A New Dake & Aprons

Do you want to hear how good God is?? Well let me testify!! (don'tcha love it!!) I have been wanting a Dake Study Bible for....well, many years. My Pastor from my old church (before I moved to the city I am in) used a Dake. For 9 years I sat under this Pastor and learned more than I ever thought possible. He was a gifted teacher, and he studied from a Dake. Good Dake's are pretty costly and I could not pull 60-80 dollars aside to buy a Bible....since I already have a NKJV study Bible and a KJV reference (remember I just wood glued it back together recently?), plus the ESV I bought a while back (which was much cheaper), a new Bible of that cost was not using wisdom. Still I wanted one. Last week I was reading a blog and a reader mentioned she had a Dake Study Bible she was willing to give. I e-mailed her and told her I would love to have a Dake. Now I do not know this girl AT ALL. She does not read my blog, nor do I read hers. I expected a hard cover or paper type copy of a Dake, but still, it would have the same notes and I would feel blessed. What arrived at my door was a BRAND NEW (still in the box) bonded leather Dake Bible.It has that new Bible smell and everything. Not a mark in or on it. This sweet girl, Anna, would not even let me pay shipping. Now I know she will get a blessing from God for her generosity, but there is a part of me that is having a hard time accepting this. I want to send her something of equal value. Still, I am feeling this is a lesson for me in accepting a gift. Look at all the wonderful study notes....A Dake Bible is perfect if you want to really dig deep into the scriptures! It is a commentary, a Greek/Hebrew dictionary, and a full concordance all in one. Ok, enough testifying....but isn't God good??? Felt like He was loving on me through this gift!

Another package arrived too. Joann got some new scrubbies the other day and I mentioned I use to have some and could no longer find them. She sent me some...and in RED! My favorite color! I already used one and they work GREAT! Thank you, Joann. You are too sweet. I am going to let the Lord know I have learned to accept a blessing. ;)

On another note, my Mother in Love sent me this cute history of the Apron. I thought I would share it with you all, since I enjoyed it so much. Notice the apron pattern...a size 14-16 was a Medium. Hmmmmmm.The History of the Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath,because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the menfolks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.

Weekend Runners and Running

It has been a weekend of runners and running! Saturday found me with little housework. My routines are flowing and I had lots of free time because of that. What to do??? I could hand quilt. I could applique on another Sunbonnet Sue. I could cut into that new Galena fabric that has been calling my name!!! YES! That is what I did. I made a little runner for my hutch in the eating area. I used ALL 5 fabrics I bought in Galena, plus the red that I had in mind to match it to.I have plenty more to make a matching runner for the breakfast bar. I will use a different pattern, but the fabrics will all match. This allowed me to put the blue runner back in it's designed place...in the entryway. The white dresser scarf I had here was always getting moved and just did not look right. I also did the unthinkable! I opened and cut my jelly roll!! It was very hard to do, but I did it. I won this jelly roll from Debi and have treasured it ever since. Now I will just have to get another one to replace it!I am putting a runner together for a young bride. These fabrics are perfect for her I think. I plan to hand quilt it. Here are the pieces all laid out. I am glad I took this pic, because the pieces blew all over as the wind blew in through the window.Today, the kids and I went with my mom. We started out at Gensler Gardens. What a beautiful place!!Look at the flowers!!! We did not buy any, but we did pick up tomato plants, pepper plants, broccoli plants (Charlotte really wants to grow broccoli), and seed packets.I could have spent all day there. The gift shop was wonderful too! From there we headed to The Cracker Barrel for lunch. We had a 25 minute wait, so Grandma gave the kids spending money. They bought huge eggs that will hatch a dinosaur. Charlotte said she really wanted a T-Rex. I told her I hope she gets one too, but just like when you "hatch a real egg", only God can determine what you will get! She giggled. She also got a loom for making potholders, and Zach got a submarine. While we waited for our food the kids played a game of checkers.Once outside, I tried to get a picture of them while we waited for Grandma. "Look up here.""No, over here! Smile.""OK, you got the smile part, now look over HERE!"Yeesh!!!! Off we go! Where to now? The Antique Mall. Stalls and stalls of wonderment!!!! Did I find anything?? Oh, I found the most wonderful bed! I just HAVE to have it. I told myself when we get ready to buy a bedroom set (soon) I will bring Sweetheart there. Then I looked at the price of that bed! $7,750.00!!! I think not. I did however, find a few aprons that were to my liking. This one is a turquoise gingham with chicken scratch embroidery on it. Beautiful!I also found a bright canary yellow with honeycomb embroidery, all done by hand. The ties are satin ribbon. It has a couple of stains, but I found that Holy Cow pink takes just about anything out!! (the yellow is MUCH brighter than the picture shows)The last one is my favorite of the 3. It is purple and green butterflies and flowers. Very calico looking, with ribbon and lace accents. It is hand stitched with the teeniest tiniest stitches.Next time I go to the Antique Mall I will not take the kids. They were very well behaved, but it is impossible for them to not touch. I have to make them hold their own hands and they walk around looking like they are praying!! LOL It works though. I saw a couple of things there I will go back for, that is for sure!

