A Peek At My Latest Project

I've been itching to try my hand at making a quilt with something other than plain squares or a basic nine patch. So I decided to make a smaller and probably simpler version of this Pinwheel Quilt for a dolly quilt for the kid's corner. One change I made right off the bat was cutting my own squares from my stash rather than buying the pre-cut Charm Packs called for in the "recipe".

I really have no experience with this, so time will tell how this project turns out! But so far it has been fun to work on. And the fabrics I chose from my scrap bags are bright and playful!

I'll share my progress as I go along.

Any tips and tricks for the novice quilter?:-)

Get Well Care Package

My dad suffered a stroke about a month ago. Being so far away, I really wanted to be able to do something but wasn't sure what to do.

I prayed about it and God gave me some great ideas for a care package. In fact, I got so many ideas, there was no way I could use all of them! I hope that by sharing this, you will glean some inspiration for how to bless those in similar situations!

It was so much fun to put together a little package for him.

• A portable CD player with headphones to be able to listen to music without disturbing his roommate.
• A small flip book with a collection of verses focusing on healing and strength. **His whole right side was affected to various degrees affecting his speech, use of right arm/hand and his walking. I made this little book from plain gift tags and attached them with a book ring and decorated with stickers.
• A microwaveable/freezable rice bag to use for aches and pains or as a heating pad.
• Some sugar-free Lifesavers. Dad has diabetes and while I wasn't sure if he could have many of these, I thought they would also be fun to share with his guests and therapists at the rehab center.
• A fast food gift card for my Mom and brother. Since I can't be there to cook a meal for them, this was the next best solution to take a little of the stress away.

** The verses included in the flip book. There were so many good ones that I and some of my Facebook friends found ! I could probably make another book and still not use them all!

• Isaiah 40:29-31: "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord. "
• Psalm 30:2: "O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me."
• Isaiah 40: 29-31: " He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. they will walk and not faint."
• 2 Corinthians 12:9: " But he said to me, "My strength is sufficient for you, for my power is amde perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
• Nehemiah 8:10b: "For the joy of the Lord is your strength."
• Psalm 103:1-3,5: " Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Prasie the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases...who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
• Exodus 15:26b: "I am the Lord who heals you."
• Psalm 18:32,36: " He makes my feet  like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights... You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."
• Habakkuk 3:19: "The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."
• Ephesians 3: 20-21:  "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in he church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

 ***My dad is scheduled to go home from the rehab center this Wednesday. His speech has improved dramatically as has his walking. He is able to walk up stairs some with a pronged cane and has been able to get in and out of his wheelchair by himself some. He is also able to be more independent with his self-care and can run his wheelchair with just one arm. Continue to pray for his full recovery and for strength and movement to return to his right arm and hand.

What are some ideas that you have for Get Well baskets or care packages?

Friday Funnies: Texting For Seniors

 This list has been floating around on Facebook for a while and some of them always make me LOL. 

Even for me, some of these could be quite useful seeing as GHA and FWIW ,or maybe more accurately FWIWD (Forgot What I Was Doing) seem to find their way into my conversations. And wouldn't it be a hoot to put HGBM on the babies' daily schedules? 


Enjoy!


ATD: At The Doctor's
BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth
CBM: Covered By Medicare
CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers
FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
FYI: Found Your Insulin
GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!
GHA: Got Heartburn Again
HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?
LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
LOL: Living On Lipitor
LWO: Lawrence Welk's On
OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
ROFLCGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing Can't Get Up
TTYL: Talk To You Louder
WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
WTP: Where's The Prunes?
WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil


Have a great weekend!

EAT!

The bareness of my dining room walls was starting to annoy me. So I started making something. A few months ago.

I thought it would be fun to combine embroidery with this technique to create a bossy yet scriptural piece of art.

It was fun.

 Other than cross-stitch, this was one of my first attempts at embroidery, so don't look too closely!

 I love how this whole project turned out. Although if I was to do it again, I'd make the 'A' in a darker color. Up close it looks fine. But from where I sit to feed Baby Boy, I can't see the 'A' so it looks as though I've hung a sign reading "E T" in my dining room!

Deuteronomy 11: 13-15 reads:

"So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—  then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.  I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied."

Aren't these encouraging and powerful verses? I loved them but obviously, the whole passage would be a lot of embroidery!  And much bigger than what would fit in my $1 yard sale frame. So I just chose the last phrase.

Since I had two of these frames, I filled the other one with a cute print and hung the two together on the wall. I'll show you pictures of that another day!

Knox's 6th Birthday

My nephew turned 6 last week and we celebrated last Saturday with a sweet party at a local ice cream shop. Knox's mommy made an awesome Bug Mountain cake which thrilled all the little boys! She says it's the easiest cake she's made so far!

Happy birthday, Knox!

How To Find Another Closet

1) Pick a  room that has two doorways.

2) Decide you only need one doorway for daily use. 

3) Block the other doorway with back to back bookshelves--instant closet.

4) Fill your new closet  with all sorts of kitchen equipment and stuff.

5) Plan to hang a curtain just as soon as you find that tension rod you know you have somewhere.

6) Look for tension rod.

7) Keep looking for tension rod.

8) Find tension rod in the corner of your closet months later.

9) Sew a simple curtain and hang it up.

