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Cooking and Food Home

Do You Have a Muffin Plan?

Hello! Sorry it’s been so long again…I’ve had some behind-the-scenes blog issues to resolve, and being short on time, I’ve had to let the blog sit till I could do some tweaking! Thankfully all issues were resolved today when I upgraded my Firefox browser to the latest edition…whew, simple fix! So here’s that picture I tried to post a while back…of my youngest juggling a full load of cucumbers! We’ve sure had a bumper crop this summer!

And nope, this post is NOT about cucumber muffins…

Okay…about muffins…

One of my adjustments to this back-to-school routine of ours, is in trying not to rely on cold cereals so much for breakfasts. I used to be pretty good at keeping fresh fruit on hand, and occasionally making pancakes or muffins or scrambled eggs for breakfast…but recently got into the cereal habit. It’s easy, the kids can fix their own breakfasts…but it’s expensive and not-so-cozy when it comes to “family mealtime”! And we’ve got *good reason to try to save money these days…so I’m getting back to doing a lot more “from scratch” breakfasts.

So far the muffin plan has been working well for us. It takes a few minutes each evening after supper to throw together the dry ingredients for the morning’s batch…for instance, last night I decided we’d have Jumbo Banana-Carrot Muffins for breakfast…so I mixed up the dry ingredients, and also the wet ingredients (honey, carrots, applesauce), kept the dry mixture on the counter in a sealed bowl, and stuck the wet ingredients in the fridge for morning. Mixing up breakfast took less than three minutes, and most of that was waiting for the egg whites to stiffen in the mixer.

Several of my muffin recipes call for a streusel topping–a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans. At the beginning of this “breakfast” planning adventure, I mixed up a quart sized freezer bag full of this topping and stashed it in the freezer to speed up the muffin making process. Pretty handy!

Here’s this morning’s muffin recipe for you…notice that it has no oil or butter, and we enjoyed these just fine WITHOUT the streusel topping!

Jumbo Banana-Carrot Muffins –from the 2008 Taste of Home Annual Recipes, page 284

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (whole wheat works dandy on these)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Note from Mary…mix the above dry ingredients together night before…

  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1 TB honey
  • 1/4 tsp grated orange peel
  • 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

I also mixed the above wet ingredients together the night before, excepting the eggs (since they need separated and mixed in different orders) and excepting also the bananas, since they tend to brown. I chop my carrots with my Pampered Chef food chopper, so much faster than grating/shredding them, as I don’t own a food processor. Technically the orange peel isn’t considered a wet ingredient, but it worked just fine doing it this way.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until light and lemon-colored (I just beat them with a fork). Beat in honey and orange peel. Fold in the bananas, carrots and applesauce. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. (You’ll notice I did things slightly out of order by preparing things the night before, but it didn’t alter the outcome any)

In another small mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into batter a third at a time.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350*F for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth-oick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Yield: 9 jumbo muffins or 17 normal sized muffins

You’ll notice that this recipe is a pretty affordable one to make…no milk, oil or butter…and the only expensive ingredient is the grated orange peel, which, if you keep oranges on hand…you have in abundance if you grate before tossing the peel! I happen to have a spice jar full of orange peel leftover from the days when I made my own orange cappuccino drinks…so it’s good to find a use for it.

Remember, nothin’ says lovin’ like breakfast with a muffin! Ever try breakfast by candlelight?

Here are some more I’m wanting to try:

Tasty Muffin Recipes Suitable for Diabetics and Just In Time for Back-to-School…

Sugar-free Molasses Bran Muffins

Muffin recipes GALORE

Have you ever posted favorite muffin recipes at your site? I’d love a link to them in comments! Thanks!

*trying to save money back for orthodontic expenses, primarily, didn’t want you to think I was expecting or anything! ;O)

Categories
Home Home Schooling Writing

Posting at Writer…Interrupted Today

A new school year always sends me into a dither…juggling fifth and third graders and a very motivated preschooler means not verra much time for moi! Not to mention the whole housekeeping OR homeschooling dilemma!

But some good things have come of it…come see pics from our first day of school and read all about my adjustments!

Thought this pic of my youngest juggling cukes about sums it all up! Lately it seems I’ve been blogging by the skin of my teeth…sorry about that!

(Oops, wordpress isn’t letting me post the picture…I’ll try again later!)

