twin scrappy hearts

The Christmas party I mentioned?

We were supposed to bring something 'creative and cheap' for the gift exchange.

that poinsettia was a gift from Melba last year! 

I had a vison of what I wanted to make,

but it was one of the things that didn't get done before I left for CA.

Seeing that we were going directly from the airport

when I returned,

to the party,

well,

it wasn't something I could put off  'til I got home.

So I packed the bag of scraps from Simply Luscious,

along with a spool of light grey 60 weight thread,

black perle cotton and a needle,

and a scrap of canvas

left over from covering the cushion on the bench in the LEM.

I figured whoever ended up with the gift

could choose whether they wanted it made into 

a little picture for their wall

or a zip pouch. 

Over the course of a couple of afternoons,

I cut and glued tiny scraps into a heart shape,

then, with Kacy's sewing machine,

went around and around the heart 

with stitching about 1/8" apart

'til all the scraps were secure.

Then I outlined the heart with the perle cotton thread

and stitched the word love.

I added the french knot period because 

love.

is everything.

During the 'dirty Santa' game, 

Melba got the (unfinished) canvas

and chose to have it made into a picture for the wall.

But at the very last minute,

Mac stole it from her

for his mom.

Melba made all sorts of threats, 

and he was very apologetic and didn't want to take it from her,

but 

Mom won out over Melba.

(The whole thing was quite hilarious, but you had to be there)

Amy (Mac's mom) chose to have a zip pouch made,

I decided 

(since it was sort of my suggestion that Mac steal the gift for his mom)

to make a second heart canvas

so I could make Amy her bag,

and Mac could give Melba (back) her picture.

Because, 

really,

that was the loving thing to do ;-)

linking up with Amanda Jean

Happy Birthday, Jesus

3 flocks of chickens

1 dairy goat

5 adorable stuffed lambs that play 'Jesus loves me'

(samaritan's purse)

mosquito nets for a family

$396 worth of warm clothes

6 insect shield blankets

10 fruit trees

seeds for 3 families

5 ducks

(world vision)

and from 

Heifer International,

bees with beekeeping supplies and training 

and

an investment in an alpaca project in Peru.

That's what we gave to Jesus today

in honor of His birthday :-)

I got smart this year, and instead of my fake money being life sized,
I made it so I could fit all of the bills for each person
on one piece of paper.
The blank 'bill' was used to write in the amount that each person earned by doing
extra chores for Christmas cash.
Now, I'm going to be super smart, and save my original for next year :- )

Fancy; I know...

(Josiah got the pickle this year)
(I never posted our party last year.
I saved all the envelopes for months,
then finally  tossed them in June or July during a cleaning spree,
after admitting I was probably never going to get the post typed up.
I regretted it almost immediately.
but not soon enough to rescue them from the trash.

Previous birthday celebrations for Jesus can be found here:
2010   2011   2012   2013)

We love you, Jesus!

Thank-you.

she's here!!

I have all these thoughts swirling in my head,

but no time to properly process,

or compose them here.

Since I am already at risk of being completely disowned by my family,

for failure to post in a timely manner,

I have to get something down 'on paper'.

So here goes.

Hadley's first bath

Our sweet little Hadley was snug as a bug in her mum's tummy

and had no desire to leave

of her own accord,

so Kacy was scheduled to be induced on Dec 9th.

Knowing that labor is reported to 

be more difficult when induced,

Kacy begged very nicely asked me 

to hop on an earlier flight than my Dec 11 ticket called for,

so I could be with her during labor and delivery.

Knowing that babies sometimes surprise their mommas,

I opted to wait until the last possible minute to change my flight,

concerned that I could spend a bunch of money to do so,

but still miss out on the blessed event.

Hadley's first nap with mama

This decision proved

 to
first of all, be unnecessary,

but it also provided me with a sort of false sense of security,

and allowed me to

- up until 11pm Monday night,
when I purchased a ticket for a flight the next morning -

continue to think that I was not leaving town until Friday the 11th,

and therefore still had plenty of time to accomplish all of the many things on my 

-before-I-go-to-California' list,

which led to much scrambling.

Nevertheless,

I made it to California with hours to spare

 before we all (Tony, Kacy, her mom, and me)

arrived at the Naval hospital to begin the induction process.

I say 'begin',

because, bless Kacy,

it was a long 

long

process

which lasted from 7:30 pm Tuesday the 8th

until Hadley (finally) arrived at 4:08 am on Thursday the 10th.

What happened in between those hours

is not my story to tell

(hopefully, Kacy will write that  post... hint hint ;-)

but I will say that Kacy was an absolute trooper

and I was so very proud of both her and Tony!

And I was so honored and grateful to be there

and play a small supporting role

in the story.

I got teary eyed on more than one occasion,

watching the two of them labor together

to bring this precious new person

into the world.

their first moment together, as a family of 3

~

not their first nap together ;-)

I so enjoyed my hours of holding Haldey each day

(and miss her terribly, now that I am back home!)

It was such a treat to be able to snuggle a baby

and not feel

even one time

that I really needed to be doing something else,

and should just.lay.the baby.down.

I was reminded

again and again

over the past few days,

just how much I loved every bit of caring for my babies

(even though every single one of them cried way way way more than Hadley...)

I spent my time in Cali

doing the best I could to love on 

and serve

all 3 of my sweet loves there,

all the while,

missing my entire gang back home.

