On My Book Shelf ✽ Girl Defined + Little Life Moments

Good afternoon everyone! I hope your day has been wonderful and that your week has been blessed! It's hard for me to believe it's already Wednesday for some reason. But I am here to talk about lots of little things of varying importance, for anybody who would like to discuss them with me ;)!

You may have heard of this book before... it was actually really big in the circle of blogs I read for several months, but I was late to the trend, as usual ;). (My tbr list is so long... Mama bought this book like a year ago and I just finished it, hahaha...) It has a gorgeous cover (and interior, actually - the design is so pretty!) When I finally got around to reading it, I had heard enough people mention it that I knew that it was either really, really good, or I was going to be disappointed to find that it was way under the standard I had been told it hit ;). But having finished it, I can say: it was really, really good.

Within 24 hours, I had gone through the first 4 chapters (considering I wasn't skipping the study section and bible studies always seem to take me a while to go through, this is definitely saying something for this book!) Reading through the first chapter I kind of felt like it was going to fall short... until I was hit with a bombshell that I hadn't expected, and then I instantly became excited to go through the rest! I had heard a lot about this book in the context of biblical self image and modesty, and really didn't expect much more from it through most of the first chapter, but then there was just one little sentence that jumped out at me (I think it might have even been in the study questions, not the actual chapter!) about finding our identity in Christ or in... well, literally anything other than Christ, and I got a glimpse of just how deep this book was going to delve, and it truly made me stop and think, and then I couldn't wait to get into the rest of it! This book covered so much... loving the Lord with your whole heart, using your time wisely, finding your identity not in what other's think of you but it who God has called you to be, living bravely for Christ, the jobs a girl could take on (do you think they were able to give an answer that would work for everyone without knowing their circumstances? It was the best way to answer that question I have seen!), how we have been placed here "for such a time as this", and yes, modesty and self-image... directly and indirectly, it dealt with SO much, and I loved it.

Kristen and Bethany write like they are right there, with plenty of stories of their own shortcomings to encourage you that they've been here and they know; but they have also been blessed to see the truth, and they want to share it with all the other woman out there. I truly loved going through this book... it was such an encouraging read, but more than that, it was refreshing. I am going to say that 95% of everything in this book is something that I have thought through in the past. But looked at from a new perspective, it wasn't redundant at all. And it's sisterly advice "spurs on to good works"; whether this is new to you or you are well versed in these matters, whether you are working steadily or are feeling discouraged. It was easy to read, but deep to think through, and I honestly look forward to reading it again! It's definitely going to be one of the top books I recommend after this :)!

(For those of you who wanted to know when I shared the Undivided study, yes, this book (as Undivided did) uses more bible translations than the KJV when sharing verses. I read the ESV and HCSB along with the KJV habitually, so this wasn't a problem for me, but for those of you who's conscience would be hurt by this, I didn't want to accidentally deceive you by not bringing it up. When a translation that I don't feel is the best is shared in a book, I know I can always look it up in my own bible to "rightly divide the word" for myself; if you think that you can do that, I still wholeheartedly recommend this book, because it is such a blessing!)

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In other little news from today...
Noah this afternoon woke up from his nap and yelled for me. I came to lay down with him, and he gave me the tightest squeeze, gave a sleepy smile, and told me, "Oh, so comfortable. It's not 4 o'clocks yet." And went back to sleep <3.
For the curious, "4 o'clocks" means nap time is over. He may get up at 4 o'clock... sometimes he tried to test us by telling us it is 4 o'clocks ahead of time ;). Unfortunately, unlike him, we can read a clock ;). But this is the first time he has voluntarily said it was NOT 4 o'clock just to get to stay at nap time, I found it adorable.

I'm working on a new "thing" for the shop today :D! Daddy suggested this one, and I have to say, I love it. As soon as he suggested it I knew 1. It needed artwork. 2. I wanted it to be a chalkboard (although, now that I have finished the design, I also really want to make a happy, colorful canvas one, so, we'll have to see about that!). So last night, I sat down and freehanded a sketch of an ice cream cone, and today I dug out a chalkboard! I had some issues with my photoshop which was frustrating, but once it cooperated, I loved how the design turned out :D! This was actually my first time using the graphite transfer method on a chalkboard, and it IS possible, soooooo... lots more ideas just opened up where chalkboards are concerned. *wheels turning* And what does everyone else think? Should I add hearts around the ice cream cone, or not? Here's the original sketch...

