{Thoughts on Life: Is Being Stubborn Always a Bad Thing}

Websters defines stubborn as:

1a: unreasonably or perversely unyielding; justifiably unyielding

1b: suggestive or typical of strong stubborn nature

2 : performed or carried on in an unyielding, obstinate or persistent manner

3: difficult to handle, manage or treat

4: lasting

The synonyms listed include: adamant, adamantine,(?) bullheaded, dogged, hard, hardened, hardheaded, hard-nosed, headstrong, immovable, implacable, inconvincible, inflexible, intransigent, (?) mulish, obdurate,(?) opinionated, ossified, (?) pat, pertinacious, (?) perverse, pigheaded, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff-necked, obstinate, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful.

Of the words I do recoginze from that list, none sound very positive. Coming from someone who's been called stubborn her whole life, I'd like to try and find the silver lining. :) I feel like there's another word out there that describes me, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Now I KNOW for a fact that I can be stubborn...in all the ways listed above. I actually feel it taking over me when it happens. You know how there is a term "green with envy"? Well whichever color stubborn is, at certain times I can feel myself turning that color slowly in situations where I feel like I have to stand my ground or give in. It's hard to explain, but I know when it's happening, and now that I'm an adult, and making a conscious effort toward molding my character after that of Christ, I'm much better at fighting that feeling when it's not justified (which it rarely was/is...).

But I've also been called "stubborn" in a few other, more positive situations, such as when I lost my weight (35lbs), and going through natural labor & delivery. It's these situations that make me think there must be a more positive way to define stubbornness, unless it's just another word entirely that I should use instead. Any ideas?

I ask all this because I was reading a devotion from "Jesus Calling" (written by Sarah Young) that said,

"When you walk through a day in trusting dependence on Me, My aching heart is soothed. Gently bring your attention back to Me whenever it wanders away. I look for persistence -- rather than perfection -- in your walk with me." 

 It's the word persistence that really made me wonder. Webster defines it as:

"the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people"

I feel like when I look back through my Christian walk, there is an obvious lack of persistence. Instead there are periods where I found myself being very wishy-washy and apathetic. Which makes me wonder, what is keeping me from using my "stubbornness" as a way to fight off the apathy?

Continuing on my word study, I realized that one of the synonyms of Persistence is Endurance, which Webster defines as: (last word definition for this post, I promise!)

"the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially: the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity"

Taking my word search from the dictionary to the Bible, I found some neat passages that reference endurance, and the importance of having it as a Christian:

Luke 21:10-19

"Then he said to them, 'Nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and priosns, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand on how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not even a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives."

Romans 5:1-5

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Colossians 1: 9-14

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worth of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." 

2 Timothy 2:1-13

"You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure with him, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself."

What I am starting to understand from these scriptures is that determination and endurance are right response to the sacrifice that Christ paid for us. Where in contrast, stubbornness is a defiant attitude in response to someone's words/actions... That being said, I think my goal, and my main focus should be to cling to an idea of determination and endurance in living a righteous life. When it comes to Jesus and his will for my life, stubbornness is never going to be an asset. Although, if and when I get to a place where I am more aware of the enemy's attacks, I can use my stubbornness to fight off a wrong response, but that only works well when I am covering myself in the truth, and fighting to stay observant about when I am tempted to think/act/speak in a way that is opposite the Lord's will. 

{Recipe :: Sparkling Vanilla Lemonade}

So I love lemons. Lemonade, lemon drops, lemon bars, lemon cake...if it's lemony, I'm pretty sure I'll love it.

(Except for Lemony Snicket. I've never read the serious, much to my sister in law's chagrin.)

So a month or so ago I had a hankering for some lemonade, and decided to head to Pinterest -- of course-- for some make at home versions! I came across THIS blog, which apparently borrowed a recipe for Sparking Italian Lemonade from Giada De Luarentiis, the original of which can be found HERE.

I made it for a family dinner we had, and was pleasantly surprised at subtle basil flavoring. I think I might have been the only one in the house that liked it, (not lemon lovers...hard to believe!) but I finished it off by drinking glass after glass in the following days. YUM.

Fast-forward through about a month of lemonade-hankering... I'm not a super big fan of some of the pre-mixed versions, but wanted to try something other than the basil, and had a brilliant idea to add vanilla! Off to Pinterest I went, sure that my search would turn up blank, since I had just discovered the best new thing...only to be both sadly disappointed (no patent for me!) and super excited that there were LOTS of recipes out there already with vanilla added in.

I decided to loosely follow THIS recipe that I had found, but thought that adding in the "Sparking" aspect of the first version would equal a winning combination...

