to work with and helped keep me on schedule.

4. Barbara, are you anticipating writing another book?

Yes, the second book will be published in 2012 although I am not at liberty to say too much about the book. I also have other patterns for sale on my website, Delightful Piecing.

Click on the links of the other Blog Tour participants below to read their interviews with Barbara and find out more about her talented quilting. You can also check out Barbara's blog, Quilting Gal.

Star Struck Quilts includes complete instructions for 9 wall hangings, which can then be transformed into 27 bed-sized quilts. Barbara shares many valuable life lessons and shows you how to achieve the fine workmanship found in the quilts made in her Mennonite community.

Here is the schedule of the stops on the tour; comment on each for a chance to win Barbara Cline's new book!

August 23: Julia Graber

August 24: Polly the Patchworker

August 25: Quilter's Corner

August 26: Dorcas Smucker

August 27: Canton Village Quilt Works

August 28: Mountain Musings (that's us!)

August 29: Spun Sugar Quilts

August 30: Quilternity's Place

August 31: Burgandy Buttons

September 1: Little Lady Patchwork

September 2: Tazzie Quilts

Leave a comment on this post by midnight September 2nd. First place winner will receive a copy of Star Struck Quilts; 2nd place winner will receive a gift set, including pen-style Chaco-Liner, Flower Head Pins and Mary Ellen's Best Press spray.

Along with the other blogs participating, I will also draw a 3rd name which will be forwarded to Barbara for an opportunity to win some RJR fabric or a $25 gift card to Patchwork Plus (our local quilt shop here in the area), and winners for those prizes will be announced on her blog.

We will use Random Number Generator and post our two winners' names here on September 3rd. Thanks for reading!

~Deb

A Surprise 30th Anniversary Photo Quilt!

In a recent post I referenced a quilt pattern, 30 Stars for 30 Years, that I purchased especially to make a quilt as a remembrance of our 30th anniversary. I intend to do that this fall. However...

Little did I know the girls were planning quite the surprise for us with a quilt of their own. When we returned from our trip this week, we were presented with a 30th Anniversary Photo Quilt that Hannah and Sarah made while we were away. The final stitches were sewn just a couple of hours before we arrived!

Jonathan was part of the surprise, too, and he donated money to help out, contributed ideas/scriptures for the quilt, and basically gave support to the girls as they burnt some midnight oil finishing the quilt before we returned.

Here we are outside holding the treasured quilt:

In the four corners are pictures from our wedding in 1980. Each of the other pictures is a photo taken of us from each year of the 30 years we've been married.

As the girls were scouting through old albums looking for pictures of us as a couple, there were no pictures of the two of us together to be found anywhere for years 1984 and 1985. They opted for a photo of me with baby Hannah in 1984 and Tom with Micah, Hannah, and baby Jonathan in 1985.

So...make sure you find time to take a picture of you and your spouse each year as you grow old together. You never know when you might make an anniversary scrapbook or when someone will need those photos for a quilt! :)

Here are some of the ideas and scriptures written on the quilt:

• "You place importance on spending time together as a family."

• "You have set a godly example of fulfilling your Biblical roles of leading and following."

• "You highly value prayer and pray faithfully for each of your children."

• "Mother dear, thanks for homeschooling us and writing us welcome-back-to-school notes!"

• "I appreciate your desire to maintain Biblical convictions in our family even though they may be against the flow of the world."

• "For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations." ~ Psalm 100:5

And 20+ more blocks are written within the quilt for us to read and treasure. I wish you could see it in person! I am thrilled to have this remembrance! I love the whole idea! What a wonderful gift!

Now Hannah will describe below how she and Sarah went about making the photo quilt.

~Deb

Safely Home from Canada!

Thank you all so much for the anniversary well wishes...both in the comments and emails sent to us. Tom and I just arrived home last night after a 10-day trip to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, Canada, to celebrate our 30th anniversary!

It was wonderful!

We were so blessed to be able to travel on this trip, and we saw some beautiful scenery. Here's our first glimpse of Prince Edward Island from the ferry:

As wonderful as the trip was, it's always good to come home and see everyone again and sleep in your own bed!

I'll post some highlights after I wade through almost 1,800 pictures...including meeting a blogging friend for the first time!

But right now...unpacking and laundry are at the top of the list! I'll check in later...

~Deb

Quilt Tour Begins

Today begins the Star-Struck Quilt Tour! Be sure to visit all the participants and check back on Saturday, August 28th for our questions and answers with Barbara Cline here on Mountain Musings--and enter our giveaway!

