The work of our hands

Every morning I try to spend some time by myself, drinking my coffee and pondering my day ahead.  I do my best at this time to also focus my thoughts on spiritual things....devotions.  I have several books that I read from, one of my favorites is Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest".  Recently I pulled my old devotional Bible from the bookshelf.  I think it was given to me years ago by one of my old secret pals from church.

It's been well-read as you can see....and loved, too.

I came across this devotional today and wanted to share it with those of you who read my blog who consider yourself crafters and creative people because I feel like we do have a bridge between us and an instant friendship because of our interests.  I felt like it really touched my heart today right where I needed it.  I was feeling stressed, weary and worn out from so much sewing lately.  It was truly an encouragement to me and perhaps you'll find a jewel in it for yourself!

(I apologize in advance for the crappy quality of all these photos - I'm without a camera now and a blackberry camera just doesn't cut it sometimes)

I went on to read the Scripture associated with it:

Psalm 90: 17 ~

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of our hands."

Both my husband and I have been working hard for the past year or so and agreed just this morning that a break is needed, but still it's important to keep our heads down and continue to do our work, and most of all to do our best!!

So, I dove into this stack of outfits for a local boutique and truly enjoyed fully putting my heart into it!  Clipping and setting my seams properly, matching up seams and focusing completely on doing my best.

Now, perhaps I can take a mini break this weekend - at least from the sewing.  We'll be working in the yard as we've just had bushes planted and we decided to add the pine straw ourselves in an effort to keep the cost with the landscaper down.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend....wherever you are!!

Hullo! (warning ~ word-heavy post!)

So, I've been chained to my sewing machines for the past month or so as my little business has definitely taken a turn.  For the better, I'm sure...i think.....Orders come in daily and even though I tell myself I have plenty of work and don't want to take on anything larger, I go and accept an order from a boutique (or two)...what gives, idiot????  Am I a glutton for punishment or do I really need to fill my days with endless sewing.  Sometimes I think the latter wins.  Although I do force myself to stop in the evenings and give my hubby a little kiss and hug but then it's back to the salt mines.  No, really, I don't work into the wee hours of the night, but I do have to be careful!

This morning, we ventured 'uptown' to run an errand at my husband's latest construction project. Remember this post back in 2010 where we moved a house?

Well, he's added a bathroom and is ready to put on the vinyl siding and start cleaning up the inside. We have a buyer so that is extra nice right now!

Anywhoooo...it's Saturday and I'm trying my best to 'work' only on the weekdays and do all my domestic chores and fun stuff on the weekend.  Like today.  Today I'm being domestic.   I've been craving some fresh, homemade shortbread and today was the day to make some.   Soooo simple - just 3 ingredients:  flour, sugar, butter (real stuff, not margarine)....yet sooooooo tasty!  Especially when it's fresh from the oven.

While I was in 'bread' mode, I decided to make some gingerbread cookies, although these were made from a mix that I bought last Christmas but never got around to making.  The expiration date was for next month so we're OK...

...although those little gingerbread men don't look so 'OK'....

so, that didn't work too well....enough little brown men, how about some little brown ducks? 

In addition to finding more time to rediscover my domestic side, I've actually found more time to read, which I haven't done much of since I began my entrepreneurship.  Right now I'm reading Cashelmara by Susan Howatch.  It's a novel set in Ireland in the 1800s and it's actually pretty good.

The lives of my family members are changing somewhat, too.  Two weeks ago, my dad went in for minor surgery on his knee, and while on the operating table, his heart stopped......3 times!!!!  They had to 'bring him back' with medications and later that afternoon he immediately had a pacemaker put in.  He's only 66 and in excellent shape.  I think it was more of a wake up call for me than for him. 

Our oldest daughter finally has a direction to go in her life - she's headed to Southeast Asia in January to teach English to folks over there.  We really aren't allowed to say exactly where she's going as it's a Muslim country, so we jokingly refer to it as "Topeka".  She's a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators and has to raise all her funding prior to her departure in January.  We are SO proud of her and backing her up in every way we can!  If you want to know more about her mission, you can read about it here.  God is good!.....all the time!  :)

So, I guess now that I've updated you just a tiny bit as to what's been going on in our household for the past month and a half, it's time for me to get back to being domestic....the laundry calls!

We've got spirit.....

....YES, we do!  We've got spirit, how 'bout YOU!?

Pinafore and Bloomers  ^

Brother/Sister Sets ^

Jumper A-line Dress ^

Peasant Dress

And if your team fabric is not available, we can always just go with the team colors in a variety of prints and designs!!

GO TEAM!!!!

