Queen of the Bargains

So I was prowling through Walmart yesterday, looking for screaming deals. I wandered into the garden shop (go figure) and found all these buttons on clearance. The tag over the peg said 5 cents. I spent a while sorting through, some of them were ghastly, and came up with these. I got 29 cards of buttons for $1.45. The two cards in the lower left corner of the picture are for a current project and were full price. I paid more for those two cards than I did for the whole rest of the pile. I took them through the regular checkout instead of the self-checkout because I figured it would be tons of fun to scan all of those and what if the price wasn't in the system?!! They were so the checker was spared the problem of price-checking.


I love a bargain!

Happy Froggies

The girls at the local cafe like a variety of aprons. I suppose I've made 20 or so in different colors and seasonal prints. Here are the latest:


Now I will fire up my embroidery machine and personalize them.

I love the rowdy frogs. They're having a grand time celebrating St. Patty's Day! I didn't know frogs drank beer!

Another Book?!!

Okay, I said I wasn't going to review a lot of books, but here I go again! This book got hold of me and I couldn't put it down. I inhaled it in a couple of days.

The author, William Paul Young, has shown exactly what God's love is all about. He tears down all our preconceived notions about religion, faith, judgment, forgiveness and love.


Mack, a father and husband, loses his youngest daughter to a psychopath who kidnaps and kills her. After almost four years in "the great sadness," God leaves him a note in his mailbox asking him to meet Him at the shack where they think his daughter was murdered. Mack learns who God really is and how to heal from such a terrible tragedy.

If you really think you know God, read this book. You'll be amazed at how much you don't know.

Starting to Sew

I need a bathrobe/beach coverup, and I found this in my stash:

It looks kind of Asian, but I think it's meant more to have a French flavor. I used this pattern and cut it longer and wider (so I can add a belt or maybe some buttons). After I serge it together and try it on, I'll decide what my next step is.

I also need a light jacket for the evening ocean breezes. I bought this pattern a while back and even though it is meant for quilted fabric or fleece, I thought maybe I could use it for this fabric:



It's actually upholstery fabric-a flat-fold remnant. I washed and dried it and it turned out beautiful. I found a nice satiny polyester in my stash that will make a nice lining. The pattern doesn't call for lining but that never stopped me before. I also squared off the bottom and lengthened it about 1 1/2" so I can wear it with more outfits. It also calls for frogs or something similar. I'll wait until I have the body put together and try it on. I'm thinking button loops of some sort and some classy shank buttons. I won't bind the edges. Lining it will take care of edge finishing. I will interface to make it look a finished as possible. I'm skipping the mandarin collar, too.

I love taking patterns and making something entirely different out of them!

Sheesh!!!

We made a road trip to Billings yesterday to give my SIL her prayer shawl and pick up a couple of booster seats her daughter was giving to us. The SIL LOVED her shawl, by the way, and said she would take it with her to Chemo.

We got home with two boosters. We have a convertible car seat-from birth to toddler, but it was rapidly getting too small for the grandsquirts. I decided that all the covers on all three seats needed to be washed. Manufacturers don't seem to take into account that old people like DH and I need to have detailed instructions on taking these covers off and worse, putting them back on!


Chloe did her best to help-actually she was rooting for crumbs dropped by children. She found a few. The covers are drying-God help us when it's time to reassemble! I think the boosters will be fine, but that big car seat will be a big pain.On the upside, I did manage to squeeze in a trip to Hancock Fabrics. I am so proud of my restraint! The only fabric I bought was five yards of batiste, which I use for the hankie bonnets and is almost nonexistent in Bozeman. I can get it at one small shop but it's pretty pricey. I picked up some bobbins for my Viking and a bit of elastic but that was it! The major restriction was time-I could have spent more money with more time, but I'm just going to say I had self control.

Hey, it's my blog, I can lie if I want!

Countdown

Less than a month and this is where we'll be:


We can hardly wait!! So much sewing, so little time!

What We Did this Weekend

DH and I have a huge barbecue that his brother had made several years ago. It became ours when they moved away.

This weekend we used the barbecue to cook beef for a friend's daughter's wedding. And what a wedding!

The story of the bride and groom: the bride was born here, went to school here, and attended our church since birth. As a teenager, she got the call to missions. She did some training with YWAM, "Youth With a Mission," and spent a few weeks in Africa, in Gambia.

She was hooked. She knew two things-one she had to serve the Lord in missions, and two she was being called back to Africa. She entered intensive training with YWAM, which has a major training camp here in Montana.

Kente cloth.

The groom: he was born in Central Africa Republic, the second of six children. While still very young, he lost both his parents to AIDS. The kids were on the streets. One day, he met a group of kids playing soccer, and since he was very good at it, he joined in. The group turned out to be a Christian group. He was taken in by a Christian family, found Jesus, and was raised and mentored by this family. Fast forward through the next few years-he was able to get a job and buy a house to care for his younger siblings, but he too was feeling the call to be a helper to his people, to get rid of poverty and find homes for orphans. His mentor and foster father was in YWAM, so through that program he came to the US for training. He had a choice between Hawaii and Montana. He was advised to go to Hawaii simply because it's COLD in Montana! He gave it to God and felt the leading to come to Montana.

At training, he met a gentle, genuine, caring young lady. Yep, our gal from home. They were both advanced in Bible, so to keep busy and to help the young man with English, they started studying together. They fell in love.

Saturday they got married. The church was packed, with family, friends, fellow missionaries, and a few of the groom's people from C.A.R. In our tiny, mostly Caucasian church in a tiny town in Montana, people from all over the world converged to celebrate a wedding of two people who share a rare love. They come together with eyes open to what is in store for their lives. They celebrated that the orphan gained a huge extended family. He now has someone he can call "Mom and Dad." After more training in England they will move permanently to C.A.R to work setting up foster homes for orphans.

The ceremony was American with tuxes and the gorgeous white dress, but after the wedding they changed into traditional African wedding clothes for the reception. Mom and Dad did too. The toast was in French, translated by a lady from our little church. (Who knew?) The music was a mix of American praise songs and African music. We had a lovely dinner with African flat bread, American beef, and the requisite cake. Both the American and C.A.R. flags were displayed.

Just for a bit, an afternoon and evening, the world came to our little town. We all came together to celebrate a rare and genuine love, and rejoice in the power of God's hand guiding two people to a service of Him. We had African, French, Asian, Dutch, all of one mind and heart. All for now "getting it."

150 people will be different forever. Now we know, now we understand.