Life this week...

So I have had an EXTREMELY busy week, this week! But that doesn't mean that I didn't get some fun in :)
Aside from proctoring FCAT, I also had all my board meetings this week! The third week of the month is always crazy. My Christian Education committee meeting went great this month! We covered a wide range of topics and have some exciting things coming down the pipe in the next couple of months in our children's ministry.
The church council meeting was also this week and it was long, but productive.

Tuesday I went to my Women's Bible Study in the morning and then I was able to squeeze in some sewing time with Lisa before picking Kyle up from school!

We did another block for our Spring Applique Quilt! I haven't stitched mine down yet, but it is fused.

I am LOVING working on this quilt! It is such a joy to see it come together.

and Lisa worked on stitching some of her blocks down!

I LOVE this quilt! It is so much fun to make :)

Tuesday evening we had Cub Scouts and Kyle ended up being the ONLY Webelos I there!! So he earned his Soccer belt loop with the Tigers :)

Wednesday, this week, Ronnie was off! We had a good time together. In the morning I went to the school for FCAT and then Ronnie and I had lunch with Kyle at school. Ronnie went through the lunch line like one of the students and got "school pizza". He was very excited about this. He also got 2 chocolate milk cartons! Crazy man! Wednesday night, we had church, of course! Whacky Wednesday Worship!! We had a good group of kiddos show up...16 elementary-aged and 12 middle and high-schoolers. They all had a blast on the playground or playing kickball!  I am still waiting on written consent from a few parents before I can post any pics! But they had a ton of fun!

Thursday, after I finished at the school, I went up to the First Baptist Church of Mount Dora. The quilting group there was having a fabric sale! A lady passed away and they were selling her stash to help the husband pay for the memorial costs. This woman had more fabric, books, patterns & notions than a quilt shop-LITERALLY. And they were selling her QUILT SHOP QUALITY fabric for $4 a yard! Books for $2 and patterns for $1!! Fat quarters for 50 cents!! I AM SERIOUS! Needless to say I had a great time looking around...but I only got there with about 20 minutes before I had to leave to pick Kyle up....so I went back on Friday ;) I'll blog about that experience in another post :)))

So, skipping Friday day....I'll mention that after posting my Simple Woman's Daybook here I ended up getting back out of "comfy" clothes and driving my best friend, Lisa to the E.R. We were there until after 3:00 AM. UGGH. The good news is that she is doing well. Please do pray for her though, as she will be facing some tough obstacles and decisions in the near future. But....I did not sew a single stitch last night. :)

Today I slept in until around 11:30. I did some housework and then off we went to Kyle's basketball game. I just got home a little bit ago. The UFC fight is on tonight and we are going down to Eddie & Nancy's to watch that. While there, I am going to start a NEW jelly roll quilt! I am SOOOOOOO excited about this! ONE jelly roll, a machine and scissors is all you need!! I found the tutorial from Missouri Start Quilting Company. The tutorial is on YouTube and can be found HERE. It is simply AMAZING! I can't wait to get started....this is the fabric I am going to use:

Isn't it fun!?!!

I'll end this post with a picture of Patches...I found her in my quilt rack! Sew cute! :o)

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, Friday, April 20th, 2012

Outside my window...it just finished raining, so it's steamy and hot outside right now.

I am thinking...that I am SOOOOOOO siked about all the fabric I got from the fabric sale at the church in mt. dora today.

I am thankful...that Ronnie isn't mad at me for the money I spent on the above stated fabric ;)

In the kitchen...aye aye aye....nothing much happening there lately ;)

I am wearing...just changed into comfy clothes!

I am creating...a few quilts and am about to start on some more.

I am going...to sew the night away.

I am wondering...If I should finish the quilt top that's on my design wall before I start a new one...that's always a dilemma for me ;)

I am reading..."Having a Mary Spirit in a Martha World" (for my women's Bible study) & "The Missing" by Beverly Lewis.

I am hoping...that I can get lots of sewing in tonight!

I am looking forward to...sewing, tonight!

