Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or whatever you may be celebrating.

(from peggy apl seeds)

As for me and my house, we Believe in the birth of Jesus Christ and will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow.  Whatever you do, wherever you are, I pray you are safe, happy, and fulfilled.

~ Jodi ~

Huge comfort in wake of Ct tragedy...

from The Scrappy Appleyard by John'aLee


A little comfort.....the most comforting thing I've read since our nation has been rocked by the terrible tragedy in Conneticut...

Sentiments of Hope

twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38



when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.

their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.

"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."

when what to their wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

then He opened His arms and He called them by name.

and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring

those children all flew into the arms of their King

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.

and as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

then He looked down on earth, the world far below

He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe

then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"

"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"come now my children, let me show you around."

excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.

all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."







Written by: Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolfe Pa.

Posted by John'aLee at 2:20 PM

Please stop...

shooting those guns.  We live pretty close to a "sportman's club", shooting range, whatever it's called. As I sit here now typing this, 10:15 Monday morning, three days after the horror in CT, (our neighboring state) they are still firing, sporadic shots, one right after the other.  I don't understand.  We usually only hear it on Sundays, but my husband commented on Saturday how much more we're hearing the shooting.  Is it, in protest?  Is it, in support?  Is it, just because they can?  Every    single     shot     reverberates       through        me         down to my very soul.  
        Please stop shooting those guns...

RI Modern Quilt Guild

I joined the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild which meets at RYCO in Lincoln.  I don't know hardly anyone's name yet, but here's some pics of the December 1 show and tell.  This first picture is Cindy Hamlet's WIP: 

Then:

There were lots of beautiful quilts, as you can see.  I'm sorry I can't give credit, but I will be getting to know these quilters, and I'm looking forward to it!

 Here's Carole Ann with some fun blocks.  I only got a pic of one, though.

 These next three are quilts from Jeannette Jacobs.  She demonstrated how to make these art quilts.  Absolutely stunning!  I hope to learn this technique some day.

 I should have taken notes as she spoke  :-(

 And a small wall hanging:

 These next two pics are Tara's.  She's only been quilting for the past year, and she's made 30 quilts in that time!  This one is so pretty, and she did curves!  She's going to show us how in one of our upcoming meetings.

 And here's the back:

I had a great time at the meeting!  Next month is sure to be fun, too, and I hope to get better pictures and give credit where it belongs.

Whole cloth quilt

 How old this is, I have no idea.  I received it from a coworker whose partner's 85-yr-old mom recently passed away.  She hand-quilted most of this, and beautifully.  I am honored and humbled to finish it, although my hand-quilting skills are amateurish, at best.  I also received the quilting hoop which is on a stand.  You can see in the above photo the dark lines of her basting stitches and her quilting.  The entire quilt is stamped with a very nice pattern.

Both front and back fabrics are a soft muslin, and she was using a creamy cotton thread.  I hope to be able to find out more about the quilter and the quilt and share it with you.  I also want to put her name on the label, and then when I have completed it, I will ask if her daughter would like it back.  (I kind of hope she says no) 

~ Jodi ~  

Thank you for your vote...

when I entered this quilt:

in the Quilting Gallery Beginner's Quilt-Along.   This is what I won:

Thanks, Auriful, Quilting Gallery, and all of you who voted for me!  I truly appreciate it!

~ Jodi ~

Easy Street

These colors are not true, at all, and I don't know if I'm going about my selection of fabric in the right way.  I'm linking up to Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery project.  So far I have MOST of the unit ones complete.  Instead of gray I used blue with the black on white for the four patches.  The above print is a Kaffe Fassett, but I think I'm only using that as a color guide, not because I don't want to but because it's a mystery so far.  I did not get color cards as Bonnie suggested, only because I don't have time to go to the store, even tho my son works at Home Depot in the paint department  :-)

Above are my Unit ones, 194, (almost).  Here's the post link if you want to check it out:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html
* I made a mistake - that's NOT Kaffe Fassett fabric, that's Philip Jacobs - Coleus!
~ Jodi ~

A purple theme emerging?

Yesterday I posted my purple African violets, today I notice these blocks have purple in them,

and so doesn't that gorgeous purple cauliflower from our FarmFresh basket we just received. 

The above four blocks have been fun to make, but I think I'm done.  In order to get a larger variety of fabric, I will have to cut into stash because I don't have enough scraps, so I might make this into a wall hanging or table runner.  On the other hand, I do have quite a bit of these same fabrics already cut into 3" and 31/2" squares so I probably should keep going.  Decisions, decisions.

I've also started a mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville.  We'll see how far I get with that.

And, I want to participate in this: 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63S_G9ySknDeNqjJC2ghjbiztdhLX8D83crXurXwU05nbyun1EA1wU_YvPZexlA1rhJe65L3pzIsCyMDah59FaJH2dcF-EP5Pfuu1j2_49CQ6ykXHOPo1kqUQbIKULZry3gJL4YZgq2i7/s640/December+Photo+a+day+Challenge+copy_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg

Okay, that didn't seem to work.  Here's the blog post:

http://mamaforpeace.blogspot.com/2012/11/december-treat-for-myself.html

We'll see how far I get on THAT, also!  

Have a good weekend!

~ Jodi ~