Mountain Musings

Birth and Labor Support Class

This past week, Hannah and I had the blessing of attending a class held by some friends of ours, to learn more about God's design for pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and how to support a woman in labor.

Our friends are taking a doula course, and this class to pass on their knowledge to other young ladies was a part of the course requirements.

We each had a folder of information and charts waiting for us at our seats. Jenny and Sarah started out by reading a timeline of the development of the baby week by week from the book Christ Centered Childbirth. 

After that, the morning was spent on learning about the stages of labor - the physical and emotional signs in the mother, and how the labor support person could help them through it.

They performed a humorous little skit demonstrating the excited first nesting phase of labor. They emphasized that at this point REST is the key. :) 

Also as part of the class, there were a number of quizzes to help cement what we learned after each phase was talked about. The winners were able to pick a prize from an assortment of gifts - each attendee brought a little something to contribute to the prize table.

Side note: I made bean bags! Just recently I won a giveaway of a set of these, and I thought they were so cute! It seemed like they would make a fitting baby gift, so I made another set using the tutorial that was on the blog I won the original set from. This was a great project to use up some of my leftover scraps! They were all filled with lentils - they were a nice size and not too big. These bean bags are great for young children to help them learn their numbers and simple addition and subtraction while having fun.

Also, I made a simple drawstring bag to hold them all together. The tutorial had instructions for a bag, but since I didn't have any scraps big enough, I just had to make up a similar design that would work with what was available.

Hannah kindly labeled it for me, as my handwriting leaves much to be desired. ;) Anyway, this was my contribution, and hopefully I can also make a set for myself soon as well.

Wings as Eagles

Picture of bald eagle taken from a canoe on Sandy Run during Photography Boot Camp II

Music: Wait on the Lord by the Wilds Choir and Orchestra

~Hannah

UFO ~ What's Next?

Every Friday the Little Green Quilters over at Blackberry Creek report on their list of UnFinished Objects. It's going well most weeks.

Today I had planned to post a picture of "the quilt" actually being used by my family at a picnic! That didn't happen, but with the holiday weekend ahead of us, I'm sure it will be put to good use at a cookout. Picture soon!

So now my thoughts turn to what's next on the list? How about #3: Verna Pinwheel Quilt.

This is the quilt from the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along I joined in January, 2010, using Kate Spain's Verna fabric line.

All the blocks are finished, in fact, the rows are even sewn together...just not completed as a quilt top yet...so it's become a dreaded UFO!

Here are two of the blocks that I'll be working with. And I love the colors! That should be some beautiful incentive to get this UFO crossed off the list.

I'll report next Friday on how much I got done!

~Deb

Bloomin' Tuesday!

Today I'm joining MsGreen Thumb Jean for Bloomin' Tuesday. This is what's blooming in my Shenandoah Valley garden this week:

These are Lamb's Ears given to me last summer by a friend from her northern Virginia garden. The three plants were not the perkiest after being transplanted, and I didn't know if they would even survive.

Well...they are thriving this year...and spreading! They will flower soon, but I also like the soft, silvery and velvety leaves just as they are. And what a wonderful name for a flower!

Purple Salvia is growing in one of the front flower beds alongside the varigated grasses. Since I like purple a lot, many purple flowers find their way into my garden.

Catmint is growing at both corners of the fence and blooms lavender flowers. I love seeing dozens of white butterflies cover this plant each year. Fortunately, no cats in the neighborhood have found it!

Another purple plant around the garden is Spiderwort given to me by a friend of my sister's:

The yellow yarrow is growing by the sedum in front of the shed:

And the columbine is blooming on the shadier north side of the shed by the bleeding heart. I love these dainty flowers, but they don't have a long blooming season.

MsGreen Thumb Jean has more blooms over on her blog by gardeners all over the country. I always enjoy participating in Bloomin' Tuesday....although a little late this week posting on Wednesday.

~Deb

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Sarah and I attended our monthly Saturday Sampler quilt class on the second Saturday of this month, so we've already received our new fabric to start on next month's block. Guess who's already completed her block?

Can you believe it?

