QUITE A DEAL!!!!!

I STRIVE TO BE A PROVERBS 31 WIFE--'THE HEART  OF HER HUSBAND DOTH SAFELY TRUST IN HER AND HE SHALL HAVE NO NEED OF SPOIL,' (vs.11). HERE ARE PICTURES OF TWO AMAZING DEALS WE GOT EARLIER IN THE FALL!

FIRST, WE GOT SOME BEAUTIFUL BAGS OF RUSSET POTATOES FOR $1.99/10LB. I DECIDED TO CAN THEM--HERE IS THE FINISHED PRODUCT--THEY TASTE REALLY GOOD AND ARE SO CONVENIENT!

NEXT IS A THRIFT STORE FIND--AN ATTRACTIVE EXTRA LARGE COOKING POT! I THINK I PAID LESS THAT FOUR DOLLARS AND IT'S PRETTY ENOUGH TO SERVE IN! I FELT SO GOOD ABOUT THIS ITEM!

DON'T YOU LOVE A GOOD BARGAIN? I KNOW YOU'VE ALL BEEN CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, GIVING AND RECEIVING GIFTS. SO, PLEASE SHARE YOUR BEST BARGAIN OR MOST ECONOMICAL, USEFUL GIFT IDEA IN YOUR NEXT COMMENT.

Blessings, LORI

HANDSPUN HAPPINESS

Proverbs 31:19, "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her handss hold the distaff."

Proverbs 27:26, "The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of a field."

Here is picture of me in our front yard holding my latest skeins of spun yarn. This group is Alpaca/Wool blend. I really enjoy spinning and knitting, but when I was thinking about the Proverbs 31 woman, I had to wonder if the charm would sort of disappear from the hobby if it were a duty--part of the necessary work of a woman. What if I had to actually spin all my thread, then weave it, then cut the cloth to make clothing? Since I also have some experience weaving, I can't begin to imagine the amount of work that would involve. I can't spin yarn fine enough to suit me right now, let alone fine enough to weave into cloth for clothing! I've been trying to consistently produce nice sport weight or fingering yarn with an eye to lace weight eventually. Yet, even that would be pretty large thread size to be made into cloth!

The sweater I have on in the picture is one I made a few years ago. The yarn is a bulky/chunky type of novelty yarn. I love it and yet it was a little scratchy on my neck as I wore the sweater today. I can't imagine what some forms of homespun would have been like for everyday clothing. It's so hard for me to think about creating all my clothes from the sheep to the shirt. But our ancestors did it on a regular basis. No wonder the Proverbs 31 woman was revered! I have trouble cooking supper sometimes and she was doing all kinds of hard work on a daily basis!

Well, anyway, it was a beautiful fall day here. Though it was cold, the skies were a lovely mix of dark clouds and vibrant blue skies with sunshine and shadows alternating. The browns of the late fall leaves and the occasional evergreen against dry yellow corn fields just made scenes worthy of a painting, in my estimation. This is one of the prettiest times of year, I think. I went to my spinning and knitting group today and had a great time. I hope you enjoyed the day too. Think of the Proverbs 31 woman while you are doing your daily tasks and be thankful for ready-made clothing, electric mixers, washers and dryers, freezers, and so on....Blessings, LORI

BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS!

"Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks." Deuteronomy 28:4

I just wanted to share some pictures of summer's bountiful blessings with you! The picture of the roaster full of corn was taken during our annual sweet corn freezing operation. Rhiannon's generous employer plants a whole field of corn for the families of employees! We are so blessed by that. I never have to raise sweet corn because of their generosity. The corn this year was exceptional! The ears were 100% filled out and HUGE! All the rain we've had has made the gardens overflow.

The next picture is of a few hills of potatoes that I dug this afternoon. The garden is getting weedy since it's been so hot that I failed to get out there like I should. I decided to dig a few hills so I had a clear path for tilling. I was absolutely amazed to see red potatoes this huge. I have never seen them like this. We had a potato for supper--yes, that's right, a single potato fed both Clint and I with some left over!

The last picture is of a supper I cooked a week or so ago that was all from our property except the corn. A beautiful plate of sliced tomatoes--nothing like home grown! The herbed potatoes were some of the many, many potatoes we have this year, the corn is from Rhi's employer, and the fried chicken is the first I cooked of the chicks we raised this spring. I was really proud of this supper! I felt like a real Proverbs 31 woman!

I am thankful that we live in a place where we can eat the good of the land and enjoy the blessings of God!

