HURRY UP AUTUMN

It has been so hot here lately in Texas and I was longing to see some autumn beauty. So I got out my material and put on my thinking cap and created a pattern. With the sewing machine and the hand needle, the result was some cute pumpkins. I was going to make only one but after I finally figured how to design it, then I made 3.

I love looking at these pumpkins because Autumn is my favorite time of the year. It just does not last long enough here in South Texas. We seem to go from Summer to Winter.

We live on property with many oak trees and when the leaves begin to change colors I get so excited. I love the beauty of autumn. Of course with the falling leaves come work trying to rake them all up, but to me it is all worth it. If I had my choice in life autumn would last all year.

I remember so well in autumn of 2008 when my daughter and son-in-law took my husband and I to the Smoky Mountains! Those pictures are forever in my memory. It was absolutely breathtaking to me!

I hope you enjoying going to my website and seeing the Autumn designs that I created and hope you have a very fun filled autumn season.

Making more Cards for the Troops

Today I met again with a large group of ladies to continue our mission to scrapbook cards for the troops so they could have them to send to their family and friends.

Together we made about 1000 cards today. One more meeting next month and we should have them all complete so we can mail a package of cards to each one. The F.A.I.T.H. Military Group usually has about 200 names we have to send supplies to each month. We will send these with the October mail out so they can use the Thanksgiving cards and Christmas cards for the holidays. They will now have their very own CARD STORE right with them thanks to many ladies who are showing up to do these.

I met another friend today for the first time. After a long conversation with her, I found out she loves Shabby Lane Shops and goes there nearly everyday. I gave her a Shabby Lane Shop Magazine and she was so excited. She was going online to order the next magazine coming out and download the beautiful free postcards.

SCRAP BOOKING AGAIN

Today I went to my really first scrapbooking class for 5 hours long and I had a great time. I got to work on 4 projects. I met some wonderful friends and it was a fun day. I so look forward to next month to go and learn more.

I am going to have to get some scrapbooking supplies before next month. I love the tiny albums and the cards the best. I am still not finished with the photo page, but will finish it at home.

I can't believe that I have waited this long before trying this!! Maybe it was because I always have so much sewing, embroidery, and crocheting to do. But I heard it was good for the brain to always learn new things!! Good excuse to start this now!

"Give and It Shall Be Given Unto You"

Well, today I got back to my sewing machine and completed this cute Toddler Quilt to give to 2 precious little girls. It is a JESUS AND ME QUILT with a quilted book included.

I think I enjoy making my quilts and giving them away more than anything in my life. I guess because I feel part of me goes with it. My quilts have always been just one of a kind created just for the person in mind. I will never forget the first one that I made for a young teenage boy who in now my son-in-law and helped give me 3 wonderful grandsons who have grown to be wonderful men. They brought lots of joy to my life.

I had meant to make a quilt for these sweet girls a long time ago but when we lost our home during Hurricane Ike, it set me back 2 years so I am just now getting to it.

The mother of these 2 sweet toddler girls was a small child when I met her in church many years ago. She saw me make and give quilts away years ago at baby showers. Now I remember her telling me once, "When I have a baby, I hope that I get one of your quilts".

Then life's retirement took us miles from her, and Hurricane Ike displaced us and it absolutely slipped my mind. But I guess it is never too late. I make my quilts to last a life time if cared for properly because they are very durable. But the best thing is they are warm on a cold night.

I do hope these sweet little girls will be blessed by this quilt for many years to come.

NOW BACK TO THE MACHINE TO START A QUILT FOR A MARINE!

I might get addicted to scrapbooking!

Today, I left my sewing machine for a few hours to go help a scrap booking group make some cards to mail in the packages we send to our troops once a month. It will be a set of 6-8 cards so they would have some cards to send to family and friends. We are making a variety of cards for them such as: hello, miss you, thinking of you, Christmas etc.

That was the first time I really learned anything about doing any kind of scrap booking ideas. I had a blast and might really get addicted to it. We will meet again next week to make more. We got 300 made today.

I think now after doing this, I decided to join the scrapbooking club that meets once a month to scrapbook etc. It should be fun and another way for me to learn something new. I sure don't need anymore projects to do at all, but there is just something inside of me always wanting to create and to learn something new.

