Rescue? Really?!

Hi there friend!

When I first became aware of Reece's Rainbow and started following a few blogs written by  families sharing their adoption journey, I kept reading how these folks were trying so hard to "rescue" their child.

At first, I would think it was a bit dramatic. I mean - Rescue? Really?!

Well, I've come to realize - YES! Really!!

Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you think I'm the one being dramatic now.

I am a silly goose sometimes {silliest goose in the pond according to hubby}, and I may be a perfectionist {reason it takes me a bazillion edits before I'm satisfied and publish a post}, and I can be quite sarcastic {in my younger adulthood I was the "Queen of Sarcasm" - again, so named by hubby}. But, dramactic? No, not so much.

Anyways, below are three links to blog posts that were written by two mom's who've adopted sweet kiddos from Ukraine in recent years.

They've given these children a family and lots of love. And with just those two basic ingredients the results in these sweet, former orphan's lives have been amazing and miraculous. {OK, a tiny bit dramatic. But, oh so true}

Please - take the time to go to each link. We're looking at maybe 5 minutes of your time.

Thank you!

Ok - take a peek at what Lindy shared about her sweet Gabe HERE. It's a post and pictures about him walking. See the difference from when he was first rescued.

Now it's Summer's turn.  See what she shared in her post  "19 Cribs" by clicking HERE.
And watch this video "Ordinary Miracle" about sweet Lyla by clicking HERE.  I can not help but smile whenever I see a picture of this precious little one.

Thank you Lindy and Summer for allowing me to share a glimpse of your stories and the amazing things God can do, and does, through adoptions.

So, now, I ask myself... .
Rescue?
Really?!

Ummm, YES - these kiddos do need to be rescued! And yes, I want to help.

How about you?
I sure hope your answer is-  YES! Count me in!

That brings me to Reece's Rainbow's 2013 Christmas Angel Tree. Last year hubby and I chose to be an Angel Tree Warrior for sweet Tobie.

This year we did not. Instead, we'll help one (or two.... or more) of the families who have committed to a child listed this year on the Angel Tree page.

There are already over ten sweet ones who's forever families have found them. That's over ten miracles in the making. And you can be blessed by helping - pray, share with others or donate to their adoption grants.

There are so many sweet ones listed on this year's Angel Tree .... so many in need of love. Way too many in need of basic necessities to.... well, just to survive.

So many miracles waiting to happen. Help make a Christmas miracle happen for one of the least of these.

To see the sweet angels on RR's 2013 Christmas Angel Tree click HERE.
 

Love ya friend!

Show & Tell ~ Lisa's Large Quilt

Hi friend!
So glad you stopped by. 

Today it's Show & Tell here at Miss Maribel's Place. Yay!

The large quilt I've been working on is finally done!

To read about the Show & Tell post for the small quilt I made click HERE. And click HERE to read the post about the extra little surprise I made.

Anyways, this large quilt ended up measuring 74" x 63". That's pretty big for my Singer sewing machine. I think it's about as big as my $99.00 machine from WalMart can handle. Yay for Singer machines!

So are you ready for the big reveal??

OK

And here

it

is.......


Taaa Daaaaa!

I wanted to somehow keep the individuality of each of the six baby blankets, so each block consists of two front and two back squares from the same baby blanket. I used dark and light denim to frame each block. The small squares match the back and binding.

And then.....


When I realized there was going to be a lot of squares and scraps leftover, I decided to incorporate a few quilt blocks onto the back. Another little surprise for my cuz Lisa.


Who says only the front of the quilt should be pretty?!

For the center design, I made six large blocks. For each block I  used a strip of the front and the back from each baby blanket. Framed them in the dark denim. Added a row of light denim rectangles and one square from each of the blankies. Then finished it all with one more row of dark denim to frame it all in.

Being that there's a pretty pattern on each side, the quilt is now reversible. Kinda like two quilts for the price of one.  

Lovin' it!

Thankfully, Lisa wasn't too concerned about a time frame for completing the quilts. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I admit that I did do a few other sewing and quilting projects in between working on her two quilts and the pillow.

I've found if it's a really work intensive project I need to take a break or I get burnt out. Gotta keep the creative juices fresh and flowing. 

There were a lot of hours put into making these things for Lisa, but I put a lot of love in each one, too.

