A Project, Pictures from the Park and "Keep"

Hello Y'all!!!!  Here I am with another blog post!!!!  Shockers and wowzers!!    Hahahaha     It was on my mind so I just done it.     I hope that y'all are dealing with the weather wherever y'all are.    It's pretty cool in my neck of the woods, down in the teens this morning.     I know that elsewhere, people are in the -degrees, so my prayers are for y'all to keep warm.     Lots of extra cover and warm soups are very effective this time of the year.    We just need to try to hold on till Spring.   It will be here before we know it.    Until then. we dream of warmer days.    Yay!!!

Remember in my last blog post, I said I would share a bracelet that was in the upper right hand corner of one of my photos?     Well, that was actually some of my jewelry that I had taken off.   hahaha  Sometimes it gets in the way and I needed for my hands and wrists to be free.    But, that did inspire me to share the pics of what I had originally thought was in the corner of that photo. 

My mother and I and 2 other family/church friends went on a cruise back in September of 2018 and I saved every piece of our itineraries that came into mine and moms room.   I even picked up extras when we was out and about on the ship, because I had a brain storm.   Sometimes those are quite dangerous!!!   hahahaha     But, it was a safe one this time!   hahahaha

When we stopped at each port, mine and mom's main goal was to collect our charm freebies from each port.    We ended up with quite a few charms and with the ones from our first cruise back in 2016 we have a small little collection.    I am missing 2 from 2 ports back on our first cruise, so eventually, I will try to get those charms to add to mine and mom's collections.

After we got home, I decided to make us a bracelet out of some of the itineraries.    I have shared my bead making techniques on here.    I started making paper beads back a few months ago and really enjoy the process.     So, using my process, I cut and rolled enough beads to make 4 bracelets, one for each of us on this cruise.    I cut the strips and rolled the beads and once I was done with the rolling, I started painting the beads with my Viva Decor wax rub colors.   I watered them down and made it real wet so I could brush the colors on.    I use tropical metallic colors in a blue, pink and green.   I just brushed on one color, let all the beads dry, brush on the second color, let that dry and then brushed on the last color and let that dry.    The green is not as outspoken as the other colors, but it is beautiful.

When I started the stringing process, I had some beautiful clear, color lined E beads that I had gotten at Joann's and they were the perfect color.    So, I strung all my beads and the E beads and tied the bracelets off and secured the knots.    Then I searched thru my jewelry findings and found jump rings that was larger than the E beads.   I put a jump ring around each E bead and then attached my cruise charms.

When I had all my cruise charms on my bracelet, I then added my own charms that looked to be tropical or island or cruise worthy.    It is a very heavy bracelet and may not be meant to be worn very much.   It may just be a show piece more than a utilitarian piece, but I was so thrilled with  how they turned out and so is mom.     I have the bracelets made for the other 2 ladies and all I have to do is put their charms on  and fill in with my charms.    This bracelet is mine.   Mom's bracelet is the first picture.   She couldn't find one of her charms.   We don't know what happened to it, hopefully we will find it sometime.   If not, I will see if I can replace it.    She is missing the gold colored shell down by the cruise ship.

Most of the charms are sponsored by Diamond International.   Looking at the picture above, you can see the DI charm at the very bottom left, beside the cruise ship.    Starting at the DI and working up to the right I will tell you what's a cruise charm and what's mine that I added, with the cruse charms in capitals.    So, the DI, ship, SHELL, SUNGLASSES, leaf, CROQUI FROG, umbrella, anchor, COIN, shell, MONKEY, CHARM WITH BLUE TOPAZ STARFISH AND SHELL, SNORKELS, and turtle.   I have 8 from the islands and would have 2 more but didn't know about them when we went on our first cruise.   If we ever get any more, we can easily remove my charms that I added to our bracelets.    It is beautiful and it does tell a story.   We had lots of fun collecting them and lots of great memories.   

I hope you enjoy this project just half as much as I did.   It is definitely a fashion statement.   hahaha

We go to the local greenway her in town a lot and enjoy it so much.    Over the past summer and fall we took  a lot of pictures.   We just enjoy doing that.    I love seeing beauty in nature and you never know when and where you will see beauty, you just need to be prepared at all times.   hahaha     I hope you enjoy looking at some of these pictures.

This is just a beautiful wild flower.   Those of you who know your flowers will be able to tell me what it is.   But for now, I just call it beautiful.     I got several pics of these flowers.     It makes me ready for Spring even though we are in the middle of winter.    brrrr

I don't know what kind of tree this is, but my husband had a habit of taking a picture of this same tree every time we was out.   hahahaha   

 Right here was a squirrel showing off his cuteness.    He was posing for us and strutting his stuff.   hahaha 

This was another big batch of those flowers and they are really beautiful.    I love them.     They are usually covered with bees and insects.   Its fun to see them up close and personal.    hahaha

This is a tree where the woodpeckers was going to town on it.    It had been freshly done.    I love seeing stuff like this.     Nature at its best.

This is just one of the trees along the greenway that has a split on the back side of it that is a resource for wildlife.    I'm sure that one day the rot in it will cause the tree to come down, but for now, it's a beautiful piece of natural architecture.

I think this is one of my favorites.    Can you guess what these are?      If you guessed tree roots that are above the ground, you are right.     They are pretty gnarly looking, but again, it is also beautiful nature at its best.    I love it.

