Martha Pullen's Heirloom II Licensing

Spiritual -  "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.  Day pours out the word today, and night to night imparts knowledge... Psalm 19  God is always speaking to us, letting us know of His love and His mercy.  He has unlimited grace and gifts to give us, just for the asking.  He knew us from the beginning. As it says in the psalm, He is perfect, trustworthy, right, clear, pure and true.  "Though your servant is careful of them, very diligent in keeping them, yet who can detect failings?  Cleanse me from my unknown faults!  From wanton sin especially, restrain your servant; let it not rule over me.  Then shall I be blameless and innocent of serious sin.  Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart find favor before you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

Sewing - March 16-23 was another one of the greatest sewing experiences of my life!  I attended the Heirloom II Licensing program.  I've been making heirloom clothes for a long time, but l learned SO much.  This is a program to learn how to teach heirloom sewing.  Not only am I licensed to teach heirloom sewing under Martha Pullen's name, but I own the co-copyright of and have a full curriculum for all of the projects in this particular program.  There were 25-27 projects this week and these pictures show a few of them.  Last July I attended the Serger II licensing and will attend another one next year.  The instructors are fabulous!  The fabric and laces are to die for. Every detail is taken care of and you are pampered the entire week, from personal instruction time, fitting, food, snacks, ability to buy wholesale, to time management. The program culminates with a barbecue dinner at Martha's lovely home in Huntsville.  I have been a dedicated fan of Martha Pullen since I started sewing heirloom and baby items 30 years ago and never dreamed that I would get to spend time with her, much less have dinner in her home.   I am a blessed woman! 

Tablemate & BFF

 

 

Martha's Attic

 

Ladies looking through Martha's Vintage Treasures!

Needle book for my pincushion!

Spiritual -  Lent.  This lent I have to change my attitude about confession.  I  have studied what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is and what that unbelievable sacrament has to offer.  So, why don't I go as often as I should?  That is the question I will tackle this lent.  In a sincere confession to a priest, acting in His Person (in perona Christi), I receive the grace to make a great effort to "sin no more" and the "promise" of hearing those words again, "I resolve you" when I commit the same sin again.  Pride, assumption,  lack of preparation, and habit are all areas I will think and pray over.  I have known the transforming power that comes with consistent prayer and the Holy Eucharist.  To grow more fully in Christ, Confession, on a regular basis is essential.  God, give me the grace to identify the root/cause in me that prevents me from experiencing You even more fully.

Sewing -  I have made this little needle book to go with the yellow wool heart pincushion.  Pincushions are great for pins, but not so great for needles.  Because needles have no head, they can get buried in the fiber.  You can find them later ("ouch") or you won't find them when you need them.  A needle book solves the problem and is great for taking to classes.  I put a little pouch on the inside front cover for needle threaders or even a small pair of embroidery scissors.  There are also little ridges on each page at intervals to place the needles. The needle book and pincushion are both made of wool blend felt and fiberfill.  Wool felt flowers, leaves, beads, and embroidery are added for embellishment.  These are completely hand stitched and is a perfect beginner sewing project!

Spiritual - During prayer this morning I read from Divine Intimacy this sentence, " O Lord, why should I confine myself to crawling on the ground among the thorny roots of my passions, when You have created me to soar in the heavens?"  Wow.  Was that written just for me? I'm always in a stew about my attachments to comfort, honor, pride, hobbies, point of view, etc. God has so much more to offer me and I wallow in the thorns.  This preoccupation with myself distracts me from union with God, deprives me of interior peace, and causes me to fail in  charity.  For me, prayer is the only answer.  It is only through prayer that I  have half a chance of staying focused on God and the abundance of graces He has just for me.  I want desperately to tap into those graces to be attuned to the inspirations of His Holy Spirit.  Any advance made through His gift and my cooperation overwhelms me and encourages me.  Thank you, Lord.  I will continue to try.  When I fail, please give me the grace to get up again. 

Sewing -  Onsies with a flair!  I saw this one morning going through sewing blogs and had to copy it.  The blogger had gotten the inspiration from a t-shirt from Anthropology.  The "semi-circles" are attached with Lite Steam a Seam II, pressed to the knit and sewed down using a machine blanket stitch slightly lengthened.  I thought the onsie needed matching booties and a pacifier clip to complete the ensemble.  One pair of booties is a ballet type slipper with a strap that closes with Velcro.  Those are "felt" buttons tacked to the strap.  I found them at Hancock's in the button section.  The other pair is a slip-on with an elastic back.  The embellishment is a layered felt flower with tiny beads in the center.  I got the blank onsie at a local store.  This will make a cute gift.  When Jennie was born a friend of mine gave her a onsie with beautiful hand embroidery and had made hand embroidered booties to match. Jennie wore it often and I loved her in it.  I'll have to look for that.