Women of Faith Quilt, or Book of Mormon Quilt

Here is the first block for our block of the month program we are starting at our church quilting group.  Our group is called Sisters in Stitches.  It is a group of LDS women who meet once a month to share our love of quilting and to teach new sisters how to quilt.  We decided recently that there are other quilts about Women of the Bible and such, but we wanted one that represented the LDS faith.  This one is going to be all about our testimonies as LDS women.  

For those of you who don't know what LDS means, it stands for Latter-Day Saint which is how we refer to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as Mormons.  

This block is called the Cornerstone.  I chose this one because the Book of Mormon is the cornerstone of our religion.  President Ezra Taft Benson said " The Book of Mormon is the Keystone in our witness of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the cornerstone of everything we do.  It bears witness of His reality with power of clarity."  In the introduction of the Book of Mormon, it says, “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”  I chose the colors I did because of the YW colors.  In the YW colors, green is the color for knowledge.  We receive much of our knowledge of the gospel from the Book of Mormon.  The gold color stands for virtue.  As a virtuous women, I will be able to return to live with my Father in Heaven.  I plan on using YW colors for all of my quilt blocks.  For me, this is going to represent more a Women of Faith quilt than just a Book of Mormon quilt.  This past year, I have really struggled with my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my faith has been tested.  This quilt is going to represent that test of faith that I have had.  It is going to be very personal for me.  I hope other people can find their own personal journey through their own quilt.

I plan on putting the instructions for this block on the web site some time soon.  I have it in word format and I'm not sure what the best way to put it on here would be, especially since I have some pictures included that are jpg format.  I'll think about that and get those instructions up soon.  I'm sure there are other members of the church who would love to make a Book of Mormon quilt.  I hope to have the instructions up by the end of the week.  Bug me if I don't get them up, if there is still anyone reading this blog.

Update on the Family

It seems like so much changes from month to month with my kids, especially with Rachael.  The only thing that doesn't change with her is she is still dancing.  She isn't dancing as many hours as she was now that she is a full time college student.  She is in a new chapter of her dance career though.  She isn't in VIR this year since that is a high school thing.  At Tapestry, they started a new things this year that is almost VIR, except it is for adults.  It's called Tapestry, Too.  She started that this year.  She was almost guaranteed a spot for that considering Brenna is the director for Tapestry, Too and Brenna has been Rachael's tap teacher for years.  In addition to Tapestry, Too, she is taking some technique classes at Tapestry and a choreography class through ACC as part of her degree plan.  She is also taking 2 other classes at ACC (for those reading this who are not in Austin, ACC stands for Austin Community College), Literature and College Mathematics.  After she finishes these classes, she will only have 1 science class and 1 speech class and all her "basics" will be complete.  She will only have her Major classes left.  She has her acceptance letter to Texas state.  Now, she just has to find out what she needs to do to get into the Dance program, which should be no problem.  We don't see her around the house much these days between school, dance, working, church and her social life.  She's a busy girl.

Andrew is not very busy at all.  The only extra-curricular activity he has right now is Boy Scouts.  The cooking school he was going to shut down in the fall.  They decided to retire and couldn't find anyone to buy it, so they just shut down.  I was disappointed.  I haven't been able to find anything comparable for Andrew to take that works with our schedule and is in south Austin.  He still is interested in cooking.  He doesn't cook much at home though.  I have discovered that Young Chef taught him how to do portions of a recipe, but never really taught him how to follow a recipe from beginning to end and make an entire meal.  He helps me cook a lot, but I have to help him a lot too.  He is now learning how to make more things and he will soon be able to make things on his own.  He still likes to bake a lot.  Given his choice to do anything, he would play video games all day and that is what I want to change more than anything.

Jeremy is still my little handful.  He is so smart and so full of energy.  He loves to play outside with his friends, he LOVES Legos, riding his scooter, jumping on the trampoline, reading, making up stories, creating movies/plays, and playing video games with his brother.  He has an incredible imagination and comes up with great stories.  He really wants to film a movie for cub scouts.  He started Tae Kwon Do in September and he really loves that.  He got his yellow belt right before Christmas.  He is doing great.  We are having a few problems with school work and some behavior.  He is having a lot of trouble dealing with me being in a wheel chair.  I think he is worried sub consciously that I am going to die since his grandma died only a few years after she had to go into a wheel chair.  We took him to a therapist recently and we will see if she can help him work through these problems.  He is such a sweet kid and everyone who meets him loves him.

Stan is still working at Tokyo Electron.  He is doing more woodworking and is geocaching a lot.  He was called to serve as  Bishop of the Austin ward in January, so that is keeping him really, really busy.  He is gone a lot, which is hard on the entire family, but we are blessed by his service.  I'll post another time with all of Stan's wood working things.  He has made some amazing puzzles and toys.  He is going to help my cub scouts make some things in a few weeks.  That should be fun.