And I am ridiculously pleased with how that fast draft turned out. I am no artist, y'all, so forgive me my excitement. But I pulled up a pinterest sheet of ice cream doodles and combined about three to make that ^. Peter was sitting beside me, pointing out all the mistakes I was making ("THAT ice cream cone doesn't have a cherry!!!" - he told me I must not know what I was doing, hahaha), but when I finished my pencil sketch and started tracing over it with a permanent marker so it would show up well in photoshop, he goes, "Woahhhhhh, you are a good tracer though!!!" We all have our skills ;).

Speaking of the shop... Under The Tapestry is celebrating 3 years on Friday, and I am holding a contest on my FB page and running sales all week long to celebrate :)! So you'll want to check those out here and here.

How is your week going? Have you read "Girl Defined"? If so, what was your favorite thing about this book? Would you add hearts around the ice cream cone? And are you going to join in Under The Tapestry's contest :D?!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri <3

Looking Back at July ✽ Little Moments

Happy August, everyone! I hope your July was wonderful and that this new month will hold lots of blessings for each of you! Life was busy and full in July, and now we are all just wondering when Baby Bear will choose to grace us with his presence ;). Here's a little look at our month...

One night while Mama and Daddy went on a date, I had the little ones make personalized pizzas for supper. It made quite the impression on them. Abbi especially talks about it constantly, and I would say it was definitely a memory maker for them, haha!

Abbi made her pizza shaped like a stocking on accident, lol!

I wuv him <3. He woke up early and came to snuggle me in bed while I did my bible reading, but by the time I was ready to get up he was fast asleep again :).

We were gifted these chairs by a kind couple at church who are moving, so sweet!

Peter drew the kissy-face emoji from memory after seeing it once as I scrolled through instagram. Too cute!

Mama and I have been crafting half the month; she took up fabric stamping (so awesome!), and I have been working on a baby blanket for 3 weeks... hopefully just two more days worth of work to do there! I kind of had a goal to finish in less than 40 days, which is, I think, my current record for how diligent I was on getting one from start to finish. I'm not a very competitive person except against myself, then I am ruthless, haha! But I'm not going to share any pictures, we'll get some with baby eventually ;).

Our garden... haha. Well, the bell peppers and tomato plants started flowering. But it's so late now, I doubt that it really does much good. But, as Bethi says, we did better than last year! We've got three cucumbers that are quite big, and we harvested a whole basil plant (which is currently drying in the dehydrator, and it smells delicious, but it's taking so loooonnnnnng, haha!). Last year we got three basil leaves. And Bethi lost them. This year is, sadly, an improvement. We had such a great garden before we moved to VA, it's sad!

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Josiah: "I am hiding the dice from Noah. He can't see it way up there!"
Yeah, well neither can you, buddy... haha!

Noah, sitting in the van, about to go into church...
"Get pizza!"
After church:
"Get pizza now!"
*babbles about pizza*
Mama: "What if we don't get pizza?"
Noah, little lips quivering: "Because [translated "but"]. It be tasty."
*pizza for lunch*

Noah, with a caution cone on his head: "I'm a birthday!"
*Mama gives him a real birthday hat for fun*
Noah: "Where's a mirror? I sooooooo cute!"

Abbi: "Noah! It's raining!!!"
Noah: "More whipped cream!"
He typically loves rain, but apparently :whipped cream > rain:.

Also, obviously Noah is the family comedian of the year. You can't beat two year olds. (Sorry, Tori.)

Can we all just agree that if you clean the play kitchen set at church and there AREN'T toy cars in the oven, the question begs to be asked, did they even use the nursery last week?

Tori: "Noah calls cardinal birds, caramel birds."
Peter: "...Cardinal birds?...
"...I think I know why...
"...I call them caramel birds, too."

*Me, talking to myself, obviously*
Andrew: "WOULD YOU JUST BE QUIET."
I thought that that habit had died down for some reason, but nope, it's totally still buried in there, and it's resurfacing full force. Honestly it annoys me too when I notice, but it's just so involuntary, lol.

