Esther's Quilt

It is finished!!

I'm so happy with it too! Thank you so much to everyone who gave to this family to bring her home. They are actually in Uganda now in the process of bringing her home! Praise the Lord!

Year in a Glance

Well I 've been terrible about posting this year. I try every year to be better, but every year I fail. :) I thought I'd go back and just recount an important or memorable event that happened each month this year.

JANUARY

I bought myself a new computer. (Might not seem like a memorable event for most, but this was huge for me and Blake)

FEBRUARY

Found out that we were going to be an Aunt and Uncle!

MARCH

Went to Disney World with the Penfield family!

APRIL

Attended the first craft show for the year in Ennis, Texas with my mom and sister.

MAY

Saw my little sister graduate from high school!

JUNE

Celebrated our 2nd anniversary!

JULY

Had a bit of a scare when our niece, Cali Jayne, thought she was coming early, but she didn't. Thank God!

AUGUST

Blake started his last year of Law School! I wrecked my car, but was extremely blessed to be safe and have great insurance! :) Was able to get myself a new car!

SEPTEMBER

Celebrated on the first day of the month the birth of our first niece and goddaughter Cali Jayne!!

OCTOBER

Blake's brother married our new sister-in-love Jackie! Also, Blake finished Practice Court 1 and 2, which happens to be the absolute hardest part of law school.

NOVEMBER

Celebrated Thanksgiving with the Gager Family in Uvalde!

DECEMBER

Celebrated Christmas morning with the Penfield Family and then the evening with the Gager's.

It's been a great year. There were definitely times that I felt like Job. In all the blessings there was a multitude of trials. But the Lord stood by us and brought us through every trial into a new blessing. While there were moments where I couldn't see beyond the day or week ahead, it's awesome to look back and see how the Lord helped us through it all.

I know 2012 has a lot of changes ahead. Blake will be graduating and taking the BAR and we will probably be moving away from Waco. I'm a planner and like to know what the plan is for our future. At this moment I honestly can't see past about mid-May. But I know the Lord is in control and will be there every step of the way. I can't wait to see what he has in store!

Buy a Quilt Block for Esther

If you read my sister's blog you might have read her story about a little girl name Esther that she met in Uganda. She met her for the first time 2 years ago on her first trip to Uganda. She was a tiny little girl with a big beautiful smile. Back in June when Lexie returned to Uganda she was surprised to find Esther still at the orphanage. At first she wasn't the same cheerful little girl that she remembered. Years in the orphanage had changed sweet Esther's cheerful nature. After a while Lexie was finally able to see her smile and saw that glimmer of the Esther she knew.

When she returned home she was on a mission to find a family for sweet Esther. By God's amazing plan and provision she found them! So now it's our turn to step up and fight for Esther and help bring her home. Let's help the Stonebrook family raise the funds needed to adopt her.

Buy a quilt block for $10. All proceeds will go to the Stonebrook family adoption fund. I will then sew a quilt with all the blocks that I will send to sweet Esther and her family. To buy a block you can either send a check to me or click on the donate button the right column and pay by credit card or pay pal.

Thank you in advance for all donations. God has a great plan for Esther and her new family. Let's help bring her home!

Zig Zag Quilt

I am almost finished with a quilt top that I've been working on for the last few months. It's taken me so long because I keep stopping it and starting another project. But I told myself that I would not start another quilt or project until I had this quilt finished. I have a few strips to add to the sides and top and bottom, but I just had to share it!

My sweet husband agreed to hold it up for me while I took the picture. I love his feet sticking out at the bottom! :)

I got the pattern from here. It was super easy to use! I totally recommend you purchasing patterns from her! I used a mix of Heather Bailey lines for the fabric including Nicey Jane, Pop Garden and Bijoux.

Kitchen

Two posts in one day?! What's the world coming to? :) I just wanted to share with you guys a little "face lift" I did in our kitchen. I never loved the area over our kitchen sink so I did something about it. Here's what I did.....

I found this idea on Pinterest (place where I spend waaaay too much time!) to color clear vases with acrylic paint. It was super easy and I love the result. You just pick a few different colors of acrylic that you like, drip it down in the vase and twirl it around till it covers all the surfaces. Let it dry over night and voila! Super cute vases!

The framed applique bird idea I also got from Pinterest. A woman had posted a pillow she made with appliqued birds on a line in different color fabrics. It was super easy also. And those are my favorite part!

Pillows for my Sister

It's been too long since I last posted. At one point I tried to change the layout of our blog and I messed it up so bad. I got so frustrated that for a long time I just didn't want to look at it because I didn't know how to fix it. But no worries! It's fixed now. It's a silly reason not to post, but it's my silly reason.

Ok so I know the last thing I posted about was pillows, but I've made more. Not for me this time, but for my sister. She is going off to college in less than a month and I needed to make her some cute decorative pillow for her bed! So here they are....

I am very happy with them and how they turned out! I got the tutorial for the flower one here and I came up with the pattern for the chevron one. I'm actually thinking of putting together a tutorial for how to do that one and posting it on here. Does anyone even read this blog any more? And if so, would you want a tutorial?? Let me know!

Sprocket Pillows

So it's been a really long time! Sorry guys! :) I don't have a lot to say, but wanted to share some pictures of some pillows that I'm making for our couch. I really like how they turned out!

I got the idea from here: http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2011/03/tutorial-sprocket-pillows.html