quilting

Faith Precedes the Miracles

| cnaglis63
Nymph Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Like a beautiful butterfly that goes through the stages of it’s life, we too have stages of life that eventually will bring us beauty. We must be born and need the protection and warmth of caregivers. As the butterfly enters the larva stage, they actually have five growing stages. We too, go through infant, toddler, preteen, teen and young adult stages. After the butterfly finishes their growth, they separate and go off individually to find a safe, sturdy spot to transform. As humans, we too, leave the nest and go off for more education leading to a career. We have the opportunity to do more personal growth to prepare us for more of life. The butterfly then enters the pupa stage where they hang upside down in a “J” shape before shedding it’s final skin to form a chrysalis.

As we grow through our stages of life, there can be stages of faith experiences that help us to witness miracles. As I have gotten older, I understand and truly believe that there are no coincidences, simply experiences put before us in the way of people, places and our day to day life. Have you ever had the experience of thinking about a person and within 1-3 days, you will see them or interact with them? I really love that and I often think of all the many people that I have met in my travels. Through social media, it is a little easier to see what is going on in people’s lives (if they choose to share). I feel joy when you do and I also mourn with you when you mourn.

President Spencer W. Kimball shared, “It takes faith – unseeing faith – for young people to proceed immediately with their family responsibilities in the face of financial uncertainties. It takes faith to fill full-time missions. But know this, that all these are of the planting, while faithful, devout families, spiritual security, peace and eternal life are the harvest.”

President Russell M. Nelson taught us to seek and expect miracles. Do the spiritual work, “doubting nothing”. Pray for eyes to see God’s hand active in daily life and throughout the world. Miracles unfold according to God’s will and timetable. They may take time rather than appearing as sudden and massive events. President Nelson also said that only personal unbelief prevents God from blessing individuals with the power to move mountains in their lives.

As a child, I learned about faith really early because of a missionary who came to our house for a meal and left with a message of faith and that God answers prayers. I replied, “He doesn’t answer my prayers!” The missionary immediately said, “He absolutely does and you shouldn’t say that!” I was surprised by his fervor. I had the opportunity to put it to the test when we were out as a family and the car broke down. My dad was trying everything to get the car going and I decided to ask Heavenly Father to “Please start the car so that we can make it home!” The car immediately started after that prayer; and again the next time the car broke down and the next. My initial response was, “Oh, boy, God DOES answer prayers!!”

I have put this to the test throughout my life. My immediate response to either good or bad is to turn to God. Basically, I have learned to trust God and rely on his timing and his love for me and others. The miracles that I have seen, leave me with no doubt as to the power and love of God.

Right now, I am relying on God as we are still packing and preparing to move. It is exhausting to pack because everything that you touch, you have to make a decision about. I pared down my quilting books by at least two thirds. We are still off-loading items onto our children. My daughter, Kaitlin commiserated with me because she said, “You pack the boxes and then don’t have anywhere to put them, right?” Exactly!

Erik has shrink wrapped my cutting mats to the trailer’s dinette table; that’s genius! We need to pack the liquids and take them ourselves. Slowly, we are making our way through everything. This past weekend our son, Lyndon came to the lake with his son, Henry. Now, I thought Henry was the perfect height to go in the crawlspace and move things. Erik said they were too heavy for him but lo and behold, our grandson was hauling all kinds of things upstairs. One thing at a time; a bag of dates, a jar of chili peppers, etc. He loved going down there because he has never seen it and of course, he could walk freely everywhere in that 4-1/2 foot height. He was a very busy boy, considering that he is only 3 years old.

The quilts that I made for my cousins, Hannah and Jenny arrived safely into their hands. I was very happy to hear that and now I can share photos of them.

Hannah’s Quilt
Jenny’s Horse Quilt

We are having our travel trailer hauled to BC by our son-in-law and his father. That gives us a place to put the deer mounts and antlers. Before we know it, it will be time to go.

