Favorite Scripture

FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU, DECLARES THE LORD...PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU...PLANS TO GIVE YOU A HOPE AND A FUTURE.
JEREMIAH 29:11 (NIV)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

SISTERS

This is NOT a picture of my sister Sarah and I but it sure was a funny sister picture and I had to use it for this post

My sister Sarah is 2ND FROM LEFT

I have spent an entire week with my Baby sister Sarah and now that the end is nigh I'm reflecting on how much fun we've had drinking our coffee..Sarah mainlines coffee!! 

Coffee Anyone?
Tea for me, Please!

The two of us are in that "special summertime" of life
We like to have Froze Poor #1 Husband to death this week with the Thermostat set on 67

My sister is a very prim and proper lady quite like Audrey Hepburn
and just happens to love...
FISHING!!! 
#1 Husband takes her to a local pond to catch "The Big One that Got Away"

I ,on the other hand, like to 
Stay Home and EAT ICE CREAM!!!

The Two of us may be Older but Oh so much Wiser and Much More FUN!!!
Our time is winding down and I'm going to miss her ever so much.  We've had a wonderful time together and I hope to fly up North Carolina way very very soon!

SARAH, I AM GOING TO MISS YOU BABY SISTER

BLESSINGS

 BIG SISTER JANE

Monday, May 16, 2011

Hey, Mr. Postman


A BIG Heartfelt Thank You
to 
Sandra P...... aka...Grandma Rockton 
at
Quilting, Sewing Granny

Look, Look & See
What came special Delivery for ME!!

I am NOT a Photographer like some of you talented Ladies
SEW...
Please forgive the quality of the pictures.

Sandra sent THREE...count them...THREE Quilt tops and ALL the material to finish them!
She asked me in advance if I could use some quilt tops she had ready to go!!??
OF COURSE!!!
You should see how neat and pressed everything was even after surviving the trip!
Colors are so yummy!
Some VERY Lucky children will have a quilt of their very own!
Just this morning, the Local News put out a Plea for more donations for Tornado Victims,
especially in the area of Baby Blankets
&
Baby Items...

Oh did I tell you?? 
Sandra ALSO sent brand spankin' new Baby & Toddler clothes!!  Oh yes she did!!

I told her I planned to Monogram a few of the cute little onesies.
#1 Husband is bringing home specific names of children/babies in need!
CUTE... CUTE... CUTE
Bunny Applique and the colors are so much warmer and yummier!!
This little treasure is made from soft flannel blocks with flannel backing!
She took a baby panel and added borders of her own design...SEW SWEET!

and NOW....KUDOS to another Friend..............
if you'll take a look one more time
See that stack of blankets in the upper right??  
Those are Fleece Tied Baby Blankets
Only Those are from a Good Friend at Church, Janice G. who made EIGHT Blankets for
QUILTS FOR HUGS

I'm Just Over the Top with
Gratitude!!!

Please go to Quilting, Sewing, Granny 
(sorry, Sandra doesn't have a *button* and you know how I am with this linky thing)

Coming Thursday...some Quilt Trivia!  
I can't help myself!  I'm a retired Teacher and I read everything I get my hands on so inevitably I'm going to store a lot of unnecessary Quilt Trivia that needs to be deleted to make room for more useless facts in my head.

Blessings



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

QUILTS FOR HUGS

QUILTS FOR HUGS
Do you know about the Storms of the Century in Alabama on April 27th, 2011???  
Have you seen  pictures of the Devastation??

APRIL 27, 2011  
One of America's worst Natural Disasters in the form of F3, F4, & F5 level Tornadoes
brought forth death, destruction, and suffering to thousands in 7 states! Families were left with absolutely NOTHING!  The saddest picture (I wish I had it to show you) was of a little boy approx. 7-8 yrs. old with a blank stare on his face looking up a camera holding the Easter Basket he had found while his family was sifting through the rubble that used to be their home.  That one picture has haunted me and compelled me to help in a way that I as a quilter can hopefully effect the life of a child somewhere.