And that's the important thing - the love.

I'm not talking about just from me creating these quilts. But, also the love Lisa has for her sweet daughter to have kept her blankies for all these years and then have such a neat way to renew and reuse them. I'm thinking one day Kennedy will use the small blanket for her own babies. Wrap them in some love that's been passed down from her momma.

I truly hope my wonderful cousin and her sweet daughter enjoy what I've made and that these will be quilts that are passed down in their family for years to come.

How many years does it take before it's considered an heirloom I wonder?

Now, to get it all packed and shipped out to my cuz.

Quilting Scraps That Never End

Hi friend!

Ever sing - The song that never ends? 
You know the one - it goes on and on my friends.
And it's all because - someone started singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because it's .........

Fun song until it sticks in your head for the next two days.
Oh sorry! Are you singing it now? Oops!

Well, I'm afraid I may just start singing my own version of that song.

It all started 
with a box full 
of baby blankets. 











We're talking just seven small receiving blankets - like 36" x 32".
The plan was to cut them up and make them into two quilts for my cousin Lisa.

As of now, I've completed one small quilt that is 36" x 35". I shared about it in my Whaa laaa! It's Magic! post.

Plus, I'm in the process of completing the second, larger quilt that should be about 70" x 80" when it's finished.

I'll do a Show & Tell post about that when it's finally done.

It seems that the box of leftover quilt squares and scrap pieces will never be empty. Who knew you could get so much fabric from just seven little blankies?!

Here's what I have left to play with - 
about half a box of scraps.
I swear they're multiplying! 








Sing with me -
The scraps that never end,
they go on and on my friends.
Someone started sewing them not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue quilting them forever just because it's .......

Sooooo...
I've made a little extra something to coordinate with the two quilts.

Sure hope my cousin and her daughter like it.

Thought I'd reveal it to them right here and now.
And of course that means I'm sharing it with you, too.

So cuz Lisa and sweet Kennedy......

*

*

*


SURPRISE!!

*

*

*

and Whaa laaa!

                                                                 

I hope you guys like it!  

It has one square of each front & back from all six blankets.
The corners and middle are from the solid yellow.
The flowered edging matches the backing on the small quilt I made.
The back is solid denim. 

I was just gonna have a "W" embroidered, but than decided to have Kennedy's initials put on it.

So, a few final thoughts here.....
 ~ if you'd like, I can make another pillow with just the "W"
 ~ Kennedy will now need to marry someone with his name starting with a "W"  {just kidding}
 ~ being that I still have some scraps left  - how about a Christmas tree skirt? table runner? teddy bear? ........ I guess the ideas are endless, too.

My Sweet Puppy vs My Pretty Quilt

Hey there friend!

Are you a dog or cat person?
We've had both. I think I'm a bit more of a cat person.

However, we do have a sweet dog that we "inherited" when our son died. 
Her name is Lacey. {aka. Puppy Head, Lacey Lou, Rump Roast, Baby Girl, Beast}

I truly love my sweet Lacey Lou. And she truly loves me and hubby.

Another thing she truly loves is to roll around on the bed in our guest room.

Oh such a cute puppy. Ahhh such a comfy bed.

However, I don't always love the results of such cuteness.

Yep! That would be: puppy-1, quilt-0

Oh well. At least it's not a quilt I spent hours making.

I bought a bed-in-a-bag set a number of years ago before I started quilting.

The set came with two pillow shams. I use one on the bed. The second one I cut up to make tiebacks for the curtains. I'm so glad I saved the scraps that were left over from that second sham.

Just a little cutting and deconstruction with my scissors, an iron and some stuff called "Heat-n-Bond" and I was able to patch up my poor puppy-love abused quilt.

Since it's a patchwork design to begin with, I think the added patches look absolutely fine. A little newer looking perhaps, but I'm sure they'll look battle worn in no time.

Ah- hem! Don't even think about it my sweet Miss Lacey!

Stay! Good girl!

Now I'm off to the quilted comforter on my bed. No extra scraps to work with, but I have a couple of ideas that may work.

I guess if I also count that one the score is: puppy-2, quilts-0

Oh my Lacey Lou. You're so lucky you give me such good kisses when I get home from work.

Mother's Day 2013

Hi friend! So glad you've stopped by today.

