Quick Fall Tote Bag...

Today I'm doing a quick post to show you my weekend finish...
A quick Fall tote bag for a friend.

I made this bag to fit a Bible, a journal and a piano book or small 3 ring binder for carrying items to church...but my friend can decide how she wants to utilize the bag. I think some of my love of fall colors dominated this bag...also hope she doesn't mind :) !

It really was a simple bag...but useful...even without any pockets or a closure...but with three small children and another one on the way, I didn't think she'd mind not having to fiddle with a closure. Great for a grab and go!

Linking this one up with the early week parties...check them out on my right side bar. Also, including this one in the Wearable section of Celebrate Color (button also on  the side bar).

Hope everyone's start of the week is good...I'm off to can 4 bushels of apples... reinforcements will be arriving to help after work!

To everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

At another time, I believe I already used this verse...but today this verse is appropriate. This morning I finished preparing my last Science lesson for school. It was a bitter sweet moment...

I greatly enjoyed teaching the children science, but my home (not just as in cleaning it, but the aspects of the children and husband too) were being neglected as I tried to prepare lessons, practicing piano, keep my sanity of doing the house work, and my leisure activity of sewing. So, yesterday, I 'resigned' from actually teaching the science class at school. I will still be there on my volunteer days to continue to help teach them and bond with them...which is one of the greatest joys of being there...

I believe that this is the direction God has for me at this time, and even as Pastor said when I told him...we can keep it in mind for in the future, once my girls get a little older, then maybe we would be able to resume these classes.

For now, my time at home needs to be directed to other things than science.

Amanda

Two-in-One...

These seasonal centerpieces and mug rug have been my main sewing project this past week.

The Autumn Side...

 The Winter Side...

I love this table centerpiece (holiday hexagon) pattern from Love Laugh Quilt. I made a few of this pattern for Mother's day gifts...and these are also gifts that I can't wait to give! And what's better...they are 'just because' kind of gifts!

This picture shows well the two sides...

The Autumn side will go great through Thanksgiving...then the day after, it can be flipped over and...Viola! Already to start decorating for Christmas!

I would struggle with this though...

I used to wait till the day or two after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas, but in the past few years I have begun decorating in mid-November...so for about a week I'm wondering how to decorate my table for Thanksgiving! I love fall decorations...but the rest of the house is ready to celebrate Christmas. Maybe I can start doing a dusting of 'snow' on the fall leaves for that week...a meshing of the seasons!

So when do you decorate or start decorating for Christmas?

And here's my confession, I had my Christmas village still covered in SNOW up until the end of September, when I finally redecorated it for fall...hmmm...back to snow in a couple of weeks - it must be an Alaskan village :)

Also, to accompany one of the centerpieces, I made one of the adorable fabric pumpkins I've been seeing all over blog land.

I love them and the way mine came out...even with the many interruption I seem to continually have (an eleven month old will do that for you!) it only took maybe an hour, maybe an hour-n-half...LOVE the quick accomplishments! I'll probably want to whip out a few more before Thanksgiving!

My pumpkin is the ultimate recycle project too...the fabric is a skrit I really liked but wore only a couple of times (it was a little small) but loved the fabric...so it became a great pumpkin material. The stuffing is from an old bean bag chair of my husbands and the stem and leaf are scrap pieces of fabric. Fun to use things from around the house :)

I'll be showing these off at some of the linky parties on my right side bar and entering in the October Houseware section at Celebrate Color. Check out all the fun going on in blog land!

And a quick family note...my baby started walking today!!! She was going about 5 feet (measurement feet...not her feet) across the living room tonight.



I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,

beseech you that ye walk worthy

of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Ephesians 4:1

Walking daily in a way to honor the Lord is a goal that a true Christian should have... we have a 'vocation'... a job to get done for the Lord and we need to make sure we are accomplishing that job to His glory. I know some days I fall short of always being a good example to my girls...but I am thankful we have a forgiving God that allows us another chance and He keeps working on us - DAILY!

When I was younger, my favorite short chorus was I Love You, Lord...and I still enjoy it very much and have been playing through it when I sit down to practice...

