Still Stitching #6. Finished Panel Quilts. Book Date.

Still Stitching #6

Still Stitching #5 Still Stitching #7

I'm so sorry, but I just realized I skipped the 6th part in this series, so here it is!  

As you may remember, in my 5th Still Stitching post we looked at how our current point of study can look like within.  But how did I put it into action?  I leaned on my faith as well as past growing experiences.  

I learned that:  “No response is a response.”  I didn’t have to outwardly respond to events.  I could sit still and simply pray.  I learned to give my loved ones the dignity to live with the consequences of their own decisions – even while my own heart was breaking.  This may sound like a cliché, but it works.  I had to let go and let my loved ones grow up. 

This. 

Can. 

Be. 

Excruciatingly. 

Painful.

I sometimes fall to my knees and cry as my heart breaks into a million pieces.

And then, yup, you guessed it,

I turn to my LORD and Savior for comfort.

I remind Him of His Word.

He never fails me.

He is ALWAYS there.

He provides loved ones and friends who hug me and reassure me that it will be ok.

He provides a church where I can go and praise Him and hear His inspired Word.

He provides rest.

He provides comfort.

He provides music.

He provides.

Isaiah 43:1-2 is not only speaking to us, but also to our loved ones. 

As my own loved ones begin to navigate their lives, I repeatedly comprehend that I am not their rescuer, their god, their savior.  Only Jesus can do these things. 

So,

I get out of the way and let Him.

So,

I pray.

So,

I sing.

So,

I believe.

Then I make every attempt to go forth and live my life with His joy.  Happiness is fleeting, but His joy is my strength.

And I apply the next step I learned from the person who visited my meeting:

Until next time, my dear reader.

Still Stitching #7

Finished Panel Quilts.  
As many of you know the end of the school year/semester is a busy time for school/college campuses.  Add to that, the time of waiting I'm walking through, I have found my creative heart is leaning to mindless sewing, slow stitching and crochet.  So, for my mindless sewing, I finished two simple panel quilt tops.  Here is one of them.

I am constantly amazed at how pretty these tops come out!  

I'm sure they will only be enhanced by my daughter's quilting!

Book Date -Currently Reading
The Story continues to captivate my heart.  Pastor's sermon, "How to Pray Through for a Breakthrough", referencing Chapter 16 blessed me immensely.  My faith was renewed and strengthened!    



As I continue to read I Am Malala, I am struck by her courage and wisdom at such a young age!






I started a new audiobook, All Things New by Lynn Austin, an author who never disappoints.  This post-Civil War is set in the South and explains the circumstances of the newly freed slaves. 


After watching the movie, I also started Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.  I'm not enjoying it as much as the movie.  Does that happen to you as well?  I'll keep reading it for a bit longer, but it may be abandoned.  Do you abandon books as well?

I'm excited to be able to read more than one book at a time!  Yea - chemo brain be gone!  :)

Linking up to:

Monday Making @ Love, Laugh,Quilt

Main Crush Mondays @ Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward Monday @ Em’s Scrapbag

Show and Tell Mondays with Bambi

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? @ Book Date

Saturday's Song: Still Waiting. Slow Stitching Sunday.. Stash Report.

Saturday's Song:  In the Eye of the Storm
.
So many times, we find ourselves in various storms wondering what is going on?  Where is God in all this?  I'm learning that He is with me - He is the eye of the storm.  When my life is falling apart, when my hurts are bigger than me, when I'm uncertain of my future, He is there with me.  

I enjoy learning about the backstories of hymns as well as newer songs.  These real life accounts encourage and amaze me.  The story behind Eye of the Storm is no different.  Ryan has witnessed and experienced more than many of us.  This song is his heart.  After listening to the lyrics of this song, I was so glad I learned Ryan's backstory.  I hope you take a few moments to read it and be blessed! 

Still Waiting
Yes, still waiting to hear results from the changes in my breast.  I was thrilled because the ultrasound tech simply said, "I didn't take any measurements."  Good news - because if she didn't take any measurements, then there's nothing to measure!  I saw my surgeon for an already scheduled 6 month follow up and he didn't see anything on his office ultrasound machine either.  Great news!  

Then I recieved the letter from the radiologist telling me that there is "an area to be followed" in 3 months - unless ""an area of concern prompted this breast exam, please contact your helth care provider..."  Eeesh.  An are of concern did prompt this exam.  

I cried. 
I reached out out to my family for prayer.
Then I had a good night's sleep.  I rested in Jesus' arms.

