Saturday's Song. Slow Stitching. Stash Report

Saturday's Song


Have you heard of the movie, "Yesterday"?  We saw it this past Friday and, though I enjoyed it, I was touched anew by the song "Hey Jude" that played during the credits.  These lyrics touched me deeply.  

"Take a sad song and make it better".

"And anytime you feel the pain

Hey Jude, refrain

Don't carry the world upon your shoulders

For well you know that it's a fool

Who plays it cool

By making his world a little colder"

As I listened to these lyrics as if for the first time, I realized that my "sad song" as an adult survivor of child abuse, can be made better.  I need not carry the world upon my shoulders, instead I can be real, be open to healing and be free.  

Philippians 3: 13-14 comes to mind.

Dear Reader, do you have old hurts that haunt you?  Try reading Philippians 3:13-14 several times a day.  Post it throughout your environment.  Take a chance and live it.  You might be pleasantly surprised at the results.  

Slow Stitching
I finished hand piecing Block 7 (Eula) of the Elm Street Quilts & Simple. Handmade. Everyday. hand pieced QAL!  These ladies have cleverly named the blocks after the characters in the novel Friendship Album ,1933 by Frances O’Roark Dowell.  I listened to this amazing work via Podcast while stitching.  Talk about inspiring!

I also finished these dishcloths.

Today I'll be working on some more dishcloths and my Grandmother's Flower Garden.  Here's where I'm hoping to spend several hours.  Mia, my poodle, will join me after I settle in.  

 Here's a bird's eye view of my little table/table.  

I'm so enjoying crocheting dishcloths with this newly discovered yarn at Hobby Lobby.  I have always enjoyed making dishcloths, but got hooked with the dishcloth challenge from 2018.  These dishcloths eventually become much appreciated Christmas gifts to my various friends in the various groups I attend.  

Stash Report

Because I used scraps, I'm guesstimating I used about .75 yards of fabric for both my pink and yellow sewing kits and the pink needle book.

Fabric Usage

last week - 14.00/100 yards  

this week -  14.75/100 yards

Yarn Usage 

I used roughly 10.5 ounces of yarn on those 7 dishcloths.  

last week - 93/300 ounces
this week - 103.5/300 ounces

I'm linking up to:

Slow Stitching Sunday @ Kathy's Quilts

Sunday Stash@ Quilt, Paint, Create

Your comments are so appreciated!  I read each one and will respond by email to you!  :)

Philippians 2:13 Leader Ender Quilt UPDATED 2/17/2017

Philippians 2:13 
Scripture

Observation
Isn't this awesome!  It is God who works in each of us to want to act in order to fulfill His good purposes!  

And His main purpose is 

for us to be His child.  

Application
Therefore, His precious one, remember, your salvation and relationship with God doesn't come solely from acts of goodness for our world.  

It comes via many factors.
The ones that come immediately to mind are, for me, the most important:
1) by faith in Him, 
2) by listening and obeying His voice 
as He guides us on this wonderful journey of creating and developing a loving, trusting relationship with Him. 

Prayer
LORD, to be honest, it was hard for me to build a loving, trusting relationship with You.   As You well know, life had handed me plenty of lemons via many forms of abuse and diseases.  But, as I sought You with a heart that was 
hurt,
angry,
sad,
confused at Your will, 
confused at free will You have given us, 
I realized You never abandoned me.

YOU WERE RIGHT THERE AT MY SIDE.

Sometimes You were weeping.

Sometimes You were rejoicing with me.

Sometimes You held me.

Sometimes You held my hand.

Sometimes You were quiet,

waiting to see how 

I would react.

And even when I reacted poorly,

You never abandoned me.

You loved me 

through it all.

I had to work hard

at my own salvation

with

fear,

trembling

and trust.

And

FINALLY

I have learned to forgive.

You persistently brought this song 

into my life

until I really heard it.

You played it on the radio
every single time I started my car.
You made sure I heard it
over and over.
Thank you.
Today,

I am peaceful.

I am serene.

I have forgiven.

I am free.
I am grateful.

Amen.

Leader Ender Quilt

Ok...So I was all excited because I thought I had finished my leader/ender blocks.....No, I hadn't.  I simply misplaced them......Grrrrrr!