If you are thinking about fall recipes, you might give this a try if you enjoy pumpkin.

https://thenovicechefblog.com/pumpkin-pie-crisp/?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic

I can’t believe that I never had a single peach this summer! The cost has been high and what I have seen in the grocery stores has been abysmal. Poor quality is not very enticing. Such is life, we have choices put before us each day and thankfully some choices are not earth shattering, hahaha!

Enjoy these warm days and cool nights, happy harvesting and may your hearts be full of faith so that you can see the miracles that surround your lives. You are loved.

The Art of Moving

| cnaglis63

Moving is one of life’s ways of testing your mettle and relationships. As we are downsizing yet again or I should say melding three households, we are being stretched to consider the necessity of our belongings. Eleven years ago, we sold our acreage and moved everything except some furniture to our cottage. We live with a crawl space of only 4-1/2 feet of headspace because of the wet year that we built the cottage. With an abundance of moisture, we were only able to dig down to a certain level and not as deep as we were hoping for.

Two things that I collect are Nativities and sewing supplies. We moved all of the Nativities into the crawl space and there they have resided for the past eleven years. It is far too much work for Erik who is six foot one inch to drag out the bins so that I can peruse my collection. Plus there is not enough display space to set them all up. I stopped counting at 200 sets. We lived here full time for two years and I would go and get a bin and use the Nativities that were in the bin for show. Being five foot one inch, it is far easier for me to get around down in the “pit” than Erik.

So, the crawl space aka the Pit has seen bins stacked away never to be unearthed until this summer. The year of 2015 was when we started our nomadic life and thus, “stuff” has been hidden out of sight for eleven years. Then we moved to Calgary for six and a half years. Rather than empty the cottage, we purchased more kitchen items to set up life there. Furniture was purchased, etcetera!

I am a believer that when your kids are adults, they take possession and full ownership of their belongings. Eleven years ago, I made five boxes of belongings for each of the kids and handed them off. That felt good and that was also when the Marie Kondo book came out about how to downsize and free yourself from belongings that weigh you down. I would come across a document that I would take a photo of and then get rid of the actual document. That really helped to reduce our belongings. A great strategy from Marie Kondo was to be able to let go of items, that you hold it in your hand and give thanks for it’s presence in your life and then say to the item, “It’s now time for you to go and bless someone else’s life.”

Rather than going room by room, she suggests following categories. Marie says to tidy in strict order, starting with the easiest items and finishing with the most emotional items.

The Five Decluttering Categories

  1. Clothes: Gather all clothes from the entire house into one huge pile. Sort through all clothes at once. When we left the acreage, I did this very thing with my own clothes. I ended up with only enough clothes to fill one suitcase.
  2. Books: Gather all books to one place. Touch them to see if they spark joy instead of sitting down to read them.
  3. Papers: Collect all loose papers, bills and documents. Discard almost all of them unless they are actively needed.
  4. Komono (Miscellany): Sort through your miscellaneous items. This includes kitchen items, electronics, cosmetics and trinkets.
  5. Sentimental (Mementos): Save photos, childhood keepsakes, letters for last. These are the hardest to part with, so you need to practice with the above steps. I love to keep greeting cards and thus I need to go through these as well.

Core Rules for the Process

Commit and visualize: Commit to the tidying process and imagine your ideal lifestyle before you begin. For us, this move is costing one dollar per pound; that is pretty good incentive to dejunk.

Spark Joy: Hold each individual item in your hands and keep only what brings you a thrill of happiness or a clear sense of joy.

Express Gratitude: Thank items that you decide to discard for their service before letting them go.

I have found this methodology to really be a help in moving items along. I grew up in the military and we moved every three years. This helped to keep clutter under control. When I remember cleaning out Erik’s parents house, it was a different story because they lived in that house for 60 years. We found three dead microwaves in the storage room. There were many runs to the dump to clear out the house.

Of course there are other authors who have exceptionally good arguments for moving your household goods along. “Your Kid’s Don’t Want Your Stuff” by DJ Anderson is one book. “Nobody Wants Your Sh*t – The Art of Decluttering Before You Die” by Messie Condo (Heather Margaret). Of course there is always Swedish Death Cleaning! There is a lot of advice to help us.