I loved not rushing so much last month that I thought I'd try that little trick again. :)  All done!

~Deb

I Dug a Hole and Planted a Flower

The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied.  They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.  ~ Vita Sackville-West

It all started when Sarah spotted a "free plants" listing on Freecycle last month. Of course, I immediately wrote the lady and said I'd take all she had.

It wasn't until a month later that she emailed that only one oakleaf hydrangea was left. I responded that, yes, I still wanted it...of course! So Sarah and I traveled 30 minutes to her home to dig up the shoot...and now...it's planted in my yard!

I had never heard of this particular variety of hydrangea, so I googled some information to see whether it likes sun or shade. Seeing as our yard basically has all sun, I was glad to see that it will hopefully thrive where it's planted--in the sun.

We'll soon find out whether this flower is a single blossom or double blossom. Here's a picture of the center upclose:

 

 

 

And here's a picture of where it's planted in relation to the purple irises in the dinner bell flower bed (right background).

After taking the above picture, I enclosed the new plant with a ring of chicken wire--just in case the rabbits come a'calling. I'll post a growth progress report later in the year.

~Deb

Sunday Wisdom

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." ~ Proverbs 2:1-5

~ Deb

FNSI Becomes SNSI

This is a follow-up post for the Friday Night Sew In group. My FNSI became a Saturday afternoon and SNSI! But I'm so encouraged with what was accomplished.

I sewed on a 7 inch border and quilted it about every 4 inches (the rest of the quilt is tied). The binding is now sewn on and waiting for hand sewing. And then....FINISHED!

Thank you to Heidi over at Handmade by Heidi and the sponsors for the giveaways. I really got alot done! Great Friday night sewing incentive!

(For new readers that pop over from Heidi's blog...this quilt was started 25 years ago and is very faded in spots by the sun. It will be a picnic and watching fireworks quilt! Thanks to Susan at Blackberry Creek for her UFO group to get me this far along!)

~Deb

UFO Progress ~ Almost Done!

This week I'm a Little Green Quilter! Yay! They haven't kicked me off the UFO team yet...even though I've been AWOL from any inside sewing work lately.

This week we've had rain and thunderstorms, so that means I was able to get some sewing done inside. I decided to work on the 25-year old quilt that's been folded just staring me in the face every time I walk by it!

I sewed on a 7-inch border--I'm guessing that was the original intent because I found at least 12 strips of this very wide fabric already cut and stashed away. Above is the quilt laying over my ironing board so I could pin it.

All that's left now is the binding, although maybe I should quilt it a little on the border for stability. Everywhere else it's tied so that should be good enough for the main quilt. I don't want to put a lot of effort into this project since it will just be used outside for picnics.

Tonight I'm participating in the Friday Night Sew-In, and I hope to finish this quilt completely. By next UFO report day it should be crossed off my list--Lord willing and the creeks don't rise!

Check out Blackberry Creek's other Little Green Quilters and their progress over on Susan's blog.

~Deb

Bloomin' Tuesday!

Today I'm joining MsGreen Thumb Jean for Bloomin' Tuesday, and I'll show you what's blooming in our yard this week.

Peonies! There are white, pink, and fuchsia peonies blooming now, and these bright fuchsia ones shown below are my favorites:

These peonies are planted along our driveway--a little spraddled from rain we've had recently. In fact, today is a rainy and thundering morning--I'm glad these pictures were taken last evening. You can also see some of the white Siberian iris across the road (top right in the picture below):

Here are the white Siberian iris in a closer shot:

The clematis is blooming by the bird feeder near the front door:

If anyone knows the name of the yellow flowers blooming below the clematis, I'd love to know. Actually, I knew when I planted them...I should have put a plant marker there to remind me. Here's a closer photo below in front of the azaleas:

The yellow and purple irises are also blooming. What would you do if you were the only yellow in a sea of purple? [Note to self: paint dinner bell post this spring.]

There are more yellow irises here:

There's also columbine, spiderwort, and dianthus blooming...I'll save those for next week. There are other flower gardeners all over the US who are showing their blooms...check them out over at MsGreen Thumb Jean's.

~Deb