As 2017 draws to a close, memories flood my mind and soul. Most prominent in my mind is the day that my life changed forever: March 29th, 2017, the day the Lord called John, my husband and best friend, to his eternal home. Life has been an emotional struggle for me since. My family and my friends have been there to support and encourage and the Lord has been my Strength and Comfort.

For Christmas, I made my 7 grandchildren a memory pillow to help them with their own grieving. Grandpa loved his children and grandchildren. And they loved him. I wanted them to have something tangible they could hold in their hands that would remind them of him. I took some of Grandpa’s frequently worn shirts and pieced together a small pillow that they could hug, hold close and feel like they were being hugged by grandpa. As they were opening their “gift from grandpa”, it was precious to see each child’s reaction to the pillow.

As all of us look ahead into the future and a new year, it can be frightening, worrisome. I am reminded of Corrie Ten Boom’s words: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” May God bless you and yours.

Edit: After many requests this Memory Pillow designs is now available for 7×7 hoops. It can be purchased here: https://www.omasplace.com/ed/memory-pillow-7×7/

It was a lovely evening – the temperature in the low 70s, a breeze blowing. I sat on a bench in the shade and watched people passing me by and children play. Suddenly pain and grief came over me again, like a big ocean wave. As I was trying to formulate my feelings into words, I realized that I felt like a small sailboat out in the vast ocean – aimlessly tossed about by the waves of grief. And I heard a small, still voice say “Don’t you have an anchor? You have Christ, don’t you?” “Yes”, I said, “I have Him, but the sense of lostness is still there.” And the still small voice continued: “An anchor only works if you use it, cast it down. Using the anchor will not change the waves as they break against the sides of the boat, but it will keep the boat safe from drifting out into the vast ocean.” So, on a daily basis I try to do just that: Making Christ the anchor of my soul – realizing that He will keep me safe during the storms of life – as He has in the past. I have placed this thought onto a new mug rug and hope that it will bring you encouragement as well.

Thank you for traveling with me through this difficult time in my life.

On March 29th of this year, I very suddenly and unexpectedly lost my husband of 40 yrs. He was my best friend, my greatest fan, my support and the love of my life. Life has been difficult since his passing and I often wonder how I can go on without him. But God gives strength each day and hope that I will see John again some day. One of my struggles has been to be able to sleep at night. Psalm 4:8 has been a great comfort to me and I decided that maybe others would be helped by this scripture, too. I have made it into an in the hoop pillow. It requires an at least 7×7″ hoop and final size is 12×12″.

For those of you who cannot stitch this size, the center wording design (only) is also available for 5×7″ hoops. The single design is also available for 7×7″ hoops to be placed in the center of quilts or ready made pillow cases. I placed that design into a blank provided courtesy of www.allaboutblanks.com and like how it turned out.

I hope this design will be a comfort to you as well.

As I was in my garden today trying to get rid of Quack grass and invasive Goldenrod, I noticed our granddaughter, Eliana, kneeling next to some tulips. She cupped the beautiful flower petals in her hands and could not get over the size and brilliance of the flower. To my shame I must admit that I had just walked by these tulips – hadn’t even noticed them in all my worry about trying to rid the garden of weeds. I looked at her and then the flower and marvelled at the beauty in my granddaughter and the flower. God IS the author of such incredible beauty, if I only take the time to notice. There are always weeds in our lives, aren’t there? Things that distract us and make us feel overwhelmed at times. I hope I will take more time this Spring and Summer to notice the God created beauty around me.

Many months ago a dear friend from “Down Under” suggested I make a tote to carry a mug in. I have been thinking about it a lot and finally decided to see if I couldn’t do it by sort of “challenging” the 6×10 hoop. I am so pleased that I have been able to do it. This is just the cutest little tote – fully lined (not a raw seam in sight) and it’s padded to make sure the mug/cup won’t get broken. It’s quite roomy, too. It easily holds a mug, a treat, a mug rug or two, napkins, and the back pocket can hold our new tea pocket. This so much fun to make. Wouldn’t these be great for Mom for Mother’s Day? But we have been thinking of lots of other uses, too. Change the wording on it to “get well soon”, or best wishes and then fill the little tote with favorite items and gift it. Have you started on a small needle craft like a small cross stitch pattern? Why not keep it in this little tote and take it with you while you wait in the doctor’s office. Depending on your choice of fabrics, you can also make this a little carrying tote for the Littlest Pet Shop “creatures”, or how about crayons and some smaller coloring books. I bet you could come up with some of your own uses for it. The handle is very sturdy and the little tote stands up quite nicely, without support.

Are you ready for some stitching fun? Check it out in our store. I think you will like making this project. Testers and I had a fun time stitching this. I hope you will give a try.

Oh, let you in on a secret…. there is a coffee tote coming, too. 🙂

Well, look what we found in our garden this morning…. underneath our turned over wheelbarrow. I suppose we won’t be using our wheelbarrow for a while! 🙂

Tomorrow is Good Friday. It indeed is a “Good” Friday for all those who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The graphics for this cross were purchased from www.mygrafico.com (Cupcake Cutiees). While it is a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice for us, the original cross was far from being this pretty.

700 years before Christ’s coming, the prophet Isaiah predicted the Lord’s death for our transgressions. Youcan read about it in Isaiah 53.

“53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.

53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,

so he opened not his mouth.”

I will be forever grateful.

 

There appears to be a connection between gluten intolerance and autism. Eliana, one of our autistic grandchildren, has Celiac’s disease and cannot tolerate gluten, not even traces of it. She misses “regular” foods terribly and when she is with me we always try to do a little glutenfree baking. I, too, have a gluten intolerance – get terrific headaches from it – and feel so much better when I eat glutenfree. We decided to try a banana bread recipe from Food Network, substituting the regular wheat flower in it with Better Batter’s all purpose baking mix. I have had great success with it as a substitute in other recipes as well.

If you want to give it a try, you can find it here: http://shop.betterbatter.org/collections/better-batter

Eliana is extremely bright, so baking with her turns into a scientific experiment. I had just purchased a new set of measuring spoons – each size had two sides – one rounded, one oval.

She was sure that the rounded side was larger than the oval. So she first filled one, then the other side with water and… what do you know … they are both the same!! 🙂

Here are the banana bread muffins – ready to go in the oven. Don’t they look good?

Eliana thinks so, too, and she is eyeing the dough with great interest.

And here are the muffins all done:

These are nice and moist and taste great. They freeze very well, too. You can find the recipe here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe.html

Enjoy!