Also, does anyone else find themselves making a conscientious decision to Stop. Singing. In. Their. Head. and breath a sigh of relief when everything is quiet for two minutes before you start again...accidentally? Or no? Is that just me?

Noah, pointing to a cucumber; "Cucomoe!"

Abbi: "We've loved each other all our lives."
"Except you were MISSING for eleven years of my life, and it was sad."
Abbi: "But we have always loved each other in our hearts, even when we didn't know it..."

Abbi and Emmi, pretending to be indian princesses, walk past our organization station:
Emmi: "Ooo! You have a morning schedule! Not many tribes have those."

Josiah, when Tori asked if he liked salsa chicken: "No, but I just keep on eatin' it. And when it spices me, I have to take a big drink."

Andrew: "I didn't want to take my belt to bed with me! I might swallow it while I slept." (???)
Tori: "And then every time you would open your mouth to sing, you would start... BELTING."

Josiah explaining "Duck, duck goose": "You sit, and we'll goose you."

Bethi: "You don't get points for doing nothing."
I mean, she was being sarcastic, but that's a great life lesson right there. Thanks, Bethi.

While mourning the fact that the first baby cucumber I found was eaten by bugs, two much bigger cucumbers were growing and I never even knew it, I was so surprised when I found them, haha.

Noah is only too young for coffee when he wears this shirt....

...If he is wearing literally any other shirt, he says he is big enough. It's hilarious. I will tell him, "You're too young for coffee!!!" and he looks down at his shirt to see whether he is too young today, or not.

I'm turning on the dehydrator for basil...
?!?!?!?!?!
"It won't turn on."
*checks plug*
"Ohhhhhh, good."
*plugs it in* *turns it on*
"It still won't start. Where is the manual? Maybe I forgot something.... nope. Oh dear. Wait a minute... I bet..."
...
"Yep. Y'all, I plugged in the coffee pot."

I take a video of Noah telling me what his "Dino-mite Dude" shirt says, because it's cute, and he asks to see it.
After it's over, he tells me, giggling, "That was Noah. Noah talking like a baby." Like he doesn't talk all day long like a baby for obvious reasons... like, um, being a baby ;).

Abbi and Emmi celebrated Christmas in July... with an umbrella tree, a precious moments figurine, and air cocoa with candy canes in a Christmas cup, hahaha!

Tori, while I edit this post... ""Are you laughing at your own blog?"
Me: "Cardinal Birds?... I think I know why..."

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These knitted washcloths are available in Under the Tapestry :)! I was asked to sell these by a knit-washcloth-fan, and I have several sets available! And Under the Tapestry celebrates it's 3 year opening anniversary on August 10th! How would y'all like to see that celebrated :)? I have some ideas, but I am still finalizing things, so I am open to suggestions!

I also impulse free-handed this little mouse for Noah one night. He had been carrying around a baby's first laptop just to play with the little "computer mouse" on it. So I thought, I bet he'd like one without the laptop attached, and that evening I crocheted it up on the fly in a little over an hour. I finished it after he went to sleep, which made me sad, because I had told him I was making something for him... but then he woke up being carried to bed, and I was like, "Hey Noah..."... and when he saw it, he gasped and grinned from ear to ear, and it was just precious! I told Bethi, "That was worth it!!!", to which Noah replied, "Yeah, Merphett," and shoved the mouse in her face, so now this little guy is called Merphett the Mouse, and the pattern for him is going to be up on Under The Tapestry Handcrafts soon!

And here are the posts I shared on Forget Not His Benefits this month, in case you missed them :).

Life Lately

Undivided: A Study in 1st Samuel 

Whereas it was in Your Heart

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How was your month :)?! Any ideas for Under The Tapestry's 3rd "birthday"? What are you looking forward to in August :)? Many blessings to each of you in our precious Lord and Savior!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri :)

Crocheted Hammer Applique

Don't you just hate it when a Pinterest idea you're really excited about dead-ends? Haha :). Early this year, I was making a baby hat for my newest step cousin, and wanted to make a little hammer to put on it like I had seen on Pinterest. But all of the "patterns" lead back to the same prepaid pattern set. I didn't want to pay for the whole set to use only this one. So, I decided to make my own. It took some trial and error, and it didn't turn out quite like the one I had seen. But it was a lot of fun to create it myself, and I think it did turn out well :). I've been meaning to share it for a while... but y'all know how my intentions usually turn out ;).