Categories
Christianity Home Home Schooling

Turning a Bad Day Into a Good One

Even a sunshiny day has its cloudy spots. Life is sure like that, sometimes it seems that we have the same old trials spotting up our happy days…and it’s up to us to choose how to react. By God’s grace we don’t have to slug around in the shadows!

Today started out slow for us, with me feeling typically behind after “losing a school day” yesterday. Tuesday was a crazy busy day away from home…picnicking at the zoo, running errands in the “big” city, delivering a meal to a good friend who just had a baby boy (!), and barely making two meetings at church. The girls and I rushed home at 9:30 pm, head-achey and starving, threw a pizza in the oven and commenced to carting in all our “stuff”, coolers of perishables I’d bought, bags of other grocery items…by that point I didn’t want to even eat supper I was feeling so nauseous. But I slept great!

And I slept in…putting me further behind. Woke up to some discouraging news of the financial variety and you know what? God has shown me over and over again that nothing is TOO big for Him. But I’m human, and venting is part of the process. Fortunately for my kids, my house took the brunt. I cleaned all morning like a mad woman breaking only to supervise school and start on lunch. All the messy spots that remained from my bout with poison sumac are washed away…and something about all that homemaking rooted down deep within me and God brought peace to my heart.

It’s like, the sky can be falling in, but I am a mother and a wife and a woman, and these things are my heart–the things that matter–they surround me. My family and my home. I may not be able to change any outside circumstances, but I can whip my household into submission and be better for it!

I even got industrious about supper–thawed some cubed steaks, beat the tarnation out of them with my meat mallet, breaded them and fixed them up for smothered steaks tonight! Which reminds me, I have a pot full of potatoes boiling that needs checking…

Once my youngest was down for her afternoon nap, the older girls and I got out our devotional book and our Bibles and had a great quiet time…which progressed to reading a chapter in our Health book, and then assembling our spelling notebooks and filling in one of the spelling rule pages…we even had an hours worth of fun with our Botany, playing Taxonomy with shoes! Didn’t get all the subjects covered, but we had a wonderful time together, no sour faces about school today!

Around five o’clock, we headed outside to clean out the chicken’s brooding boxes and refill them with fresh wood shavings…collected ten cucumbers from the garden from which the girls chose a couple, hosed them off and munched them gone. Mmm!

For a day that started out sluggish-turned-panicky, I feel real peace and happiness right now.

I just shared one of my favorite verses with a good friend yesterday, and God knew I’d need it today. Maybe it would bless you as well.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (italics mine)

So next time you’re hit with something unexpected, try to turn it over immediately to Him…with thanksgiving! And don’t be surprised at the peace that eventually follows.

It’ll be okay.

Categories
Family Home

The Magic of Eating Outside

Up over the ridges ran the blue of wild lilac like spreading smoke; manzanita and chaparral put on their creamy blooms; even the redwoods spread fresh fans of green, and far below all over the valley floor the fruit blossoms waved in soft airs. Jays laced the air with blue; quail drummed in the woods; every window of the farmhouse was flung open, and the dooryard table was spread three times a day, with birds to do the sweeping away of crumbs, and oak and pear tree shadows lying green upon the checked red cloth.” –Kathleen Norris, Shining Windows

The above, taken from one of my favorite old-timey authors, makes me want to move outdoors…until I look at the temperature! Doesn’t she paint a portrait of country charm? “Every window of the farmhouse flung open…the dooryard table spread three times a day…”

It heartens a woman’s soul, I think, to create beautiful vistas and welcoming surroundings. Different spaces to vary one’s living hours add excitement to everyday fare. I call it: Making the most of Summertime!

Our home place is abundant with potential. I’m always seeing it, yes, through my rose-colored glasses…because our property is far from *arrived*! But 90% of any project’s enthusiasm is in the planning, right?

I walk out the back porch door, face south–toward the garden and chicken house…and visualize the stone patio I want there under the trees someday, our old rope hammock stretched out at one end and a limestone slab picnic table beckoning us to enjoy the shady western evenings and the sun disappearing behind our big hill.

I see the big gnarly tree overhanging the garden and a “someday” tire swing full of laughing children (future grandkids?) with adults lounging nearby in lawn chairs around a fire pit.