Contact me at handmadebyjenn@gmail.com to order!

A 'Passel' of Quilts

Oh, I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I have a real good excuse....

I've been mounting a HUGE quilt-making effort - 32 quilts in just a couple of days!
Seriously!!

Hey! I've got pictures to prove it!!!

Actually, the quilts are only about 5" square but there's 32 of them!!!

They're for my Burden Bears.  I recently took an order for a hospice in Kansas with potential for a larger future order from associated programs, so I've been working hard putting these little cuties together.

I used a strip quilting technique, making 5 sets of 5 - 22" strips (1-1/2" wide) sewn together and then cut them crosswise in 1-1/2" pieces.  Then I chose one piece from each different strip cutting and sewed them together so each quilt will not have a repeating square.  Then, I just backed them in muslin and thankfully there's no quilting involved.

I then accordian the little quilt, tuck it in one of these little guys' arms and sew his little paw to his tummy, helping him hold onto his quilt.  Attach the Burden Bear poem and he's ready to give comfort!!

I'm working with a new bear which I like so much better than the ones I was using.  Their fur is very much like fuzzy suede and they are SOOOO cute!  I ordered a very large amount of these so I'm sure there's going to be plenty of miniature quilt-making in my near future!  These guys are also available in my Etsy shop here.

Nighty-night, little bear!!  You've got a big day tomorrow as you're headed to Kansas to cheer someone up!!

A Machine

That's what I feel like lately.

In addition to sewing and sending out regular orders from my shop, I took on a giant order for a designer in NY for about 50 dresses and skirts.

She has a shop in downtown NYC and is originally from Ghana.

I've been working with ethnic fabrics paired with coordinating linens.

  

 

Lots of chain stitching and moving from station to station - making all the ruffles, ironing a portion on all garments, inserting all the elastic and pinning on the ruffles for machine stitching, heading back to the sewing machine to sew up all the openings and sew on the ruffles....trying to coordinate it all so I don't have to change thread colors every five minutes.....50 times!!

 
It's been a real challenge for me to commit myself to working on several items of the same pattern in a short period of time, but I'm just about done.

All that's left is a lot of hand sewing - buttons and such.

Then, it's all off into the mail and I'm off to visit family in Montana!!

Can't wait!!!

Cravings

I just saw a picture of a stack of delicious whoopie pies in my magazine....

....now I just wish I could see one of them in my hand, making it's way to my mouth!

Funny how a craving hits us and nothing just seems to satisfy until we get that one thing!
Unfortunately, I have absolutely nothing in my house that even closely resembles the taste and texture of one of those light and fluffy chocolatey cookie pies!  Bella seems to be experiencing the same craving.  Nothing satisfies quite like Robert Pattison a good whoopie pie.

So, it looks like I'll have to settle for apple raisin pie and a glass of milk.

*meh*

Naming Game

Whenever I start a new quillow project, I spend a lot of time thinking what unique name I can come up with to adequately describe the quillow in just a word or two (or three, perhaps, if necessary).

I've got my sewing table centered in front of window so it appears I'm sewing in the middle of the yard!

I decided to try Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial for a "stack and whack" block - a simple block that showcases fabric easily.

I had a set of fat eights I purchased from Connecting Threads from their Quilter's Candy collection in dark blues, greens, indigo...naturally, it was on clearance and it was a new set of colors and fabrics for me to work with, so I snagged it.

Anyway, this morning I'm happily sewing away, sipping my cup of coffee and my darling husband traipses in with the coffee pot JUST to fill up my cup.  C'mon - say it with me.....

Awwwwwwwwwww!

I realize that a lot of my posts recently have been full of conversations between my hubby and I, so in keeping with that trend, here's another I'll share with you.

Me:  "Hey babe, help me name my new quillow"

Him:  "Hmmmm.....Looks like it's very greeny and purply"

{I'm thinking descriptive terms like, ocean, lagoon, deep blue, etc.....}

Him:  "You should call it Gurple"...he states as he heads back to the kitchen...

Ummmm...no.  Sometimes I consider him my 4th child - 53 years old and still a child at heart - gotta love it!!!

(BTW ~ if you happen to live near me and speak to my husband occasionally, please don't mention that you read about him on my blog!!!!  Thanks!)

 Anyway, I really enjoyed making these blocks and can't wait to put them together!  I plan on doing the same pattern with my Dr. Seuss fabrics and make a children's quillow.

I'm trying to train myself to use the knife on my sewing machine to cut threads in lieu of grabbing up the scissors all the time.

Do you use your knife?  Do you KNOW you probably have at least one or maybe more knives on your machine?  :)