That being said, Erik has different ideas about what should be kept and what needs to make the cut than I do. My sewing supplies absolutely bring me joy and if anything doesn’t, I will happily let it go. I was chatting with the quilt shop owner, Carol, in Lacombe. She told me about helping a lady downsize to a condo and she offered the same deal to me. Any quilt books or patterns that I want to get rid of, she will take it into her store in a Give-Away bin. This will help because there are books that I know that I won’t use anymore.

Today was the first of our virtual tours to get a moving quote. The gentleman on the other end of the line said that we really needed to start packing. In my sewing room this past week was three projects that needed to be ready for quilting. One was for my grandson, Carter, who turned 16 this week. The other two quilts are for two cousins on my dad’s side of the family. These sisters needed help to finish quilts and I offered. I will tell you that I definitely received help from the other side of the veil because I was able to design, cut and sew each quilt top in one day each. I haven’t done that in years! Today I was fixing a quilt that had seams coming apart. Now I am ready to start the packing in my sewing room.

My friend Cheryl, has the same brand of long arm quilting machine that I have and I was able to get the quilts to her for quilting. I have the bindings made and will leave one machine unpacked to get the bindings attached. It’s coming together!

Facebook Marketplace is one tool that I have been using to try and move stuff along. I did sell a fur coat! More listings will be coming along.

One of the things about moving is that laundry still needs to be done, dishes still need to be done, meals still need to be thought about and prepared. Floors (or what you can see of them) still need cleaning. The basic needs of life are still required and interfere with my sorting, packing and finding joy.

I wondered if I should do a side track and call it Tales from Nursery. Serving in the nursery is quite funny and definitely an eye opener. One of our children sits on his chair and “helicopters” on his chair whilst eating snacks. Imagine legs in the air and spinning. No accidents have occurred. This same child was singing a song to me this past week, “Have you ever seen a bear wearing BIG underwear?” The song carried on with several verses. The two of us just laughed and laughed!

We had a couple of families visiting our Ward who used to serve in the Bishopric. The youngest McMurray is a miniature of his dad but way cooler, hahahaha! This kid rocks the best hair I have ever seen on a toddler. It really is fun in the nursery, helping them learn to self regulate and watching them make choices and wondering what the thought process was. Like any calling or work to be done, when you love the people you serve with and for, it is quite fulfilling.

Before we know it, summer will be drawing to a close and within 6 weeks, we will be moved. It’s a lot of hard work and feels daunting some days. I have printed an August and a September calendar so that I can write down my goals and see the progress. Because it was made sure to us that we are doing the right thing, I know that we will have heavenly help as we face this latest challenge.

A favorite scripture comes from 1 Nephi 3:7 “And it came to pass that I Nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”

This is one of those scriptures that has a song made from it, and every time I read it, I sing it!

Another favorite is from Philippians 4:13 ” I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

We can remind ourselves that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. We are stronger than we think. Caveat here: the older I get, I need a little more rest periods to keep me going.

Have courage and remember that if your belongings don’t spark joy, let them go live somewhere else. It is freeing for your mind and your spirit to be unencumbered.

We are off to a Ward Camp-out and then a Corn Bust so I think that this salad is something that I will bring. It’s a Watermelon Feta salad which doesn’t have a creamy dressing to go sideways.

Ingredients

  • Watermelon: 1 medium seedless watermelon, cut into bite-sized cubes.
  • Feta Cheese: 1 cup crumbled or cubed feta cheese (block feta in brine tastes best).
  • Fresh Mint: 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced.
  • Red Onion: 1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced (optional).
  • Dressing: 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil and 1 lemon juiced, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 2 TBS honey, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • Sunflower Seeds: 1/2 cup

Instructions

  1. Chill: Make sure your watermelon is cold before cutting.
  2. Combine: Toss the watermelon cubes, sliced red onion, and fresh mint in a large serving bowl.
  3. Dress: Drizzle the the combined dressing gently over the top.
  4. Finish: Fold in the feta cheese last so it does not turn pink from the watermelon juice, then sprinkle the sunflower seeds over salad.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and stay safe out there!