"ELEGANCE ON A SHOESTRING"

Welcome to the first annual NCCF Tea
Party--"Elegance on a Shoestring." This year's theme was centered on how to have an elegant time amidst a downturned economy. Our church hosted this fun event last Thursday evening. About 5 ladies from our church hostessed tables, bringing their own dishes, tablecloths, napkins, and decor. It was very, very elegant!

The lovely tea was followed by an "I Got It At A Garage Sale," fashion show. Actually people modeled outfits they got at garage sales, thrift stores, or made themselves. We highlighted Proverbs, chapter 31 and talked about how this virtuous woman clothed herself and her family, yet 'her husband had no need of spoil.' Scripture describes her in ways that help us see that she was obviously very economical and yet elegant. We've heard lots of great comments about doing the tea again next year.

I personally believe that we women need "occasions" to dress up and feel special. It was almost like being a little girl again! And it is good for the little girls among us to have these special occasions too. Our world is constantly challening women and girls to be more aggressive and masculine. Occasions like our little tea party help to promote delicacy and feminity. So few of these events exist anymore for girls to practice social graces. You can see from the pictures that children's tables were included to make the party fun for the little ones. That was my mom's idea and a lady from church made placemats to color on and put crayons on both children's tables. Each little girl received a beautiful miniature china tea pot or cup to take home. Their tables had bowls of animal crackers placed at intervals for them to enjoy and apple juice was served so that they had a "tea alternative" that looked like real tea!

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the cream puff swans. I made them and sat them on a glass dish. Then I sat the dish atop three ice rings to keep them cool. I had frozen the ice rings in bundt pans a few weeks earlier, placing flowers in the water. The ice was a floral sea upon which the birds floated all evening! Take a longing look at some of the other elegant food! We also had a chocolate fountain.

The next few pictures are of the lovely tables. My tables are in the last table picture. Also there is a picture of me modeling my 1970's style prom dress made from 88cent/yard fabric that I found on closeout. The cuffs and sleeves were made from a lace curtain panel that I purchased at a thrift store in Nashville. I estimate the cost of the dress to be less than $20 not counting the pattern. I think I paid a dollar for my shoes, my purse was homemade crochet, and my shawl was a gift from a friend. All the models had lovely outfits that were inexpensive in some way. Our models ranged in age from 5 1/2 mos.--to 80 plus years. Baby Sophia (my youngest granddaughter) was the littlest model of the evening. Her aunt (only about 6, carried her down the aisle!)

It was a great evening celebrating God's goodness to us even amidst harder times. I wish you all could have been there! Blessings, LORI

DEDICATION SERVICE AND FASHION RUNWAY!

I feel kind of "sheepish" including such a spiritual subject as "Dedication Day," with fashion news....but the truth is....the two little ladies had cute new dresses! Even Granny had a new dress that was made the week before for the wedding of a friend.

On Mother's Day we had what we normally refer to as "baby dedication," at our church. Emma and Sophia were the only two children dedicated this particular time. Our church does not baptize infants because we adhere to what we term as "believer's baptism." Therefore, we only baptize people upon their confession of faith. Sometimes older children are mature enough to understand baptism and so occasionally they are baptized, but only after they come to an understanding of salvation and can ask for baptism themselves. Instead of baby baptism, we have a dedication ceremony in which the parents come forward and we pray for the children, blessing them and charging the parents and the congregation to bring them up in the nurture of the Lord. Clint preached a wonderful sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman and the church presented each lady with a rose.

This last Sunday was Emma and Sophie's special day! Granny made dresses for them. I think I wrote about the dresses several months ago. Yes, I began the construction on them quite a while back. We were getting a little anxious thinking that Sophie would outgrow hers before the ceremony. You can see the pretty details of her two piece gown in the picture of her in the chair. Her dress and Emma's were made of the same fabrics with a few different details. Emma's had a bolero jacket, while Sophie's had a long scalloped-edged coat with ruched ribbon. Both girls had dresses of silky rose fabric covered in sheer shimmery fabric. Emma's featured a matching lace belt at the bodice and Sophie's had two rows of ivory lace at the hem. Don't they look cute?

My dress was the one I recently made from a Folkwear pattern. It is fashioned after the turn of the century tea dresses worn in the early 1900's. I love it. I found enough fabric while in Iowa to make 5 more for about $30. Each one will be different and the sheer overdresses will mix and match with all the underdress fabric I purchased! CAN YOU SAY, 'GOOD BARGAIN!?'

