Looking Back at Philippians 1b. Philippians 1:3. Recipe for Fried Rice, Monday Makings.

Philippians 1b

http://www.jeffrandleman.com/memorize-scripture-philippians-11-2/

Did you notice here, in verse 1b, that the letter is written to ALL the saints?  

Not just Paul and Timothy's favorites.

Not just their "inner circle".

The letter is written to ALL the saints.

If we apply this scripture to our lives, 
this means that this letter is written to me - and to you.  

I suggest you read Philippians in it's entirety because this letter is written 
to you.
For you.

Try replacing the appropriate pronouns with
your name.

It's really powerful.
Life changing.

Philippians 1:3

http://quotesgram.com/bible-quotes-about-remembrance/

I smile every time I read/remember this verse.  During the time when we had our Bible Study, one lady said she tries to live her life in such a way that others will thank God when they remember her! 
How neat is that?
What a goal!

I wonder how different our entire world would be if we all lived keeping that goal in mind?

Recipe for Fried Rice

So, my family likes fried rice.  Mine rarely comes out the same because I use different veggies and meats.  However, this time, my husband said (again), "Best to date!"   He also asked me to please remember the recipe, at which we both laughed!  

Due to chemo brain, EVERYONE (at least almost everyone) knows not to count on me to remember something unless I write it down!  :)

The family so enjoyed this version of my fried rice, I thought that I'd share it with you.

Ingredients
Choice Beef for kabobs or fondue (mine was already diced)
Olive oil
soy sauce
1/3 large onion diced
2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
4 cups cooked rice (mine had been in the fridge for a day or two)
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 eggs cooked as an omelet without veggies and cut up
4 cups stir fry frozen vegetables
ground curry and ginger, salt, and pepper to taste


1) Brown the meat, onions and garlic in hot olive oil and soy sauce.  
2) Add the bell pepper.
3) Add the cold rice and soy sauce.  At this point I added more olive oil to keep things moist.  I also added some of the ground curry and ginger, salt, and pepper.
4) Add the eggs. Mix well.

5) Finally add in the frozen veggies.  Mix them in, cover and turn off your heat.  They'll cook with the remaining heat and still stay fresh and crisp.  

Enjoy!

Monday Making

It's been really busy lately as I spend time with my daughter.  Baby MJ is her fourth baby and is 7 weeks old.  Consequently, we are spending a lot of time together.

I was a bit frustrated at my lack of time to sew.  However, I know this special time with my grandbabies and daughter won't last forever, so I'm embracing this era in my life.  WIPs, UFO's, BOMs will always be there, but my babies won't.  :)


Life is good.

This is a new project - a baby quilt for a dear friend.  I'm hoping to get the strips sewn and pressed tonight.

Dear Friend, this is my truth!  

Slow Stitching Sundays.

Slow Stitching Sundays.
Today I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sundays and at Kathleen's Sharing Sundays on The Creative Side.  Early this morning I finished hand sewing on my dot's for my "dot your i's" quilt.  

After toying with the idea of machine stitching them on, I decided to continue hand appliqueing them on.  Aren't they so pretty?  This will be a long term project, and that's fine with me.  I'm eager to get more blocks finished so I can put them on my design board!

I also hope to finally finish row one on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  

And last, but not least, I would like to catch up on the embroidery for Wild Olive's Embroidery Adventures Around the House.  

I do love English Paper Piecing!
I saw this project at Pitter Putter Stitch!  Isn't it so pretty!  Love it!
 I hope you get a chance to check out Kathy's Quilts, The Creative Side and Pitter Putter Stitch!  

Happy Sunday!

Update on UFO's. A New Project! Philippians 1:2

Update on UFO's.  

I finished my 750 quilt top!  Yea!  I took it to Stephanie at Bernina Sewing and Design for quilting and wow!  What an experience it was to plan.  I was overwhelmed with everyone's positive response!  The ladies there are amazingly sweet and supportive.  Their knowledge and eye for color is so helpful!

It will be a custom quilt job with feathers in the setting corners, a floral design in the blocks and leaves in the sashing!  Wow!  

I'm calling this one done until I get it back from Stephanie.  :)

Another finish, but can you believe I forgot to take a picture of it completely finished with binding and all?!  This is my niece's wedding quilt.  

I wanted to make it when she first got marries, but at the time was too sick, so my daughter generously offered to pieced it.  She used the Take Five pattern on point.  I made the backing and sewed on the binding.  It was signed, sealed and delivered!  

So my completion percentage has jumped from the original 4% to a whopping 15%!  Yea!  

http://www.probono.net/celebrateprobono/

A New Project!
Well, my niece has been married about two years now.  Yup, the quilt was a bit late, but still sent with love and affection. 

She has had a her beautiful baby girl and I have yet to make her a baby quilt.   She's seven months so a quilt is also overdue!   So, I was thinking why not make her baby quilt from the fabric from her mama's wedding quilt?  Isn't that a great idea?

So, here is the beginnings of Baby P's baby quilt.  

I'm using that beautiful minky for backing. I used Allison's tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew.  My plan is to add borders - probably from dark to light. 
UPDATE:  I forgot to mention that I'm linking up to Love Laugh Quilt's Monday Makings!  

Philippians 1:2
My grandbabies last week of freedom was last week, hence my lack of posts.  I enjoyed spending time with them, but whew!  Was I exhausted!  :)

Today's verse from Philippians is a true blessing to me.  
As I read it, 
my mouth dropped open as 
I realized 
that God's timing 
is always perfect.  
Yup.
It is.

I've been really blue, as I shared here. Today has been tough.  I admit I'm sad. Frustated.  And never more than today do I wish that 

https://imgflip.com/meme/Blank-Yellow-Sign?sort=latest&page=2

And then I read Philippians 1:2.  