It turned out DELICIOUS. Since I'm still the only lemonade loving person in this house, I should have enough to quench my thirst & desire for a sweet/tangy/bubbly drink for about the next week or so. :)

Notes: In both recipes, I didn't have actual lemons on hand (sad, I know) so I used bottled lemon juice. And for the second recipe, I didn't have actual vanilla beans, so I used vanilla extract. I hope to make a more authentic version with fresh ingredients next time, and will hopefully update this post with pictures! ;)

Here's my variation of the two recipes. (Another note: this is easily enough for 2 big pitchers, so if you'd just like to try it out, I would suggest you halve everything listed below.)

::Sparkling Vanilla Lemonade::

Ingredients:
Simple Syrup

• 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tblspns Vanilla Extract (or fresh vanilla bean)
• Dash of Salt 
• Lemon Peel (optional)

2 cups lemon juice (From approximately 8-10 fresh lemons)
2 cups cold water
Carbonated Water

Process:

First, make your simple syrup by combining the sugar, 2 cups water, dash of salt, vanilla, and optional lemon peel in a saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring to ensure that all the sugar is dissolved, & simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Once it's finished simmering (should be well combined, and have a more "syrupy" texture), remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Once cooled, add in your lemon juice and remaining 2 cups of cold water, stir until well combined.

At this point, you've got your "concentrate". When ready to serve, I typically add ice and then a ratio of approximately 1:1 of the vanilla/lemony syrup and the carbonated water. If you typically like your drink more/less sweet/lemony, you can adjust this ratio to your hearts content!

As I mentioned in the "note" above, this recipe is enough for two big pitchers. Because when I'm making it, I make it for my own consumption over the course of a few days, I just leave the concentrate in the pitcher, and keep the carbonated water in it's bottle closed tightly to retain the bubbles. If you're serving at a party/event, I would go ahead and mix in about (8) cups of the carbonated water (if I did my math correctly) for a ready to serve beverage.

If serving for a party, or you just want your own drink to look fancy, I'd add a slice of lemon to the edge of each cup.

Hope you enjoy! I'll be back to update this post with pictures the next time I make more. :)

{ DIY Pallet Bookshelf }

I'd been wanting to make a pallet bookshelf for our bedroom for a long time!

I finally got some old pallets for free from work a few months ago, and Mikhal was able to disassemble them for me using this trick  I read about on Pinterest!  :) 

The neatly stacked pile of wood has been sitting in our driveway waiting for me for a while now, and we finally had the time to get started last weekend! 

First things first, a plan--of course! 

Then lots of selecting & measuring...

Then lots of cutting... 

Then, in order to make it a little less rustic, ;) I chose to do at least a general sand on all the pieces.

Proof that I did it myself. :) 

(Don't mind the Donald Trump hair!) 

Well  I did MOST of it myself. :) 

On of the shelves, finished! :) 

And all three! :) I love that there's a slight zebra texture on some of the boards. 

Like this one. :) 

Oh, did I mention that I got a new 50mm lens since my last blog post? :) I'm LOVING it! 

The bottom with the back pieces attached...

With both the bottom & top attached.. :) 

Then I didn't do a very good job documenting the next few steps; although I did try! I took some pictures, but didn't realize until too late that I didn't have a memory card loaded.  *sigh 

What was missed: 

-Adding the shelves

-More sanding (with a more fine grit sandpaper)
-Adding the aesthetic pieces on the fronts & sides
-Staining

FINISHED! 

I'm SO SO SO SO happy with how it turned out! 

And here's how it looks in our room..

The before: 

And the after: 

Now it's just a matter of getting everything loaded into it in an artistic manner. :) I'm going to keep my eye out for some cute baskets to help store some miscellaneous items in. Can't wait to post one more follow up once I've got everything situated! :) 

{FORE!!}

Well it feels like it took me forever to finish this quilt, but I think it's because it was just so "outside the box" compared to the piecework quilts I'm used to doing! 

This one is for new friends of ours from church who just had their little guy earlier this month! His Dad loves golf, and that was one of the things they mentioned they'd like when we were discussing inspiration. I had this idea pretty soon after, and then it was just the process of getting my idea down on paper (with my sister in law, Marina's help), and then getting it from paper to material! 

I  machine appliqued the pieces together (which means they are layered on top of each other, not sewn next to each other like in typical piecing), and I think it turned out pretty cute! 

Front 

Back 

(Those are cute little trees! I'm annoyed that I didn't get a better picture of them, or write down the designer/name!) 

These other ones are some more detailed shots. I also stepped outside the box with the quilting! I thought this would be a good opportunity to practice adding dimension. If you look closely you'll see the chevron pattern on the trees (for "leaves"), and the mow lines in the turf! :) 

So happy with this finished product, but even more happy to be able to give it to a family that we really feel blessed to know! 

{Baby Showers & Household DIY Projects}

Oh my goodness, I think I might, no, I really I need to start doing a better job of posting more often! Or at least keeping better notes of my recent craft escapades so that I don't need to try to cram so much into each post when I do get on here! 

Sound like a plan to you? :) 

So as I mentioned in a recent facebook status update, I've been feeling a) really busy lately, and also on b) crafty-brain overload! I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but I'll go really hard on craft projects for a while with no break, and then I realize that I am BURNT OUT and need a little break. I think I felt that way this past month with quilting; I kept up on tons of other DIY projects (more about that later), but this most recent quilt I finished & delivered took me just about the whole month to make, which never happens! 

The neat thing about that, though, is that this quilt was for a very sweet, long-time friend of mine who is having a little baby boy this August! I don't speak of it much, but as often as I remember when I'm making a quilt for a specific baby, I try to pray over them, their future, etc....so the benefit of having this quilt, and this quilt alone on my plate for the past month is that God has used it to keep my beautiful friend & her little guy at the fore-front of my mind, and in my prayers!  Can't wait to meet Mr. Leiden! :) 

So a couple of months ago, I had a brief discussion with Lacey about quilt ideas, and she mentioned that she loved chevrons, and a green/white/gray/black color scheme for the nursery, both of which I had an inkling about already; so the wheels were already turning! This is what I came up with: 

(Note to self...and my readers. No, my iron is not broken, and I'm not quite sure my excuse is for always taking pictures of my quilts at their most wrinkly moments? Sheesh.. I'll work on that for next time. *wink)

(Folded in half)

LOVE how simple chevrons really are when you break them down into their most basic shapes, 1/2 square triangles! 

Decided on a cute, but coordinating, "quieter" fabric for the back in case she gets tired of seeing the chevrons! 

(Although technically you can see the imprint still from the quilting in green thread... I couldn't resist! I think it turned out so cute!) 

While I was making another trip to The Happiest Place on Earth (aka: Joanns), I found this ADORABLE "bag fabric" near the utility fabrics and just knew I had to get it! I ended up making a cute & simple re-usable tote bag that I also used as the gift wrapping!

Lacey's shower was yesterday, and it was such a great celebration of her & baby Leiden! I just love getting to be a part of the joy surrounding this new little guy that hasn't even made his appearance yet! 

Our mutual friend, Casey was there, did this great little summary of the shower, and had her camera on hand to capture this special moment as Lacey was opening her gifts:

{Photo Credit: Casey H. 06/2013}

It's funny (not just because I look like a GOOF), but because I don't think many people understand the absolute JOY that getting to make these quilts for people that I love brings to me!  I so LOVE that I get to have this as a memory! :) {Thanks again, Casey!}

Okay, now a summary of the DIY projects we've been accomplishing at home!

Here are the "before" pictures of our kitchen cabinets/counters:

Practical enough, and much better than what was there when we moved in, but not quite perfect, yet! Then we found two laminate counter pieces at Home Depot for $36/ea (regularly $145!), and this is what we came up with:

And this finished product deserves a few shout-outs! First, Mikhal helped SO much with fixing and stabilizing these cabinets that we found on craigslist, and making replacement drawers! And Alex & him worked together to get the vent adjusted, and got the counter tops installed. 

Another Michael, my brother in law's brother (no I'm not stuttering) made us the three great drawer fronts (on the left above the doors)! 

I found the curtain material at Joanns, and just LOVE it. There are so many cute colors, it matches the "hodge-podge" of kitchen towels, etc.. that we have in our combined household. Perfect! 

Now I'm going to spend the next few months slowly working on additional "finishing touches" like these:

Cute $5 jars from Ross for storage above our stove! Love that it is starting to look more intentional and less cluttered. :) 

I had a perfectly sized spare piece of the same flowered material left, and made this cute "cafe curtain" to help draw the material in on the other side of the kitchen. I think I might get some more and make some coordinating dish towels or pot holders to help bring the material through the rest of the kitchen too. And like I mentioned earlier, there are so many great colors in the material that decorating is a new fun adventure! There will be so many different things that match, so now it's a matter of picking just a couple of ideas! 

