Butterfly Quilt for Pepe

My husband had a grand niece born this year and I was asked to make a baby quilt.

I drew out this butterfly quilt. Each butterfly is handmade, stuffed and appliqued onto the quilt. Then I added the vines. All was hand sewn for placement and design ideas- aka tryouts. The butterfly became the flowers. Each wing is an assortment of fabrics. the vine and leaves is also a combination of fabrics. 

After all the parts were good, I put the border and the batting and backing.

Then I machine quilted every part. Yes, some of the wings are floppy. The bodies are also made of velvet and fun fur. This quilt is made to be touched.

Wings are stuffed with a plastic liner to keep stiff.

All hand made and hand sewn. This one is hand ruched velvet and wool antennae. 

My goal was LOTS of colors

 

The beauty of Easter Vigil

So along with being the secretary I am also the photographer for our church events. I took this fast as I knew it was about to happen.

This was taken at Easter Vigil in our darkened church. The altar server swings the thick rich holy smoke, Father holds the new Easter candle, and a young mother holder her baby boy lights her candle. The light is spread from her candle to the next person and the next. So from this spark the light takes over. Thanks to God.

 

My spirit animal

 My husband sent me this photo of a very hungry growly kitten chowing angrily on bread. He said this reminds him of me. Yup, pretty much does. I aggressively dive into anything I am doing. I will not be pulled off happily from my adventure. I also tend to forget to eat when I am immersed in a project. And I do get hangry when I finally stop and eat, fast and furiously. 

Sewing Classes at church in 2025

I gave two classes I taught in April & May for beginning sewers. Totes and aprons class. How to measure, cut and sew from pattern to finishes item. With excellent machines and no breaks we got done in 4 hours. Very happy students. In June I will add crochet, tunics and teddy bears. 

 

Pope Leo XIV

 I never thought I would live to see an American Pope. This is so exciting and makes me happy for our faith.

8 thoughts on Pope Leo XIV: by Marcel LeJeune

1 - All Catholics owe every Pope a filial respect and love. Let us commit ourselves, before we know the man, to give him just that.

2 - Every Pope is (in a sense) made new, when made Pope. You can't just take what he has said or done in the past and translate it into being Pope. So, let's wait to see what he will focus on and do.

3 - Don't listen to the commentators and pundits who want to tell you what he is all about. Most (almost all secular ones and even many Catholic ones) have a false framing of Church issues. The left / right and conservative / liberal dichotomies taken from Western politics don't neatly transfer to the Church. Catholicism is bigger. While we have various issues, they aren't just political and the framing is wrong. Catholicism needs to be seen through the lens of faith and not a political one.

4 - God promised to give us Popes and to protect the Church from false teaching. Not good Popes. Not holy Popes. Not Popes we agree with on every detail. While we should pray and hope he is good and holy, we aren't promised those things.

5 - Americans should NOT expect that we will get any special treatment. The Pope is the Pope of everyone. In fact, I suspect (partly because of taking the name Leo), that he will directly challenge many accepted American ways of thinking and living. So, don't say I didn't warn y'all.

6 - Be prepared for Villanova to be unbearably obnoxious for the foreseeable future. He went there.

7 - Because he is a canon lawyer and former Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, I expect bishop appointments to be very important to him. I also expect some pretty deep impacts to the internal workings of the Curia, which are very very needed.

8 - Keep Jesus as your focus. Popes come and go. Leaders come and go. Jesus remains the same. Only he is Lord. Only he is worthy of worship. He is the point of this earthly Church. Jesus, help us keep our eyes on you!

Winter to spring

The woodstove is officially off for the season.

My go to comfort food homemade Ramen with nori and egg.

The futon is for cats

One of many eyes that watch me at night.

Lucky Spots enjoying the sunbeam. He was found in the road as a kitten, he was shot and still has the bullet parts inside him and he has fought snakes. He is a very happy sweet cat on our farm.

 

Russian Bear and snail BLING

I was able to buy this Russian windup bear that is almost 11 inches tall. It was slow and not working. The balalaika was in poor shape. So I removed it and restored it. But it needed something, bling. I added crystals all along it. The bears fur was cleaned and places back. The bear is oiled and works like new again. The weight of the crystals did not affect the movement.

This is my hand soap snail that also needed bling. It is taking a while but I am getting it done.  You push the shell and the soap comes out the mouth.