I am learning...uhhh....is it bad to answer this question with "nothing"?

Around the house...I am behind on my housework this week because I've been helping during FCAT at the school. I need to vacuum, do laundry, and clean the bathroom....but I am going to sew instead (I know, that is really horrible, isn't it!??!)

I am pondering...which ideas from the stuff I purchased today I want to do first

A favorite quote for today...I'd rather be stitchin' than in the kitchen!

One of my favorite things...is still my Keurig!!

A few plans for the rest of the week: well, today is Friday...so as for the weekend...Kyle has a basketball game tomorrow and we have church and small group on Sunday.


A peek into my day...all the things I purchased today! :o) And, of course, Patches had to check it all out! (I did not plant her there!)

Stay tuned for a detailed description & eye candy of all that I got today!

What I've been up to...Part 2! the yard!

So outside of the sewing room we have been busy with lots of other things.
We bought our home in January of this year and have since been working on our lawn and landscaping. We are doing things slowly, but surely ;) I have really enjoyed the process. We are almost done with the front bed and here are some pictures of it.

front bed

hanging basket I put together from clearance plants!

butterfly & bumblebee attractants

close-up. Isn't it pretty!

Gardenia. These have always been a favorite of my dad's and they ALWAYS make me think of him.

Sunpatients!

double knock-out roses

love this climbing plant!

 That's it from the front...............Here's what we've done in the back!

Zoysia!! We had sod laid in February and I ABSOLUTELY love it!!

the pond....and the fence that Ronnie built for me to hide "his" area ;)

hanging baskets...

one of my ducks ;)

the plant that my bestie, Lisa gave me!

duck eggs! I only use them for baking, but it's still nice to have them.

back porch plants

Patches playing on the back porch

Ronnie's side of the fence ;) His new mini-mod race car.

So...there's what we've been up to in the yard!

The last couple of days...

Journaling....I am currently working on a project of printing my blog into hard cover, full color books. I got the idea from Country Log Cabin's blog. As I've been reading back through my 2007 & 2008 blog posts, I've noticed that I did a LOT more daily journaling back then. Everyday life type of stuff. What I made for dinner. What Kyle learned that day. How we spent our evenings....I haven't done that for years, it seems, and I really miss it-those daily snips and snapshots into our life. I am going to make more of an effort, as I dive back into consistent blogging, to do more daily journaling, not just project updates :)
 Well, there's no time like the present......

 This weekend was pretty busy, starting with Friday night...Kyle had his first basketball game with the Y on Friday night. He was thrilled to be able to play for another 8 weeks! A few weeks ago, the City Rec department finished up their season and Kyle thought he would have to wait until next year to be on a team again. So when we saw that the Y was signing up, it was PERFECT! His game Friday night was GREAT!! This coach is such as COACH....Kyle will come a long way in his skills and physical fitness over these next 8 weeks. Stay tuned for updates!

At church on Saturday morning, we had our state office come in for a 3 hour meeting. It was really great. I am SO excited for the things that the Lord is bringing our way. He is doing an amazing work in our church life!

Saturday night I could not sleep. I FINALLY fell asleep at around 3:30AM...then had to be up at 7am for church. I even missed the Sunday night Contemporary service in the hopes of getting some sleep after Sunday morning services....but I didn't nap! I layed there, but did not fall asleep. I could say that I don't know why...but that wouldn't be true! The truth of the matter is that I am totally and completely hooked on "One Tree Hill". I know most everyone else watched it years ago but I never did and am now watching it on Netflix...episode after episode, season after season...with NO commercials! I love that!. I am not a TV watcher by nature, so this is odd for me. It has made me think though......have you ever thought about how strange it is that we can so completely dedicate ourselves to something, like a book or tv show or a game or a hobby (ehh hemm, quilting). I mean, imagine if we applied that same faithful dedication and commitment to our relationship with our Savior. Wow....what a walk that would be. Lost sleep...total priority given to the task...wow. Why is it I can lose sleep to watch a series I'm really into? Or get up and get dressed and out of the house at ANY time of the day  (we all know I really mean morning) for a quilt show? But my dedication and consistency with reading my bible and doing devotions is always a struggle to maintain as a priority....WHY? I wish it wasn't so. Hmmm. Makes ya think.

