Whatever

We had a freak snowstorm today. We made it all winter without any snow days. And today, the beginning of the 4th week in April we had one. I was super happy to hang out here in the house and not step outside at all. Thus, only Bug went out to play in the snow. Probably not a great parenting moment, but definitely not my worst of the day either. It's still snowing, so I'll probably get a do over tomorrow, if I so choose.




"Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9

In many situations I really feel like saying "whatever".  Not the whatever that Paul is speaking of in Philippians, but the whatever of the modern culture that says, I don't care - do what you want.  That is not the attitude I should be projecting in front of my daughters.  I'm afraid that I did a lot of "whatever-ing" today.  The second full day of hubby's TDY and Bug had her first snow day of the year, so the 2 day weekend turned into a 3 day weekend and I was on edge.  I was snippy and raised my voice at both girls - like Baby Pie has any idea why momma was yelling at her.  Yes, I yelled at Baby Pie and the look of confusion and pain that I got from her hurts in my heart.  Yet, it made me feel guilty, which added to the snippiness and resulted in even more raised voices and misunderstanding.  Looking back, yes, I should have just walked away for 2 minutes, closed my eyes, said a prayer, looked for an appropriate quote and calmed and centered myself.  I've seen the quote that children are not an inconvenience - unfortunately today - I admit - I felt that my girls were. 

That takes me back to Paul's "whatever".  True.  Honorable. Just. Pure. Pleasing. Commendable. Excellent.  Worthy of Praise.  What better words to describe what it means to be a mother.  Or maybe I should say what better words to describe the goals of being a good mother.  To be a mother that my girls will remember, not for always yelling, but for being there, playing, supporting and listening.  A mother that provides consistency.  Thankfully - we have forgiveness and tomorrow.  I know Bug has forgiven me - we talked and seem to be on the same page.  Baby Pie is another story.  I can only assume that she's either forgiven me or forgotten because she was her happy normal self before bed.  At a few days short of 18 months, she has yet to say mama. I am dada.  She has words for a few object and our cat and dog.  But she knows what we're saying and can follow pretty complex directions.  Yes, that was off topic. 

The other thing I've done these last few days was a lot of stippling on Aria's quilt.  A lot of stippling.  Let me see.  Quilting night on Thursday was 3 hours - ok, make that 2 1/2 giving time for set up and tear down.  Then 2 hours on Saturday, 2 hours on Sunday and 3 hours today.  So that's 7 1/2 hours stippling.  Phew.  I love how it looks.  Love.  Love.  Love.  I need to decide if I'm going to do a traditional binding or a quicker machine sewn binding.  Then I need to trim the sides and bind it.  I also need to work on getting Pipers quilt done.

So - whatever - Paul's "whatever" - ". . .think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9

Peace Be With You

After a really bad fight with hubby on Friday afternoon, we made up.  While he was finishing his homework and mowing the lawn, I planned an fun evening activity for us.  I packed the cooler with ice and sprite and got us a bag of white cheddar popcorn and some candy to enjoy.  We packed all kinds of pillows, quilts and blankets into the back of the van and actually enjoyed snuggling while watching The Lorax.  I knew there was a reason we didn't see it when it first came out.

We went to the opening of a local drive-in theater.  Forgive the horribly fuzzy picture -  but I believe you can not only make out the screen, and the glorious sunset, but the mountain back drop to it all.  Wow what an absolutely gorgeous part of this county we live in.  It blows my mind that  we could have 6-12 inches of snow bury us in the next 48 hours.

The fight with hubby really threw me for a loop.  We haven't had a true yelling at each other fight for what seems like years.  Actually it was him yelling and me listening and crying.  At least I know he's also feeling the stress and dissatisfaction that his job and schoolwork are bringing into our home.   I think blowing off the steam released some pressure from both of us and we were able to find peace by the evening.

Saturday was a lazy day here.   Hubby packed for the TDY that he left for today.  He fixxed Baby Pie oatmeal for breakfast and she actually ate a good bit of it.  Mind you oatmeal is an awesome beauty treatment, so she just got cuter the more she ate.

I've been working on finishing a couple of baby quilts that need to be done by early May.  Here's a quick peek at one of them.  I did manage to finish the micro-stippling in the white of the pinwheels.  Now I need to quilt the borders, trim and bind.  I really and truly dislike binding by hand, but it looks soooo very much better than anything I've done that's bound with the machine, so by hand it is.



Bug played piano for the opening prelude at church this morning and did a wonderful job.  Now after lunch, she and Baby Pie are chillin' watching Toy Story 3.  I wonder how long this will last?  Probably not as long as it takes me to write and post this entry.

I guess I'll get to pick up toys this afternoon and do laundry.  Aren't those some of the things that moms do best?  Honestly I'd much rather sit down at the sewing machine and tackle the remainder of the borders, but I don't think that Allie will be up for a nap any time soon.

"Peace be with you" was the theme in Sunday School this morning.  Jesus was giving peace to the disciples and to us. Do we accept the peace?  What does that kind of peace feel like?  What kinds of things do we need to give up or hand over to feel the peace?  Hmmm - lots of good questions to ponder for the afternoon. 

Magical Days

No, I've not gone on a trip to the "Magic Kingdom".  Our budget just won't allow it.

