Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I continue to pore through boxes of books that belonged to my mother-in-law, she and Dad collected books with a passion. I go through them slowly, carefully deciding which to keep and which to donate. Earlier this month I ran across this devotional book  entitled "This Is God's Day" by Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl. It was a Christmas gift given to my in-laws in 1956. I have done some research on the book as well as the author. Dr. Youngdahl was a Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis, MN. He turned a relatively small Lutheran church there, Mt. Olivet, into what would be considered, by today's standards, to be a mega-church; he served that congregation from 1938 until his death in 1968. The book that we have is a first edition devotional volume, published by Augustana Press, Rock Island, IL in 1956. It is a gem. I cherish this book, altogether unbeknownst to me until now. Somehow it connects me, in a very tangible way, to my husband's precious family. We have added "This Is God's Day" to our daily devotional time each and every day, it helps me to miss my astounding mother-in-law just a teeny bit less; she was a faith model for me, and finding this book is almost like a secret gift she had saved for me to find now.

Beginning with a scripture verse, enforced by a compelling human interest story and, finally, punctuated with "Today's Thought" each day's entry is clear, concise and inspirational. What was timely decades ago stands today as well; just as God's word is wholly relevant--yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen. Thanks, Mom!

"You need not ask a man if he is at peace-- his life will tell you."

Life is Good!

Back To School...

...back to blog*. Where I live today is the first day of school again for public school. For all intents and purposes this day signals the end of summer. I have written about this before, but this day, that of school beginning once again, has always made me incredibly sad. I don't know where this emotion comes from-- does it have its roots in my own end of summer/ school starting memories? Does it emanate from sending my own little ones off to school again at the conclusion of happy summer vacations all those years ago? Is it a combination of both? Is it one more tangible marker of the passing of time?  It probably seems silly to most; this melancholy will pass, it does every year, but today's the day and my heart is heavy. As a way of mediating this "funk" I am choosing to focus on a positive outcome of today's first school day: once again my great group of sewing buddies, the "Miss Bee Haven" gals, have come through and piled up the nap blankets for PreK students at a local school. We have adopted a school and provide forty five blankets, three classrooms full, for the youngest students to claim and keep, not only at school, but forever when summer comes rolling around once again in 2018. I can only imagine their apprehension today-- embarking on new experience in a place where they've never been before, filled with faces of friends they've yet to meet. Then, a grace moment: they are given the opportunity to claim a blanket; something they can hold on to, wrap up in and feel safe, something that is theirs and theirs alone. I hope they can feel the love stitched in each and every one. 💗

Our "Bee" group gathered on Saturday at the barn studio of one of our members to have a Sew Day and pot luck lunch together, it was a gorgeous day. This has become an annual event and is yet one more end-of-summer signal for yours truly. As always, a good time was had by all and we'll all be marking our calendars for next year!

Life is Good!

* I have been woefully neglectful of this blog. I know-- you probably think that I have been consumed with cleaning after that last post over three weeks ago. No, I honestly can't say what has taken up my time or can even effectively explain my absence. I have been busy with many fun things and am making a concerted effort, starting today, to catch up and post again on a much more regular basis.

Cleaner House, Less Time

My life has changed since I discovered Norwex, my house cleaning life that is. This is not a commercial. I receive no compensation from Norwex to endorse these products but I have to tell you that I am in love with them, this information is too good not to share. Using nothing but water and their Enviro Cloth and Glass Polishing Cloth on my windows, mirrors and glass surfaces, as well as my countertops, they are clean, sanitary, sparkling and 100% streak free. Seriously. No harmful chemicals anymore, no wasteful paper towels. The Enviro Cloth is spun with silver, bacteria won't grow because of the antimicrobial properties of silver. How did I not know about these until recently? Over the last few months I have switched, too, to their additive free, natural soap-only laundry detergent (1/2 tsp. per load, y'all; that's it!) and have changed from expensive, chemical-laden dryer sheets to wool dryer balls. Using the dryer balls has easily shaved a third off of every dryer load, timewise. I did discover that my lint screen was so deeply impregnated with the residue from dryer sheets that it actually held water when I ran it under the faucet! 😲 It took me some time and elbow grease to thoroughly scrub that screen clean, no surprise though, I have used dryer sheets for decades; now it looks (and performs) like brand new, the small amount of lint that accumulates sweeps off effortlessly. Not only is our house cleaner but it requires less maintenance now to stay that way. I could go on and on but I won't. I will let you discover the merits of these products for yourself. Look at the link attached here, find a Norwex consultant in your area and ask all the questions you need to ask. If you can't find one send me an email and I could possibly help you. Yep, my life has changed, my cleaning life is free of harmful chemicals and better because I am not wasting product, time, energy and paper; it's all good. If you have no Norwex you need to know Norwex!

Life is Good!

Testing... 1,2,3

I spent some time last month testing some blocks and patterns. I had not tried any of the "Cake Mix" packaged pattern sheets that Moda is marketing to accompany their 10" square "Layer Cake" bundles. I had received a free trial pack at QuiltCon, a "Cupcake", it came with two 10" squares of fabric, enough to yield two, 7 inch, "T" blocks.  The instructions are straight forward and easy to follow. One simply layers two fabric squares right sides together and places the paper pattern sheet on top of the stack. Following the stitching lines on the paper, stitch through all the layers and cut apart on the clearly marked "cutting lines" as indicated.

Remove the papers, lay out the stitched units and assemble the blocks as shown on the direction sheet. Press the blocks and trim to size. Voilá! There is little room for error here. Stitch on the line. Cut on the line. Perfect blocks. Every time. The paper is easy to remove and not at all a tedious task. You can find these Cake Mix pattern sheets at your LQS, likely anywhere the Layer Cakes are sold.

I tested out this block for a friend who had the pattern: "Feathers" by Margot Languedoc; this pattern is also expressly written for the packaged "Layer Cake" bundles but can work up easily from your scraps (as I did, above) or from purchased yardage. It is a sweet block. Would I have constructed it according to the written directions if I had it all to do over again? No. I would over cut the HST squares and use the Tucker Trimmer next time; but that's just me. I am sold on Deb Tucker's Studio 180 tools and use them whenever I can, they're that versatile. However, with both of these trials I was pleased with the results and would definitely make more.  What are you testing out on your cutting table today?

Life is Good!

Just Like That...

... July is gone and this boy is NINE years old already! NINE!! What? How did that happen?

He celebrated his birthday by swimming in the county wide championship swim meet on his birthday that very day. He did extremely well too, nine days post-op. 😲 His friends from his relay team shared a pool themed birthday cookie and a birthday sleepover party at his house later in the day. Our very talented daughter in law created the birthday tees for Mason's party. They were a hit!

She also created this adorable shirt for the birthday boy's sister. This was her right before the championship meet.

And this was Lucy Ann a few days later, sporting the hardware to back up her shirt's claim. She is speedy!!  Yep, and just like that it is August already. My life has been stuck on 'fast forward' lately.  I will catch up, I know that. It's all good.

Life is Good!

Teenager In The House

Our boy is thirteen years old today!

Just the other day I noticed that his hearing isn't what it used to be, 

then I remembered, he's about to become a teenager. That explains it.

Our human children didn't hear me when they were teenagers either.

Happy birthday, Hannes!

Life is Good!