This is the woodpecker tree above, at a distance, taken at the same time.     I really love this!!!     This just happened from one day to the next.     By now, the whitish spots have already turned grayish and just blends in, quietly and unassuming, but in the pictures, you can see it really stands out.

This is just a hedge apple on the walking path, but I thought the color was beautiful and the spot of sunlight right beside it.     I love the composition of this picture, which I did NOT plan, but was pleasantly surprised!!

Another one of the pleasantly surprising pics.     Simple beauty.      I'm happy with it.

This tree is very unassuming.     It is just a tree that is a beautiful habitat for birds and all kinds of wildlife.    Like I said it is very unassuming.      But, if you look closely, you can see something very strange.    I'll not give it away. 

Now look closely at it.     There is a corn stalk from the year before hanging in that tree.     We had a flood back in 2017 and a corn stalk from the crop of corn in 2016 ended up in the tree.   It has been there this whole time, with an ear of corn hanging in it.    We never noticed it until the leaves fell in the fall of 2018.    The reason I know the cornstalk was from 2016 is because for 2017 and 2018, the farmer planted beans.   But the flood was in early 2017.   

We never know what we will see, we just have to be ready to see beauty where ever we look.    I hope you have enjoyed the beauty that I have shared with y'all today.    It does my heart good to share the beauty from my neck of the woods with y'all.     I sure hope y'all enjoyed seeing these pictures and I do have more to share along the way.

As we mosey on thru this year, I try to remember to keep in the forefront of my mind that God is creator of everything.    He is the best artist that ever has been or ever will be!!!   No one has ever done anything without God having done spectacular feats before human attempts.    I hope that makes sense.     It makes sense in my mind, but I don't know if I conveyed it well enough for it to make sense to y'all.    Anything that a human being can do is because God allowed that person to do it.    It's not because that person is so great and talented.     They may be talented, but that talent came from God.    So, I just try to keep remembering that everything good comes directly from God.

In thinking about the word "keep", I had said we may do a word study on it.   I think I will start it today with just a little bit of food for thought, for us to start digesting.    I had no idea what the word was going to mean for me, and to be quite honest, I still don't.    But I am enjoying how the Lord is presenting me with the word from time to time.

I got out my Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words and opened the book to the word keep.    Actually, this is the only book in my library of Biblical books that had a good supply of definitions and explanations.      This is some of the descriptions of the word:  "watch over, preserve, keep, watch, guard, hold".    This is just a few of the descriptions of the word keep.    Some come with a military meaning, some have bankers terms attached to them,  some convey the word strength, some stress love, some descriptions actually means to be set apart for a specific purpose.   There are many more descriptions that I don't have the mind set or the ability to convey all those meanings, but I am seeing for myself, right now, that the word "keep" is much deeper than I ever imagined.    This is just a few thoughts for us to ponder until we delve deeper into the word and start digging thru scripture.    I will share scripture that will help us/me see how it fits into our/my everyday life.    I just pray that God will open our/my hearts and our/my  minds to what He has set aside for us/me to learn from this.   

Every word has meaning and depth.   I am going to try to find the word in Hebrew also and see what that has to say.    I am sure it will shed even more light on this subject.     Keep a prayerful mindset as we go thru this during the year.     I pray that God will show us some exciting revelations in His word.    It should be exciting every time we open His book and I think this will be an exciting time.   I hope you are set to join me in this journey.

I want to thank y'all for showing up here today and I pray that you had a good time here.     I try to be as real and honest with y'all as I possibly can.     Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not so good, but all times it's real.    I hope y'all know that.    

I hope you seen something that will inspire you in some small way.     Maybe take more pictures.   Maybe get out in nature more and look for all the fun things that God has placed around us for our viewing pleasure.    I promise you, when you start noticing the small stuff, He will put bigger stuff out there for you to enjoy too.    Maybe even make a piece of jewelry with other pieces of sentimental jewelry.    Who knows, maybe even do a word search on your own and grow closer to the God of creation Himself.     God never meant for His creation to be worshiped.   He never meant for the "created" to be worshiped.    We are to worship God of all creation!!!!     Thank you Father God for all the blessings You put before us each day, may we take notice of them more and more every day!!!!

My prayer for each of y'all is to have a blessed day!!   Just remember that God desires to have a right relationship with each of you and that only happens thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ.   God loves us enough to provide us THE way to be in right relationship with Him.    It's up to us, as individuals, to chose Him.   Chose wisely my friends.    Love y'all and be blessed today!!!   hugs, patty

Another Project from 2018, and "Keep"

Good late afternoon on this pretty chilly day here in my neck of the woods on January 24th, 2019.    We've had some pretty cool temps here as of late, but I am thrilled to say that we haven't had the bad weather they have called for, for us.   I am so thrilled about that!!     But, I do keep in mind that others have been suffering with the cold and bad weather.    As I type this, I am also reminded of family, friends, and online friends that are struggling right now.    Some are struggling with health related issues and facing surgeries, others are dealing with job loss, and still others are putting one foot in front of the other after the tragic loss of loved ones.   Just know that all of you are in my heart, thoughts and prayers daily.    The best thing that we can do for one another, regardless of the situation is to pray for each other.    Just know that I do pray for my friends, online friends and the visitors to my blog.   I always ask for God to meet each and every need that y'all have.    So, as we are still feet first into this winter season (where I live anyway), let's try to remember to lift each other in prayer.    Prayer is gift that should be used frequently and generously, on those around you and on yourself.   