History & Highways

| cnaglis63

We arrived in Gettysburg in the afternoon and scouted out where our hotel was. As a Canadian, I wanted to see the importance of this locale and try to get a better understanding of the history here. A civil war hurts my heart and soul as I wish all could live in peace and harmony. As I came to understand why the Unionists (northern USA) and the Confederates (southern USA) were at odds, it’s difficult to see a place where not only a battle occurred but how this affects hundreds of thousands of people from north to south. The displacement of local folk, the loss of property, brother fighting against brother, with a country at risk, it makes a person sit up and think as to how this may have been different. We live in a world of instant messaging, emails, “Find My Friend”, location services; it goes on and on. It doesn’t take us long to receive news from anywhere in the world. Yet 163 years ago, there wasn’t anything except telegraphs, mail and word-of-mouth. President Lincoln used telegraph for tactical control of armies. The U.S. Signal Corps was founded in 1863 and they used flags and kerosene torches to send coded messages which could be seen from 10 to 15 miles. As well, field signals were still being used which included bugles, drums, and flags to direct troop movement during battles.

Erik and I were both reminded of Book of Mormon battles when we viewed this battlefield. Messages sent to either side and agreeing to meet at a certain place to fight it out. The battles were a fight for freedoms and here we see the same played out. The Union believed in freedom for all men and the Confederates wanted to keep slavery to run their plantations. I think on Alma 54 where Moroni is negotiating for an exchange of prisoners and Ammoron demands that the Nephite army lay down their weapons and become slaves to the Lamanites. Angry words were exchanged and a strategy was formed to aid the Nephites to escape without killing Lamanites. Well, that was only one part of the battles that were to ensue. Both sides feel that they are right but we see that when one side winning hurts not only their own but others, it’s hard to have a winner. Freedom is something that we may take for granted depending on where you live in the world. I love my freedom to worship, work, have family, travel and live a life with God in it.

We drove around the battle field with a downloaded driving tour narrated for us to understand what we were seeing. The weather was brutally cold so it felt good to be in the car. It was basically, one monument after another of the battalions.

It took a couple of hours and could have been longer if we got out at all the auto stops to see things. The battle of Gettysburg lasted three days (July 1-3, 1863). The battle was won by the Union and is widely considered the turning point in the Civil War. It was the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, claiming over 50,000 casualties. I was amazed at the work this large area entails for upkeep. There are so many artillery pieces placed to show where the battles occurred. There were also bus tours during our drive around and I can imagine how busy it will be in warmer months.

Artillery from the ridge

The crazy part of this trip seems to be the hotels. Our room was on the third floor right across the hall from the breakfast room. At 5:45 am, Erik could hear people lining the hallway to wait for the breakfast room to open. It turns out that it was a bus tour and they needed a 6 am breakfast. I wear ear plugs so I didn’t hear a thing (a good thing, because Mrs. Cranky-Pants would have done something about it). Lesson to all is: if you are in a hotel where rooms are situated, please use some discretion in your voice volume at a very early hour of the day. I explained to the front desk that the noise was unacceptable. They said, “Well, the bus had to leave early.” I replied, “Well, I DIDN”T have to leave early, and sleeping was on my agenda!” All said in my sweet, Southern mama voice, laced with sarcasm.

I love these serpentine fences.

On to Lancaster, Pennsylvania we went. We had tickets to see Joshua (a musical) at the famous Sight & Sound Theatre. This was an exceptional experience! They also have a theatre in Branson, Missouri. This musical was in the works for the past four years and it is now being shown. The theatre seats two thousand guests. Everything runs like a well-oiled machine from the parking to the entrance and everything inside. We had floor seating and made our way there. As I wait, I love to watch everyone around me. The two rows in front of us were from a bus load of women from Queen’s New York. The youngest of the bunch (in her 30’s) was a “problem child”. She wanted to sit on the aisle seat but she got bumped by an older lady in her group who actually had the ticket for that seat. Then she moved to our row but of course, was bumped by the actual ticket holders. She was never in a hurry to get out of the way or move herself and I was laughing out loud at her audacity. When the house lights went down, instructions were to turn phones off and no recording. This woman opens her phone and proceeds to scroll through her feed with her phone held high so that everyone around her could see what she was doing! Then she takes a call!!! She kept saying and doing things to push her mama’s buttons. Mama glared at her a couple of times and from then on, ignored her. Oh, the drama!