My next big sewing project will be to make another quilt for a soldier and mail it to him to keep warm this winter in Iraq etc. The last one that I made and mailed to a soldier was used during 2 deployments and he loves it.

Back to Sewing Again!

Goodness, the time has flown by since I have last blogged. It has been a very busy spring trying to get the garden taken care of, flowers planted, and yard in good shape. Now that the hot humid Summer weather has set in, I find myself wanting to be inside more than ever. So this week I finally got to my sewing room again. I have missed it! It is my therapy and I can tell I have been missing it.

Today, I finally finished this quilt that I made and donated for a worthy organization The Quilts for Kids. They are an organization that makes quilts for very sick children in hospitals. I sure hope that mine will make some sweet little boy smile. The backing on the quilt has tractors, trucks and all those things little boys love. You can go to my website and see a better view of it and also see the other items under my donated category that I have donated to many places. I get so much joy out of sewing something and giving it away. I guess that is why I feel so blessed.

The Bible says to "Give and it shall be given unto you" God has given me so many blessings in my life and I am so thankful.

Say What Is In Your Heart

Have you ever wanted to expess the feeling of your heart to someone, yet you did not really have the words to express with your mouth? It is so hard for some of us to say what we really mean at times, so we just give a gift. That happens to many people, but did you know that the choice of color of the gift you give someone can give them that special hidden message of your heart?

We think of flowers this time of year as our gardens are now blooming so beautifully. Many of us will choose flowers as our gift to give to others. I think the rose is the flower people give to loved ones the most. They have captivated so many hearts over the generations. Even with the thorns that come with them, most of us choose to never even see them, but just enjoy the beauty of the bloom.

There are so many beautiful colors of roses. Yet there is a message with every color of rose or any flower whether you receive the gift or give it. So we can say it with your heart with the colors too.

Even your favorite color, or the color of flowers you plant in your gardens can express something about your personality.

Here is just a few of the colors and their meanings:

Red: Love & affection, Romantic & Abiding Love, True Love, I Love You, Desire, Courage & Passion, Congratulations, Job Well Done, Respect & Appreciation, Honest Beauty, Courage & Passion, Bliss to Marriage

Dark Red: Deep passion, Readiness for a commitment, Unconscious beauty, Dying love

Light Pink: Gentleness, Joy & Grace, Admiration, Sympathy & Gentleness, Harmony & Warmth

Pink: Grace & Elegance, Admiration for beauty and refinement, Sweetness

Bright pink: Appreciation & Recognition, "Thank You", Gratitude, Admiration

White: Purity & Innocence, Reverence & Humility, Heavenly & Honor, Everlasting love, Marriages and New Beginnings, I am worthy of you, Beauty & Youthfulness, Remembrance

Yellow: Friendship and "I care", Unbridled joy, Promise of a new beginning, Gladness, Delight, Warmth, Good Luck, Welcome Back, Remember Me, Dying Love

Peach: Modesty, Closing of a new deal, Great cheer, Sincerity & Genuineness, Sympathy, Gratitude and Thankfulness

Blue:. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven

Purple: combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence.

So the next time you give a gift take the time to choose carefully, and give them a message from your heart just by choosing a special color.

The Rose!

The rose is such a beautiful flower. It is no wonder that women get so excited every time they receive even a single one or a bouquet for a gift for a special occasion, or just because they are special.

I am not sure when I was really captivated by roses. I just know that I love them so much. Every time I see them, I feel so good and they make me so happy. That is one reason that I named my website Shabby Denim Rose.

I never remember my mother having roses in our yard when I lived at home as a child. She was a real garden person and really loved the yard work. She stayed outside all day long on weekends when she wasn’t working a job. Let’s say she had the green thumb. Everything that she touched in the yard was beautiful.

I wasn’t ever fond of working in the yard at all when I was young, so from the time that I was 11 years old until I married at 17 years old, I stayed inside and did most of her houswork while she and later my step-dad took care of the yard and flower beds. Never do I remember seeing roses in the garden though. She might have had some when I was very little but I don’t remember. I didn’t even go outside much at all to notice.

