So Much To Show You...

But there never seems to be time to sit down and post everything...

This week I am busy trying to finish Amber's quilt so it can be added to the long list over at the Quilt Blogger's Festival at Amy's Creative Side...and I think I might make it!

But before I started quilting it, I wanted to rearrange my sewing corner...

Before...

and even since this picture, a few things had changed...

but now even more...

You see, with the sewing machine out in the middle of the floor, I was afraid that one of the girls would go by and pull on the quilt while I was quilting it...so I needed to move. Also, I wanted to bring the computer into this area too.

This wasn't how I originally had things mapped out for the move, but I LOVE the way it turned out! (Thanks Chad!)

After...

The girls still have their play area just beside me...but I now have a higher hurtle to cross...my new exercise program :) since I don't have to run to the living room to use the computer. (The girls do get to 'invade' my space sometimes...but I try to keep them from getting under foot so they don't get into the sewing/craft stuff.) The way the room had been set up, Amber was reaching in and pulling fabric off the shelf of my table...I think she's going to be a crafty one...Liz maybe more on the artsy side.

This seems to be working great for quilting...and when I'm working at the table I can see out the window. Liz can sit at the end of the table and color...or play tea party :)...Amber will probably join her at the table when she gets a little bigger. For now she's content taking all the toys and books off the bookshelf and play kitchen.

So, I hope you've enjoyed this tour of one of my favorite places...time to go finishing quilting so I can bind and FINALLY post about Amber's Quilt!

Hopefully I'll be able to get back to connecting with the great linky parties list on my right side bar...it seems to have been a little hit-and-miss lately. But you can always check them out for great inspiration for another craft project.



Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him:

for the marriage of the Lamb is come,

and his wife hath made herself ready.

Revelation 19:7

So, I was actually looking for a different verse, when I opened to this one...it made me think about needing to keep myself ready (spiritual) for the return of the Lord to take us to Heaven to be with Him. Just like we prepare for weddings here, we have a great wedding we need to be preparing for...the best wedding ever!

Also, made me contemplate being prepared for my husband...to make things ready for when he gets home from work on a daily basis...this should be our preparation for the when we are again a bride that needs to be prepared. (However, this is definitely no guarantee it will happen on a daily basis...but I can try :)

Sewing seeds daily...

Amanda

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

My New School Bag...

As do many things, my new school bag took longer to finish than I had planned or hoped...but it came out GREAT! I love it! So this beautiful yardage...

Became this great bag...nice and big!

I made it to hold my books and the laptop.

I love the fallishness of the brown and green...and an untratitional color for fall - aqua (yet, very trendy)...it's a good combination that has a toned down fall feel that will go nice all year! 

It's been made to be sturdy and hold alot...inside are 2 layers of felt by the yard quilted to the lining. The hadles are also thick and quilted 7 inches into the body of the bag.

A couple of pockets were added for the smaller things that get lost in the bottom of big bags...like keys :)

It's an exciting finish and I'm going to be adding it to the Celebrate Color festival of crafts happening at Stiched in Color.

Giving thanks always for all things

unto God and the Father

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Ephesians 5:20

It always amazes me how God answers our little prayers...the things that seem almost insignificant...

On Tuesday, when I was getting ready to sew the handles on to the bag, I was thinking that it may take a lot of patience and fiddling with my sewing machine. It was a lot of material in one spot to be going through the machine...

but I cleaned and prepared my machine (with a needle for jean material), then prepared myself by asking God to help it to go smoothly. About 2 inches into the first handle...SNAP...the needle broke! Normally, I would get frustrated and irritated...but God's grace is good...I just changed the needle and continued on. Thankfully, the rest of the attaching of the handles went very well and quick too!

After the answered prayer, I was thinking about it...Why did I have the broken needle at the beginning? I'm still not sure, but I am Thankful for the sewing going smoothly on the hard parts of my new school bag.

Prayer for even the little things is heard by God when brought to Him by His children!

Amanda

Also, I'll be adding this great bag to some of my weekly linky party stops...check out the right side bars to join in!

FNSI Results...

Last night was Friday Night Sew-in hosted by Heidi and Bobbi...

And this is what I accomplished...

Two fabric boxes for the missions conference in October...so, now I have 3 more big ones to make and 2 smaller ones (I have one smaller one already done).

The original boxes were lined with cardboard, but I had an idea that I went with and like it alot better! Each section is layered with two pieces of felt-by-the-yard and the piece of lining material, then quilted. It makes for a sturdy piece of material. Then the construction is the same.

Each box takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours...

Today however...I want to take this beautiful combination of material and make it into a bag!

I hope everyone had a productive FNSI!

Not slothful in business,

fervent in spirit,

serving the Lord;

Romans 12:11

The other verses with this one are talking about how we need to deal with fellow Christians...but this one made me think a little more on the personal level. That as I work on different things, I need to do them all to the best of my ability while I'm working on that project. This is definitely what I'm struggling with right now! :)

Off to schedule my day of activities...

Amanda

Don't forget to check out the linky parties on the right side bar...full of fun, fun, fun!