Table of Grace - July and a Bonanza

Danny - always comes to help us at serving time. We made baked spaghetti, fruit salad, Italian bread and four different cakes.

Sue - welcoming the last of the line - which means we eat soon. 

The Bonanza

Last month, the church office called to ask me if we could use some ground beef for Table of Grace.

Our church also has a food pantry and sometimes receives food that has been declined by a restaurant or store usually because it wasn't what they ordered or more than they ordered.  The food pantry had no way of repackaging the meat safely so it came to us. 

Yes  - of course - I answered

We were given 140 pounds of ground beef - so we will be making all our menus with ground beef included in the main course until it is gone.

Again God is Good!

A Finished Top and A Sunrise

I laid out all the blocks on the floor in the late evening and arranged them as best I could so that I could have them ready to sew before I went up to the lake.  

Here is the top sewn together.  Not sure if it will have a border yet.

On the way to the lake, I stopped at the quilt shop in Warrenton and I found a batik that I may use as a border for it.  Will try it out later in the week and get opinion from other eyes too.

Got up early to see Tracey and Paul off to Portsmouth to pick up Evan.  He has been out on patrol with the Coast Guard these past few months.

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise.

Table of Grace report:  The men grilled 60 chickens and made 3 pans of baked beans.  We made slaw and desserts.  We served about 90 people and were able to send out lots of take home plates with what was leftover. We had lots of help and volunteers to clean up and set the fellowship hall back for early worship Sunday.  

I think I drank the tea that wasn't decaf as I was awake most of the night. Think I'll just drink lemonade or water next month.

Table of Grace - June 30th

Special Table of Grace this month.  It is the first meal of our 9th year.  We made chicken salad, pasta salad, watermelon and rolls. 

And for dessert Sally M. brought a huge cake and Cindy provided ice cream to go with it.  We had several guests who were there at our first meal.

A little more progress! I like paper piecing except for removing the paper, of course.

Thanksgiving Monday - Table of Grace

Happy kitchen helpers

Baked spaghetti - one of our favorites

About 75 came out on a cold evening to eat and share fellowship with us.

From the archives - Quilt #106 -  a bow tie quilt top that I made in March 1999.  I finished it in October that year and it was used as a fundraiser by the WUMW group at church. I never took a picture of the finished quilt.

Today I'm Thankful for:

• The friends who help out with Table of Grace - cooking, washing dishes, serving, and cleaning up.
• Warmth on this cold day
• The big beautiful white poinsettias that I found at Sam's today - now I don't have to go out on Friday to look for them.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday and Sunday at the lake. Saturday it was in the low 70's and felt a little cool at the community cook out. Tracey, Molly and myself played Garden Scrabble (a game Tracey gave me for Mother's Day)which was fun.. Sunday was warmer and everyone got out on the water to enjoy the day. I enjoyed sitting on the deck reading.

Monday we had our Table of Grace meal at WUMC.  Lots of good help and lots of fun preparing the meal.

We served Chicken Salad, Pasta Salad, Fruit and Ice Cream with Strawberries and Chocolate Sauce for dessert.

We had a good attendance even though it was a holiday.

The best part was a surprise visit from Tawny, our first ministerial intern.  She did the devotional.  She has recently been commissioned and her husband Paul just finished his doctorate at NCSU. They will be moving back to Pennsylvania soon to begin the next chapter of their lives.

October Table of Grace

Although the weather was less than ideal outside, our table of Grace crew was enjoying our time together in the kitchen.  We were glad Jim was back with us (he has been helping his cousin out on his farm this fall).  We made Pork Loin with Cranberry Glaze, Hash brown Potato Casserole, Green Beans, Wheat Roll and Spice Cake with Orange Icing. 

Today, I did finally catch up on all my backings and bindings.  I still have to finish the Orca Bay quilt I made last fall.  I need to add the last two borders.  Maybe tomorrow???

Table of Grace - A week early

Our Church, Wendell United Methodist, serves a meal open to the public at no charge, on the last Monday of each month at 6PM.  We have a praise team that leads us in song and our pastor has a short devotion.  We are generally finished between 7:15 and 7:30.

Alta Ruth, Margie, Janice & Ella

We have been cooking meals for TOG for six years and we always have a good time together.  We never know how many people we'll have but it seems to work out.  We have never completely ran out of food and if we have extra we make plates and send it home with our guests. The Lord provides!

This month we made a Turkey Pasta Casserole with broccoli and carrots, peaches and cottage cheese, foccacia bread, and we had Christmas cookies for dessert.

Margie, Janice, Ella and I cook and Alta Ruth comes to help us serve beverages.  Pat Br., Henry, Aaron, Jackie and Wayne helped serve and clean up too.

