halfway to Hadley

yep.

That's right.

Our little granddaughter, Hadley Blaire,

is half-way here.

:-)

yeah, I'm a slow learner

A few weeks ago, we made another dairy run.

(meaning - we drive 2+ hours one way to Clairemore, OK 

to buy delicious raw milk, cream and cheeses)

Cream is only available 2 days a week (Mondays and Thursdays).

They begin selling it at 10am, and it "sells out quickly".

Because I think raw cream from grass fed cows

turns my morning coffee into a delicious super food,

I want to be sure to get the cream.

It'd suck to get there and have them tell me "No cream"

so I like to leave well before 8

to allow for potty stops and such,

and still arrive with plenty of time to spare.

I usually buy the milk and start loading it in the coolers

and leave a kid in line to buy the cream.

Yes. 

There is a cream line

We raw milk people are serious about our cream :-)

This particular Monday,

I had failed to have everyone lay out clothes and shoes the night before.

The shoe choice matters, 

because we also include a trip to the Pryor park 

when the weather is cooperative.

Lexi couldn't find both tennis shoes.

She thought maybe she could wear her fur-lined boots.

Umm. 90ish degreees. No boots.

Sandals were out too;

all of her sandals are high heeled.

I sent kids in to help locate the missing shoe.

No luck.

We went through the 'where did you find the other one? look there. It should be near by.'

"It's gotta be somewhere..." ;-)

Still no shoe.

I was getting very aggravated.

We needed to be leaving!

So I went in to look for the shoe.

And I unearthed a ridiculously huge pile of clothes, toys, and blankets

from under the bed.

(but no shoe)

Can I just confess?

It did not go well.

I ranted.

I hollered.

I was

not

happy,

Parr!

We ended up leaving at 8:10

(she wore the boots)

and I was mad.

I hate leaving on a trip

- of any size -

when I'm angry.

And of course, I hated that I even was so angry.

And that I had behaved badly.

again.

: /

I apologized to the kids

(again)

and I prayed.

Honestly,

it was one of those days that I just wanted to quit.

Sometimes I get really tired of failing at this whole parenting gig.

I turned on the radio

(I switch back and forth between Klove and AirOne when they're in range)

and told God I really needed some songs that would calm my heart.

Francesca Battistelli's song, "Holy Spirit" came on.

(Incidentally, with the exception of Sarah McT, nobody but Francesca can do justice to that song!)

I softened a little

but I was still really ticked.

With myself,

and with my irresponsible children.

A song came on that I wan't crazy about, so I switched stations.

Within minutes,

"Holy Spirit" came on again.

and then again

about a half hour later.

~

I've been working my way chronologically through the Old Testament 

this summer.

I tend to hang out in the books I love (James, Ephesians, Colossians...)

and not spend much time in the others.

Last summer, with the exception of Revelations, which I'd read recently

(but wouldn't claim to have any real understanding of)

I read / listened to the entire New Testament

(I must admit, and hope it isn't sacrilegious to say,

I got really tired of Paul for awhile.)

We sang that song in church yesterday,

and I looked up at Tyler and said,

"When God's presence filled the Tabernacle, the Israelites couldn't go in."

Ever since reading it, I was having a hard time reconciling how we could

ask God to fill the atmosphere with Himself

when The People had to leave when God came around.

(I know - dumb. But there you have it....)

He smiled and leaned over,

"Good thing you are the tabernacle."

ahhhh. yes!

A very good thing, indeed.

Thanks, Love, for reminding me.

~

I did finally calm down fully

the 3rd time "Holy Spirit: came on the radio.

And I hope 

to one day

 be so full of God and His presence,

that I don't get angry over stupid things like (horrendously) messy rooms.

Oh, 

and we got the cream.

the big bandaid

You may remember that I kinda wore myself out

on my first FPP (foundation paper piecing) project

by biting off a little more than I could easily chew.

I persevered,

fought with my supposed-to-be-perfect blocks

(that weren't at all perfect)

and ended up with a perfectly lovely quilt for my very favorite person on the face of the earth.

But I also ended up not liking paper piecing at all.

This gorgeous Flying Parrots quilt though,

it called to me,

pleading with me me to give FPP another try.

source

So I basically begged Sylvia to let me pattern test it ;-)

Things started off well enough.

Sylvia's pattern is very well written.

(she has a real gift for getting the point across succinctly.

I

do not possess this gift)

She used just enough illustrations to clarify,

and everything fit together perfectly.

(everything did not fit together perfectly on my previous FPP adventure. 

I may have mentioned... ;-)

Even the curves,

which are 'supposed' to be scary,

weren't scary at all!

In fact, I didn't even need to pin them as much as she recommended.

I did, however, find that I needed to put a pin on each side of my center pin,

otherwise the fabric shifted a smidge.

Okay.

So the paper piecing part went well.

And the putting them together with the melons part went well.

But then, 

I sorta ruined it.

Well, I didn't ruin it entirely;

it's a perfectly functional

patriotic table runner/topper,

but I did ruin the wow factor

and managed to turn it into 

- what my kids say - 

looks like a band-aid.

And let's face it, they're right.

I took a perfectly stunning piece

and made

a 
giant bandaid.

{{ face-palm }}

Even so, 

I'm proud of myself.

I revisited hard for me things

- foundation paper piecing -

I tried new things

 - curves, pattern testing

(which is tougher than it sounds, for a girl who has a hard time following patterns)

and bias binding -

(I also made continuous bias binding for the first time)

I even tried a new FMQ design

which served as excellent practice for the commissioned quilting I started on last week.