You will notice in the one picture that we are posing in one of my favorite places--in front of the spirea out in my English garden. Taking formal pictures in front of spirea is one of my favorite traditions. Clint and I have a treasured prom picture of us back in 1980 in front of his grandma's huge spirea. I was wearing a "Gunne Sax" pattern dress, specially made for the occasion. Spirea are one of my favorite flowers and they figure in to my first book, "The Fields of May." You need to read the book to see why!

What a wonderful day it was! Mother's Day was very special to me this year as we watched our two little granddaughters dedicated to the Lord. It kind of made all the years of parenting come into perspective. After church, both moms and Rhiannon and JT, Kori, and Emma and Sophie all came over for dinner. We used the new china I was given by my mother in law. We set a beautiful table complete with lace tablecloth, bouquet from the English garden, and stemware, just to eat grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs, and baked beans! Oh, well, sometimes you must celebrate the simple things in life!!!! Blessings, LORI

PICTURES FROM OUR IOWA TRIP

The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain. She brings her food from afar. She is not afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet. Proverbs 31:11,14,and 21

Here are a few pics from our Iowa trip. I chose the verses from Proverbs because I felt they wrapped up some themes from the pictures. Picture number one is the "carrot canning operation" that my friend and I undertook! (She brings her food from afar!)These carrots came all the way from Michigan to Iowa! My friend is a true Proverbs 31 woman. She sees to it that nothing goes to waste around her household. She's very diligent to can and freeze lots of stuff for the winter and economize. It was a privilege to help her in this endeavor. We had a great time!

Picture number two was taken during the big blizzard. The winds howled all day long!

Third picture was taken along the interstate the day we drove home. Either this one or the next one was taken near Colona, Illinois. We are from COLON, Michigan!

The last "snow" picture reminds me of "Fields and Fences" because that's just what it is. I was trying to capture the lovely look that the new snowfall gave to the fields in the area. "She is not afraid of the snow, for all her household is clothed with scarlet."

The last picture is of me in the green dress--finished! This picture is taken in my living room. We arrived home safely on Thursday evening after joining the chaplaincy board in Indiana for supper. We just stopped on our way home and ate a nice meal with our fellow board members and still got home and all unpacked before 10:30 pm. That was pretty good!

While in Iowa I finished lots of projects. One was the green dress. Also finished plying all my original handspun yarn from the brown Corriedale. I finished a sampler on the way home, but decided to remove a few stitches. A quick few minutes some time will complete that. I also finished three tatted cross bookmarks and one side of the lace panel cardigan I've been knitting. It was a very productive trip for me!

The Lord's been showing me some really neat things this week as I took time to read and meditate on scriptural truths. The extra quiet time away from the normal routine was conducive to receiving some spiritual insight, I believe. I have a speaking engagement on Sunday--at our church! Pray for me if you think of it. Thanks for sharing my trip pictures. Blessings, LORI

WELCOME TO MY SEWING ROOM!

SHE IS NOT AFRAID OF SNOW FOR HER HOUSEHOLD, FOR ALL HER HOUSEHOLD IS CLOTHED WITH SCARLET. Proverbs 31:21

Carrie worked diligently for the rest of the afternoon putting the finishing touches on her new green velveteen dress she was making for winter. from "The Fields of May"


(Take a look at the pictures at the bottom of the page to see what I did on my Thanksgiving day!)


Welcome to my sewing room! Today I started a dress I've had in my 'design mind' for quite some time--ever since I wrote "The Fields of May," to be exact. I have wanted to make myself a dress similar to the one Carrie wore to the Christmas banquet in the book. Here is my attempt. This first picture is my dressmaker's dummy modeling the finished bodice over her "regular dress!"

The second picture is of the bodice back under construction. My main sewing machine sits by the window. It's great that I can look out while working. It keeps me from feeling closed in. Mom found this wonderful old machine for about $25 at Goodwill. It is green and matches the room!

In the third picture you can see the pattern laid out on the fabric waiting to be cut. I re-drew the pattern altering both the size and the style. Tricky, indeed. So far all is well. I cut the bodice pieces apart and added a "princess line" that the pattern didn't have plus a rounded hemline in the back bodice.

The final picture is the pattern that I made with muslin test pieces. Last summer I got a nice, large piece of muslin at a garage sale for 50cents. I knew right then that it would serve me well as a cheap piece of cloth for practice garmetns. The first muslin I made last night didn't fit right and so I had to re-draw the pattern today. Thankfully I have a huge roll of newsprint paper that I use for such things.

