Yarn Along ... pinks and blues... and tea! and beauty!

I have made a lot of fun royal blue wash clothes...

knitting on the PATH train to NYC, the subway in NYC,

at my friend's house in Pittsburgh, 

at this conference which I highly recommend listening to 

the various talks, esp. this one by Fr Stephan Freeman

so insightful, powerful and such love... 

I met a lot of dear ones at the Conference,

though I was careful not to get too peopled out, 

as I wanted this to be something fun, 

not an overwhelming experience for me, 

a cross between introvert and extrovert. 

So there were a lot of people who I know from them being online,

but I did not introduce myself to them as it would have

been too much in such a short time.

That said, I really enjoyed myself, felt it went really well

and between that and an earlier visit to the 

Elwood City Monastery, so beautiful ...

God gave me this feeling of peace, of joy, of love, 

that I had not felt like that in a very long time, 

as in that abundance, like I was floating along by God's mercy... 

one of those rare times of blessings,

I am so grateful for that. 

So it's been nice to be knitting simple 

wash clothes... and in so many places! 

I have a few more I need to weave ends in...

I think I will not start any bigger projects until the Fall as

the heat makes it hard to do much else!

***

I am hoping to sew more though, 

and began the beginnings of a simple pillow,

the picture below is of the front of this pillow...

As for reading, 

I am dipping into this Psalter, which is so lovely,

reading slowly this book of letters,

which I am pondering and learning so much from;

read this novel (blogged about here, ended up being a traumatic unexpected ending,

still a bit in shock about it),

and am reading tons of cooking things, including this new to me blog,

and ordered new stack of cookbooks and memoir cookbooks 

to enjoy in the coming months! 

***

I am so glad Ginny is doing the Yarn Along once a month now,

even though I have not been able to join for some time!

I have met some wonderful blog friends through Ginny's Yarn Along

and am grateful for it and them! 

***

If you create with fiber/yarn,

yarn along with us! 

From the last days

Wrote this yesterday:

Christ is Ascended! Ascended in Glory! 

I was not able to be in church (Husband went for us both!) but I was able to watch much of the liturgy today from Holy Transfiguration Monastery and it was lovely, as was the small talk by Mother Christophora where she spoke of this as a restful time of waiting (for the Holy Spirit) and of joy... that Christ as He went into Heaven will one day come back to Earth... and that we are to wait for the day of Pentecost when we will be given the Holy Spirit and clothed from on High in this way.

I watched the wedding I was at again too! :)

From the book on Fr Seraphim Rose...

Made the other day by the lovely lady who helped us

this week!

Husband's vintage 'purell'! and a washcloth I restarted 

as the seed stitch was making it feel too flat and already used up! 

Such a pretty pink!

Well, overall lots of good progress this week.

Full time help DV starting next week Tuesday.

I am reading another lovely book, 

The Four Graces by DE Stevenson,

it's delightful!

Husband gave me a full prosphora today,

from the Feast of the Ascension of Christ into Heaven

and that was really nice, with my 'shot glass of Holy Water' :)

I have 4 appointments today for things related to my ankle. 

It was tiring but went well thanks to people's prayers 

and God's mercy.

I still get uncomfortable at times.

Nights are getting a bit harder.

But every night and every day is different and 

I am trying to just be where I am,

with God.

I have read over 100 pages of the Fr Seraphim Rose book,

it's quite good.... 

I did not read any today, as I had so many meetings and such.

I am knitting some.

I got some really nice cards today.

I got cards today from my Aunt K,

My Great Aunt P,

and my Munchkin and his Mom! 

That was really nice!

Mr Husband is putting all of my cards on this shelf for me to see!

The big one that is blue and opens up is from my far away church!

Lots of people signed it! Really cheered me up when I got it 

the other day!

God's been so good to me in this,

I am so thankful for so many prayers.

***

My Husband is being so valiant, 

making sure I am ok, helping me, doing the

the daily work grind, and so much more...

***

I am excited for along weekend with Mr Husband!

He has a lot to do tomorrow but at least he will be around,

which is nice.

And I have books to read and movies to watch.

***

I hope everyone who has a long weekend this weekend

will have a blessed, safe and peaceful one! 

Fabric ~ colours, brightness and beauty

As mentioned on Tuesday,

my friend and I went to a fabric store 

that sells fabric for quilts.

My Quilting Friend has made various quilts and 

I sent her the link of the quilt I want to make...

I am learning various sewing words,

like cloth off the bolt of fabric,

like these pictures above...

I also learned that there are charm packs,

which are pieces of cloth cut to the size

of square I want for this quilt.

The two rainbow stacks of fabric are these.

The mini scrolls of fabric are called 

'fat quarters'....

I went with the colours of the pattern I am using,

and had such fun seeing all the possibilities

for beautiful squares for this 

colourful patchwork quilt...

we focused on pink, reds, orange, yellows and white,

often with the other 4 colours included as

a shape, often of a flower...