  To do this, I NEED YOUR HELP!!!  I am attempting to collect quilts. knitted blankets, fleece tied blankets to give to individual children impacted by the storm.  I've begun receiving donations from all over and for that I'm grateful! 

HOWEVER, I NEED SO MANY MORE TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE.
Why do I think a quilt or blanket can mean anything to a child?  Wouldn't they rather have a toy. you ask??

Let me briefly tell you my story....

When I was 9 yrs. old, my family  moved to a farm with a house heated by a coal oil furnace.  My father mistakenly left some old rags next to the furnace and spontaneous combustion sparked a fire.  My father woke up in the wee hours of the morning to smoke coming out of the floor vents!  My parents scooped up my baby sister and I with blankets, sat us in the family Buick, parked it away from the house and told us to go to sleep and not to look back.  Long story short...Our house burned to the ground for lack of a volunteer fire dept and with the exception of a sewing machine, punch bowl, and box of family photos/baby books we lost everything.  There was no active Red Cross or other organizations to help fire victims in a small rural WV town in 1962.  Families and neighbors helped one another.

I went to school that following Monday with donated clothes and little black purse that I thought was so lovely.  However, cruel as kids can sometimes be, during recess that afternoon one of the "rich girls" was laughing at me with her group of  "mean girls".  *SHE* announced to what seemed the WORLD that I was carrying the black purse *SHE* gave my family because "I didn't really like that purse anyway".  I remember being so embarrassed, hurt, ashamed and wanting to run as far away as I could run.  I took that purse and hid it in my desk and never carried it to school again.
I've never forgotten the feeling of not OWNING something of my own.  Of course, I eventually had an entire wardrobe but for those first few months after the fire I wore donated clothes until my parents could get back on their feet.  A few days after that incident, a family friend brought me the most beautiful quilt with my name on it and the feeling of having something that was MY OWN, NOT a donation, was HUGE!!!!  That quilt kept me company during the nights I couldn't sleep for fear of another house fire.

IT IS MY TIME TO PAY IT FORWARD:

Won't you help me give a child a NEW QUILT, Knitted Blanket, Tied Fleece Blanket of their very own??!!
Please leave me a comment that you wish to donate a quilt or blanket and I will send you my mailing address.
You will put a smile on a lot of children's faces.  There are many still in the hospital with severe injuries that would appreciate a new quilt.

For Pictures of the storms Google Tuscaloosa or Harvest Tornadoes, 4-27-11

Thank YOU
Blessings

Friday, May 6, 2011

After The Storms

...so but this too, we Glory in tribulations, also knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance tested character and tested character, HOPE...and Hope NEVER DISAPPOINTS US; for through the Holy Spirit that has been given us, God's Love has flowed through our hearts.
                                                                                                                     ROMANS 5:3
MY sincere heartfelt thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and voices of concern during our recent devastation here in the Deep South. MY Stae of Alabama suffered devastating losses last Wednesday, April 27th when a series of F3, F4, & F5 Tornadoes ripped through our state and my own community.  Me and my family spent over 2 hours in a storm shelter which was built back in 1974 after the super outbreak of tornadoes killed 7 community neighbors.  This "storm shelter" resembles more of a "storm pit" rather than the newer models of storm protection on the market.  In the south, basements are rare so storm shelters are either built in the ground, under garages, as a safe room in new home construction, or above ground reinforced structures.

I am safe, my family is safe, but we have suffered so much loss of life and property all around us!  To say we are grateful to be alive is an understatement.  During our stay in the storm shelter, we had a battery operated radio and we could hear tornado warnings coming almost every 20 minutes for over 4 hrs.  Tornado forecasting and tracking is a real science down here and thanks to the incredible work of local meteorologists, thousands of lives were saved.  Even so, over 300 have died state wide and approz. 11 have lost their lives in my immediate community.  Ladies, it looks like a war zone...no other way to describe it.

Google or YOUTUBE the following: Tuscaloosa, Birmingham , and Harvest Tornadoes to get a first hand look at what I'm describing.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case, "they" are so right.  From Birmingham north, most of the power was out for several days and in some cases, power is STILL out!!  I was out of power for 6 DAYS!!!!  