10) Voila! You just found another closet!

Change of Scenery

Tired of our usual morning route and needing a change of scenery, I packed the dog and camera in the car and headed to a nearby lake for our morning walk.

I took in the quiet and simple beauty and returned home refreshed and better prepared for another busy day!

 You make known to me the path of life;

 you will fill me with joy in your presence,

 with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:11

20% Off Code For The Gingham Cottage

Through Saturday August 20, get 20% off your order at The Gingham Cottage when you use the code SUMMER11.

 There are children's aprons,

 crayon rolls- only a few left!,

 women's aprons in a variety of styles and prints,

 wallets and a few bags and purses,

 a cool Fire King vase,

 some gently used stamp sets and more!

Thank you for looking!

Potpourri

Social Network
At nearly 5 months old, Baby Boy is becoming quite sociable. Late one afternoon, he couldn't have been more excited to make friends with Toddler Girl. He smiled, laughed, talked and flailed in her general direction. So I began to talk to Toddler Girl as though I was Baby Boy. I said, "Hi, T.G.! I want to be your friend!" About that time, Andy spoke up and asked, "T.G., do you accept B.B.'s friend request?"


 Honorable Mention
Remember your birthday or Christmas growing up when your mother gave you unmentionables? And you thought to yourself, "When I'm grown up, I will not be like that! Presents will be fun!"  Then your mom sends you birthday money and after pondering all the fun things you could purchase, you end up buying yourself some new unmentionables because it is truly a need and not a want like the Pyrex, fabric and apple peeler/corer/slicer you've had your eye on. And after all, you are just super practical like that.

Silence Is Golden
Big Brother often wants to pray when he's here at lunchtime. And if he doesn't, he delights in choosing who will pray. So one day, he said that Toddler Girl, who is also his little sister, would pray. T.G. is one and really only yells, "AMEN!" at prayer time. Before we could say anything, he announced, "T.G. prays silently!"

Love Your Neighbor
One of the benefits of mowing the grass at the same time as your neighbor is that they will see you struggling through your very thick grass and offer to help. Seriously though, their assistance was much appreciated and had they not offered their sweet help, I wouldn't have finished the mowing before it started to rain. Their act of kindness really blessed my heart!

Little Mother
Toddler Girl grabbed the burp cloth the other day and proceeded to wipe Baby Boy's chin. So sweet! She will also stand beside him and pet him. Hmmm...

Blogging: The Whole Picture

I loved this post written by Mandi of Life Your Way.

An excerpt:

"Have you ever walked away from reading blogs and felt discouraged or disillusioned about your own home and life? I think for most of us, if we’re being honest, the answer is yes.

We see fabulous pictures of someone else’s perfect home with beautiful decor, the examples of crafts and activities they do with their kids, the amazing food they create in their kitchen…and we feel inadequate.

Lately, whenever I take a picture, I can’t help but laugh at the surrounding chaos. Because, you see, while I am very type-A, and we do live with less stuff than the average American family, and our home gets cleaned up every night before bed, during the day we live in our home, which means it’s messy and chaotic and…well, you’ll see."

I had to laugh out loud as I read that. I can so relate. We crop almost all photos that I post here and almost every time I take a picture, the counter or table has to be cleared off first! Or I notice dog hair in a photo...yes, yes, I do!

I hear so much about 'being real' in the blogging world and to be honest, sometimes I get so tired of hearing it that I want to puke.  Oh, I'm all about being who I really am without false pretenses but that can only be taken so far. My blog is only one part of my life. And while I strive to be real, you will not see the whole picture. You'd have to come to my house and spend lots of time with me to do that!
 

Read the whole post here. 

Birthday Basket

My husband gave me this cool handmade basket for my birthday last week.   I may or may not have given him a few hints....

I really like that it was purchased from a local crafter at our farmer's market. Plus it's really useful and looks great too!

The jars of home-canned tomatoes were not included in the gift. But don't they look great all lined up in there? I don't recommend lifting it with those jars in there, though. Just sayin'.

Inexpensive Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

It's no secret that boneless, skinless chicken breasts are quicker and easier to cook with than messing with a whole chicken.

It's also no secret that we could pay a hefty price for this convenience! At regular price, chicken breasts are expensive.

I do a lot with whole chickens but there are some recipes where chicken breasts are just so much better! And I like the convenience of pulling a chicken breast from the freezer for a quick meal.

In my area, split chicken breasts or bone-in chicken breasts are often on sale for under $1 a pound. I used to purchase some but found them too hard to cut up. So I stopped buying them.

Recently, I bought a big package and following the directions for cutting split chicken breasts on $5 Dinners, decided to try this one more time.

It worked! I'm not sure why it seemed so difficult before, but this time I had those babies cut and separated within minutes. From 5 pounds and about $5 worth of chicken, I got 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 5 tenderloin pieces and after I cooked the meaty bones that were left, several cups of chopped and cooked chicken ready for chicken salad, soups or casseroles and about a quart of chicken broth.

I'm sold! I don't know about you, but I'll gladly pay $.89 or $.99 a pound for chicken breasts vs. $2.50-$4.98 a pound, even if it means a little bit of work on my part.

Writing this post puts me in the mood for our favorite Israeli Spice Chicken!:-)

**This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday!