A Lesson from the Stomach Bug

We all hate it!!!  It is one of the worst feelings ever!!!   Vomiting...throwing up...up chucking....whatever you call it....it is miserable. When I caught the stomach bug earlier this winter, I disliked it as much as ever. Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug and I was fine the  next day. But as I was lying in bed, I was thinking, "Stomach you need to pull yourself together, I have plans tomorrow evening." Then this thought dropped into my spirit, and God began to work on me: "See how much trouble just one member of the body can cause if it is not functioning properly?" The passage in 1 Corinthians 12 came to mind, where Paul writes about how the Body of Christ is supposed to function together. Verses 21- 26 is the part that really began to resonate in me.

" The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

You don't think about your stomach much, unless it empty or sick, it is not a part of the body which gets a lot of attention because it is hidden. People don't come up to you and say "Oh my, you have such a beautiful stomach!" I sure haven't heard that one before. Hair, yes! Eyes, yes! Smile, yes! Feet even?! YES! Stomach....Nope. (I am not talking about your abdominal region but the actual organ.) Nobody compliments your stomach....because it is hidden, you don't see what the stomach is doing. But it is still just as important as those other features....if not more. Have you ever tried to function without a stomach?! You would die.

As I continued to think about it, I realized how important it was for me to be at the top of my game spiritually.  Although what I do may not be noticed by anyone else, it is vital for me to do that to which I have been called, because if I don't the whole Body is thrown off kilter, and doesn't function as it should. Sometimes to do something for myself isn't enough motivation but when I realize how much my decisions affect others, it suddenly changes things.

When I don't spend time in God's presence, and intercede, and read the Word like I should, it doesn't affect just me. And it's not like I was doing anything bad, just neglecting to do things I should, which Scripture calls sin. James 4:17 says: "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." We like to think that our slacking doesn't affect anyone else but ourselves. But it is just not true....as the stomach bug showed me. When just one member is not working properly, it can have major ramifications, let alone when multiple members aren't working right.

To sum it up, God really challenged me not to slack. And showed me not only do I suffer when I don't press hard after Him, but the whole Body of Christ does. Anyway, I've heard it before but it just really hit home. Amazing what you can learn from a little stomach bug.

Crocheted Warmth

I have been doing a lot of crocheting lately, I really like crocheting. I find it very relaxing, easy to do, and fairly quick (depending on the project).  As we get started with winter I am looking to quiet days and evenings next to a fire, crocheting. Here are some pictures of the projects I have finished lately.

 

I got this hat pattern from a book I bought at Joann Fabrics called AUSTENtatious Crochet, the patterns in the book are based off of styles from Jane Austen's time period. The author has little quizzes about Austen's works and fun facts from her time.

 

I added the stripes to the pattern and did the brim in a different color because I knew I wouldn't have enough of the dark brown for the whole hat, as both of the yarns were leftover from the scarf I am wearing, which I made a few years ago.

 

Over all I am really happy with how it turned out, it being my first crocheted hat.

 

I made this adorable head wrap from a book I picked up at Walmart which is strictly different crocheted head wrap patterns. This was a lot of fun to make and really easy. Most of the designs called for ties to close it, but one of them called for a button closure which is what I chose to do.

 

For the main part of the headwrap I chose a design with closer stitches for extra warmth as opposed to a more open design. But I did not like the flower they had with that design as well, so I opted for a different flower. I love the ability to mix and match to get something you really like.

Poinsettia DIY

A couple weeks I got a scoring board! I was really excited about it because it makes folding paper a lot easier. I'm sure most of you have seen those paper medallions which are really popular right now, well the scoring board makes creating them a cinch!

So anyway, I got it and started playing around with it. I wanted to try something creasing it on the diagonal, and I ended up creating this poinsettia! I love how it turned out, and it was pretty easy.

Start with a 9 x 12 inch piece of card stock, cut in half across the width.













Taking one of the halves start scoring it from one of the corners on down.

Work out from the center, scoring the paper in 1/2 inch increments.

Begin to accordion fold the paper at one of the lines coming down from a corner, creating a peak fold.  Work the accordion fold out from there. Both lines from the corners should end up being peaks.

Make a total of 6 petals.

Put them together wrong side up, so the peaks are valleys. Fill the valleys with hot glue to hold them together.

Once the glue has set turn the poinsettia over (right side up). Hot glue down the seam where each peak joins with the next (neatly), and sprinkle glitter on the hot glue. I did one seam at a time so the hot glue wouldn't harden on me before I got the glitter on. Once all the seams are done, hot glue a little in the center to get it looking nice, sprinkle with more glitter and there is your poinsettia!


To hang it use a small needle and some invisible thread, poke the needle through one the the valleys and the hole is not even noticeable.

 You could do the same thing with green paper and make holly leaves, then make small red medallions for the berries. I am looking forward to creating lots of fun Christmas decorations!

My First Tutorial!

 
I am really excited about this project, it is an easy and cute little clutch. I made one this summer, hand sewing it all together, and decided to make some as gifts for the girls who attended the class I had been teaching. But with making five of them I thought the process would go faster if I machine stitched them together, and they turned out great!
 
What you need:
1 sheet of craft felt for the body (I found some fun printed and imprinted felt for this project)
Small coordinating pieces of felt for flower leaves and center
1 foot of ribbon
1 snap fastener
Accent thread
Hot glue
 

Directions:
1.You could cut the felt for the body in any size or orientation you want, for what I was doing I cut the sheet in half lengthwise.

2.Round one end of the piece.

 

3.Make flower pattern by drawing a six point star, then draw your petals around the six points to get them nearly even.
 

 
4.Cut out a felt flower using the pattern you just made.

  

5.Then take your felt flower put it on a larger piece of felt and cut around the first flower about an 1/8 of an inch, to make a slightly larger flower. (You can use two colors for your flower or do a two tone which turns out really neat)

6.Cut out a leaf pattern which is flat on the bottom, and place the flat side along a fold when cutting out the felt so you have two leave which are connected. The leaves will get folded to the desired angle so they don't come out on opposite sides of the flower.

 

 
 

7. Cut out a small circle for the center, I used the scraps from step 2 to get the centers for some of the flowers.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

8.Fold the large felt piece to the dimensions you like. Fold the ribbon in half and place inside the folded felt, coming out at an angle from the top. Pin in place, adjusting the length to fit over your hand or the hand of the person you are making it for.
 
 
 
 
 
 

9.Sew down the sides. I used the multi-stitch zig-zag: width 3.5 stitch length 0.6 on my machine to achieve the look I wanted. Play around on some scrap felt and try different stitches until you get a look you like.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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10.Turn clutch over and sew around the rounded flap, so when the flap is folded down the stitching looks nice on top
 
 
  
 
 
 
 

11.Place snap fastener where desired and attach according to manufacture directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12.Sew small center onto flowers, I found it easier to manually turn the hand wheel on my machine so I could better control where the stitches went since the circle was so small. Hot glue the leaves to the flower. Hot glue the flower onto the flap covering the snap, and enjoy your adorable little clutch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These would be a great gift for a young or teen girl in your life. You could even make it using the full sheet of felt and it would be more your typical clutch size. So many options, so have fun! And have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Buckeye Brownie Bites

I tried a new recipe last night, and well it had chocolate and peanut butter, so of course it was delicious!! I am calling the recipe Buckeye Brownie Bites because I think it describes it well and is more fun than, Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies.
The original recipe called for a brownie box mix....but for those of you who know me well, I never (I know, never say never) ...rarely make things easy for myself. So I used our favorite brownie recipe for that part.
Without further ado...the cookies!!!

Buckeye Brownie Bites
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
                                        
 (or just use a box mix instead of the above ingredients....whatever your preference)

1/4 cup butter
4 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup chocolate frosting or glaze (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In saucepan melt butter and unsweetened chocolate. Once melted remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until blended. Add egg and vanilla.

2. Stir in sugar, flour, salt and baking powder.

3. Roll dough into 1- 1 1/2 inch balls and place on un-greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. (Making them this size you will get about 40 cookies. The original recipe said the amount should be a rounded tablespoon which would make 24 cookies, but that seemed kind of big to me.)

4. In a small bowl mix powdered sugar and peanut butter, then form into small balls with hands. (Be sure to get the same number of peanut butter balls as you have brownie balls, the picture is so you can see size comparison between the two.)

5. With thumb mush the brownies to create a nest for the peanut butter, and smooth the edges.

 

6. Place peanut butter in the nest, and flatten.

 

 

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes. Allow to cool for 30 minutes on cookie sheet before removing.

8. Spread frosting or glaze on cookies if desired.

 

 

I should give you a warning with this recipe, they are rather dangerous, as one would wish to consume all the cookies by oneself. So don't make it if you are the only one in the house, because they would all be gone by the time anyone else got home.

Ordering My Day

YAY! I am finally getting around to writing my first post. I am excited about starting a blog, and kind of nervous, but overall I think it will be a good challenge for me.  For starters I think it would be good for me to state the purpose of this blog, for my own sake. I am starting this blog to share with others what I have learned. It may be craft or sewing related, could be a delicious dish I whipped up in the kitchen, or possibly a truth which God brought to life for me in His Word. That pretty well sums it up, so here we go!!!

Today I created a list for myself. What kind of list you ask? It is a list of things I need/want to accomplish every week day.  I don't know about anyone else who is at home a lot, but sometimes my day ends without getting much done. Time is precious and I am terrible about not making the most of it. So I have decided to create a list to hopefully keep me from just squandering time.
 
At first I was going to try and figure out a schedule for my day, but then I realized my days were no where near consistent enough for me to be able to remotely stick to a schedule. So I opted to make a list of things I would want accomplished on a "normal" day when I am home all day long. Here's what I came up with:
 
Wake Up- 6:30

• Quiet Time
• Read   45 minutes
• Exercise   30 minutes
• Business    2-3 hours
• Piano/Music    45 minutes
• Sewing/Crafting for myself or family   1 hour and 30 minutes
• Cleaning     30 minutes
• Dinner Prep & Clean up

Bed Time-10:30
 
The times listed are minimum amount of time I would like to spend on each said task, some days more time will be spent, some days a certain task may be skimped or skipped if I am out and about running errands or the like. But on the whole my typical day should at least encompass this much. I usually find a list will help me stay focused and on task better, because if I don't complete it will be mocking me, so I have a little more motivation to get it done.

How about you, do you have problems with wasting time? What have you done to conquer it?