Later in years, she and my step-dad retired to a little country community and had 4 beautiful lots full of trees to care for. I know she thought she was in heaven having that much yard to care for. Some how she made that place look like a National Park. Even with so much shade around she still could manage to find flowers and plants that would grow so pretty. But still no rose bushes. Now that I am older and study so much about flowers and plants, I see that roses need lots of sunshine, so that might be why she had no roses there.

I was blessed to inherit her property after my step-father passed away in 2004. My mama passed away in 1998 and sadly, my Dad let the property go undone some, so the yard was nothing like she had it. No real beautiful flower beds anywhere. There was evidence of them being there, but over the 6 years that my Dad was alone, he did not bother with the beds that she loved. They used to always work in the gardens together and I am sure that brought so much heartache to him.

Needless to say that I was thrilled the first Spring my husband and I lived here on this property and saw the beautiful azeleas and dogwoods blooming!! We both shouted! But of course those only last through Spring. So after those beautiful blooms were gone, there was not much color here but the beautiful green trees and grass.

After living here for 5 years, we have managed to get us a few little flower beds going. Of course we had to just try and see what would grow since we knew very little. My husband and I had lived most our married life in apartments so we had very few chances at flower beds. It was times like these that I had wished that I had watched Mama in the garden or at least asked her some questions.

This year we had to cut 2 huge trees down due to some problems with them. Of course that made me sad because I love trees so much, but then we realized something one day. We now have sunshine in a place where we have never had sunshine before!

At that moment I could just vision some roses growing there. I pictured in my mind a cute little garden, so we started a mission to see it done. At our age, it took my husband and I three weeks to prepare the ground and do what we wanted to make it look nice. I was so thrilled when it was done. We really did not know what it would look like until we finished because we just created it as we went along. Finally before the hot weather set in, we completely our dream garden area.

Then I found 3 climbing rose bushes to put near a fence where the most sun shines all day, so we planted them with love. I wanted pink and white roses, but I could only find 2 yellow climbing, and 1 red climbing rose bushes. Since I love roses so much, I settled for that.

At this moment in my life, I am patiently waiting for them to grow. I read that in a year they will climb 6 -7 feet tall. I go outside every morning and look at them, pray, and thank God for allowing me this opportunity. I am trying to do all I have learned to do for roses, so the rest is up to Him.

My husband always brings me bouquets of roses sometimes for no occasion at all. I never know what color of roses he will come home with next. One day, I am looking forward to the day that he can go to the yard and bring me in a bouquet. My favorite are pink which is funny because red used to be my favorite when I was young. Maybe there is a meaning to that!

Donated items

I am a member of the Shabby Lane Shops and have a store there named

Shabby Denim Rose where I sell a few of my unique handmade items. I love sewing and making items and have been sewing since I was 12 years old. I think the sewing machine is great therapy for me. But the greatest therapy is the joy that I feel when I have given something to someone instead of sold it.

Here are just a few pictures of things that I have donated to organizations like the Pink Slipper Project, & the Enchanted makeovers. I take such joy in doing that. Hopefully soon, I will have the quilt made for Quilts for Kids so you can see it.

The heart beat of my life is to give and not to receive. I guess that is why the scripture says "It is more blessed to give than to receive". You get more joy out of it.

I even made this sweet baby girls quilt shown above and donated it to the Military Hospital to be given to a baby of a wounded soldier.

I have also donated items to the Shabby Lane Shops Treasure boxes on a regular basis, and also to the Shabby Shops in a Box which I will be sending donations monthly.

My first really big gift was to a soldier in Iraq. I made him a quilt to keep him warm through winter and mailed it to him there. That was years ago. He still has it and we still talk to each other through letters etc, and I have never even personally met him. I don't have a picture of that quilt. I forgot to take one because I was in such a hurry to get it mailed to him.

He is getting married in November in Georgia, and invited my husband and I to the wedding, but it is so far away and I am not sure I will be able to make it since my husband won't fly.

Later while I was writing many soldiers, I had one to write me back, and ask if I would make a quilt for his unborn baby in the States. He said his son would be born and he would still be in Iraq, so I made this one in the picture here along with a couple bibs and pillow. I mailed it to his wife in the states as a gift from his Dad for Christmas. I never heard from them again but I do trust they got it and it blessed them.

Going with my heart!