My friend ensured that I did not get

fabrics that, in her words,

would 'swear at each other' ;)

The ladies at the shop cut these very quickly...

See the big section of fabric with the deep

pink roses? 

That's for the back of the quilt!

I just love it.

I actually have enough fabric here to make two

of these quilts.

I love all these fabrics and today, D.V. my

friend is coming down to my place

to help me set up my machine, 

teach me tricks on how to quickly cut the fabric to the

size squares I want,

and give me easy tutorials on sewing in a strait line!

As you can see in the PDF of this pattern,

it is a strait forward one! 

*

And as my friend keeps telling me,

it can be my guide to base how I make mine

and I can be free to be creative!

*

As I took a train back home on Tuesday,

my friend is DV bringing all my fabric

and sewing supplies (which I now know are called notions)

today with her!

*

I am excited for such a joyful and beautiful

project to work on.

The quilt is for my still baby goddaughter and

my goal is to have it done in

1.5 years at the latest.

*

I already have other things I am dreaming of making

and am excited to begin!

Books, a funeral, cups of tea, a baby, a cold and a video that cheered me up

Basmati Rice.

So simple, so good and easy to reheat.

I was thinking the other day of how 

just ordinary life can be so beautiful.

Mr. Husband and I enjoyed rice for an early dinner today...

*

A man named George who I would visit

at times in the nursing home died.

He was a big flirt, very lovable, memorable and just lovely.

The last time I saw him he was declining and then we found out

he died recently, I had not been to see him in a little bit,

with summer and all it's fullness (moving, kids, family visiting, traveling...)

Mr. Husband taxied me personally to and from the funeral 

that was this morning.

It's always hard to say goodbye, no matter what age.

May George's memory be eternal! 

Yesterday I re-read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Mr. Husband and I got a lovely set from early 1950s in PEI,

which I read from in our library/chapel.

I also finished knitting a small teddy bear sized scarf :) 

I was saddened to have three first edition Elizabeth Goudge's

with dust jackets mangled in the mail.

I am still working on seeing if there can be any recompense.

And I will have to make work of getting some 

archival tape and jackets to mend them...

one more thing for the ever mounting to-do-list....

I lit one of my two tallest monastery candles

last night when a dear Ottawa friend

quickly emailed to say they were going in for

her baby to be delivered.

Thank God baby and mother are doing just fine!

*

I was feeling quite miserable with my head cold 

yesterday when I came across this video 

that I just loved.

It reminds me of the midwest and is just cute, funny and cherry.

I don't know how to link to it outside of FB 

(if anyone does let me know)

but here's the link.

Apparently it's quite popular and has various renditions. 

*

I still have my cold but am a bit better than yesterday;

I hope to be strong enough on Sunday to do Sunday School...

but one thing at a time.

*

I am really blessed with all of you praying for me;

I thank God for each of my friends and family,

you are all very dear!

*

I hope this day has had some good things for you

and an awareness of God's mercy...

And for today...

I do always blog about

whatever is current in my life...

which right now is lots of unpacking...

so grateful for each and every comment 

and email! Thank you!

*

I did some epic-for-me unpacking yesterday...

at least 15 boxes and moving many books.

Today I did a fairly substantial re-org of our

master bedroom closet and our bedroom 

is more and more chaos-free.

*

I knew that I would have to plunge right in

to my new life as well:

last night I went to Bible study at my local church 

and then out to eat with friend from book club;

this morning I went swimming with a dear friend

at 8 am at our local pool.

Very refreshing and lovely!

*

We hope in the days, 

other than to celebrate the glorious feast of Pentecost,

to go to various stores, including IKEA,

for things we would like for our new home.

So I've also been busy getting the library ready for this.

Still have miles to go but at least we got the following done!

*

We used another lovely Cross that

we were given as a soon-after the wedding gift

since we still cannot find the one that we used

last time for our prayer stand corner.

*

Mr. Husband and I put this together just before lunch;

I did the actual set up but could not of done it without him!

This prayer stand was the wedding gift of many people,

including family...it is handmade by a priest in the States.

These are our wedding icons.

And the Rushnyk is the one we were hand-tied with in our 

wedding.

I really love it now that it is all set up!

We are still figuring books and where to fit them, etc.

Books nearest to prayer stand are 

many of our Orthodox books...

*

Yesterday I put in an order for more

books via Ancient Faith Publishing

for a summer book sale at our far-away church!

*

I can't wait to actually have our house in better order

to actually use our library to read in.

My 'rule' for myself in the new place

is that the bedroom and library/chapel/guest room 

is that no electronics (smart phone, computer) are entering.

I am so excited thus for some peaceful spaces in our home

where quietness can reign!

*

I am excited for the Feast of Pentecost and that

we can be so blessed and comforted by this glorious feast!