Busy Little Bees

Thursday morning Elizabeth & I went to help the ladies toast bread for dressing for our "April" Dinner.  At first, Elizabeth was pretty shy, but by the time we were through, she was a very good helper.  We tied the bags of bread and set them on a cart.  Then Elizabeth rolled the cart into the cooler vault.  Today, we went to visit my aunt and cousin in Temple.  My Mom brought us lunch and we had a wonderful time.  By the time we got home, we were ready for our nap....(almost asleep in the car). 

Thanks GG for the lunch & goodies you sent home with Elizabeth. 

Thank you, Aunt Babe & Jo Ann, for the coffee and hospitality.  We really enjoyed our visit and it was great to see you again!

Can it be Wednesday already?

Our time with Elizabeth is flying by fast.  For lunch on Tuesday, we ate at Green's Sausage House.  Elizabeth really likes their French Fries!  Tuesday afternoon, we helped Grandpa work on his row markers.  Needless to say, we got just a little dirty.  After helping Grandpa, we found the gravel pile and had lots of fun there.  I think we brought in a bucket of dirt just on our pants alone!  We were so dirty that we took our bath at 6:00pm.

After supper, Grandpa and Elizabeth spent some time together. Grandpa had been talking on his cell phone, so Elizabeth was putting it back into his shirt pocket.

We also had fun playing with our nestling boxes.  Before Christmas, I had gotten these out and we would stack them up.  Elizabeth just loves to knock them down.  This week, she has begun nestling the boxes and stacking them up herself.  Wow....I just can't believe how fast she is growing!

This morning, Elizabeth & I met Carla in Temple to visit some of our neighbors.  Elizabeth was so good.  In this picture, we were visiting Joe & Dorothy Petrek.  She read and counted in her "Silly Monkey" book.  While we do miss Mommy & Daddy, we are having lots of fun at Nana & Grandpa's house.

It's Elizabeth Week!

While Mommy & Daddy are at a conference, Elizabeth is vacationing at Grandpa and Nana's house.  After we got home, we started her trip with a game of cards with Uncle Charles and Aunt Ann.

On Monday, we went with Grandpa to weigh cattle.  In the afternoon, we went to the coop and got a snack of cheese & peanut butter crackers! 

We're not sure what we'll get into today, but I'm sure we'll have some fun!

Mount Calm, Texas

  Last weekend I went to a quilt retreat at the Compass Centre in Mt. Calm, TX.  It was wonderful!  When you walk in the side door, you come into a room filled with 32 sewing spots.  Each spot has 2 tables, a trash can, a rolling, adjustable chair, and electricity outlets.  The room is about 50' by 70'.  Attached to it is a professional kitchen on one side and a small dining room on the other.  They have 8 bedrooms, each with 4 twin size beds.  There are 6 bathrooms with showers and cabinets to store your clothes, sundries, etc.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but if you'd like to see it, you can go to Compass Centre.  In there photo album, they have pictures of the construction of the building.  With your stay, they fix all your meals, so all you have to do is SEW, SEW, SEW and sew, I did!  I finished a block for our quilt guild past president, a small top that I had started in a workshop last year (or was it the year before?), and completed a top and a back of another quilt.  When I finish the quilting of these projects, I'll post the pictures.  On Saturday evening, I attended mass at St. Martin's in Tours.  While the structure reminded me of our church, the amount of folks attended reminded me of Westphalia.  I'll be visiting again when I go to the Compass Centre.
  This week, we lost a farming friend, David Greene Jr.  He had been our chemical rep for several years, and just a couple of months ago, moved into the "area rep" position.  He and John talked several times a month and we will miss him.  Our community also lost a member, Tommy Strmiska.  He was a member of the K of C of Cyclone-Marak, a member of Sts Cyril & Methodius in Marak and was the drummer of the Vrazel Polka band.  May these friends rest in peace!
  From the book of Micah,  "In days to come the mount of the Lord's house shall be established higher than the mountains; it shall rise high above the hills, and peoples shall stream to it:  Many nations shall come, and say, "Come, let us climb the mount of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, that we may walk in his paths."

Thinking Back.....

Some weeks are harder than others.......we had 2 family members pass away this week.  Richard "Dick" Fletcher was married to my dad's cousin, Sharon Mikeska Fletcher. Dick had a heart attack and died. Richard "Dick" Fletcher

My uncle, Frank Matous, died from pnemonia.   While it's a sad occassion, I have enjoyed seeing family members that I haven't seen in ages.  We also talked about the "good ole days".  May both of these men find peace and true happiness.

Frank Joe Matous

From the book of Psalms, "My soul, be at rest in God alone, from whom comes my hope.  God alone is my rock and my salvation, my secure height; I shall not fall."

Sashing and Borders

Yes....more quilting....well, we're at least getting ready to quilt!  This past week Carla & I have been putting together some quilt tops.  The altar society had purchased several pieced blocks, two different doll blocks, one a Roman Stripes (looks like a pin wheel) and a log cabin block.We sashed & bordered to two different doll blocks and we bought some material for the backs.  We also bought material for the others, but were having a little challenge in matching "blues".....who knew there were so MANY different shades of blue!  This week, I'm hoping we can get another top pieced.  Then we'll be ready to quilt, quilt, quilt!  I hope our church ladies will be ready to quilt the 1st week in March.
Today is Sara's birthday......Happy 26th Sara!  Our family met at Sara's home yesterday and had lunch & supper together.  We had a great time.  It was nice to see everyone....especially Elizabeth....oh...and Kate.  Kate came home for a short visit.  She'll be working 7 days a week starting in April, so we won't get to see her for a while.....thank goodness for Skype!

From the book of Psalms, "I trust in your faithfulness.  Grant my heart joy in your help, That I may sing of the Lord, 'How good our God has been to me!'"

Quilting, Meeting, Visiting and Quilt Top Piecing

Lately it seems that all I've done is quilt.....good thing it's one of my hobbies! We finished Margaret's quilt on Monday. Monday evening I went to Quilt Bee....the Knotty Quilters. This month we started our Row Robin Quilt. Last week I showed you one block, but I wanted to show you that I finished my row. I've passed my row to a fellow quilter, so I won't see it for over a year. While the time passes, I'll be busy working on rows for the other quilters in our bee. I can't wait till we all see what they turn out like. On Tuesday, Carla & I went to visit our shut-ins and gave them Valentine's cards that our religion class had made. Everyone seem to enjoy the cards and our visits. The past few days I've been piecing some twin quilt tops together for the Ocker Brethern Church ladies. I a couple of rows to two of the 16-patch top (the one right below) and pieced the one floral top. These are the quilts that will be going to Africa!




From the book of Romans,"Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another." Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!