If I Stand, Jars of Clay

There's more that rises in the morning than the sun
And more that shines in the night than just the moon
There's more than just this fire here that keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger than this room

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
Stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise that you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
So if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

And there's more that dances on the prairies than the wind
And more that pulses in the ocean than the tide
There's a love that's fiercer than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother's when her baby's at her side

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

So if I stand let me stand on the promise You will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy that has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

And if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for home

I've fallen in love...

.... with Crochet. Shhh... don't tell Joel.

My first and failed project. :)

I made two other slouchy hats before this one. However this is my own pattern and fits much better. The orange wasn't my favorite but I had the yarn to use so I used it. I kinda like it.

This is also my own pattern. A cowl made out of double crochet and bobble stitches.

This ruffly scarf is from a pattern I found online. I like it a lot!

WIP Wednesday

In the sewing blogging community there is what they call Work In Progress Wednesday. A day that many crafters link up their blogs and do a show and tell of what they are working on. I thought I would join the ranks and add my little bit of sewing craftiness to the mix. I'm not going to link up to the other blogs yet because I would feel a bit out of my league there (there are some AMAZING sewers/quilters out there). And of course I am not at a point where I could do each and every WIP Wednesday.. that would get a mite boring for everyone because it would be the same thing over and over, week after week with just a few extra stitches here and there. I'm a slow crafter these days. So here we go!

Go Dog, Go! This is my first try at embroidery. I traced a page out of Isaac's favorite book and am practicing my split stich, back stitch and satin stitch. Eventually I hope to have it framed and hung on his wall amidst a few other pages from some of his other favorite books.

Another embroidery piece I've begun. This one I drew free hand on to the fabric. I was bad and just used some regular markers to draw on the fabric with.. not actual fabric markers. Oh wells. I'm pretty excited with the turn out and actually have a bit more done on it then this picture shows.

This is the fabric that I need to eventually cut into binding for Isaac's quilt. Not something I'm looking forward to, a bit nervous about that process.

And of course, Isaac's quilt. Still in the quilting progress but SOOOOO close to being done. I'm doing a large grid-like quilting pattern, so it's just a lot of long straight lines (lol, I called my lines straight....). The quilting runs horizontal, which I'm done with, and vertical which I am ALMOST done with. The vertical is taking awhile because of the length and because not all my seams matched up so it is a bit of trial and error.. more error actually.

And there you have it. My works in progress. I hope to be at a point someday that each Wednesday will hold a bit more variety. I'm excited to eventually show you the finished products too!

I might be insane..

I just decided to start another quilt. I won't really start it until I finish this current one. And I won't be able to disclose details about it on here other then that I'm working on one in the case that the recipient reads my blog which would in turn spoil the surprise for them. But the clues are as follows.. it'll be  small, it will spin in the wind (figuratively, not literally.. though I'm guessing if you threw it up in the air on a very windy day it might spin.. ok... I'm getting off track here...), and it will have a bit of whimsy to it. This one actually will have a deadline to it.. well Isaac's was given a deadline by yours truely yesterday too (by his birthday). So now I have two deadlines and a few others in my head that may also have deadlines... So, hmm.. I have work to do.

Walking walking walking...

Walking Foot. This little bugger gave me so much trouble to get.. but is making things so much easier now.

Wrestling with the machine.

Some quilting done, not the straightest.. but it's a start!

Finally!

I'm back to the quilt. My Walking Foot magically appeared in the mail a couple days ago (long drawn out Amazon transaction.. Oy!), so I've been doing some practicing on mini quilt sandwiches and finally made the switch to Isaac's tonight. It's going so much better then the hand quilting was! I was beginning to dread quilting when I was thinking of doing it all by hand. Not any more, my quilting excitement is back! I already have a good bit quilted and that was just in an hour! It still is not perfect, never will be. My machine is small so it takes some work to shove this twin size quilt through. But all in all I'm very happy with it.

What fun is it to do a project like this and dread it? NOT FUN. I still adore quilts and now I see myself stitching up more eventually! If hand quilting were all there was... I'd be one and done.

As I have said before though.. My next first quilt will be a smaller one!!!! ;-)

Stand still.

That's where I'm at right now with the quilt. I started hand quilting it a couple weeks ago. Oy! I'm NOT that skilled in the hand stitching department. I know, I know.. it takes practice. BUT.. I don't know if I'm willing to "practice" on this quilt. I just wasn't feeling very good about the quality of my stitches and how they would hold up over time. This IS a kids quilt. Kids are rough on things, Isaac is ROUGH on things. I don't think my hand quilting would withstand his destructive tendencies. So, I sighed, I groaned, I looked at my stitches and said to myself "Self, why don't we figure something else out before you go completely crazy...". So my fingers began typing away and soon discovered that my machine does in fact have an attachment to buy to help in the quilting department. A Walking Foot.  Now, I know Walking feet are not at all new, but I assumed that my cheapo machine wouldn't be able to work with a quilt. I still don't know if it will.. but the part is on it's way. I'll soon find out. And hopefully along with the Walking Foot's arrival my sighs and groans will fade away into oblivion.

My handy little friend that will soon land on my doorstep.