Sunday Blessing

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.

Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

from Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne</a>
by Emily E. Elliott

It's hard to believe that it's almost December! I love this time of year! Mark and I are planning to put up our Christmas decorations tomorrow.

Blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever."
Pslam 136:3


I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving! We are headed over to Dad and Mom's tomorrow and are excited to spend Thanksgiving with them (and Angie) as well as with my mom's brother and family!

Just a little bloggy news: I won't be posting a Finished Object Friday this week. We will have a week off! :) I know most of you have been busy preparing for the holiday!

Many blessings!
~ Charity ~

Image Credit

Sunday Blessing

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Now Thank We All Our God
by Martin Rinkart

Wow! This year has flown so fast! It is so hard to believe Thanksgiving is this week! So what have you to be thankful for this year? I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus, a wonderful husband, supportive family, for good friends, and for a friend that lets me dote on her little girls, helping to fill a void in my heart. I'm also thankful for you! -all my friends I've met in "blogland." I've enjoyed meeting you and all our little "visits." :)

On a side note: I've decided to go with a little different format with the Sunday Blessing. I am now going to try to post them Sunday mornings, instead of waiting to pick the song until church. :) I'm usually tired or busy Sunday afternoons and evenings, thus it gets put off, sometimes until Monday! :) I hope you have enjoyed this "feature." I enjoy sharing wonderful hymns of our faith with you -along with my photography! :)

Many, many Blessings!


PS~ A little about this picture: Funny the pictures I catch when I come home from church! Last year, we got home from church one Sunday morning, and I spotted this leaf on my mums. Promise, I didn't put it there - God did! (Because does anything just "happen?")

Finished Object Friday

Wednesday I was actually caught up on my laundry and was able to get some quality sewing time in! I had a blast with these:

Aren't they cute? They are for Hope's Christmas. (shhh... don't tell her!) :) I highly recommend this tutorial. It is very easy to follow. I love how I am able to use up some of my small scraps. Who knows, I may get one or two more made. Then again, I probably have other projects I need to finish! :)

(Oh, and I must confess... at the time of this posting, they aren't quite finished. I still need to hand sew the opening! Finishing isn't my favorite part. You'd think having to do the FOF would encourage me to finish it, huh?) :)

So what crafty object would you like to share? It doesn't look like Mr. Linky is working at the moment, so just mention in your comment that you have a FOF to share so we will be sure to check out your blog. If I have time, I may add your links to the bottom of this post! :) Guidelines are here.

ETA: It looks like Mr. Linky is working! If you see it below it is. If you don't see it, follow the above procedure and have a nice day! :)

Just a little distraction...

Well, I haven't posted much recently. See I've been a little distracted...

Well? Wouldn't you be? :)

(I got to hold her when she was about five hours old!)

Last week, this little one made her entrance into the world. At 7 lbs. 14. oz, her mommy was glad she wasn't as big as Faithie! :) Here are happy mommy and baby on Friday:

Mommy and baby are doing very well! So far she has been Regina's easiest baby. Three times the charm, right? :) Little Hope is so peaceful!

Well, most of the time, anyway!
She doesn't like "changes!" :)

Just a week old, and already stylin' in hand knit apparel! The girl has fashion sense! :)


Her big sisters have taken to her as well! Little Faithie was soo excited! She especially is learning to be gentle with baby.

So back to regular programming later this week. I have also been having a little trouble with our "wonderful" internet connection! Hopefully those kinks are being worked out. It sure is frustrating! I hope everyone is having a great week!

Blessings!

Off to the Dentist...

and I just thought this was too cute! :)

more animals

Hopefully I don't have "cavateez" either!

UPDATE: No "cavateez!!" I "fights" them and wins!! :)

Finished Object Friday

What did you make this week? I made a mess!! :)

Really... See?


But really, the mess was all for a good cause. I made this cake.


It's for a baby shower that a friend is giving for someone in their church. It's not my favorite cake that I have done, but it turned out pretty cute anyway! I used two Pyrex bowls to make the ends of the rattle and cut another cake (baked in a loaf pan) down to size. Very easy!

So what have you been up to this week? We would love to see! Please go by the guidelines for Finished Object Friday and let's have fun sharing! :)

How To - Chari Tree Style

First, allow me to make a special request. Sharon asked that I do this tutorial, and I would like to ask you to help me pray for Sharon and her daughter, Carissa. Carissa is facing some health problems and really need's a touch from the Great Physician. Sharon, please know that we are thinking of you!

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I hope you all aren't tired of seeing pictures of this project:

This will be a picture-heavy post, and you will be seeing a lot of purple! :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be a professional seamstress! This is the little process I worked out to line my bags. I hope it is helpful to someone, but in the meantime, you professionals will have to excuse my attempts! :)

This tutorial includes options for pockets and square bottom bags. You can skip these parts to make just a simple liner. The pocket section will be in purple and square bottom part will be in green.

So to line the bag, first I found some complimentary fabric. This is more of a decorator fabric, so it is a little sturdier than regular cotton. Although most fabric should work fine.
1. Lay the purse on the fabric, and cut two rectangles, these need to be about a half inch larger than your purse on the sides, but an inch or two on the top. As you can tell, I'm not a stickler for exact measurements! :) This is the actual lining, one rectangle for each side of the purse, front and back.

(As you can tell, this is a little big... I have to fix that later, but better to be too generous than to not have enough fabric!)

2 Then cut two smaller rectangles for the pockets. (This is optional of course, or you could do one pocket.)
Here is the purse with all the pieces.

