Featured Pattern: Sophisticated 60's

I am in love with this pattern.  Then why sell it, you ask?  Because alas--I am in love with a whole lot of patterns and my pending projects are piling up to the ceiling.  Thus I am sharing the love. ;)  Do you feel it?

My favorite design element on this dress are the set-in sleeves with top-stitching.  My second-favorite is the peter-pan collar on view 1.  Cute!  Like most dresses of this style and era, this would look fantastic made up in a soft wool.  It would look especially snazzy if you had a hat similar to model no. 1's.

I have a bunch of cute fall patterns up at the shop, so do come by and take a look!

<><><><><>

In other news,

Math class =

Alas!

Have a great Friday evening,

~Bessie

O.C.

"The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness.  If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics.  God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly.  The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works our in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God."

~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest.  September 20.

One of the best antique store finds EVER

I went antiquing over the weekend and came home with the most wonderful treasure--an old family photo album.  The album has no name in it, and dates back to the early 20th century (teens-twenties).  I have always loved old photos, but the thing that struck me most about this collection is how real the people seemed.  You know how people in old photographs are usually stiff and stodgy-looking, and often seem to be a bit angry at you? Not this family.  They are smiling, and goofing around and laughing at each other and playing with babies and doing things that normal people do.  I think that the family must have been wealthy, to have so many pictures taken of everyday life.  Either that, or a family member was a photographer. Hm.

For those of you who delight in stepping into the past, I am going to share some of my favorite album pages with you here on the blog.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! :D

Look--an airplane!

Isn't this woman beautiful?  I love the pictures of her with her baby.

Here are some independent pictures that I thought were really cool:

Two sisters playing music together--reminds me of my family. :)

I love this one.  They are being goofy and posing and the woman is laughing.

This fellow sent some young lady a postcard with a picture of him in his football uniform.  He looks pretty dashing, does he not? 

That's all for now, folks! 

~Bessie

One 70's Pattern I DO like

  What do you think about this made up in a lightweight charcoal grey wool?  

(the color in my sketch is a lot lighter than I actually envision)

I especially love the belt!  I'm not sure what color I'd make it in. Red or black, probably.  

I might have to make an exception to my "no new projects" pledge for this one.  ;)  

Have a fantastic day!

~Bess

FAIL.

Yes, I am a failure as a math student.  I had such high hopes for myself, but alas, I think I will be lucky to make it through this class with a C-.  I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to get on my mid-term exam.  Ah well, I suppose we can't all be good at everything.

To make myself feel better, I worked on a really fun, super artsy project.   It involves old coasters that I found at a barn sale, fabric scraps, and glue.  I'll try to get some good pics up soon!  Until then, here is a little sneak-peak via my shoddy webcam! (Sorry!)

I finished three of the six that I bought.  That means I have three left to finish.  See, I can do math.

Here is a pre-renovation coaster.  Discolored dead butterflies with fake bodies (yes, their bodies are fake) are always nice to set your drink down on! ;)

All right, I am off to sleep.  Have a fantastic and restful Sunday!

Bessie

View Blog Stats!

So I just figured out that I could view my blog's stats via my dashboard.  I can check out how many page views I have had in a given week, which posts drew the most page views, which sites provide most of my traffic source, and even search keywords that most commonly bring up my blog.   How cool is that?

Well, maybe...

Wait a minute.  

Should I be depressed?

Hrmph.

Who asks Google that type of question anyway?  Don't they know that's what magic eight balls are for? 

Sigh.

~Bessie

Even though I don't like to admit it...

...the Lord really is in control, and He really does have our best interest at heart, and through the blood of Christ, He really has made us worthy of a good inheritance.  

O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 

I have set the Lord always before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.  

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.  

For You shall not leave my soul in Sheol, 

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 

You will show me the path of life:

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:5-11

In the words of Oswald Chambers...

I was skimming through My Utmost for His Highest yesterday and came across a devotion on which I had written, "I need to read this every day."  Well I guess I didn't take that too much to heart, because I definitely haven't read it in a long time.  So I decided perhaps I ought to take a look at it again.  I'm glad I did--and I must say, I can still hold to my original sentiment about it.  I thought I'd share it here on the blog, and hope you glean from it what I did--the importance of abiding in Christ and finding your joy in Him.

My Joy...Your Joy

"That My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."  John 15:11

What was the joy that Jesus had?  It is an insult to use the word happiness in connection with Jesus Christ.  The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do.  "I delight to do Thy will."  Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same joy as His.  Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, nor in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had.  The first thing that will hinder this joy is the captious irritation of thinking out circumstances.  The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word.  Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the show of things.  All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.  

Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water.  Be a center for Jesus Christ to pour living water through.  Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified prig, and live the life hid with Christ.  The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes.  The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it.

~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest.  August 31.

After reading this entry, I thought I'd check out John 15 to get a better feel for Chambers' message.  It's been awhile since I read through John, and it was definitely about time that I read it again.  I needed a refresher on abiding in Christ, that's for sure.  It's such a simple concept, yet so difficult to implement in one's daily life (or at least it seems difficult--it actually makes everything much easier in the end).  Thank God for His grace, that's all I can say! ;)

Wishing you all a joyful and restful weekend,

~Bessie

p.s. I will eventually do a post on Jenny's dress.  I promise.  Too much busyness in my life lately; not enough time to be creative.  

Math, sickness, and fall dresses

Not that I am necessarily much better at mathematics, but I feel that I am acquiring a better understanding of them.  Or the language of mathematics, so to speak.  For example, the statement "Marla is a musician and not a pianist" would be written thus in mathese:

Isn't that awesome???

Ok, you probably all remember this stuff and I'm sure not many people think it is very exciting.  I'm still not a huge fan of math, but I love learning, and I so want what I've learned to stick.  Being able to understand the language of mathematics (at least at a very basic level) makes me happy.  Let's just hope that I can continue to understand things as the course progresses.

 On another note, I am sick today and consequently feel like crap.  This happens every single time I get too busy--running, running, running and never stopping to rest.  I wake up to the next week sick.  Don't know when I will ever learn.

So I have cancelled my lessons for today and plan to stay home and sleep because that is all I really feel like doing.  Hopefully that will do the trick and this sickness will be short-lived.

On one final note, Jenny and I picked out a really pretty pattern for her dress, and have begun the fitting process.  I'll post pics as I take them. :)

~Bess