Last time, I shared a project with y'all that I had finished in Dec 2018.   I was thrilled to finally get that one wrapped up and off of the "to do" list.    Been working on another one and will share pictures of it as soon as I get it finished too.   It has been pretty exciting to get some these done after having them for YEARS, in a half done state.    So, while I don't have another quilt to share with y'all, I do have a fun and simple project to share with y'all.    One of our Family Community Clubs here in my county is responsible for decorating the Christmas Trees in the County Museum that represents all of the clubs in the county.    One of the ladies was asking for Angels of all kinds to put on some of the trees.  Well,   I made some and they were really pretty.    I loved how they turned out.   Beautiful, rich colors and lots of glitter and even some purple!!!   Now y'all know that gets my heart racing!!!   Purple and glitter, what more can a country gal want, unless it's more purple and more glitter.    You can NOT have too much of either.    hahaha

Here it is the morning of Jan 28th and I am back at this blog post.     I was about to share a few pictures of a project that was very simple, but had a lot of impact.     These make me very happy.     I made a few extra to share with friends and they enjoyed them too.

These are made from a square paper pad that is 6x6 inches.     I used my mini score board and started right in the center with my score marks.     Because I'm lazy like this, I folded the paper in half and then scored every 3/8 of an inch starting at the fold and working my way to the cut sides.   The final score mark is less than the others, that's why you want to start on the fold and work your way over to the cut side.

I took my scored piece back to the scoreboard, kept it folded and laid it on the scoreboard  with the longest edge to the top.    Next. I made a mark 2 inches down on the very first center score mark that I made.     I took my scissors and cut carefully down to that 2 inch mark.   See those bracelets un in the right hand corner of this picture, well, that's another blog post!!!   hahahaha

 Next, I took each side and carefully folded it as tightly and as neatly as I could down the dress part of the angel and used a small line of glue and held it together till it grabbed.   I done both sides like that, making the sleeves/arms of the angel.   Be very careful in this process, because it is still very fragile and easy to tear.     Once all my glue grabbed and held, I started glueing on my wooden heads.    Some of  them had holes in the center and if they did, I glued my hanger in the center before glueing it to the body.     If they didn't have a hole in the center, then I glued my jute hanger to the backs of the angel down about where the head is glued to the body.

These here, I don't have the halo's on yet.    (after careful inspection, I found that I do have the halo's on, they just don't show up well in this picture.)     But I have those rolls of beads on a string, where the beads are melted to the string and I cut them the length I wanted and glued them to the back also and that made the little halos stand up.   They were really cute.    After that, I made my little bows and got those glued on and them I took my studio g I think it is, glitter glue and commenced with my happiness!!!!!    Glittering them up!!!     The glitter glue all over them made the paper more sturdy when they were all dried and finished.

Overall, this was very fun and satisfying project!!!    I do love all the jewel tone  colors of the angels, especially the purple, and the way they looked when finished.   And in the process of making my angels, I figured out how to make mine with one piece of paper, no cutting and no waste.   It was very quick.    I had seen all the videos of making angels, but I had not seen anyone making angels the way I described.    I will not claim the design, but I will emphatically say that I DID NOT take anyone else's design.     hahaha     So, if you need to make angels in a hurry, this is the way to go.   Also the bead that I used for the heads is about the size of a marble.    I don't know the size in mm's or inches, I just used what I had.

There was another project that I was a part of and very happy to be a part of it too.      My FCE club, Family Community Education got together in late October, early November and had a workshop day.  This is the second year that we have done this project.   We made mittens and scarves for the homeless during the cold weather.    They are then distributed by those who check on the homeless during the winter months.     It's a difficult situation, but when we do this project, we feel we are helping in a small way. 

We ended up with 12 sets and another 5 extra pairs of mittens.     Two of the ladies was cutting, one of the ladies was sewing the mittens together and I was sewing the elastic in the wrist of the mittens and the other was over seeing and being our legs between one step and the other.     It worked out great and was a wonderful way to spend a day that will hopefully help someone.    It was a great day!!

As I go thru my phone looking for pictures, I see that I have a lot of stuff to share and I will.     Sometimes, I think I haven't done anything, then I look at the pictures on my phone and just get tired from all the stuff I have done!!!   hahaha

My FCE club got together in December on our regular club day and went to a nice restaurant across the way and celebrated with a nice meal and fun browsing in the gift shop afterwards.   I actually ran into Santa.    He was kind enough to tell me that I wasn't getting anything for Christmas.    I promptly yanked his beard and ran away!!!!   hahahahaha

Even after all that, Santa lied!!!!   hahaha    I did get a little something for Christmas.    hahaha

But in thinking about Christmas, Santa is a fictional character, unlike the One for whom Christmas is named and celebrated.    Jesus is the reason to celebrate every day with a new found fervency!!!     Without  Him, we wouldn't have anything to celebrate.   I just hate the fact that the birth of our Savior was assigned a pagan holiday, to transform that day into something good.    So is the time that we celebrate His death, again, a pagan holiday that has been assigned to His death.      If we know nothing at all about the Bible, we know that worshipping as the pagans do is strictly forbidden.     God wants a pure and holy form of worship.     What does that look like?     You know what, we have NO idea what pure and holy worship looks like these days, because there are so many agendas attached to worship.   Too many man made expectations and traditions that are just plain sinful.     What do we do about it?      It's a tough situation to find yourself in, but if you do, leave the situation!!!!      That's the best we can do.      Worshiping together as a family is better than putting ourselves in the situation of pagan worship, worshiping something other than Christ.   