The day was not done! Next stop....31 flavors!! Ice cream that is!Zach made up a song on the way home about how he has the BEST Grandmother EVER!!! I think he is right. Well, maybe tied with TJ's Grandma!!!

Happy Apron Day!!

Today is "National Tie On An Apron Day"! Do you have your apron on?? I made Rachel an apron for Mother's Day and Charlotte wore her apron, which belonged to Grandma Grace, alot yesterday. I had a wonderful Mother's Day. My daughter made it so special for me. Yes!! My daughter! She made me breakfast (scrambled eggs) and the rest of the family pancakes! The scrambled eggs were SO good!!! Perfect!Don't you love that face!!??Everyone had pancakes (except for me...on a program, ya know!) and had pure maple syrup from Rose Marie!!Zach thought they were great, as did Sweetheart and Kyle. Charlotte thought they were good too! Zachary. My Zachary. What will I ever do with that boy?? Saturday night, little Zach got bored. He decided to use abuse the telephone. He dialed the only number he knew. 911. He told the lady his mom had fell off the bed (I did not) and hurt herself (I did not, again). When the lady told him she was sending help, he hung up. Of course, they called right back and I answered the downstairs phone. I assured her I was fine and she cancelled the ambulance but 2 squad cars still had to come out to make sure everyone was ok. Zach was terrified he was in trouble with the police and though the officer was kind, he was not smiling!! Zachary apologized while clinging to my body, and I doubt he will do it again. He got the "boy who cried wolf" lecture along with the "don't lie to the police" lecture. Yeesh!!! Anyway....back to Mother's Day. My Sweetheart always asks me what I want. I usually have a want, but this year I did not. I told him there was really nothing and I just wanted a peaceful day. Well he knew better than to count on that, so he went to an antique store (NEVER has he been to one before) and picked me up a gorgeous china tea cup.It is hard to tell in the photo, but the white part of the china is a rainbow glass. What is that called? I know it has a name. The kids gave me wonderful handmade cards and store bought ones. I felt like a Queen. This was huge...I know alot of mom's who deal with reactive attachment disorder have horrible Mother's Days. Usually I deal with a cycle of bad behavior just before and just after...so far, nope. Charlotte has been WONDERFUL!!!! Smiling alot and full of sunshine. I have high hopes! I gave her a big hug and told her that she had made my Mother's Day so special. She beamed up at me. It was a moment I doubted we would ever share. God is faithful.

