HAPPY HOUSES QUILT TOP

The neighborhood from the happy houses swap is now a complete top. The quilting will wait until my shoulder is much better, as this is a bed size quilt, and I do my own quilting.

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE, MIRIAM, FOLLOW THE LEADER BLOCK

Gosh, I hope her name which "her name may mean bitterness" doesn't. I like Miriam. What a devoted sister she was. She was brave and she had strong leadership qualities. Yes, she made a mistake. Who doesn't make mistakes?

Three siblings in leadership roles, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, all working toward the same thing would, of course, have some struggle to it. God's strong action in punishing Miriam may have been the strong wake-up His people needed at the time to stick together and quit bickering.

As for dancing, men and women still dance in separation in the Middle East, or at least in conservative societies. The question about when you have danced for joy brought to mind my on-line quilting groups. How many times have we heard women say, "Doing the Snoopy Dance," when they have finally constructed that difficult block or finally completed a quilt top? To me it's a lot like "jumped for joy."

For my quilt block I used fabrics that convey dancing and following the leader -- some movement and some following.

MUSIC ON BLOGS

I read somewhere that some prefer silent blogs. I decided to poll my readers to see what they prefer. If the majority would prefer silent, I'll remove the music.

Personally I like relaxing music on blogs. If its a certain genre that I don't like to listen to and read, I just silence my volume on my computer, so as not to be distracted.

Majority will rule here, so thanks for voting.

Pat

THE ROWS ARRIVE!!!

After 10 1/2 months in transit, my rows are home! This swap started last summer, when each of us made our theme row. Mine was the spool flowers row.

Then they passed to 6 other gals, each adding a specific row, curved piecing, squares and rectangles, hearts, triangles, applique, and ending with free-choice. They each chose their own pattern and fabrics.

They also each signed my journal with thoughts about their quilting, family, etc., as well as signing their name on the top of a spool, and their location on the bottom, and signed a signature block for the back of the quilt, telling which row they made and dating it.

I'm just so excited to have this swap home. It's been all hush, hush, secretive all year, and I had no idea what anyone else did for mine. It's been fun as the other gal's rows passed through my sewing room, and I added to theirs.

What fun! And what a talented group of ladies!

WOB, MOTHERS OF MOSES, SUNSHINE AND SHADOW BASKET

Here's my block for the mothers of Moses. I chose the blue for the Nile that little Moses floated down, green for the reeds and grasses he passed through, and browns for the basket. I like how the pattern has the sharp diagonal line (or horizontal when you place it on point). This to me represents the two mothers, so different, and yet so the same in caring for and protecting Moses. Sun and Shadows. Sun and shadows.

I was confused by this pattern. Where is the basket, where's the sunshine, where's the shadows? Which way is up? In the end I like how it turned out.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD IS GROWING

I received 12 houses back from the swap, and have made 8 more to join them, so the neighborhood grows! At the bottom are the fabrics I plan to use for finishing the quilt. The yellow circles are for sashing with the bright stripes for setting corners. The purple house print is for the border.

I hope it all goes together. There are so many colors and fabric styles in the houses that it was hard to come up with something.

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE, POTIPHER'S WIFE, JOSEPH'S COAT BLOCK

When I think of Joseph's coat, I must admit that I think of the musical, Donny Osmond, and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. OK. Technicolor wasn't in the bible, but still...........

OK. This block isn't about Joseph, and this is a different cloak he lost anyhow. It's about Mrs. P. clinging to the empty coat, after being turned down by Joseph.

I think of Mrs. P as wealthy, wearing make-up, and also with lots of gold. So I used a magenta with gold to represent her. I choose a tan to represent Egypt -- sand, camels, all things tan, as the desert is a million colors of tan. And my other fabric has triangles to represent the Egyptian pyramids. It also has gold, representing the wealthy in Egypt, like Mrs. P., not the slaves, like Joseph.

It's not Joseph's block, although that is the name, Joseph's Coat. It is Mrs. Poliphar's block. These are the women of the Bible.

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE, TAMAR, PALM

While working on this block I was thinking about palm trees. In my youth, in Michigan, my whole experience with palm fronds was on Palm Sunday, when they were passed out at church. They always seemed exotic and a bit surreal, like many things at church when you are little.