Over behind the deck, between the outdoor corn stove and the sandpile, I want two Adirondack chairs situated around a low table, the perfect place for a husband and wife to meet at day’s end to catch up on each others’ news while the children and pups play. Or likewise, for two moms to sit and chat, little ones at their feet.

To have an old rectangular wooden table, a sturdy one with scads of character, to keep out during the summertime, under the Maple trees, bedecked with homespun and picnic basket and a flurry of mismatched flea market chairs–this has long been a wish of mine. I think we have one such table, maybe not so sturdy, buried in the back of one of the old sheds on this place…

I love outdoor restaurants. Adore picnics. Love finding the perfect park in our travels at which to grill or assemble sandwiches…to be perfect, it must have a pond with ducks to feed–over a bridge, of course. These parks abound, friends. You’d be surprised.

We don’t abound in special outdoor corners at our place yet, other than the “someday” ones painted in Outdoor Picnic with Salami Sandwichesmy heart. No bridges, ponds or ducks, or arbors or stone patios or Andirondack chairs. *Smile* For now, we spread out the old quilt or dust off the large flat rock uphill…and simple though it may be, the magic happens. A little shade, some freshly stirring air, a basket of treats, good company…good times.

Outdoors…the perfect gathering place. (Weather permitting, that is!)

***Btw, the first picture in this post is of my paternal grandma and her sisters eating apples***

Categories
Home

Dressers in the Kitchen

Last night I put the last coat of polyurethane on my dresser project. First time I’ve ever tackled a refinishing project like this, and I’m so impressed! Now to find the perfect handles!

I’m so excited to have this dresser done. Wish I had a before pic for you, just imagine it painted a black paint/stain with gaudy gold-plated handles. As I worked on this baby, I fell in love. Each scrape of the putty knife sliding old paint away revealing wavy grains–each rubbing with steel wool and fine sandpaper heightened my anticipation to get the job done! I mused about where I’d place this antique that my husband’s grandfather built in his young adulthood.

I love antique dressers more than anything else furniture-wise. Especially the ones up on pedestal legs. I can’t bear to waste them on clothing storage! This dresser’s former glory was as winter gear storage on our back porch, right next to the kitchen entryway. One drawer for gloves, another for hats, yet another for coveralls, etc. That was fine then, but…

It’s got too much of *me* in it now to subject it to my family’s daily abuses! (Sorry, fam!) When the light bulb moment came I about spilled my can of stain/varnish. MY KITCHEN! Perfect place to put the microwave–at head height, no more bending over punching in times and start buttons.

Other pluses–Plenty of huge drawers to hold my generic brand George Foreman grill, and my Pampered Chef mini-4-in-one-loaf pan–both items have been hogging space on an end counter b/c they’re too large for my other kitchen drawers (or maybe it’s because my other kitchen drawers are already fully occupied!). So now they’ll be out of sight! I plan on using one of the smaller top drawers for my great-aunt’s silver, tablecloths, placemats and cloth napkins. Which will in turn give me more space in the hallway linen closet for the girls’ puzzles! I have a zillion cookbooks, they’ll go spine-side up in one of the drawers so I can grab the ones I want easily and not forfeit any more counterspace to all my favorites!

So tell me, do you like my “kitchen dresser” or do you think I’m crazy for putting a microwave atop something so stately!?

What pieces of furniture are your favorite and why? Got any stray dressers you could put to practical use while showpiecing them, or maybe you do already?

Categories
Home

Fifteen Yards and What Do You Get?

A whole lot of mowing…

Actually, I’m referring to fabric in my title. One of these days, when I finish painting the house and refinishing old furniture (will I ever? hm…) I’ll finally get to sew curtains for the bedrooms in our house! Oldest daughter and I were able to go fabric shopping and sales afforded us enough fabric (15 yards!) to cover all our floor-length needs! I will post pics when we’re done…

I’ve been overcome lately by the good things in my life. Pure richness to be able to spend all day doing what I want to do. Reading to my daughters. Baking sweet rolls. Working in the yard. Plotting birthday parties. Finding sheer enjoyment in a new fifty foot garden hose that makes my watering chores a hundred percent easier. Basking in the fact that I’m only 33 and have a lifetime of summers ahead of me not to mention an eternity of dazzling proportions…

God is so good! What are you thankful for today?