6 DAYS is a L..O..N..G time to be without electricity and phone service.  Grocery stores ran out of battereis, and many basic supplies.  People stood in line for hours hoping to grab one of the few generators available.  Size C batteries were GOLD.  Fortunately, I keep a good supply of various batteries on hand so I had enough to play my old fashioned radio!!  Would you believe, few people have a plain old fashioned radio/CD player???  My son kept laughing at me when I told everyone at Christmas that I wanted a PLAIN RADIO, no computer, MP3, Ipod, whatever...just a plain old radio!!

Guess who had THE most popular item during Stormageddon 2011???YEP...GRANDMAMA with her quaint Boom Box CD Player/Radio.  It was our ONLY source of information for 6 days!!  The first 2 days of the storm, the local TV stations had very spotty coverage until they got MAJOR generator power.  Cell towers were down, land lines didn't work and #1 husband had to drive 10 miles to get a signal in order to make a phone call.

Talk about going back in time...we DID!!  However, with the exception of the huge sadness over the loss of life and property, a LOT OF GOOD came out of the storms.  One lady told a radio announcer she had no idea there were so many children living in her neighborhood until the power booted all the kids outside and off their video games, cell phones, and other electronics.  She noted kids were playing outside and the sound of children laughing was good medicine after so much devastation!
What did I do for 6 days without power?  PRAYED a lot!!!!  Everyone of Faith and even some without Faith found a renewed relationship with the Heavenly Father.  When you face death in the eye, it tends to humble you!
My family loves to camp and last summer we renewed our interest by purchasing a pop-up camper complete with Propane stove!!  Can I say a big Whoop Whoop here!  I actually camped out in my own yard/driveway.  #1 H fired up the stove and cooked breakfast every morning.  He had my HOT coffee/Tea ready when I rolled out of bed.  Not only did he cook for the two of us but for his mother and several elderly neighbors. 

I cooked up some awesome chicken fingers one night.  I had to quickly use up the meat in my freezer (lost the contents of TWO FREEZERS and ONE DEEP FREEZER)  so I found some cornflakes and chicken tenders.  I rolled the salt  peppered chicken in crushed corn flakes and fried those babies up!  We weren't concerned with eating healthy, just eating anything available was our focus.  With some corn from the freezer and the last of the salad, we ate like Kings.  After canned spaghettios and bologna sandwiches, I do believe it was the best meal I've ever had.  Funny, how you learn to appreciate the small stuff in times of crisis!!
OH How I enjoyed having my stitching & quilting to keep me company for long hours.  I even stitched by the light of an oil lamp at night!!  It was hard on the eyes but satisfying in some strange way.  Sewing became my companion and I dont mean machine sewing...Hand Sewing gave me many hours of pleasure this past week.

Aren't these some adorable embroidery patterns I found for free on line??!!!

PROJECT QUILTS FOR HUGS
I'm collecting quilts for children who have lost everything and there are hundreds in this situation.  Many injured young children are in our local hospital!  I'll be talking more about this in future posts.  Won't you PLEASE help me???  Do you have some charity quilts ready to go or can you stitch up something quickly???  These quilts will be used to comfort a child or infant that has lost everything.  I'm getting names of children and will make sure they receive these quilts or hand knitted blankets.
If you are interested in helping with this project, make a comment and I will send you my mailing address.

I will be Guest Blogger at Sew We Quilt @Stash Manicure on Monday, May 9th and I will mention my project and then direct interested parties to my blog. 

That's all for now...my appreciation for your sweet comments while I was GONE but not forgotten.  It's amazing to me that I have cultivated a group of friends I've never met but feel so connected to via blogging.  Don't you???  Tell me how You have met a friend from blogging??
Will you donate a quilt??  Will you???  Your donation will be so important in the heart of a child. 


In some small way you can "volunteer" your talents by making & donating a quilt or knitted blanket!

I had a similar story when I was 9 yrs. old but that's tomorrow's story!

Blessings

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