I wore my Grandmother's pearls and a pair of her clip on's. Charlotte also wore a brooch and necklace that belonged to her namesake. It made her feel close, my Grandma.Bud, Rachel and TJ came for the afternoon. I was excited to give Rachel her first apron. Here is the fabric I used. She loved it when we saw it at the fabric store.They brought me "a big cuppa tea" as Tj called it.It is the biggest tea cup I have ever seen, filled with gorgeous pink petunias! I will put it on my back deck.I wanted a picture of me and all my kids. Sweetheart was the only one here who was not to be in the picture. It took many trys, but this is the best....Charlotte looking off to the side, Kyle doing his "Lurch" pose, TJ dazing out after saying cheese a dozen times, and Zachary trying to do bunny ears over my head, all in a slight blur!!! Aren't we a lot??!!Today, Sue and her kids are coming for the morning. Rebekah will cut my hair and we will do a bit of hand sewing and visit. She needs to get back early to babysit, so our visit will be brief. I am thankful for anytime I can spend with her! Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day and blessings to you as you begin your week! Now go tie on your apron!

Buried Treasure

I was certain I would be working like a dog until Monday night to get this closet cleaned out and organized by Tackle It Tuesday. WooHoo...it is done. It looks so nice. No clutter, everything has a place and is in it's place! I already took pics, because I have some sewing to do and I know by Tuesday it will need another tidy. Here is a little tease...the "after" pics will be posted Tuesday morning!

I was amazed at the amount of fabric I own. No...the other way. I have a very small stash in relation to what I have seen out there. I sorted it all and put scraps to be cut into squares and strips into boxes (3 small ones) and then organized my larger pieces that I wanted to keep in color groups. These are mostly fat quarters, 1/2 yard cuts, and a few 1 yard cuts.

I also found some buried treasures. I found some old orphan blocks from a folk art Biblical quilt I had planned to do. These are the first two (and only) blocks. The wording was to be embroidered. I was not at all happy with the applique method, which was fusable so I ditched the whole thing! I also found this wallhanging. Same fusable applique method, but because I hand quilted the whole thing I can not bring myself to throw it away. You can see the raw edges, as I have no idea how to button hole stitch or zig zag. I also came across a jar of my grandma's buttons. You can see on many of them, the fabric where she cut them off her old clothing. She was a very frugal lady. Ooooh. And have you ever put something somewhere safe because you knew you were going to need it, and then you could never find it?? I knew a lady who hid her son's Christmas presents and then could not find them. At the last minute she did, but her poor son almost had no gifts! TeeHee. Anyway, I put a specific fabric up to be used in a sailboat quilt for a baby boy (should the need arise). Well it is a 50/50 chance I will need this. I found it. It is the perfect "water" fabric and I can not find it in a quilt shop...I bought it 13 years ago for the backing on Kyle's quilt. I had a good amount left over.

I also organized my batting. As a hand quilter batting is SO important. My favorite is Quilter's Dream. Christine and I were "chatting" about batting and I wanted to show her the thickness of this. It is the softest batting ever made. I have been know to carry a little piece in my pocket. I sent Linda a swatch and she can vouch as to how soft it is. Christine splits her batting. I can't quite understand how. I am very visual (nice way of saying slow) so maybe next time you split batting you can show it on your blog, Christine. You can't see in that picture, but my fingers are so sore! I am finally getting a callous and hope to keep it up with my work on the pink and brown. Why I let my fingers heal is beyond me. It is so painful to get your callous built back up.

Amy received her apron from my 200th post giveaway, so I will show it now. It was made with Thimbleberries fabric. I framed the pocket so it would show better. Amy was born 100 years too late, as many of us are born out of our time. (I should have been born in the early 20's, in Iowa or Kansas) Anyway, Amy loves when she loses her electricity from an ice storm and does things in a primitive way even when she doesn't have to. I admire her greatly. One of the things she does is she hangs her laundry out in the freezing cold. I cracked up at her and she swears even though it freezes, it does dry. I told her as I was ironing her just finished apron I had a mental conversation with it, telling it to enjoy that hot iron because soon it would be hanging in the freezing cold to dry! She took a picture of it hanging from a clothes line dripping in icicles!! If the apron could talk it would be screaming "You weren't kidding!"

Thank you all for entering my giveaway. There is a very sweet and generous quilter who has been accused of doing giveaways to gain friends. This is ludacris, especially in light of who this quilter is. A couple of bloggers are doing giveaways in support of their friend. You can go here and here to enter.
Please forgive any overlooked, misspelled words...spell check is not working on blogger.