The Story of My Life

Happily ever after isn't a fairy tale. It's a choice. –Dawn Weaver

This is one of my favorite wedding pictures. It serves as a reminder that some things never change. My hairstyle has been pretty much the same for the last 18 years. And Mr. Bug still has that amazing smile.

What a photo can't measure is how much two people can grow together.

I've spent 43% of my life with Mr. Bug. It is impossible to imagine life without him. It hasn't always been easy, but the struggles make the good times even sweeter!



P.S. This video portrays a very sweet love story. Don't ruin it by looking up they lyrics for the song. They are kind of depressing.

P.S.S. The Corn Wagon Quilt Company, my favorite LQS is also celebrating their anniversary today. They have $1.99 fat quarters from 9 to 10 am. I think I'm going to do some double anniversary celebrating today.

Sabbath Songs: Glorious

There are times when you might feel aimless
You can't see the places where you belong
But you will find that there is a purpose
It's been there within you all along
And when you're near it
You can almost hear it

It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out yo part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

–Stephanie Mabey

This beautiful song is featured in Meet the Mormons, which chronicles the day-to-day realities of six members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints living in countries around the world. If you love cutie David Archuleta's voice a free mp3 download of this song is available.



Find a theater near you

Sabbath Songs: Abide With Me

I need thy presence ev'ry passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?
Who, like thyself, my gtuide and stay can be?
Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!

–Abide With Me!

text by Henry F. Lyte, music by William H. Monk

Sabbath Songs: The Mission/How Great Thou Art

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,
How great thou art! How great thou art!
–How Great Thou Art, text by Stuart K. Hine, music arranged by Stuart K Hine from a Swedish folk melody



From The Piano Guys
We've set an ambitious goal to film in front of all Seven Wonders of the World. We started with the Great Wall of China. As our tour of Brazil approached we set our sights on our next Wonder: Christ the Redeemer. This incredible piece of art soars 10 stories in the air, stretches 100 feet wide and weighs 1.4 million pounds (630,000 kg). But even more impressive is that it was built in the 1920's on a peak of a sheer 2,300 ft. (700 meter) cliff overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

Not far from this inspiring statue are the Iguazu Falls — a natural Wonder of the World. Made up of 275 waterfalls that stretch across 1.7 miles (2.7 km), to match the amount of water that flows down these falls you would need 2 million people to each pour a quart of water every second.

As we considered what piece of music would be worthy of such incomparable locations we looked to songs that have been composed or used to praise Jesus Christ, for whom the statue was built and who billions believe created all the natural wonders of this world. We wanted to combine the melody of the heartfelt hymn of praise "How Great Thou Art" with one of the most beautiful melodies ever written — the theme from the movie "The Mission" ("Gabriel's Oboe.") "The Mission" is a movie that powerfully depicts the lives of men that lay down their lives for others. It was also filmed at Iguazu Falls. "How Great Thou Art" praises God and all that He has done for His children on this Earth. The two harmonize so beautifully with each other, both musically and thematically. As we played these pieces in front of the Christ Statue and Iguazu Falls we felt an overwhelming sense of wonder, peace, and joy.

This music video is not meant to exclude anyone that does not believe in God. We hope that it instead promotes spiritual feelings that can be felt by all — gratitude for a beautiful Earth, for life, and for joy.

A wise man once said, "If we thought of life as a gift, we might not demand nearly as much from it. And if we lived more graciously, giving of ourselves more freely to the well-being of others, many of our personal concerns would disappear, and life would become easier for all."

We respect all beliefs and opinions, but we hope that in the comments everyone can set aside religious differences and instead focus on building each other up — through gratitude, inspiration, kindness and mutual respect.

Thank you so much for watching! We are grateful for you!

Credits
"The Mission," also known as "Gabriel's Oboe," (from the soundtrack of the movie "The Mission") written by Ennio Morricone
"How Great Thou Art" is a Christian Hymn based on a Swedish folk song
Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
Mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios in Utah
Performed by
Jon Schmidt: Piano
Steven Sharp Nelson: Cellos
Video produced by Paul Anderson
Video filmed and edited by Shaye Scott & Paul Anderson

Brag Sheet: 2013

I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands.
Hope I get the chance to travel the world,-
But I don't have any plans.
–Wake Me Up, written by Tim Bergling, Aloe Blacc and Mike Einziger, performed by Avicci

I wasn't going to do a post about all of my 2013 projects because it didn't really seem like there were many. But I've enjoyed the other 2013 posts, so I looked over my index page and was surprised that even though it seemed like slow going, I got a nice bit of sewing done this year.

First are the projects I put together using Pat Bravo's Indie fabric line. I made two Stitchy Kits, designed by Lori Holt {pattern here}. I gave one away and kept one for myself. And I made a folded fabric star and put it on a tote bag. Somehow, Pat sussed me out and invited me to enter her Instagram contest, which I won. I received a half-yard bundle of Carnaby Street as my prize {by the way, I still need a sewcation} and Pat used the photo of my folded fabric star as the header on her Flickr page. The post of the finished fold star tote bag is my most popular post of all time, with 9,822 9,823 9,826 visits to date.

I put together a few other non-quilty things this year: two Christmas ornaments in January, stragglers from Christmas 2012; a Christmas table runner for a lady I know whose birthday is on December 24^th; a new reversible ironing board cover; a Magicka Wizard's robe for Grasshopper's Halloween costume; and two little booklet holders.

Although this has nothing to do with sewing, I was inspired by Shay, who included her travels in her 2013 wrap-up post, and thought I'd throw in our family vacation with a few days at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, a few days at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and a quick drive-by of Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Fun stuff! More family travel is definitely in our future.