I love you, Lord,

and I lift my voice

to worship You;

O my soul, rejoice!

take joy, my King,

in what You hear;

may it be a sweet,

sweet sound in Your ear.

Worship Him with a sweet sound...your voice!

Amanda

Random thoughts...

So, I still feel like a blog slacker...but if once a week fits into my routine the best, so be it! A science test and lesson need to be prepared, the laundry is always piling up, and the house will eventually be clean again, but I really want to post a few things that have happened recently.

Yesterday, as I was walking through my overly messed up living room to get to my desk, I had a heart warming thought...and I'd like to share:

So, this is what I was walking through...

and my thought was..."it's so cozy with all the blankets and pillows scattered about." I finally saw past the mess and couldn't wait till one of my quilts are included in the pile of blankets the girls like to play in. Liz's rag quilt is included here, but I'm working on bigger ones for the girls. They seem to like blankets, so I hope they LOVE their quilts!

For this moment, I think I finally grasped what Paul was saying in Philippians 4:11 - "...for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Now, if only this would continue to penetrate my thoughts when I begin to again get annoyed with blankets and toys all over the house :) !

I have finally had time to work on Amber's quilt, so the middle is all sewn together, now I'm adding borders and hope to have the quilt top done this week! (I'm still waiting to have it all together to show the whole thing...I'm still loving this quilt!

My goal is to have it all done by the end of the month so I can add it to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.

Recently, we have been experiencing some beautiful fall weather, so we went out to play in the leaves the other day...

and captured a great picture of my family!

Then this morning...

Liz wrote her name all by herself...for the first time!!!!

She said, "Mommy, it's my name."

My first thought was that it would be her normal row of straight lines. When I turned and saw this on her doodle board...

I was so excited for her and grabbed the camera! Now she can start writing her own name on her school and church papers! :)

And not to leave Amber out, she was adorable all curled up in the corner of her crib during her morning nap today.

I have two very wiggly sleepers...sharing the bed with them means little sleep that night! Gratefully, we very seldom have them coming into our bed anymore!

On to more crafty things...

I read the blog post over at Ladybird Ln just before I was going to start this post and decide that this months Crafting for a Cause is something to get involved in...even the school kids can help with this one! We will be writing encouraging Christmas cards to the Soldiers fighting to help us keep our freedoms. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.

I already added the button to my right side bar!

But ye shall receive power,

after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:

and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,

and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,

and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

This blog started as a way to share my faith and my crafting with people that share crafting interests...because the craft blogs are how I found out about blogs. I wanted a way to share my faith with others. Little did I realize that it would take me to the uttermost parts of the earth! I think it is truly amazing that people from around the world have visited my blog.

To God be the glory...great things HE hath done!

Amanda

How quickly...

Time just flies by! It's been two week since my last post...so this one is long over due, right?!

The past two weeks have been busy. First, I was finishing making the fabric baskets for the Missions conference at church. They were completed and filled the day before the conference started. Between the sewing time I was cleanning the house for the guest we were having during the conference.

We had our churches annual Harvest party on Saturday...it kind of kicked off the missions conference, which started on Sunday morning with a great Sunday School lesson about the harvest fields.

The conference continued on Sunday night, as well as on Monday and Tuesday night. Something new that we did this year was have a Discussion panel time for the school kids on Monday and Tuesday morning.

The kids seemed to enjoy it and the missionaries gave great information about the counries that they are/are going to be missionaries to. A few of them are even native to their mission field, which helped provide even more insite to those areas of the globe.

It was some good geography learning for the kids. Liz even seemed to pay attention (at least on the first day) for part of it!

Amber was herself...all though she didn't seem to yell as much!



It was a great conference and we had some wonderful missionaries that we were able to really get to know better!

Say not ye, There are yet four months,

and then cometh harvest?

behold, I say unto you,

Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;

for they are white already to harvest.

John 4:35

This was the text for the Sunday School message that began a great missions conference. The point that stuck out to me was that some people that are ready to be 'harvested' will spoil in the field before anyone gets the Gospel to them. Made me think that the message needs to get out more so that we do not lose to many in the field.

Amanda