A Finished Dress and Violin Progress...

I purchased a pattern a while ago
because it was 'medieval looking',
so, of course, I LOVED it!
The pattern is 'NEW LOOK #6614',
if anyone's interested.
I had to adjust it a LOT!
It took me a while to finish because the bodice
has 10 panels and I lined the whole dress!
Mom declared that she wouldn't be helping me,
so I could practice figuring out a pattern on my own,
and I did just that... all on my own!
I was so excited!
(She was willing to do the invisible zipper in the back, though,
because I didn't want to risk messing it up!
Thanks, mom!)
I finally finished it Friday
and thought I'd share...



It took me forever to decide on fabric.
Mom pointed it out and I wondered,
'Is this ugly?'
But I ended up liking it.
I have no idea what color it is!
Purple? Grayish?
Any ideas?

Anyway, our friends came over Friday
and we had a great time!
We did some duets on the piano and violin...



Her and I are teaching ourselves how
to play the violin.
I started my lessons 2 weeks ago, so I'm a little ahead,
but I'm sure she'll catch up fast!
We took our violins to church last night
and I tuned hers and played some songs.
It was fun!
I thought I'd share some videos
of 3 of my favorite songs to play so far...
(you can stop my blog's background music in the sidebar)

This is called 'Country Gardens'
(Please note I just started learning,
so there are some mistakes:)






This is 'Can Can'...





This one is really fun to play!
It's called 'Fanfare Minuet':



I also really like playing 'Dixie',
even though I'm a born yankee ;)


Oh! The Lord is so wonderful!
I read today in my quiet time:
"The LORD is good,
a strong hold in the day of trouble;
and he knoweth them that trust in him." (italics mine)
Nahum 1:7
He's really been speaking to me lately
about faith and trusting in Him.
As Louisa M. R. Stead finely puts it,

"'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know "Thus saith the Lord.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him oer and oer!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!"

He is so good to us!
To God be the glory,
great things He has done!

I hope everyone's having a great week so far!

Elements by Mail!

Oops... so much for 'posting tomorrow'
and 'responding to comments Wednesday'.
Sorry, I've been really busy.

But last Saturday, I received the loveliest package :)
I got my Advanced Chemistry and lab kit!!!!!
In my lab kit I got elements!!!
Oh, I'm so excited!
Here's some pictures...




The elements I received are:
Ammonium Chloride
Colbat Chloride
Copper Sulfate
Ferric Ammonium Sulfate
Sodium Borate
Sodium Carbonate
Sodium Ferrocyanide
Sodium Sulfate
Sodium Thiosulfate

I also got:
Lime Water
Phenolphtlaein Solution
Polyvinyl Alcohol Adhesive
Potassium Iodide Solution
Universal Indicator Solution

Things I'll be covering this year:
The Electronic Structure of Molecules
Intermolecular Forces
Solutions and Colloids
Solutions and Equilibrium
Acid/Base Equilibria
More on Equilibrium
Electrochemistry Part 1 and 2
Chemical Kinetics
Organic Chemistry
Functional Groups in Organic Chemistry
Nuclear Chemistry - for some reason,
I'm not scheduled for any experiments this module:(

Of course, most of this I covered a lot of this year, (save the nuclear!!!)
but this year is going to be even more in depth and complex!
Ohh! I'm SOOOO excited!
I'm planning on officially starting 11th grade next week!

Oh, One more note.
As working in 'the lab' with chemicals this year,
I must be careful...



I do not wish to make the slightest
miscalculation and possibly end up as...


LOL!
Have a great weekend!
(I really do hope to respond to comments tomorrow)

Revival and Other Ramblings...

I'm baaaack!
I had a wonderful week of revival!
The evangelist was so musically talented;
He played the violin, keyboard,
bandura, vibraharp, and musical glasses.
He was so fun to talk to and his preaching was wonderful.
I was, personally, revived.

He also fixed my violin that has been missing
the 'E' string for a year!
(I popped it trying to tune it when I first got it!)
It was so kind of him to provide the strings,
put them on, and tune it.
He and I liked to talk about music a lot!
I particularly liked his musical glasses...

One evening he came to me before the service and said,
"I brought a really easy arrangement for the violin tonight.
You get to try it after the service!"
"Really?" I said, as he smiled.
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"ME?!?! Sarcastic?!?"He said while walking away. And the service started.
This is what he played...



Right after playing it, he looked at me and said,
"Told you it was easy!
Now you get to try it after the service!"
I simply laughed.
I told him afterwards I'd try it if
I could do it on his 1767 Stradivarius concert violin.
He simply laughed, too. lol

On the last day he return my violin,
all fixed and tuned!
He gave me lots of tips, too.
He also played it for me to 'prove' that it could, indeed,
produce beautiful music...