And finally, even though it didn't feel like it, I got a few quilts done; a Drunkard's Path, Ripples, for a friend for her birthday; a 4" square mini for LadyBug's report on Pennsylvania {which is where the Amish live and the Amish are famous for quilting} and which ended up as a quilt for her Guard Lizard, Gilbert; a scrappy baby quilt, Little Boy Blue, for a friend's new baby; a framed Double Wedding Ring, Echoes of Eternity, for a wedding gift in the bride's colors; a zig-zag quilt, Miss Butterfly's Flower Garden, for my niece, Miss Butterfly, to use on her bed; a batik quilt, Sea Glass, for a friend for her birthday; and even though I didn't make the quilt top, I'm counting the quilting I did for P. on her String Ring Dresden as a finish for me as well. At 75" x 95", it is the biggest quilt I've done.

I'm excited for 2014. My goal for this year is not to over commit. I have loads of Ph.D quilts that I want to work on and I've made out a mental list of things I want to work on, but I'm leaving it open to see what inspires me.

Today's post brought to you by:

Christmas Memories Part III: The Piano Guys

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. –Oren Arnold

This year, I wanted to spread the Christmas Season out a little bit and have the focus be on making memories as a family rather than on a huge pile of presents under the tree. Of course, we'll still have presents to open on Christmas morning. But I wanted to spend time on each other this year, too. As part of this we went to we went to The Piano Guys' Christmas concert on Saturday night.

We went out for dinner and then rode the Frontrunner {Utah's commuter rail, which has become a favorite way to travel for us} up to Salt Lake. It was snowy out and seemed a better choice than braving the roads and finding parking once we got there. There was one small hiccup; about half-way there was some sort of incident {word on the street was that someone slipped and hit their head/broke their nose} and we were delayed about 40 minutes. We still made it to Salt Lake in plenty of time for the concert {we just had to skip seeing the lights at Temple Square before} and were in our seats well before the show began.

We learned some fun Piano Guys trivia:
• Steven Sharp Nelson now has 15 cellos and they all have names. He only brought three to the performance; Bruce Lee, his black electric cello {and his white electric cello is named Chuck Norris}, his carbon fiber cello, Carmen Fibre, and his newest "traditional" cello, Marcello, as named by fans over at The Facebook.
• Between the four piano guys {Jon Schmidt – piano, Steven Sharp Nelson – cello, Al Van Der Beek – producer, and Paul Anderson – camera man} they have 16 kids. Steven's four kids are ages eight and under.
• They would like to make a video at all seven Wonders of the World. Their first was on The Great Wall of China. They are scheduled to film in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, at statue of Christ in February.

The Piano Guys is one of our favorite things to enjoy as a family. We love their videos. And their concerts do not disappoint. This is the third time we've been to see them and seeing them on their "home court" definitely has its advantages. When we went to see them in May, Alex Boyé performed Peponi with them and he returned again for this performance. It was amazing. Jon Schmidt's daughter performed again, singing Where Are You Christmas? this time. And part of the American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic performed Beethoven's Five Secrets with them.

Generally, I'm not a fan of fan-recorded videos at a live concert. It just doesn't compare with the quality of a professionally produced video of the same song. And the excitement that the person who recorded it feels at being at the concert doesn't translate. But half-way through Jon Schmidt's mash-up of I Saw Three Ships and Waterfall, I realized that those are the kinds of things that are never going to be produced. When Jon Schmidt invited his father, Werner Schmidt, on stage, I knew this was something I would like to capture. Even if I can't duplicate the feeling of being there, I wanted to share this beautiful performance, which brought the audience to its feet, with you {have I ever mentioned how much I ♥ my iPhone?}.


When we went to see them in May, Steven Sharp Nelson invited his wife, Julie, on stage and together they performed a piece called Ashokan Farewell {many thanks to the fan who captured that moment}. I was hoping that she would be there again to perform with them and when they played A Thousand Years, Steven invited her to join them on the violin.


For their final number, Al Van Der Beek and Paul Anderson joined Jon and Steven on stage to perform Angels We Have Heard on High, followed by What Makes You Beautiful.

We had a wonderful evening and I hope it is a memory that the Not-So-Little Bugs will carry with them for many years.

A String Ring Dresden Quilt Progress Report

Paralyze resistance with persistence. –Woody Hayes

The ditch quilting is done. The embellishments in the pieced border and black diamonds are finished. I crissed and I crissed and I crissed. Then I procrastinated. Eventually I got around to some crossing. After a little more procrastination I crossed and then crossed some more. And I finally got the straight line quilting finished in P.'s String Ring Dresden. {I PicTapGo_Apped and Instagramed [find me @suchasewandsew] the photo and it's supposed to be all artsy smarsty, but it just looks over-exposed. The original is not much better. It's kind of hard to tell when you've got less than 3" square of photo to go on.}

The red centers in the Dresdens are all crissed and crossed too. All I have left to quilt is something fancy in the Dresden rings. {See, it's a crap shoot with full-size photos that have been PicTapGo_Apped and Instagramed. This one is kind of awesome.}

That fancy pants quilting that remains to be done is at the root of all of the procrastination. It is very intimidating to quilt for another quilter. But as soon as I finish those Dresdens, then I can work on anything I want {read: I have forbidden myself to even think of another project until this one is done}. I have a good idea. Now I just need to put needle to quilt and make it work. And so off I go to my Jolly Holiday Workshop. A little music to quilt by, if you please.


Available for purchase from The Piano Guys or on iTunes.

