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Psalm 68: 9 You gave abundant showers, O God, you refreshed your weary inheritance.
I just happened on this Bible verse, and it struck me because of the umbrellas. God continually blesses and refreshes my soul. Even when worldly troubles make me weary, He lifts me up and showers me with His love. Do you have a relationship with Him?
Our monthly ASG Gainesville Neighborhood Group met July 27th. We had read an article in our ASG newsletter about making umbrellas, and thought it would be a fun class. Our group leader Jill Werschin contacted Jan Squires from another group and asked her to come share her class with us. We had a lot of fun making umbrellas!
About a month before the class we were each sent a panel of fabric to decorate. Most of the girls embroidered theirs, one hand stitched flowers on hers, and I painted mine. I don’t have an embroidery machine, so I used fabric paints and stencils, along with sponges, brushes, and fabric crayons.
ASG Gainesville Neighborhood Group - pictures here!
We cut out the panels, then sewed all 8 of them together. Then we made sure of the fit on our purchased umbrella frames. We serged the seams for a clean finish and checked the fit again. Then we hemmed on the serger. The seams were attached at the ribs, the top was finished and decorated. They are beautiful!
Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name,extol him who rides on the clouds – his name is the Lord – and rejoice before him.
I find that when I am being creative, I like to have music playing. If you are my Facebook friend you will notice that “I am stuck in the 60′s”. That being said, I like all kinds of music. If I am already working on something and want to get moving, I will play some some classic rock’n roll. If I’m looking for inspiration, it might be classical. When I am cutting or laying out fabric, I will play Christian music, singing praise to God.
I have written before about vision boards. Now I am considering doing a journal. I joined ABC Creative Journal with Andrea Schroeder, and actually have written down a few things. She has a free online course on creativity, and some other paid classes, too. She guides you through your thoughts with meditation, enhancing/enabling your creativity. Her voice is very soothing, and there’s nothing weird or ‘woo-woo’ about it, if you know what I mean. I’m beginning to feel myself opening up to my inner creativeness!
I came across this article the School of Media Arts about keeping a visual journal. I found it really interesting and helpful, and I hope you do too.
Go make something today!
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
I have written before about teaching someone to sew, and I myself have taught. It’s important to teach others so that we can keep traditions. Quilting and sewing will be lost if we don’t teach the younger generation these skills. Sharing what you know benefits everyone. Once you do it, you will find that you will be given more opportunities to do it again!
My friend Paul Taubman has a blog All About Gratitude. He writes today about sharing your talents, and the gratitude it will bring. Hope you like it!
Psalm 67:1-2 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
God blesses me every day! If you know Him as your Lord and Saviour, you know what I mean. Though we don’t have as many material things as we used to, this time has made my faith stronger, and brought me closer to Him. I am surrounded by beauty at home, I am blessed with my friends, and I have a faithful church family. God is good!
Last week the Gainesville neighborhood group of ASG met. We had 12 people in attendance and it was a good meeting.
Marguerite Deaderick brought patterns for us to make ‘pot pinchers’. These are small pot holders that fit over your fingers and fold in half to grab your pots and pans. I think it’s a great idea! I am always folding over my potholders. The pattern is from Barbara Brunson of Vanilla House Designs. Check out her site to purchase this pattern. She graciously allowed us to use her pattern, and we thank her!
We will be making a set of these to donate to Ronald McDonald House.
Marguerite Deaderick and Phyllis Hawkins
Marguerite had examples made in various stages, and she had some good tips for us that she had picked up in the course of making her demos. She shared her mistakes too!
Kathy has her’s cut out and is ready to sew!
These are the ones I made. 
Psalm 66:16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.
I love my Lord. He sent his Son to die for me. Though I am unworthy, an earthly creature, and sinful, He loves me. I am wonderfully made, for His purpose, to be His. Do you know Jesus?
My friend Bev Hilton of Crafty Bev has come up with another new ruler. They have improved on one, and have more coming down the pipeline. I’m so happy for her. Some of her friends have come up with suggestions, and her husband Rick has designed and manufactured them.
If you’d like to keep up with their new products, you should sign up to receive their newsletter. Here’s what they had to say:
New Product Announcement
Twenty-Four Inch
Center-Finding Ruler
Our Twelve Inch Center-Finding Ruler has been extremely popular, but we’ve gotten several requests for a bigger version. After a number of prototypes we’ve got an excellent Twenty-Four Inch Center-Finding Ruler designed for quilters and craftspeople.
The ruler is twenty-four inches long and two inches wide, made of florescent green, durable cell-cast plexiglass. It is a big, hefty ruler. Its top edge is a center-finding ruler, with markings in 1/16 inch increments. The bottom edge is a standard twenty-four inch ruler with markings every 1/8 inch. On the side edges are markings every 1/4 inch.
A center-finding ruler allows you to find the center of a piece, or to make an element the center of your block.
This is a heavy duty workhorse of a ruler, and with the markings all laser-engraved, they will never wear off from use.