You'll need a  
Crochet hook of your choice (bigger the hook, bigger/looser the applique)
Brown yarn
Gray yarn

This pattern is worked on both side of the chain for the hammer handle, and back and forth for the head.

Chain 8 in brown.
Second chain from hook, sc; sc in next st; 3hdc in next 2 st; 3dc in next st;
Other side, hdc in first 3 st; sc in next 4 st.
Sc 7 st; 2sc in next 2 st; sc to end;
Sc around once more; fasten off.

Join gray at top; slip st two across; chain 1, turn
Sc two across, chain 1, turn. Repeat for three rows.
Chain six; turn; dc in 2nd chain from hook and across
Sc in last st; chain 2; hdc in first st on side; 2dc in next st; hdc in next st; sl st in next
Chain 1; turn; sc in first five; sl st in next; hdc; dc; hdc; sl st next five; fasten off.

I'll admit, I took too long!

You've been warned that this is not a post of me flying through something in a timely fashion ;).

Back a couple weeks before Peter was born (almost three years now!), I made a couple pairs of baby booties, one in pink and one in blue, as we didn't know yet that Peter was Peter, haha :). I used this pattern here. I thought they were adorable, and had a lot of fun making them! But I neglected to do one important thing... I didn't check my gauge. This doesn't matter on things like toys or washcloths, and at that point the way you found out how to change your gauge confused me, so I just kind of skipped over it.

Well, it is important when you are making clothes, especially when you don't even use the recommended yarn :P. Needless to say, I made one pink baby bootie, and quickly realized that no 3-6 month baby would fit in them, haha! It was tiny! It was also adorable, but useless for my purposes, haha. I actually researched how to find out my gauge and how to change it, and got some new, corrected ones done. Abbi, very little Abbi at that point, spied the tiny useless first one, and asked me if it was for her doll. "Well, I guess it can be. I don't need it. I'll make you the other one sometime", I answered.

Well, that sometime finally came this last Sunday. I let it sit in my cabinet for years, because I was just always "too busy". But I decided it was time to stop being "too busy", and start diligently doing things that actually count, and lo and behold, I actually did have time! And the grin Abbi, who had forgotten her request, gave me when she got them was such a precious reward :)!

An afternoon...

Spent with these smiling faces, iced coffee, "Piano Guys" music, ribbon, sparkles, and glue! We're getting some last items ready for the Hidden Treasures auction that starts in five days :)!!!! Abbi and Emmi made their own little hair things this time :)! They have wanted to send in donations for a while now, and it finally worked out :)... I love their eagerness to do whatever they can to bless others :)!

Snowflakes...

I've been looking forward to quilling some snowflakes ever since I found some on Pinterest last July when I first discovered quilling. I really wanted to do it while there was snow outside, because I'm crazy like that, so I was thrilled when I woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground :). It wasn't enough to have any fun in, but it was enough to make quilling seem the perfect activity :)!

I was especially pleased that Tori agreed to help me! It was the first project that she's ever helped me with (and might be the last given her interest after trying it... heehee!), but we had fun :)

Our snowflake :)! I need to get a frame for it, but I love how it turned out...

"Our footsteps always follow us on days when its been snowing, They always show us where we've been, but never where we're going." ~A. A. Milne

Knit Together in Love Ministry

For those of you who love to crochet or knit and may want to use your talents to bless others this winter season, here is a fun opportunity! You can make a scarf, in any pattern or color, that measures 4" by 30" or bigger, and send it in to Ashley of "A Stay at Home Daughter". She will then get them to missionaries who will take them out to needy orphans and elderly people who need them :). I "joined" last year, but didn't realize that there was a deadline until too close to the deadline, and didn't actually get them mailed :P. Just to let you know that there IS a deadline, and it is January 10th of 2015 :). I'll definitely be sending in last year's scarves and making a couple more this year, and if any of you would like to join, I know that it would be a great blessing to those who receive them :)! There is also a new opening in the same project this year. As the ministry has grown,  the need for local coordinators has come up, if that is something you are interested in! For more information and the mailing address, visit http://stayathomedaughter.com/ :).