Captain's Log: Stardate 91544.54

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. –Albert Camus

Flashback #1:
Monday, November 11^th, around 4:00 pm. I'm grocery shopping at the local Wal-Marts and Christmas music is playing. This does not put me in a relaxed and happy mood. Nor does it inspire me to spend a little more on the ones I love. It nearly induces a panic attack in the dairy aisle because I have no idea what to get for anyone on my Christmas list and time is running short for inspiration to hit. It also kind of makes me want to cut my ears off and send them and a note that says, "happy ho, ho, ho to you!" to whatever corporate genius thought it would be good idea to start selling Christmas the day after Halloween. I then come to my senses and finish my grocery shopping in a very Grinch-like manner.

Present day:
Tonight was my work Christmas party. I started work at this company 3 years ago, just a few days before the Christmas party. This is the fourth Christmas party I've attended while working for them. Wait. That's not true. I stayed home last year with a migraine. {Sidebar: I had a migraine this year too, but I went anyway.} This was, by far, the best party we've had. We enjoyed lots of amazing food at a local favorite restaurant. Everyone got a small gift {a 16GB USB drive} and then they raffled off some really fun stuff, including $10 lunches on the company, movie pass/restaurant gift card combos, Redbox movie night packages, and a {slightly used} 32" flat-screen TV wired for internet and with a built-in USB port. As awesome as all of those things were, the prize up for grabs when my name was called was eight hours of vacation time. It was exactly what I wanted.

Flashback #2:
Tuesday, November 26^th, around 6:00 pm. I've just finished grocery shopping and have a supply of cold cereal and milk to keep us out of the stores well beyond Black Friday and the mayhem that follows. With the prospects of a nice four-day weekend ahead, the lights on the trees and the decorations on the street posts that the City put up actually make me feel a little cheery and anticipatory of the Christmas season.

Present Day, a few minutes later:
I'm feeling quite festive tonight. I'm really looking forward to our family parties. I love the food and the conversation and the time together. But I still don't really have a clue about what to get my loved ones for Christmas. I'm riding coattails wherever I can. When someone says, "hey, let's go in on this fantastic item for Beloved Family Member X," I say, "You bet. You can count me in." But as far as getting really great brainwaves of my own, well, I'm not.

I don't consider this attitude to be particularly Scroogish. Let me explain why. At our house we already have plenty of stuff. I'm actually more interested in sorting through and paring down the stuff we already have than I am in going out and hunting for the perfect new stuff to give the Not-So-Little Bugs, which I will then have to try to find places to put. Instead of the commercial collecting of stuff, this year I want to focus on the creating of memories. Did I mention I got eight hours of vacation time at the party tonight?

Flashback #3:
Sometime in December in perhaps 1983 or 1984. Maybe it was 1985. I'm not 100% positive. Growing up, we did not have a lot of money. My parents worked hard to make sure that we had what we needed. They stayed out of debt and made a dollar stretch as far as it would go. This particular year, there was a family in our ward {congregation} whose budget was stretched even thinner than my parents'. And so my mom asked us what we would think if she took one of our gifts back and used the money to buy something for this family. We thought it was a great idea. My mom did the shopping and wrapping. On Christmas Eve we crept quietly to their doorstep where we gently placed the packages, rang the doorbell and then ran for the hills.

I do not remember what we gave them. Perhaps pajamas and a toy for each of the kids? I do not remember what I got for Christmas that year, nor do I remember feeling at all deprived because I had one less gift than was originally planned. But I do remember how good it felt to give something to someone who needed it.

Present Day, a little bit after that:
I think perhaps my gift-giving mental block this year stems from the fact that I already have everything I need. I can not think of a single material thing that I need. Mr. Bug and I are happy. We care about each other. We help each other. We have rough spots now and then, but we're on the same team. We have two beautiful children. We have a roof over our heads, clothes to wear and enough to eat. I have enough Ph.D's to keep me stitching for years. I really couldn't ask for much more.

What I want is to make memories with the residents of Bug Cottage. Those eight vacation hours are going to come in handy. I have them earmarked for something special.

My mom continues to help others in need each Christmas season. I don't think there has been a year that has gone by without her donating to Sub-for-Santa or picking a name off the Angel Tree. And I think that maybe a little of that giving spirit is what is missing from my Christmas this year. I've decided that part of my quest for family memories will include some time spent volunteering at the food bank {barring any unforseen age restrictions} this holiday season.

There is still shopping and sewing and crafting to be done. Christmas coming ever closer. Just thinking about everything that needs to happen in such a short amount of time in order to pull it all off this year makes me hyperventilate a little. But I've decided that I'm going let the idea of a "Perfect Christmas" go. I'm going to get done what I can and not worry about the rest. Christmas will come whether or not I send out a hundred Christmas cards and give homemade ornaments to all the neighbors.

At this point, I have two options. I can ride the crazy train for the next two weeks and arrive stressed and stretched so thin that I don't even enjoy it. Or I can see where the Polar Express takes me.

I have a feeling that the second option will be a little more magical.

Christmas Memories Part I: Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

This Christmas we're making memories instead of collecting more stuff that we have to find places for. Oh, I have a few good surprises in store for the big day. There'll be a few pretty good presents under the tree. In the meantime, we're spending time together and spreading the Christmas cheer across the whole month. Our first stop on the 2013 Christmas Memories tour was the Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband Christmas Concert tonight.

If you ever have a chance to see Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, do it. They put on a really great show, despite tonight's reviews from most of the residents at Bug Cottage. Grasshopper maintains that he smiled once, but it was painful. When we asked LadyBug what she though, she said, "eh," even though I saw her clapping along and laughing at their antics. And Mr. Bug said he went for me {sidebar: my enthusiasm embarrasses him at concerts so he gets double points}, but I saw a pretty content smile on his face as he watched. Despite what they say, I know that they all secretly had a good time. As for me, I had an awesome time.