The other project that we finally finished up is the "office" portion of our bedroom! I had made heavy canvas-esque curtains when we first moved in that I ended up not liking due to their stiffness and weight.. so those got moved over to our make-shift closet, and I made these much softer "linen" curtains to go over the cute lace under-lay that picks up our red accents. 

And we finished the chair to match our desk/table! WAHOO! Mikhal did such a great job with the stain (it matches so well), and then it was just a matter of me having the time to paint the legs and back red, and clear coat the whole thing. Love that it's finally all together as a set. :) 

Anyway, this is kind of the fly-by, stick your face out the window a free-way speeds version of what we've been working on recently! I hope you have enjoyed the summary! I'm going to be doing some serious thinking in the next few weeks about product, projects to upload to my Etsy! The burp cloths I had up have since expired, and I really didn't have much interest in them, so I want to expand the types of items I have posted to hopefully get it up and running with a bit more success. 

My plan is also to look into some more craft sales/bazaars, because I think the face to face interaction would be a great way to get my name out there some more! 

Any tips or suggestions about types of items to work on/look into? 

I appreciate you all, and will do my best to update more often, and with some additional variety (topical)! :) 

Until next Time... 

{Recent Projects}

Well it's been a little while since I posted, mainly because I've been busy working on a few different projects! I'll try to get them all re-capped here on the blog!

1) First, a quilt I just finished a week or so ago! This is for a good friend of mine that I've known for YEARS who is expecting a little girl in a couple of months!

Her & I have been pen pals for probably about 10 years, and in one of her letters she mentioned that they were doing a "jungle" theme in her nursery! I saw this fabric at Joanns and thought it would look really cute!
Her baby shower was this weekend, and when she opened the box up; she mentioned that this is the same fabric she had seen and picked out for some other items a friend of hers was making for the room! :)

Some may call it a coincidence, but I think it's a God thing! :) Just reminds me that what I'm doing is somehow more important than just a warm blanket.

I'm calling this pattern "interrupted chevrons" :) I loved all the coordinating colors, but also really wanted to highlight the CUTE main fabric. 

{By the way, I'm realizing that I really should IRON these puppies before taking pictures! I always fold them up while I'm sewing the binding, which is the last stage, and then they get these horrible creases in them!}

2) One of my next projects was a DIY, rather than a quilt! I had been really hating our address letters, because they were tiny, hard to read, and just plain BLAH.

BEFORE:

 I had seem some different Pinterest inspirations, and this is what I came up with:
AFTER: 

I love that it's so much bigger, brighter, and CUTER! :)

3) Another cute DIY I did was inspired by, or should I say requested by a friend of mine from church! She was putting together a baby shower for a mutual friend of ours, and when I asked how I could help, she asked if I'd make a cute fabric banner to hang up for decoration!
I had seen these around a bunch on pinterest, but hadn't ever tried to do one of my own; but boy I'm glad I did! I think it turned out super cute, and it was SO simple! (Maybe I'll try a tutorial on it soon!) I'm considering adding this to my Etsy "arsenal". :)

I'm bummed that I didn't get a picture of it hanging up at the shower, but needless to say, I was proud of it! :) Can't wait to try others in various sizes and materials! 

4) Next project was another DIY, this time for our kitchen!
The BEFORE:
This is how we kept track of the dishwasher status (which is important when you have different people loading/unloading/starting the dishwasher all the time--this was a step up from always having to ask "is the dish washer clean or dirty?", but still not quite practical or CUTE enough. :)

I was inspired by some different Pinterest posts that used scrabble letters, but rather than having to rob from our game, or order new letters, I raided my collection of left over letters from the "Love" project I did in our bed-room last year, and this is what I came up with:

The After:

 Much cuter, if I do say so myself! :)

5) And last but not least, a quilt I finished just last week; a custom commission by my sister for her friend who is due with a little boy in the near future:
We checked her baby registry and saw that she had a kind of nautical/whale theme going, and we found this cute whale themed fabric at Joanns to use for the backing! The front is just coordinating solids & patterns, with some personalized embroidery!

Then as a surprise, both to the recipient, and my sister,  I made some cute "extras" withe leftover whale material!

 Overall, I'm really happy with how it all turned out! For the burp cloths, I just used the multiple layers of flannel/cotton, rather than the diaper core I had done before. I just wasn't as happy with how those were looking after I was finished, and I think these turned out super cute! I may consider adding additional layers inside to add extra absorbency, but I need to test it.

Well that's it for now! I'm working on another quilt to sell (sneak peak pictures going up on Facebook today), and then I have three custom projects to work on after that! :) Phew, keeping me busy, but loving every minute of it!

:) Until next time...