Quilting: Class 130 - Project 1

I finished my first quilt top. I love the way it turned out, which is not exactly how the pattern was meant to go. In the book, Harriet suggests that you make an extra set of strips based on your usable fabric length (if the usable fabric length isn't quite enough). I made the extra strips, but didn't need them. This cut into the the fabric I needed from my squares. So, with my sweet hubby's help, we came up with a pattern to replace several of the blue squares with scraps from the other fabric. There are prints on the corners (supposed to be blue squares) and there are 4 green squares in the center (also supposed to be blue squares). His mathematical brain helped me figure out where things needed to go to be symmetrical. Then he laughed and complained that it was too much math. Ha!

I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, but the best part of this quilt is yet to come - THE BORDER!! Unfortunately the border isn't introduced until Class 180. I'm chomping at the bit at having a UFO (UnFinished Object) in my stash already, but I don't want to get ahead of myself since the book is a skill-building book.

My next project is a quilt for L.4. I'm fussy cutting 50 squares of adorable fabric to go into this quilt.

I just finished making up a new schedule for our family so that we can get back on track with our time. Of course we won't follow it to a "T" with times and such, but I'm going to try to get close because our days run much smoother when we do - even if the initial training period is torture!

Here's the quilt (pardon my adorable husband's handsome hands :P ) -

Adventures in Quilting: Class 130 Pre-Project

I'm almost embarrassed with how long it has been since I've even posted on my blog. I think I must have gotten away from blogging the same time that I got off facebook (for the most part). I just have found myself pretty busy - after all I have a husband 5 children.

Update: We have a baby on the way. I'm almost 16 weeks now. I can't believe that I'm almost 1/2 way through this pregnancy and on our way to see our babe!!

I decided to pare down to one hobby. I have loved sewing for so long, but garments are not my thing anymore. The kids outgrown things so fast that I make something and it gets worn a couple of weeks. It just doesn't have the same "kick" it used to. I've gone back to quilting. I picked up this hobby almost 6 years ago taking a 1 day class and making a table runner at a local quilt shop. I then made another table runner for my mom with different fabric and the same pattern. Never picked it up again.

I'm learning to focus better and not dive into something head first. I don't have to finish a project in a day, which makes it more enjoyable. Still learning....

While working my way through Harriet Hargrave's book Quilter's Academy Vol. 1, I found out what a perfectionist I am. I can tell she is, too, or at least she writes like she is. Maybe she's really writing to those who aren't and she just assumes when people will "get it" that it is good enough. I don't get that very well and almost had a breakdown the other day when I was 1/16" off in one area of my strip. Wah! I emailed a good quilting friend for a pep talk - she almost spit out her drink when she realized what I was fretting over.

Here is my pre-project for Class 130 in the book. This is part of a sampler that will be completed over Volume 1 and 2. This is the center part.



I'm now working on a small quilt for A.2. to sit on while we do schoolwork. Kind of a blanket training quilt. The fabric is adorable! The problem is that it is also one that spans over a long period of time, so I will have most of it done except the border, using a border fabric, which is done towards the end of the book. I am planning to make a quilt for each of my children and then move on to other quilts.

Frugal Tip: Leftover Beans

I got this idea from a friend of mine recently when we were discussing how I usually purchased canned beans to put in recipes, when the entire meal isn't going to be based around beans. I try to be careful when buying beans because so many of the manufacturers are putting extra ingredients like corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. Yuck! In my beans?? No thanks!

Melissa said that when she makes a pot of beans she will take the extras and put a cup of them (which happens to be the size of my ladle) into one of the disposable red cups. She then freezes them. When they are completely frozen she removes them and puts them into a gallon zip-lock bag for later use. I learned you need to run the cup under warm water for a few seconds to release the beans. Don't forget to wash and reuse your plastic cups for more beans.

This might be old news to most of you, but it was like a lightbulb moment for me. The thought of soaking and cooking a cup of beans was preposterous! This I can do - and I did! I usually make a plate for Big P that we put in the freezer for a lunch, but I always have lots of beans left - always!

Beans are more than the musical fruit, they are cheap and good eats! My friend Raye Ann, has great ideas for doing lots of different things with beans that are super cheap! Basically any flavor of bean you want, you can add in a tablespoon or two of seasoning. The other day when we had pinto beans, I made them kind of "southwest-ish" by throwing in 2 tbsp. of a steak seasoning that we get from our local Mennonite bakery. It ended up being a little too pica (spicy hot) for my little guys. They would eat it like crazy, stop to drink water or milk, and resume!

Here's to making up a big pot of beans and freezing the leftovers *ching ching*! That could be money dropping into your savings jar or your toasting glasses chiming.

