WEEK'S WRAP UP, AND AN OLD STORY....

Well here we are to Friday already and I have had such a restful, peaceful week, and I really hope many of you have as well.  First off, my neck and head are ENORMOUSLY better.  Not 100%, but close, so I am very grateful for that.  But I have made a real point of not sitting at that machine longer than an hour or so at a time, so I guess "maybe" the doc knew what he was talking about as it has seemed to really make a difference.  I have soo enjoyed doing what I worked on this week, and I am anxious to share it as well, but I will have to wait as they are both birthday gifts and these gals read my blog and I don't want to spoil any surprises.  But soon.  I guess it would be OK to say that they involved embroidery.  How I am enjoying that on my new machine.  Though I was thinking I have already owned it close to 8 months so maybe I will have to stop saying "new" soon.  But they got in some new spring colored embroidery threads, and I have had to show REAL discipline in not buying them all.  I sometimes feel like a kid with a brand new HUGE box of crayons anxious to try them out on something.  I did buy 5 or 6 of them though, so I guess that will have to be it for now.

I was thinking last night when I was wondering what I might post about today, that I haven't told any "old stories" in quite some time.  Many of my posts in recent weeks (or even months) have all been about one sewing story or another, so I thought I'd tell you how my love of sewing and how I learned came about. I would like to share occasionally (maybe once a week or month?) some old stories on here as this blog is suppose to be a journal of life for my kids and grandkids someday, but mostly everything on it tells only of my life NOW.  Soo here goes...

I was a very young woman (only twenty) when we were first married, and yet I already had a 2 year old son.  I always felt like I was trying to prove that I was old enough to know what I was doing, and was responsible enough to handle everything that was on my plate.  A lofty job looking back on it now, but I did give it my best effort. We lived in a little house in Fullerton that shared a yard with two other little houses.  One of the families in one of the other houses had a woman who was only a couple of years older than I was, and had a son who was the same age as mine, and a brand new baby boy as well.  We soon became fast friends, and our boys were almost inseparable.  When I added another little boy a year or so later, our bond grew even stronger.  Our husbands were good friends too, and as matter of fact, worked together, (at least for the first few months we lived there before my hubby changed) and that was how we had come about finding this little house in the first place.   My friend was to me the EPITOME of what a stay at home mom should be, and I found myself quickly patterning myself after her.  She kept her house IMMACULATE, she baked her own bread and made homemade cookies, pies, cakes etc. as her practically daily baking schedule, and she sewed almost everything they wore or gave as gifts on her brand new Bernina sewing machine!  lol  I had NEVER made homemade yeast bread before, NEVER made a pie crust from scratch, and had done very little sewing and in fact didn't even own a sewing machine of any sort or kind.  My hubby as anxious to please me in those days as he is now, soon bought me the bottom of the line Kenmore sewing machine, and I began with some simple little projects.  I also watched her make her bread and pie crusts and was soon turning out BEAUTIFUL loafs of breads, and beyond yummy pies.  Cookies and cakes were nothing new to me, but she did have many recipes I borrowed, including the one for Oatmeal cake that went on to be my mom's all time favorite.  She encouraged me to push myself with my sewing and patiently would help me through projects when I became stuck on more difficult things.  Mainly though it seemed I would just sit and watch her when she worked, and learned many tricks and shortcuts and "how to's" from her that way.  Now her machine was a DREAM....mine not so much, lol, and I promised myself back then that someday I too would own a beautiful Bernina. We lived there for the first 7 years of our marriage, and by the time we moved away we had added yet another baby boy to our home.  But while we lived there we "spring cleaned" our homes together (they were identical) and took occasional vacations together, played board games with them constantly, laughed, cried and shared life's big moments with them.  What an influence she had on my life!  I eventually bought my first Bernina after we had been married for 10 years and of course have owned one every since.  She really taught me not only HOW to sew, but awakened a love of it for me that has never waned.  We have never lost track of this family, and at times still occasionally get together for dinner or lunch.  Her husband is now a Pastor of their church (wasn't even Christian when we met...some of the first hubby and I witnessed to about the Lord) and she travels all over the United States (and has even been out of the country once or twice) teaching women how to lead Godly Christian lives through a hilarious "dress up" ministry that she does.  Thinking back on this now, how grateful I am that we lived near this family as long as we did, and that I learned the things I did from her.  No accident that's for sure.  I know God knew just what He was doing.

Well, guess that's it for now.  Hope you all have a wonderful week-end.  We have LOTS on our schedule, but I will tell you about that on Monday's post.  Meanwhile little Luke is 10 months old today so I want to post a picture of him.  Such an adorable little sweetie.  Though Melly says he is into EVERYTHING and faster than she can explain, and keeps her constantly on her toes!

WEARING LITTLE FLIP FLOPS AND CUTTING HIS TOP TWO TEETH TOO.  HE IS STANDING FOR LONG PERIODS ON HIS OWN, BUT NO STEPS....YET!  LOL