Block 4 Grow in Grace

Block 4 of Grow in Grace is in the facebook files - 

As always, if you're not on facebook, email me at allieoopsdesigns (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know which blocks you want.  Some comments are not coming through to my email, thanks google.  Sigh.  I'm so sorry if I've missed your comment.

I have to show you how Jan is putting her blocks together - 

I love it!!  And I'm a wee bit jealous of how organized she is in her sewing room.  Well, maybe a lot jealous.

As most of you know, Jenny of Elefantz is doing a book study of Gentle Domesticity.  Her latest book post is about color.  I really embraced this concept, lol.  For two and a half years, my grandmother's chair has been sitting in my bedroom with no cushions.  It used to have memory foam cushions, but when we moved into this house, the owners had left us a bumper crop of fleas from their cats, so I threw them out as I was doing battle.  So for all this time, it's been holding laundry instead of me.

I missed that chair.  I slept in that chair when I was a child - it reclines.  It's older than I am, my mom bought it for my grandparent's when she was in high school.  I wanted it back in my sewing room.  So, with part of my very last paycheck,  I went to the store and bought some outdoor patio furniture cushions, they were the perfect size!

I looked at the colors they had, grey, brown, tan and turquoise.  I reached for the turquoise, then hesitated - would it look stupid?  Too bright?  I picked up the brown and went to the cashier.

I got halfway there, and stopped cold.  The thought came into my mind of Jenny's blue couch, and how much I loved seeing it in her pictures.  Then I thought, "life is short, live it in color".  I went back for the turquoise.

In my sewing room, I have bright yellow chrome and vinyl kitchen chairs, that go with my chrome dining table that I sew on.  The bright yellow chairs with the turquoise cushions makes my heart sing!!!  It's like walking into blue skies and sunshine.  My sewing room needs color - it energizes me, makes me feel more creative.  I'm so glad I went back and switched cushions.

And now I have some unsettling news - about mom.  I took her to the heart doctor yesterday.  She's somehow developed ventricular tachycardia, which is a rapid heartbeat on the bottom of the heart.  They put her on new meds for it.  I'm taking her for an echocardiogram on Tuesday, and they want her to have a heart catheter with dye.  She's allergic to the dye.  She got very sick the last time she had this done, before her major heart surgery, and doesn't want to do it.  This is probably caused by a blockage in the lower part of the heart, and the only way to see it is with the heart cath.  If they see a blockage, they can go right in and put in stents.  If there's no blockage, they'll put in a pacemaker/defibrillator.

I talked to my aunt, the nurse, about this.  First you get ventricular tachycardia, then ventricular fibrillation, then cardiac arrest.  So we're trying to talk her into getting it done.  She just turned 81, and is rather tired of all the poking and prodding, and of course ultimately it's her decision - but we don't want to lose her.  I would like to ask you all to pray for her, she's been through so much, and this is hard news.  She doesn't have a whole lot of time to decide, apparently.  They want to do it as soon as possible.

Thank you my friends.  Count your blessings today.

Love,
Allie

Block 3 Grow in Grace

Friday morning, time for another block - "Be blessed"!

I think this is my favorite.  As always, the files are in the Facebook group, if you're not on Facebook email me at allieoopsdesigns [at] gmail [dot] com and let me know which blocks you want.  

Some comments are not coming through to my email, so do email me directly instead of commenting here - I may not see it.  

Our weather has been up and down, raining then freezing then melting and freezing and snowing.  I could use cleats on my tennis shoes and rope lines everywhere.  I actually saw a group of Canadian geese sitting in the snow at the library the other day - I thought they migrated south!!  Maybe they needed a book for the flight.

Cardinals are everywhere, they sure brighten up the grey and brown landscape.

They're cleaning out the seed pods on the Rose of Sharon.

I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day.  We don't celebrate Hallmark holidays, lol, but we do celebrate the day after, National Discount Candy Day.  Yum.

Be blessed today and every day...
Love,
Allie

Block 2 Grow in Grace

Good morning!!  Boy did I oversleep this morning.  We dropped 30 degrees last night in a matter of hours, this changeable weather makes me so tired!

Block 2 of Grow in Grace is in the files on facebook, again, if you don't have facebook you'll have to either email me or comment on this post with your email.  I've got a few comments that are no-reply with no way to email you.  If you've commented, and haven't received an answer from me, that's why.  Also tell me which block you'd like, please.

All instructions, and the scripture referenced, are in the file.

Something lovely happened yesterday - my friend called, her former daughter-in-law had sent her several dozen roses.  She wanted me to come get some, there were so many she wanted to share!  So, I took some to mum [she was tickled pink] and brought some home for myself.

A touch of spring on this very cold day, how nice is that!

I hope you all have a blessed day, I'm going to clean my house, it's sorely neglected.....

Love,
Allie

No-Reply

Earth Visitor, if you could email me or comment with your email, I'd appreciate it - I got your comment on my last post but you're a no-reply blogger and I can't email you.  Folks, if you don't hear from me and you've left a comment, it's because I have no way to contact you, so please leave your email on your comment - thanks!!

Love,
Allie

Block 1 And A Quilt Block Tutorial

Good morning!!  It's time for a new BOM, or BOW, as I'm uploading every Friday.

This is block 1 of Grow In Grace, already in the Facebook files on my group [link on sidebar].

The blocks are all based on scripture, which are given in the pattern itself.  If you do NOT use facebook, which I can understand perfectly, please leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you as an attachment.

In addition to the free BOW over on my facebook page, I was going to make a bed-size quilt with the same fabrics, a fat quarter bundle of Hopelessly Romantic.   Trying to think of a way to show off the fabrics, yet add some interest, I was scrambling for a good quilt block to use.  One morning, while waiting for my coffee, I was looking at the kitchen floor – 

And thought, that’s it!  I got some white tone-on-tone fabric for the middle, and started figuring out the math.  I’m quite sure that this is not a new block, someone has already made it somewhere over the years, but this is what I came up with.

For each block, you’ll cut four squares at 6” each, and four squares for the middle at 2.5” each.  Draw a line from corner to corner on the back of the 2.5” square, and lay it on the corner of the big square, right sides together, like this.

This is where I ran into problems.  Apparently you can’t stitch right on the line – I stitched just below it, on the corner side.

When I stitched right on the line, and folded it over, it was a bit short.  Stitching just below the line will line it up perfectly with the corner.  When you’re satisfied with the placement, trim your seams to ¼” and press open.  I press all seams open to reduce bulk.

This works best with non-directional fabrics.  If using a fabric that needs to go in one direction, you’ll have to pay close attention to where your small corners are!  You’ll make four of these, and put all the small corners to the center.

Stitch two blocks together, twice, then stitch the rows together, keeping your centers aligned.

Finished block.

For those of you who love piecing, it’s a simple block.  For me, not so much – I won’t be making more, lol.  My quilt will be just squares.  I love the fabrics, and want to show them off, but want it done in a hurry.  Trying to get seams to match up is not my favorite!

There are lots of possibilities with this block, you could join the blocks together as is, or add sashing in between, or even add the small squares to each corner of the block.  Play with it and have fun!  I’ll be doing something much simpler, lol.

And now I think I'll go get another coffee, and enjoy the sunrise.  Be safe, be warm, and please pray for Jenny as she battles historic flooding.  I can't even imagine.

Love,

Allie