We do not look to man for anything.     We look to God for everything.     No man or woman should be telling you what to think or how to think.      We should be reading scripture and allowing God to tell us what He thinks thru His written word.    That's it.      When a man is standing before you, preaching/teaching the word of God, know for yourself that what he is saying is scriptural and not taken out of context, or proof texting.     The only way to know that is to know scripture and have your bible in hand.     When he starts speaking something that isn't scriptural, get up and leave.    You don't have to make a big commotion, just get your family out of there and don't look back.     If someone calls and asks why you left, either tell them or not, but don't lie about it.    We left a church for basically this same reason.    One of my friends at church called me and asked me about it and asked why we left.   Even before I said anything, she that they had felt funny about some things ever since they had been coming to church there.     I asked her what she was gonna do about it.     She said well, I don't guess we'll do anything, we just don't want to drive any farther than we are right now.     The distance to church should not ever be a factor.     If the one closest to you is not what you need, then drive till you find one that is.    Even consider a different denomination if necessary.     If you and they are worshiping the same God, the same Jesus Christ and have the same indwelling Holy Spirit, then anything else is manmade and more than likely useless to growth of the individual and the church.   

There are a lot of basic fundamentals that are getting lost in all the mumbo jumbos of the churches.      I'm sorry, but if God calls it sin, then it's sin.     No, we should never kick a person out of church because of their lifestyle, Lord knows they need Him!!    We all do!!!    But, for people blatantly living certain lifestyles and thumbing their noses at the word of God and saying that it has somehow changed; folks, that is dangerous territory.     People say that times have changed so the bible doesn't fit today's lifestyles.     It doesn't make a scrapping bit of difference what I say, or what you say, what does scripture say about it?      The bible definitely says that "God doesn't change"!!!     If it was sin when He spoke it, it's still sin.      And when we have foxes guarding the henhouse, they will get in.   That is what has happened with the church.     We have sin in the pulpits.     Yes, we are all sinners, struggling with our sin.     But we need to look as Sodom and Gomorrah with serious eyes and an even more serious mindset.      Study that with an open heart, open to receiving what God wants us to understand.     It is a very grievous time that we live in.

Also, the fact we no longer value life in the form babies.     We value baby animals more than we value the lives of the unborn babies.    What in the name of God is wrong with us????     Sin infestation is the worst disease this world has ever known!!!      Unlike some of the diseases that attack the body and kill the body, sin attacks the heart and mind and soul and not only produces physical death but also an eternity apart from God!!!      We have a tendency to not take this seriously.      But if we got serious about the sin that we see and perhaps participate in, and started praying about it and seeking Gods help to overcome it, there would be radical change.    That's what Jesus does.     He is the radical change this world needs, but it has to start at home first.     When I get serious, then you will see me serious about it and then you will get serious, and then people will see you serious and that will encourage them to get serious.   First thing you know, it has a snowball effect, and that's a great thing!!!     That is the snowball that I would love to see rolling thru this country and on to the rest of the world.     Ok, let's have a snowball fight!!!     Consider this a challenge and accept it as one and we'll see how big the snowball gets.

One thing to do is to read the bible and remember to keep what you have read in your heart and ponder on those things.    This is one way that my word for the year keeps popping out at me, is just reading the word and pondering what I have read and letting God speak to me thru His words.

Well, that's about all I have for today.    Hope you enjoy the projects I shared.   Maybe you'll find some inspiration in them and have fun doing something for someone.     I hope we'll all accept the snowball challenge and keep His words in our hearts.    I pray that y'all have a beautiful day today and that you will remember that God loves you.    I hope there is some sunshine where you are, if not, remember that the Son is always shining if you allow Him to shine in your life.     He loves you and wants to be in right relationship with you.     Do something fun today and tell me about it.    Remember that God loves you and wants to be in right relationship with you thru the shed blood of His Son.     That is the only way to the Father is thru the Son.      He wants better for us than we can even imagine for ourselves.    Be blessed today and remember that I love y'all too!!!!   hugs, patty

Sharing a project I completed in 2018

Good morning y'all!!   We are in a cold wet spell in my neck of the woods.    Some bad weather coming in, or say they are telling us.    We'll have to wait and see though.     It will also be a good idea to be prepared for the worst case scenario.    So, I have on a pot soup beans!!   We will have cornbread with that and we will be happy campers for a little while.    Thankful and blessed for all that God has blessed us with, and even the weather.    He knows what He's doing, so I'll let Him keep doing what He does best and that is meet my needs.   And I will continue to praise Him and speak of His goodness at every opportunity.    That sounds like a great plan, don't cha think. 

(This blog post was started on Saturday Jan. 19th 2019 and we had ice and snow over night.    We live in the south, so if you don't like the weather, give it 15 minutes, something you like will come along shortly.   hahaha    Prayers for those who was affected in a bad with all the weather.)