************

Happy Fourth of July fellow Americans!!! If you get a chance to listen to Focus on the Family today, do so! It’s the second part of a really great broadcast about our nation’s Godly heritage. Eye-opening!

Categories
Home

Filthy or Lived In?

While toting rocks across our property in the bucket of my hubby’s CAT (landscaping project of the moment), I got to thinking more about our housekeeping thread in the comments of my First Impressions post. Several of us were throwing out descriptions of homes, such as “filthy” or “lived-in” and now I’m wondering, just where does the line blur between the two? (Not that it matters, right?)

To me, filthy is stepping on some sticky, dried-on mess and not knowing what it is, only that flies are living off of it and probably have been for a few hours or more. Filthy is not realizing that your kitchen floor tiles were originally white. Filthy could be a moldy-smelling laundry room with no visible floor space under all the mounds of clothing. Or a back porch full of shoes and dirt and dust on everything you touch (raising hand sheepishly on this last one, this has been my back porch on more than one occasion!).

Lived-in, however can include many things. Toys on the floor. Clutter on the end tables. Clean laundry on the couch or bed waiting to be folded. Fuzzy lint on the carpet. A little toothpaste scum in the bathroom sink. All forgiveable, right? (Unless this is your version of filthy. Do tell in comments!)

What are your definitions of “filthy” and “lived-in” as regards housekeeping, just for the fun of it?

After two days of being busy outside, and because of three girls keeping busy inside…my house was a wreck! My oldest has discovered the joys of sewing Barbie clothes…so she’s all set up with my sewing machine on the card table (thread and fabric snippets everywhere) having a BLAST…and her little sisters turned the living room and kitchen into “Barbie resort land”–actually, they had two things going on at once, Barbies b/c of all the new clothes big sister was turning out, and babies b/c that’s their ultimate when it comes to playing together…so anyway, can you imagine? The funny deal is, we usually have them pick it all up before supper, but last night with a storm rolling in, I was up to my elbows in garden dirt with my rock project, hoping to get done before the dark skies and lightening unleashed their fury overhead. Dh, similarly, was working with our oldest on getting our big inflatable pool set up. (We had no idea it was going to storm, it really caught us off guard, going from ninety-some degrees to 67*F in less than an hour!) So by the time we got our respective projects wrapped up, and ran for the house…the electricity was flickering and then poof, lights out. So tripping over baby dolls and chair forts, we made our way to the matches and candles.

Fast forward to today. Too muddy and humid outside to want to paint, etc, besides, my poor house! If any of you had dropped by I would have been mortified. Eek! The real problem was the toy mess, which somehow morphed into a disaster that took us ALL day to clean. My oldest was only concerned that it meant putting away the sewing machine (grin, she’s my #1 helper when it comes to clean-up time) but my younger two were so sad to have their glorious play-area eliminated. 3 yo was in tears. So what does a mommy do?

She throws a tea party. (Hands up in the air) We had an early lunch, called it a brunch and served it with English Breakfast tea in the teapot and mommy’s fancy teacups and real silver. What a mood booster. Then the younger two had a half hour to play one last time in their chaos of make-believe, while oldest and I split up the kitchen, bathroom, and chicken duties. Then it was *get serious* time on the girls’ bedroom. Everyone pitched in, we unloaded bookshelves, rearranged beds and dressers and gasp(!) I even condensed the overflow bulge of drawers full of clothing to the point that now my middle and youngest can share a five-drawer dresser! We even turned up a missing ice pack and youngest’s favorite mini-dog (stuffed, I assure you).

This was a room definitely past the blur of lived-in to filthy, and we try to clean it every Friday…but yeah, we’ve been busy, what can I say?

So, it’s time to share your thoughts. What is “filthy” to you? What is “lived in”? Are you harder on yourselves in this area than you are on other people? I sure am!

Looking forward to your thoughts on this!

Categories
Christianity Home

First Impressions

Donned my painting clothes yesterday morning, determined to get back in the house-painting groove.Evening Reflections Yes, the vacation is definitely over. *smile* Is there any other chore more tedious to home-owners than painting? Or scraping, preparatory to painting? If there is, please let me know in comments, it might help me complain less!

