Treatment #3 day...

Today is my 3rd treatment. I will be leaving for Pittsburgh in a short while so just a brief post. My to do list from yesterday was pretty much accomplished, not 100% but as far as I could get in one day. I even had time to visit with DS and his girlfriend.

Today, my plans are to:
1. do laundry in preparation of packing for trip
2. start to pack as I get laundry done
3. clean house
4. download photos off cell phone and camera, get the chargers ready to pack
5. get quilt block ready for tomorrow to work on while getting my treatment
6. work on some quilt project in between everything else
7. clean out the refridgerator
8. sweep off back porch and clean it up so DS can use the grill and eat outside while he is dog sitting.
9. leave time for anything else that might come up that is unexpected

I also added to that list 10. wrap Avery's gift. Which is also done.

So I have tomorrow to finish up the last little bits.

Today, I will be working on an applique quilt block while I am getting my treatment. Here is the block.

This is the prep work that had to be done before all the hand work could be added. This is what it will look like when it is done, hopefully better.

Have a great day and remember to be thankful for something today. I am thankful for my 3rd treatment.

To be or not to do...

Yesterday turned out to be different than I planned. I did not get as much stuff done as I had anticipated but it was all good none the less. I don't believe we should be a slave to our to do lists, they are tools for us to help us stay focused but when we become consumed by getting every thing crossed off our lists we forget to be aware of the more important things like relationships. I started out running over to the pool and spa store to get a new head rest for the hot tub and get the water tested. On my way over, I can see my sister in law's house from the highway and thought I should stop by to visit with my mother in law on the way home. I wouldn't get another opportunity before we leave for Hawaii and so I called her to see if she was available. She was at the chiropractor's office and wouldn't be home for at least an hour which would give me more time to stop at the outlet mall to find a pair of sandals for the trip. So I told her I would plan on stopping after I got all my errands run. She was thrilled. I got what I needed at the pool/spa store and headed to the outlet mall. It is so nice to have everything you could possibly need want in one place. I stopped at my favorite clothing stores, Coldwater Creek and Christopher and Banks, looking for a maxi dress for the trip. No such find, but I did find some jewelry that I had been admiring online that was on sale and I picked them up along with some other great finds at Christopher and Banks. I moved on to finding some nice comfortable sandals. It is not so easy to find a decent pair that doesn't cost more than a weeks worth of groceries or that don't have 4" heels. Now I could be mistaken but I don't know how you can call any shoe that has a 4" heel a sandal. I can't see anyone wearing those walking down the beach. I did find a pair at a store I would have thought would be too expensive for me to frequent. Aldo Shoes and guess what, they were only $20.00. Score one for the team. Photo to come, I am having technical difficulties with my camera. It seems I am having a lot of technical difficulties today. Technical difficulties corrected.

Once I finished up shopping, I ran over and visited with M-I-L for a while. We haven't had much chance to just sit and visit for a while. I hope she enjoyed the visit, we got into some deep stuff.

So once I got home I got the headrests on the hot tub, added the recommended chlorine, got in and tried it out last night. I also worked on arranging the blocks of another t-shirt quilt. Didn't get much further than hanging them on my design wall and playing with the arrangement. If I have time today I will work on it some more. I don't think that I will get as far as I wanted unless God graces me with super natural speed. DH helped me get my window boxes hung. I am hoping that they will fill in more as the season progresses. One of the coleus plants had to be replaced already. What do you think?

Today, my plans are to:
1. do laundry in preparation of packing for trip
2. start to pack as I get laundry done
3. clean house
4. download photos off cell phone and camera, get the chargers ready to pack
5. get quilt block ready for tomorrow to work on while getting my treatment
6. work on some quilt project in between everything else
7. clean out the refridgerator
8. sweep off back porch and clean it up so DS can use the grill and eat outside while he is dog sitting.
9. leave time for anything else that might come up that is unexpected

If I can get all of this done today then I won't feel so rushed come Saturday and I can enjoy the day visiting with friends before heading off on a great adventure. I am so excited.

My final thought for today is to remind you to do something kind for someone today. Don't let your to do list become your master. You master it and tell it when enough is enough and you need to "be" instead of "do". Have a great day.

Another Joy filled journey thought...

Let me share something I have been thinking about a lot since Sunday. A friend from church shared this acronym for JOY. J=Jesus, O=Others, Y=Yourself, in that order. Several things I have read this week continues to reinforce this thought. First of all the scripture says in Matthew 22:37, Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." This message kept coming to me, "Put your attention on God first and everything else will fall into place." Jesus, first. If we trust God completely to provide what ever it is that we NEED, and we receive with thanksgiving what He provides (or doesn't) we will be much happier. I received an email of a story about 2 women who had been friends for a long time, the one asked the other one day how it was that she was happy all the time. She shared with her friend that she trusted the Lord completely to care for her. She let God provide for her needs and not focus on what she thought she needed. The first friend, thought back over things that she had thought would make her happy, such as a bigger house, it didn't, a better job, it didn't, and then she thought of a day sitting on the floor playing with her grandchildren and remembered the joy she felt. If we let God determine and freely give to use what He knows will bring us joy it often won't be what we think we need. Example, the other day DH and I were driving and saw a beautiful double rainbow.

(Not the best photo to depict the true beauty.) Seeing that rainbow and remembering the promise God made to never destroy the world again with a flood brought me joy. God gave us this beautiful fleeting sign as a promise of His love for us. A sign that is fleeting, beautiful to behold, there, for the observant who takes notice, an atmospheric phenomenon that is created by rain and sunshine occurring at the same time. I have seen more rainbows this spring than I have in the last several years combined. What a simple moment of joy that God gave to me.