Chief End of Man: Goals Series - Part 2

I only have one little one awake and he's comfy on the couch. I've been up for almost 2 1/2 hours at this point and think I'll make it until this afternoon before I crash. I've been having trouble getting to sleep. I'm sure it's because I have so much on my mind that I want to do and not enough hours in the day to get it written down. I should definitely start planning my goals for 2011 in December of this year!

The reason I'm sharing my goals on here is mostly for accountability and in hopes that they may spark some ideas in you for your year. We each must seek out God for the goals He has for us, individually. Then we need to speak to our husbands.

You know the cliche - when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This couldn't be more true for me! I seem to get so much more accomplished when I have a plan, than when I don't; even if I don't accomplish all that is in the plan. Often times I either don't have a map to find my way or I have a map, but I run out of gas! I'd rather run out of gas than not get anywhere at all. But, I'm really trying to prepare to fill the tank so that I don't run out of gas! For those who are fans of The Amazing Race (we haven't watched it in several years due to no television or cable), you have likely seen what happens when the contestants having no clue where they are going? It always seemed to cause a ton of contention with their running mate and they don't end up getting to their destination in a timely manner.

So, here is the first set of my goals for the year. You'll notice that my list is full of resources from other people. These are people that either I, or Pete and I have studied up on and feel have really sought God with their whole hearts and have thusly used their time to write resources that I can spend my time on it.

Spiritual Christian Woman Goals (for some reason I really don't like using the word spiritual. I'm sure it has a derogatory connotation for me or something. Makes me think of mysticism.)

This year I would like to:

1. Read the Bible all the way through without stopping

• I'm using the chronological plan from www.BibleYear.com. It integrates Job into the reading of Genesis to more closely align the order in which things actually happened.

2. Complete the 3 phases of The Lord's Table Bible study.

• Phase I: 60 lessons to help you gain control of your eating habits while learning to look to God for spiritual sustenance
• Phase II: 20 lessons of interactive Bible study and fasting
• Phase III: 120 lessons containing ongoing biblical instruction on weight loss, as well as mentorship training so you can pass your new found freedom along to others.

3. Remember ACTS of prayer and do it a lot more often through the day.

• express ADMIRATION for God
• CONFESS my sins
• THANK God for...
• SUPPLICATION for..
• help to serve Him faithfully and glorify Him
• Big P
• each child individually
• extended family
• friends/church
• other needs as God brings them before me

Books/Studies that I would like to read/do:

• Quieting a Noisy Soul by Jim Berg (our ladies are doing this together at church)
• Complete Institute for Basic Life Principles Basic, Advanced, and Anger Management seminars via DVD as a family. (we joined as an ATI family in November. One of the benefits is getting these incredible teachings on DVD rental)
• So, What's the Difference? by Reidenour
• Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• A Hunger for God by John Piper
• Your Price is Far Above Rubies a study compiled by Delwyn McAlister (I'll have to start this one when I finish The Lord's Table studies)

The Plan:

Morning quiet times:

• ACTS of prayer
• Bible reading (assigned per plan)
• The Lord's Table study

Afternoons:

• Quieting a Noisy Soul study (2 x per week during "free" time)

Sunday evening:

• Read goal pages from current book on reading list

As a family we will work on the IBLP Seminars 3x per week at 8pm.

photo from: http://harvestpetaluma.org/255287.ihtml

Birthday Bash(es)

We have 7 people in our family, and although we don't have the problem of everyone's birthday being in the same month, we have a different issue altogether. The birthdays are spread out over the first 6 months of the year. We have a birthday EVERY month from January to June. This can be good for planning, but eventually you can lose momentum. Come May or June you are pooped and tired of birthdays. I'm just being honest...

So, in an effort to simplify birthdays around here and make each person's birthday extra special, we have come up with a couple of ideas; either learned from someone else, or more recently, thought up on our very own.

A few months ago I found the perfect cake pan for everyone's birthday! I was really hesitant to buy it, because it was $30!!! But, I started thinking that if we used it 7 times in the first year, that was under $5 per person. Using it for 2 years makes it under $2.50 per person and... You get the idea. This will become our new family tradition and I'll have to look on ebay in 20 years to find all my daughters-in-law one of these cake pans because my sons will want them to continue the tradition. My one and only daughter, P10, will, of course, get the original cake pan.
So, instead of being at the mercy of the local convenient store and their supply of snowballs (a tradition we had growing up and one I've kept), we will now have a "cupcake" cake. Each child (or adult) will get to choose their favorite flavor of cake and icing. I'm most definitely using boxed cake mixes and canned icing! Not feeling guilty about it either.