It’s a long nasty story, but I’ve been trying to get my house painted for at least 7 years now. It wasn’t a priority to Hubby, and then when it was, he wanted us to spray the paint on, but our sprayer is very touchy–it’s definitely a two-person job. Have I mentioned yet that my hubby hates painting? He and I spray-painted one side of the house about four years ago, and another side two years ago. So this last May, I decided to start painting with a paint brush and I’m gettin’ her done! Eight hours slapping paint just today, Woo-HOO!

With every brush stroke I’m loving this house more. Its tattered exterior has long been an embarrassment to me…so to see pristine whiteness take over the weathered gray is magical. I find myself strangely exhilarated. Hubby is even impressed, and has forgiven me for resorting to a lowly paint brush.

How many times have I talked myself out of extending hospitality because of the sad shape of my siding? Too ashamed to count… Why do I worry so much about what people think? It really boils down to “first impressions” doesn’t it? We want our best face forward when we invite people over. Especially people who haven’t seen our home yet or who live in “House Beautifuls”. So we either dither ourselves into a panic over clutter in the corners or, like me, peeling home exteriors and falling-down barns, or we shrink back within ourselves and wave limply at the nice hospitable thought as we say bye-bye to an opportunity that could have blessed both parties. Us and them.

It’s really crazy that we worry about it at all. Here’s a question for you, do you really *care* what your friends’ homes are like when you walk in the door to visit them? If they look lived in, doesn’t it instantly relax you? It does me. One of my best friends is exactly like me. Her home was an old farmhouse till they built new last year, and her back porch and mine could have been twin sisters–they both looked like a twister had ripped through the night before. And we laughed about it. It bonded us. Silly but true. (So quit worrying about your houses!)

I’m so glad our Heavenly Father isn’t concerned with first impressions. If He was, good night, who could stand? His first impression of all of us? Black with sin! Yet He loved us sinners so much that He gave up His only son for our salvation. That’s amazing. We didn’t have to clean house first, or dress in white linen and go through a ceremony. Nope, He took us as is. Even when we continue in sin, He still loves us and forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Best of all, He doesn’t see us as sinners once we accept His gift of salvation. He sees us through the filter of His holy Son. That is grace. Grace we could learn a thing or two from.

So extend grace on yourselves and try not to let your lack of House Beautiful keep you from enjoying life. Here’s a little secret: I’m more in awe of friends who welcome drop in’s despite their messy houses, than I am of friends who have impossibly clean homes. Now doesn’t that make you want to invite the neighborhood over ASAP?

Categories
Family Home

Party Time: It’s Real Life

Warning! At the end of this post is a pic of me with no make-up. It’s only fair to give you advance notice…just so you don’t spew coffee all over the keyboard or something. J

Jessica over at Farm Fresh came up with this voyeuristic idea…that we moms need to give a grand tour of what life is like at our house. The tour includes pics of the following, so without any further ado, come right on in!

First Stop: My bathroom and the toilet…

This is our one and only bathroom–Thank God. I’m thrilled to pieces to only have one bathroom to keep up with! I love dark brown, and dh thought I was crazy for choosing it in a small room like our bathroom, but we love how it turned out. The wainscoating is tongue-n-groove siding that we pulled off of a falling-down building on our property, I sanded it, coated it with primer and paint and dh threw it on the walls.

As you can see, the toilet is back in its own little alcove, as is our bathtub. Check out our old-fashioned heat resinor in the wall. We have one or two of those in each room, it’s what our hot water heat (from the outdoor corn stove) travels through to toasty-warm up our house in winter.

On to the Laundry Room:

Very little to see here I’m afraid. Yes, I painted this in the late nineties. (Dh swears it looks like doctor’s office colors) I’m thinking of a redo of coral and tan maybe. Haven’t decided yet, and that would definitely be a project for NEXT summer! Meet the twenty year old washer we brought with us from our first home…the dryer bombed last year, thus the two colors. I’m a white appliance lover. The washer keeps holding out. I actually was all caught up on laundry (pretty much) the day we took all the pics…except for the covered basket you see in the pic which contains hand-wash items and a few tie-dye shirts that I still wash separately.

To the kitchen–meet my refrigerator and sink…

We had guests yesterday morning so my sink was still clean! Whoopee, but does that mean I fail this “real-life” test? Just look over at my magnet/craft covered refrigerator, what a hodge-podge! And we’d just finished a supper of leftovers, can’t get much more “real life” than that, right? My desk, in the background, is covered with tardy birthday presents for various of my nieces, and magazines and books on their way out to the car and back to the library! Still playing catch-up after being sick and then going on vacation!

