3 Ring Circus update and Praise

I was scanning through my blog and it occurred to me that I never did an update on my health from over a year ago. For the whole story you can look back in my archives for it. (Jan 2009 and I think Oct. 2009)

I am praising God every day of my life since I was privileged to watch how God cleared my brain of cloudy apathy and indifference to Him! I have been a Christian for over 35 years, and was often a busy bee in our church and loved the Lord, but slowly like a current song says...."it was a slow fade" and I withdrew from Him and just showed up at church for services and left untouched. Then He decided it was time to wake me up and remind me who He is and that I am special in His sight!

As my earlier blogging explains in more detail, I had surgery, heart attack, and a long time of discovery to find out I had a heart rhythm, problem that was fixed through a procedure and now I am healed.

The journey was amazing! I was shocked to discover I had these problems and amazed to see His hand on my life through a year of unknowns. I was in a Woman's "Beth Moore" bible study that spoke to me weekly about who He was to me and how much He cared for me. The best part was that I had a peace that I have not ever experienced before.

I can't explain in words how different my heart is today...oh funny me...both hearts I guess....my physical heart is working fine and my spiritual heart has healed the most.

This year our Woman's study was in Revelations 1-3 about the end times and God speaking to the 7 Churches to wake up! Oh how awesome is He to allow me to learn about myself and to see more clearly how He was working in my Life! I recognized myself in 2 of the Churches most clearly. The church of Ephesus had left their first love and His direction was to overcome and return to Him. That was like reading about my last year in retrospect! But as the lessons moved on I saw myself again and again and how I need Him in more ways than I can express. Another church that described me was the Church of Laodicea - the lukewarm Church - I was this person too...and from the passive unclear past I was gently shown that I will die if I stay in that place.
Praise God for the love He has shown me and the renewed walk that He is leading me on.

It has been a while since I posted here

I have been side tracked by life I guess..there have been new hobbies...well rejuvenated hobbies that I have indulged in and many other things to keep me occupied. My fun new sewing adventures have been making quilts and things. I have made some that I can't show yet since they are gifts that haven't been given and they might see them too soon.

Here are some fairy houses that I made recently and was planning to give away and then changed my mind so I have offered them for sale on Etsy instead. Fairy House
Another Fairy House
Another fun thing that I have started doing is reading. A friend of mine gave me a book for my birthday in January and I have not stopped since. They are books by Jennifer Chiaverini, who writes great stories that always incorporate quilting. It is fun easy reading and I can't seem to put them down..as soon as I finish one I am off to the library for the next. I will be very sad when I reach the end of her books. The amazing thing is that I haven't read a novel in 30+ years. So this is great fun...once I got over feeling guilty for spending time on reading instead of something more productive.

I am sure this is why I have picked up the quilting bug again. I have been sewing for years and I even have a great embroidery machine, but that isn't as interesting now as the creating I can, or hope to do, with quilts. I need to get into a class again and learn more, but so far I haven't taken the time or the class I want is not when I can go. Some day!

Time to start a new day!

Postcards are Fun Pieces of the Past

I have found postcards to be a great source of entertainment. They are collected for a lot of reasons and although I don't collect too many, I enjoy the history and family ties attached to them. Actually I sell them and have a lot that one day I will get ready to sell. I recently was researching some that were old French Actresses from the early 1900s and I wanted to know the publishers information. So, I Googled for the publishers and I found a great website that has a lot of them identified. It is the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City. I started a list years ago and tried to keep up with it, but failed miserably so you can imagine this in great news for me to find a great list.

As I learn about collectors and their interests in postcards I appreciate the many ways they collect. Some are only interested in a particular City or State, probably from where they came. Some like to collect holiday cards or specific greetings like New Years or Birthday. There are a lot of collectors for Halloween and Valentines Day cards. Santa gets good interest too.

Having your photograph put on a postcard was a polular thing to do in the early 1900s and it almost seems sad that so many peoples families are scattered all around and unless they are identified somehow they are unknown faces in the world.

Vacations have been recorded by the postcard collection for years. I think this has been popular since the 1940's and especially in the 1950's and beyond. Every town along the highway had a selection of postcards to choose from....and people loved them!

