It’s fairly late on Monday night but I’ve learned lately if I don’t post now {at night} I won’t do it in the morning…. so here I am! 🙂
We had a great night tonight, as I’ve mentioned before, we’re in a small group with other couples that meets every Monday in our home. Tonight, like most every Monday night, I feel so encouraged and filled. It truly is such an encouragement to me. I love those people deeply and I love to spend time working through tough questions & Scripture. Our latest book is A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. This is not what I would consider “easy reading” but rather challenging and enriching. Tonight’s chapter challenged me to live by and follow the Spirit of God; to lay my pride aside. While I feel very encouraged tonight, I also have tinge of what I’d like to think is righteous anger towards the fallenness & sinfulness of humanity. I got a reality check tonight that people who call on Christ as their Savior do not escape sin; powerful sin that can ensnare men and rip families and lives apart. Sin is grotesque, deceptive, & destructive and tonight I grieve for families who’s lives have been forever scarred by it. I’m also thankful that our God is bigger than any sin and there is power in His blood to redeem and restore!!
You probably weren’t expecting to hear all of that… but it’s fresh on my mind and heart. The rest of this post is fresh on my mind too but much lighter in subject matter and I’m slightly challenged on how to transition from the fallen state of man to what I did this weekend… but here goes…
This weekend… We had a great weekend and enjoyed time with good friends and good music. I went to two concerts. Indelible Grace one night and Lincoln Brewster the next. They were very different but both wonderful & worshipful. I absolutely love music. I can’t sing worth a durn but sure enjoy listening to others. They also both made me feel old because I thought they were very loud. 🙂
I also cussed a little this weekend. That’s what quilting makes me do. If you’ve been around a while you may remember that I attempted my first quilt back in December and what an ordeal that little thing was. I didn’t even bind it and it nearly made me nutty. Well this weekend I started a little project for my ktichen then decided it was too cute for my kitchen that something cute needed to belong to someone cute so I ended up making a very small quilt for my new baby, Sloane. 🙂 Erika close your eyes!
I watched a YouTube video on ‘how to attach quilt binding by machine’ {by the way, it’s really amazing what you can learn on YouTube, it also taught me how to ‘stitch in the ditch’}. Anyway, she failed to mention, or maybe she did and I didn’t pay attention, that if you are attaching the binding by machine you are blinded to see where the stitches are going on the underside of the quilt. A few lightweight cuss words later and I resigned the fact that the quilt would ever be perfect. The back of the quilt binding is full of flaws… I got over it fairly quickly because I know Sloane loves her MommaSis’ so much that she won’t care if the stitches look like poo. I combined some sweet fabrics on the front with a soft flannel on the back, I can’t wait to wrap her in it and kiss her face. I’ll be sure to take a picture when I do.
The quilt started as a dish mat, which is why there is terrycloth underneath it on the table. Somehow it quickly morphed into a quilt. But when I was all done I still wanted a dish mat. So I then proceeded to make a dish mat.
What the heck is a dish mat? It’s kinda like a bath mat for your dishes, you know the dishes that come out of the dishwasher still soaking wet after they’re apparently “DRY”.
I was inspired by SouleMama’s Handmade Home projects. I don’t have the book but apparently she has a tutorial for a bath mat made from old towels. Mine is not made from old towels, nor is it a bath mat… but I was inspired by an application for dishes that I saw on her blog!
I preshrunk my fabric & terrycloth. I also wanted my dots to look like they were inset in the flowers. So I used a triple stitch on the outside of each dot seam so they would appear to be inset. Both of these fabrics are from Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern collection.
Here’s a close up of a ‘triple stitch’. Check your sewing machine’s owner’s manual to see if you have it. I love it… it’s decorative while not being too decorative. It basically stitches three times… forward, backward, forward to give you a nice substantial looking stitch.
I think you each need a dish mat and I think everyone on your Christmas list needs one too.
I know you lay a towel on top of your dishwasher every time you unload it. Wouldn’t this be so much more fun?
And last but not least, I’m leaving on a jet plane to see this man, my father {aka DaddyBoy– who recently asked me to be his friend on Facebook}.
Daddy Boy caught wind of my recent date with Morgan and asked if he could take me on a date. My date is not out for a cookie at Barnes & Noble… although I’d be up for that too. My date is a long 5-day weekend in Chicago. Mom will be leaving Erika and Sloane and joining me. I’m really excited about going but not excited about leaving 3 little scallywags and Justin behind. Justin will be Mr. Mom while I’m away… you can pray for him! 🙂 I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared that I’ve lived in Chicago {well, a suburb outside called St. Charles} twice and DaddyBoy currently has an apartment there. I’m excited to see old friends, a new baby, my precious cousin, and enjoy a real taste of fall weather! We’ll likely hit the Kane County flea market and I’m hoping to a run through Ikea because I’ve never been to one…. anything else I need not miss?! Besides a drive up to Elgin for a malted milkshake from Al’s Ice Creamery!!
House before & after post coming SOON!!!
