Finished Object Friday

I guess it's been a whole week since I blogged... oh, well. The inspiration has been here but the energy wasn't. I won't apologize, since I don't think bloggers should feel "obligated" but I do like to keep my readers happy! :) Anyway, on to todays FOF!

I have been meaning to make this for a while, but haven't done much sewing recently. It doesn't feel like things have slowed much since Christmas! However, this project probably took me a little over an hour to complete, from cutting out the pieces to sewing. Hmm... maybe I'll do another soon! :)

This apron is for my Grandma in Idaho. She is an awesome cook and made me some of my first aprons! Her birthday is Saturday... Happy Birthday, Grandma!! However, I hope she opens her gift before she sees this post! :) The print is of the state birds and flowers. Her state is front and center!

Grandma loves her bluebirds! I loved how Idaho was at just the right spot!!

The pockets are Idaho on one side and Texas on the other.

(The bluebonnets are a little purple, but oh, well...)

The pattern is based on this original apron I got as a gift last year. It is one of my favorites and I used it as a pattern for this apron as well. I'm not a very picky seamstress. I just lay the apron on my fabric and cut around it! :)

Here's an extra little FOF, just for kicks and giggles!

Cute, huh? When Angie was a baby, Mom made her ziplock bows. I've had this ribbon for a while to make one for Hope, and it just matched her outfit today. (I babysat all three girls! We had a lot of fun.) :) I think she likes her "big girl" bow! What do you think? :)

To make: Just cut the zipper - about an inch or so - off a ziplock baggie and hotglue the bow on. Easy Peasy and so quick! It probably took me five minutes max. It stays in well too.

Well, that's all for today! Hey, it's something other than knitting! :) Hopefully you weren't too tired of knitting though. More on that next week... probably.

We'd love to see what you are working on! Here are the guidelines. (One small housekeeping issue: The guidelines ask that you link to your particular FOF post. This is to help with past FOFs so the link will go right to your FOF post not to the main blog where it may be a page or two down. Directions are in the guidelines. I will be going through and relinking so if your name is in a different place, that's why.) :)

Finished Object Friday

More knitting.... I hope no one minds! I haven't done much "crafting" recently other than the knitting for some reason. I have a couple of sewing projects in the works though. Anyway, this is another Christmas gift... I hope she is enjoying them!! :)





Here's the pattern. It was an easy knit... I thought they were going to be really big, but washing helped them a lot. It was fun seeing them take shape. Oh, and they have a name: Sugar Plum Slippers! :)

ETA: Pattern link fixed :) (I'm not endorsing the site and content, just the pattern.)

We would love to see some of your crafty items! Care to join in? Guidelines can be found here.

Show and Tell: Teapot

It's been a while since I participated in Kelly's Show and Tell. She always has such lovely things to share! I wanted to share the teapot I bought recently:

Here's a close-up of the lid:

A close-up of the front:

I love the candle, teapot and old book!!

I found it in a Christmas clearance section at a wonderful little kitchen shop in a nearby town. I think it looks very wintery, not just Christmas, don't you? :) (For my regular readers, I know I just posted this... I wanted to share it separately for Show and Tell. Thanks for being patient! And check back soon for Finished Object Friday!)

Blessings!

Deals and "Steals"

First let me say that I am not a big "shopper," but I do like to find deals - like finding things for a fraction of the cost! :) So I just wanted to share a few "fun" recent bargains with you. (Something a little more lighthearted after my more serious previous post.)

Remember these shoes? Well, I had been keeping my eyes open for a good deal on a purse to match. Saturday while shopping area thrift stores with Mary, my sis-in-law, I found this:

It works, don't you think? And it still had the original designer price tag!

Then today while shopping with a friend, I fell in love with this:

Isn't it beautiful? Here's the lid:

It was 75% off in the Christmas section, but I think it looks like a winter teapot to me!

Oh, and this wasn't on sale, but it didn't cost much, and really did you think I could resist it???

It probably should say "My first love is cherries" but chocolate works too! :)

Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at my bargains! I've also found some great clothes at thrift shops and on clearance. You'll probably see those now and again in some pictures! :) I do love a good bargain!

Happy Wednesday!!

Proud to be American

Today marks a new era for the United States of America. A new president is being inaugurated, and the former president will step down. I want to thank President Bush for all his hard work and for his leadership in the past eight years.

Today should not be the "first time" we are proud to be American, nor should yesterday be the last. Even though many of us may not be pleased with the outcome of November 4th, we can still be patriotic and have pride in our nation. Our patriotism should not be based on the color of someone's skin, but because of the freedoms we all hold dear. We can have pride that we live in a nation that is founded on the fact that all are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Declaration of Independence)

We can have pride in what our nation was founded on - principals of justice, freedom and liberty. We can be proud of our founding fathers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, the list can go on and on. We can be proud that our nation has a Biblical background -several of the first colonies were founded by those seeking religious freedom... and they found it.

We can be proud of our freedoms. We have the freedom to choose our own leaders through the ballot box. We have the freedom enterprise, earning a living in the best way we can. We have the freedom to spend (most) of our money as we see fit. We have freedom from hunger and want. We have the freedom to speak (and write) what we want. But most of all we have the freedom to worship as we choose. We have freedom to pray and to have a church where we can gather with others. We still have these freedoms.