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I was busy late last year, 2018, on some "ufp's" (un-finished-projects) and I did get one completed!!!  Woop Woop!!!   So happy that I did!!    It wasn't but over 20 years in the making.   hahahaha     And I was so pleased with how it turned out!!!

This is a quilt top from 20+ years ago.  I had 2 nieces that was expecting babies at the same time.    This was a freebie set of baby alphabet embroidery designs.   Sorry I don't remember where it came from, but it was over 20 years ago after all.   I figure out who digitized these designs, I will gladly tell you who it was.  So, I actually sewed each design 3 times.    I sewed the sample first and then tweaked the design colors as needed for the 2 blocks of each alphabet.    The samples were actually meant to be thrown away when I was done with the actual quilts.    But, I decided to keep the blocks and made a quilt top out of them and put it in a plastic shoebox and then politely put the box up.

The samples were sewn on hacked out squares.  They are not all the same size.    The ones that I made the quilts were actually cut to one size, all of them, the SAME size.   hahaha     But for this one, when I sewed them together in strips and then sewed the strips together, none of the blocks matched underneath each other.   It really stood out like a sore thumb.    On the originals, I sewed a big button between each block to add a little interest.   There was probably 30 to 36 each buttons sewn onto these two quilts when finished.   That's how I tacked the quilts together.   But on the quilt that I am about to share, I sewed a button on all four corners of each quilt block with different colors of grosgrain ribbon, 1/8th of an inch wide, using a large eyed needle that was small enough to get thru the holes and shanks in the buttons.      I love how it turned out and I'm so thrilled I found all of my embroidered blocks from days and years gone by.   I hope to get a lot of the projects completed sometime soon.    It feels pretty good to actually accomplish something.

Let me say this before I show you my quilt.    I am NOT a quilter, but I am a seamstress, or I should say, used to be a seamstress.    So while I know a lot about sewing in general and a lot about sewing machines, and garment manufacturing, not so much about quilting.   hahaha    Oh, I "know " quite a bit about quilting, because I came from quilters, so I know some of the lingo and stuff like that.    But knowing about quilting and actually quilting are 2 different things.   hahaha    Trust me, I do know that.     So, with all that said, I will share my baby alphabet quilt.

This is the full quilt.   If you click on the picture it will bring up a larger picture of it and you can see it better.

This is the back.    I used 5 fat quarters of flannel to make the backing and the stripes in the fat quarters match the colors of the grosgrain ribbon I used to sew the buttons on with.

This is just some close ups of some of the buttons and blocks.  But if you notice, you can see that my blocks do NOT line up correctly on the vertical line.    This was not intended to be a quilt in the first place.

But, I could not bare tossing out these blocks once I was finished with the other 2 quilts, so I did sew together and make the quilt top.   But I ignored it for many years.

One of the reasons I couldn't stand the idea of tossing out these quilt blocks is that there is well over an hour, close to 2 hours of machine embroidery time in each block!!!      So, with time invested in them, I couldn't toss them out.    Right about now, I'm thrilled I didn't.

When I started going thru my buttons, I was looking only for large, 2 holed buttons.     I knew I was gonna have a terrible time finding as many buttons as I needed.     So, the next type of button I resorted to was shank buttons.    And only solid shank buttons.    I didn't want any that were 2 or 3 piece shank buttons because they would hold water if it was ever washed and that's not a good thing!!     So, I found useable shank buttons, still wasn't enough.     Next, I started looking for 4 holed buttons.   I didn't want to use them, but I had no choice.     Once I got all the buttons on there, I was so stinkin' tickled with how it turned out!!!     The buttons more than doubled the weight of the quilt!!     hahahaha     It sure did!!!    There is 120 buttons in total on this quilt.     I haven't measured it yet to see just how large it actually is, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 36" x 45".   

The finishing touch was to put a spot of clear nail polish on each knot and on each end of the ribbon to keep the knots from coming out and the ends from fraying.     I will sign and date it on the back and then this will go to my other niece.     Since I have only 3 nieces, they all will have one of these beauties.   Oh yeah, the blocks are denim and the white fabric is napery material that my husband got for me at his place of employment at the time.    They was tossing it out and he asked if he could bring it home to me and they let him.      So, I was happy to get the quality material and never dreamed I would use it like that, but it was perfect.

I do love how the buttons add another dimension to the quilt and they distract from the quilt blocks not lining up vertically.     Back in the day when I still sewed and embroidered a lot, I always sewed a button every project I made.    That was my signature move in sewing and embroidering.    Sometimes the button was so small you couldn't find it, but it was there.   hahaha     If I go back to sewing again, I will pick back up with my signature move.   hahaha    Hope y'all enjoyed seeing my quilt as much as I enjoyed sharing it with y'all and telling  about it.  I'm happy I remembered as much about it as I did.    hahahaha    Tell me in the comments below if you have any un-finished-projects from back in the day and what your game plan is to get them completed.

I am working on another small quilt from another set of alphabet set of fruit and veggies.    It will be a lot smaller than this project.   It will be the size of a table runner, but it will be cute.   So keep an eye for that.

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That's about all I have for today.    I do hope and pray that y'all enjoyed your visit here today and that you will make your way back here real soon.     I would love to hear from you and if you leave me a message, I respond to each one, so you can check back and see that too.

