Quilting on the sidelines . . .

Another couple of weeks and I'm done with my seasonal costume business. It is very small-scale but I enjoy contriving saint costumes for children celebrating All Saints' Day. It is fun to make a basic tunic and drap for over the shoulder and imagine how each child will envision what saint he or she will say it is going to be. I also made some definite costumes like St. Joseph and his coat of many colors. I came up with a Sacred Heart costume with a white tunic, red drap over the shoulder and an appliqued Sacred Heart on the chest. No doubt about that costume. I even figured out a couple of Juan Diego costumes complete with our Lady of Guadeloupe appliqued on the tilma.

My major costume adventure was one for my nineteen year old daughter! I chose a pattern company that is kown for it's, well SIIMPLICITY - not to mention the company name, you know! This was a terror of a pattern and I spent more time reading it than it took me to finish that tome, Gone With the Wind. The outfit is comprised of a full, cream-colored skirt, matching, lacy blouse, blue overskirt, blue bodice (with boning!), a soft, plaid shawl and matching hat. She is calling it a merchant's daughter. Having put in a week and over 15 yards of fabric, I'm guessing it is a rather well off merchant's daughter!

I'm anxious to get back to quilting, again. I like making my own rules and quilts don't have zippers!

Obeying Commandments AND the law . . .

One of my children lives away from home in an apartment complex right by a very busy street. In order to get to many of the grocery stores, the students need to get across this street. Many of the student take the easy way and jay walk rather than walk down half a block and go with the lights and the crosswalk. My daughter gets teased but she always goes the 'legal' way across the street. I encourage her in this approach. It's called obedience. Obedience isn't only to God and parents but to laws that are put into place for our welfare.

This really hit home, last week, when two eight year old girls in our city darted across the street to their school. They weren't in the crosswalk and a car couldn't stop in time. One of the girls died the next day. Why didn't their parents teach them right and wrong? The police came down hard on this situation and I heard they handed out over 40 jay walking tickets in that very, same area after the accident. The police also targeted other schools in regards to jay walking and handed out many tickets to the tune of a $40 fine for each one. The recipients of the $40 fine got off cheaply. They made it across the street and lived to be cited.