It's been even a looooonger time!

Hello, Friends! I'm back!

Hellooooo!

Hello?.....

.....it's been longer than I thought!

Well, for anyone who may be still interested, I'm coming back to blogging, because....well, because I have a few things to tell you all!

I have been keeping pretty busy! since I last wrote, I finished another quilt for a dear friend who had her baby Kaden in July - we rejoice with you, Diana! :)

*********

I'm not so sure about the color combo....I was a little concerned, because the colors don't seem to jive very well, but I went ahead and finished it and sent it off - she's recieved it, and she likes it! I'm so glad!! after all - that's the only thing that matters! :)

Another painting complete! I'm so very happy with it! and so is the dear lady I painted it for. It looks just like her dogs, and she's passing my name around to her friends - looks like I'll be getting some 'jobs'. Though, I have to admit, painting is not a job! it's so enjoyable! :) Thank you, Lord, for this sweet gift! and I praise you!

Well, just a couple of things done! :) I'm working on another, a quilt for a happy couple in our family, our nephew, Dan and our new niece, Jenn - the newlyweds! :) shhh...it's a surprise!

*******

We have another wedding coming up in about 20 days - yikes! another nephew is bringing another new niece into our family! it's just joy all around! :) I get to do the cake at this one, so I'll be posting that as soon as it's done! and as I take pics - you know, it's hard to post pics when I don't take 'em! hahaha...ahem....

********

Anyway, more things to come as life moves on. But I'll just make a note here and say, time is fleeting, and things of this earth are becoming less and less important, and the desire to know Christ stronger and stronger each day. Of these things, I rejoice. I certainly have not arrived, and I've messed up drastically, even today, but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. My soul is perfect and clean, and when this person is raptured to heaven, my body will be changed into a glorious body to match my resurrected soul, and I will meet the Lord in the air 1thess 4:17

********

In the mean time we are to be Holy (1thess4:7 1Pet1:16) and Pure (james3:17) and the only one who can make us perfect in these things is God, Himself. May He enable you to search His Word, and learn that His coming is imminent, sooner than you may think.

********

God bless you, dear friends!

Chrissie

********

Heb 13:20-21

'Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

One Painting Completed - By God's Grace.....

I'd like you to meet Luke, my nephew. This photo was taken by his recently engaged brother, David. I had promised my brother that I'd do a painting of Luke about....3 years ago...and it wasn't until recently that I found the right picture to use as my model. It was worth the wait - this picture was just right. He and his sister, Trin, are doing the tough look - but Luke's too sweet to look too tough....



I had to start somewhere, so I decided to begin with black and white....



Then I introduced color, and with the help of my teacher, Terry, adjusted the structure and shading. Put the background in....



...and about 7 more hours - voila! a finished product -I think. I started about 7pm last night, and didn't finish until about 2:30am this morning. Every time I looked a the clock, another hour had gone by - and it felt like just a few minutes. No doubt there's a few more things that need to be done, but on the most part, he's done - ready to deliver to the fair next week....





There were a few times when I thought I'd give up - it just seemed impossible to get his likeness on that canvas. Life is like that in so many ways - you come to the place where you just about give up, and then you see your way through. In the Christian life, though, a person must give up all - a total surrender to Christ. That's the only way God's going to get anywhere with his people. It may seem impossibe, and you may see all your sins, past and present, laid before you, and you wonder how this soul can belong to God. Then you read this, 'With men, it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' I've taken hold of that and hung on to it as though it was the only word in the Bible. Many times I go through dark seasons, and God helps me to remember that sorrow endures for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, and I praise the Lord that the dark times are not forever, and soon I'll be joining those in Glory - praising God with a perfect heart.

God bless each of you today with perfect Praise from above....

Chrissie

Isaiah 26:3
'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.'

Endings and Beginnings....

Finally! At last!!!

Winter is ending....Spring is beginning.....

Time to plant new plants, and clean up the yard for the new growing season....
I'm soooooo excited!!!

