Prayer Shawl for a Special Friend

This is a prayer shawl that I crocheted for a special friend in Kentucky.  She found out recently that she again has ovarian cancer.  She had surgery and chemo a few years ago and had been cancer free until her last checkup.  She will be undergoing surgery and chemo soon.  I decided to make her a prayer shawl.

The granddaughters helped pick out the yarn.  They wanted something cheerful and not "dull and drab".  I think they succeeded in choosing a wonder yarn that looks lovely and cheerful.  It is so soft.  The granddaughters and I said silent prayers before I began crocheting.

 I had never used this type of yarn before and it did present some challenges.  I had difficulty gauging my stitches since the yarn is very bulky and you use this huge needle.

The pattern is only one stitch (a half double crochet).  You can see the pattern here.

Many prayers went into this shawl.  I'm mailing it tomorrow.  I included a little info on Prayer Shawls and the story of her prayer shawl. .

I pray that the shawl will provide some warmth and comfort while she is undergoing treatments.   A blessing for the completed shawl can be found  here.

Prayer Of Blessing (blessing for a completed shawl)

By: Janet Severi Bristow - 2000

 May God's grace be upon this shawl...

warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing.
May this mantle be a safe haven... a sacred place of security and well-being...
sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones.
May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace,
and wrapped in love.
Blessed Be!

Explore - My word for 2014

I finally decided on my word for 2014.  I have chosen EXPLORE - to examine or investigate.

As I look over some of my plans for 2014.  I realized that I plan to explore a number of things.

Some of these are:

• travel to new places (cruises through the Panama Canal and to Alaska)
• learn new quilting techniques (class already scheduled)
• my Janome 15000 (class next week)
• scrapbooking
• cardmaking (Swap for all Seasons)
• ?????? more to come

“This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” – John Steinbeck 

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

First Project with my new Janome 15000

I purchased a Janome 15000 last fall and immediately left for our vacation home in Kentucky.  My lovely machine stayed in Arizona.  I completed my first class for this machine on Saturday at Mulqueen's Sewing Center in East Mesa.  The class was very informative and I learned some of the many features of this machine.  Our assignment before the next class was to come home and make a project using some of the stitches we learned in class.  This is my project.

I used the rolled hem foot to make the hem on each side of the tea towel.  I used my 1/4" foot when attaching the  borders.  I sewed a decorative heart stitch when top stitching  the narrow border (using the appropriate foot!).  You can see the stitch below.

 Our next class will include embroidery.  I decided to go ahead and add the embroidery hearts to the tea towel.  I'm hoping to learn how to add names to the design at the next class.  Wouldn't  it look great to have names in the two outside hearts.  I saved the design to my machine in hopes I will be able to do this.
 

This machine does a wonderful job on embroidery.  The stitches are beautiful.  The design if from Anita Goodesigns.  Anita Goodesigns is celebrating their 10th Anniversary and I'm attending one of their parties on Friday and Saturday.  I'll be posting about this fun event this weekend.

Farewell to log tablescape

I had my final "Holiday" get together yesterday.  I hosted a luncheon for a few friends.  I kept the Log themed tablescape but replaced the blue Christmas balls with pine cones.  I posted a pic of Christmas breakfast tablescape in December.

I added pine cones and a wooden deer (a thrift store find) to give the table a wintery feel.  I kept the same tablecloth.  For this meal I used my ceramic tableware and copper chargers.  The chargers were a gift from my son and daughter-in-law a few years ago.  They purchased them in Mexico.  I love the copper.  I have a large set of the ceramic dishes.  For a number of years my hubby asked the artist, Joyce V, to make certain pieces as my Christmas presents.  I have a service for 8 that includes various sizes of bowls, plates, glasses, goblets, serving pieces, and even a canister set.  Here I'm using my dinner plate, salad bowl, and bread plate.

Our menu consisted of  a wonderful salad of mixed greens, Granny Smith apples,dried cranberries with maple dressing and chicken tortilla soup.  The soup was served in ceramic soup bowls with handles.  These soup bowls are my favorite pieces in the collection.  I'll try to share a pic at a later date.

My holiday entertaining has now come to an end.  Today the table is bare and the tree is coming down tomorrow.  Time to think of Valentines and Reds.

Let the New Year begin!!!

  

January Swap for All Seasons

 The color for January Swap for All Seasons was blue.  Our card and tag were to follow the theme "Thinking of You".  My card is above and tag is below.  I used my new Cuttlebug to emboss the blue paper on the front of the card.  I found the blue cameo at the thrift store years ago and it was perfect for the blue card.

The tag features an image cut from a vintage apron pattern.  I added fabric strip, buttons, ribbon and rick rack.

I was to send my swap items to Debbie in Ohio.    Here is a link to Debbi's blog.  You can see her cute kittens.

 These are the blue stash items I sent to Debbie.  There are some vintage educational picture cards featuring blue images, quilt blocks sewn by my grandmother and great grandmother in the 30's, buttons, tiny blue rickrack, and blue embroidery floss.

We are encouraged to be creative in our packaging of the items.  I made a little pouch out of some vintage eyelet and tied a blue lace ribbon.

Debbie received the items today and I'm sending her a few more quilt squares to include in a grandmother's flower garden quilt that she is currently constructing.

First Quilt Project of 2014

 Spent the day with the granddaughters.  We had a great day.  They made rag dolls from a kit purchased at Hobby Lobby.  Doll was smaller than we anticipated but they had a great time making the dolls.  They then built them a house out of the boxes and drove them around in their remote control cars from last Christmas.  It's never boring with the girls around.

I promised to show you my first quilt project of 2014.  It all began when I saw a lovely quilt on a blog.  I found the pattern "Magical Slice and Dice" and ordered online.  Now the fun begins.

Here is the fabric I chose for the quilt.  Well actually the lady at ETC. (a local crafting and fabric store) helped me find a fabric that would work for slice and dice. The fabric is Mimi by Chez Moi for Moda.  I love the colors in the fabric. Next I cut the quilt squares following the instructions in the pattern.  Then I assembled the 40 blocks.  All 40 blocks are different.  Below you can see 4 of the 40 blocks.

Next week, I'll show you the next step - attaching the sashing to each block.  Can you guess what color I'm using for sashing??????

A Happy New Year

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.  We shared a wonderful meal with friends last evening.  The food was delicious and the company great.  However, we were home before midnight.   We left that up to the younger ones.

 I hope to return to blogging more frequently this year.  My goal is to share my projects as I work on them.  Tomorrow I will share a quilt I began this past week.  It's going to be a beauty!  I'll keep you posted on my progress.