We had a smaller group with the change of date and the busy-ness of the season.  But it was enjoyed just as much.

 

String Squares

Saturday was the Undercover Bee meeting.  I finished making the squares for this quilt.  I sewed it together yesterday afternoon.  It was 57 x 76" which to me seems to be an odd size.
 I made some borders to try out.  If I add borders on three sides it will be 71 x 81 or on all sides 71 x 86".  The side borders are 7" and the top/bottom are 5".
I can think about it today as we have Table of Grace at church.  We're making Baked Spaghetti, green beans, fruit salad and pound cake with ice cream for dessert. 
I may go to the Monday session of Disciple Class as long as I'm already at church.  That way we can go up to the lake and not have to worry about getting back for the Wed. evening session.
Have a good day! 

Table of Grace - June 2011

Margie,Ella, Janice & Randie

 Today we marked the end of our 5th year of cooking and serving meals for Table of Grace.  We always have a good time together.  Randie has been helping us the past few months.  She leads our Monday Morning Bible Study Group (we take the summer off),

Alta Ruth, Sara, Janice

Alta Ruth and Sara come in about 4PM and help serve tea and lemonade.  Scott was our worship and music leader.  One of our guests sang Amazing Grace.  She had a lovely voice and it was a nice surprise.

Our menu - Pasta Salad, Tuna Salad, Peaches and Cottage Cheese, Rosemary Foccacia and Frozen Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert topped with Chocolate Sauce and Butterfinger Crumbs.



Table of Grace

Margie, Mary Jean, me and Janice (also Ella taking picture) in the kitchen yesterday. It was cool and rainy outside, a good day for baking cakes and cooking. Sally, Carole and Randi came later to help serve and clean up.  We had ham, pinto beans, biscuits and pineapple upside-down cake to nourish our bodies.

Pastor Tawney, Scott, who led our worship and was our speaker, and the praise team were there to nourish our souls.  God is good!

Another Busy Week Ahead

After lunch and the Sudoku puzzle, I decided to get a jump start on the week.

I washed the aprons that I had brought home from church Wed. evening.  Our kitchen has 36 black aprons and it seemed like they were all in need of washing. (The men had a pancake supper a few weeks back - 'nuf said).  I did 15 last week and Margie and I divided the remaining ones to wash.  They are embroidered with the Methodist logo and WUM in red. They are wash and wear but the ties do tend to get tangled.

We will be using them tomorrow as we will be cooking Ham, Pinto Beans, Biscuits and Pineapple Upside Down Cake for Table of Grace.  Wednesday we will make Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots, Marinated Slaw, biscuits and Strawberry Trifle for our Evening Lenten Program.

Tuesday is my last teaching installment of Machine Quilting Basics in the evening.

Thursday is a tenative trip to Lindarella's Quilt Shop in Southern Pines with Sally, Connie &  Cathy.

Friday perhaps my sister Janet and BIL, Neil, will stop by for a few days before they return to NYS after their stay in Myrtle Beach.

 While the laundry was going, I sewed the blue blocks together and layered it for quilting, It is 38 x 44".
















I also layered this cute panel with the animals that Connie picked up for me in Goldsboro last spring.

This is the first pre- print I have ever used most of them I just don't care for.  I used the coordinating print for the backing.
Then I did the donation quilt from the Cheep talk fabrics started March 3. 
Now I need to go to bed!

Busy Week - A Little Sewing

Monday being the last day of the month, was Table of Grace at our church. We serve a meal open to the community at no charge. My friend, Margie and I shop for groceries in the morning, have a slice of pizza at Sam's and meet back at church with Ella, Janice and Mary Jean at 1PM. We cook and are ready to serve the meal at 6. We had Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots, rolls, chocolate cake (donated by Sally)and ice cream. Other members come in and help with serving and clean up. We have music and a short message from our pastor. I love TOG day!

I left early to enjoy my birthday gift from Carole. (Thanks Again, Carole!) She took me to see Lang Lang at the NC symphony. We had seen Lang Lang's performance at Meymandi Concert Hall back in 2003 when he was just 20. Both were outstanding and he got the longest standing ovation I have witnessed there. (Unless you count when my grand kids, Shane & Hannah graduated from Raleigh Charter HS - just kidding of course)

Tues.& Wed. dedicated to medical stuff (John's tests) and fabric cutting.

Thurs. Connie H. called and we went to Wish Upon A Quilt - She was for Cat in the Hat and I got 3 more Kaffe Fassett fat quarters to go in the Dresden Plate I started this week and looked for a backgound to use with it. Since I don't have a huge amount of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, I added a bunch of other fabrics I already had. Sew I will see how it goes.

Today was TV shopping - John has been contemplating,comparing and checking for a few months- Panasonic Viera won out!