~ 

Seeing that I left earlier than I'd anticipated leaving,

I never did finish all those things on my 'before I go' list,

and I didn't leave them as prepared

as I would have liked.

Rumor has it

(and evidence - once I got home - supports the rumor)

that Brandon was a total rock star,

holding down the fort here.

I had absolutely nothing to worry about.

(but still felt bad that I didn't leave them in better shape..)

~

My plane got in at 5:40 last night.

Knowing I hadn't had much sleep,

My Love (and the rest of the fam)

met me at the airport with a steaming hot cup of coffee - yum!

then we went straight

to the church

for our 242 group's Christmas party.

It was fun, even though I was completely exhausted.

I do love our people!

~

Oh! 

I almost forgot!

I took the train (a first!) from Oceanside to San Diego,

where I was supposed to find transportation to the airport.

When I got off the train,

I saw a row of buses

but couldn't make sense of the routes;

there was nothing that said 'take this bus to the airport'.

Taking a bus was out.

There were no taxis in sight,

even though there had been the Friday before, 

when Kacy's mom made the same trek,

so

 I set off walking.

I was a bit nervous petrified,

(I am a small town girl from Arkansas, you know...)

I soon came to an intersection 

and across the street, there were a few taxis.

whew!

I waited at the light for the sign that it was okay to cross,

wondering how, exactly, I was supposed to decide which taxi to take...

The sign to cross never appeared, so I moved closer to a lady that was also waiting to cross

(or so I thought)

and asked if she'd pushed the button.

It turns out she hadn't.

She wasn't waiting to cross;

she was waiting for a car to pick her up.

To take her to the airport.

And she invited me to join her!

I can't tell you how relieved I was!

This sweet lady took me under her wing.

She let me ride with her (for free!)

then once we got there,

told me where to go 

(I had checked in electronically - another first for me, 

so I was nervous about doing something wrong)

and also invited me to wait for my flight in the Admiral's Club with her

(a lovely, quiet spot in a sea of noise and rushing that is an international airport)

I had started out the morning

on very little sleep

(we'd stayed up irresponsibly late

 playing cards, 

trying to cram as much 'being together time' in as possible)

and I  was super nervous,

knowing that I had all kinds of little 'firsts'

that were waay out of my comfort zone,

and then

out of nowhere,

this angel lady appeared.

An hour or so later,

with a hug, 

we parted ways at gate 25.

And I wasn't nervous 

anymore.

~

I didn't really have the luxury of easing back into life today,

(Christmas is only 8 days away!)

but I took it anyways.

Life can get back to crazy 

tomorrow.

progress, at a snail's pace

It's quite possibly my frame of mind,

and not actual fact,

but progress has been pitifully slow around these parts.

I finally managed to finish sewing the rows together and trim the OBW quilt

and made and attached the border.

(my first mitered border!)

Prior to attaching the 3" creamsicle border,

I'd also made a 5 inch border using a scalloped fabric from the same Joel Dewberry line,

but when I put it next to the quilt

well,
let's just say
it didn't add anything.

So - I decided the quilt top was finished as is.

A little smaller than I'd have preferred,

but still quite usable at 59 x 73.

I came up with a plan for the back 

that utilized my already-made border,

but I wasn't loving the idea,

so I scrapped it

and put together a backing

that I am much happier with,

with just 3 large pieces of fabric.

Since my cutting mat was still on the table,
I went ahead and cut my binding strips.
And then,
since they were cut,
I went ahead and sewed 'em up.

~

I (finally!) finished my 110 QAYG blocks on Monday.

(which more accurately should be called QAYP - quilt as you piece - blocks)

then finished trimming them yesterday afternoon,

and spent a few hours last night
and another hour this morning
 adding a bit of hand quilting
to every strip 1 7/8" or wider.

I'd say I've got another 4 hours or so of hand quilting to go,
then I'll join the blocks
and it'll be almost finished :-)

hi, kitty kitty

linking up with Lee and the girls

tidbits on a Tuesday

Breaking news!

Brandon just got his ACT scores.

He does not have to take the test again :-)

Sweet relief!

I'm telling you, a huge weight fell off that boy's shoulders.

We are so proud of him

and his diligence!

Now, to jump through all of the application hoops....

~

You may have guessed,

what with the photos of the bulldozer

and my subsequent backyard-o-mud,

that we started

(sorta)

on the house!

Leveling the ground isn't even technically step one,

but after so many years of working toward this,

we're calling it step one

anyways.

~

The kids all passed their TKD testing

this past week.

How crazy is it that they are all high-ranks now??

~

Allison hasn't gotten her package yet.

I'm starting to get worried : /

The new owner of the patchwork mini mini quilt 

hasn't gotten her package yet either.

But that's because I haven't mailed it yet.

Sigh.

~

Grandbaby Hadley will be here in less than a month,

and I 

will be holding her

and breathing in that newborn smell in 30(ish) days!!

~

I'm beginning to feel a little panicky 

about getting everything done

before Christmas 

that I need to get done

before Christmas.

(not to mention all of the college stuff that needs to happen between now and then too.

Applications are due by the the 18th.

How dumb is that?!

You know nobody will be looking at them for almost a month!)

~

On that note, 

I best end this

and get busy!!

what a difference a day makes