I also picked up a roll of Happy Birthday wrapping paper and a bow tonight. Yes, a (as in 1) bow. It's one of those really nice ribbony ones. I won't even use the peel off self adhesive tab. I'll use tape and stick it on top of the child's gift. It will be recycled. We only give one gift for birthdays anyway. I'm not going planning to reuse the paper!

Each child also gets to chose their birthday breakfast, birthday lunch, and birthday dinner!! For breakfast, most of the time they choose biscuits and chocolate gravy, since we rarely ever have that, except for birthdays.

You don't get the day off school on your birthday, but we may institute that at some point.

Also, my older ones have enjoyed having friends over for the day or afternoon in the last few years where we make homemade pizza and they hang out.

Hope this is helpful. I thought I'd blog about it while it was fresh on my mind as we have the busy birthday season coming up! C will be 14 in January, L will be 4 in February, B will be 6 in March, I will be 25 again 33 in April, A will be 2 in April, P will be 11 in May, and Big P will be 38 in June! Hope that non-stick finish can keep up with us! Praising God for all these blessings to bake for!

Chief End of Man: Goals Series - Part 1

Time to Refocus
Question: What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. (The Westminster Shorter Catechism)

This was the basis for the sermon this beautiful, cold Sunday morning. Oh, I love our church. One reason is that you never get to walk away empty handed. Pastor Drake always has a meaty service planned and has continued so, even in the midst of his knee surgery and recovery. This morning was no exception and was FULL of Scripture to open our eyes, that daily we must refocus on God and live every minute for Him.

As I mentioned before, I easily get distracted. Realizing that God has called me to be a multi-faceted kind of woman, I need to make sure that those various areas are glorifying Him. So, in order to not get distracted, to stay on course, I need to make a plan that I can stick to; a plan of variety. It all came together for me this morning, having started last night when I was reading one of Brandi's posts on her goals for the year.

So, here's the plan:

Taking the 7 days of the week (our God is a God of order!) and the 7 areas that He has assigned to me, I will have one area each day that I focus on learning and growing. I will have a reading resource of some sort (ebook, physical book, e-zine, etc.) that I set up on the nightstand. Each night I will read my assigned pages. These are goals and not set in stone. If I'm reading really deep stuff, I don't want to be forced to read 10 pages when I was getting overwhelmed at 6. Sometimes what I read doesn't necessarily fall into a particular category, though. Like when I read the Duggar's book, I didn't get bogged down, but it covered almost all my categories. Don't have a plan what I would do in that case in the future, yet.

Here are my categories and the days currently assigned:

Sunday - Bible Study (this is when I will work on the Bible study that we are doing with the ladies at church)
Monday - Marriage
Tuesday - Motherhood
Wednesday - Homeschool
Thursday - Organization
Friday - Health
Saturday - Finances/Homesteading

Many times people believe that God doesn't care about a particular part of their life. They separate their life into God's area, Work, Home, and Me. Really, God wants to be in EVERY area! It is because of this that I'm particularly careful about what I read in every area and make sure that it is from a Christian worldview. There are some instances that this may not be able to be achieved, but I have found it rare. God is the author of marriage, parenthood, health and homeschooling. I've even found some of the best resources in organization, finances, and homesteading to be written with a Biblical worldview.

These are the areas that I will be setting my goals in, too! And all of them based on what God wants for me to be doing in each area - not what I think is best.

photo from: http://www.pinmin.org/

Smoothie #2

Healthy Mocha Coffee Smoothie
adapted from: Nancy Walker from her book Healthy Cheap Cooking (I think I got this free from The Old Schoolhouse)

again - copied and pasted from my post on facebook

1 1/4 cups milk (I used whole this morning because I didn't have almond on hand)
1 tbsp cocoa (unsweetened)
1 tbsp instant coffee (you could do it 1/2 caff if you are trying to get off caffeine)...
1/3 tsp stevia (I'm trying to do more stevia and less honey but the taste is hard (I call it a *twang*) for me so I'm working my way up)
2 tsp honey (do the sweetener to your taste)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
Dash of vanilla
Spinach (yes the green stuff. We freeze it fresh - and you want it frozen- use a small amount and work your way up)
1-2 cups ice

Blend everything (except ice) super super good then add ice and reblend.

You could prep your cocoa, coffee, & stevia the night before. Pull out your honey & vanilla too. Don't grind your flax until right before you use it - you could put it in the coffee grinder and have it ready. Just prepare everything you can to aid in quickly putting it together in the morning.

It is incredibly yummy and could really curb your desire to run to starbucks for a $5 coffee. If you have big financial goals, like we do this year, that will help.

~update~ It is possible to put too much spinach in this smoothie!