Songbirds Sing in the Dark

 

I do not generally recommend books and I've never been one for poetry, but I highly recommend Tracy Fedyski's book "Songbirds Learn to Sing in the Dark". As of the writing of this post, the book is available to download free in PDF format. Just click on the book title or the pic above.

Everyone of us has, is or will experience times of going through valleys. We will experience grief and loss. Tracy has taken her own experiences and turned them into poetry, sharing them freely with us in order to help us through our own path. Her  tender writings draw us into a closer relationship with the One who created us, knows everything about us and what we are going through. As we draw closer to Him, we can see how much He loves us and desires to wrap His arms around us in comfort during those hard times in life.

My prayer for you today is that you will find a quiet space and time to really reflect on who you have been created to be. Not what others want you to be or what you think you should be (or not be), but on who God Himself has created you to be. It's a process over time to come to a point of acceptance of God's love and that perhaps even in the midst of trials, it's okay to step back and allow God to handle our lives and circumstances.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Love my Seniors...but wait! What???

 

I'm a senior too (and have been for quite some time...LOL!). I spend a couple days of week at our local "Active Adult Center", a.k.a. Senior Center. I love these people. The stories, the humor and soooo much fun! If you are a senior, check out your local senior center. If not, volunteer. They would LOVE that! 

Each Tuesday, I run a fun card game and boy are they competitive! On Thursday, my wonderful friend, Sue and I teach a hand embroidery class ("Stitch Happens") and they are doing a fantastic job. Most of these women haven't picked up a needle and thread in years. Some of them have shaky hands or fingers that have lost some feeling but they are working so hard on their project. Some of them have even started making hand embroidered gifts for the grandkids and their great-grandchildren in order to pass on a piece of them to their loved ones. 

Some of the ladies in the group have brought in heirlooms they have had handed down to them from their moms or grandmoms. They have pieces that are well over 80 years old. We have a gentleman in the center that is 98 years old (yes, you read that right...98!). He even brought in for a show and tell a table runner that his mother-in-law made when he was first married. What a JOY and a BLESSING it is for me to be a part of this amazing group.

I really encourage you to check out your local senior center. You might just find that not only do you have something to give to them but they have something even more to give to you and it is PRICELESS!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Has it really been 2 1/2 years???

I cannot believe how fast time flies. I've started reading blogs again and felt the nudge to start blogging after so much time has passed.

This winter has been one of the coldest on records in Northeast PA. This weekend is the coldest yet with wind chills from 25 to 35 below zero. It's impossible to even be outdoors for more than a few minutes at a time. The pic below is not mine but it is how it looks in our neck of the woods. Can't you just feel the cold air?

(Photo courtesy of  Egor Kamelev)

Since I've been "house bound", I decided to try my hand at something entirely new. I absolutely love machine embroidery but have felt somewhat limited to specific purchases. I don't always gravitate toward some of the designs out there and while I do love others, I sometimes am unsure of what to do with them. I mean how many little pillows can someone have? I also do love applique quilts BUT truly dislike anything to do with tracing on double sided fusible, design placement and hand blanket stitching. 

I've watched loads of YouTube videos on machine embroidery especially Power Tools with Thread and AllBrands. Because of the quality of the instructions, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Brother Scan and Cut through my local(ish) dealer, Pocono Sew and Vac (their customer service is AWESOME).

I had purchased a while ago the software Embrilliance Essentials so that I could take the digitized machine embroidery from my favorite digitizers at Kimberbell in order to do a little bit of modification and wirelessly send to my machine. THEN I bit the bullet yesterday and purchased Stitch Artist 3 from Embrilliance in order to allow me to take applique designs and convert them to machine embroidery.

I think I spent about 8 hours yesterday just playing around with a design by Nancy Halvorsen of Art to Heart. The pattern is from her Bunny Hollow booklet and it is a mini chicks quilt. I followed along with Becky from Power Tools with Thread and WOOHOO...I did it. While it is not perfect by any means, I am over the moon thrilled with how it turned out. This has opened up a whole new world for me now!!!

Below is a pic of the finished piece. Now...what to do with it...LOL!!!

I do need to remember that I have to center the design before starting. The run stitches weren't fun so I will need to learn more about how to do those with better precision. I also realized that I didn't set up the applique in such a way as to remove the stitches that aren't seen and do a bit of trimming of the pieces behind the pieces on top. Overall, I am "tinkled pink" as I've been telling my husband.

Quite a long post for my first one in 2 1/2 years but I'm so excited that I just had to share!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!