I thought I'd share a little bit of the Christmas Mayhem with you. You can see the band performing live on a local radio station here, but I picked this video to share with you because the sound is a little better and lyrics are actually quite clever.


However you choose to celebrate the season, I hope you're off to a good start!

Random Bits: Vol. 10

A destiny is not realized until we let go of the illusion of control.
–Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda

Getting Warmer
With a little help from Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting, the quilt I've been working on for a friend is right on track to be finished and delivered on time for her birthday tomorrow.

I started this quilt a little over six weeks ago, but have been bouncing back and forth between projects trying to get something finished. {You think I might have figured out by now that picking one thing and sticking to it would get me to “finished” a little faster.} My friend had a pretty serious health issue, which included a trip to the hospital. I wanted to do something special for her during her recovery and I was thinking I could throw together a simple quilt and get it to her in a week. Not so much. The quilt pattern wasn't as simple as I thought {especially since I didn't actually buy the pattern, but sort of reverse engineered it from the photo and dimensions listed} and I debated back and forth about sending it out for quilting to get it done quickly. In the end, to take some stress off I decided to make it a birthday gift, and put it aside to work on other pressing projects thinking I had all the time in the world to get it done.

But at the beginning of last week, I realized I only had two weeks to finish it. Last Saturday, with one week to go and the borders to put on the top and bottom and back to piece, I was really feeling stressed about having enough time to get it done. In desperation, I called Melissa and asked if she could help. She kindly accommodated my rush order and did a lovely job with the quilting. I picked an all-over pattern, dropped my quilt off and in a few days, I had it back, ready to be bound, washed to crinkly softness and given away.

The two voices, Reason {a.k.a. What I Can Do} and Passion {a.k.a. Go Big or Go Home}, are still arguing in my head. Passion says I should have done the quilting {edge-to-edge is usually not my first choice; I think it often masks the piecing. I like to “color inside the lines” and try to quilt a design that accents the piecing}. Reason says that there is no way I would have had time to get the quilting done {especially since I've had a migraine since last Friday night. I'm hoping it is finally gone, but the jury is still out} and finished is better than perfect.

I must pause here to say that Melissa did a great job on the quilting. Her prices are very, very reasonable, she was seriously awesome to work with and the quilting is beautiful. Would I recommend her quilting services? Absolutely. Especially if edge-to-edge is what you're after. Will I use her again? Definitely. I have at least one quilt in the pipeline that is a great candidate for edge-to-edge.

The tug-of-war going on here is my choice to have edge-to-edge quilting done on a quilt that might have been better served with a custom job. The choice to send it out for quilting lifted a huge amount of stress off of me and made it possible to have it finished in time for my friend's birthday. Although I'm not 100% certain, I think the trade-off might have been worth it. At any rate, I'm hoping it will all come out in the wash.

Getting Colder
On Tuesday, we had a new air conditioning unit installed. I like to be prepared.

OK. The real story is that we needed to have our furnace replaced. Last winter was the coldest we've had in as long as I can remember. We kind of limped along with our furnace and had a few times where we wore multiple sweaters and borrowed space heaters while we waited for our repair man to come and fix it. Just when we thought we'd made it through winter and were well into spring, we had one more week-long cold spell and the furnace left us, well, out in the cold. We decided we'd better have it replaced.

But once it turned warm again, it wasn't such a pressing issue. The air-conditioned summer months lulled us into a sense of false security. But the temperatures have dropped early this year {I'm hoping we're not in for another deep-freeze of a winter, but I've heard rumors that it has already snowed in some areas} and we had to get out the space heaters and sweaters again. And the time was ripe to replace the furnace.

As it turned out, though, it was the air conditioner's fault that we needed a new furnace. It has something to do with the coil and condensation and rust dripping down into the furnace. They offered to knock $500 of the cost of labor on top of the pretty fabulous discount we negotiated through our handy, dandy repair man. We decided it would be in our best interest to just do it all at once.

The new furnace is chugging along and we're all toasty warm. It's just too bad we didn't replace the furnace in the spring because, we could have saved quite a bit of money on the electric bill this summer, since in this case it was a package deal.

Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascending
The Piano Guys are at it again. This time on the Great Wall of China. Seriously. Check it out. And if you're wondering how they got the piano on The Wall, check this out.


Available for purchase from The Piano Guys or on iTunes

Feelin' Groovy

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.
–Paul Simon, 59^th Street Bridge Song

Once upon a time, I fell in love with Pat Bravo's Indie fabric line. I was so in love that I bought a half-yard of every print. And I decided to share the love. I gave away a fat quarter bundle. I made some Stitchy Kits, one to keep and one to give away. And then I made a Folded Fabric Star tote bag to tote my Stitchy Kit and stitching projects around in. Lori Holt, designer of the Stitchy Kit left me a comment on the post about that. I love it when famous people comment on my little blog. Ryan Tilby, bass player from Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband left me a comment once. It was awesome. Then he came back and commented again. But that's not the point of this story.

Just over a week ago, lightning struck again. Pat Bravo left me a sweet comment and invited me to enter her Groovy Instagram Contest. I was so flattered. I signed right up for Instagram and spent the next day fiddling around with it and entering my tote bag and Sitchy Kit ensemble in Pat's contest. There were 85 entries. She announced two winners on July 8^th and on Monday she announced two more winners.

A half-yard bundle of Pat's newest line, Carnaby St in the Cool Peace colorway is on its way to me. The happy thing about a half-yard cut of fabric is that there is enough to share. And fabric this good is meant to be shared. Just sayin' .