I hope and pray that y'all stay safe and warm and that you are happy in knowing that God loves you this morning!!!     He sure does.     If you love Him and trying your best to serve Him with His help, then you can be assured He loves you.     If you don't know Him and you don't want to know Him or have no desire to know Him, then that's a different story altogether.     But if have love in your heart for Him, then I can assure you that He has more love for you than you can possibly know.    Just know that if you are seeking Him, He will make Himself known to you.    I pray that every eye that ever sees my blog is actively seeking Him, already knows Him, and can testify about the love of God over their lives.

Have a blessed day today wherever y'all are.  Remember that God loves you so much He provided a way for us to be in right relationship with Him thru His Son, Jesus Christ.     I love y'all too!!!  hugs, patty

Truth Keep

Good Morning from my neck of the woods!!!!     I hope and pray that where ever y'all are that you are happy, joyous and know that you know you are blessed.     If you are reading this, you are blessed.     If you was able to get out of bed today, you are blessed.    If you are able to inhale and exhale air with your lungs, you are blessed.     If your heart is beating, you are blessed.     Ok, ok, you catch my drift.    We are blessed to have life this morning.     I do believe that a lot of us just don't realize that life itself is a blessing.   If we know Christ as our Savior, we know we are blessed.     If we don't know Him as Lord and Savior, we don't and we can't even begin to realize that we are blessed.

I heard a preacher say one time that there are 4 kinds of people.

1. People unsaved and know it.   They don't care.  Maybe even blatantly anti God.

2. People unsaved and don't know it.    They just haven't or don't realize that they need Jesus.

3. People who are saved.    They are the ones who have made Christ Lord of their lives.

4. People who are unsaved but think they are saved.     These are the ones that the enemy has really deceived.

That pretty much covers the scope.     If I was to ask you which one you are, what would you say?    My husband worked with a couple of men, number 1's, that was unsaved and they knew it and they was not willing to change their lifestyle in this life for something they didn't even believe exists and if they did believe it exists, they was willing to go to hell for temporal enjoyment.    This is basically what both of these men said, on multiple occasions.    We can just pray that somehow, someone can get through to them.

Me, I was number 2.   I was unsaved and didn't know it.    I was seeking after something better, (a better way of life or something) than what I knew up to that point and I was seeking in the proper direction and God made Himself known to me in a very real way.    I knew I needed something.    I knew I was lacking something.     I didn't know what it was.     I kinda knew, but I didn't know.    The best I can say is that I didn't know what I didn't know.     That is just about the best way to describe it.   When I finally met Jesus and had an encounter with Him, that's when I knew I now had what my heart had been longing for, I just didn't know what it was, before my encounter.    It's hard to explain this to someone who doesn't know Christ and doesn't want to know Him.    But, if you are someone that is lacking something and you know it, but you just don't know what it is, maybe, just maybe, it's Jesus!!!   

Now, I am very happy and excited to tell you that I am number 3 and have been for about 43 years now!!!  Sweeter gets the journey!!!    Am I perfect?   Way NO!!!!!!     NO way!!!!!   hahaha     I'm not ashamed to tell you that.    Because in my 43+ years of following Christ, I've never met anyone else that is perfect.     Oh, I come across a lot that THOUGHT they were, but they weren't and aren't.    Do I love Jesus perfectly?     I would love to say yes.    Do I love Jesus as much as I can love Him?    Again, I would love to say yes.     In reality, I can't and don't love Jesus perfectly, because I am not perfect.   My lack of imperfection does not give permission to blatantly sin and walk in the flesh.    My imperfection gives me the permission to walk in the spirit, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and try to live a life that is pleasing to God.    Again, not perfect.    Just in obedience to the will of God.     A regenerate heart is a heart that DOES have love in their heart towards Jesus.   If you don't have ANY love in your heart what so ever for Jesus, then you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior.    I have seen people recoil or flench at the very mention of Jesus and seen their whole countenance change to something almost unrecognizable.  Not someone I want to be around.    On the other hand, I have seen hard faces softened at the mention of Jesus and their countenances change just at the mention of His name.     The very mention of Jesus is the calm assurance that externally, I may be like a hamster on a wheel, but inside, I am so at peace and joyous when I hear that sweet name.     If you have love in your heart for Jesus, then you know Him.    

Compare Judas and Peter.    Jesus told Judas that what you must do, do it quickly.   The betrayal is what Jesus was speaking of.     He was the one who had no love in his heart for Jesus.   Peter on the other hand, told Jesus that he would never deny Him.   Jesus told Peter that the devil was going to sift him like wheat and after wards, he was to strengthen the disciples.    We all know that Peter had great love for Jesus, but Peter denied Jesus just as Jesus said he would do.    Was that the end of Peter?    A big old honking NO!!!     In a way, that was the beginning of Peter!!!     When Jesus restored Peter wholly, fully in front of the other disciples, they in turn accepted Peter fully and wholly back into the ranks.     And a little later, we know that Peter preached one of the greatest sermons ever preached!     Peter is who I am reminded of when I have royally messed up.     I have to keep thinking how Jesus loved Peter so much that He, Jesus, prayed for Peter.    If Jesus prayed for Peter, guess what, I believe He is at the right hand of our Father, praying and pleading on behalf of me and you, while the enemy sifts us like wheat.     The enemy can sift us, Jesus keeps us!!!     Jesus gives us strength.    Jesus encourages us.    Jesus loves us.    Jesus makes a way for us.     Jesus is our rest.     Jesus is our overseer.      Jesus is our watchman.     Jesus is our bread.     Jesus is comforter.     Jesus is our covering.