30 Years Together

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His ways.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

~Psalm 128

Happy 30th Anniversary, Dad and Mom! We love you so much - thanks for being such a godly example of marriage for us! Your faithfulness to each other is a wonderful picture of the love Christ has for the church. God's grace has been evident in your lives as you have sought Him during the past 30 years in your marriage and in being our parents. We love being your children!

~Hannah, Jonathan, and Sarah

He put a new song in my mouth

In 2008, Hannah received a New Harmonia Sacra hymnbook for her birthday.There are many new songs included that are unfamiliar to us and which will be enjoyable to learn!

From a previous post:

What is Harmonia Sacra? "It is based on a shape-note tune book first published as Genuine Church Music by Joseph Funk in Winchester, Virginia in 1832. This book, later renamed the Harmonia Sacra, and since revised in 25 editions down to the present, is the oldest shape-note book in continuous use. Approximately 16 annual singings are held from it in Mennonite communities in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and some in Indiana." See this web page for some more information on the background of the Harmonia Sacra tradition.  The Serven Clan wrote an interesting post earlier this year about Sacred Harp, which is a related style of harmony.

Some more interesting information about Joseph Funk and Harmonia Sacra singing can be found here.

One Saturday night a couple of months ago, Dad and Mom were off running errands, and the three of us pulled out Hannah's hymnbook and attempted a new song together. With Jonathan on guitar, we quickly learned it and were able to sing it for Dad and Mom when they got home. Then the next morning at church we learned it together as a congregation.

The words are a wonderful testimony of God's grace! We can't find any information on who the author was, only that this is a folk hymn. Also, this past week the three of us recorded this together, with Hannah and me singing and Jonathan providing instrumental accompaniment.  So if you wish to hear the tune with the words, you can click here.

Redeeming Grace

Come all who love my Lord and Master,

And like old David I will tell,

Though chief of sinners, I've found favor,

By grace redeemed from death and hell;

Far as the east from west is parted,

So far my sins by dying love,

From me by faith are separated,

Blest antepast of joys above.

I late estranged from Jesus wandered,

And tho't each dang'rous poison good;

But He in mercy long pursued me

With cries of His redeeming blood;

Though like Bartimeus I was blinded,

In nature's darkest night concealed,

But Jesus' love removed my blindness,

And He His pard'ning grace revealed.

Now I will serve Him while He spares me,

And with His people sing aloud,

Though hell oppose and sinners mock me

In rapt'rous strains I'll praise my God.

By faith I view the heav'nly concert,

They sing high strains of Jesus' love,

Oh! with desire my soul is longing,

And fain would be with Christ above.

~Sarah

Deluge of Diapers

In my diaper update last May, I said I wouldn't bother you until I had stacks of finished diapers to show. That time has come! In a little over a year and a half, I finally managed to sew 70 pocket diapers. 26 mediums, 28 smalls, and 16 newborns are done and ready to put on a baby! I was able to cut more than I thought out of my fabric, so that's why the amounts are a little odd. :) I still want to make some larges as well as sew up some fleece covers, but I feel like the bulk of my sewing is done right now!

Far left row is newborns. Next 2 rows are the smalls. Next 2 rows are mediums. The row on the right is all the diapers that I have won in giveaways. :) And I have 3 more (Fuzzi Bunz!!!) in the mail. Ahem.

Here is a side by side comparison of the three different sizes, medium to newborn:

Now they are all neatly put away in a box on my closet shelf, ready for future use. :) Whew! Now maybe I can concentrate on some other projects!

(Other diaper posts can be found here, here, and here.)

~Sarah

Work-In-Progress Wednesday

Earlier in the year I received a Charm Pack of 5" squares of Breath of Avignon. Last week I started a project using the disappearing 9-patch tutorial found on the p.s. i quilt blog. It was fun and easy!

After I cut the 9-patch block in half and then in half once again, I experimented with turning the blocks every which way. It was interesting to come up with different combinations to see what looked best.

Then I sewed all the blocks together again and ironed them.

Next came sandwiching the top, batting, and backing together and beginning the quilting process.

I decided to do a simple quilted X across the blocks. It turned out nicely.

The pattern calls for using 27 charm squares which makes 3 blocks. I ended up making 4 blocks and making it a little longer. I like this size.

Next I sewed on the binding; I love the fabric I found in my stash for this project--it matches perfectly! After washing and drying the quilted piece for that crinkled look, I took it outside for a picture.

 

Now it's ready for gift-giving. This pattern was so easy that I think another one is in my future!

~Deb