Today is Monday....it is also FCAT day in the wonderful world of public school. I was at the school proctoring FCAT with a third grade class today. It was quite interesting. It was also sad. One student did not get enough sleep last night and literally could NOT keep her head up. She kept nodding off and eventually just fell asleep. She woke up long enough to Christmas tree her exam. :(( I breaks my heart...parents, don't you see your child needs sleep to succeed??!

After FCAT, I came home for a bit and then went back to the school to eat lunch with Kyle. He was siked and surprised to see me there. We talked while he ate and then went over to check out the school's hydroponics vertical gardens. SO cool! I totally need some of those in my yard!!

After I picked Kyle up from school we went to the Y to play basketball. I didn't do bad for not having played in SOOOOOOOOO many years! Kyle fouled the heck out of me and I cheated a bunch :) but we had lots of fun and laughed our heads off!

I'll sign off for now............Lisa
PS...it seems so weird to me to blog without posting ANY pics!

What I've been up to...Part 1! Quilting!!!!!!!!

One of my main goals, now that Kyle is in public school, is to get back to blogging on a consistent basis. I LOVE blogging and have really missed it! We have been SOOOOOOOOOOOO busy with school and sports and church and, well, just life. Loving our Life is the title of my blog and we are doing JUST that. It's great! But I also love sharing it with all my family & friends!! So, here we go....what I've been up to....part 1: Quilting.

This year my quilting goals are to complete UFO's (unfinished objects). I also want to use up all my scrap fabric....so...I started a couple of "scrap buster" quilts.

Here is the first one. The centers are all the same and the rest is totally scrappy. I tried to keep the strips the same color for each "L" shape...but other than that there is no rhyme or reason to the size or fabric choice.

The quilt top is all sewn together...now I just need to add some borders and VOILA! the top will be finished.

and....this is the beginning to another scrap-buster quilt top. This one has the same center squares but the colors, sizes or fabrics have absolutely NO rhyme or reason.

I made this rag-top flannel quilt....also using only SCRAPS! It's great! I used just about all my flannel up on this one.

I made this baby quilt for a miracle baby! I won't say who it's for because I don't want to spoil the surprise, even though I think they have a good idea who it is ;) Some of this fabric was from one of the very first quilts that I ever made!

 I finished quilting it and just need to put on the binding...then it'll be on it's way to it's new owner!

I backed it in a VERY soft flannel!

Lisa and I have continued working on our Spring Applique quilt! We are almost DONE!
I have half of them hanging on one hanger...the ones I've already stitched down....and the other half (not yet stitched down) on another hanger....

Nancy and Eddie moved to Florida and are actually right down the road from us! Nancy and I have sewn together quite a bit lately also....here is the most recent quilt she is working on!

My bestie, Lisa, spent a month in Mexico and did a lot of work with an orphanage there. She has set a goal to provide each child there with a quilt this year! You can read about it HERE! This is the fabric I chose to use to make her a quilt to send there! (She is also accepting quilt block donation/fabric donations, etc. to help her reach her goal!)

Isn't it a FUN fabric for MEXICO!?!!

Easter!

We had a wonderful, yet busy Easter this year. This is the first year that Kyle knows "THE TRUTH"...if you know what I mean. So...it was a little different ;)

We colored eggs on Saturday night.

And we ate jelly beans!

Then we got up REALLY early on Eater morning and went toSunrise Service. Kyle & my niece, Shanda were angels in the skit.
Kyle was fussy because he was tired, lol.

I absolutely LOVE Shanda's smile :)

 they had to "hide" behind the shrubs until it was time to enter.

After church we came home, ate SUBWAY for lunch and I took a nap! No fancy dinner...and that was PERFECT for this year :o)

a year of ufo's....

I have decided that 2012 will be a year of ufo completion and projects that i already have the fabric for. stay tuned for pictures soon!,