I hope you like my sewing room. It used to be JT's bedroom before he got married and moved out! As you can see, I turned it into what looks like a Victorian ladies' dress shop. He was horrified at first that I made it so feminine! I got very inexpensive wallpaper and border then added all the antiques. Notice the really ornate lamp behind the dummy? They were a gift that was given to me. I love them. There are two and they have dimmer switches. They are absolutely gorgeous when lit. The black chair by the sewing maching was a family heirloom brought from Pennsylvania with some of my family that first settled in Michigan. My grandma gave it to me when I was just a teen. The fan behind the dressmaker's dummy is from an auction as well as the antique wedding picture. Our old dining room table serves as my cutting table. Today being Thanksgiving, one thing I'm thankful for is my very adequate sewing room. It hasn't always been this way and I really appreciate a whole room for fabric pursuits!!!! Hope you had a great holiday, Blessings, LORI

TIDBITS OF NEWS AND ANOTHER CLUE

I'm taking a short break today from posting anything very deep! I had a big, tiring day. After getting two loads of laundry hung out, a friend and I went to the apple orchard and we purchased fruit. I bought two bushels for making applesauce plus a few grapes and some squash. Will probably start canning the sauce this week. We also ended up going grocery shopping and getting in on some really good deals. It was two o'clock before we got home.

I started right in on outdoor work once the groceries were put away. Clint ran the tractor and we got most of the rest of the lawn furniture in plus all the dishes that I put in my English garden. I washed them, although not real well and put them in baskets for the winter.

Clint and JT had quite a morning. They went out hunting first thing and didn't see any deer. They came in for breakfast and then took the tractor back out to the back of the woods to set a ground blind. As they stood there working two big, nice bucks jumped out of the cornfield just across from where they hunt and headed for the neighbors' property. Talk about two disheartened guys!

After the yard work was done I baked banana bread and tried to can some stewed tomatoes for which I had no recipe. They all sealed but I don't know how good they'll be. Just an attempt to use the very last of the tomatoes. I got 5 pint and a half jars. I had already put a chicken stew made from leftovers in the crock pot in the morning and so supper was basically ready. JT, Kori, and Emma stayed and we ate chicken stew with dumplings. Seemed it took forever to get the kitchen cleaned up. Everyone around here is complaining of tiredness, backaches, and sore muscles. Rhiannon's been putting in 12 hour days for a couple of weeks with the harvest and she's got sore muscles from sorting corn. In addition to all the normal duties of a week, we are pushing to get outdoor work done before the snow flies. It seems like summer turned into a very cool fall overnight. It's been damp and kind of dreary.

I'm getting ready for my little talk on Saturday for a local ladies' chaplaincy group from one of the factories. I am excited, but am pushing each day to get everything ready for Saturday morning. I wish the sequel to "The Fields of May" had been out before then, but that just won't happen. A lady asked me about it today. She had just finished the first book and was wanting to know where to get a copy of the sequel! That thrilled me! Praise the Lord for the book being something that people can appreciate. I hope it ministers to many folks before it's all said and done!

Today's clue: The thing that is coming to my house would have been appreciated by the woman of Proverbs 31, although I don't think it had been invented yet then. Read the chapter carefully and think about what she was doing. She used a different method to accomplish the same task! Care to guess?

More on Proverbs 31

What a full and rewarding day it was here today! About 11:30 this morning we went to the fairgrounds in Centreville to hear our kids and some of their friends play praise and worship for the Christian festival that was held there today. They have practiced so hard for a long time. Their band is called "With Abandon." They were the opening band and it was a beautiful day for those who came out to join in the fun. We had so many other things to do that we left shortly after they were done playing, but enjoyed hearing them and seeing a few friends that were there. I thought they were great, but I'm a bit prejudiced as a mom!

When I got home I decided to ride my bike over to a friends house about 1/2 mile away to attend her garage sale. Business was a bit slow so we had a nice little visit before I rode on home. That gave me a little extra exercise as the wind was against me all the way to her house. Real good workout. I had walked for about 1/2 hour this morning and so coupled together that was good exercise.

