Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Our New Home







































Good morning, friends!  Just a sneak peak at our future home for you today.  I really shouldn't be showing this until after closing but so many of you have asked about the move and prayed for us that I wanted to give you a glimpse of where I am headed to.  God led us straight to this home in a development surrounded by farmland.  The house is just shy of seven years old.  The owners are lovely people and we have been blessed with the opportunity to spend time with them during this process. We are set to close on both homes at the end of May.  I look forward to sharing more about the house with you then.  Please know that your prayers were felt, and treasured as well as answered.  I wish I could hug each one of you today!  There is a quilt shop three miles from my house...

Blessings,

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Sunday Scripture







image from Pinterest - no source found

With Joy,

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Blame it on the weather



I really had no intention of buying fabric today.  Ok, well I thought about it but talked myself out of it a couple of times.  I was busy packing up my sewing room.  Leaving out what I need to finish a couple of projects.  It starting hailing and standing in the middle of the boxes I suddenly felt like a caged animal.  As soon as the weather cleared, I was off.  What a random group of fabric!  Here's what I purchased…

1.  "Where's My 'Stache"by DeLeon Design Group for Alexander Henry
2.  "Lollipop" by Sandy Gervais for Moda
3. "How to Make a Pillow Case" Timeless Treasures
4.  "Vintage Modern" by Bonnie & Camille for Moda
5.  "Sweet Shoppe" by Michele D'Amore for Benartex
6.  "Vintage Baby" by Lori Whitlock for Riley Blake
7.  If I can't have spring outside, I'll buy mine at the store (haha)…lovely carnations…

Xoxo,

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Progress











































































Much has happened since I was last here.  We have bought a house and are in the process of inspections.  I've spent a lot of time driving back and forth trying to finalize all the details.  The house is everything that we have been looking for and I hope to get some pictures when I am there for the inspection next week.  I am relieved and also feeling a bit anxious.  The months of April and May are big for our family.  Taylor is currently playing the last season of his college baseball career.  It is a bittersweet time for us having watched him play routinely since t-ball.   Tomorrow is Senior Day at the field.  I keep wondering where the time went.  In May Taylor will move home, we will have Maddie's graduation from high school and college orientation as well as closing on our house.  The beginning of June will find us in our new home.  I am purging and packing and trying to finish the Marcelle Medallion quilt as Maddie's graduation gift.  It's coming along nicely and I am learning so much (most of it the hard way).  I hope that you are doing well and enjoying spring.  We had flurries here today but the daffodils are standing tall!

Blessings,
Renee

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Learning Curve II










I love to quilt.  I really do.  Lately I've been questioning myself about my quilting.  I guess you could call it a mid-life quilt crisis.  I decided to do some reading to see what was going on with me.  I came across these two books and looked at the pictures of the beautiful quilts and decided to actually read the material, not just look at the patterns.  Sarah's style is so different from my own, and I started to wonder if I have a style.  Then I came across these words from her book "Quilting…from little things",

Why do you choose the fabrics you do?
Do your quilts look "the same" every time, or is every one different?
Do you usually choose the same style of fabrics for every quilt?
Do you often make quilts with only three or four fabrics in them or
do you cram so many fabrics in that you can't see the wood for the trees?
Do you love your quilts?
Do they make you happy?
Why do you make them in the first place?

Sarah raised some very good questions, meant to make you grow your quilting skills.  First and foremost I quilt because I feel that the desire was given to me by God to create with my hands and this was the medium that made my heart sing.  I am starting to realize that I have fallen into the quantity over quality syndrome.  I often look to quick and easy patterns and skip over ones that take more time.  I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed making those quilts or that there isn't a need for easy ones, because of course we know there is a need.  But, for me, I'm finding with the increasing cost of fabric and my growing fabric stash that perhaps its time to rethink quilting.  So my questions to myself are,

What style of quilting am I drawn to?
Is there a new skill I'd like to learn?
Is there a class locally or on Craftsy that I might enjoy?
What is missing in my stash and how can I better use my stash of fabrics?
How can I glorify God through creating quilts?
Why does choosing fabric combinations make me anxious?
What am I afraid of?