Here recently, I went through a time for 6 weeks where I could not do anything but recline or stay in bed due to pain or injury of some type in my back and later the pain went to my foot. When I walked it was on a walker! I could not see myself cripple so I talked quite a bit to God.

None of it made any sense, and even after MRI was done 8 weeks later, nothing much showed at all. But now, I am fine and have even been working in my yard for 3 weeks helping my husband plant a garden, and we even designed another flower garden area.

During those weeks of my down time, I had lots of quiet time to spend in prayer with God, so no time was lost even though I missed my sewing projects desperately. I didn't even go into my sewing room because I knew that I would cry if I saw it. He spoke to me about many things and the direction of my heart.

After I started creating the "Say it with the Heart" pillows a while back, it moved me to think about what really makes my heart beat. I knew something was missing in my life and I got off track some.

The Lord spoke to me and said "Are you really following your heart?"

I knew then that my heart's joy was not in making things to sell. It was in doing for others, spending time sewing to give to others, and donate to charities. So at that moment, I surrendered to get back to what really makes my heart beat. My heart desires to beat in tune with the heart of God!

It is the heart of giving! After all the Bible says "For God so loved the World that He GAVE his only begotten son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life"'John 3:16

He put on my heart to make kids quilts for the Quilts for Kids project

I am working on a quilt for that now between the garden and other ministry things.

THE SECRET PLACE PSALM 91

There is one special place on our property for which I have great appreciation. It has served me well in both trouble and triumph. That special place is my meeting place with God. I call it my prayer garden. Yes, I do talk to God everywhere I go, even in my sewing room. I know God is always with me, but there is just something about this place! It carried me through all the hard times of my grandson being in the Marines boot camp in 2005, and his being deployed 3 times in Iraq. My talks with God got very bold and serious then, and I cried many tears of which I know that He has promised He has collected in a bottle.

My prayer garden carried me through the heart ache while praying for my granddaughter losing her unborn child, and many more hard times as well as the glorious times. God proved Himself faithful in all!

I watched myself grow in more ways than one during those quiet times with God in my prayer garden. That is what it is all about! God even created man in the garden which is a place of growth. We must grow, be watered, be fed, be pruned, then grow some new branches in our life. We must be like “the trees planted by the rivers of water.” Psalm 1:3

Little did my Mother and Dad know in 1990 when they built this beautiful building that once served as my Dad’s bar-b-cue room, and the place they played games, that it would one day be something so dear to my heart.

When we inherited our property in Dec. 2004, I longed so much for a special secret place to continue my close commune with God. For years and years, my special secret place of prayer was on the small patio of our apartment surrounded by plants and huge tall plants that looked like tiny trees. I had a tiny tabletop waterfall out there and a comfortable chair to sit in. As soon as I got my hubby off to work at 7:00 a.m., I would sit there for a couple of hours, do my Bible study, sing to the Lord, and pray for my loved ones, friends, and Pastors everywhere, and yes even my enemies.

Our apartment was facing the road and in front of our apartment was a huge tree where the branches hung over my patio and I watched the birds everyday. Such beautiful creatures!! That tree and birds brought so much joy to me! I loved every minute of my prayer place, and always hated to leave for the day to do the chores. One day the apartment manager had that tree cut down, and I cried so much because I lost my beautiful birds that seem to sing for me every morning.

One of my special prayers then was “Lord enlarge my territory”. Little did I know that He was about to give me not just one tree to enjoy, but 25, and not just 6 or 7 birds to enjoy but hundreds of them.

After we retired to our new inherited home. I walked the property praying for a special place of prayer. When the Lord put on my heart to use the screened in building for my prayer place, I was so thrilled. Then began the transformation little by little. Now I have a large waterfall instead of a table top one, many chairs, plants, and I am surrounded by trees everywhere and many birds all year round. We had to even put up 8 feeders to accomodate all the birds, and put up 4 hummingbird feeders! God has been so good to me. When Hurricane Ike took our home in 2008 and we had to be gone for 11 months, I was so grateful that my prayer garden was spared from any major damage, but I missed it so much.

My prayer garden is my place of safety, my place of refuge, my “hiding place”. It is here that I can tell God everything and be myself and know that I will not be critized. I can sing songs to Him without worrying if I can carry a tune or not or if I am singing too loud. He loves hearing our songs of praise to Him. For He told us to sing a new song to Him. I have sung songs that the Lord put in my heart that have never been published. They are my love songs to Him. For none has given me greater love than He.

