Just checking in...

Hello friends! Again a week (or more) has gone by without a post...I try, really I do, but life is hectic and boring for the most part. I do have a beautiful quilt to share with you all today though. This quilt was made by my little sister, Pamela, for our Mom's birthday.

Isn't it gorgeous! She did a wonderful job on it and she has only been sewing/quilting for just under a year!!!! Good job Pam, I'm excited to see what you come up with next!!!

Oh and I finished my Pie's and Tart's quilt top completely!!!

I'm not sure how I want this quilted yet so this will go into the quilt closet for a little while. I started this quilt in February 2009 and finished May 2010 and it was a bom that I did through Sue Daley. I added in lots of background fabrics from what was sent and even added other fabrics, just to make it more my own. I really enjoyed making this quilt and I'm a little lost without having it to work on :o)

Right now I'm working on some embroidery blocks in the evenings and a little Kaffe in my sewing room. Love that Kaffe Fassett fabric and his books too. I think I've got them all. They work very well as coffee table books, as they are so beautiful!

Here are some pictures of our yard. Everything looks so pretty...Jay really has a knack for laying it out and keeping things beautiful.

Hopefully the summer won't be too hot and dry and we will get to enjoy all this without running the sprinklers all the time.
It's a 3 day weekend coming up in the United States to honor & remember all of our service men and women who've died while in service to our Country. Thank you to them and their families for the sacrifice. May you have a Blessed Memorial Day weekend. Be safe! ranette

Very stressful evening in Stillwater, Oklahoma...

Well in many parts of Oklahoma, actually. Springtime in tornado alley...gotta love it! With the advance of technology we now know days in advance that the weather will be "ripe" for tornado outbreaks and let me tell you last night it was just that.

It's not very often that the weathermen tell the good people of Stillwater that we've got a huge super cell coming right down the main highway for miles and miles and miles, but we did.

I did not take this beautifully scary picture, but my daughter Kara's friend Sean McGuire did and you may have even seen it on The Weather Channel.

I didn't take this picture either, but it looked like this right over my house, which is just over a mile from where this was taken. It was tense for a little while, but God tells us in His Word that we can calm the seas and I believe Him, so we prayed and believed and we were still scared, but thank you Lord, we were alright!

Stillwater only had minor damage and it happened less than a mile from my house. A fast food restaurant lost parts of it's roof and maybe part of the building, trees broken and twisted and the high school may have had some minor damage, but we're not sure...Allie is really hoping school will be canceled today, but I'm sure it won't....lol

A friend of Kara's named Alex Davis took this picture....it reminds me that God always keeps His promises and that makes me glad!

Have a good Thursday...I know I will :o) ranette

So it seems that I've lost the first two weeks of May...

Actually the last 3 or 4 weeks have been a bit of a blur! First thank you for the nice emails checking on me. My 96 year old Grandpa passed away the last week of April so I had to help deal with all that goes along with that. I really think it was his time as he outlived his wife and both of his children and that made him so sad. I believe that he is now at peace though.

However there was a lot of work to be done at his farm in Southeastern Colorado to prepare it for sale. It hadn't been lived in for 7 years and nothing had been thrown away for 60 years. I didn't take many pictures, but here's one of my brother burning the old grainery.

The wind was calm and quiet when we started, but it soon turned very windy and ugly outside....

Luckily my brother and Jay were able to keep it under control...whew! The farm did sell, although there are still some things to deal with.

I didn't sew one single stitch for almost two weeks....gasp....which means I didn't meet the April sewing goals that I had set for myself and even when I got back home I was just too tired for a few days.
But I finally made myself get back in gear and kept on going with the Pumpkin Quilt and here it is....Finished....finally....well at least the top is done.

Now maybe I can get it quilted before Fall. I'm actually pretty pleased with how this turned out...working on it was something that I usually had to "make" myself do and I'm not sure why.
I'm still stitching on the Pie's and Tart's quilt...it's just slow going. I've been fighting off the urge to start something new and then this arrived in my mailbox yesterday and the battle is over....I will be starting something new very soon.

So much inspiration!!!
It's a rainy, stormy day here in Oklahoma, wish I could just stay home and sew, but nope I'm off to work in a bit. Have a great weekend everyone!

ranette