We can be proud of our military. We can be proud of our veterans. Both of my grandfathers were veterans and served overseas. They were honored to serve their country and I am honored to be related to them. (And I miss them both!) I am also proud to personally know several that serve in our armed forces family and friends, a few of which are currently serving overseas. These men and women are sacrificing much to ensure that we as a nation are secure and safe.

In our pride we must remember. Remember to keep patriotism alive in ourselves and to pass it on to our children. We won’t agree with everything happening in our country. Some things are absolutely appalling, especially the lack of respect for human life. It isn’t popular in some circles to be “patriotic,” but it is something we must hold on to. Without patriotism, a nation will fall.

We must remember our responsibilities. We should take our duties as citizens seriously. Voting is a very important task of every citizen and we should not shirk it. We have the duty to respect the offices of those who have been elected whether or not we agree with their platform.

We must remember to pray for our leaders, our most important responsibility. God has commanded it in His Word. We can pray that they will make wise decisions - decisions that are in agreement with the Bible. God directs the hearts of leaders, just as He directs the flow of rivers. Nothing is out of His control. We can remember that no matter what, God is above all. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, (and President of presidents!) Nothing takes God by surprise.

God Bless America!




Image Sources:
Washington
Freedom to Worship
Girl with Flag
Pledge of Allegiance

Sunday Blessing

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

selected from Redeemed, How I Love To Proclaim It!
by Fanny J. Crosby

This song really spoke to me this morning in church. What a wonderful thing to be redeemed, to have our sins forgiven! Are we eager to share our joy with others? Do we "love to proclaim it?" How wonderful to be God's child!

You may not think that this is a very "wintery" picture, but down here in Texas pansies are a winter flower! :) If we don't have too hard a freeze, they bloom for quite a while. This isn't one of my flowers, it was taken on one of our recent trips. Maybe I should have planted a few this year. I would have enjoyed the color about now! :) Anyway, I love how the sunlight is illuminating this one.

Blessings!

Finished Object Friday

First of all a little something from the kitchen:

A cake I made, just the right size for two! It is for some friends anniversary, not sure how many years probably 36 or so. It is similar to this cake. Kudos to mom for helping me figure out what to put on the top, yummy chocolate curls! :)

And chocolate dipped strawberries to go along with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may have been expecting this, right? I did finish it! Now if I can just get Mom to use it! :)

I am now making myself one. I hardly ever make myself dishcloths and I am needing them!

This pattern is much more simple than you would think. (If I would have known how much more, I would have made them a long time ago!) The trick is in the short rows. For a short row, you don't knit all the way across, but knit as far as the pattern tells you and turn it without finishing the whole row.

In this picture there are four stitches on the left needle, and I turn it to go back leaving these stitches unknit for now. This is adding stitches at one end and giving it the round shape.

So what have you been working on? :) We would love for you to share! Guidelines are here.

Sunday Blessing

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

selected verses from:
Before The Throne of God Above
by Charitie L. Bancroft

For Christmas, I received this cd by Chris Rice. I highly recommend it! It is very relaxing and enjoyable. It has some hymns I hadn't heard before, that I know of, like the one above. Very wonderful lyrics, I hope you have time to read them! I didn't find Chris Rice's version on playlist, but I found someone else singing it. Click play at right to enjoy.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday. We did get Christmas stuff put away, except for the few things that I forgot... Oh, well, I'll get it Monday. :)

Many Blessings!

WIP and other news.

Work In Progress. After knitting scores of Granny's Favorite dishcloths, I was getting a little tired of them. (Great pattern, by the way... just ready for something new.) :)

So now I am trying this pattern out. I am really enjoying it! It will look something like this one when done... (Link to picture and pattern.) This one's for my mom... "HI, Mom!" Don't worry, it's not a surprise for her, she saw it today. Three of my last several knitted gifts have been given "with strings attached." Two were given on the needles and one gift hadn't even been started yet. I just gave a skein of yarn which I promptly took back! :) Oh, well. Better late than never.

Here is a picture of the room I dared to show in one of it's worse moments. (One of the worst, because it got even worse before it got better!) :) It was one of my projects this week. After a little work, it is looking much improved. See?

This is our guest bedroom. There are still several things I want to do to it, like paint and curtains, (AHHH! CURTAINS! Not again!) but isn't it cozy anyway? :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday. While I'm thinking about it, here is an update on saving handmade. Today I am hoping to get Christmas decorations down. Maybe next week I'll get some pictures up of my winter decor! :) Yes, I know it's about time we took things down. I'm finally ready for it to be gone until next Christmas season! :)

Blessings!

Finished Object Friday

This is just one of the Christmas gifts I have been working on this year. I made socks for all of my "sisters" - Angie, Lauren and Mary. I had fun working with different yarns. They are all made out of 100% cotton yarn. I hope they wear well. This is the same yarn I use for dishcloths, so it should, huh? :)

These are Mary's socks. I've had fun naming each pair as I knit them. This one is called "Lavender Ice." I will probably share the other socks later. I haven't taken good pictures of them being modeled yet. :)

How about you? Any Christmas gifts you can share now? :) Guidelines for FOF are here.