Now that I live in Florida, palms are everywhere, of course, including my front yard. I love the way the sway and block/filter the light. It reminds me of Tamar hiding her identity from Judah, blocking who she was, yet at the same time with him.

I used dark green for the palm branch and a yellow-green for the background. Is that the light shining through, or yet another palm frond behind? I like it to not be obvious.

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE, LEAH, LOVER'S KNOT

I love the pieced version of this block where you really see the lover's knot.

But I also love applique. In this block I like the little crosses that create the overall pattern. This block was quite a challenge...getting the melons all the same, getting them to line up just right, working on the points, making the arks all flow. This block has taken time and patience!

All the time the block has taken reminds me of how long it took Leah to be loved by her husband. Even in giving him sons, he loved her sister and her children more. Yet in the end, we have evidence by her burial that Leah was loved by Jacob. Patience. It is hard, isn't it?

In choosing colors for this block, I used two shades of the same color. It reminds me of the sides of Leah, loving Jacob but not having that love returned.

RECOMBOBULATION AREA

Isn't this a great sign in an airport? Yes, discombobulate is a real word, as is discombobulation. I've never seen recombobulation before. But it is truly so appropriate for how you feel after going through security at an airport! There's a complete article about it.

SLEEP-OVER

My 9-year-old granddaughter spent the night last week-end. She decorated a t-shirt for her American Girl doll and also one for her friend's doll. Then we sewed them matching pants to wear with the t-shirts.



We also made blueberry pie, and here's a photo of the dolls enjoying the little pie that Bri made with the leftover dough.

Great fun was had by all!

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Last week my neighborhood from the House Swap arrived. I got back more uphill blocks than downhills, but I love them all.

Here are close-ups of one with a cat in the window and one that has Victorian gingerbread lace. Aren't they special?

PINK AND BROWN SWAP BLOCKS

Two more blocks are here, J-6, Puss in the Corner, and K-1, Road to Oklahoma.

PINK AND BROWN SWAP

Churn dash in pink/brown and brown/pink are one of the 5 sets of blocks I made for the pink/brown swap on SBS. I love this block. I think it is the second block I learned to make back in the 1970's. It is so simple and so traditional. Love the clean lines.

WOB, RACHEL, DOUBLE CROSS BLOCK

We studied Rachel last week, in my Women of the Bible on-line study. In my block I used the darker blue to represent Jacob's sons. The deep rose represents Rachel and Leah, the struggling sisters. I used the light blue to symbolize the sky, after thinking about the question, what would it be like to go into labor while traveling, especially in those times.

I wonder if women of that time had so very little power that they resorted to trickery to have some small control of their own lives. Then again, the men used trickery too. There's so much deception in this story!

EVERYWHERE A CLUCK, CLUCK!

My mailbox was clucking yesterday! The FatCat's Chicken Swap blocks arrived home to roost. Aren't they wonderful?!?

SIGGY FROM ITALY

This wonderful siggy arrived today from Laura in Italy. That tiny sailboat block is only 1 1/2" square! My goodness! The entire siggy is just 4 1/2" square. What wonderful work!

SIGGY BLOCK

This adorable Sunbonnet Sue siggy came to my house two days after I broke my shoulder. I am finally able to make one to reciprocate to Mary. Usually I keep a few made up ahead, but wouldn't you know, I had used them up just before my trip and fall!

MEMORIAL DAY

I made this block this weekend. It is going into a group comfort quilt project for a mom whose son died in Afghanistan, fighting for our freedom. It feels like such a small contribution to make.

WOB, REBEKAH, WELCOMING HAND BLOCK

This week, in my on-line bible study, we are studying Rebekah. As a young maiden, she said just the right words at the well, so that she would be identified as the appropriate wife for Isaac. For my Welcoming Hand block I chose to use deep blue to represent the water in the well. The tan is for the camels, so many in number, which she offered to water. The green represents the jealousy and rivalry between her sons, Jacob and Esau, as in 'green with envy'. I think sibling rivalry is a normal emotion. However, for the parents to get involved and play favorites, is a whole other issue. Meddling and trying to take matters into one's own hands seems to be a common theme for these Old Testament women, and perhaps for many women of today also. It can be hard to be still and let God's will play out. I also like the way the cross emerges in this block.