Another group of endings occured these last couple months that I haven't had the time to upload until now....

Complete at last!!!

Quilt #1:

One of the first conquests of the year....My husband's first and only quilt made by me. He's been feeling a little left out that I would make everyone else one, and not for him.

I used the turning twenty on all these quilts seen here. Quilt #5 was supposed to be full sized, but when Paul saw it, he really loved the colors, so I made the bride and groom a lap quilt, took the eight blocks, put the picture block in the center and made Paul's a nine block with black paw print fabric in between to make it bigger.

I tried to make his a secret, but it was a little hard to hide from him. It was to be his birthday gift, then Christmas, then New Year's. It seems that it's getting more and more difficult to get things done while I'm babysitting. By the time the kids go home, we eat a dinner and I'm so tired, that I don't have the energy to get into any project - but with determination and prayer that God see me through, I made a go of it, and it became a success....hubby curls up in it every evening.....joy to me and Praise to God! :)

The center of the quilt was a bit of a challenge. Since I didn't have any pattern, I had to use my limited math skills and lots of imagination, and decided that I'd take the scraps from all the fabric in the quilt, and make crazy strips. the measurements weren't perfect, but that made the block even more unique. It would take a while to tell all I went through just to get the picture that I chose in there. My original plan for this quilt had about nine pictures in it - so you can imagine how many fabric photo papers I went through - I used a lot of my 40% coupons from Joanne's....

Quilt #2:

My little niece's quilt - horses of course! :) It's shown here not quite completed, and a bit blurry, and true to form, I gave her the quilt before taking a picture of the completed project. But - she loves it! My sister and I really had a fun time finding all the fabrics that work together. We even found fabric that looks like wood planks - so fun! :)

Quilts # 3 & 4:

These are for my sister's boys...we started working on them a couple Christmas' ago. The oldest boy likes planes and old cars -

the younger one likes trains and planes,

so we hunted all over to find fabrics that weren't 'cutsie' and 'baby'. We used the 'Turning 20' pattern and put 1.5" black strips in between making them a little bit bigger and also giving them a real cool look. I cut out a couple cars, planes and trains and placed them in various areas with a satin stitch to give a little more depth to each quilt....

We were so pleased that though most of the fabrics are so different, they look enough alike to give the room unity.

Quilt #5:
John and Monique's quilt that was to be their wedding gift last July - is finally complete from the quilting to the binding - at last....now I just need to get it to them.....

They gave each of thier guests a bottle of wine with their initials on them - MOJO...so sweet! so I took that idea and quilted it in the corner with a heart and the year of their wedding...

I had some trouble with my machine's tension, so I went to my sister's house and used her new Bernina - a real awesome machine. I had a hard time getting the hang of the pattern, so the quilting looks a little...'ragged'......but - it worked out alright.....

For the first time I have a 'stack' of quilts. I never have this, because I always give my quilts to their new homes right away.

Behold the stack....

And now, another beginning...I've begun a new portrait of my nephew, Luke. I've really had to make changes to this before I got the structure right, now all I have to do is wrap it up. I decided to do it in black and white, and then add color. It's the first time I've done this with a portrait, so we'll see how things turn out....

Oh! so much coming and going...and doing! I'm praying that things will continue to be completed. My goal is to finish most everything on my list by the end of April - which includes 2 more paintings and photo albums for my parents and myself - so! we'll see how those beginnings will end! :)

Easter day comes tomorrow - and we will all be remembering the most important of all endings and beginnings - the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His life ended, along with the power of sin and death on one day, and on the third day He arose from the Dead - Beginning a new testament - 'Old things are passed away, Behold! all things are become New...'

I pray for each of you, dear friends, that you will experience New Life, by the Faith of Jesus Christ, and that God prepare you for the Ending of this World, and the Beginning of the New Heaven and the New Earth....

A Blessed Easter!

Chrissie

Rom 6:23

'For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Gal 2:16

'Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.'

Phil 3:9,10

'And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;'