Sight and Sound theatre; 50 years of production.

My take away from this experience was that it was a theatre full of believer’s in Jesus Christ. We were there for a biblical experience and we received it. The live animals were amazing! Roman soldiers riding horses down the aisles, sheep running across the stage and up the aisles. Doves flying overhead and the most beautiful llama were to be seen. Hence, all arms, legs and body parts were not to be in the aisles.

Interior of the covered bridge.
The Amish lady had to get off her cart because her pony balked at crossing the bridge. She lead the pony across and then got back on her cart.

The covered bridges were wonderful to see and experience their design and construction. We went to three different ones to see them.

At Martha’s Guest Suite

We stayed in an Airbnb nearby and it was a delightful nest. “Martha’s Guest Suite” was a gem; lovingly appointed and comfortable. The next day we drove around to see a few covered bridges before heading south. I did go to a quilt shop and was stunned at the amount of inventory. I met an amazing husband and wife, quilting duo. They lived in Baltimore and came to Lancaster to this quilt shop, “The Log Cabin Quilt Shop”.

They were bringing in a few quilts to be quilted on the long arm. In the Amish quilt shops, you will see many finished quilts for sale; hundreds of them. The queen size quilts cost $1000 and the king size cost $1100. They are beautiful and have wonderful designs. A quilt kit for an American themed quilt came home with me.

We drove to Washington D.C. as we planned to attend the temple there on Wednesday and Thursday. This was the only temple on the eastern part of the USA and Canada for many years. It was built in 1974. I remember as a 14 year old, we came to the temple for a Youth trip. My memory of this temple (what little I saw) was of an industrial building, sort of like a city hall or a commercial building. The other temple I had been in was Cardston, Alberta with it’s beauty and ornate trimmings. My memory was correct. While the D.C. temple is the third largest temple in the world, it definitely speaks of mid-century modern design.

Our hotel here was very interesting because it was called a BWP (Best Western Premier). The marketing department calls it a 4 Star rating upscale, boutique hotel that offers unique, independent properties with curated designs, high-end amenities and local character. Positioned in premier destinations, these hotels offer refined experiences, on-site dining, bars, and, in many cases, spas or fitness centers. Now let’s talk about our experience…hotel room on the 7th floor. Door opens to a tiny area with a strange shelving unit with a mini fridge below it. The bathroom was tiny; barely able to turn around in, with a single sink. The walls were unfinished with drywall mud everywhere and not even sanded. There was peeling paint along the floor boards. The shower had a poor dribble of water flow that might have been a blessing because the controls were inside the shower away from the door opening. There was one arm chair for sitting. My take on this hotel was that it was lipstick on a pig, with the pig being greased like it was at the county fair with 100 screaming children chasing it down. The lipstick didn’t even hit the pig. The wallpaper outside the room was peeling away from the wall. I think that there was no communication between the marketing team, the design team and the construction team.

Thursday after we were at the temple, we made the long drive back to Palmyra. Leaving Washington with 25C weather, we hit Palmyra with heavy rain and 2C. Erik had a headache and I said that we had done a lot in the past four days with tons of driving in heavy traffic; hopefully after a good night’s sleep, he’ll feel better. He awoke refreshed and feeling much better!

Sunday came around to a lovely Easter service at church. The Primary sang a song and everyone knows what a treat it is to see the youngsters performing. Our Ward choir also did a beautiful number and we had a great reminder of the purpose of celebrating Easter. Marc and Kathy Clay invited us to come to their home for lunch. We enjoyed a lovely meal together, great company and a cute Easter basket to take home.

I hope you have the opportunity to really reflect on the atonement of Christ. I look forward to that day that I too can feel the prints in his hands but most importantly to feel the warmth of his embrace.

John 16:33 “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

I do believe this and am eternally grateful for my Savior and his example to the world.