What a week!  There were several new stories/posts last week here at Melva Loves Scraps.  Block #6 of the Pieces of My Life was released as was the newsletter with the link to the memory book pages and additional stories and memories of my life not shared here... AND I hosted the Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday linky party.  Whew...  Last week I had asked you about the self-imposed "imaginary" deadlines... I found I was not alone.  I also decided that rather than push myself into a state of frenzy... I offered myself some grace and moved the release date of th ..read more

  Welcome to Melva Loves Scraps and Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF)! A new page has been turned as we start the month of May.  The weather has turned from cooler temps and chances of snow to warmer days, spring-like winds and chances of rain.  Spring is my favorite season, followed closely with Autumn.  The days of warm sunshine, comfortable temperatures so that you can have windows open and enjoy the varied sights, sounds and scents of the season. To celebrate May Day, I created a "souvenir" Table Topper with the fabric I purchased while on vacation in Ar ..read more

Welcome back to Melva Loves Scraps and the Pieces of My Life Sew Along! Block #6 is named "Hours". I remember being asked about my age as a kid... the typical, "how old are you?"  I went through a phase of responding with a very precise "I am 7-1/2 (or 8-1/2) years old."  I must have recently become familiar with fractions (probably from baking cookies on Saturday mornings ;) and I once answered even more precisely that I was 8-3/4 years old. LOL! I remember that my brother made fun of me.  Apparently, every day counted for me!  It's funny that now I can ..read more

April is nearly over... time marches on.  And sometimes at the beat of its own drum. LOL! Last week went along smoothly as I spent time in my studio working on the first of three custom t-shirt quilts.  By Friday afternoon I had it finished, sans the label. I sat down to the computer to do a quick post about it... that was when I was waylaid by the fact that our business website was AWOL... again. After seeking help from tech support, to no avail, I began the process of creating a new one, using the free program from our webhost.  It has been something I have been dreadin ..read more

It's Done! It's DONE! Ta-da!!! The purple Pieces of My Life is done... label and all. To say that I am pleased with the finished quilt is an understatement. The challenge of getting the varying shades of purple to "play well together" was a little intimidating, but one that I rose to conquer.  The sashing strips, cornerstones, borders and binding supervised any clashing that may have been there. I could go on with more thoughts, but I'll just keep it short and sweet and get right to this week's Sew & Tell feature... Deb was getting ready for retreat season and had a ..read more

The thing about ordering fabric online is that you take a risk in the accuracy of the colors AND you have to wait for them to arrive.   I had ordered fabric to be used as the sashing strips and borders for my purple Pieces of My Life quilt last week and they seemed to take f o r e v e r to arrive.  That was when I decided to pull out the "souvenir" fabrics I picked up while in Arizona.  I had originally planned on placemats but couldn't decide on a pattern/layout that I was excited about. I dug through some patterns and came across a "Ten-minute Table Runner".  ..read more

As I write and record the memoirs of my childhood, my parents and my life, I have come to realize the invaluable lessons I learned from them.  Some things I have mimicked and others I have tweaked or tried to leave behind completely. As a child, I don't recall hearing the words "I love you" from many (if any) family members.  I always knew that I was loved... I was treated very well and never experienced abuse of any sort (though I did receive a few disciplinary spankings, they were never abusive).  We simply were not a big touchy-feely family.   Words of affirm ..read more

I've written about a special group of ladies that I am part of... Friends and Sisters in Christ... We've loved and supported each other throughout many years, life's challenges, up and downs.   It has been almost 4 years since the larger group of gals has gathered together to fellowship for a weekend. This weekend it happened!  In total, eleven of us gathered at a special place called "The Refuge."  Because of this, I don't have a great amount of time to write.   I worked very peacefully on Tuesday and Wednesday as I wrote and tested/pieced the final thr ..read more

Welcome back to the Pieces of My Life sew along!  I hope that you have enjoyed piecing the blocks and the opportunity to document memories, details and stories of your life.  This week there are two blocks again...  Topic of the prompt questions is your teen years...  I enjoyed elementary school.  In general, I also enjoyed my teen years in school... But Junior High was a tough transition in the "friends" area.  There were all the same kids that I had been going to school with during 5th & 6th grade, but there were dividing lines that seemed to have form ..read more

Hey everyone!  I am back among the cyber world and reconnecting with everyone. Last week the newsletter was sent out... delayed even more that I had anticipated due to an internet service issue.  I also had a few glitches with the mailing but believe they have been fixed and got everyone covered.   There was a reader or two that have stated in anonymous comments that they want to be added to my newsletter list.  I would love to add you... but I need an email address left with the comment or you need to send me an email message with the word "newsletter" in th ..read more