Pope Francis - A Quote!

“When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil…When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord… I would like that all of us, after these days of grace, might have the courage – the courage – to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord: to build the Church on the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one glory, Christ Crucified. In this way, the Church will go forward. My hope for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it.” ~Pope Francis

Being Kind to the Welfare Recipients . . .

I always thought it might cause problems to just give money to people in need without some monitoring of whether they used it for the purpose intended - to help them through a rough patch in life. Since the onset of cash cards for welfare recipient use, guess what?? Are you surprised that it has fostered a lot of abuse? Interesting video clip revealing just how much of the money given to 'needy' people is not being used for real needs.

Granted, government help is useful to people who are Earnest in  trying to get back on their feet but just handing dollars to people without any feedback or monitoring of how it is spent, is asking for disaster. After listening to this video, I have to wonder 1.) Did these people really require welfare assistance and 2.) If it was spent on vacations and gambling, did they have to apply for more to actually get through the mundane expenses of life like food, rent, etc.?

This addresses only California. Think of what goes on in other states like
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. This is insanity!
http://videos2view.net/welfare-vacations.htm_

 

 

Sewing Machine Surprises!

  When I purchased my sewing machine, I made sure the machine could do everything I might want to do and a bit more. Three or more weeks later, I discover yet another facet to my sewing machine's deep nature . . . it makes lace!

When I was browsing for embroidery patterns to download, I kept running across some that were prefaced with FSL and wondered what that meant but put it to the back of my mind as I was on a quest for a particular design and all the ones shown with FSL didn't appeal to me. The reason they didn't appeal to me is that they were too delicate and didn't seem to be workable for my needs and, besides, I still didn't know what FSL meant.

I finally discovered what FSL meant and you can see the results in the picture - Free Standing Lace. You can actually make lace on the sewing machine. I'm practicing on something doable like bookmarks. The way it works, is that you purchase something that pretty much looks and feels like heavy plastic wrap. Instead of putting fabric in your embroidery hoop for the sewing machine, you use this stuff. Then, with ordinary embroidery thread, you make the FSL pattern of your choice. When it is completed, cut away the excess 'plastic wrap' and then rinse off the newly-made bookmark with warm water to dissolve the product between the smaller holes and designs of the project.

It wasn't an easy start as it took some time finding the sewing machine needle that would cope with this without breaking the thread. I tried eight bookmarks and ended up with the ones shown - not too bad an average! I'm still amazed to hold a piece of lacework in my hands and know it is nothing but thread!