Check out two of our closets…

This first one is in my hallway right next to the bathroom. The drawers on the bottom contain play-dough, paper dolls, wrapping paper supplies, etc. I used to have all the games on the top two shelves, but early this week I moved all the kid games to the bottom shelf. It’s summer, they need to be within reach!

The one on the right is supposedly a coat closet for company, but it’s by the front door, and ALL our company comes to the back door, of COURSE! So this closet is a mess of card table/chairs, the girls Indo-boards, boxes of videos we never watch, and all our stamping/scrapbooking supplies. Strange collection there, isn’t it? Oh for a craft room.

And the Living Room…

It wouldn’t be real life if I moved the exercise equipment out of the way, though I normally exercise and then scoot the Gazelle off the center rug and out of traffic. Don’t ask me why there’s a plastic bag hanging on the coffee table…it’s probably a hammock for one of my three yo’s dollies. There’s a handkerchief tied to the TV table in the same manner with something sleeping in it. The laundry basket is full of library books, renewed in the nick of time.

Those horseshoe tables were made my by fil, we love them, and have several horse pictures on the walls. My attempt to underline hubby’s passion in life: horses. Though the way things are going, maybe I should be framing pictures of dogs.

We’re also supposed to be posting pictures of what our children were doing while we put this post together.

Mine were catching crawdads. What else is there to do in the country after a big rain?

And finally the picture you’ve all been waiting for of me bare-faced and dull at the end of a day…

Oops. The digital camera’s batteries died before I could upload it. Truly sorry! I do promise a raincheck though! As soon as possible, of course! (I really would have, honest, I just don’t feel like robbing batteries from my youngest’s playtoys)

Thanks, Jessica, for a fun party! It’s Real Life, any of you want to participate? I’d love to come peep in your windows! Be sure to check out Jessica’s, she did an awesome tour of her life, as did many others!

Categories
Family Home

Quilts

Nothing says time, love and tradition like a quilt. I’ve heard it said that blankets may wrap one with warmth, but quilts envelop you in love.

I’m in love with quilts. I wish I had a dozen more in my home to cherish and display. Shown here, in my bedroom, are three of mine. The pink postage stamp one at the foot of my bed was quilted by my great-aunts on my mom’s side. Mom will hopefully share more of its history in comments. I was honored to receive it for a wedding gift in 1993.

The blue and cream double wedding ring was a gift from my mom, a wall hanging she worked on while traveling one summer. It’s my keepsake especially associated with the birth of my firstborn. Mom let me pick out all the contrasting fabrics and choose the style. I’ve always loved the double wedding ring pattern, and this one is my absolute favorite. I have it hanging in the living room usually.

The quilt on my bed is simply a Target special…they sure have some pretty ones available, as my 7 yo will attest. She chose a lavender and tan Target quilt with satin ribbon work for her bed last year. Two other heirloom quilts I keep packed away…one is a crazy quilt passed down from my maternal grandma. The satins and velvets are cracking and unraveling, but the overall condition is what you’d expect for it being an early 1900’s quilt. I want to unpack it and take a picture for you guys. It has a “Ladies Aid Society” bookmark embroidered into the rest of the fabrics, kind of adds to its sense of community. My other quilt belonged to dh’s great-grandma. Other than a huge discoloration in one corner, it’s in great shape with whites, tangerine-oranges and light greens blending together.

My own quilting experience has been limited to one autumn leaf wall-hanging (pictured rolled up in a basket in my header) which I LOVED making, and three baby quilts. If I had a sewing room…I’d make more!

I love how women throughout the ages have found ways to meet and share life. Quilting bees, socials, baby showers, Bible studies, coffee at Starbucks and over the kitchen tables across this land, or behind computer screens…blogging. 🙂 In the quilt of my life, each of you own a special square.

Here are some quotes for the quilters out there, may they brighten your day as they did mine!

  • May all of your ups and downs in life be with a needle and thread.
  • Friends are like fabric – you can never have enough!
  • When life goes to pieces – Try Quilting!
  • I am a quilter and my house is in pieces.
  • I am a material girl. Wanna see my fabric collection?
  • Blessed are the piecemakers.
  • Blessed are the children of the piecemakers for they shall inherit the quilts!