Fall is winding down her in beautiful Amish country. Two weeks ago, I spent a Sunday afternoon capturing the beauty of the peak of fall. As you can see by this photo, even the Amish were out enjoying the colors.

I was simply amazed at the multitude of colors in the landscape. It was breathtaking.


The temperature has been dropping, the leaves have almost finishing falling, and now it's time to get ready for winter. I am eagerly awaiting the first snow. I am especially excited about it this year because I will not have the stress of having to drive to work in the snow/ice because I work from home now. :-)

Colors of fall...

......and it's only just beginning. My church is a 50-minute drive through beautiful, mountainous countryside. I brought my camera with me (as I will throughout fall) to take a few pictures along the way. I am absolutely amazed at all of the spectacular colors everywhere I look. Even dying corn is a beautiful golden color. The vegetable crops are a vibrant yellow. The trees are mostly green still, but there are colors popping out here and there.

Fall is definitely my favorite season. The colors of fall were created by God for just one reason -- our enjoyment. If you think about it, why would leaves change into beautiful colors just to fall to the ground? God wanted us to enjoy His creation, so he made it incredibly gorgeous. He loves us enough to paint the sunrise and sunset every day. He loves us enough to create gorgeous sparkling blue and green water in the ocean. He loves us enough to splash the leaves with awesome colors for us to enjoy each fall.

Remember Me?

Yes, it's been a while since I have posted. I was inspired by Martha Pullen (who just started her own blog today) to get back to my blog. I have been spending most of my computer time on facebook.

I'm still loving this beautiful part of the country. In fact, I took several hours on Monday to enjoy Amish country. The corn is ready for harvest. The leaves are beginning to get a hint of color to them, and fall is approaching. I can't wait until the peak of the fall season is upon us. I plan to take at least a million pictures.

I've been getting back into my sewing/quilting after a little bit of a slump. In the past month, I have made a patchwork block as my first step in patchwork quilting. I also made a new doll dress for my Martha Pullen doll.

This weekend, I am beginning to work on Kurt's Christmas present. I think he has already figured out that it is going to be a quilt, but he has no idea what it will be like. I am not going to post the details in case he were to read it, but I will tell you that I am *sew* excited about it. I am making a strip quilt. I have three different fabrics that I am using -- all perfectly suited for him. My goal is to get my strips cut this weekend. I think that is a realistic goal.

After months and months of being the best of friends, Kurt officially asked me to be his girlfriend on July 5th. We have had the most amazing and wonderful time growing together and growing in the Lord. He is so sweet and humors me by showing interest in my quilting/sewing. He is such a gift from God.

TGTF

Do you know what TGTF means? It means "Thank God Tomorrow's Friday"! It has been quite a week!

Sunday, my children and I went to Norristown, PA after church to Kurt's concert. He is in a classical quartet. It was awesome. There was a viola, clarinet, french horn and piano. They were all incredible!

Tuesday night was an experience I will not soon forget. I was on my way to church and was in a wreck. I was stopped for the car in front of me to turn left. The car behind me stopped in time, but a truck with a snow plow rammed into them who then rammed into me. The Lord was with me, and I was not injured, and damage to my van was minimal. Every state trooper at the scene (and there were several) commented about how good my van got off considering what the car that hit me looked like. I was very sore that night and the next day, but today (Thursday) I am feeling better.

There has been no quilting so far this week. I am hoping this weekend will offer a little bit of quilting time.

What a difference the right tools make!!

This morning, I went to JoAnns. Their quilting tools were 50% off. I bought a 6.5 x 24.5 inch ruler and new blades for my rotary cutter. WOW -- it made a HUGE difference. Now I can cut strips and squares accurately. I had been using a 4 x 18" ruler, and it just wasn't big enough to work with. I have struggled with quilting because the desire has been there, but the ability to cut neatly has not been there. Now I can do it!! The possibilities are endless!! I can even cut my own 2.5 inch strips to make my own jelly rolls with ease!! I've been playing this afternoon and cutting up scraps into 5" charm squares too. Oh how fun this is!! I can cut and cut and cut!!!

I love weekends in Amish Country!!

Today, we visited a quilt shop in Ephrata, PA called Piece By Piece. I will post a separate entry about our shopping experience, but for now, I wanted to share my Amish experience!

Ephrata is about 12 miles south of Reading in Lancaster County. I wanted to enjoy some Amish scenery, but didn't know where to find the Amish. As we were driving down "Main Street" in Ephrata, we saw a horse and buggy turn down one of the side roads that led out of town. I knew that was which way I wanted to go.

As we traveled through the Amish country, we passed 2 horse and buggies, AND we passed 2 Amish men in a horse-drawn wagon full of church benches. If you've read any of the Beverly Lewis books, you probably know that on Saturdays, the Amish get set up for church the next day. They deliver all the benches and chairs to the home that is going to host church for that day. We saw two Amish men doing that. It was so neat to see.

We saw many Amish people riding bicycles and passed many Amish homes and farms.

Then we came across either an Amish or very conservative Mennonite one-room school. I *had* to stop and peek in. It was sooo neat to see inside! It was hard to believe it was real. I could have gazed in the window all day.

While we were there, my two older children were in the van afraid I was going to get in trouble for peeking in the windows of this school. They told me that an Amish guy on a bicycle just road by. Then I heard them saying, "Someone's coming - hurry up!!!".

I wasn't afraid - I knew we weren't doing anything wrong. This older gentleman was walking down the street, and came to talk to me. He said that the Amish guy on the bicycle that just went by teaches at that school. How neat is that?? He said it was a shame we missed him because he could have told us more about the school.

After our scenic drive through Amish country, we stopped at Walmart and enjoyed shopping with quite a few Amish families.

I just love it here!!!

Quilted Valentine's Day Cards

I am home with a sick little boy today, so I was able to finish my quilted Valentine's Day cards. They're a lot of fun to make, but they are time-consuming.

I learned that it was definitely easier to start from jelly roll strips rather than cut the blocks completely myself. I am very challenged in the area of cutting strips, blocks, etc. I need to take a class on that. I think I would really enjoy making block quilts if I could learn to cut squares. I am pretty good at sewing with consistent 1/4" seams, but that doesn't matter if your squares aren't straight!!

Anyone have any suggestions of websites/books that can help me learn to cut squares, strips, etc. I have a huge cutting mat (24x36) and a 6" x 18" ruler, along with a good rotary cutter.