Personally I enjoying seeing the country and the world for that matter, by looking at the scenes in these old postcards. I also wonder who some of the faced belongs to on the photos and who would like to find them. I keep my eye out for some areas of interest and it tickles me every time I find one.

To see a few of my listed postcards please visit Vintage4U or Timeless Treasures

Buttons - Beauties of the Past

I have been listing some fun old buttons on my AllButtons shop and I just had to stop and vent a little about how under appreciated these little beauties are. They come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, textures and ages. Just a little like the people I know. Maybe they are under appreciated too. God made us all so unique and different yet like buttons, we have a distinct purpose in the world. Some are bright and cheerful, some are dark and mysterious, while others are just good old consistent workers.

OK back to my rant on buttons. I love to look at these things...they are unique in so many different ways. Some have been made from natural materials like bone, ivory or nuts. These are usually warm to the touch and seem to have held up well over all the years. I am a but partial to the old bone buttons that were used to hold up men's old long johns or underwear. Can you imaging getting up in the middle of the night and having to unbutton those things just to...you know. I especially like the ones that only have 2 big holes (the buttons had 2 big holes) and people used to make them into faces using the holes as eyes!

What I am amazed about is that they usually sell for so little compared to the new ones I see in the stores. I keep thinking I will go take some pictures of the new ones on the cards in the stores and post the equivalent on here....so you can see the bargains you can get. Maybe my daughter will do that for me since she has a website about ways to save! By the way her site is called The Mommy Trade - if you are into couponing....check it out she does a great job of finding the deals locally.

Well...I didn't plan to get off on prices...I was just enjoying the different ones and thought I would share. Take a minute and look closely at some of your buttons and see if they are special to you too.

The love of Sewing

I just finished making some costumes for my grandchildren for Halloween and it was just a nice pleasant experience! When they are wearing them ...maybe I will remember to post a picture.

Now I am in the process of scanning some vintage patterns to list in my Allpatterns shop on Etsy. As I read each one and look through them to see if all the pieces are there I am longing to make something. Some of these old patterns bring back memories of when I wore clothes much like these and then I reminisce about those days for a while. No wonder it takes me so long to get this job done! And as you can see I have diverted to jabbering about it instead of doing it!

One of the things I recall with fondness was when my mother helped me make my first real outfit. I was probably in Jr. High or maybe high school and my sister was getting married in Canada so it was a small wedding and we had to travel. I recall being so proud of my workmanship and how I loved everything about it. It was a lined skirt and jacket in a green color that went well with my red hair.

My mother was very patient with her instructions and I did all of the sewing. I remember her watching me place the pattern pieces on the fabric and her explaining the importance of taking my time cutting it out neatly. Now at a much wiser age I agree with her. I used to hurry and try to make something as fast as I could and wondering why it didn't look quite right. I don't think I have ever made anything as well as that outfit...or at least that is my memory of it. I also recall the days when I was hurrying to make things...it would be because my baby was napping or in bed for the night and I wanted to get as much done as I could! Any one relate?

There are patterns in my shop that I would love to make, but most are not the right size or are not my style now...I do really like just looking them over and thinking about what they might look like made. This pattern is one that started this whole process today...for some reason I just think it is lovely! Back to work I must go!

Busy Busy month of August

I have been so busy all summer...I love that some of my grandchildren come to visit for a week at a time. It gives me some one on one time with them. My 11 year old granddaughter is here this week. We have been to Medival Times, Disneyland, pottery painting and clothes shopping. She has been going to VBS at church in the evenings and now our week is almost over. It has gone by so quickly. Disneyland is hard for me but I love going anyway.

My 10 year old grandson was here for just 4 days this summewr since I had a family reunion end up falling on the same week that he was coming, but actually his family was snatching him away for a wedding. I ended up missing the Angel/Yankees baseball game that we had tickets to, but I know they had fun anyway.

I have not had time to work on my shops this week, but I am sure they will be waiting for me next week. All work and no play makes working dreary so this was another nice break.

OK Bargain Hunters...I have Reduced...Reduced...Reduced!

On my Etsy Vintage4u Shop I set up a new section called Bargain Basement SALE. I have been and will continue to go through my shop and CHOP prices. I see somethings are overpriced so they will be reduced. I am just on a lets clean house kick! COME CHECK IT OUT!