oh no. Where have I been?

Yeah, it's November for heaven's sake and I haven't posted lately! Where oh where have I been? Well, for starters, I've been trying to finish the sock from Hades... yes, the same green sock I've been working on for soooo long. If I could just not get interrupted.... yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, my needlework group had a great, great turnout last Saturday at the local coffee shop. We had 10, I think, all ages and interests! We had knitters, crocheters (oh, you should have seen some of the finished items they brought!) cross stitchers and a bow maker! We even had a young lady of 9 or 10 who has learned to crochet berets for her cat! It was awesome to see women gather, some bringing their moms, another brought the crocheting granddaughter. Makes me miss my daughter and sisters!

I have been surrounded by loving friends who are fulfilling any possible inklings of empty nest syndrome! It is amazing, this work that God does... I haven't had the chance to be very lonely at all.

So this is to say I haven't forgotten my blog, just regrouping a bit and hoping to have some pix to share soon! On my needles right now is "the other" sock for Ninja Man. On another set of needles are booties for some fave twin friends!

Stay tuned and check back soon for the latest!
God Bless!

Sister Barb's Birthday Card and a Little Gift

I set out to make a birthday card for my sister Barb. She was born on Oct. 29 (yep, mysteriously close to Halloween) and I was born on Thanksgiving Day. Sister Carol was born on April 1, April Fool's Day. I can't tell you that without mentioning that my husband was born on Christmas Eve. Daughter on Elvis' birthday (yeah, who knew??) and son John the third (John III) was born on June the third. Brother Dave is stuck with Aug 19, which I have yet to find something to attach to.

Anyway, in my quest to try to remember special events (Okay, I rarely do, but my heart is in it!) I decided to make Barb a little something for her birthday.

Check the end of this post for links to each of the product lines mentioned!

First is this nifty tile that holds a little pad of post-it notes. Don't we just love post-its? What I didn't love was it kept falling off the tile since the sticky on the note isn't really strong enough to hold the whole pad up. I added adhesive from my cardmaking supplies and voila, success!

The tile is one I made in a Stampin' Up scrapbooking show that I held at my house for my friend Lucia, who is a distributor for the company (and a wonderful, precious soul!). Anyway, it is simply a white glossy tile with a solid square of scrapbooking paper on it (green) and a slightly smaller patterned square (dots) over that. The circle was a premade delightful little sticker from Stampin' Up and I used my Cricut machine and black vinyl to make the monogram of her initials. Easy weezy!

The card front is just like it looks: heavy stock covered with Amy Butler patterned paper, some rubber stamping, a chipboard "happy" note, and "blessed, sweet, loved" stamped on white paper slips glued down with pink dots on each end. The ribbon was in my stash and is just a solid band with a short piece tied in a single knot at the top.

Inside the pocket is a note to my sis. I included scripture and a ribbon on the end of a premade scrapbooking tag. A simple pink background (from a paper stack from Sam's Club) and trim that matches the front (Amy Butler) was just right for the solid pink paper greeting and "Celebrate" stamp.

The back is also finished and features ribbon like the front.

What made this card easy: Cricut, Stampin' Up, Amy Butler's amazing patterned paper, Fiskar's paper cutter, scrapbooking tape and K&Company TagPad precut tags.

What made it difficult: trying to put into words what my sis means to me. Always a challenge since I love them both so much!

Baby oh Baby!

I had a speaking engagement last weekend so John and I made the trip with our grandson Asher John-Ryan, our son The Boy, his wife Emily and three, yes, three dogs. Do any of you recall when you could stuff a family of five into a huge car and still have room to add three dogs? Those Chevy's from the 1950's come to mind... I'm pretty sure we could walk around in those, even after the whole family got in!

So John and I, wanting to spend some quality time with our grandson, offered to sit in the back while The Boy and wife rode up front. Thankfully, one of the dogs is theirs and she rode with them. Our pups were angels the whole way, riding in our laps. Asher was the best of all, a great sport even though he had to sit for almost four whole hours. The speaking engagement went well and I made a new friend in the process. God blessed me so much I can hardly count the many blessings.

It was a wonderful weekend. Baby time, pups in lap, meeting sisters in Christ and a safe trip home. God is good all the time. All the time God is GOOD!


Breaking news: I just snarked these from my daughter in law Emily's Facebook! I'm totally smitten with this little guy...

Disclaimer!

All of the books on review on this site have been provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Handmade Jalie cloth diapers with PUL!

Our grandson, The AshMan, uses "real" diapers and I have been eager to make some for him. My friend Vicki gave me a link for the pattern and I ordered it from Jalie Patterns in Canada.