But...I have gone from this

a mere six blocks

to this!
UPDATE:  Thank you, Nancy, for your comment!  I randomly placed these blocks on my current comforter to see how they would fit on my bed.  I'm planning on using a beige on beige background fabric!  :)

35 blocks!

And I need to piece 21 more!

I should have enough for a 

queen bed

and maybe a throw!

Yea!

Yea for Bonnie Hunter's idea!

Yea for leader/ender projects!

They go up so quickly!

I'm linking up to

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River 

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle and Thread Thursday at 

My QuiltInfatuation

Philippians 1:9 (Part 3). Have you tried Sewing Stations?

Philippians 1:9 (Part 3)

⁹ And this is my prayer:      

that your love may abound more and more

in knowledge

and depth of insight, 

¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern

what is best

and may be pure and blameless

for the day of Christ, 

¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ—

to the glory and praise of God.

So, on my last post regarding these scriptures, I ended by saying Paul prayed for the Philippians' obvious love to abound more and more in depth and insight.  

But, what is insight?  Again, according to Webster's online dictionary, it's 

·     : the ability to understand people and situations in a very clear way

·     : an understanding of the true nature of something

So, if I'm understanding this, he wanted their love to be based on understanding the true nature of Christ.  So that their love would be more Christ like.  

What do you think?  Am I getting this? 

Application:

As I have matured – and keep maturing in Christ – I find my love for others more gentle, more accepting, more…..Christ like.

But it has taken a lot of work, and, as I am beginning to see, a lot of faith, trust and courage.

I have chosen to walk down memory lane on many painful experiences in my life with a different perspective – 
viewing them through the eyes of Christ.
That has been tough – 
grueling in fact.

However, I am beginning to understand
how these painful experiences 
have led me 
to love with an abounding love 
based on knowledge and insight, 
rather than simply emotion.  

The result was amazing:
I learned to forgive – 
those who hurt me – 
but more importantly to forgive myself
for the times I inflicted pain on others.
The street runs both ways.

Remember:

http://quotesgram.com/people-hurting-others-quotes/

Prayer:

So, my dear reader, here is my prayer for you – and me:  

Sewing Stations

Melanie from 1000 Needles shared this method on her blog:  Sewing stations!  Naturally it called to my teacher's heart because of the centers I used in class so it made perfect sense!  Maybe it will work for you as well!

She has a cutting station, a sewing station, and a pressing station.  She rotates between all of these as she sews.  

https://1000needles.com/2015/09/21/monday-madness-09212015/#comments

I really liked this idea!  I'm sure many of us have stations of some sort, but for myself, I've simply set up an area as I need it and pretty soon I have an extremely messy work environment.  Now, I'm managing to stay a bit neater!

I also liked her Project Rotation sidebar.  It's a clear visual on current WIPs.  

Nice job, Melanie!  Thank you for sharing!  

My Bible Reading Plan. Proverb of the Day 20:30 + God Saw US. He Still Does. Joyful Song.

http://bibletruthsrevealed.com/the-bibles-theme-is-jesus-christ

My Bible Reading Plan

How many of you have begun a Bible Reading Plan to read through the Bible in a Year or something similar?  How many of you actually completed it?  I know, it’s hard to admit how many times I’ve started a plan and stopped.  The reasons are many:

I fell behind and just gave up. 

I would detoured by a scripture, then stop everything to study it and not continue the plan.

I just didn’t do it.

This time is different for me. 

Even if I fall behind, I just pick up where I left off. 

If a scripture catches my eye, I read up on it very briefly, and then continue with my daily reading without journaling.  I know God will bring it to my remembrance again. 

http://www.fastactiontraining.com/determination/#comment-64997

I make sure I don’t “just not do it”.  I have a goal:  to read through the Bible.  I am determined to reach my goal!

To track my progress I’m using the Bible Study Tools app which downloads to a smart phone or I can use the website.  I chose the chronological plan. 

Now, this is not my Bible study time, this is my leisurely reading time, reading for pleasure.  So, I switched to the Life Recovery Bible in the NLT version on my Nook.  It’s an easy read, portable and extremely easy to maneuver.  Now, I am highlighting verses which catch my eye, so I can go back for a more in depth study.   I love that there are links to notes regarding character studies with additional links to take me right back to where I was. 