So, remember if you love Jesus, you will fail.    You will fail to love Jesus as much as you should.    You will fail to love Jesus as much as you can.     You will fail to represent Jesus to your fullest, probably daily.     Does that mean you don't love Jesus?   Absolutely NOT.     It means that you/we have to recommit to love Jesus.      It means we have to confess our sin.    It means we have to admit we have sin in our lives.    It means we have to seek forgiveness of our sin.    We're not seeking salvation again, (because we can't lose that), we are seeking forgiveness.   Seeking forgiveness for our sin; missing the mark, not doing what we should, doing what we shouldn't do; is putting us back in right relationship with God.     We want to be in right relationship with God at all costs.     So, when we do wrong, we need to acknowledge it to get rid of the guilt.

Have you ever been to the point that you knew you done wrong but didn't seek forgiveness?     If you have, it eats at you.     You don't take care of it.   It continues to eat at you.     You start finding it easier to let it go and then you let more and more sin go unchecked.    It starts snowballing and all of the sudden you are at rock bottom.     If you have been or maybe are there now, just know that there is nowhere to go but up from rock bottom and Jesus is waiting to help you up out of that pit.    It may be fair to say that anyone of us have been there on multiple occasions.    It is VERY easy to do.    We start thinking that we are something we're not.    We're not above sin.    When we think we are, that is sin.  Just know that you don't have to stay in the pit.    You don't have to spend one more second in there.    Jesus is always ready to help!!!  That is sweet to know.

Now, there is number 4.    Those who think they are saved, but are not.     How could that be?     Well, the enemy is always on the lookout for those he can lie to, kill and destroy.     The enemy lies to us.    Sometimes we don't know we are being deceived till it's too late.     But, once again, back to the point earlier about having love in your heart for Jesus.   If you DO and you know you do have love in your heart for Jesus, then you have a regenerate heart.    It is impossible to truly love the Jesus of the bible and be lost.      The only we can love in the first place, is because God first loved us.     That is what allows us to be able to love Jesus.     If you love Jesus, you love Him enough to deny your selfish desires and live for Him with His help.     That's the only we can do that, with His help.

One of the sad things today is that we have a lot of churches that are catering to the lost.     The lost need to hear the Word of God, for sure.   That's evangelism.    But we have gotten away from the fact that the New Testament churches were for those who had accepted Christ as The Way.    The church is for followers of Christ.     The church is to evangelize, that's right.   But we must NOT forget that the church is where the regenerated go to be with other like minded people, to study and to encourage and be encouraged and learn and grow in their relationship with Jesus and to be ready to go out and evangelize, spread the gospel.    When we dumb down the service and change the service to make it world friendly, then, at best we become worldly christians.     There is no such thing as a worldly christian.     That is where number 4 comes in at.     But we went to church, we done this, we kept busy at that.    When did you sit at the feet of Jesus and soak Him in?     You probably didn't, you didn't have time to do that.   I think some have labeled it "seeker sensitive".     They are looking for something that looks like the world.   If they find the world in the church, they think they have found Jesus.     More likely, Jesus is outside knocking on the door of the  church waiting for someone to let Him in, but noone will, because they don't recognize Jesus, because they don't know Jesus and they don't have love in their heart for Jesus.     Their heart is filled with worldly pleasure that they have found inside the "seeker sensitive" church.     If the church you go to looks like a rock concert, it's more than likely a seeker sensitive church.   Again, this church is more than likely filled with number 4 people.   You would probably be better off fleeing that church as fast as you can and shaking the dust from your shoes.  

I have not tried to be judgemental of any of these four people.     I pray that I haven't come across as such.    But, if anything you read sparked something in you, talk to Jesus and ask Him what it is.    Seek His help to determine which one you are.     I pray that you are number 3, with the knowledge that you are not perfect.     Imperfection does not give us the right to walk in the flesh and sin because we're human and can't help it.    It gives us the privilege to walk in the spirit as overcomers of the flesh.   Be an overcomer.     Be someone seeking Jesus in everything you do.   Be someone sharing Jesus in everything you do.     Be an encourager.     Be a friend.     Be a stepping stone, not a stumbling block.     Make sure you are someone who knows Jesus, because you have had an encounter with Him.   And be someone that's ready to share Jesus with the next person you meet.    Be someone who is ready to share the TRUTH and KEEP the truth.

Remember that God loves you more than you can possibly know, to provide a way for you to be in right relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ!!!      Don't ever forget that.     The enemy wants to see you dead.   In Christ there is life and more abundantly.    Be blessed today.  I love each of you and I thank you for stopping by.    hugs, patty

Happy 2019!!!!!! "Keep"

Good morning Y'all!!!      I hope and pray that wherever y'all are today that you are happy, healthy and blessed!!      Yesterday was resolution making day.    Guess what, I did NOT make any resolutions.     I trust my life to God, so any resolution that I would have made, would have been relying on me to keep or not keep the resolution and there would have been deep disappointment when I broke that resolution.     Trust me, I know  me all too well, and I definitely would have broken any resolutions.     hahaha      If I was a betting woman, I would be willing to bet that some of y'all have already broken your resolutions.    hehehe       But, sssshhh, I won't tell anyone.    hehehe