Thank you, Pat, for a really fun contest. And thank you for making the world a little more beautiful.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –Declaration of Independence

Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago, 56 men from 13 independent Colonies met together to declare independence from the Great British Empire. This would either be an act of high treason or the start of a brilliant new Nation. It was a strange and bold idea for a nation to have a self-ruled government, of the people, for the people and by the people.

The Colonies had been at war with Britain for a year, after the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, until the Second Continental Congress met on July 2, 1776 to look over a draft of the declaration. On July 4, 1776 the text was ratified. At this point there was no turning back. The Declaration of Independence was in black and white for the King and world to see, and for the Colonies to win a nation. It was not until 1783, after the Articles of Peace were signed and the British withdrew all troops, that the United States had won independence. The struggle for independence was not quick and it was not easy. It was 8 years of hard struggle until the war was over.



The fireworks displays during July 4^th are spectacular in their beauty of color and sound. They should be a reminder to all of us that they were the frightening sights and sound of cannon, rocket and musket fire during the Revolutionary War, and all wars that followed to keep this Nation alive. What we find amazing and beautiful, the Colonist feared, as they brought death and destruction on the land. The freedom we enjoy was not free; it was paid for in blood and life, on both sides of the battle.

It was not until 1787 that the U.S. Constitution was signed but was not adopted until 1788 when, the last state, New Hampshire ratified it, five years after the end of war. The United States was a long time coming into being. The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended, in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors.

In the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention: A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” –Benjamin Franklin, his motto

“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.”
–Benjamin Franklin

In closing, Red Skelton will give us his tribute to the United States of America.



I hope and pray we can keep the Republic.

Special thanks to my Dad for guest posting today!

Sabbath Songs: One by One

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
–Luke 12:6-7



When the night is clear enough I can see through Heavens door.
Endless stars like endless sand upon the oceans floor.
Of all the human lives to plead, or ever that will be.
I stand amazed that Heaven knows me.

He hears one by one, loves one by one.
When this crowded world around you,
doesn't know your name.
He knows us, one by one.

When He saw the hungry thousand, every person ate.
Comforted the aching the soul, and looked into each face.
And when He had a world to save, He had a world of time.
To stop and hold a little child.

He hears one by one, loves one by one.
When this crowded world around you,
doesn't know your name.
He knows us one by one.

He notices it all, the sparrow when it falls,
the sheep within his fold,
every person breathed was born upon his soul,
one at a time He makes us whole.

He hears one by one, loves one by one.
When this crowded world around you
Doesn't know your name.
He knows us, one by one.

The way He loves you is one by one.

Can I Please Have Some Crackers With My Alphabet Soup?

Once Mother said, "My little pet
You ought to learn your alphabet."
So in my soup I used to get,
All the letters of the alphabet.
I learned them all from A to Z,
And now my Mother's giving me
Animal crackers in my soup.
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop.
Gosh oh gee but I have fun
Swallowing animals one by one.
–Irving Caesar and Ted Koehler

I work in the accounting department at a small software company. Actually, I'm pretty much the accounting department at a small software company. On the first of every month, rain, shine, Saturday or holiday, I am given a spreadsheet containing upwards of 5000 names which I have to sort through to determine which users are billable and which are not. I filter and sort and number and it takes about 8 or 9 hours. It is tedious and a little mind numbing. After the spreadsheet is ready, I print it out and then transfer the information, company by company, to our very out-dated old school accounting software so that I can print and send out invoices. Of course, I don't start from scratch every month. I carry the information over from the previous month, but if a company adds or drops a user, then I have to add or remove said user from their invoice, manually re-ordering and numbering the users. Even if there are no obvious changes, I still have to compare what's in the accounting software to the spreadsheet because sometimes, rather than dropping a user and adding a new one, they will just change the user name. I usually end up going over most of the list twice as I check and print. This takes at least another four days with the help of the Executive Assistant, who helps me print and also checks the printed invoices against the spreadsheet for typos or errors in pricing.

And it happens every month. All of those names start swirling around in my brain like alphabet soup.

*There are the normal, everyday names like John Smith and Mary Brown. Then there are the attempts to dress up every day names, like Adamantium Williams and Steele Jones. There are names that appear to be back to front, like Harrison Bert and Taylor Grace. {Sidebar: I've actually wondered if they entered their names backwards when setting up their accounts, but then they call and their first name really does sound like a last name and vice-versa}. There are names that don't go together, like Jose O'Malley. There are names that remind me of characters in books, Henry Potter, and movies, Clark Kenton, names that remind me of actors, Merlyn Streep, names that remind me of political figures, Rudolfus Hillter, and names that remind me of pop culture icons, Bella-Bev Devoe. And because we have customers all over the world, there are names that look completely foreign to me.

Now, I don't take issue with the names, per se. It is a parent's prerogavtive to name their child any fool thing they want {see also, Nymphadora Tonks}. It is simply the sheer number of names and the intensity and duration that I must deal with them that makes me a little crackers sometimes.

*All names are completely fictional, and any resemblance to names of actual people is purely coincidental.

The Early Bird

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. –Unknown

According to Phineas and Ferb, there are 104 days of summer vacation. The Not-So-Little Bugs say it is more like 77½. Whatever the case, the annual problem is finding a good way to spend those days. We're only mid-way through our first week and I'm running out of ideas.