Instead of cutting the actual pattern, I traced the pieces and cut my tracing paper. This is also because each pattern piece is marked with all sizes so I can use it as our little guy grows. Right now he is in the 6-9 month size and I can continue making diapers with this pattern through 2T... This one was $12.99 plus shipping and considering the extensive use I'll get out of it plus the price of disposable diapers, that's money well spent if you ask me!

The pattern was not difficult but only because there is a video on the website you can use. I couldn't have made it without the video!

Here's the finished diaper!

There's a story about the cute little koala bears on the tabs... my friend Heather is a preschool teacher and one day she gave me a little plastic sticker of a giraffe. I was so excited, certain that I could sew this sticker onto something for The AshMan.... sure enough, Heather and I went to Michaels and she found the stickers! Very cool, I thought! Don't they make the diaper even cuter? Yeah, I thought so too... by the way, the stickers are sewn on... easy because they have a neat little edge that you can run the needle in!

So having no baby at the house to try a fancy diaper on, Mr. Grumps was kind enough to let me put it on him. "You're just his size," I told Mr. Grumps. He just grunted.

The back fits nicely!

The pattern calls for PUL, a special soft fabric (it's the light green) that repels water. I have learned from my friend Leia (a "real" diaper mom who is expecting Precious #2) that you can't bleach this or use fabric softener because it will break down the stuff that makes PUL water resistant. Leia also provided this link with info about washing cloth diapers. Yeah!

The inside is flannel.

Note that it is indeed a Noah's Ark print. After all, we are expecting a flood or two in this diaper. So anyway, I prewashed it and it is soft as a baby's... well, you get the idea...it's soft. The strip lying beside the diaper is the liner. Check this GREAT idea out: another friend Rachel, who has newborn twins and a 3 year-old said you can use a maxi pad for the inside! How cool is that? What an awesome idea! I will recommend this to Emily, AshMan's mom.

Every diaper has a little "hidden surprise" and this one is no exception! I selected the "Pocket" diaper pattern (there are 3 types you can make from the Jalie pattern) and there is an opening at the back waistband that holds a 4-layer soaker pad. The layers are sewn together with a seam running down the center and a tiny stitch on each corner. The edges are not sewn closed so it will dry easier once you've washed it.

So between Vicki, Heather, Leia and Rachel, I've certainly had plenty of help on this project! You know, it really DOES take a village!

All I need now is a grandson to model this cute little diaper! I hope to get a cute pix of him when he tries it on next weekend. Until then....

Ultimate porch swing

Are you ready for this? It is more than a swing... more than a porch swing! Yes, it is the (drum roll please...) Ultimate Porch Swing!Ninja Man made this for me in no time at all. I saw one on a Saturday and by the next Saturday afternoon, I was napping on my cottage porch!

The idea came while we were in Newnan and I came across a full-sized bed swing while visiting a neat little shop on Labor Day where I found some great fabric that I'll be featuring on the blog later. . Wow, it was pretty stinkin' awesome. The trick was finding a mattress for it... We didn't want an expensive project, and we figured the wood and hardware could be done for under $100.

As you can see, it would be no fun without a big ole fluffy mattress!

Can you imagine what happened next? My dad, who lives near Newnan just happened to have a new cot-sized mattress that he needed to get rid of. He is designing something and this was a prototype that didn't meet his standard.

I couldn't believe it! My Ultimate Porch Swing was going to really happen.

On our drive home, we stopped by Lowe's. Even though it was Labor Day, they were open... so Ninja Man went in, got the stuff we needed and the very next afternoon when he got home from work he started working on it.

He used screws to hold the wood together and he was careful to sand down any parts that might give our little grandson a splinter later on. He used super strong chain and reinforced the beam in the porch roof since we don't have many "small" sized folks in our family.

The result is this:I have not yet sewn a cover for the mattress, but I can tell you it will have handles so we can carry it in and out easier. For now, I have this sweet quilt that I just lay on top of the mattress. It also comes in the house at night.


Having napped a time or two on this wonderful thing reminds me that our ancestors had a great idea with the sleeping porches they used back in the day. Nothing like a cool Savannah night, curled up in a heavy quilt while swaying with the breeze.

Thanks Ninja, thanks dad. I love it.

Sock it to me! THE KNITTED SOCK!

Here it is. THE sock.

Yes, finally.

Why is this a big deal, you ask? Well, considering I had so very many restarts on the grandson's baby socks that he outgrew them before I finished them, this one only took 3 tries and about 3 weeks!

I'm kinda full of myself right now.