And now, the point of this whole topic:

God Saw US Then and He Still Does

I was innocently reading along in Genesis, when I came upon Abram, Sarai and Hagaar.  You can read about them here. 

My Nook gave me a version to click on called “No-Win Situations”.  It talked about how Hagaar was definitely in a no-win situation:  completely powerless and trapped.  Yet, at her lowest point, and Angel of the LORD says,

¹¹ And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress.   Genesis 16:11

Now, I’m not saying what happened to Hagaar was right – it wasn’t.  It wasn’t God’s plan.  But, we all have free will and we all sin.

Others have sinned.

Others have sinned against us.

Others have sinned greatly against us.

And it hurt a lot.

It still does.

I know.

I’ve been there.

Many times.

Today, this scripture gave me great hope and comfort.  Because, now, many years later,

I can see how those hurts (EDITED June 21, 2016 3:34 p.m.)  it wasn't the hurts that made these great changes in my life - It was God's presence in my life during those hurts.  It was His grace that allowed me to chose to be have made me

a better person who has more compassion and less judgement,

a more insightful teacher who was able to recognize my hurting students and nurture them,

a person who is becoming a better instead of bitter,

someone who writes this blog in the hopes of bringing God, healing and hope in Jesus' name to hurting people.

EDITED June 21, 2016
I heard the last bit of "You Come Running" by Travis Ryan.  Though I couldn't find a full video of it, here's the chorus:
You coming running
Into all my brokenness
Into all my hopelessness
I am not alone
You come running
Even when I hide from You
There is nothing I can do to keep me from Your love
‘Cause You come running, running
You come running

http://www.walkbyfaithnotsight.com/2015/06/01/846/

Which brings us to the Proverb of the Day.
 Proverb of the Day 20:30

https://blessingsbyrenee.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/proverbs-20/

Observation:
The Good News Translation sums it up.  Yup, it does.  

https://lalaland317.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/proverbs-2030/

Application:

I know that I know God wept when you and I were being hurt.....remember everyone has free will.

I know that God saw us because when I asked Him where He was, He showed me exactly where He was standing in my hurtful situation.

I know He will reveal more to me.  

I know He still sees me.

I know that, by His Grace, I will be stronger, better........

I know.

Prayer

My LORD and Savior, it has taken me many years

many tears

many questions

much bitterness

to reach this point.  

But I'm here.

And You're here, for me.  

For her.

For him.

Minister I pray, my LORD, to all of us.

Amen.

Joyful Song

Lord, 
heal not only our bodies, 
but our hearts,
our souls,
our minds,
our memories!
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.

F
Dear Friend,
This is my truth.

Proverb of the Day. Happy Song.

 Proverb of the Day

Scripture

http://www.biblemanna.info/2016/02/Proverbs-5-1-2-wallpaper.html

Observation

Verses 1 and 2 are certainly an interesting way to introduce the chapter warning against adultery. 

Pay attention…..

my first question is to what should I pay attention?

to my wisdom…

whose wisdom? Who is “my”?  Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary tells us it’s Solomon – of course! 

You see, in my eyes, though Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, the Bible is inspired by God!  I read it as I’m reading God’s letter to me.  Therefore, though Solomon penned Proverbs, he was inspired by God’s Spirit.  Consequently, to me, it is God’s wisdom I am gleaning. 

God is asking us to

pay attention to His wisdom and to turn our ears to His insight.

Why?

That we may maintain discretion

and that our lips may preserve knowledge. 

The Amplified Bible gives great insight when studying a scripture 

My son, be attentive to my wisdom [Godly wisdom learned by costly experience],
Incline your ear to my understanding;

That you may exercise discrimination and discretion (good judgment),
And your lips may reserve knowledge and answer wisely [to temptation].

Proverbs 5:1-2

Paying attention to God’s wisdom and turning our ears to His words of insight will help us exercise good judgement, have knowledge and answer wisely to temptation. 

Application

Well worth studying God’s Word, wouldn’t you say?  Yup, I’m preaching to myself.  In my times of pain, I need to immerse myself more than ever in His Word.  Perhaps we all do….

Prayer is wonderful, as is inspirational, comforting music.  But I feel like God is telling me to be brave and open my heart to His Word and healing. To resist the temptation to avoid His Word - which I know understand delays my healing.

