Choose This Day, Reading, Stitching and Gratitude

 

Hello There!

I'm so glad you're here!  In The Weekly Word we will look at who we choose to serve - our present and future or the demons of our past.  In My Reading Life , I've actually finished several books and starting some great new ones!  I'm changing a bit about My Stash Report as I've started a new project that merits changes!  I'm glad to check off items from To Do Tuesday!  You know, Kathy's Sunday Slow Stitching link up fuels my love for Sunday Slow Stitching!  

What would we do without finding a bit of joy and gratitude?  I hope you enjoy this week's Gratitude Journal !  After I respond to your comments, I look forward to visiting your blogs as well! 

The Weekly Word

Joshua 24:14 has so much wisdom to offer us!  As I re-read it, this first part stuck to me:  choose this day who you will serve.  

In this instance, I chose to look at Joshua 24:13a as this:  Who will I serve? the demons of my past or the God of my present and future?  

“'For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” — Jeremiah 29:11

Oh my sweet reader, let us follow Paul's example and forget what is behind and race toward the future God has for us!  

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:  13-14

As I mention below in My Reading Life, let us forget the regrets and embrace the life God literally plans for us!  

My Reading Life

As  you can see from the list at the end of my posts, I link up to several reading linky parties!  

You can click on the books' images to be directed to a review page on  Goodreads.  :)

Currently Reading

My granddaughter and I continue to enjoy Island of the Blue Dolphins as our Buddy Read.  I am constantly amazed at her thoughtful and intelligent observations! The second book in the series, Zia, will be our next read, God willing.  :)

Finished

    

Whose Names Are Unknown touched my heart deeply!  By listening to this one, I caught the raw emotion of the characters.  The original description of the book is well-worth reading:

Originally written and slated for publication in 1939, this long-forgotten masterpiece was shelved by Random House when The Grapes of Wrath met with wide acclaim. In the belief that Steinbeck already adequately explored the subject matter, Babb's lyrical novel about a farm family's relentless struggle to survive in both Depression-era Oklahoma and in the California migrant labor camps gathered dust for decades.

Rescued from obscurity by the University of Oklahoma Press, the members of the poor but proud Dunne family and their circle of equally determined friends provide another legitimate glimpse into life on the dust-plagued prairies of the Southwest and in the fertile, but bitterly disappointing, orchards and vineyards of the so-called promised land. Babb, a native of Oklahoma's arid panhandle and a volunteer with the Farm Security Administration in Depression-era California, brings an insider's knowledge and immediacy to this authentically compelling narrative. A slightly less political, more female-oriented, companion piece to The Grapes of Wrath. 

I was captivated with this well-written, haunting novel.

Can you imagine my excitement when The Midnight Library came in from my local library?  I am not much of a sci-fi, fantasy reader, but Haig has a new fan!  Similar to Whose Names Are Unknown, Haig's work stayed with me.  One particular quote throughout the book was "The only way to learn is to live."  By living in spite our regrets, we may have a fuller life.    A book worth reading and journaling about.

We Hope for Better Things confused me at first, perhaps because it was an audio book.  Then, as I figured out it was cycling through three different eras and fell in love with it!  Again, I could not stop listening to it.  

As  you can probably tell, this was a fabulous reading week!

Next few books 

My Stash Report

 is a Sunday Stash link up at Quilt, Paint and Create where we share our stats regarding our fiber usage and acquisitions. The Slow Stitching Sunday link up is a place where we share our hand sewing projects.  I find I need some slow stitching  every day!    

Yarny numbers

 No real changes here, though progress is being made on the afghans.  

I so love linking up to Kathy's Sunday Slow Stitching.  Thanks to Deb's post (Happy to Be Scrappy) about Quilt As You Go Hexagons, I have a new slow stitching project!  Here's my cute prep basket and the first few hexagons!  I'll be posting daily progress (I hope) on my Instagram account (miaismine22) and a weekly photo on my blog.    

Being that I'm not sure is it will be a quilt, table topper, or mini wall hanging, I've decided to add the fabric usage as I go vs. waiting until the project is finished.  Like Deb, I plan to make a block a day.  

Productivity Stats

I've finished my second set of mittens (see below), so I've scratched off another project!  

To Do Tuesday

 is a link up party in which we cheer each other on as we share the progress/lack thereof regarding our weekly goals!  Thank you Chris @ Chris Knits for hosting!  

Last Week's List

-For my Sunday Slow Stitching, I'm hoping to finish my mitten set!  Done and done!  

-   Crochet:  This will be my long-term goal:  Progress on my afghan/s and dishcloths. I am making progress on all fronts, except my hexagon afghan.  It is simply to hot to have it draped on/over me right now!  :)

- Machine Sewing:  Stitch up and link Melva's Pieces of the Past Sewalong. I did stitch up this block, Indian Corn.    

This Week's List

Sunday Slow Stitching: prep the last set of wool mitten Christmas tree decorations and continue with my QAYG Hexagons!  

-   Crochet:  This will be my long-term goal:  Progress on both Tranquil afghans and make more dishcloths.  

- Machine Sewing:  Stitch up at least one more block of Melva's Pieces of the Past Sewalong.   

Gratitude Journal

I so love the familiar mountains of my hometown, El Paso, TX.
And look at those beautiful clouds!

With God guiding our path,
we certainly create a fabulous future!

Isn't this little girl so cute?

I'm so grateful for my local library and the Libby app as they allow me to afford to read and enjoy so many books and magazines!  

I'm so grateful  to CrossStitch magazine
for providing full patterns for projects in the Libby app!

Allow me to introduce you to my parents' dog, Crispín.  
I was pretending to take his toy, so he fell asleep with it in his mouth!

He makes a fabulous travel companion!

These are pictures underneath the lights in our hotel lobby.
I'm so grateful for time with my parents!  

Shhhh....let's not wake him up!
I hope you all have a blessed week!  Until next time, take good care!

Perhaps you'll visit these linky parties I sometimes link up to when I have quilting/crochet/books to share:  

Sunday Salon @ Readerbuzz

Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts 

Sunday Post at the Caffeinated Reviewer

Sunday Stash @ Quilt, Paint, Create

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

To Do Tuesday @ Chris Knits

Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication (Wednesdays)

The Loop Scoop hosted simultaneously by

Petals to Picots and Moogly

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

I Like @ Not Afraid of Color (Thursday)

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Friday)

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