This is when my violin became a fiddle. lolMom turned to recording off 3 seconds too early,because while he handed it to me,he was telling me that I put way toomuch rosin on it and was showing me allof it that fell onto my violin while playing.And then he blew it into my face!
As he packed all his music supplies, I stood by the piano playing hymns out of the hymnbook.
He would occaisionally yell across the auditorium,
"Straighten that elbow! I don't like that bow hand, fix it!" lolI appreciated his help.


I just recieved my new violin lessons book in the mail Saturday and am now teaching myself.
I'm now able to play some classical music and some 'fiddle songs'.
A lady at church is really excited and asked,
"Oh, can you bring your violin Wednesday and give me a performance?"
"Sure," I said.
"But it will be the worst sounding performance you've ever heard!"
Pastor says when I'm ready I can play for congregational singing.
I told that to her and she said, "Oooh! Practice, practice, practice!!!"
She really likes the violin!

The revival was so wonderful and it was sad to see our evangelist leave.
He said he'll be back in 3 years and he wants us to do a violin duet.
I'm really looking forward to his return!

Today will be very busy and tomorrow also.
I don't think I'll be able to respond to any comments until around Wednesday.
Tomorrow I'll be quickly posting something
I just got in the mail that I've been looking forward to for months now!
Hope you all have a great day!

It's Time For A Break!

Well, not really a coffee break...
more like a bloggie break.
I just wanted to let y'all know

that I'm taking this upcoming week off

from blogging, commenting, etc...

I'll be keeping busy with schoolwork

and revival at church,

so I would like to spend it computer-free. ;o)

I hope you all have a great week and

I'll be back in October

(that sounds funny...

it's only a little over a week from now)!

"Return unto thy rest, O my soul;

for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee."

~ Psalm 116:7

(I couldn't resist posting these photos of my 2 favorite birds,

a mourning dove and a cardinal.

Photos are from allposters.com)

He Didn't Throw The Clay Away

My friend gave me a cd today
(by The Rejoice Singers
from Pensacola Christain College)
and as I was listening to it,
I came across this song and it blessed my heart.
I hope it will be a blessing to you as well...



He Didn't Throw The Clay Away

Empty and broken, I came back to Him.
A vessel unworthy; so scarred with sin.
But He did not despair-
He started over again,
And I bless the day He didn't throw the clay away.


(Chorus)
Over and over He molds me and makes me.
Into His likeness, He fashions the clay.
A vessel of honor I am today-
All because Jesus didn't throw the clay away.


He is the Potter and I'm just the clay,
But molded in His image, He wants me to stay.
When I stumble and I fall, my vessel breaks-
He just picks up the pieces,
He doesn't throw the clay away.


Over and over He molds me and makes me.
Into His likeness, He fashions the clay.
A vessel of honor I am today-
All because Jesus didn't throw the clay away.


(Here is a link to a short SAMPLEof the song)


So many times I fail
and so many times He picks me up again.
He never gives up on us.
Sometimes it seems all our strength is gone
and all hope of holiness is vanished:
But Jesus is standing there,
ready to give us the victory if we ask Him!
Oh, the Lord is SO good!
He is so merciful, loving, longsuffering...
I just can't comprehend why He is so good to me!

"Wherefore I desire that ye faint not
at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you,
according to the riches of his glory,
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
Ephesians 3:13-19

Sleepover Fun and Finished Projects

Yesterday, friends came over for our
Friday Pizza Night and they spent the night.
We spent some of the time during the day
cutting out fabric for some quilted pillows
we are making for the ladies at church.
We started sewing some last night while my other friend
was having fun using her new art set...



We stopped after a while to make lemon bars :)



And this morning we finished them up...




We had a bit of fun with the fluff!





LOL! It's great to have friends you can be yourself around!
Here are the finished projects...











Hope you all have a wonderful Lord's day tomorrow.

He Went A Little Further...

Sometimes we are
content just not
going to hell.
But shame on us!
We need to want to
be one of His disciples,
and want to follow Him
wherever He leads.
We are, as Christians,
commanded to follow His steps.

For us, Jesus was
betrayed, mocked,
beaten, and whipped horrendously.
But did He stop there?
No.
He went a little further.
He picked up a cross,
and walked all the way to Golgotha.
He could have stopped there,
said it was enough,
and ascended into heaven.
But He didn’t. He went even further.
He was nailed to a cross to hang there,
our sins were poured on Him, and He was forsaken by God.
But He didn’t stop there! He went further still.
He gave up the ghost and was put in a tomb.
He didn’t stop there, praise the Lord!
He rose and lives forever now, but He’s
going even further and is coming back for us!