To show Him my raw emotional wounds.

To trust Him.

To be healed by Him. 

And you know what?  
I'm ready.
I'm ready to do the hard work.
I'm ready to trust Him.
I'm ready. 

http://notsalmon.com/2012/10/11/often-its-the-deepest-pain-which-empowers-you-to-grow-into-your-highest-self/

Prayer

Thank you my oh so precious Lord and Savior for bringing me to a place where I can see some light in my healing. 

It’s hard, Lord.

It’s tough.

But so are You.

And, through You, so am I.

Amen.

http://www.slideshare.net/MariaIdaYu/my-life-is-in-you-lord

Happy

Here’s another happy, light song that gets me smiling!

Dear Friends, this is my truth!

Coasters and Basket. Proverb of the Day. Happy Song.

Coasters and Basket.

Aren’t these coasters so pretty?  I love the fabric!  Sometimes I take a break from quilt making to whip up (yea, right, it took me all day to make these!) a fun, fast project.  Admittedly, I’m a slow sewist, but I have so much fun at each step.  Thank God we have access to  such wonderful bloggers who write wonderful tutorials!

I’m not sure where I got the idea for the self-binding coasters, but there are tons of tutorials out there!  These were fun to make with vintage fabric from my local Bernina Quilt Shop!  

And I used this tutorial for what was supposed to be the coaster holder.  For some reason, mine came out too big, so I now have beautiful napkin holder!  So light and summery!

Proverb of the Day:  Proverbs 4:12.

Scripture:

Observation:

So, this is what I see as the context of the verse, or taking the verse in context: 

As I write out my thoughts, I find my clarity as well as the ability to communicate what is in my heart, in my spirit……

As I said before, I hadn’t been spending a lot of time in God’s Word, though I had been seeking Him through prayer and song.  Just the same, it felt as if I was running from Him. 

Therefore, verse 12b:  when you run, you will not stumble made an impact on me. 

As we

1:  accept what God has to say,

2:  listen to His instruction in the way of wisdom and

3:  follow His leading on straight paths,

we will not stumble when we run.

Application:

As stated once before, I’m clarifying my thoughts as I write.  This seems to be the way I can find meaning and healing in God’s Word.

As I read Proverbs 4:12, I immediately thought of the last few weeks of running from God, of not being physically, emotionally or spiritually able to spend time in His Word.  
I sensed God knew exactly what I needed and He provided it with comfort from a few dear friends, family, music - both secular and worship - and His presence.  I didn’t feel like my steps were hampered, or as if I had stumbled because He held me up with His right hand.  He knew I needed time to heal in a different way.  And He gave it to me.  Because that is how He works with His hurting children – with love, wisdom, and patience. 

http://thedaugthersofzion.blogspot.com/2012/02/god-will-heal-all-broken-hearted.html

And, just maybe,

I wasn’t running from Him at all, but

running to Him,

running to Him to hear what He had to say,

running to Him to listen to His instruction in the way of wisdom and 
running to Him to follow His leading on straight paths. 

Yup.  I was running to Him.  Yup.

 

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, 

Thank you for your never ending patience with me.  Thank you for Your healing touch.  

Thank you for helping me to trust that Your hand has been there all my life - even as I suffered at the hands of others.  

Thank you for helping me to see I wasn’t running from You, but to you.  

Help me to continue to lean on You.  

Bring healing to my heart, my emotions, my spirit.  Help my heart to comprehend the why of these painful experiences.  Though my head understands, my heart struggles.  As I’m sure Yours did as well.  Help my readers to heal and understand as well.  In Jesus’ precious name I ask.  Amen.

Happy Songs

These last weeks have been heavy – really heavy.  I needed to keep from despair, so I made a playlist of my happy songs and played them! Most are worship songs, but this one is from England from the disco era.  

While listening, I make of fool of myself in front of the dogs as I sing along and dance.  My voice is so “wonderful” they can’t help but howl!  I play them full blast in my car and sing my heart out.  I even danced with my grandbabies and taught them a few disco moves!  It’s easy to be joyful listening to this song.  I first heard in on a Netflix series called River. 

Go ahead….sing along…dance!

Dear Friend, this is my truth!