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!

 

 

It’s Spring break at Eliana’s school for autistic children and she has been with me during the day. We have had fun. Yesterday she wanted to learn how to sew a little dress for her American girl doll. I still wanted to get my daily 2 mile walk in and suggested that she look at links to AG doll free sewing patterns on Pinterest while I would do my quick walk. (Grandpa was home watching her, don’t worry!! 🙂 ) Did you know just HOW many free AG doll patterns are available online???? Oh, my goodness. There must be a LOT of girls with AG dolls and an even greater number of Moms and Grandmas eager to sew for them.

Here are just a couple of links, in case you are interested:

http://www.pinterest.com/forever18inches/free-18-doll-patterns/

http://www.pinterest.com/shamrocknanna/american-girl-doll-patterns-access-free-tut/

Well, back to my story about Eliana. So, I sat her in front of the computer (she is extremely computer savvy), put in the first link and told her that once she had chosen the pattern, she could start selecting fabrics. What was I thinking??? When I came back 30 min later, there she was in a total state of panic. Too many patterns, too many fabrics to choose from. She was actually experiencing an anxiety attack. I helped her narrow down her choices, then left it between two outfits and she picked one. What relief – a pattern had been decided on. She did so well cutting out the pattern. I was surprised to see how much her fine motor muscle coordination had improved even from last year. Then it came to selecting trims.Granted, this grandma has a messy few drawers full of them – she finally asked me to just choose the trims and I did. I showed her what seams needed to be serged/finished and she did all of that beautifully. She did a couple of seams, but then her attention span was gone and off she went into her own little world, playing with My Little Ponies.

I finished the dress and she was so pleased but concerned that dolly didn’t have “Unmentionables”. There is a link on Pinterest just dedicated to that!! Here it is in case you have a similar “problem”. 🙂

http://www.pinterest.com/james2/18-doll-undergarments/

So, this morning, hubby goes to get a piece of bread from the bread box and guess what he found?

 

 

 

 

Eliana has a great sense of humor and likes to leave little reminders of herself all over our house. But this one topped it. She probably thought that the breadbox was the perfect size for her doll? Too funny.

I never know what I will find after Eliana has gone home. All reminders of her sense of humor and need to remind us that she loves us.

Hope you are having a great day and that it includes some stitching today!

 

 

 

This past Sunday, our daughter Kristy, whom you may have read about in earlier post, ran her first full marathon. That may not mean much to many folks but to us, her parents, this is a HUGE accomplishment. Please allow me to share Kristy’s account of her Marathon in her own words. This is what she posted to her facebook page:

For those of you interested…
My first Marathon recap:
The morning started cold- 29 degrees- but it was clear and warmed up to about 55 by the time I was done. Sunshine- no humidity, an occasional wind on some stretches, but truly, you could not imagine more beautiful weather to run a marathon in. I lined up to start, and my parents made it just before the gun went off- so I was able to hug them on my way out. The first 5 miles were hilly, but I felt strong. I kept focusing on going easy, and not going out too fast. Really concentrated on keeping my effort conservative. Up to mile 12 I felt strong and steady. Met a 77 yr old who was running his 70th marathon- had on an awesome shirt with Philippians 4:13. He cheered me on as he passed me
At mile 11 I saw some Friends (Patti Esterline Larr Aimee Hill Wallis) and mile 12 my parents and oldest son (Monika Tocknell John Tocknell Siddiq Brock) were cheering me on. Took a beautiful 4 mile loop out in the country. I was following, then passed a man running in a superhero cape that said “Marathon Man” and a girl (who I late found out was Tiffany Griffis) I paced myself with them for a while, then passed them. The way back was a straight shot up the bike path. The sun was shining but it was mile 17 and I was getting tired. Then the One Run For Boston passed me, which spurred me on. Ended up behind another elderly gentleman with Isaiah 41:30 on his shirt. More inspiration! By mile 21 I had slowed considerably, having to resort to a run/walk. Then Marathon Man and Tiffany came into my life. Marathon Man is from Australia, he has the world record for most marathons run in a year (he has a Facebook page). He was interviewing and recording first time marathoners- so I told him my story. Because he was recording me and distracting me I ran for 2 miles straight when I was worn and had to take a walk break, I met Tiffany. We started to do a run/walk together. We pushed ourselves to the next tree, the next mile marker, and we made it the last 3 miles together. I swear I couldn’t have made it without her. It was her first marathon too. I only wish she didn’t live in West Virginia. but we are now Facebook friends at least! along those last 5 difficult miles my sister in law (Holly Muterspaw Tocknell) and niece and nephews met me in 3 separate places, and another friend (Stephanie Jopson) met me about a mile from the finish. Their support motivated and encouraged me to keep pushing.
As we neared the finish line I saw my family- my husband, kids, my parents, my sister in law. My kids ran with me across the finish and Tiffany and I hugged each other. We did it! We finished. I sobbed and was completely overwhelmed. To think where I once was only 3 yrs ago- 300 lbs and unable to run the distance between two mailboxes- to having lost 85 lbs and running 26.2 miles. God took me all the way and I’m so grateful. I can do all things through him- and so can you! Thank you Emily Cook and Jeff Cook for inspiring me 3 yrs ago to start running- I’m so grateful for you! ”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a mother, I am not only so grateful for what our daughter accomplished with the help of the Lord, but it fills me with gratitude to see the rippling effects of her actions. Today, Sid, her autistic oldest son asked his grandfather to go running with him. They decided that they should start out with a brisk walk of 4 miles – but 4 miles they walked! And after the walk he said he wanted to keep doing that. So, tomorrow at 3 pm Grandpa and Sid will be walking again. Thank you, Kristy, for your determination, your faith, and the good example you have been to your kids.

Amazing, the rippling effects our actions have on those around us, isn’t it?

Have you ever wondered what goes into making an in the hoop design? I can’t talk for other digitizers, but I can tell you that it’s a lengthy process, even if the project looks easy to the purchaser. See this little tea pocket? Cute, isn’t it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks simple enough, doesn’t it? Well, first of all, you have to find the right graphics. I was very fortunate – Laurie of doodlepantry.com had just the perfect ones. Actually, her graphics were the starting point for these little pockets. I found though that they did not work very well in their entirety, the way they were drawn. After a first stitchout, I had to change how much of her graphics I used. I loved Laurie’s scalloped edge in the back, but… alas it did not look good once stitched. What to do? How was I going to close this great little pocket? Velcro? No, that would involve too many extra steps; snaps? Well, not every sewer has a way of making them easily and I did not want folks to have to go and buy one just for this little pocket. So, here came the idea of the strap in the back. I think it turned out nicely, don’t you? After 5 stitchouts, I finally had what you see in the photos above.

Here is a progression photo of three of the 5 stitchouts:

 

 

 

Now that I am happy with the outcome – off it goes to at least 3, sometimes as many as 6 testers. When they all can produce a satisfactory result – as shown by photos of their stitchouts – then we finally put up the design for sale. So, you can be assured that when we put a design up for sale – it’s been tested multiple times, often by multiple people on different machines.

We want you to know that you can buy from us with confidence! Oh, the little tea pocket is part of a set I am working on: Tea for You. It will have a set of new tea mug rugs and a tea mug tote (mostly done in the hoop). Hoping this will make a great gift for Moms (Mums)! 🙂 Stay tuned for more.

Happy Stitching!