for the love of quilting...

getting ready to post again! after a 6 month hiatus (longer, really...) i have some pictures and RSC quilts to share. i'll be back soon to fill in all the behind-the-scenes details!

 

SQUARES....as far as the eye can see...

it's a photo heavy post; sorry!

i knew i was behind on my blogging, but i didn't realize that i hadn't really blogged about any of my RSC23 projects! YIKES!

i was still working with and through my 3" squares. i have a Studio2 cutter, and a few dies that i really like to use. 3" squares show up in the majority of my projects. 

i made hearts- 9 of them. (the grey one got lost at the bottom of this post...) all from scraps! 

keep scrolling- and then there's the 36 patches- an idea loosely inspired by some of Cynthia's work. 

there are 12 of the 36 patch blocks; i've not decided on whether i'll combine the hearts and big blocks together for one quilt, or make 2 different quilts.. 

did you just scroll all the way to the bottom to see all this scrappy random colorness? SO MANY DIFFERENT FABRICS! bless your sweet little heart! thanks for stopping by, and be sure to click back to Angela's blog and see what everyone else is doing.. 

 

Gifted, Shared, Loved...

i've been absent from bloggy land, and missing my RSC friends. i'm back with a plethora of catchup posts! mostly from RSC23...

 

 

granddaughter L turned 5 in late October. i mailed her 2 of my favorite quilts from RSC22. 

just 2 very simple designs; i like to focus on color and contrast, rather than fiddly piecing. 3" squares, and 3" HSTs. she loved them!  no pics of the colorful backing, though...

my favorite DIL turned 30 (!!!) the end of July. P had commented in RSC21 that she really liked the scrappy twinkly stars that i was making- so obviously, the quilt needed to go live with her! (full picture of this quilt in my header photo, but now it's finished, not just a flimsy...) youngest grandson T had to get in on the happy occasion... 

Daughter #2, A, turned 17 June 29. (see, i'm really behind!). as a budding young writer, the Full Stop quilt seemed like she was the best one for it to be loved by... she was really happy! 

sharing and gifting a favorite quilt to one of my loved ones is the best ever. it's great when they find a home to go to; where they'll be appreciated and used. 

June 30 my youngest son passed away tragically and unexpectedly in a motorcycle accident. although i kept sewing along with you all, i just didn't have the energy to blog for awhile. 

i'm doing ok, and so is the family, though it was quite a shock, and so sad. 

 

the above 2 quilts were not pieced as part of my RSC shenanigans. the first one is for a great niece's baby in CA, the second (Baby Shark; inspiration found here, although now that i revisit Katy's post, i realize she used HSTs, not isosceles triangles... ) was pieced for the Nebraska MCC quilt sale, and is on its way into the world...) 

i appreciate the friendship and camaraderie of all my RSC bloggy (and Instagram!) friends! go see what every one else is up to- you just might be inspired! 

tap, tap, tap.. is anyone there? i'm sewing in the background...

is it ok to say life has been busy?

my calendar is full, our schedule is busy and our life has been humming along... i'm still sewing along with RSC23, just not as often as i'd like... i'm sharing my blue and pink churn dash blocks from January and Febrruary (in April!) and i've got a start on the greens and purples for March and April!

one of my RSC projects this year is the churn dash blocks. i have an accuquilt die for this {my favorite block} and i decided to do the blocks with a white center, and the background in the COM. 

i'm loving them so far!

i'm thinking of an on-point setting for these, and perhaps i'll keep this quilt for myself... 

although, after our recent trip to the MCC PA Relief Sale, i've been inspired and motivated to sew/give more quilts, specifically for the MCC auctions. and here's some good news: the Hands2Help drive this year has MCC as one of the donation points! go check it out!

and be sure to click over to SO SCRAPPY and see what everyone else is making! 

 

Christmas Traditions: creating layers of memories and meaning

hey! Merry {almost} Christmas! are you here visiting from Betsy's Christmas Blog Tour? thanks for stopping by! i'm happy to share one of our family traditions with you- and while you're here, leave me a comment and tell me what's YOUR favorite tradition? 

for longer than i can remember, it's been a tradition in our family to celebrate Jesus' birthday with a birthday cake. we often do this on Christmas Eve, but there is a lot of flexibility on when we actually do this celebration. 

in fact, while talking with my Dad this week, i realized that i don't actually remember the beginnings of this family tradition. (kind of like cutting the tail off your Thanksgiving turkey. why? because that's what grandma always did...) i'm still researching in the recesses of my brain where this memory came from... (the cake, not the tailless turkey...) 

i'll keep you posted! 

meanwhile, here's a lineup of some of our Christmas Eve/Birthday Cake for Jesus Celebrations and Gatherings. 

throughout the years, the gatherings changed- some were quite elaborate (hoards of friends and relatives smashed into our tiny house along Penn's Creek) and some very simple (just our immediate family and a small cake.) when my oldest daughter, M, was 8 years old, she made a blue pottery angel one summer at Camp Susque.  thereafter, the birthday cakes feature the angel holding the birthday candle. 

also throughout the years, you can see that our family has grown! if you look closely, you can see the progression and growth of my 6 children, and my family! with 6 children, several now grown and married, along with the addition of 7 grandchildren, there are many happy faces celebrating and anticipating the arrival of the Baby Savior on Christmas morning! 