Till next time!

I am still alive

I am really not doing very well at this blogging stuff.  It has been almost a year since my last post. I am going to try for more frequent, but short post.  I wait too long to update, then feel overwhelmed because I have so much to post.  No more.  Life is good now though.  Still in a wheel chair, but walking some.  Hope to be able to walk around the house soon.  I'm working hard at it even though I'm a little tired of going to PT twice a week.

We just thought we were busy last year.  This year, busy took on a whole new meaning.  Stan was called to be bishop of the Austin ward.  I don't see him much on Sunday, or Tuesday and Wednesday for that matter.  We have already received many blessings from his calling though and I know there are many more to come.  Even though he doesn't think so, he truly is a man of God and he is the right man for the calling.

Our quilting club at church, Sisters in Stitches, is starting a new project.  It is a block of the month project that is going to be a Book of Mormon/Woman of Faith quilt.  I got to pick the first block.  I chose the Chimney and Cornerstone block because the Book of Mormon is the cornerstone of our religion.  I have a few corrections I have to make to the file, but then I want to post it on my blog so if you want to make a Book of Mormon quilt too, you can.  Mandy, one of the other members, has made a blog just for the quilt, so I will also put a link to her blog.

I gave up on selling bags at Etsy.  I couldn't keep up with bags for the site and still sew the things I wanted too.  I would rather sew what I want to.  I do still do custom orders, so that is still fun. 

Ok, post one down.  Not too bad.  I'll try to not wait 10 months to post again.

Adjusting to a new life

The last 3 weeks have been full of adjustments for me.  I posted all about my flare during my last post.  I really thought things would be much better now.  Usually, my function has more than 50% returned by the time I finish the oral steroids.  This time, nothing.  My right leg has been paralyzed for almost 3 weeks now.  My whole life has changed in the last 3 weeks.  I can't do things the same way I used to.  I have to be careful about where I park or I can't get back into my van because there isn't enough room for the wheel chair ramp.  I can't go to the grocery store by myself.  I can't go to the fabric store by myself.  That is the hard one for me.  I love going to the fabric store and picking out the fabric for my next project and getting all the notions.  Joann's, the fabric store I visit most, is hard for me to get around at all.  It's a small, cramped store and my wheel chair doesn't even fit down all the isles.  I have to take one of my kids with me.  Rachael likes to go, but Andrew just complains and Jeremy isn't big  enough to be much help.  I can't  go over to friends house very easily because I can't always get into their house.  I can't just run into 7-11 for a drink.  I've been  really trying to just take things one  day at a time.  I've been trying to do as much as I can to keep some of my  independence.  I know when my mother in law had to go into a wheel chair, she had a hard time too.  She and I are both very independent people.

Tonight, I just about had a total break down.  I usually use the walker to get from the car to the house and just drag my leg.  This evening, I had a few bags of groceries plus my dinner and  no one else was home, so I thought I would take the wheel chair in so I could get everything in.  Big mistake.  I picked up a new wheel chair tonight, and it doesn't "off road" as well  as the one I've been borrowing.  Trying to get up on the side walk, I  got stuck.  The front wheel was against the side walk side ways and the power wheel was off the ground.  I tried to stand up and pull  it up, but it didn't work.  I called every person I could think of that lived anywhere close to me.  I don't know a lot of my neighbors very well.  We mostly just say 'HI" in passing.  I don't have any of their phone numbers except  my next door neighbor on the right and she was pulling out as I pulled in.  No one I called was home.  I had to walk and drag my leg over to the neighbors on the left.  No one answered at first.  I got all the way back home and they came out-they had been taking a nap.  He was able to get  the wheel chair unstuck and back into the van.  One of my closest friends, and the person I called first, called me back as I was coming into the house.  I broke down and cried hysterically.  I still start to cry every time I think of it.  Just that small ordeal totally exhausted me.  My leg is in spasms from the extra activity.  I just hate this.  I have known since I was first diagnosed with MS that I had a higher chance of ending up in a wheel chair.  I just didn't think it would happen so soon.  I thought I would have 10 or 12 years before a wheel chair was necessary and I thought it would be a little more gradual.  I'm still holding onto a little  bit of hope that I will get some function back.  It may just be denial though.

I have a few new jobs lined up.  I"m excited about them.  I've been asked by an old high school friend to make a few ruck sack style back packs.  I made a prototype for myself to make  sure I had the pattern correct (I made the pattern myself from a photo).  Now, I am working on hers.  It's a nice, big back pack and carries a ton of stuff.  There are also lots of pockets.  Jeremy's occupational therapist wants one too now.  I am also going to be making a quilt for one of the other VIR moms.  I may let the things in my  Etsy store expire and just make things custom for friends and family who request things.