It's just that these last few days with my girls, my mom and my hubby have been really great.  All in their own special way. 



If you look carefully in the lower right
corner - you'll see my foot.  It's the
closest I'll be to the beach for a few months.

We've played in the sand and water table.

We've swung on the swing set and gone down the slide.  Well, the girls have - not the grown-ups.


Today my mom and I  danced the Hokey Pokey with Baby Pie.

On Sunday my mom and I made beautiful butterfly creations with Bug to hang on her canopy, which we did today.

The violets are in full bloom.  Our
backyard is  carpeted with beautiful
purply blue blossoms.

I had a day of creative bliss today.  This morning I helped with the craft at our MOPS meeting - we did the tie-dye with a sharpie and alcohol.  It seemed to go over really well.  When I came home, mom had threatened to force (guilt me) me into sorting through the stack of three weeks worth of mail, but instead we had lunch and played 2 games of canasta before Bug got home from school.  We then taped fishing line to the butterflies so they can hang under her canopy.  This evening I went to the local quilt shop and sewed from 6-9:30 - bliss.  I have two baby quilts ready to be quilted.  I will start on them on the Thursday work night at the quilt shop, or maybe tomorrow if I have time.

This morning, I was trying to get out the door a bit earlier ie. faster than usual...everything just seemed to be falling into place to slow me down.  I finally had to really take a breather when I dumped my compact on the floor and all my makeup went everywhere and the blush shattered.  UGH.  It had to be cleaned up, so I had to slow down.   I made a conscious decision to not get flustered and crabby - that would have been really easy to do.  I thought to myself, this is God telling me that when you push too hard and too fast things go awry.  I thanked God for slowing me down and asked him to help me be positive and pleasant today.

Galatians 6:9  "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 

This was part of the devotion today at MOPS.  Let us not become weary in doing good.  Being a good mother is wearisome.  It takes hard work and decision making.  Some are easy decisions - no Baby Pie you are not allowed to play in the street.  Some decisions are harder - do I suffer through the crabbies or allow the television to help distract and calm (zone out) the toddler?  Coming up with nutritious and varied meals is a challenge that is wearisome.  But knowing that at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up is a promise that I cannot refute!  Some of the reapings are small - little ones using manners correctly without prompting.  Some of the reapings we may not see until our little ones aren't so little anymore and have to make more "grown up" decisions and some may not be seen until our babies are grown ups.  I have to keep in mind that my actions, attitude, decisions and "goodness" are all part of helping my little humans become grown up, God-fearing productive humans.  Often I get to the end of a day and wonder if I have done enough.  I, the great procrastinator, always say to myself, I can always do better tomorrow.  But I have to also remind myself that I only have a finite number of tomorrows with my little humans before they're grown and gone.

So much to think about and ponder and thank God for as I go to bed tonight.

Trying Something New - The Peek A Boo Quilt

Here is a quilt I finished in June.  I think I began purchasing fabric and cutting it out in April.  This was definately a step out of the box for me.  Not only did I try a new pattern, but I expanded on it and made it my own.  I have another alphabet panel, but I am not sure I'm up for the challenge of this quilt a second time around.

The basis of this quilt was a pattern that I purchased that made only a 12 square quilt. Needless to say, not too long after I purchased the pattern, I found a panel with the alphabet on it, and the creative juices began flowing. I took the basics from the pattern added the panel and together it became a 30 square quilt. I know, I know, the alphabet has only 26 letters, but the panel had four added black and white patterned squares to make all the letters fit into a typical quilt pattern.

Even when it was beginning to come together, it was quite labor intesive and I had a hard time keeping up the motivation to complete it.  My favorite parts of the quilting process are the choosing of fabric, pieceing and the quilting. It's the cutting, and sandwiching that are my least favorite parts.

Here is a swath of all the wild fabrics I used for the prairie points.

Here are completed squares with the prairie points sewn on.

Here is the first row of squares assembled.

A closeup of the first square, closed.

And a closeup of the first couple of squares open. Now you see why it's called a Peek A Boo Quilt.

Finished piecing the top together.

It took  a good portion of a day  to remove the basting stitches from the prairie points.

I chose a border and binding fabric.  It's a bit wild, like the rest of the quilt.

Took the quilt, my choice of border and Baby Girl to the quilt shop and the owner very patiently walked me through matching up the stripes to make the border gorgeous and after I get it sewn on almost all the way, I took it back and she showed me how to miter my corners!

I wasn't sure what my backing fabric was going to be.  I ended up with a bold black and white floral print.  I've decided to use black thread for the quilting both top and bottom.  I think it makes sense since I'm not planning on doing any fancy machine quilting on it.




Here is the finished quilt in my mom's walnut tree. Kind of an artsy pic - at least that's what I was trying for
















Here's a close up of the border and binding. The picture is not really great, it's kind of washed out, sorry.   I absolutely love the wild stripes.  Hard to believe that  I didn't have this fabric when I chose all the prairie point fabrics.

Here's a close up of just a bit of the backing.  It definately makes it a "girly" quilt, but really, when it's flat on the ground, you never see it.

Now I just need to get brave and wash it.  I'm not sure how the prairie points will come out or if I'll need to press it.  I guess time will tell.