1990

the above picture would have been the very first Birthday party for Jesus. we lived in a very small house, and i would not doubt that there were 40+ people at this gathering! my oldest daughter, M, (1½) is the girl in the blue (aqua?) overalls, being held by her Aunt Esther. the twins, D & N, were asleep on the sofa. being only 3 months old at the time, i guess they were too little for cake! all the other children around the table are random 1st & 2nd cousins. 

1992

same small house, another large gathering. M, now 3½, is in the bottom left corner of this picture. D, the oldest twin, is 2½ and he's in the red sweatshirt. G, my 4th baby, is due in March, and he's actually born in the Blizzard of '93. 

2002

our lives changed quite a bit in the gap of the 10 years between these pictures. now i'm a single mom, homeschooling my 4 children, working a few odd/part-time jobs, and we live in the tiny town of New Berlin in central PA.(i'm sure there were more birthday cakes for Jesus, but no pictures, i guess...) M is 13, D & N are 12 and G is nearly 10. 

2003

this year we're celebrating with our friends, who have graciously invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner and some small gifts. with 8 children of their own (6 gathered at home in this picture) and my 4, we've a big crowd, so good thing it's a big cake! 

2007

big changes again, as shown in this picture here. i've married Dave, and with the addition of A, we're at a handful of children around the table this Christmas Eve. my scrapbook journaling tells me that A was fascinated with the hole in the middle of this green angel food cake. 

2008

this Christmas Eve, baby B has joined our family. she's 1, and anna is 2½. we've also moved to Bradford county, and begin farming {small scale} and growing our CSA. we're also working at renovating/completing the colonial farmhouse we purchased, which was built by the Rockwell family in 1807. 

2012

more changes come along: (see- the kitchen has drywall AND paint now!) the children keep growing, and we're adding new faces all the time now it seems! M is now married- that's husband K alongside her. N is home for Christmas, and G is too! A & B are 6 & 5 years old now. and just for fun: seems we're having a Birthday Pumpkin Roll- merely to keep things interesting! 5 of my 6 children are home around the table this year- making the celebration just that much more special! 

2016

big brother D (the oldest twin) is home this year, and is the only brother to join A & B for cake. (good thing, too! that cheesecake is so tiny!) there were 2 grandchildren added this year as well: a boy AND a girl, born 6 days apart! they must be at home, tucked safe and snug in their beds. 

2017

here we're having another cheesecake for Jesus (and look, it's so much bigger!) good thing, too, since we have even more precious people gathered around: K and grandson C, N and his wife P, along with granddaughter E. ( C&E are both 13 months old) A is 11, B is 10.

                                       

2018

son D is back for Christmas, along with daughter L. L is our second granddaughter, born just a few months ago. Joining the girls and C at the table is C & P, my niece and nephew. (cheesecake seems to be popular!)  and we're a bigger crowd now, so the celebration has moved into the school room...

2018

we had 2 different birthday celebrations this year, i guess to accommodate traveling and/or working children. grandson #2 has joined us, in the highchair, and L is a sweet and cuddly baby. he brings the grandchild count to 4. Aunts A & B are thrilled! (Grammy and Pap are too, of course!) 

2019

with our 2 youngest daughters still living at home, of course A & B are at every Christmas Eve celebration. M & K live locally, so we're blessed at having them nearly every year, too! grandsons C & L are 3 and almost 2. we're thrilled D, along with L (now 13 months old) are here as well. 

                                                                                 2021

our most recent Birthday Party for Jesus was last year. we celebrated Christmas as a family early: we went right from Thanksgiving, to Christmas Eve and then rolled directly into Christmas day. it was a crazy, noisy, messy but FUN time! and now we're at 7 grandchildren! having 5 (6, if you want to be super technical...) at Grammy & Pap's house at one time is a big deal! 

from L>R, in the green jammies: L (he's 3). A (she'll be 2 in May. i made her a very special quilt; you can read about it here) C (5) E (also 5) T (he's 6 months old) M is holding baby T, but also pregnant with Baby S. (who was born in April) Daughter A is 15, and holding a niece and nephew on her lap. granddaughter L (now 3) lives in California now, so wasn't able to join us. 

as you can see, throughout the 31 years of Birthday Cakes for Jesus that are represented here, we've had many changes, some losses and lots of additions to our family. But one thing that can always remain consistent is those traditions that we hold dear, the extra effort we make to ensure that Christmas is celebrated in a memorable and meaningful way, and the memories we make with our family- those we love the most, and hold the closest in our hearts.