The next morning, in prayer, He spoke to me.    
"Remember:  your tumor markers have gone down 3 points.  BLOOD DOESN'T LIE!  You were saved and healed by My blood.  Your blood shows reduced tumor markers.  BLOOD DOESN'T LIE!"

I then realized that I have allowed myself to be tossed by the waves of circumstances as I searched for peace from my LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ.  As many of you survivors know, this is common.  But, I'm hanging onto the words of my Savior:  BLOOD DOESN'T LIE.

I'll be clinging to those words.
I'll be following up with my PCP and surgeon.  
I'll be requesting new blood work to see if my tumor makers have changed.  
I'll live in faith and when fear steps in, I'll listen to Fear is a Liar by Zach Williams.  
I'll be remembering that the anchor still holds.  
I'll be looking for and listening to this week's sermon from church.  (not posted yet, but it will be!)  (UPDATE: the link has been updated to include the sermon!  :)  )
I'll be living a life of joy because the joy of the LORD is my strength!
I'll be a child of God, living in faith and running to my Abba Father when I cry.  
I'll ask my heart to simply be still and know He is God.  

Slow Stitching Sunday
Today I plan to continue work on my yo-yo quilt!  I've really enjoyed the peace slow stitching gives me!  

Here are the original fabric yo-yos with a few more flowers added.

Do you see more yo-yo flowers at the top of the design board?  I've decided to pause on adding the white borders until I find a layout I like.  Soon, I'll have stitched through my older fabrics and begin to make yo-yo flowers from my cherished 30's fabrics!  

The yo-yo quilt and EPP Grandmother's Flower Garden slow stitching projects will be worked on during alternating months!  Time to get them off 

the design board and onto my family and I!  

   

Stash Report
I finished a pillow as well as two panel quilts!  Yea!  Fabric is finally and just barely in the black!  

Fabric used this week	1.50
To Date used	44.53
Fabric in this week	0
To Date in	44.50
Net barely in the black - used more than bought!	.03
Yarn used this week	0
To Date used	32.30
Yarn in this week	33.5
To Date in	187.80
Net in the red (more bought than used!)	-208.80

I saw this yarn on clearance at Michael's and picked it up!

It's Red Heart's Unforgettable in Sunrise.  I will be using it to make shawls for myself and as donation shawls.
  So pretty!

I hope you check out these fun linkups!  

Sunday Stash @ Quilt, Paint, Create

Sunday Slow Stitching @ Kathy’s Quilts

Spiritual Sundays

Sunday Scripture Blessings

Still Stitching #7. Yo-Yo's. Book Date. Waiting.

Still Stitching #7
Still Stitching #6 Still Stitching #8

So far, we’ve looked at these principles which I’ve begun learning and implementing in my life with my loved one. 

The first was:

 Then we looked at:

 And now we are looking at:

 

 As I was thinking about how to discuss this point, I realized that we are discussing detachment with love:  letting our loved one deal with the natural consequence of their behavior instead of rescuing them.

Oh boy!  Was this a hard lesson to learn – it still is – and sometimes I fail miserably.  But, as I pondered this point, the LROD spoke to me and said,

“When you are detaching with love,

you are NOT throwing your hands up

and quitting on your loved one. 

When you detach with love,

you are releasing them TO ME.”

Big difference.  I am NOT throwing my loved one into the great abyss of living out their natural consequences, I AM throwing them into the loving arms of my Father – of THEIR Father.  

Remember this point?

I know….it’s an excruciatingly painful process. 

And the results are unknown.

It’s during this time, I could – and continue to lean on His everlasting arms.

His will be done.

Until next time, Dear Reader.

Yo-Yo's  

Ever since I finished my Felt Nativity Calendar for my grandkids, I've been debating which hand sewing project to work on next.  I decided to pull out my yo-yo project.  Here is the next section.

It feels good to be working on this one as my portable sewing project!

Book Date
I'm still reading The Story and loving it!  








I Am Malala 
continues to 
captivate me as 
well!










I'm listening to Ordinary Grace and enjoying it as well.  I keep wondering what will happen....

Waiting

Here's the deal.

Yesterday I noticed changes in my breast - "the" breast that had cancer in 2014.  

My doctor has ordered a 3D, diagnostic mammogram as well as an ultrasound "just in case."

Circumstances dictate that I can have the mammo on Wednesday morning.  

So I wait.  

I know the rules of this journey.

It's takes a lot of waiting.

So I wait.