DJSP MAY GIFT

My Dear Jane Secret Pal gift arrived this week. She sent me a kit to make a sunflower table runner. Love the fabrics and the pattern! I also received really cute tiny notecards and a wooden hand presser.

It was a real pick-me-up in a dark, rainy week in Central Florida! She really brightened my day.

WOB, LOT'S WIFE, CROSSROADS BLOCK

This week in my on-line study of Women of the Bible, we are studying Lot's Wife. For many this is a familiar story of the woman who was turned to salt, because she looked back. Seems like a huge punishment for a quick glance, doesn't it?

What I am taking away from this study of Lot's Wife is that she was pretty attached to her life. I think her looking back literally would be a natural thing to do. But when it says 'looked back' does it mean perhaps that she longed for the lifestyle she was leaving behind and couldn't let go of? Was it more than a curious glance? I think so. I think she was reluctant to leave her old, comfortable, sinful ways.

I do think when you live with sinful ways around you, they grow on you and you become tolerant of them, and sometimes absorb those views as your own. In our current society tolerance is so often preached. It would be so easy to lose site of your own values under the guise of being tolerant of others, and then having that rub off on you as normal. I think that is one of the greatest dangers our society faces at this time. It is so important to take a stand for values you believe in. It is possible to love the sinner but hate the sin. We don't need to accept the sin as normal, all in the name of tolerance.

From my journal, when I made my block last year:

In pondering the quilt block for Lot's wife, I have several thoughts. What would Sodom look like with burning sulfur raining down? Would it be red and blinding? Would it be white and gray ash, reminiscent of pictures of the towers on 9/11? In the end I decided to make the 'stripes' of increasing urgency to look back dark. Dark represent evil to me. It represents the evils of Sodom that Lot's wife was so reluctant to let go of. I'm combining that with blue, the light. That's a color I associate with heaven.

WOB, HAGAR, WANDERING FOOT BLOCK

This week we are studying Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian slave. This is from my journal:

I used a mottled tan for the background of my Hagar block to represent the desert. Hagar must have been very frightened being alone with Ishmael wandering in the desert, after being cast out by Abraham and Sarah. I have desert camped with full provisions, and with loved ones and friends with me. Still the desert is so vast, so forboding. You'd better have what you need with you, or hope one of the other families has it to survive.

The green is for the occasional scrubby brush or bush in the desert, which is where Hagar put her son down, when they could not go on any longer.

The blue in the center is the life-giving well that Hagar saw when she opened her eyes. Even in the desert there's water.

I used vibrant rose also. Although Hagar was a foreigner, a slave, a woman, a nobody, she was SEEN by God. He saw her struggles. He was there for her. He provided. Not only collectively seen, as in God sees His people, but Hagar, herself, individually was seen. When you look at my block, the first thing you notice is the vibrant rose. It represents that God sees us on an individual personal level.

I think all woman can relate to Hagar at some point in their life. We all feel isolated and alone occasionally.

INKLINGO GIVE AWAY

There's a fun give away going on at Linda Franz' Inklingo blog. Click on the title to this post to check it out. Have fun!

WOB, SARAH'S CHOICE BLOCK

This week we studied Sarah. This is a quote from my journal.

"I chose three fabrics that each have lines to their patterns for Sarah for two reasons.

"First is all that moving with Abraham. We have lived many places, but never in a house longer than now, and that is just not quite 6 years yet. Move, move, move. I get it. Some of the lines are straight, some are curvy, but they all just keep going and going. Also, we moved to Saudi Arabia for my husband's job in 1981 and stayed 13 years! That was a culture shock move. I get it.

"Second, the lines literally are there to represent the lineage of the nation started by Sarah and Abraham. Some lines are straight, representing their blood descendants. Some are curvy, representing all the others in their flock.

"The colors are bright and radiant, representing Sarah's great beauty.

"The block isn't perfect, and that is just perfect with me. In hindsight (of course I aimed for a perfect block), the block's imperfections represent that Sarah wasn't perfect either, and neither are we. God loves us and still finds a useful place for us anyway, just as the square will find a place in my WOB quilt."

I love this on-line bible study. If you are interested in joining us (no affiliation), go to my first post on this topic, Eve, and click on the title or see the URL at the end of the post.