One of my goals before turning 40 was to learn to love mornings. Mornings have been my arch nemesis for many years. On-again off-again insomnia, pregnancy and having newborns and naughty energetic toddlers who wouldn't stay in bed interrupted my sleep patterns and I never had a pressing need to adjust them back. I grew to love the quiet time at night. I felt my best in the evenings and liked to create at that time of day. But I realized that it might be beneficial to make friends, once again, with the early hours of the day. I made a little progress; if not friends, mornings and I are at least allies. Logically, I know that getting up earlier and getting a jump on the day is less frustrating for me. Physically, by about 9:30 pm my eyelids are drooping and I no longer want to stay up until 1:00 am sewing. But mentally, I miss that quiet time after everyone's gone to bed. And I never spring out of bed bright eyed and bushy tailed when my alarm goes off. As a matter of fact, when my alarm goes off I wonder why it is going off so early. I can't ever think of a reason for it and sometimes sleep until my back-up alarm goes off. It is only once I get up and get moving that I remember why I needed to get up so early. I'm not a very clear thinker while I'm half alseep.

It was with great trepidation, then, that I decided that I would push my alarm time back a full hour so that I could get to work and back before the day has barely begun. There were many factors that went into this decision, but being home for the greater part of the day to help the Not-So-Little Bugs fill their summer vacation weighed in the heaviest. They have lists of chores and suggested activities they have to do, but I just feel like a kid needs his/her mom around during those long, lazy days of summer, to at least try to keep the chaos from getting too out of hand.

Having a day that is heavily weighted during the daylight hours is very interesting. Although I was getting up early enough to shower and get dressed before helping the Not-So-Little Bugs get to school, I also took a little time for myself to read blogs eat a leisurely breakfast, balance my checkbook, or send e-mails, among other things, before I went to work. I've cut all of that out of my routine and I'm out the door with my breakfast in hand before the Not-So-Little Bugs are even awake. When I get home, we have lunch, do our afternoon chores together and by 4:00 in the afternoon I'm wondering what to do with myself.

Getting up at a quarter-to-the-crack-of-dawn is definitely not my favorite thing ever. It requires that I go to bed at 9:00 pm, so that I can toss and turn the requisite 45 minutes before falling asleep. And even with a full eight hours of sleep built into the schedule, I still wonder why in the world my alarm is going off so early. I've discovered something interesting, though. The world is just as quiet in the early morning as it is late at night. The difference for me is momentum. At the end of the day I'm already moving, so it is easier to keep on moving. In the morning, I'm at a dead standstill and it is harder to get that momentum.

Perhaps if I keep plugging away at it, I'll get the hang of mornings. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can figure out how to get my iPhone to play a few get-up-and-go tunes instead of an alarm in the mornings. And I'll keep looking for things to add to my list of fun {free} things to do during summer vacation. Maybe that will help me get rid of the earworm I've had since last Friday.

More Piano Guys

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead. –Benjamin Disraeli

Saturday night we, the Not-So-Little Bugs, Mr. Bug and I, had the wonderful opportunity to attend a concert by The Piano Guys. They are a favorite at our house. We saw them in concert a little over a year ago, and when I saw their tour schedule had a stop in Salt Lake City, I jumped at the chance to see them again.

The hall was at capacity and as expected, it was a wonderful concert. One of the highlights for me was when Steven Sharp Nelson, the cello player, invited his wife on stage and they performed together. She played the violin and he played the guitar. {He also plays the violin, piano and kick drum. Whaddaya know?} The piece is Ashokan Farewell.



Other highlights include Jon Schmidt's daughter performance in the choir, which sang Simple Gifts during their Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts mash-up. And Alex Boyé performed Peponi with them.

It was nearly 2½ hours of pure musical enjoyment.

And here's another amazing Piano Guys video.

Random Bits: Vol. 9

If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found.
–Unknown

Thoughts On Boston
My heart is heavy for those who were effected by the bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. It is difficult to make sense of such a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the families whose lives are forever changed.

In the wake of such an event, and with things like this becoming more and more common, it is hard not to let fear become the overriding influence. It is hard to think there might be hope for a world so full of bad. But there is hope. It comes from faith. For me, faith is knowing that God has a plan for me and that even though life is full of hard things and bad things, with His help, I can carve out my own little haven within my own home and I can overcome the hard and the bad. I will do my best to be prepared to help my family and myself when something bad happens us and do my best help others when something bad happens to them and leave the rest up to God. However you define it, faith is the opposite of fear. I choose to act in faith.


New Ironing Board Cover
Almost three years ago, I made a reversible ironing board cover for my small ironing board. Since then, I've done a lot of ironing. I've washed it several times, and worn a hole clean through the fabric. There were still a few good patches here and there, but the main ironing space was pretty much done for.

The other side was even worse.

It was time for a new cover.

I finished this up last week, but haven't had much time for posting. Isn't it pretty? This cover is reversible as well, but I used the same fabric on both sides so I don't have to feel bad when one side gets worn out. I can just flip it over and have the same pretty fabric all over again. I used three layers of pre-shrunk Warm 'n Natural in the middle. I did three layers on the last cover and there was pretty much nothing left in the end. In order to hopefully give the fabric a little bit more wear, I used the last bit of the 10-yard package of Mistyfuse I won three years ago to fuse a layer of white muslin to the back of the fabric. It gave the fabric a nice body, which I'm happy with. Only time will tell if it makes a difference in the wear.

I put a pretty yellow binding on to house the cord that pulls it tight around the ironing board. And I left the original cover and foam padding on the ironing board under my cover to prevent any rust that might occur, due to condensation of steam, being transferred to the side that is down. Every time I wash my cover, I decide I'm going to take that old foam and cover off because they are ugly from the underside, but then I get in there and remember that the metal rusts a bit and decide to leave it.

I've already put this cute little ironing board to use. I dropped Grace off for a three-week holiday last week. She's one of those “fancy” machines that don't require oiling, except by professionals, who take their sweet time and charge you an arm and a leg for it. While she's getting the royal spa treatment, I've got plenty to keep me busy and I'll show you what I've been up to tomorrow. Or as soon as I get the pictures edited.

