Sweet Comfort

2 Nephi 1:15 - But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

For some reason this has been a rough week for the Fraser Clan.  It's been nearly a year since we made the move from Missouri to Iowa.  This week my oldest daughter and I have been very, very homesick.  We miss our friends and loved ones and simple comforts of the familiar.  We also miss our family in Utah.  We always miss them and wish we could live closer to them.  But for some reason this week has been particularly difficult. 

As I thought about my Sunday Scripture post, I thought of loneliness and the feeling of being so alone.  I came across an article, Sweet Comfort, in the Nov. 2002, New Era, a publication by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints geared toward the youth of the gospel.  The article is a touching story about a young woman away from home for the first time.  As she longs for her mother's hug she turns to her Father in Heaven for comfort.  As she opens her heart to Him and expresses her need for a hug she can feel the comfort of the spirit surround her. 


I am grateful for the comfort I often receive.  I know that I am not alone and that my Savior is always available to comfort me when I am in need, or feeling lonely.

Come Follow Me!

"And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him."  Matthew 4:18-22


Today is July 24th.  This is a special day for members of the LDS church.  July 24, 1847 is the day that Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, in what is now Utah.  Therefore, I feel that my Sunday Scripture post should be about Pioneers.


As a descendant of Mormon pioneers.  I am very proud of my heritage and so very grateful for my ancestors who gave so much for the love of God and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I find a lot of strength and comfort from their faith, strength, and willingness to follow what they knew to be true.  They left their homes, their businesses, and everything they had, to follow the Lord. 

Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said; “A dictionary defines a pioneer as ‘one who goes before, showing others the way to follow.’ Oh, how the world needs pioneers today!”


I love the words of the Primary song, "To Be a Pioneer".
     "You don't have to push a hand-cart, leave your family dear, or walk a 1,000 miles or more to be a Pioneer.  You do need to have great courage, faith to conquer fear, and work with might for a cause that's right to be a Pioneer." 
 
"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Deuteronomy 31:6


Happy Pioneer Day!  Let's all be Pioneers for the cause of good in our lives!

The best part of living in a small town...

My husband and I were raised in the city.  However, since we got married we have lived in a series of small towns, some we loved, some... not so much!  But the best part of living in a small town is the personal touch you seem to get.

On Sunday my hubby badly dislocated his finger.  It resembled a lightning bolt.  It was pretty disgusting and I'll spare you the pictures (I did post them on facebook things... there are somethings you just can't pass up).  Anyway... he needed to go back to the doctor today to have it re-examined.  My little guy also had a badly infected cut that I wanted looked at so I made both of the appointments at the same time. 

Our doctor took one look at his finger and said it needed to be lanced and he needed to start an anti-biotic right away.  Only problem with that is that the local pharmacy was about to close, so she sent me into town while she called and got them to stay open until I could get there.  In the mean time she would start numbing CJ's finger and check out Craig's finger.  I got to the pharmacy and they were closed but waiting for me.  Then the Pharmacist tells me that the doc decided Craig needed different meds for his finger so the doctor's nurse was on his way to bring the prescription to them. 

Now when was the last time a doctor went out of her way to call a pharmacy, a nurse drove a script into town for a patient, and a pharmacy stayed open after hours all to help someone in a lot of pain not have to make a 30 minute drive to the next town.

Ya gotta love a small town.

Thank you Dr. Mofle, Mark and HyVee in Webster City, you all were my heroes today!

He is Risen!

My Sunday School lesson for today is about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Therefore, I feel it is a fitting topic for my Sunday Scripture.

"He is not here, but is risen..."  Luke 24:6

“'He is not here, but is risen", contain all the hope, assurance, and belief necessary to sustain us in our challenging and sometimes grief-filled lives” -- President Howard W. Hunter.

A testimony of the risen Lord from a living Prophet can be viewed here:  He is risen!

I too know that He lives!

Flora Challenge

About a month ago I ran across a website call Kimscraftyapple.  She does "Project Quilting" challenges, similar to Project Runway.  When I read her blog she had just announced and "off-season" Flora Challenge.  This is what I was working on when I previewed my Dresden plate.

I finished the top.  I didn't get it quilted so I was kind of like one of those contestants on Project Runway who doesn't get there challenge completely finished.  Here are some pictures.  I will post more when I figure out how to quilt it.



I finished at 1:30 Sunday Morning. 





I wanted some outside shots but it was trying to rain and my Tiger Lillies were closed up and drooping.



 I'm not sure that I am in love with the border and I'm not sure how to quilt it but I think it turned out pretty good.

Any thoughts on the border or quilting ideas?  I would love to hear suggestions.

I am posting this on Quilt Story / Fabric Tuesday.

Fear Not I Am With Thee

Isaiah 41: 10 - 13
10 - Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

11 - Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

12 - Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

13 - For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Tooth Fairy

My Isabel lost her first tooth today.  She is sooooo excited.

