2014 Coming to a Close

It has been quite a while since I've posted so I will try to catch up before we are in the New Year! In November I went on a mission trip to Nicaragua with a group from our church. We have been sponsoring some children to go to a Christian school there and I was able to meet them in person after corresponding for almost four years.

 This is Angely. . .

 Maria . . .

and Moises, who had been out of school for a while because of some surgery. We found him at his home with his parents and what a blessing to get to see all these precious children!! It was a truly great trip!!

A lady from our church began a Sewing Ministry and Sewing School there and here is the classroom. It is amazing what these students have learned. There were 12 who graduated while we were there and took home their very own sewing machine to be able to have a home business. There was a fashion show with many of the garments they had made.

Here is an example of one dress this lady was finishing up that week for the show.

 Speaking of finishing, I really did complete my quilt top, "Words To Life By," SBOW, from Primitive Gatherings. That was all those hundreds of half square triangles I grumbled about earlier! 

 Here is one more block of my Primitive Garden quilt, also from Primitive Gatherings.

And now as the Di Ford Mystery Quilt has come to a close for 2014, I have completed the first round! Oh well, maybe in 2015 this will become a quilt.

I made this little doll quilt for Lacey who is two and loves her babies! It matches her room.

This is our quilt group (minus Gerry taking the picture) at our Christmas luncheon!

Jake has now turned four - where did the time go??

After 14+ years in the making - I have decided to finish my Bible Quilt (designed by Jan Patek as a BOM). The blocks have been completed for years except for the embroidery/words. Since I do much more hand stitching now, it will be prettier than if I had done it years ago. How's that for making yourself feel good about procrastinating!!?

 And now one last project - my Dear Jane quilt that has also been in the making for 12+ years. This is my first triangle/border block. I found a FB group, Jane Stickle Quilt Group, which is very encouraging and I can see that I might now finish this historic quilt. Here are two websites with great information also:

Dear Jane and

That Quilt, where she gives pictures and step by step instructions on how she made her blocks.

 I've had 65 blocks out of 225 completed for a while. I am setting some new goals to finish this quilt.

 It is VERY challenging at times, some blocks have 45 pieces in them and they measure 4.5" finished.

That's a LOT of tiny pieces. I chose all my center block fabrics years ago and identified them in a layout provided with the EQ Software. I chose to make them just a little brighter than Jane's original quilt, OR, as I say, what hers may have been before fading some over 150 years ago. 

Of course, Christmas was celebrated amidst all of these posts, but now the decorations are put away and I am looking forward to new GOALS for 2015. 

Happy New Year!!