I have ufo's, quilt kits, block of the month, and a lot of fabric.  I seem to always be looking for the next thing to fulfill my creative desires.  When I took the "make do" pledge a couple of years ago I really did well.  The most fulfilled I have been of late, quilting, is Lori's Row Along Quilt from her blog here.  The quilt was challenging and hard at times and I learned a lot of new skills.  I'm looking forward to hanging that one on my wall in my next home.  There are things I would change about it, mostly my color choices but that's okay because I'm learning.  After ten years of quilting, I'm still learning.  I encourage you to ask yourself the questions above and to challenge yourself in whatever medium you create in.  Step out of the box and you might just develop your art into what it was meant to be.  I would love to know your thoughts.

Hugs,

Monday, April 15, 2013

Learning Curve



Good morning!  I hope that you had a great weekend and was able to get some sewing or cooking or gardening…whatever you love…I hope you found time to do it this past weekend.  I decided to try and tackle the center of the Marcelle Medallion.  You may remember that I bought the magazine last week. Well, I've been quilting for ten years and can tell you that it's not for the faint of heart but worth doing.  You may rip out seams at points (I did), you may want to throw it in the trash (I did) and you may question if you'll finish the rest of the quilt (jury is still out on that) but in the end you will have learned a lot about set in seams.  What I learned is that I should take a class if I'm going to keep doing them.  I made templates for this, which is always a recipe for accuracy disaster for me.  In the end, my block is 1/2" smaller than the pattern calls for and I will have to do some adjusting to get all the pieced borders to fit and I'm not very comfortable doing that but there's the challenge.  I guess that's the question, am I up for the challenge?  My thoughts on that tomorrow…

Smiles,

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Friday, April 12, 2013

Just Checking In...







































Is it really Friday already?  Time seems to be moving at record breaking speed.  I'm busy trying to get the house ready for the move.  We close at the end of May.  We are still trying to find a home where we are going.  In the meantime, I can pack and purge.  A bunch of yellow tulips is just what I need on a day that may bring us some snow.  The vase was found here and reads, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Eccl. 3:11.  I have been looking for this quilting magazine.  It has the pattern for the beautiful "Marcelle Medallion" in it.  I'm not sure I can work it into the quilting schedule right now. Boy is it a beauty!  Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Monday, April 8, 2013

Graduation Trip



























































































































































Hi friends!  A week away from my computer feels like an eternity.  I think maybe that should tell me something.  Maddie and I spent a fabulous few days in New York with my college roomie, Amy, for Maddie's graduation from high school (next month).  This has been a dream of Maddie's that in lieu of a graduation party I would take her to New York.  I knew I would ask Amy to go because she knows New York so well, traveling there often.  We had a great time!  I managed to go to the top of Rockefeller Center (67 floors) dealing with my fear of elevators, saw the Lion King on Broadway and many other memorable sites.  One of the highlights of the trip, for me, was to visit Purl Soho.  I have ordered from them online before and always wanted to see their shop.  It's a tiny place, but full of color and creativity.  I purchased fabric (of course) which included some Liberty of London Lawn.  I also purchased some wonderful merino wool in a gorgeous shade of blue.  I feel like a walked a hundred miles, but I would do it again to see a smile like this on my precious girl's face! 

With joy,

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Paper Flowers







































A whole garden of cupcake liner flowers are in bloom in my sewing room today.  Maddie and I had such a fun time making these for the window display at the cafe.  Making paper raindrops is next.  I'm dreaming of spring!

Hugs,

Monday, April 1, 2013

Pretty Barn







































I hope that you all had a good Easter!  We had a fun time with family and ate some good food while rejoicing in our Risen Savior!  I had spring flowers on my mind when I pieced the third block in the Quilty Barn Along.  My inner farm girl is having such a fun time with these.  Spring cannot come fast enough for me and while there are crocuses in bloom, we are expecting snow today.  Every once in a while I see a flake coming down.  This is a hard time of year for us Michiganders!

Smiles,