Quilting makes my world spin!
I have been getting so many great customer quilts in lately. I have quilted modern, traditional and memory quilts the last few months. Please check out my page on facebook so you can see all the pretty tops in my machine almost every night. Nikkitty Quilts and Crafts 
I have numerous quilt projects in some sort of step toward completion.
I can't sew all the time,  I have 5 kids remember! Some how I have managed to fit in one more ME activity. Recently I was able to enjoy a great book.

The Waiting by Cathy LaGrow

 

 

This is one of those books that once you start reading it you don't want to put it down for any reason.  It is the story of Minka, a milkmaid in South Dakota in the early days of the 20th Century who as a young teenager is raped.  She is from a hard working, Christian family and when she finds she is pregnant, the only solution that seems viable is to send her away until the baby is born, adopt out the baby and then let her return to her life on the family farm.  Despite the fact that she is a victim of rape, she falls deeply in love with her baby and giving the baby up for adoption is the most gut-wrenching thing in her life and it changes her forever.  For many years, Minka remembers this child at every holiday and birthday and wonders where she is and what she is doing and what she looks like.  Minka eventually marries and has a couple of children by her husband but she still prays daily for that lost daughter.  Over the years, many changes occur and grandchildren and great-grandchildren come into her life and eventually both her siblings, her husband and her mother have all died and she is living alone in her 90s and still going strong.  That's when her miracle happens and that long-lost daughter's son gets curious, does some research and finds Minka.  The reunion is much more than either she or her daughter expected.  Now over 100 with a daughter in her 80s, she has doubled the size of her family with her daughter's six children and their children etc.  This is a true story and an amazing testimony of a mother's devotion to her child. 

 

This book is very well written and keeps you glued to the pages wanting to know what will happen next.  It is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary life.  The author is the granddaughter of Minka.

 

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale for the purpose of reviewing it.  All opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for the review.

Busy Busy Busy

I wanted to share with you a little of what has been in my longarm and I have pieced the past few months.

 I made this for a friend of my daughters who has a medieval theme for his room. 

This was a New York beauty quilt for a customer. 

 A car seat quilt for a friend I grew up with that had his first child. 

 This is a memory quilt made from clothes. I like to make these a little different than others. I find a pattern I like and change the main focus fabric for clothes. I pick a fabric line that makes me think of either the person we are remembering or the person who will snuggle under it for warm memories. 

 These two are are part of the same customers order. They do have slight differences. 

 Last in the memory quilt series for this customer. 

A customer gave me the little fabric postcards and a painted center block. She wanted something for her granddaughter  I was given 10 days to get this done so I was pressed for time and had to work from my stash. 

 This is a customer quilt. I quilted "Roll Tide Pride" all over it with footballs. 

 I really love what one of my customers did with this tradional pattern. This quilt is all hand pieced. I quilted baseballs, bats and a glove all over. It was such a fun quilt to quilt. 

Fun listen for the whole family.

Oliver Twist is a delightful and gripping story, well told in this Radio Theater presentation from Focus on the Family. Even our youngest turned off her movie to listen and our teenager took the music out of her ears to listen. Hearing the original story in this manner was so much more rewarding than movies and plays inspired by Mr. Dickens' book. The story has been told many times and many ways but the best rendition of it is the original. We listened to this as a family (3 generations) driving back and forth to church and appointments. It was sad when it ended because there was not another one to take its place. Here is hoping that Focus on the Family puts more classics on disc for families to enjoy. This is a great tool for homeschoolers but it is also just pure entertainment for anyone who will take the time to listen. If you would like to order a copy or hear a sample please visit Focus on the Family for this title and many more. 

Tyndale gave me this product free of charge to review.  I did not receive any compensation for such and all opinions are my own.

I Couldn’t Love You More

I Couldn’t Love You More

By Jason Ingram and Matt Hammitt

This is a beautiful illustrated hardback picture book for your little one or even just for you! The message is simple.  Jesus is always with you and Jesus loves you more than even your parents can. It expresses the complete love of the parent for the child. The illustrations in this book are just gorgeous.  I would like to purchase another copy of this book just so I can remove some of the pages and frame them for my wall.

This book was inspired by one of the author’s child’s diagnosis with a heart defect.  One of the pages especially touched my heart.  It says, ”You are mine for a moment but you are His Forever His.” I lost my middle daughter minutes after she was born to the birth defects caused by anencephaly. After carrying her for nine months and giving birth to her, she was literally only mine for a moment, but I was comforted by the belief that she went immediately from my arms into the arms of Jesus.

Also, being a foster parent who is hoping to adopt, it is always gut wrenching when a child that has been in my care is placed with a family member and leaves our home. It is comforting to know that no matter where that child goes, even though I can’t be with them anymore, Jesus is always with them.

This would be a lovely book to give to departing foster children, to your own child, or to a new grandchild. This book was provided to me by Tyndale publishers for my review. They have also given me a coupon for another copy so I can share this book with one of my blog followers. If you would like a chance to own a copy of this book Please leave a comment telling me who in your life you would like to ensure knows that Jesus loves them more than anyone on earth. I will randomly choose a comment on Monday morning July 2,2012. 

Quilt Block Fun

My first quilt in a magazine

I am finally getting settled in my new Quilting space. I have so much more room to spread out and sew. I am looking forward to all the fun things I will be creating in this space. I have big plans. My first big project to come out of my new sewing space is a Quilt for Quiltmakers 100 blocks volume 5. I have been testing blocks for Quiltmaker,for the last three issues. While I was working away testing blocks for issue 5. I was asked if I wanted to make a quilt using blocks from that issue. I was tickled! I got to work right away looking through the blocks to pick just the right ones for my quilt. I tried a few different ones out. When we test for the magazine we work on 12-15 blocks. For this project I had about 30 blocks to choose from. After playing around I finally settled on one. I then made a simpler version of that block to be my alternate block. I think the two make a great pair.

I am so proud to have a quilt pictured in a national magazine. My hope is that this is the first of many.
Her is a hodge podge of some of the blocks I have tested over the past 2 years.

Some of these are from previous issues but I wanted to share them. All these patterns can be found in Quiltmakers 100 blocks volumes 3,4 or 5 Please feel free to ask me if you want to know about a specific one.

A marriage book that will be of benefit to all.

 

I recently read Happily Ever After by Gary Chapman. The book is by an author that I have enjoyed many titles from. I read this book looking forward to more good advice. I was not disappointed. I feel this book is a culmination of all his other great books. It had highlights from his other books along with more great new advice to benefit anyone no matter what season of marriage he or she is in.
The book is broken up into chapters that each deal with a different area of marriage and family. One can skip to the section that would be of most benefit at the time or can read the whole book to get oodles of good advice. I like how each chapter has a review of the concepts shared and also has action steps that one can start applying right away. I have taught marriage classes to a military ladies groups for the last 10 years and this will be a great book to teach in the near future because of how all inclusive it is in dealing with situations that all married couples face.
This book is a must for anyone. I think it would even be great to give as a wedding gift to a newly married couple. I will be purchasing a few copies to share. I have already purchased the audio version so I can share it with my hubby when we are riding in the car. The audio version has a pdf file with it that contains all the additional tools and resources that make the book so wonderful.
I was given a copy of this book to review by Tyndale.