Sometimes

Sometimes, you just want to lay around in the sunshine and be glad it's stopped raining.

We've had a lot of rain here. None in our house, thank God, but plenty of people have had that awful experience. Our patio got a bit of water, but that's no biggie. It's gone now.

I pulled a bunch of 2 1/2" strips Tuesday night and started sewing them into units of four and then sub-cut them into squares.

Before long they turned into this. Mr. Muddling asked me to make a quilt for a little girl on the way to a niece of his coworker and this is it. I got it all sewn together and quilted. Then I took it into the cutting room (aka, the dining room) and trimmed it, never bothering to look at the back until I took it back to the sewing room to sew the binding on it. 

Big mistake. Now there is lots of ripping to be done and re-quilting before it will be ready for that binding.

I am working on that, but in the meantime I thought I would start putting these houses onto blocks. I've used the Go! cutter to cut these and ironed them on to 10 inch squares with Heat n Bond Lite. Of course, I still have to sew all around them. I may have bitten off a little more than I want this time, but we'll see.

I had a very sweet email from the Volunteer Team Leader at our local airport USO this week. They only have two of our quilts left and she wondered if we could make more for them. Of course we can. 

I had this one done except for the binding, and now that is done. I have more ideas and will try to get more made in a hurry. It helps that I have some components done and ready to put into new quilts.

A closer look at some of the fun in this one. I like to think of a soldier getting a smile from some of these. It makes me happy!

It is a beautiful day here after all that rain. Mr. Muddling has been out mowing the lawn and making everything look wonderful again. He's a blessing to me!

I hope you are having a weekend that makes you happy. There are always things for which to be thankful, aren't there?

Hugs and kisses,

Neighborhood

I made this one by combining two ideas from the book, Quilts for Scrap Lovers by Judy Gauthier.  As I was making it, I had that "knowing" that it was to go to a man who has been going through a horrific battle. He's been given up to die more than once, the family called in to say goodbye, and yet he's still here. God has truly done more than one miracle for him. He still has a long way to go, but I am so happy for him and for his family who have stood so firmly by his side through it all.

There are such fun little houses throughout the quilt. They are a tangible reminder to him of all the households who have been and still are praying for him. His daughter has done such a remarkable job of rallying people through a facebook group to pray for him.

I especially like this reminder that we are all HIS sheep! I am so thankful He hears when we cry out to Him and that He is still in the healing business!

Lots of happy pretties out in the yard, including lots of weeds. We'll just look at the flowers though! At the top left is a picture of the packaging of the new bird feeder we just bought. It works!  When squirrels try to get seeds out of it, it closes. You can see the one we hung in our yard in the third row. The last picture on the right includes a very nice surprise Mr. Muddling brought me yesterday - carnations! They are so pretty! The picture just before it is of some of the gardenias from our garden. They are now busily perfuming the sewing room. Oh, how I love that fragrance!

There are so many wonderful things in this world of ours. I know there are bad things, too, but I choose to put my attention on the good ones!

Have a blessed and happy weekend, my friends!

Hugs and kisses,

Happy Spin

This is the quilt I couldn't show before. It was a surprise for a friend of ours, and it was delivered on Sunday. She likes it!

This is my take on Katy Doughty's pattern Vintage Spin from her book Adding Layers. I'm calling my version Happy instead of Vintage Spin. 

The backing is this Jinny Beyer print that seemed to me happy to play along.

I had a lot of fun making this one. The blades are a mix of batiks and Kaffe Fassett/Philip Jacobs fabrics.  I fussy cut flowers from Kaffe Fassett's Suzani Embroidered, and used a machine blanket stitch to applique them to the center of each block. I made my blocks a bit bigger at 14 inches instead of 13 1/2, and made this one of 20 blocks instead of the original pattern's thirty blocks. It's still a good size to snuggle!

Lots growing and blooming (and just hanging out!) here in the land of Muddle. We've had some nice rain the past couple of days and we can see the plants are happy about it! 

I have now trimmed this one, but it still needs a binding sewn. I think it will probably go to the local USO when they need more quilts.

And this one has had borders added and is now loaded ready to quilt. Hopefully I'll have these two finished and get another post up soon. I have been busy, just not busy posting!

I hope all is well in your world, and that you have plenty of HAPPY where you are. With all the bad things we see and hear about, there are still a lot of good things, too. Lots of blessings for which to be thankful, and I am.

Hugs and kisses,

What Do I Post About When I Have Nothing to Show

I could show you this wall in my sewing room. I like all these things. Each and every one of them mean something to me. 

This is a cute little project I've started, but it's no where near finished.

Neither is this Scrappy Trips.

This arrived in my mailbox yesterday and yes, there are things in here that interest me, including this one on the cover.

Then, of course, there are the many boxes of components ready to be used.

And yummy, delightful fabric washed and hanging to dry out in the garage. 

Nothing earthshaking happening here, but still lots of good things all around. So many reasons to be thankful and happy. And I am. I hope you are, too!

I have a quilt ready to load and quilt. Sorry, I can't show you any of that yet.

Are you having a wonderful, happy time? I'm having a good time on purpose!

Hugs and kisses,