Great Read!

 

Thicker Than Blood By C J Darlington

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Thicker Than Blood is a prodigal story.  Two sisters find each other again after 15 years.  The older sister had disappeared after the funeral of their parents, leaving the other in the care of an aunt and wondering why she had left.  The younger sister, in the care of her aunt had learned to trust God and had made a life for herself doing what she had always dreamed of doing – ranching.  The other sister, while trying to pursue her dreams which included a strong interest in books, has experienced some rocky times and had a lot of set backs along the way.  Reconciled after the death of their aunt, the sisters have to deal with the past as well as some very scary things in the present.  It’s a story of redemption and God’s forgiveness.  But most of all it’s a story of hope.  No matter what your past, God loves you anyway.  I read this book straight through.  It was one of those books you can’t put down.  It’s not a romance – there is no romance involved, but it is a love story.  the story of the love of family, those who we bring into our lives that become family and the love of God for those who will just accept it.  The story ended with hope for the future for both sisters.  I can only hope that Ms. Darlington is planning a sequel and I will get the opportunity to find out what happened next! 

Quarterly Mystery Quilt Saturday

Next Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, I will be hosting a mystery quilt project in my home. This is an all day event from 9:00 - 4:00 with lunch provided. The cost is $20.00, which includes the pattern, personal instruction and some yummy soup for lunch.  I have three machines available to be used by students. Please let me know if you need the use of a machine when you RSVP. This pattern is a personal design of mine. You will have a twin size quilt top when you are finished. If you take the class you also get a 20% discount on my machine quilting services for this quilt. Please do not feel that you have to enlist my quilting services. This is just a special discount I give to students. Sign-up deadline is Friday, Jan. 22 at 10:00. Please e-mail me your reservation  nikkitty@nikkittyquilts.com  If there is a large response I will run a second class the following weekend. 




Supply list:
1 jelly roll of fabric ( 40 - 2.5 inch strips that coordinate.) This needs to be a colorful jellyroll for the quilt to have a nice contrast. 
2 yards of background ( It will look nice if it is from the same collection but is not a must.)
1 spool of matching thread. 
A smile! 

No Sew Swap blocks are ready to go.

Tonight I cut out all my Glory in Scraps blocks. I also went ahead and pieced my block. I really like how it turned out. I have eyed this block for some time.

While I was making this block tonight I was thinking.  This is a Red White and Blue swap that doesn't necessarily mean that it is patriotic. I guess being an Army wife this is just what my mind automatically thinks of when I hear Red white and Blue. I hope the gals in Canada and Germany who are taking part in the swap appreciate it. This block is off to be pinned on the design wall to await the other blocks.

Here you can see the other 8 blocks laid out on my sewing desk. I work in my quilt room almost daily so my desk does not stay very neat. The pile to the right is scraps from my most recent projects. My scrap bucket needs to be emptied. On the left you can see an aluminum wrapper on top of the can. It holds a German chocolate bar that helps keep me going. These blocks will be off to Jane next week. I can't wait to see my little baggies I will be getting back in February. I will continue to post the progress of this project.

Sewing progress

This is my design wall as of today. I have a few projects in the works. The Red and Aqua blocks are from a swap I did over on Jane's blog. They look a little wild and crazy to me when I lay them out. I am thinking of appliquéing Emily's name very large on the front of the whole quilt. This way the blocks will look like more of a background and not just everywhere. Th small block in the top right corner is a scrap quilt I am making for our guest bed. The plan is to make two scrap quilts for the daybed/trundle but I have not decided if I am going to use the same pattern for both. On the far left is a semi truck block that I paper pieced from Paper Panache. It was a mystery block. I love how it turned out! I am going to use it in something very special.

 Across the top you will see the $5 quilt blocks that I am making from my local quilt shop.

