Finished Projects and A Thankful Heart

Thanks to each one of you who prayed for me and left such sweet and encouraging comments after my puppy kiss gone wrong last week! I am happy to report that the touch of the Lord on my eyes was nothing short of amazing!  My vision is completely normal!  For that I am so very thankful!  You don't realize all that you use and need your eyes for, until they are not working.

In the 48 hours after my injury, I found that because of the dilating drops in my eyes (these are the kind of drops in your eye where you have to wear the dark glasses after you leave the doctor's office), that I was able to see fine, but my eyes were quite sensitive to light, so I just wore my sunglasses about the house.  I also found that looking at the computer screen was quite bright, and I had to limit my time looking at the screen.  One thing I did notice was that I could do anything that didn't involve using a screen or bright light.

Thankfully after 48 hours once the dilating drops wore off, my left eye was clear and there was no pain.  I continue to give the Lord thanks for the quick healing!

I didn't think I would be able to do any sewing because of my injured eye, but found that sewing didn't bother my eyes at all, and so I actually was able to finish up a couple of my sewing projects earlier than I thought.

One of the sewing projects was to finish the tops I had started with my friend T.  The day before my eye incident, I had gone over to T's house and we worked on our tops at her house.

I had the privilege of sewing on a $2000.00 sewing machine!  For the clothing designer school program she was enrolled in, one of the requirements was to use a Juki sewing machine.  I had never heard of them before, but I was thrilled to try it out!  It sewed beautifully - as it well should, costing that much, lol!


The pattern we chose to use for our tops was this one from Simplicity/New Look.  I liked the simple style that is both modest and flattering. T wanted to make the more detailed style B in this pattern, which was adding the grommets and ties to the top.  Had it been me sewing it alone, I probably would have went with style A which was simple! Yet, all in all, this was a really simple pattern to make... even though the grommets did prove to be a little contrary, even in T's talented hands.



http://www.simplicity.com/new-look-pattern-6472-misses-boho-blouses/N6472.html 



I opted to use ribbon for my tie, and because the blue grommets weren't working very well, we added a little twist to my top with the addition of four gold grommets.



For my daughter's top, T wanted to do something a little different. She made her own ties!  It was very, very tedious to do that.

And for her daughter's top she did the same as well.

Her daughter loves fish, and so T made her a little seahorse ornament to add further jazz to this really amazing top.

Note the ribbon detail here in this close-up picture:

T took plain, flat blue ribbon, and pinned by hand each one of those pleats!  Just looking at the detail, and time involved in doing that made me feel tired!

When T and her daughter came over and we revealed the finished tops, my daughter was still working, and not able to be there, so the reveal was broken up into two different times.

It was a complete surprise for my daughter that we had made this top made for her.  We kept it top secret, even though we worked on it while she was there last weekend, lol.  We told her it was for a "friend".  {smiles}

She was thrilled!  She loves the color turquoise, and it fit her perfectly.  It was fun to see how one pattern could look so differently with three different fabrics, and styles changing out on the sleeves, and length of the "flounce".

T has yet to have time to finish her top.  I can't wait to see it.  She used some really nice fabrics, and I think she has another trick or two up her sleeve with it, that I can't wait to see.


This sewing project together was so much fun that we have already planned another fun day of sewing together soon.  T is going to show me how to create my own pattern from my measurements, which will probably take some time to do.  She went to school for years to learn this, and I highly doubt I'll learn it in an afternoon together {smiles}.

While making these tops, we have been hoping, and dreaming for spring...

... but winter surely seems to still be hanging around, showing off its best... and I just can't seem to get too upset with winter when scenes like this abound!

Snow's gentle but icy grip...

Miss Annie loves the snow.  She reigns during winter as the Snow Queen!

And this one isn't too far behind her!

Romping and rolling in the snow just gets more and more fun for her...

 Oh, but she is growing so!  I can hardly stand to see it... it seems as if she grows before our very eyes!

Time for Miss Riley to learn how to walk with a leash.  She was soo sad!  She couldn't understand why she had to be on the leash, and kept biting at it.  Finally she just walked with the leash in her mouth, as if to convince herself that she was walking herself, and not being walked, lol!

But every so often we would stop and she would just sit and look at me, asking "why"... Roaming is so much more fun!

Oh, the snow that we still have!  It is nearing the middle of March... and still the banks of snow sit, defiant to the sun that tries to melt them.

Oh those mountains... !

Back home... the blue skies were hard to leave and go back inside.  I love seeing the bright blue skies of winter contrasted with the dazzling white of the snow.  It was a lovely walk we had, and as I let Miss Riley off the leash to scamper towards the house, and I sauntered up the driveway, I was thankful for the snow covering the layer of ice, making it much easier to walk and enjoy the day.

I continue to give the Lord thanks for my eye that healed so quickly, with no remaining issues.  As I thought of the beauty around me that I am able to enjoy because of my vision, I stopped outside, and just looked up into the blue, blue skies and praised the Lord for allowing me to see clearly, and oh how very thankful I am for His healing touch!

Psalms 40:3 

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works 

which thou hast done, 

and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: 

they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: 

if I would declare and speak of them, 

they are more than can be numbered.