Today's post brought to you by:

I Am Way Too Old {and LadyBug is way too young} for General Admission
or Lindsey Stirling Live
It's been almost three weeks now since we had a little adventure with general admission concerts, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Lindsey Stirling is one of our favorite YouTube musicians. So when I saw that she was going on tour, I thought it would be fun to go and see her. I bought tickets in mid-January, 2½ months before the concert, and smiled to myself every now and then at the secret I was keeping. Mr. Bug was in on it and we waited until two weeks before the concert for the big reveal. We gave two tickets to my dad for his birthday {hoping he'd use the spare to bring my mom} and at the same time told the Not-So-Little Bugs that we were all going to see Lindsey.

I was certain it was going to be beyond awesome.

People started asking where the concert was, and when we told them the venue, we were informed that there was no seating. At all. I was certain this couldn't be the case. A Lindsey Stirling violin concert certainly would not be without seating. I mean, how could you enjoy the music? I searched the FAQ's on the venue's website, and even tried calling & e-mailing to find out about seating. I hoped they might set up folding chairs or something. But I never heard back. I'm sure they just laughed at my inquiries. Besides the question of seating, there were other objections to the location, namely that it was a bar and we were taking children. But as the concert was billed as “all ages” we decided to take our chances and hope for the best.

As promised, there was no seating. And it was a bar. Fortunately, there was a separated 21-and-older area, to which the alcohol was confined. But there was nothing to be done about the lack of seating.

The opening act was 30 minutes of pure torture. I'm certain that there had been no sound check for this group, because all you could hear was the bass, which vibrated in a very odd place at the base of your throat in the center of your collar bone.

Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you. Oh, and by the way, I'm subjecting you to cruel and unusual punishment as a gift.

We'd managed to find a spot behind the “sound booth” that wasn't overly crowded, relatively speaking, and the shorter persons in our group could climb up onto a raised platform sort of thing and see over the very tall people who crowded in front of us as Lindsey took the stage. As people pressed in, trying to get a better look, it got warmer and warmer. I tied my hair in an actual knot to keep it off my neck. I stood on my tip-toes and peered between the abnormally tall people in front of me to see.

And Lindsey was awesome.

After about an hour, LadyBug had pretty much had her fill of standing and being too hot. She literally melted into a puddle of tears. She doesn't do well with excessive heat and all those bodies were producing a lot of it. She and I went to the back of the venue where the crowd was thinner and sat down by the open doors to cool off. My parents followed shortly and after another 20 minutes or so, we coaxed Mr. Bug and Grasshopper, who was having a marvelous time, out of the mosh pit, via text, and headed home right in the middle of Phantom of the Opera.

I learned several things from this experience. Number 1: check out the venue before you buy the tickets. Number 2: general admission with no seating should be designated as appropriate for ages 13 to 27. Period. Number 3: Lindsey Stirling is really that awesome, and I am determined to attend a concert of hers that has seating.

For now, I'm going to sit back and enjoy her from the comfort of my office chair.

Zig-Zaggity Woop Woop

If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. It transcends all barriers. –Ed Sullivan

Over the last three weeks, I've been working on a quilt for my cute niece, Miss Butterfly. It's a zig-zag quilt. I've been kind of persnickety about my process, and I think it paid off. None of my points have gone missing and the seams—the whole quilt really—lays so flat. I kind of ♥ how it turned out.

I finished the top this week. It's twin size {72" x 96"}, and will be the biggest quilt I've ever quilted on my little machine. I'm looking at the throat space {or harp, or whatever it is called} and wishing for a Sweet Sixteen.

I've been thinking a lot about how I will handle a quilt this size. In my early quilting days, I was a roller. The instructor at the beginning machine quilting class I took said that's how to do it, so that's what I did. But then I read something Leah Day said in reference to rolling a quilt into a log for quilting. She said the reason that logs are floated down a river is because they are so hard to handle, and rolled quilts are equally hard to handle. I didn't believe her. A huge puddle of quilt in the machine seemed like it would be more difficult to maneuver and just in the way. At the time, I was working on my Polka Dot Quilt , and noticed while I was working on the quilting in the larger circles, that the whole process was kind of cumbersome. I decided to give puddling a try—not a complete puddle, mind you, but I unrolled my quilt a little, giving me a little more slack to work with while still maintaining the tidiness a roll creates. It helped, and since then, I've become a hybrid puddle/roller, leaning more towards the puddling, because really, Leah's right about logs being hard to handle.

I'm a little worried too, because the half-square triangles are 6", and that means they are going to require gross free-motion quilting skills, and I'm better at fine free-motion quilting {like how I am in life; better fine motor skills than gross motor skills}. I'd originally planned to quilt arcs in each of the triangles, from corner to corner, making a "net" of flowers in the quilt. But the long side of the triangles is 7½", and to get pretty arcs, I'll have to mark the quilt {see above reference to gross free-motion quilting skills}. So, I've revised my quilting plan and hope to incorporate a bit of modern quilting {straight lines} with something a bit more traditional. I think this will fuse nicely with the more traditional calico fabrics and modern chevron/zig-zag quilt design.

This quilt has been in the works for a while. Or at least the idea of this quilt has been in the works for a while. I cut all the fabrics for the half-square triangles early last summer and I worked on the label a few months later, before any sewing actually began. I named the quilt before I even started working on it, thinking of the quilting I planned to do in it. Now that the top is a reality and I'm going to start quilting {and not stop until it is finished}, the name still works, but I did have to do a little tweaking to make the label a little more accurate. It used to say "September 2012."