Here was the block from last month. I am sorry it took me so long to get it posted. I am using Thangles for all of my half square triangles. The only frustration with this is that it takes just a little more fabric than she gives us in our kit each month. So I had to purchase the oops kit the first month. So I have an extra 10 inch square of all the fabrics in the quilt along with a half yard of backing. I woulf much rather purchase the oops kit then have to draw all those lines.

Here is the block for this month. It took quite a bit of time. I worked on it off and on for two days. The fact that it does not have to be done until Saturday and that I am already done is an accomplishment. I usually wait until the night before.

No Sew Swap

I just joined a great swap hosted by Kathleen. This is a new swapping idea for me. It is a no sew swap. You pick a block out and cut nine kits. Keep one and mail the other 8. You do all the sewing yourself when you get your baggies back in the mail. What a cool idea. I already picked my block and will get cutting this week. I am making the Glory in Scraps block from Quilters Cache.

Current book club selection

I lead a book club on Ft Benning with PWOC. We choose a different Christian fiction book each month. We are currently reading The Nativity by Angela Hunt. This is the second book we have read by this author. We meet this Thursday to hand out our next book A Bride Most Begrudging by Deanne Gist. I have already read this one because I couldn't wait. I need to get busy and read The Nativity before Thursday. Ahhh busy busy busy! Here is our list for the rest of the semester. These are all great reads. 

January  A Bride Most Begrudging – Deeanne Gist 

February  The Face  — Angela Hunt

March  Blessed is the Busybody – Emilie Richards

April  The Yada Yada Prayer Group  Neta Jackson

May  Petticoat Ranch  Mary Connealy

Gifts I made for Christmas this year.

Here is a Poochie bag I made for my Aunt. I made two of these in different fabrics. They are the perfect size to carry a few books home from the library. It would also make a nice lunch bag. I showed a friend how to make these and she took off. I think she made 20 or more of these. This was only her second sewing project. Check out the tutorial for this great bag on Happy Zombie

. 

This is a chess board that I made using an iron on interfacing grid. The grids are made by Quilt Top Express.  This is a great way to make a personalized game board for the chess or checker player in your family.

These are some baby doll buntings I found in the Moda Bake Shop.  I altered the pattern because I wanted to make something for my daughter's Beanie Babies. The pattern for the bunting calls for 10 inch squares, but I used a charm pack and the end result was these pictures above which are a perfect size for Beanie Babies.

This is a bundle of gifts I sent to our family in Indiana.  From L to R, a tiny poochie bag (just the right size for a gift card), two journal covers that I designed myself, a pig pillowcase, 4 floral coasters, and a personalized towel.  I will be posting a tutorial for these great notebook covers in the near future.

I made these father and son pajama pants for our family in DC.  They arrived in the nick of time for them to wear these when they watched the playoff games.  

This is the first project I ever made from the Moda Bakeshop.  The tutorial for it was very simple and it was a lot of fun to make.  I had it done within an hour.  This is a grocery bag dispenser.  This one went to a friend in Kansas.

This little bag takes 20 minutes.  I made two of them this year as gifts.  The tutorial for this is very general so you can play with the sizes and make one almost any size you want by following the basic instructions on the tutorial.

These were for the females in the house of our DC family.  The apron on the left with the ruffle is reversible.  The mother's apron is also reversible but there is no ruffle -- just an applique of a crown.  There is no specific tutorial for me to lead you to on these because I read multiple tutorials and then winged it.  The crown design is mine.  I got the courage to try this without a direct pattern at my mother's leading and encouragement.  She said I had been sewing for so many years I should be able to know what I want, lay it out and make it.  That's what I did.  Because of her words, I made six things this year without a pattern.  This was a major stepping out of the box for me. However, I believe this opens a new chapter in my quilting and crafting.  The chef's hat came from a great tutorial from Michael Miller Fabrics' blog.  I was able to make two of these in very little time.  On the first one I forgot to put interfacing in the band but it still looks great on -- it just isn't able to stand up by itself when it's not on your head.

The second hat was for my youngest.  You can see how impressed she was.  LOL