My Thursday Report

It's time for my list of what I liked last week.  It has been a different kind of week. Friday, as I mentioned before, I went on a silent retreat.  It spoke deeply to me. I was at the El Carmelo Retreat Center in Redlands - a place in a serene setting.

While right next to an Interstate Hwy (although you'd never know it except for the sound - but that seems to fade the longer one is there) the center is in the middle of a orange grove, so one feels in another world.  After dinner and a speaker, we entered our silence. Other than responses to prayers, we held the silence till after the 10 AM Mass on Sunday. A wonderful three days.

On coming home, I found myself lost in the old world - a strange feeling.  It took me until Tuesday to feel I was back and able to get into my old routine and pick up a needle.  And the first thing I did was hand stitch on my Anna's Garden block. What I didn't like is I noticed that the edges of the fabric are fraying badly.  I measured the block.  I liked that I hadn't trimmed them to the size they need to be so all is not lost. Now to come up with a solution.

And I give thanks that my new granddaughter, Grace (almost 3), has recovered from pneumonia and is her usual bright and smiley self. She was in my prayers all weekend long.

Tomorrow, I like that our group which has been meeting every month for 40 years is getting together. They are like family to me.  Three are now in their eighty's, two in their seventy's, and two in their sixty's.  We started out as a baby sitting co-op at our church.

Off to read yours at I Like Thursdays at LeeAnna's.
Blessings!

Silent Retreat

and if we're open, He speaks in the silence, too.

I'm off to a Silent Retreat during this Lenten time. I invite you to find a few minutes to imbue yourself in silence and find rest.

See you Monday.

Things I've Liked since Last Thursday

Another week has gone by and likes have surprised me.
1. The Vintage quilt raffle ended and the winning ticket was drawn by our pastor. We were thrilled that we made $1112 for the Uganda Water Project!  And the winner was the first person to buy tickets.

And she was - my Mom!  We were both shocked. She's going to put it in her guest bedroom where she has a queen size bed. Congratulations, Mom!

2.  I like that our Christmas poinsettia plant is still blooming and so pretty.  And no, it isn't plastic as some visitors have asked - lol.

My DH says the secret is to keep them outside (they hate gas fumes and heat), water thoroughly (meaning take them out of their foil wrap and hydrate til the water comes out the bottom, and don't leave them standing in water.  Last year's lasted til the end of April.

3. I like how I figured out how to test my stitches before I begin quilting a new quilt.  We're always being told to make a test sandwich with the fabrics we are using.  Lots of times I don't have any leftover fabric, so I put some on the edges of the quilt and test my stitches there.

 I always test my threads and stitches as I often use a different thread on the back and I don't want it to show on the top. Above I was checking the match of the blue thread with the blue fabric.

Here I was using gold thread on the top and a baby blue on the back. - the light green scrap was my test swatch, and it was on the part that would be trimmed off before binding.

I was so happy it rained two days last week. Praise God!  And it's even been a bit cold (I know most of you wouldn't say low 40s is cold), but it helped our mountain areas get some snow - cuz if it's 40 here, it's low 25 - 30s there.

Look forward to reading what brought you smiles. Go on over to LeeAnna's and see what others have liked this past week.

Blessings!