But then I realize that my husband actually needs TWO of these... and I'm back to reality.

So I'm getting up my double pointed size 5's and this wonderful Italian yarn (can't find the label but I will update when I do to tell you what brand it is) and I'm starting on the next sock. This one will be easier because I think I've figured out all the hard stuff now.

My friend and neighbor Heather and my new friend Margaret at Unwind yarn in Savannah are the most patient sock teachers EVER, by the way!

I'm also thankful that I recorded Knitty Gritty on a day that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was on! She was great in her instruction and I could pause her as much as I needed and play it back!

So that's my story... I guess now I can stuff a sock in it! :0)

God's Certain Security

Certain Security

Posted: September 16, 2009 - 12:15am

Savannahnow.com
By Kathy Bohannon

People are worried about their finances these days. Saving for the future is a big deal. Working hard to have savings, checking balances, watching stock exchange reports, it's all part of the everyday. Economic turns in the past many months prove that many of the most solvent planners have lost big time.

When young people marry and start their lives together, love is enough to see them through. Nearly 33 years ago my husband John and I set up our household with mom and dad's sofa, a delightfully decorative Spanish L-shaped monstrosity that had some sort of gold corduroy fabric covering its cushions. The black wood was striking against the faded gold fabric that had somewhat survived through many years of four kids jumping on it and adults napping upon its former luxuriousness.

But we were grateful for having something to sit on, and love saw us through.

Our cars were old. One was a 1966 Plymouth Fury. It was a land shark, which might be cool to have now but back then it was like driving that Spanish sofa monstrosity along city streets. The other was a 1968 Grand Prix. He and I bought this when we were dating. It cost $850 and we combined our measly paychecks to make payments for nine whole months. I spent a lot of frightening moments as I had to pour gasoline straight into the carburetor. More than once a flame shot up as I started the vehicle. Putting gas into the engine was a prerequisite for driving, as it often wouldn't start without it.

Just as we were thankful for the ugly sofa we were also grateful for having something to drive because we were kids in love and we didn't care. And even though I was stranded more than once along the highway, love was enough to see us through those times.

When we began buying "nice" things, we could only afford the kind of stuff you have to put together yourself. A book of instructions would be spread out on the floor with parts strewn about. We would help one another with each step until the project was complete. It was part of the whole "love" thing, and we enjoyed going through it together.

Economics are a fact of life, no doubt. But money shouldn't define us. It shouldn't matter if we have the latest and greatest of things. They will all end up in a heap at the dump one of these days. None of the "things" that we slave for are eternal. There's not one electronic or metal or plastic or paper that is going to be there when all is said and done, and there certainly isn't a human that will be there when all is said and done.

So what do we have? Ephesians 5: 5 says, "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." I love this because the Bible says "certainty." I have not been to a single bank or retail store that can offer "certainty." Money back guarantees? Sure, but certainty? I haven't seen anyone to offer that, ever. We need to consider if we are immoral, impure or covetous. Do we idolize our "things" or other people??

Embracing immorality and impurity, being covetous or idolizing isn't going to give us any eternal security of the biggest inheritance that is just waiting for us. What if we've already been these things? We have. We're human. We ask and God will forgive us for it and we can move on. Toward Him.

Forgiveness will be given. A brand new life is promised. A few verses further in Ephesians tell us, "...you were formerly darkness, but now you are the light in the Lord; walk as children of light."

Wow. We can toss out that tattered former life, the one we had to pour frightening things into just to keep it running. The one that was faded, ugly and worn and we can walk as children of light. Especially now, God's love is enough to see us through. His promise is certain. He gives us eternal security.

He's even given us a book of instructions. It's all just part of that whole "love" thing that God offers. The difference is that His won't fade or break down. It's forever.

And it's guaranteed.

Adorable Asher!

This is my 8 month old grandson.

He is too precious for words.

Sweet Little Hoover Boy

Last year my doctor told me to create a routine in order to reduce stress. My evening routine is so pleasant that I find myself looking forward to that time all day. It is the time when I put on my nightgown, stretch out in my recliner, pick up my knitting and relax with my sweet little Boston Terrier Hoover, lying on my legs.

He is so accustomed to our "quality" time that he waits for me to get settled, looks across at the shabby chic quilt I made, watches as I drape it over my legs, then he jumps up and snuggles in. I took this photo tonight as he was lying with me in my chair.

Just as sure as I am typing this, I know for a fact that God sent this little angel to comfort me. He came into my life at the most perfect time and I love him dearly.

I thank God for the sweet wonders of life and the compassion and gentleness of this little dog who loves me unconditionally.