June 1: Psalm 8, Fiber Fun, Literary Life and Finding Joy

Hello There,

I hope you all had a fabulous week and are looking forward to the coming week.  Our Memorial Day was a quiet affair.  Many of the veterans we know, both family and friends, have passed away.  As we remember those who fought and died for our freedom, I can’t help but reflect on what members of my Cancer Support Group said to me after I shared I had survivor's guilt. . 

Those with little to no hope of surviving their disease enthusiastically, with a unified voice said, "NO!  Enjoy your life guilt-free!  If you must, think of us and live even more fully."  So humbling.

So as we remember our military who gave their life, their limbs, as well as their mental health for us, I say, "Thank you."  To the ladies who encouraged me to live a full, guilt-free life, I remember each one of you with love and gratitude as I make every effort to honor your wishes.  Thank you.

HERE'S A WORD - Faith...broken faith...faltering faith.  Here I will share a Scripture about these topics.  No judgement, only love.  

I've always wondered, "What does God do when our hearts are hardened by disappointments, our faith is weak and we pull away from God.  I read Ed Underwood's book, When God Breaks Your Heart - Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances.  I don't remember the context, but I do remember reading that God sits with us, He simply sits quietly with us in our pain, our confusion, our hopelessness.  

What is mankind that You are mindful of them, 

human beings that You care for them? (Ps. 8:4)   

We are His children.  Your are His child.  He loves you.  He is waiting for you.  God cares for us because we are part of His immense, wonderful, unexplainable, gigantic creation.  I feel awkward typing these words as I am answering the question I read in verse four.  It's scary and humbling at the same time.  

As I go forth from my own desert experience, Psalm 8 has me symbolically on my knees in gratitude and humility.  At the same time, I'm grateful for the year of the desert, because I grew stronger, wiser and have increased faith.  I believe you will, too.  

You are loved.  You are not alone.  You are being lovingly prayed for..

Please take a quick minute to read Psalm 8.  He has done so much to prepare o

FIBER FUN  - I've decided to break down my "To Dos" into three categories:  Finish, Focus, Prep/make a kit, and Be Kind = Soft Deadlines.  FoF stands for the Fields of Fancy BOM I’m participating in, using Liberty of London Tana Lawn fabrics.    

Imagine my excitement when Month Three of my FoF box came in, filled with embroidery floss, 6 fat 16ths of Tana Lawn, my favorite type of needles (straw needles), a crown EPP template with the paper pieces, a beautiful fabric to fussy cut, and a pre-printed embroidery panel.  Alas, I remain a month behind, but am still enjoying the process.  

Last Week's List

1.  Finish

- the first Atlas Zipper Case - almost finished! I just need to attach the binding. It has two open pockets behind each blue panel, a large zipper pocket, and two smaller ones. Making this one taught me a lot, so I’ll prepare a kit to make another one.  

 - attach a couple of  the quilt labels my daughter made for me  I didn't touch these. 

This squirrel took a bit of time.  I finished a hand-stitched label for my daughter’s EPP quilt. Recently, Linda at Texas Quilt Gal posted about using sewing thread with hand embroidery, inspiring me to try this on my daughter's quilt label. Though I couldn't find the post, here is a different one.  And here’s the finished label I attached to the hand-pieced Grandmother’s Flower Garden I made for my daughter.

I don't remember if I shared it, it was my Secret Sewing Project.  It's English Paper Pieced using 2.5" hexagons, it's from Camille's Shoreline fabric line, and long arm quilted by my dear Stephanie.  

2.  Focus

-   bind the hexagons from Month One of the Fields of Fancy (FoF) BOM.  Done!  Hand stitching with Tana Lawn is so wonderfully smooth and easier on the hands.  

Additionally, I prepped Month 2: four to be appliqued flowers, two fussy cut hexagons, and the hexagons from Month one's fussy cut fabric.

 

-  make progress on my got scraps quilt. Here’s my friend’s progress and it looks so beautiful. No progress here.  

These are my friend's blocks

3.   Prepare/make a kit

- Atlas Zipper Case #2 by Center Street Quilts

4. Be kind = Soft Deadlines which are good for my physical and mental health!  

This Week's List is a bit different as I've had to reintegrate crocheting and machine sewing into my Fiber Arts life.  My  hand is letting me know it needs a break.  

1.  Finish

- bind Atlas Zipper Case #1

- attach these quilt labels my daughter made for me   

   

2.  Focus

- my granddaughter's ornament - I'll share progress on my Instagram feed (miaismine22) as this is a Christmas gift. 

- Remember the Book Afghan I started? It was inspired by this post which explains the concept.  It's basically crocheting a granny square with colors that coordinate to the covers of the books I've read.  I'm including the granny squares previously shared along with recently crocheted squares.  

My goal:  finishing two squares a week.   

3. Prepare/make a kit
- Atlas Zipper Case #2
4. Be kind = Soft Deadlines which are good for my mental health!

LITERARY LIFE -   

CURRENT READS

FINISHED

***** Food-Related Stories by Gaby Melian welcomes you into a personal look at her view of food via her life, her loving relatives and her journey to find her calling.  It was a quick read that left me thinking warmly of my experiences with food, family, friends and how it all intersects.  I also thought of my sweet mama's cooking.  Nobody makes nachos as well as she does!  Highly Recommend.  

*****The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson was such a fun read filled with gumption, wisdom, world history and adventure!  I'll be reading the next book in this series!  Highly Recommend 

**** Where the River Ends by Charles Martin is another of his books that touched me as I gained insight to how cancer affects our loved ones. I was rooting for the protagonist as he valiantly struggles to carry out his dying wife's last wishes - regardless of the price he may pay.  He meets kind and evil people along the way, but eventually finds some sort of peace with his father-in-law as well as himself.  This time I did knock off a star as so many pages were added regarding South Carolina's history that seemed to slow the pace of the story.  Just the same, there is much to learn in this book about the aforementioned topic, marriage, love, family and, like I said before, how cancer affects our loved ones.  Highly Recommend  

MAILBOX MONDAY - is a gathering place for readers to share books that they

added to their shelves or E-reader the previous week. These are all books I picked up at the various libraries for which I have cards.  As we are so close to El Paso, TX, I make use of their digital library.  The same holds true for San Diego, where we sometimes live there more than here.  

This week I picked up several library books as well as a couple from my local used book store.

FINDING JOY - LeeAnna's I Like on Thursdays at Not Afraid of Color helps me consistently find the joy in every life.  She also provides a prompt for us to use.  

This week's prompt is:  

May 31st is Memorial Day. What does the holiday mean to you? It is there to remember to be grateful for the men and women who served in out military to protect us. 
On another note since Memorial Day is culturally the start of summer,   are you having or participating in a party and what will it be like?

Memorial Day is a somber day, remembering those who sacrificed for my freedom. We come from a long line of veterans, many surviving wars but bearing scars. I pray for an end to wars. We usually have a quiet day.    

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