I usually baste my quilts on my living room carpet {which also doubles as a design wall}. I know that some of you are being carried off in stretchers at the moment, due to shortness of breath, dizziness, pain in your left arm and tightness in your chest, but it works for me. But there isn't enough floor space for a 6' x 8' quilt, so I mopped the kitchen floor yesterday. I'm still putting the back together and seriously considered banning any food or drink in the kitchen until I can get the quilt basted, but decided against it because food and drink are already banned in all other areas of the house and I didn't want the Not-So-Little Bugs to starve. I'm hoping I can get it all together and basted before too much more time passes, otherwise, I'll have to mop the floor again, and frankly, I'd rather be quilting.

Speaking of which, here's a bit of funky swing {which gives this post its title} to quilt by.

A Little {Piano Guys} Love

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
–Unknown

My favorite way to spend Valentine's Day is doing something special for the people I love. Flowers and chocolate and paper hearts never live up to their expectations and waiting an hour for a table at a restaurant is not my idea of relaxing. I find that I enjoy the day much more when I find a way to do something nice for the people I care about. Today I'm doing individual heart-shaped pizzas topped with whatever the Not-So-Little Bugs and Mr. Bug want. They like it and it makes me happy to do it for them.

In the vein of love and sharing, something that I love and always want to share is the The Piano Guys. Their newest video is so much fun! As a side note, we have tickets to go see them in May! I'm so excited!

Available for purchase from The Piano Guys, at Amazon or on iTunes.
Tour Information

I also really loved the vocal version.


However you celebrate today, may you find love in one of its many forms.

Something New: Mission Impossible Style

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others. –Jonathan Winters

A couple of years back, I made a section of Double Wedding Ring and framed it. It was a wedding gift for a girl in our ward {congregation}, who I didn't know very well at all. Another woman in the ward made the wedding dress and contacted me about making something keepsake-ish with the left-over wedding dress fabric. She had the scoop on the wedding colors and flowers. The planets aligned and the perfect line of fabric in those colors fell right in my lap and it worked out beautifully.

In a few weeks, another girl in our ward is getting married. She comes from a wonderful family and I know this girl a lot better. She was my favorite babysitter, when I could get her. You sometimes had to book two weeks out. When I heard she was getting married, a single thought fluttered around in my head for a few minutes about doing something special for her and then it fluttered on its way.

When I received her invitation in the mail, I started thinking seriously about making something special for her, realizing that I only had a month until the wedding. After all, I went to a lot of trouble for a girl I barely knew, at someone else's suggestion. I wanted to do something equally special for this sweet girl. I decided to recreate the Double Wedding Ring in a frame.

I started asking around about my young friend's wedding colors and flowers and if she was having her dress made. She bought her dress. No problem. I could just use white fabric for the background fabrics. Her flowers are white roses with a bunch of other random flowers. Again, no problem. I can do white roses and random. And her wedding colors are Eggplant and Lilac and Sage and Lime Green. And that's where things got sticky. Purple is the hardest color in the universe to match precisely and my ideas of lime green and sage green don't go together. I wanted to keep this a surprise from the girl and her mother, so there were a few days of debate in my head on what to do about choosing the right colors of fabric. I shopped on-line because it is convenient and I can do it after the Not-So-Little Bugs go to bed. But matching colors on line, especially when you're going in blind, is a crap shoot.

I started by searching "eggplant." I found a pretty Joel Dewberry floral and looked for fabrics to go with it, in shades of dark and light purple in the eggplant and lilac family.

I agonized for ages about which fabrics I'd picked and kept shopping carts open for three days in two on-line stores, taking things out of the carts and putting them back in. It took a week for all the fabric to get here and when it did, I started to worry about the colors all over again. I worried that I'd missed the mark, especially with the lilac I'd chosen. Then there was the fact that some of the fabrics didn't match at all. The dark solid fabric on the far left is more raisin than eggplant. And those polka dots are way too pink. Some of the greens were a little off too.

With no small amount of further internal debate, I decided to see if I could get color swatches without arousing too much suspicion. I called the mother of the bride-to-be and she was most obliging and didn't ask too many questions, presumably because they were right in the middle of dinner when I called. She sent one of her boys over with the swatches, and I was relieved to find that most of what I ordered will work.

I did a little stash diving to flesh out the color ranges {I'll show you later; it was too dark to get good pictures} and threw the new fabrics in the wash.

In the meantime, I've been doodling quilting designs. My pencil sketches kind of remind me of blue prints. When I quilted the first DWR, I did what I knew, which wasn't much; echo quilting ¼" away from all the seams. My quilting skills have improved since then, and I want to do something really special.

I'm pretty sure this needs a little more work. Perhaps just a single half-feather?

And I'm not really sure about this. I love how the curved lines converge in the corners, but I don't like the uneven gap it leaves in the center. Mr. Bug says it looks like a Crusaders' Cross and I can see what he means. He also said it looks too "plaid," but that I can't see, because what I see in my head is solid white fabric, quilted in white, with little crystals in each of the small squares that are created when the lines intersect. If only I could get rid of that gap and still keep the cool corners, but I might just have to quilt this in straight lines. Opinions?

I don't even have an idea of what to quilt in the rings. If you have ideas or have seen something spectacular quilted in a DWR, please point me in that direction.

The wedding is February 16^th. That gives me 19 18 days to get this finished. It will probably take a week to get it framed {remind me to call on that tomorrow, so I know for sure}, so that gives me about 9 days to cut, assemble, quilt and mount this little project. It will be cutting it close, but I think that will give the framers enough time to get it back to me so I can get it to the bride before the wedding.

Mr. Bug asked me if it was even possible for me to get this done, knowing that the last week and the first week of the month are my busiest times at work and I often work 40 hours during those weeks. I told him, probably not, but I'm going to try anyway.

A little theme music, please.