I do always choose a word that will be my word for the year.     Instead of trying to choose a big word that signifies big meanings and big changes and making a big "tado".    I chose the simple word "keep".      I know what the word means to me and at some point in time through the year, I may share with y'all the reason I chose that word.      For now, I'm just gonna contemplate the reason that God helped me choose that word.     I will tell you that when God makes a promise, He will "KEEP" that promise.       I do know that those who belong to Him, he does "KEEP" them in His watch care and protection.    Also, at some point in time this year, we may even search scripture and see a lot of the scriptures with the word "keep" in them and see who is doing the "keep"ing, whether it's God or man and see how successful man is in "keep"ing his word or keeping that which belongs under his care and any of the other reasons behind the word "keep" in scripture.     We'll just have to see how the Lord leads with this word this year.   I am excited about it.     I hope if you haven't chosen a word for your life this year that you will consider letting God choose a word you and then see how it applies to your life and then see if you can dig deeper into the word and find out why God chose this word for you.     Every year, I have been surprised and excited to see where God takes me with my word for the year.     So, if you aren't already doing this, I present the challenge to you to try it this year and see your word takes you and if you feel led to share with me, I would certainly enjoy the ride along with you this year. 

One thing that I am looking forward to this year is spending more time with some awesome ladies that God has so graciously put in my life.     It may just be for a season, but I do hope and pray that it is God's design for the 5 us to grow old  together.     These ladies are just awesome and there is no pretense in them at all.     I feel like me when I with them.   I know that's a strange statement, but I just bet that all of y'all have been around people that you feel the need to restrain yourself.     Not with these ladies.     They are fun, they love the Lord and they love to sew!!!!     3 beautiful qualities to have and I am blessed to be a part of this group.     I just thank God for opening a door last year that no one but Him could open!!!!     As time goes along, I will probably share more about this too.   

The first day of 2019 was actually a nice day here in my neck of the woods.     It had rained the day before, Dec 31st, 2019 and rained and rained, and while it was raining, it even rained more!!!      hahahaha      So guess what, it rained.     At one point in time, the rain was coming down so hard in sheets, it looked like sheets hanging on the clothesline blowing and whipping in the wind.   You could actually see each sheet swirling around.      The wind was blowing so hard, that it was blowing sheets of rain "UP" the street in front of our house.     That wouldn't be so strange if it wasn't such a steep incline.      But just about dark, it finally stopped.      We was actually under tornado warnings all day.  The day was perfect it for sure.   Just grateful it didn't happen.     So, I think it was fair to say that "2018 went out like a lion and 2019 came in like a lamb".

We did go up to Ky yesterday, January 1, 2019.    Where we live, about 25-30 years ago there was seagulls spotted in and around the Nashville area.    I would figure that they got blown off course by a storm years ago and ended up this far inward from the ocean.     But, then again, I just don't know.     I just know that it was a strange sight for this little old country girl.     hahaha     Now. it's  an everyday occurrence since they have migrated further north.      It's nothing to see them in my little town now.     As a matter of fact, we have come to expect it.     We love to go to the city park here in town and there is a good sized little lake in that park with parking close to the lake so you watch the geese and ducks and now the seagulls.    On our drive up to Ky yesterday, there was lots of fields standing in water.    That is not an uncommon occurrence at all.    When we have a lot of rain in a relatively short period of time, the water has no place to go, but pool in the fields.     What was unusual, was seeing all the seagulls in the fields of water!!!!!     You know how there will be flocks of birds fly over, well, at one time there was a flock of thousands of seagulls fly over and there was thousands already in the fields on either side of the road!!!!   I didn't know there was that many seagulls this far north.    I had no idea.    We only see a few 10's of them at a time.   Most of the time, not even 100 at a time, but yesterday, I just imagine we seen well over five thousand seagulls out in the country, splashing around in the temporary lakes in the fields.     So, I just believe this year will be a year of many firsts for me.    hahaha       Should make for a fun and interesting year.

Well, that's about all the rambling I have for today.      I pray that you enjoyed your visit here today and I would love to hear from you and hear what your first day of the year was like and maybe even hear if you already have word for your year.

I pray that every day, we will all stop and thank God for all He's done for us.     I pray that we will call on Him first thing in the morning and close our eyes at night with praise in our heart for what He accomplished and thankful that we got to be a part of it.     This could even be a year to find out just what God can do for you.     Jesus is Lord, Savior and Messiah!!!    Jesus was born a virgin birth!!!    Jesus died for my/your sins!!!!     Jesus rose from the grave, death no more has the sting that it once did!!!!     Jesus is at the right hand of Father God waiting for God to say, "Go get 'em Son, bring my children Home!!"     Some of that ,well most of it, is hard to wrap the human brain around and we can't do that on own.   But God can help us.     If we are more than willing to believe the lies of the enemy, then it should be easy to believe the truth of God.    Just ask God to help you believe this, it is true and God will help you with it, if you will ask.    Confess your sins, admit that you are a sinner, repent of your sins and ask Jesus to help you every day.   He will save your soul, He will help you every day!!!    That is a promise that He will "KEEP"!!!      Go for it, you don't have anything to lose, but everything to gain with an eternity in the presence of Jesus!!

Remember that God loves y'all and I do too!!  Be blessed today and every day and celebrate each new day with joy and excitement!!!   hugs y'all!!   patty