3. Pockets:
a. First fold the long edges of the pockets over twice and iron. (As a non-professional seamstress, I also use pins as little as possible, you professionals are welcome to use as many as you like!)

b. Then sew down each side. (usually going down one side of each twice to make a double stitch.) Then lay each pocket on the inside of the lining, and sew the bottom down. (creating another "double stitch.") (I'm probably making up my own terms, but it makes sense to me!) :)

I love this machine!!!

c. Then decide where you want to put the pockets:

and do vertical stitches at the intervals you want. I made small pockets on one side and bigger pockets on the other side. Be sure to back stitch back and forth at the top to strengthen the pockets.

4. Now it's time to finish the lining! Put the two sides together, right sides together:

and sew around all but the top.

5. My purse has a square bottom. (for other purses, just skip this step... only square it off if you need to.) ***This is going to be a little tricky to explain, so if it doesn't make sense, please let me know!!*** :) First flatten the bottom like this:

The bottom will come to a point:
The seam is the side seam and should now line up on the top and bottom of the corner.

This is how the inside looks (after I did a little ironing.)

Then mark where you want to sew with pins:

This marking should be about the same size as the bottom of the bag:

(Please excuse the lint... sewing in progress!)
Sew across both corners.

6. Finishing!
Fold the lining over once (and Iron)

Then again (and iron):

Then run a stitch along the top, about 3/4 of an inch down or so.

7. Almost done! Now you are ready to put the bag in the purse:

As you can see, mine is a little large, I had to go back and sew it a little smaller, but that is much better than trying to figure out how to make it larger! (also the picture was taken before I sewed around the top!)


Now you have to make a decision.
You can sew the lining using the sewing machine, or you can hand sew it in.
With hand sewing, you have a little more control of the process and hopefully don't end up with a pucker like I did on the machine!
(pucker on the right side of the purse)

The machine stretches the knitted fabric and I ended up with extra purse by the time I got all the way around. It's not too noticeable, but I will fix it when I take it apart to put the button in! :) The button is purchased, I just haven't got it in yet!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and that it is helpful to you! Let me know if I need to claify anything. I would love to see the purses you have made! They are a lot of fun to put together, and a lot of fun to use! To see the purse I made last year, click here.

Blessings!

Sunday Blessing

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is My Father's World
by Maltbie Babcock

What a great reminder from one of the hymns we sang this morning! (Text in bold is my emphsis!) And what a beautiful picture... I took it after we got home from church. The butterflies were enjoying the sunshine!

Blessings!
Charity

Finished Object Friday

I know you have all been waiting anxiously for a glimpse of the finished purse from the bubbling pot... :)

So here it is!

Sorry about the not so great picture. I want to have one taken outside, but it's a little dark for natural lighting! Look for improvements later.

Well, actually it is not quite finished, but it is at a level of completion! :) Please mentally apply a (cute!) button to the flap. Then email me what you see, because I need to go button shopping tomorrow and I need all the help I can get! :) I also need to do some readjustments on the lining.

Here is a picture of the inside.

Just for reference, here is what it looked like before it was felted.

Can you see how much looser the stitches are?
The fabric is much stronger now!

Oh, and I haven't forgotten the lining tutorial, it's coming soon. You really don't want me to do it tonight. Between the time change and election night, my internal clock is out of whack, and thus my brain isn't quite up to par! :) (At least those sound like good reasons... if this is the normal me, I'm in trouble!) I really am identifying with this kitty.

So what projects have you been working on recently? Please share! :)
However, please follow the guidelines:
How to:
1. Write a post about your finished object on your own blog. (Include pictures, please!) :)
2. Include a link to my current FOF post in your post.
3. Link to Mr. Linky on my blog post using the permalink for your post.
4. Enjoy looking at everyone else's projects ...and don't forget to leave them a comment! :)

Chari Tree Times

Society Page

Mark and Charity recently returned from a trip west to visit Mark's family. A good time was had by all. The primary reason for this visit was to celebrate Mark's sister's eighteenth birthday. The cake for the occasion was transported with care and arrived with minimal damage:

(Charity's mother was kind enough to do the writing, as Charity isn't quite up to par in that area yet... THANKS, MOM!) :)

Lauren was quite pleased with the results, so it seemed.

After the yummy food was eaten and the gifts opened, the party goers played a few games.


Then the girls kicked the guys out and had the whole night to scrapbook and chatter.

(Scrapbooking is serious business!)

The next day the gals did some serious shopping!
Nothing beats a great pair of red heels, right?

...especially at those prices!

Sunday after church was time for family portraits.
Everyone was spiffed up:


Under professional direction:


the portrait was set up and taken:

(who forgot to close the mailbox?)
and thanks to Angie for being our photographer!

Happy Birthday to a beautiful young lady!!


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Hope you all enjoyed the Society Page! :) We had a great weekend, we always enjoy our time with Mark's family. I am blessed with wonderful in-laws! Angie went up with us. She and Lauren have been close friends for years. There's hardly any pictures of her (Angie) because she took most of them! :) I hope everyone is having a good week!

Blessings!

Lightening Up.

So last night was a little depressing... I hope everyone is adjusting. God is still in control! This hasn't taken Him by surprise. Psalm 52 was encouraging to me last night:

"I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever."

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So anyway, I thought I would post a few things just for fun.
LOL Cats and LOL Dogs are hilarious!
(I am not endorsing all the content on these sites.)
Here are just a few pictures.... enjoy the smiles!

see more puppies


see more puppies


more animals


more animals


more animals

ETA: Just for the record, McCain won in our election with 87% of the vote!!! :) (my blog poll)