Getting out the word.





Many of you may already be aware of the new law inacted by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Starting February 10 of this year, all producers of children's products will be required to have expensive testing done before selling products. This testing would make many small businesses/crafters unable to sell their products: anything from diapers to hairbows, lunch boxes to wooden blocks, dresses to knitted hats. This basically does away with the free market on which our nations economy should be founded, at least in children's products. (I really wish government would keep its nose out of the economy, but maybe that is my uninformed opionion.) Anyway, there are several sites that go into more detail. Here and here are a couple of really good ones with links on how you can make a difference.


Sunday Blessing

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men
From heavens all gracious King!"
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

O ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

From It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
By Edmund Hamilton Sears

Christmas isn't really over until Epiphany, right? Every year it is so hard for me to let the Christmas season be over. This past Christmas season was different, I just want a little more time to celebrate. Maybe I've been paying special attention to the songs, but the carols seem to have such wonderful meanings this year. I love the last two verses of this song, and I included them here. These verses give us hope for today with all our cares and worries and a wonderful future when Jesus will once again come to earth. ( The picture above is of our manger scene.)

I am looking at this new year with hope and anticipation for what God is going to do. Each year is like a fresh page, all new. It's exciting to see what God will write in this new chapter.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!

Blessings!

The first Saturday....

in 2009...

Mark and I are enjoying this Saturday at home. We have had wonderful visits with family. My mom's Aunt and Uncle are here for a visit and mission service tomorrow. My family and Uncle Rich and Aunt Judy came for brunch and a visit. This evening Mark's parents and his little brother were here one the way home. They brought us a bag of cracked pecans from Mark's aunt and uncle. (Thanks Uncle Buddy and Aunt Teresa! I'm enjoying the pecans already!)

Between those visits, my hubby and I took a walk. That's where the horse/pony pictures come in... You probably thought they were no relation to this post, huh? :) We just took a little walk in our neighborhood. These two fellas were curious and probably hoping we had something yummy for them. I just took their picture instead. Oh the joys of living in the "country!" It's been a balmy 80 degrees today, but a cold front is headed in shortly! I don't think spring is on it's way, but I hope it's not tooo far off. You've heard, of course, we do have winter in Texas, this year it was on a Wednesday. {insert rimshot} Sorry, corny joke, but it's not original with me. :)

Well, I hope your first Saturday in '09 was enjoyable as well! And now to get ready for Sunday...

Many Blessings!

Finished Object Friday

Now that Christmas is over, I can start revealing some more of my projects from the past year!

I don't do much scrapbooking. (Although I do enjoy making cards!) This year, Lauren put scrapbooks together for Mark's grandparents with pages from all the grandkids. They turned out really neat! These are the pages I did. Most of my scrapbooking supplies are very dated (Something else to go through!) so I picked up a set of paper and embellishments.

Here's a close-up of one of the layouts:


One of the neat tools I do have is an embosser.


Here are two of the albums being enjoyed by their recipients:

So do you have any Christmas "reveals?" :) We would love to see your projects! The guidelines are here. Link to your individual post, and be sure to leave a comment on other projects. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!!

Wow. I remember thinking that 2008 was a long ways off. Now it's already over. Well, time marches on. :)

I don't really do "resolutions" on New Years, but I do like to think of some goals for the coming year. Two of my main goals last year were to knit a pair of socks and to read the New Testament in 90 days. I accomplished both. In fact, I liked sock knitting so much, I'm working on my sixth pair! :) And one of my projects for the coming year is a pair from this yarn. So pretty!

Enough about 2008. So what are my goals for this year? I want to get my house better organized and get rid of things I really don't need (that don't have significance.) :) I am reading the book, "The House that Cleans Itself" by Mindy Starns Clark. While I won't obligate myself to follow the exact system, the book has some very helpful tips that I will be putting into practice. I also plan to do more work in our family room. There are a few small projects I can finish with little cost. I love making our house more into a homey, inviting place where Mark and I can relax, and those that visit us will be able to sense God's presence and peace.

One specific, achievable goal for the house is to paint our guest bedroom. Stark white walls aren't exactly relaxing... I'm thinking of a light sagey green. This picture shows a little of what the room looks like.

I guess that's it for the more specific goals. I also want to be more organized, to be a better wife, to be someone's mommy, and to grow closer to God in the coming year. I also want to be a blessing to others, those I meet face to face and also those of you who read my blog. Many of you I have never met, but I hope what I say here is an encouragement to you and I trust someday we will meet in Heaven.

I know there has been a lot of speculation around what 2009 holds. No matter what comes, I know the One who has it all under control and I am learning to trust in Him. He has it all under control and nothing is a surprise to God!

Blessings to you in 2009!


PS~ Isn't the picture at the top lovely? I love the work this artist does. Her name is Marjolein Bastin, and I have her calendar in my kitchen this year. I am looking forward to enjoying her pictures each month. :)