Jumpers - A non-quilt sewing day . . .

 This is how I spent my sewing time, yesterday. In order to ease up on pending bills, etc., I make and sew little girl dresses, tote bags, and quilts. These two dresses were my current efforts. Why little girl dresses? I have two daughters who used to be little girls so I have a multitude of patterns. After wrestling with yards of fabric with a quilt, it is nice to work with a small amount and design a little dress. My son actually came up with putting the Blessed Mother print on the dress on the left. I had envisioned it with the purple one but it didn't quite click. My son pointed out the matching colors in the blue dress and the print and it worked. I don't know if he was that in tune with 'fashion' but it stopped me from bothering him!

The Seamy side of quilting . . .

 I am still trying to catch up with my completed quilt tops and get them finished.  This is the back of a large crazy quilt I'm working on right now. I don't have a quilt frame so quilt square by square which eventually leaves me with a lot of blind stitch hemming to get the back of the quilt neatly closed. After having put in years of tiny stitches, people are often amazed as they can't see most of the stitches. This is another 'talent' that people dismiss about me with, "She is just good at that." when, in actuality, there are 20 years of practice behind the finished projects of today.

This quilt is just about ready for it's border and it is done! Nope, still not caught up but took a break to do 'ordinary' sewing, yesterday.

Incredible Catholic Ad . . .

This says it well - incredible Catholic ad . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&hd

So much wisdom in one little quote!

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.

- W. Clement Stone

The History of Aprons . . .

A friend shared this in an e-mail this morning. No author given credit but it certainly brought back memories of a simpler more positive time in life.

The History of 'APRONS'

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

 It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

 From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.

After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.
Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. ?(?????)?

The Govt. Would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

Even if you don't eat everything, you won't starve!

Every Lent, I fast for the six weeks. I often forget to keep other promises during the season but with fasting, I'm at least getting that done. Too many people think of the word 'fasting' and worry immediately about fainting, being hungry (uh, kind of the point!), etc. Fasting, to me, is more of a discipline. You have a small meal for breakfast, a small amount of food for lunch, and then a reasonable dinner but only one helping. You soon find out how much you can cut down on your food and still be active and healthy. Fasting also encourages me to eat the right foods at meal times. Your body soon figures out that fruit keeps you going more happily than a candy bar. Water won't make you hungry like a soda.

Over the six weeks of Lent, I noticed that I was feeling more energetic and making better food choices. When Lent was over, I decided not to break out of the fasting mold and consume large quantities of Easter goodies because now I could.  I stayed on my Lenten meal plan and now look forward to my small and large meals and don't even think about eating between meals anymore.

As the weeks have gone by, I've also started to realize that eating the right foods meant having a good supply of apples, carrots, berries, etc. on hand and since they were readily available, my children were also eating more of the good stuff. It made me stop to think about how much responsibility we have to insure our children eat the right things and learn to enjoy the fun stuff as a treat and not a way of life. What we do to ourselves and what we eat will be reflected in our children and their lifetime health problems are pretty much decided by us and how we raise them.

We now have the happy problem of keeping enough fruit and vegetables in the house. Fruit and vegetable smoothies are more fruit and vegetables than anything else these days. We don't eat out much because it is less expensive and more productive to how we feel by eating our own food at home. That's not to mean that my children are not allowed treats. We do have ice cream in the freezer (slow-churned, low fat!). I think it means we consider more carefully what we need over what we want to eat.

Someone once told me that she was resigned to the fact that she would probably develope diabetes when she got older based on her current diet. I was shocked. Diabetes isn't anything to be complacent about and comes with so many complications. Seems that if someone has the sense to realize this possibility, they would have the sense to do somethinga about it now.

Basically, what we eat is what our children will eat. Will God understand one's resignation to future ill health through bad choices or will He consider the example we set for our children on our personal Judgment Day?

Think about it!

"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking."
-- A. A. Milne

"Let not the sands of time get in your lunch."
-- National Lampoon