14 May 2010
These little fabric flowers add such a delightful touch to any lady’s attire! They are feminine, delicate, and oh-so-lovely!
One of the best things about them is that they are especially easy to create! You need only three main items to make them (+ some embellishments, for extra beauty). Would you care to guess the needed supplies?
Looking for a tutorial? It’s right here!
9 May 2010
“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.” – Proverbs 31:10
Her spiritual beauty and loveliness makes her diligently sought after, but only a chosen few actually succeed in their mission to find her. Yet those who do succeed realize that they did not find her, but were rather given a gift from the Lord.
The Lord took pleasure in saving my father and mother, by His amazing grace, and transformed them into the righteous man and the virtuous woman.
My mother is that rare and precious gift.
She is a godly wife, a wonderful mother and a precious friend. I do not know what I would do without her. She is there to encourage, to edify, to talk with and to listen, to teach and train, to laugh with, to cry with, to dream with, and to share my heart with. She is a faithful wife and mother who is always finding ways to encourage and bless her family.
I could not ask for a better mother. I consider myself blessed to be given such a wonderful and precious gift from the Lord: a god-fearing mother.
She is a gift I do not deserve. But in God’s perfect will, He has made her my mother and I her daughter. Thank you, Lord!
3 May 2010
Time flies by so quickly. And there are many, many battles to fight.
This world would like you to think it’s a playground. But it’s not. It’s a battleground. We don’t have time to waste our lives on frivolities (although sometimes we may try to convince ourselves that we do).
There is a long list of cultural battles that we can take part in overcoming for God’s glory, by His grace, and for the expansion of His kingdom. At times I am overwhelmed when thinking about the many things needing to be accomplished and taken captive to the obedience of Christ . . . especially when it seems there is so “little” time to do them all.
Yes, life is short, but . . .
God gave us twenty-four hour days for a reason. If I don’t think there’s enough time in a day, that problem lies with how I’m spending my time. It’s a battle we all face.
Maybe I’ve spent time doing something that really didn’t need to be done. Maybe I could’ve been doing something better with my time. Time is a blessed gift from the Lord that He has given us stewardship over. My lifetime is short and the time I have on this earth lasts just for the moment in all of eternity.
By God’s grace I can change and correct.
Correcting these areas is not always an easy task—it includes weeding out things in my life and schedule that are unnecessary and take up valuable time that can be used for working not just on the good things, but on the best things!
Would you like to join me?
2 May 2010
“O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!”
—Psalm 8:1
26 April 2010
A couple months ago I created a skirt and bag from these lovely fabrics. The skirt was a must and the bag was a plus, so I made the skirt first.
The pattern is a basic A-line skirt with the length landing mid/low-calf. The pattern I made by using a calculation of my measurements (the formula can be found in this book).
The skirt has a white hidden zipper. I have not sewn a normal zipper yet, but I have found the hidden zippers very simple to insert and attach (especially after getting over the intimidation of actually sewing a zipper).
After the skirt was finished, I moved on to designing a pattern for the bag. The bag was to be a tote-style bag that could carry a camera, three lenses, a Bible, and a notepad . . . with a little extra room left over. The completed bag had plenty of room.
At one time the bag was nearly full. It contained twelve medium sized books, a camera, three lenses, notepad, and several other accessories. Oh, and a sweater, too! It seems that this bag is reminiscent of Mary Poppin’s carpet bag — it doesn’t look too big on the outside, but the contents seem to be never-ending!
This was the first actual sample of the pattern . . . and now I know where the pattern needs adjusting and improvement, but the bag still worked well and carried the needed supplies!
There is a divider in the center to separate the technological supplies from the books. The divider has been stiffened with fabric interfacing and wonder-under.
Sewn onto the divider are three pockets of various sizes. One for pens and pencils, the middle one for business cards, and the other for a cell phone.
Attached at top on one side is a long cover made from the inside fabric. The cover drapes from one side to the other hiding the contents of the bag. This adds privacy to the bag without taking away from the tote-bag style and decorative fabric.
The happy spring skirt and very large bag.
(Photos with me in them were taken by my sweet sister.)
19 April 2010
On April 15th, thousands gathered just outside the statehouse in the capitol of Indiana. “We the People” stood for our liberties and freedoms. The current tyrannical government is seeking to remove our freedoms and liberties, but we are not going to let it.
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” —Thomas Jefferson
“The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.”
—Edmund Burke
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep to the slaughter.” —George Washington
The “sleeping giant” has been awakened. No longer can we sit idly by—as we have for so long—and watch our freedoms be taken from us and our children. It is time to stand.
The voice of “We the People” must and will be heard.
Last year, Mr. Phillips spoke at the Tea Party Rally in San Antonio,
and gave the message, “Freedom at Risk.”
This year, Mr. Joe Morecraft spoke at a Tea Party Rally;
you can listen to his message here.
17 April 2010
Over the past few days I have been designing a new layout for my dear sister’s blog, A Bowl of Moss & Pebbles. Breezy drew blueprints for how she wanted the finished site to look, making the process very smooth.
The style of the design is fresh and cheerful with a clean layout. A few of the details include a bird carrying a ribbon in between the posts, a photo in the header that Breezy captured of our pear blossoms, and in the sidebar is a happy little link to subscribe to her blog.
There are still a few more elements I will be adding next week. But in the meantime, please visit Breezy’s blog and enjoy her posts of encouragement, artwork, and daily living!
P.S. Photos of the skirt and bag—the very large bag—are coming soon!
14 April 2010
After an autumn and winter of leaves and snow, our square-foot gardening boxes were left this spring holding on tight to the leaves and growing a few little foreigners (a.k.a. weeds that should not have been there).
Each box is 4′ x 4′ with small boards on top dividing the large box into sixteen small boxes. The soil is made from compost, vermiculite and peat moss.
When plating in the miniature boxes, the number of seeds/starters per 1′ x 1′ depends on how large the plant will grow to be. For example four lettuces per small square and sixteen spinach’s per small square.
After cleaning out the boxes, Breezy planted several seeds (thanks to Auntie Lou) which have already sprouted and are growing nicely. Last year we made three square foot gardening boxes and this year we plan to make three more!
9 April 2010
On Friday evening during the Father & Daughter Retreat the warm sun was shining while fathers and daughters ate a picnic dinner (of hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, etc.) atop blankets spread out on the grand lawn.