Jesus wants us to desire to know Him intimately, to desire what He desires. Jesus first, to desire Jesus above what He can do for us. I know that I have often sought Jesus only when I needed something from Him and usually something big like healing. I am sure that this saddens Him even though He never refuses to help when we call on Him no matter how long we have ignored Him or grieved Him by our words and actions. I don't want to do this anymore even though I know I will fail to always put Him first and what He desires from me. John 6:26 brought this to light in my life. "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" Jesus had just taught, healed the sick, and fed a crowd of over 5,000. He could see into the hearts of the people and see that they were only following Him in hopes of being fed again not because of who He was. Do we want what He has instead of wanting Him? I know I have been guilty of that. No more. I want Jesus. I want Him first and foremost. Do you know what He says will happen when we seek Him first? Check out this beautiful promise, it is more beautiful than a rainbow after a rain. Matthew 6:33, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously (means in right standing with God, not can't ever have any fun, Miss goody two shoes ,) AND He will give you everything you need." Let us get our priorities right, seek God first, put other's needs a head of our own desires and let God do the rest. I will share more on the O=others and Y=yourself in additional posts.

Think about putting Jesus first, trusting Him to give you what you need. He will provide far more and greater things than you could ever hope for. Be thankful today that you have the right to seek Him first. People in many countries do not have the freedom to worship openly and are persecuted for their faith. At least we still have our freedom to worship as we choose here in the USA, thanks to the soldiers who have fought and are still fighting for that freedom. Please feel free to leave me your insights on this subject.

More things crossed off my list...

I have some photos to share with you from yesterday's activities but first of all some things I got done that I didn't take pictures of. 1. My window boxes are planted but they are not hung yet, I need help with that and then I will take a photo to share. 2. I cut out the pieces for a block of the month quilt that I signed up for in 2009, don't be too harsh, I am sure some of you have projects that you haven't gotten done that could be that old. I have made that project my hand work for treatment days. It is hand applique married with a pieced block. I have 4 more blocks to go and treatment day is coming up on Friday so I can knock out one. 3. I ran errands, to the bank, got my hair trimmed, stopped by and visited with friends from work. Overall, it was a very productive day.

On to the photos of what I created (or finished) yesterday. I finished up the table cloth that I shared, here are some detail photos of the quilting motifs. This is the background fill I used. I decided to do the orange peel motif as I thought it would recede into the background and let the feathered motifs stand out more than the checkerboard idea I had considered.


Here is the outside corner motif be sure to catch a look at the binding fabric. I used a bright yellow thread so it would show up on the hand dyed fabric.

Here is a photo of the completed piece.

This is what I enjoyed making the most. It is a dress made out of a vintage pillowcase. I made it for my grand daughter who is 2. I saw a pattern for this in one of the quilt shops we visited a couple of weeks ago and I knew I had just the right pillowcase waiting at home to make into this cute little summer dress. I had also seen a tutorial online on how to make this style dress so with 1 1/2 hours before I had to leave for my hair cut appointment yesterday I got it out and whipped it up. I would like to change out the sash for a prettier and softer ribbon that would make a floppier softer bow when tied. I will have to look for that but for now it has one that I made with my hand dyed fabric. I am going to wrap this up with a flower lei? (spelling)and give it to her so she can pretend she is going to Hawaii too.

Well, I have a lot to do today. I was praying about what to do to help out our Bible School since we won't be here for the actual week and I am going to go to Staples and get supplies that they can send to the school in Uganda that we are sponsoring through vacation Bible school.

Have a great day. Be thankful for someone in your life today that made or did something special for you as a child that you remember fondly. Feel free to share it too. I love to get comments and know that you enjoy these little snippets of my days.

Something just for me...

I am very excited about the progress I made this weekend. Several major projects are done and several first steps done on some others. First of all, once I got that big t-shirt quilt out of the way (by the way it was picked up last night and she loved it) I promised myself that I would work on one of my own projects till completion. I chose to finish my wall hanging from the class I took last fall with my dear friend, Tina out in New York state. The teacher was Gloria Loughman from Australia. This is taken from a photo I took while on a trip to Bermuda in 2010 with DD. It is of Tabacco Bay, I used some creative license and made it at sunset even though we were there at mid day. Here it is and other than the label it is done.



Since I finished it up before the weekend was over I also pulled out another piece that I had half ways done and quilted on it last night. Here is a detail shot.

I still have a fair amount of work to do on it but I love what I have gotten done so far. I am going to do a fill either of orange peel or fill in everyone other square to make a checkerboard design, I haven't decided yet. This is a small table cloth I picked up at some antique store, backed with one of my hand dyed fabrics. The machine quilting is my passion and I love using vintage linen pieces to give them a new purpose and freshness.

Today, I have several other projects that will require my attention. I need to fill the hot tub today and get it ready to use which will require a trip to the pool and spa store to get a new headrest, filter and get the water tested but that part will be for another day. Today, I have an appointment to get my hair cut. I have to go to the bank, stop at the clinic and say hi to everyone. I bought plants at one of the local nurseries over the weekend and need to get my window boxes planted and rehung. Once I have all of that done then I can go back to playing with my quilting project oh and I want to make a pillow case dress for my granddaughter. I have so much to get done this week. I also want to get one more customer quilt done before we leave on Sunday for Hawaii. So much to do, with some focus and determination it will get done. Oh and don't forget that Friday is treatment day so that day I won't get anything done at home. It is amazing what can be accomplished though when we break every thing down and use every moment that is available to us and we still have time to relax and unwind. So I am not worried about getting it all done, I am more worried that I won't remember to do something important that needs done.

Well, I hope you have a great day today. I have another Joyfilled journey post coming up soon, so come back for that. Remember to be thankful (and share it) for something today. I am thankful for one week to tie up all the loose ends of projects before heading off to Hawaii to see DD and spend some time in the warmth and sunshine.