Candy Crush

I seriously heart these new Pretzel M&M's.

So much that they were today's treat after enduring a visit to the doctor complete with multiple needle pricks.  My arm is now about the same color as the blue bag, but my mouth and tummy are happy, happy, happy!

Blessings

How precious is your unfailing love!

The children and the adults,

all take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

For with you is the fountain of life,

in your light do we see light.

~Psalm 36:7-9

Bonnets for Tiny Angels

There has not been much stitching, smocking or blogging lately, as I have rested my eyes per doctor's orders.  However, I have tried to take a few minutes each day and prepare Wee Care bonnet kits for the upcoming national convention of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA).

These kits will provide everything necessary for members to complete a tiny smocked baby bonnet with a lace edged ruffle.  They need only to smock a simple design across the crown and attach ribbon streamers.

Due to my eye surgeries, I am unable to attend this year's event in Norfolk, Virginia.  Making and donating these kits has helped me feel a little more involved and a little less sad about missing all the fun.

Wee Care is the primary service project of SAGA nationally and through its local chapters.  Our members sew and smock tiny gowns, bonnets and other items for the smallest angels.  These items are then donated to various hospital neonatal intensive care units.

Many times the families have no garments that fit their premature or ill babies.  The gowns, bonnets, and blankets help their child look like a baby by covering frightening tubes and other medical equipment, while still meeting the functional requirements of hospital care.

Many of our gowns and bonnets will, sadly, serve as burial garments.  Others may be kept as a reminder that a special little life ended too soon.  Still others may joyfully be used on those days when babies are healthy, healed and headed home! 

If you wish to read more about SAGA's Wee Care program, please click here

Blessings

Be alert for the unpredicted presence of God

unexpectedly intruding upon your everyday life.

~M. Scott Peck~

A bowl of sweet strawberries.

Lunch with two special friends.

A ladybug crawling across my bare foot, as I dashed to the mailbox.

A phone call from a long-distance friend with exciting news.

A smile from a stranger.

A sudden rain shower on a sweltering summer day.

 Receiving a special thank you note.

Doctors and nurses who truly care.

The fragrance of a rose.

A phone call from my husband just to check on me.

A humorous email from my son.

Hoping your week held a few unexpected and delightful moments!

Blessings

In our whole life melody the music is broken off here and there by rests, and we foolishly think we have

come to the end of time.

God sends a time of forced leisure, a time of sickeness and disappointed plans, and makes a sudden pause in the hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voice must be silent and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of our Creator.

Not without design does God write the music of our lives.

Be it ours to learn the time and not be dismayed at the rests.

If we look up, God will beat the time for us.

~John Ruskin~

Rest

This week, I began to see more blobs and bright lights in my left eye. 

Yesterday, I interrupted my husband during a business lunch and informed him we needed to drive to a hospital in a neighboring city.  I was scheduled for an emergency appointment and examination with a retina specialist.

Fortunately, the conclusion is that I do not have a retina tear or the the beginning of a retina detachment.  However, there is cause for concern.

I may have tried to do a little too much too soon following the surgery on my left eye.

So, I am taking a rest from the computer and other activities for a few days.

Bluebird of Happiness

Just prior to my recent surgeries, this little bluebird was lovingly sent my way by a very special friend.  I was told to put him where I would see him every day.  I did.  He brought me much happiness, and reminded me quite often that health and brighter days would someday be mine again.

The bluebird has long been associated with love, joy and the renewal of springtime.  The little winged creatures are used to commemorate marriages and births.  They are considered messengers of good health and contentment.

                                        Images from Exquisite Embroidery by Jennifer Newman and Inspirations Gifts.

Many of us in the heirloom sewing world are familiar with delightful embroidery designs incorporating these sweet little birds!

In 1934, Sandor Harmati and Edward Heyman penned a song which would become a worldwide smash hit for tenor Jan Peerce.

Bluebird of Happiness

The beggar man and his mighty king are only different in name,

For they are treated just the same by fate.

Today a smile and tomorrow tears,

We're never sure what's in store,

So learn your lesson before too late, so

Be like I, hold your head up high,

Til you find a bluebird of happiness.

You will find greater peace of mind

Knowing there's a bluebird of happiness.

And when he sings to you,

Though your're deep in blue,

You will see a ray of light creep through,

And so remember this, life is no abyss,

Somewhere there's a bluebird of happiness.

Life is sweet, tender and complete

When you find the bluebird of happiness.

You will find perfect peace of mind,

When you find the bluebird of happiness.

Two hearts that beat as one,

'Neath a new found sun,

We are in a world that's just begun,

And you must sing his song, as you go along,

When you find the bluebird of happiness.

The dear friend, who sent my bird to me, is a little blue today.  So, this bluebird and bouquet is for her, along with my prayers for brighter days.

When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

                                                                                                ~Psalm 94:19~

Blessings

"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh,

But why should we sigh as we say?

The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky

Makes up the commonplace day;

The moon and the stars are commonplace things,

And the flower that blooms, and the bird that sings,

But dark were the world, and sad our lot,

If the flowers failed, and the sun shone not;

And God, who studies each separate soul,

Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.

~Susan Coolidge~

On My Bookshelf

While my shelves are definitely loaded with many new sewing books, it is sometimes the older ones that I most enjoy.  The two on the left have special meaning.  They were college textbooks used by my mother as she studied to obtain a degree in Home Economics.

The familiar handwriting that still brings a smile, and sometimes a tear.

The $4.00 price was likely as astronomical to a 1947 college coed , as the unreal price of textbooks are to current students.

No doubt, fashion styles have changed a little!

Yet, while newer books are brimming with well styled and glossy photographs, I often find the older books to contain more explanations and theories behind certain sewing techniques.

Many of the techniques are as relevant today,

as they were then.

Proving again, that the type of sewing I love most is timeless.

Almost all, include at least a few pages on my favorite subject:  sewing for babies!

Blessings

May the wisdom of God instruct me,

the eye of God watch over me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God give me sweet talk,

the hand of God defend me,

the way of God guide me.

~Saint Patrick~