Peeking through my garden gate

A small backyard with little touches like a perennial bed, cedar trees, pots of veggies, comfy seating, an antique table, and these morning glories climbing up the garden gate make me happy. 

Woodburned Signs

You may remember a post I did a while ago about bookmarks that I had embroidered for various family members and friends. I guess the crafting bug bit me again this year because I've been churning out woodburned signs like they're going out of style! It's quite a simple yet rewarding task and I was pleased with how most of them turned out. 

I worked on my first sign while Up North

A nameplate for my house

After  being varnished

I use carbon paper to trace the designs onto the wood

Nicolette, woodburning a sign for her house

The finished product

A house sign for Mom & Dad

A house sign for Ange & Josh

A sign for my niece Katrina featuring her Instagram handle

A birth announcement sign for my friend's baby

Here she is with the sign :)

Time for varnish!

A sign for a friend who gives piano lessons

Dinner Time

Chicken you say?

Yes please! My favourite.

That was delicious, thank you.

Spring Is On My Table

One day of warm temperatures in early March got me in the mood for spring. I cleared out my winter décor: it was so homey and cozy during the cold, snowy winter months, but now it felt cluttery and stifling. I spotted a darling, tiny nest in the uppermost branch of a skinny tree on a hike with Maggie last week, and shook and shook that tree until it fell down. A few Cadbury Mini Eggs completed the look! The ceramic bunnies and moss are from trusty Dollarama. Of course it's back to being cold again... but spring will surely come again!

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

 

Bookmarks!

A number of years ago I embroidered a bookmark for a family member and since then I've completed several more. I enjoy cross-stitching, but not so much that I have the patience to tackle a large project! So bookmarks are a perfect solution, and make a creative and personalized gift. Here are ones that I've made so far:

Hairs of My Head

“But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Luke 12:7

You know so little of God, my reader, because you live at such a distance from God... You deal with God in great matters; you take great trials to God, great perplexities, great needs; but in the minutiae of each day’s history, in what are called the little things of life, you have no dealings with God whatever...
I tell you, the man who lives with God in little matters, who walks with God in the minutiae of his life, is the man who becomes the best acquainted with God- with His character, His faithfulness, His love. To meet God in my daily trials, to take to Him the trials of my calling, the trials of my church, the trials of my family, the trials of my own heart- to take to Him that which brings the shade upon my brow, that rends the sigh from my heart- to remember it is not too trivial to take to God- above all, to take to Him the least taint upon the conscience, the slightest pressure of sin upon the heart, the softest conviction of departure from God- to take it to Him, and confess it at the foot of the cross, with the hand of faith upon the bleeding sacrifice- oh! these are the paths in which a man becomes intimately and closely acquainted with God!


~ Octavius Winslow

Tea Party

It was dreadfully gray and rainy 30 minutes before they arrived...

... but thankfully the weather cleared up!

Tea, strawberry scones and cucumber sandwiches

The girls demonstrated their proper manners

Andrea taught the girls the "language of the fan"

We also learned a Victorian ballroom dance...

... and also made some up!

The Safe Place

I went to Jesus with a prayer
Upon a suppliant's knee;
Low at His cross I laid me down,
Nor asked His face to see,
Yes whispered in His ear the tale
No mortal ear could bear;
The story of a faithless heart;
And of its self-despair.

I told Him how my feet had slipped
How often gone astray;
How oft my heart refused to love,
My lips refused to pray.
In stammering words that none but He
Hearing could understand,
I made complaint of careless work
Done by a careless hand.

Of wasted hours, of idle words,
Of love oft waxing dim,
Of silence when a warmer heart
Had testified of Him.
I owned my weak and selfish ways;
How often all day long,
Moanings and sighs had filled His ears
To whom I owed a song.
And what said He? What whispered words Responded unto mine?
Did He reproach me? Did His love
On me refuse to shine?

Nay, thus He spake, and bent Him low
To reach my anxious ear,
"My child, thou doest well to lie
As thou art lying here;
I knew thy human weakness, knew
Each lurking bosom sin,
Knew it, and yet In Loving Grace
Thy heart I stooped to win."

"I knew that thou would'st often fall,
Poor work for Me would'st do,
Would'st give Me only half thy love,
Give praises faint and few."

"And yet I chose thee. Be content;
And since thou canst not fly
To heights by dearer souls attained,
Let it suffice to lie.
Here at my feet; it is a place
To which My loved ones flee;
They find it sweet, and so shalt thou;
'Tis a safe place for thee."

Yes, it is sweet, and it is safe!
And here will I abide;
Sinful, and yet forgiven, sad,
And yet so satisfied!

- Elizabeth Payson Prentiss

A Very Contented Doggy

A Spring Walk

A lovely spring walk down Kitchen Rd, and at the end when Damaris tied her kerchief around her head this way and they all bent down to wash their hands in the puddles, I had to snap some pictures :). It makes me nostalgic for old-fashioned times and makes ME want to tie a kerchief around MY head and take another lovely, sunny walk down Kitchen Rd!