Some thoughts on this Mother's Day 2013 .......

I've had a wonderful day and have been made to feel so special by my hubby, son and daughter-in-law. My mom came over to have dinner with us all. We had such a nice time and I'm blessed that we could all be together. A little later I'll go to visit our other son's memorial bench.

It's been a great Mother's Day!

And yet I can't help but think of the little ones who have no mommy to say "Happy Mother's Day" to.

There are three little ones who live half way around the world, who I have never met, that I am thinking of this year on Mother's Day. At one time or another I have thought that if my circumstances were different maybe I could have adopted one of these sweet ones.

Precious Miss Maribel was the first one. The first one to steal my heart. {can you tell? - this blog was named after her}

Yep! If I was younger and hubby didn't have the health problems he does, I would have seriously considered making her my own.

Thankfully, she was taken back by her biological mom and is no longer an orphan. Yay!


Then there was sweet pea Tobie.

Just this past Christmas we chose him as our angel to advocate for through RR's 2012 Christmas Angel Tree fundraiser.

Sadly, Tobie's birth country is no longer allowing adoptions from the US. It's a bunch of political poop and is only hurting these precious orphans. {Oh buddy! I could write a whole post about my feelings on this subject.}

Because it doesn't appear as if anything will change any time soon with that country's policy, we've re-gifted Tobie's 2012 Christmas Angel Tree grant money to Dane.

I had recently requested to be Dane's prayer warrior, but hadn't heard back. I guess it's because he is now listed on the MFFM {My Family Found Me}page.

He has a family that is in the process of adopting him! Doing a happy dance!!

They are the Breakfield family. I'd love for you to take a minute and hop over to his soon-to-be forever family's blog and follow their adoption journey. Go to: breakfields.blogspot.com

So friend,  I couldn't let this day go by without writing something for Mother's Day 2013. Just a few random thoughts and info. But, also a ton of happiness for the Breakfield family and sweet Dane.

Love ya,

Finished! ..... or Is It?

Welcome friend!

** This post was written a few months ago. I honestly don't know why I never hit the old "Publish" button for this one. Oh well, what can I say?  Hitting the "Publish" button now .............


Well, Reece's Rainbow's 2012 Christmas Angel Tree is finished. It was quite a success!!

Can you believe fourteen precious little ones now have families in the process of adopting them?!

Every single child listed on the Angel Tree reached the goal of $1000.00 or more. How wonderful!!

There are still so many little ones all over the world living in horrible places. Not all orphanages of course. But some have the type of conditions that you wouldn't want your worst enemy to live in. And we're talking about innocent children.

So my "assignment" of being Tobie's Angel Tree Warrior is finished.

Or is it?
Well, yes. And no.

I will continue to pray for him. Now more than ever since I am pretty sure he is in Russia and there is now a a ban in place for US adoptions to that country.

I don't care so much who ... nationality, two parents, older parents, single mom.

I care more when and if he ever gets sprung from the orphanage.

Oh and guess what?! I just signed up to be Tobie's prayer warrior on RR. Yay!

Would you consider advocating for one of the children on Reece's Rainbow? There are so many ways available to help. If you think you may like to help, please go to reecesrainbow.org .

Do you believe God answers prayer? Than you can pray! Right?
And that's a great place to start.

Whaa laaa! It's Magic!

Hey there friend!

For a while now I've been having a ton of  fun quilting. I've made rag quilts, baby quilts, big quilts, and lap quilts in all kinds of colors and designs. Some were for family, a few I made and donated to adoption fundraisers and once or twice now I've sold them for a small profit.

Today, I'd like to share with you about two special quilts I'm making for my cousin. Thought I'd share a couple of pictures I've taken of the process as well.

Anyways, quite a while ago I got a Facebook message asking me if I could make a quilt for her. She had a wonderful idea of having a quilt made from her daughter's baby blankets. Of course I said, "Yes!".

Once she found where she had stored the baby blankets (her daughter is now a beautiful and sweet teenager), she packed them up and mailed them to me to {in her words} "do my magic".

Whoa! The pressure is on.

No pressure from her. She is very laid back about the whole thing. Says she wouldn't know where to start to figure out a pattern and design. That's ok since I love that part as much as the quilting. And as far as a time frame - she says, "no worries".