When I arrived back home I quickly set to work papering Mom's west kitchen wall. Rhiannon had recently painted it bright, true red on the bottom. I bought a fine print blue and white paper for the upper part @ $1/roll!!!! Yes, it was a bargain. I put that up in just a few hours. It went together really nicely though the print was so tiny it was a little tricky to match. What a beautiful, fresh look it gives the kitchen and so far the whole project, even counting materials I decided not to use, is about $30. I had bought a paper border for $1/roll as well, but we decided to put up chair rail instead. That's the only part left to finish. Mom's kitchen has white cupboards with a tiny beading stripe in them. We have decorated the room with accessories of a farm kitchen. Some antiques, mostly in the primary colors, sit above her cupboards. There are bowls, tin signs, wicker chickens, plates, milk bottles, and old pie plates. All in all, it's one of my favorite rooms in the house. The decor could be described as "1930-40's farm kitchen." Mom was able to secure an old enamel top table several years ago with two matching red chairs that are now in mint condition after a friend touched them up and recoverd the chairs. The table has a red design. It completes the whole look. I intend to put some blue and white dishes on the newly papered wall along with the feed sacks that were already hanging there. Her red-checked curtains on the window were a nice accent.

As soon as I got done, a knock came on Mom's door and old friends we hadn't seen in a long, long time had come to visit. The daughter is my age and we hadn't seen each other in over a year, maybe longer. If she's reading this, she can comment and make herself known if she wants!!! We walked out to the English garden and sat in the center and visited. It was a lovely day for garden sitting! We had the nicest long visit and it was truly a highlight of my day! As we sat there, numerous hummingbirds flitted by visiting the many flowers, coral bells being their current favorite. Many were the ruby throated varieties. They look like jewels floating in the air. Wonderful!

After our friends left we grilled chicken on the deck and I made a "kabob" out of onions, peppers, and tomatoes. It was yummy with a sauce I concocted out of stuff in the fridge. Rhiannon did up the dishes and I went out to do some little garden chores. I used a poison ivy killer on some of that weed that had come up between my flowers. I hope this will do the trick without killing the flowers. It had come up between the leaves of echinacea and a liatris. I really am trying to get both those flowers going in profusion and don't want to lose them. I was trying to be really careful. After that I sprayed the last of my insecticidal soap on my potatoes and hollyhocks. It's expensive stuff, but totally organic and harmless. It seemed to control potato bugs in other years and so it was worth the price.

What's new in the garden? The peonies opened yesterday as well as a little miniature rose. I picked a quart of strawberries today--the first ones!! Wow, that seems early. They are certainly tasty and the bed is loaded with berries. I noticed some of the flower seeds I planted are coming up; morning glories, nicotania, bachelor's buttons.

Just a little side note. For those of you who have read "The Fields of May," I have a few little tidbits in there leading up to some events that occur in the sequel. Did any of you pick up on that when reading the book? I'm curious. If so, let me know. Since I'm working diligently on the sequel and the third book, I'm wondering if anyone had ideas about how the story might continue to unfold while they were reading the first book. I am dedicated, though to not giving out too much detail on the contents of the next one, so you'll have to read it to connect the two stories!

A few more thoughts on Proverbs 31. Clint's grandma, Sally, an avid gardener, once told me something I'll never forget. She joked about how she often thought of verse 14 of that chapter every time she went out to her vegetable garden to pick the crops. Her garden seemed a long way from her back door. She said she thought of the phrase, "she brings her food from afar," while she was hauling all those beans, corn, tomatoes, etc., in to the kitchen. I think of that often when I'm in the garden. I suppose it was really ringing true all winter as I trudged out to the chicken coop to gather eggs in sub-zero weather. It seemed like it was "afar" for sure! Well, we should be able to apply the tiniest phrases of the Bible to our lives, shouldn't we?

How about a few thoughts from verse 23--"Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land." This woman's diligence, wisdom, and virtue even helps the rest of the family. It almost sounds like her good qualities help to elevate her husband in the eyes of others. After all, what would it be like for a man of high character to have a wife whose life was characterized by foolishness and lack of discernement? It would certainly reflect negatively on him. This challenges me to be mindful of how I behave because it reflects on my husband and my family. A good wife is a blessing to a man. I am working on being a blessing.

Verse 25 reads, "strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come." I want to be clothed in strength and honor, don't you? I want to know there is a time of rejoicing coming for me. Living in wisdom clothes you in a very profound way. Even though the rewards of right living may not be immediate, there is coming a time when the righteous will flourish and our God will set right all the wrongs. His people will receive their reward and things will be run the way God intended. This is a day we can all look forward to with joy. Let's ponder the wonderful reward of being a child of God who can look forward to many future blessings as well as the glories of a wonderful day like today! Blessings, LORI