God, my Father, 

and 

my big brother, 

the Lord Jesus Christ 

send me grace and peace.  

I don't have it on my own.  

My heart remains in pieces.  

I just need to accept the 

grace and peace offered.

I will.

In time.

In His time.

For now, 

I will mourn.

I will grieve.

I will move past.

Because there is life after cancer.

However, 

I WILL NOT FORGET
the ones who've gone before me,
the ones who are just beginning their own terrible journey,
the ones who are still fighting,
the ones who are trying to build a life after cancer,
the ones who've danced their last dance.

Again, I know this post is not the cheerful uplifting post one is accustomed to reading.  
It's real life.
It's real.
As is my Lord and Savior.
And, together, we will have the victory.  

In honor of my friends - both online and in person - here is "I Can Only Imagine".  

Dear Friends, this is my truth.

Heartbroken. I'm Not There. Slow Stitching.

Heartbroken
I went to the clinic where I recieved chemotherapy and radiation.  There was a kind young lady there who was my angel....you know the ones.....

they are encouraging,

they are indignant for you,

they tell you look great when you know you don't,

they smile,

they see you as you not as Cancer Girl.

She is a seven year ovarian cancer survivor.  Her journey was painful for many reasons that I cannot share here. But believe me, it was horrifically painful on the physical, emotional and spiritual fronts.

Yet, I never saw her falter in her deep rooted joy.

You know something's coming, don't you....

Yes it is.

I found out 
she has breast cancer.  

She has a different type of breast cancer in each breast.  

She is suffering from the side effects of chemo that the 1-2% suffer from.  

Yet she encouraged me.


Yet she finds joy in her circumstances.  She smiles still.

I weep.

Something else happened.
I blogger I follow, Jill at Dancing With Cancer  "danced her last dance" (as stated on her blog) Thursday.  

Please pray for these ladies and their families.  Please.

I'm Not There
As I wrote about these ladies, this scripture came to mind.  

The words "in any and every situation" really stand out to me tonight.  I'm afraid I have not reached this stage of contentment.  I'm in mourning.  

And that's ok.

You know, I try set an uplifting and joyful tone for this blog, but I just can't today. And it's ok. At the end of most posts, I write "Dear Friend, this is my truth."

And today, this is my truth, my reality.
I hate cancer.
I really do.

Slow Stitching

I made a bit of progress on my Embroidery Around the House Club from Mollie Johanson.  I also got Baby C's label sewn back on his quilt.  Someone commented to try Gutermann's hand quilting thread so I did. Thank you!

Take care you all!
Please take a moment to 
1) love each other fully
2) visit Sunday Slow Stitching and Sharing Sundays!  

Dear Friends, this is my truth!  

The Creative Side

Blessings from a Bug. Slow Stitching Sunday and (UPDATE) Sharing Sundays

Blessings from a Bug.

http://www.rd.com/home/cleaning-organizing/stomach-flu-prevention/

I was sad to miss last week's Slow Stitching Sunday, but it was a wonderful day.  My son, daughter, my son-in-law and four grandchildren all came over to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday!  It was so much fun and I enjoyed having a full house!  As my Grandmother would say, "We had a parri!"

Near the end my two-year-old Baby C., got real quiet.  Then he refused ice cream.
Oh oh.

Yup.  You guessed it.  Shortly thereafter he threw up - a lot - a really lot.

I kept the oldest kiddos while my daughter and her husband took Baby C. and newborn Baby M. home.  They came for the older two later on that night.  

Monday came and I got bit by the same bug.  Then on Thursday, my daughter got bit.  My son-in-law was the final victim.  

Thankfully all is well and we are all back to normal.  And there was a HUGE blessing in the mix.

Because I was so terribly sick, I chose to go off my medications - even my pain meds.  I knew my tummy couldn't handle them.  I take 100 mg tablets of Gabapentin three times a day as well as a newly added Meloxicam.  I decided to begin with the Meloxicam because one pill seemed more tolerable than three.

And guess what?  Since going off Gabapentin I have had almost no pain! The worse it gets is maybe a 1 or 2 after I iron or if I'm on my feet a lot.  

But, 
I can go out all day with my husband and be fine.
I can spend the afternoon in the neighboring town with my parents and sister and be fine.
I can do stuff.
Fun Stuff.
I can live my life.

I don't know how long this will last.  I do have an appointment with my doctors and rest as needed.  But it's wonderful to be pain free - or at least relatively so.  

God is good - 
in pain or without pain - 
God is good.

Slow Stitching Sunday
And now for Kathy's Slow Stitching Sundays!  Today we traveled to the neighboring town to spend a lovely afternoon with my parents, my sister and her finacee.  It was wonderful!  Mom and I had a great talk.  She said I'm looking better, healthier.  We were able to have one on one time which I throughougly enjoyed!  We had good food, jokes, and laughter!

My Slow Stitching projects were fun!  I joined Wild Olives's Embroider Around the House Stitching Club and finished the first two motifs.  I highly recommend this fun project!  

Poor little roll of paper!  I finished his mouth and eye today!

Then I finished up Baby C's new quilt label.  I'm not sure what's going on.  The bindings off two quilts that I made him came undone.......I used the silk thread recommended by my quilting teacher, but they didn't work.  So, I machine bound his quilt and remade his label.  I'll hand stitch it back on with quilting thread and stick to that for bindings as well.  

After finishing up those two projects, I worked on my yo yo quilt for a bit.  

A nap on the way home finished up my Slow Stitching Sunday!  

UPDATE

Sharing Sundays

I just learned about Kathleen at The Creative Side.  She has a linky party called Sharing Sundays!  I encourage you to linkup and join the party!

Dear Friends, this is my truth.  

The Creative Side