But for me? Well, yea, there's a bit of pressure. I mean the first step is to cut these blankets into pieces. Chop up the very blankets that kept her baby girl, her first born, all snugly warm and comfy.

Plus, she would like to see if there would be enough fabric from the blankets to make not one quilt, but two. One "as large as I can make" and one "baby" size.

I think that's a great idea! I truly do. However, there's not much room for error when I measure out and begin cutting for the first one or there won't be enough left for the other. It's not like I can go to a fabric store to get more of the fabric if I happen to measure incorrectly. Yikes!


When I received the box and peeked inside I saw seven receiving blankets.

One blanket was pale yellow with an applique of a bird and bird house in one corner. The other six colorful blankets had a different pattern on each side. Each side's color scheme coordinated perfectly with the other side.

After a little testing I found that the two sides would come apart nicely once I removed the binding along the edges. It would be easy to turn six blankets into twelve pieces of fabric to work with. Whaa laaa!

However, now I had to figure out a way to coordinate all the different colors and patterns together into the new quilts. There were blues, pinks, purple, peach, red and yellow.

There was also at least one or two (ok maybe three) nervous messages back and forth on Facebook with my cuz.

Was she sure?

Can I add other fabrics?
What kind of fabric?
Solid or patterned?

What about the back of the quilt?
Solid or patterned?
What color?

She sweetly told me again to just do my magic. She's a southern gal and was probably really thinking, "Well, just bless her heart."

Once I got all that nonsense out of the way and after a deep breath, it was time to start trimming off the bindings and separating fronts from backs.


And now there are 14 rectangles of fabric and all those loose cut off bindings.

Whew! There's no turning back now.

A bit more measuring and then ironing on some stabilizer stuff to the back of each piece. Don't want the squares to be all wonky and uneven.

And let the cutting of squares begin!


Squares, rectangles and more squares.

Now time to actually start piecing and sewing and quilting.  Oh my!


For the baby blanket size -

I used one each of the twelve different patterns for the center making four blocks. I then framed that with some dark blue denim. Added  a border of the pale yellow around that. Next, I added another frame of small squares of each pattern with light blue denim in the corners.

I appliqued the birdie to one corner. And finished the whole thing off with a wide strip of dark blue denim.

For the backing I used a soft cotton in (what I'd call) a very light tea stained color. It has a light and airy design of tiny flowers and vines.

I turned over the denim from the front to make a border on the back.

And that's it!  Whaa laaa!!!

I did it! And I had a blast. It was a joy to make this for my cousin.

From the planning and measuring - to the trimming and cutting - to the sewing together the blocks and rows. Then finally quilting it all together. It's creatively fun stuff.

I love when I finish a quilt and see how pretty it is. Yet I usually feel kinda sorry it's done. Like finishing a really good book and not wanting the story to end.

But, it's ok because I still have lots of work to do on the big quilt. I already have everything planned, measured and cut. Even have a few rows pieced and sewn together. Yay!

All I'm gonna share for now is that it's gonna be similar, but different from the baby quilt. Ha!

That tells you a lot, doesn't it?

OK, so it'll have a different design using the same twelve patterns from the six quilts. The backing will be different, but similar.

Will there be denim? Well, ....... ummm ...... maybe. *wink*

Guess you'll have to wait for the pictures when it's all done and I've worked my magic once again.

Dusting Off The Cobwebs Here

Hi friend!

Here I am back at Miss Maribel's Place. I'm dusting off the cobwebs, looking around and thinking of using this place again.

You see I thought that starting a third blog to advocate for sweet Tobie during RR's 2012 Christmas Angel Tree was kinda crazy. And guess what!? It actually was.

So, I've imported those posts to my place here and closed that third blog. {Thank you Blogger for this tool for crazy people like me.} There were only eight posts and I've re-titled them with RR Angel Tree Post # .

What I've also done is create a tab at Finding Hope & Joy  for here at Miss Maribel's Place. FH&J  is my main home in bloggy land. So by clicking on that little tab you'll be able to hop over here to Miss Maribel's Place and peek in on what's new.

Other than that I'm not sure where I'm headed with my two place in bloggy land. But, it sure feels good. The upkeep on three places was too much for me.

Sometimes simple is better.

Love ya friend!