She is 6 and a half and was getting a little concerned that she might have to start 1st grade without loosing any teeth. We have had some very serious discussions on the matter.

 

She is very happy that her smile "still looks bootaful."  Ya gotta love a girl with confidence.

As I was getting change at the store I suddenly remembered our first tooth fairy experience as parents.  Alexa was about 5 or so when she lost her first tooth.  She was so excited that the tooth fairy was going to come and bring her money. 

We put her to bed with her tooth safely tucked under her pillow.  Unfortunately we also went to bed and fell asleep, completely forgetting about the tooth.  Alexa was devastated.

I just gave her a hug.  Then I told her a lie that my husband is still convinced will cost me my place in heaven :}

Realizing it was Sunday morning I simply told her "Oh sweetie, mommy forgot.  The tooth fairy doesn't work on the Sabbath."

Needless to say!  I remembered my duties that night.  Yep!  Worst mommy ever, award recipient!  :)

Sneak Peak

I'm super excited.  I've been wanting to try a Dresden plate for a while.  I bought some amazing hand dyed fabric from Dye Candy. 

It is so beautiful that I didn't want to cut into it.  However, I got over that and used it for a project I have been thinking up in my head.  I'm not finished but here is a sneak peek.  I Love It!

There are two sets of Dresden plates.  An 8" blade and a 4" blade.  Now I just can't decide if I like the small circle (1st photo) or the larger circle (2nd photo).  It is 18 inches across.  I don't care of the background fabric I originally picked so I'm heading back to the quilt shop tomorrow to see if I like anything else better.

I'll post a picture when I'm finished.

Tough Day

Not all of my Stephie Stories have a happy ending.  Our sweet toy poodle Shadow was hit by a car and died today.

This is our handsome boy... All 5 pounds of him.



His "run" looked more like a deer than a dog.

 

Shadow cuddling on my bed with me.



We fell head over heels in love with him when he was 6 weeks old.  He would roll over in your hand and stretch out for you to rub his tummy.  That was three years ago.  He always loved his tummy being rubbed.  We loved him so much!

There is nothing more heartbreaking to me as a mommy then listening to the heart wrenching sobs from my little ones and not being able to do anything to fix it. 

Block of the Month

I have been working on Wing and a Prayer Design's Back to Nature Block of the month.

I got a few months behind while I was working away from home.  I am nearly caught up and I love it.  I have added a page to track my progress, it's at the top of the page.  Here are a few pics.

I have one more month until I get caught up!  But the next month has already been shipped and may get here before I get caught up so........

My Savior Suffered All



http://lds.org/gospellibrary/artbook/images/ArtBook__056_056__JesusPrayingInGethsemane_Sm___.jpg

 Alma 7:11

11 - And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.


12 - And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 - Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

Brisinger

I finished my oldest son, Zachary's quilt.  I was thinking of naming it "Spinning Dragon" or "Flaming Dragon".  My long arm quilter, Jennifer Bernard at Heart's Desire Quilting, thought I should call it "Dragon's Breath"  None of those worked for Zachary.

Let me back up and tell you a little bit about my son. He is amazing. He is super smart and loves to read. he reads constantly at least when he isn't playing video games. Zachary is 14 and has long since hit the stage where he refuses to hug him mommy and has completely forgotten how cool he once thought I was. He has a very quick sense of humor and asks a million questions everyday. He has always asked tons of questions. He used to ask me for the questions, now he asks some guy named "Google". :)

Zachary loves mythology especially anything about dragons.  About two years ago we found this dragon fabric and he loved it.  He asked me if I would make it into a quilt for him.  So I bought 6 yards and told him he had to help me pick out a pattern and I would make it for him.

He started going through all of my quilt books and almost instantly fell in love with the bear paw.  Only problem... the dragons in the fabric he chose are 8 in and I couldn't figure out how to make a bear claw work with the fabric.  Finally we found an old 1930's quilt that had 16 in squares on point.

The pattern actually used a solid white fabric in the "plain" squares with very intricate quilting and red and white pinwheels.  He really liked it and was excited that the dragon fabric would be seen.  His only concern... that it wouldn't be enough red, his favorite color.  Needless to say, it has enough red.

OK, back to naming the quilt.  One of Zachary's favorite book is Eragon.  Actually, it's a series of books, called The Inheritance Series, by Christopher Paolini, and he loves them.  There are currently three with the fourth coming in November.  He has read them multiple times. 

 

The stories are all about the Dragon riders.  Brisinger is the ancient name of Fire and when a dragon rider uses the ancient name they can make fire.  Brisinger is also the name of the third book.  Zachary wanted to name his quilt "Brisinger." 

So "Brisinger" it is!

Back of "Brisinger"  I used the rest of the dragon fabric and bordered it with black, it could almost be reversible.



Close up of Jennifer's great quilting.


I knew I hit the jackpot with this one when I got Zachary's response to the finished quilt.  "Oh mom, it's so beautiful."  Then he hugged me.

I love you Zachary.