Now the least, the very least we could do
is go a little further for Him.
Let’s become what Jesus saved us to be.
Many of us tend to agree to serve and
surrender only parts of our lives.
We draw a line and say “That’s as far as I go”
or “I’m staying where I am”…
but the best joys, God’s best blessings,
and the best of our lives is right over that line.
We are never completely happy
unless we surrender everything to Jesus.
5 points to going further for Him were listed:

1. We must be willing to go alone.
It’s easy when others go, and if we obey, others may follow us;
but we still must be willing to go alone.
God’s waiting for us to come to Him,
love Him more, and surrender all.

2. We must be willing to humble ourselves.
Do you want to be like Jesus?
Gotta humble yourself!
He was made a bondservant;
a happiness and a blessing comes with serving Jesus and others.
There are hundreds and thousands of lost ones
waiting for us to humble ourselves.
God won’t fully bless us unless we’re willing to humble ourselves.

3. We must be willing to pray “Thy will be done.”
The motto of the Christian life!
‘Ordinary’ Christianity isn’t it.
We must be seeking and willing to do what the Lord wants.
“And he went a little further, and fell on his face,
and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt.” verse 39.
Nothing more or less than His will.
The happiest place is in God’s will.
God’s will is perfect and wonderful!
If we go one step toward Jesus, He’ll take you all the way.
Let Him know, and He’ll guide you through.

4. We must try to encourage others to do the same.
When a person truly loves Jesus,
they naturally encourage others.
We must stand up and lead somebody else.

5. We must be willing to stand in the face of the enemy.
“And Jesus said unto him [Judas], Friend…”
Our heart needs to stay stirred.
We should be saying “I don’t care what comes.
I’ll be faithful and take another step.”
Jesus is our example and motive.
We mustn’t be willing to die someday for Jesus
if we’re not willing to live for Him.
It’s time to go a little further.

A Ribboned Dress...

Last night we purchaed and washed some fabric
that I've been wanting for a while.
This morning I set my alarm for 7:30,
and put it across the room so I'd have to
get up in order to turn it off,
(a tip I've learned from a friend:)
but somehow I was in too deep of a sleep to hear it.
So I awoke at 8:45 and started cutting out my dress at 9.
I just finished it a few minutes ago and thought I'd share.



It was the first dress I added ribbon to...


I added the ribbon to the sleeves, the bottom hem,
and used it as my tie.
I, also, finally added pockets to one of my dresses!
Mom always sews pockets in hers and tries to convince me
that they're worth the extra work... so I tried it.
They are pretty handy!
I'm glad I was able to finish it so I could
wear it to church tomorrow.
Mom also worked at tracing a pattern
and cutting a dress for herself.

Tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to
be getting the effects of a 'sub-tropical storm'
in the Atlantic Ocean. We sure could use the rain.
Well, turkey is for supper and I'm hungry!
Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow.

My Finished Crocheted Project

Well, I finished my project today so
I thought I'd share some photos.
I've been working on it for a
few weeks now and it was my first blanket
(a quilted-crochet with a border)...





I made it for a couple in our church who
just had their first baby... a girl.
I didn't really use a pattern;
just made up my own from getting the
main idea on the back of a yarn wrapper.
Now I hope to start finishing up my afghan!

I hope to respond to comments tomorrow
or the day after... It's been busy, busy, busy!
Tomorrow I go see the chiropractor again!!!
Have a lovely week.

Labor Day Grill-Out and a Visit to the Chiropractor

Yesterday we went over to our friends' house
for some delicious grilled ribs, shrimp and corn.
I, suprisingly, had a huge appetite because
I ate 2 ribs, about 20 shrimp, and 4 ears of corn!
We played a game of chess while we were there...



After that and eating, we sang around the piano for a while.





My friend captured the moms and I in one of our
'candid' moments, as my mom puts it!



After that we went to frost the cake for my friend's
birthday that her mom asked me to make...



I also decorated it with some colored frosting
using my new cookie press / cake decorator.



Here we are with the birthday girl holding her cake...


We had a great time of fun and fellowship.

Today I went to see the Chiropractor.
I had a wonderful time!
He thinks much of my condition is caused from
when I was in a car accident about 6 years ago
and I wasn't treated as I should have been.
I had some message therapy done and
was aligned... and it felt SOOOOO good!!!
I go back to have it done again Thursday.

Today I hope to finish up a crocheting project,
so I'll probably post about it tomorrow!
Have a great week!