(and really ~ after distancing myself from it for a week,
I've decided that it still is a very fine table runner.
It's just not quite as fine as it could have been...)

binding sewn down on the back by machine. 

I'm still not a huge fan of FPP,

but I am a big, big fan of this pattern.

Obviously, I won't get to it right away,

but I hope to revisit the pattern at some point

and make a whole quilt

that really shines.

I think this pattern would be a  great way to dip your toes into FPP,

as the stars are not very complex.

(plus, combined with the curved piecing

they really pack a punch!)

So
tell me,
are you a paper piecer?

Linking up with 'happie' Amanda Jean :-)

luscious loopy love

I am still hand-quilting my luscious quilt

at a rate of about 30 inches 

per episode of Bones.

We watch 5, maybe 6 episodes a week,

so it's fairly slow going.

I'm quilting in no particular order.

I told Tyler the other day,

that one day

I'll just pick it up and discover I have nothing left to quilt :-)

This is probably my favorite block. Love the echinacea!! But then, the smiling kitties make me happy, too...

At which point, I'll move on to FMQ the stars,

which will probably take all of 2 hours

for what I have planned.

I've also started quilting my latest commissioned project.

It's slower going than I had hoped,

but about what I expected.

I'm FMQ (free motion quilting) a loopy pattern with lots of hearts sprinkled in.

It certainly is looking like this quilt will end up nice and crinkly

with a fabulous texture!

I'm a tad envious that it isn't mine...

I've actually had a good bit of trouble with free motioning on my Juki.

Which is frustrating, because, first of all,

my Janome was soooo fabulous with it,

but also

because I did a ton of research before buying the Juki Exceed F600

and everybody loves it for FMQ.

Anyways, after lots of tinkering, 

I've settled on using Aurifil on top

(variegated, if you can believe it)

and Guterman Skala200 (similar to Bottom Line) in the bobbin

and it's working nicely.

I'm on my 6th bobbin (or maybe 7th?) and I'd say I'm about 70% done.

I had a few uninterrupted hours yesterday to sew,
and was hoping to get it finished,
but that
clearly
was a pipe dream
as that 70% is after I'd finished yesterday...

Of course, I would have made more progress if I hadn't,
ever so carefully and lovingly
 - with very tiny stitches -
(because that's how they end up when I do words (?)
quilted the wrong date.

Fortunately, I caught my error right away.
But I felt pretty ding
dang
dong
stupid
(points if you can tell me what movie that line is from :-)

Linking up with scrap loving Lee :-)

love this echinacea too. I probably should buy all of the colors :-) I also love the yellow dots. soo soft. As is the Art Gallery blue...
Who am I kidding? I love everything in this quilt!

the drive to nowhere

Last week,

in anticipation of the many large delivery vehicles

 that will be bringing all manner of building materials to our home
in the very near future (!!!),

Tyler extended our current drive
and built a driveway to nowhere.
(He also attempted to fix the gulley at the edge of the property, but we won't talk about that)

It has changed the view out my kitchen window, for sure.

It's not bad - just different.

Startling, actually, the first few times I glanced out.

It's not really a drive to nowhere,

but for now, it looks like it is...

Lily, especially,

has enjoyed the extra space for riding her bike.

So much so, that she has started working on some tricks.

She can now

(for a few seconds, at least)

ride one handed,

standing up,

side saddle,

and she can do 'the Superman' :-)

happy day

This has been so, so long in coming.

And we are all so, so

excited!!
(Lily was shaking while she looked at the plans.)

Lola being right there just cracks me up :-)

She said, "Our home is going to be homemade."

Let the craziness begin.

(incidentally - we purchased this place exactly 10 years and 2 days ago)

chicks, sort of...

Really, they are more chickens than chicks.

But we still call them 'the babies'...

We have at least 3 roosters.

I'm thinking that the lady who helped me at Atwoods

(even though they aren't supposed to)

didn't really know her stuff all that well : /

This little one had a bum leg,

but we set up a little hospital in the chick pen,

separated from the others by a piece of glass

so she wouldn't be lonely.

We put another small chick in with her to keep her warm,

and treated her with lots of snuggles and helichrysum e.oil.

She was able to leave the hospital after a few weeks, 

but it was a full 2 months before I was fully convinced she'd really be okay.

Jeremiah, Chicken Whisperer 

We do love our chickens!

table topper top

I finished the top :-)

I'm feeling like 

the large ovals are overpowering the stars.

(I'm guessing it's because it's such a small piece,

because I don't feel that at all when I see Sylvia's.

Or maybe it's the bold stripes.

Which, incidentally was the fabric that sent us to the fabric store last week)

I'm going to think on it a bit,

but I'm leaning towards trimming the ovals to a straight edge on the long sides,

but leaving the roundiness on the short ends.

Linking up with pincushion maker Amanda Jean's Finish it up Fridays.

p.s. turns out,

curves aren't anything to be scared of.

a kid designed dinner date

decorating with Bucky Balls

taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him

Oh, how I love this man!

Following a squabble,
which resulted in a major violation
(interrupting Mom's sunsoaking /quiet time when there was no emergency)
which resulted in a passionate (one-sided) discussion
about selfishness and laziness vs loving and serving others,
the kids decided that they were 'giving' Tyler and I a date.
(Never mind that we would rather just have them
obediently,
quickly,
and
quietly
get ready for, and actually go to bed
on time.)

There was dancing.
And fancy clothes.
And many (many) offers for more water/carrots/broccoli.


These pictures are blurry,
but they remind me
that as much as I feel like a failure as a mother
far more often than I feel like I nailed it,
my kids are okay.