Jeremy has decided he wants to learn to sew.  He wants to make a book bag for his cousin.  We did some embroidery together on it and now we have started sewing it together.  I'm going to be doing  some sewing with my cub scouts next year when they are Webelos.  This will be good practice for me to teach boys how to sew.  I hope the other boys are as excited as he is.

Already missed

Well, I was planning on posting at least once a week, but I've already missed.  I have a good reason though.  My monster of a disease, also known as multiple sclerosis, has shown it's ugly head again.  I was really hopeful that the Copaxone I have been switched to would be effective faster than expected, but that is not to be the case.  I am currently having  the worst MS flare I have ever had.  It started 10 days ago.  I woke up with my hip flexors feeling a little weak.  I could still walk normally, but I felt it when I stepped up.  It just seemed to take a little extra effort.  This was the Friday before Easter.  We had a normal Easter weekend, including an Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  Things were still  the same on Monday when I went to physical therapy.  I asked my therapist about it and he assessed my hip strength and he said it was just a little  bit weak.  He gave me soeme exercises to start doing at home.  Tuesday brought more weakness though.  I sent my neuro an email about it and by the time she got back with me, my entire right leg from the hip down was paralyzed.  I can't even take a step on my own now.  I was so not ready for this.  My neuro got me started on IV solumedrol right away.  However, it didn't help at all this time.  I usually get 50% or more of my function back from the IV steroids.  I didn't get anything back this time.  I'm on an oral taper right now and still  no improvement.  I have to go get an MRI tomorrow.  I'm hoping they can find where the problem in on the MRI.  I'm also hoping they can do something about it.  I can take a few steps if I pick up my leg by my pant leg and make it step.  Other wise, I'm stuck in a wheel chair.  I'm grateful that I have access to a handicapped van, wheel chair, walker, etc without having to wait to get all of that stuff.  My mother in law left her handicapped van to us when she passed away.  Stan's grandma has been using it for the past 2 years.  I feel bad we had to take it back from her, but Beth wanted to make sure I had it if I needed it.  I'm trying to cope the best I can, but it has been really hard.  I will be the first to admit that I am scared.  I'm scared I'm going to be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life.  I don't  feel  like I can take care of my family the way I want to either.  I'm glad my kids are older and can help me out around  the house.  I don't want to put extra stress on them.  I'm suppose to be the mom and I'm suppose to take care of them.  They are my life and I love them dearly.


Rachael is getting ready to officially graduate.  She won't have an actual graduation since she is homeschooled, but she will be considered graduated.  She has been taking some classes at ACC for the last 2 years.  She will start college with 26 credit hours.  We went to a local art museum with a beautiful garden a few weeks ago and took some great pictures for her senior pictures.  They turned out so good.  I'm pleased with my work, if I do say so myself.  I"ve been trying to load them onto FB, but I keep getting an error message.  I"m going to try to put them on here now and see if I can get them to load.  My daughter is so beautiful and she is so photogenic.  If she was taller, she would make a great model.  She isn't  interested in modeling though.  She only wants to dance.

Speaking of dance, her very last VIR show is this Saturday.  She has a solo in the show.  I"m really excited to see the show.  I love watching her dance.  If your in Austin and want to see a good show, it is at the Carver at 2pm and 7pm.

Mormon Prom

 This weekend was "Mormon Prom", more formally know as the Priest & Laurel Formal.  Rachael wasn't really sure she wanted to go, but all  of her friends really wanted her to, so she decided to go.  One reason she didn't want to go was because Andy is on his mission.  She didn't really want to go stag, so she asked one of the boys in our ward, Aaron Stoddard, to go with her.  She figured that was pretty safe since he is younger and she wants to wait for Andy anyway.  She didn't want a long, formal prom dress this year.  She did that last year.  She found this fabric at Joann's in the fall and fell in love with it, so she decided to make a wrap dress out of it and wear it to prom.  I think it turned out great.  There was a few frustrations with it, but she still did a great job with it.  I made Aaron a matching tie.  Now that prom is over, he gave the tie back and we are going to send it to Andy so he and Rachael can match when he gets back.  She had a good time at the prom.  She is kinda outgrowing youth dances though.  She usually comes home and says they were lame.  She has gone to a few young single adult dances and she likes them a lot better. The picture below is one of Rachael and her cousin Aashlie.  Aashlie designed her dress and drew it out and her mom made it.  She did a really good job on the dress too.