While I wait, Something Heavenly by Sanctus Real is my anthem:

The chorus is my prayer:

Whatever you're doing inside of me

It feels like chaos somehow there's peace

It's hard to surrender to what I can't see

But I'm giving in to something heavenly

- Something Heavenly by Sanctus Real

So, I wait.
Tomorrow's post will be filled with great Scriptures by a wonderful writer!

Linking up to:

Monday Making @ Love, Laugh,Quilt

Main Crush Mondays @ Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward Monday

@ Em’s Scrapbag

Show and Tell Mondays

with Bambi

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? @ Book Date

Saturday's Song. Still Stitching #6. Prayer Shawl #8.

Saturday's Song
Have you had strong faith turned into doubts?  Have you ever questioned God?  Check out these lyrics!

...I started having doubts

And it got me so down

But I picked myself back up

And I started telling me

No, my God's not done

Making me a masterpiece

He's still working on me

It's ok to have doubts, to question God.  But, let's help each other pick ourselves up by the grace of God and know that He's making us into a masterpiece!  Just listen to Mandisa's, the artist singing this song, testimony!

Still Stitching #6
Still Stitching #5

Hello There,

As you may remember, in my last post we looked at how our current point of study can look like within.  But how did I put it into action?  I leaned on my faith and past growing experiences.  I learned that:  “No response is a response.”

I didn’t have to outwardly respond to events.  I could sit still and simply pray.  

I learned to give my loved ones the dignity to live with the consequences of their own decisions – even while my own heart was breaking.  This may sound like a cliché, but it doesn’t matter:  because it works.  

I had to let go and let my loved ones grow up. 

This. Can. Be. Excruciatingly. Painful.

I sometimes fall to my knees and cry as my heart breaks into a million pieces.  And then, yup, you guessed it,

I turn to my LORD and Savior for comfort.

I remind Him of His Word.

He never fails me.

He is ALWAYS there.

He provides loved ones and friends who hug me and reassure me that it will be ok.

He provides a church where I can go and praise Him and hear His inspired Word.

He provides rest.

He provides comfort.

He provides music.

He provides.

Isaiah 43:1-2 is not only speaking to us, but also to our loved ones. 

As my loved ones begin to navigate their lives, I repeatedly comprehend that I am not their rescuer, their god, their savior.  Only Jesus can do these things. 

So,

I get out of the way and let Him.

So,

I pray.

So,

I sing.

So,

I believe.

Then I go forth and live my life with His joy.  Because His joy is my strength.

And I apply the next step I learned from the person who visited my meeting:

Until next time, my dear reader.

Prayer Shawl #8
I've made significant progress on Prayer Shawl #8.  

I've been using this yarn for my last couple of shawls.

Linking up to:

Crystal Twaddell’s FreshMarket Friday

Spiritual Sundays

Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop! @Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts

Finish It Up Friday@ Crazy Mom Quilts

Sewing with Love! I Like............ Cars!

Sewing with Love
My March/April blocks for Covered in Love blocks are complete!  They are called Hunter's Star and Kat asked us to use blue - which worked great as a stash buster for me.  Here they are!

They weren't difficult, but I definitely had to pay attention to detail!  Once I had the afternoon to myself to concentrate, they went up quickly!  

I Like Cars!
Ok, so my husband is a car buff and after 37 years of marriage, I still love going to car shows with him!  
Here are some beauties from the last show we went attended!  I bet some of you will call your husbands over to the computer to check these beauties out!  My husband gave me the year and models of the cars.  Thanks, Honey!

This 1968 Chevelle Station Wagon reminded me 

of our old 

Rambler station wagon 

when I was just a girl.

Remember the rear facing back seat that sat in the way back?  

 This Thunderbird belongs to my friend's husband.

She's a beauty!

 I loved the smooth lines, 

sun visor and fender skirts 

on this Mercury!

 Look familiar?  

Do you see Doc Hudson's 

(from the movie, Cars) 

eyes?

This 1960 Impala took my breath away!

This 1957 Chevy is 

so cool looking!  

I like the tough stance!

 Of course this Ford Truck is one of my favs - 

I love yellow, food and 

look at the mechanic 

crying on the bumper!  

 This 1973 Pontiac GTO 

is crying out to me 

to race her!  

As a teen,

I loved to race 

on the freeways!  

 I always wanted a 

Mustang from this era!  

Isn't she a beauty?

I hope you enjoyed this walk through our car show....there just may be more pics next week!  :)

Linking up to

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

I Like @ Not Afraid of Color