I can leave there each morning feeling refreshed, restored, renewed, and ready to face more storms and battles. Here I find comfort, assurance, and promises from God’s Word.

This is my meeting place with God.

I am so thankful that my husband this week spent a whole day taking everything out of my prayer garden and washing it down to get all the yellow pollen out. He even hand washed and cleaned everything that was inside it, so I could get back in there again. He does this for me every Spring. The pollen causes problems, but it also is the sign of the beginning of new things for the year and new things in my life.

So now early every morning after waking, I can hardly wait to get out there with my cup of tea and spend my 2 or 3 hours with God.

I look out my prayer garden window today and I see you God. You are everywhere. I see you in my husband’s love and care for me, You are in the beautiful trees that sway in the wind, and the bluebirds, red cardinals, and so many more birds that seem to look at me and smile. I even watched the mischievous squirrels, and laugh! I feel your kisses upon my cheek once again. So I cry and my heart rejoices for I hear once again you say to me “with long life will I satisfy her, and shew her my salvation”. Psalm 91:16

WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

This morning I woke up to see my beautiful tea set sitting on a tea table that I just purchased in an antique store.

My heart was stirred with so many emotions, especially joy, to be able to display my tea set again. It is about the only thing materially that I have to remind me of my sweet brother who purchased it for me when he was in the Navy during Vietnam War. He was killed in a motorcycle wreck when he was only 41 years old. Today I thought of him when I saw the tea set, knowing that when he was 18 years old, that he thought enough of me to buy me this set and mail it to me when he was in the Phillipines. It is the only tea set I have and I cherish it. I keep it in my bedroom since I love pink roses and my bedroom is decorated in pink roses.

I want so much for this teaset to be passed down to my granddaughter, Kara when I pass away. She and I had spent so much time together having tea parties when she was a little girl. She doesn’t really like tea, but maybe the set will give her feelings of joy when she is old one day, like it does for me.

Hurricane Ike had distroyed my beautiful chocolate cabinet that the tea set was displayed in during the storm. A tree fell right on top of the house crushing the cabinet. I just knew everything was lost! It wasn’t until days later that I discovered the tea set was still ok, with only a tiny chip on one saucer. That was just an absolute miracle from God because most of the set was sitting on top of the cabinet instead of inside the glass doors. God in His mercy, spared it and I am so thankful! The cabinet was almost crushed flat, yet the teaset was spared! How could that be? Only God knows.

Our home was destroyed beyond what we could repair, so we purchased another one after 11 months of living with children, and now 1 1/2 years later, I am finally able to get a tea table to display my teaset on. The table is definately not as beautiful as my chocolate cabinet was, but the beauty of the tea set makes up for my loss.

When I pulled the tea set out of a cedar chest that I had it stored in until I could display it, I cried. It took me awhile to clean it up, and I shed lots of tears during that time just thinking about the past and the goodness of God in my life. God was so good to me!

I have seen lots of miracles in my family in my life, so I know the good things God can do in healing and all, but to see a fragile tea set still be like new after the powerful blow of a huge tree falling on top of it during a hurricane, just amazes me!

I am glad the tiny chip is on the saucer because I want it to be a reminder to my granddaughter of what our loving, caring Father in heaven will do for us even with the less important things in our life.

I hope she will tell this story to my great grandchildren one day as she tells the miracle of her foot being spared when she shows them the scar on her foot. Why does God leave scars and chips on things He has healed, protected, and restored? Because He wants us never to forget!

We must not forget who God is and what He has done in our life, even if they seem like small unimportant things to others!

Angels have a Message for you!

Recently I made some hankie Angels and attached cards to them. I call them Message Angels!

They are on a special mission to bring a special message to you. Each one is unique and one of a kind with different messages. I love giving them to special friends.

Christmas Pleasures!

I had the most wonderful Christmas this year. I got to have the blessing of being the hostess for our family Christmas party in our new home. I fixed the food and had 23 people attending which were mainly my children and grandchildren. I loved every minute of it. There is no greater joy than being with your own children!

One of my special gifts was a ticket to fly with my daughter in January so I could experience flying for the first time!