I wanted to share with everyone the bag that is a Poppy Mom Gifts original.  Rachael gets credit for the design.  She drew it out for me and then I had to figure out how to sew it.  Her original design had 4 sections in the front rather than the 5 I put in this bag.  It was easier to alternate fabrics with an odd number of wedge pieces.  I made this one for my niece, Jessica.  She picked out the main body fabric from my stash and I found a few others that went with them.  I actually used upholstery trim for the strap.  I made one using the same pattern for Rachael, but ended up having to alter the pattern a little bit.  I thought I had taken a picture, but I can't find it right now.  Rachael's used the Indian silky fabrics that are so beautiful and intricate.  The problem was that they are thick and didn't lay flat when I sewed the small strips together.  I had to make the wedge pieces bigger and use only 3 instead of 5.  The Indian fabric has a unique property that it was teal with a gold print on one side but gold with a teal print on the other.  Rachael's bag alternates the teal and the gold, then I used a gold drapery tie for the handle.  I have a pattern with instructions written out.  The next time I make  one, I'm going to take photos of each step so I can put a tutorial on my blog for this bag.  I didn't take a picture of the inside.  It's just lined with a black satiny type fabric.   This one has a pouch style pocket, but Rachael's has a zipper pocket.  I would have preferred to put a zipper in this one but I didn't have any black ones.  This is probably the nicest bag I've made, meaning that it isn't a casual type bag.  It's fancier and can be really fancy depending upon the fabric I use.  Rachael's is really fancy since we used fancy fabric. 

I really need to find the time to start working on more bags for my Etsy store.  I've been working on the quilts for the quilting club and a bag for the YW auction.  I'll put pictures of the bag and quilts on my blog and on my FB when I am done with them.  If anyone in the Austin area wants to come to the YW auction, it will be May 7th.  I know it will be at the Parker Lane chapel, but I don't know the time yet.  I'll post that when I find out.  Everyone have a great week.

Not much going on

There isn't really much going on right now, but I really want to try to post something once a week more so I get into the habit of posting.  If I don't get in the habit, then it will end up being months before I post again.

Life is just on auto pilot right now.  I started physical therapy about 6 weeks ago to see if I can get some strength back into my foot.  With the flare I had in December, I lost most of the movement in my right foot.  I can twitch it a little bit, but not much more than that.  I really want to be able to drive normally though.  Right now, my van is equipped with a left foot accelerator.  This means my van is the only thing I can drive. It is difficult when Stan has a scout camp out.  No one else has a large vehicle to take the boys anywhere except the Stoddard's and Stan always feels bad that they have to use their van each month.  He used to leave me with the Rio, but now I can drive it.  I will be suprised if I get all the movement back in my foot, but I would like to get enough to drive.  I have made some progress, but it is so slow.  Last week, every time I had PT, my foot would just lock up.  This week was better but I still have a long way to go.

The kids are also on auto pilot.  We still have cub scouts, boy scouts, mutual, dance, cooking class, OT, home schooling, chores, and play time.  Jeremy has been struggling to get his school work done lately so we started a reward system.  He wasn't getting done until 5 or 6 pm.  It was crazy.  Now, he gets a star if he gets done by 2:30.  After the first 5 stars, he got to go mini golfing.  We did that today at Peter Pan Golf.  It's the only mini golf place open in Austin.  There used to be a few really cool one on 290 when I was dating Stan, but it closed.  Peter Pan is just ok, but Jeremy loves it.  Now, he has to get 10 stars and I will take him to a movie of his choice.  Then, he has to get 15 and we will go roller skating.

I started working on 2 new quilts recently.  We started a quilt club at church called Sisters-in-Stitches.  Last month, I taught the nine patch to everyone.  I started a regular nine patch for the purpose of teaching the class.  I also wanted to show some variations, so I also started a disappearing nine patch.  I  finished the top of the disappearing nine patch, and I have it basted to the batting and the backing.  I need to quilt it now.  Rachael has been making her prom dress though, so I had to wait until she finished that.  She did so today, so I need to put the serger away so I have room to quilt.  I'll post some pictures on here once I'm done.  My regular nine patch squares are done, so I need to get the sashing fabric for the class in April.  I can't decide what color to do the sashing, so I need to just look around the fabric store.  That is a pretty dangerous thing for me though.  I've also started another bag.  This is going to be a huge bag with an oriental flare for the YW auction fund-raiser for girls camp. I didn't realize how big the bag was when I picked it out.  It is about 21 inches wide.  It will make a good mom bag though.  I love the combinations of fabrics I chose, so I'm excited to get it finished.  I have a list of projects I need to start and finish before the end of the year.  I"m excited about all of them and can't wait to try some of the new quilt patterns.  I'm especially excited about the new x-block I got at the Georgetown quilt show.  Hey, I just realized I should have posted about that.  I have lots of great  pics.  I'm sleep and ready for bed, so I'll post about that next time.

Have a great week.