In Christ,

Bri :)

Crocheted Lion

My birthday gift to Peter this year :). Last year I gave him a lamb (Peter was told to "feed Christ's sheep), this year I decided to do a lion (with his second name being Daniel, it worked with Daniel in the lion's den :).). I remembered, after I decided that, the verse about the lion and the lamb lying together... I thought it was funny, haha :).

I looked for a pattern everywhere online... I just so didn't want to experiment, because I thought it would take too long, haha :). But after everything I was finding was either way too big, absolutely too small (think half an inch tall), knit (I prefer crocheting when working with toys now... one of my my friends laughed with glee when she heard that... "I converted you!" she told me, heehee :). She gave me my first crochet lesson ;).), or just not what I was hoping for, I bit the bullet and decided to use a pattern I had for a cat that I had used previously...

 

 
...and turn it into a lion. Needless to say, I didn't just add fringe to the neck like I at first thought I would. What I really did was use that pattern to decide how wide I wanted each piece to be at it's widest, and created my own. And I learned loop stitch! That was so much fun :)!!!!!

 So, here is my pattern for this little lion :)!

Crocheted Lion Toy

Supplies:
Size F/5 (3.75) crochet hook 
Four-ply yellow yarn
Polyfill stuffing
Small amount of black yarn
Metal yarn needle

Head
Chain 2
1: Work 3 loop st in first ch. Place marker/ move up with each row. (3 st.)
2: 2 loop st in each st around  (6 st.)
3: 2 loop st in each s around (12 st.)
5: *loop st in next 2 st, 2 loop stitch in next st* around (18 st.)
6: *loop st in next 3 st, 2 loop st in next st* around (24 st.)
7: *loop st in next 4 st, 2 loop st in next st* around (30 st.)
8: *loop st in next 5 st, 2 loop st in next st* around (36 st.)
9: loop st in ever st around (36 st.)
10: *loop st in next 5 st, skip 1* around (30 st.)
11: *sc in next 4 st, skip 1* round (24 st.)
12:*sc in next 3 st, skip 1* around (18 st.)
13: *sc 1, skip 1* next 12 sts, sc in next six (12 st.)
14: sc around (12 st.)
Stuff here. 
15: *sc 1, skip 1* around (6 st.)
Cut yarn end.

Body
Chain 2
1: Work 6 sc in first ch. Place marker/ move up with each row. (6 st.)
2: *2 sc in each sc around* (12 st.)
3: *1 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (18 st.)
4: *2 sc, 2 sc in next st* around (24 st.)
5-9: sc around (24 st.)
10: *1 sc in next 5 sc, skip 1* around (20 st.)
11-17: sc around (20 st.)
18:*1 sc, skip 1* around (10 st.)
Cut yarn, and stuff.

Legs (make 4)
Chain 2.
1: 5 st in 1st ch. Place marker/ move up with each row. (5 st.)
2: 2 sc in each sc around (10 st.)
3: 2 sc in next 3 st., sc around (13 st.)
4: Sc around (13 st.)
5: *sc, skip 1* in first 6 st, sc around (10 st.)
6-10: sc around (10 st.)
cut and stuff.

Tail
Chain 2.
1: 3 loop st in first chain. (3 st.)
2: 2 loop st around (6 st.)
3-9: sc around (6 st.)
Cut yarn.

Ears
Chain 2
1: 6 sc in first chain. (6 st.)
2: 2 sc in each st around (12 st.)
Cut yarn.

Sew pieces together using a metal yarn needle. Using black thread, embroider eyes and a nose. 

There it is :)! Have fun, and feel free to ask questions :)!

It's Snowing Again...

And snow is just one of the things that are already making up this week :).

I finished the baby blanket last night, yay :)! After approximately 38,880 stitches equaling about 35" by 37" worth of knit fabric, 28ish hours of yarn work in three weeks, 3 1/3 balls of yarn, and a brand new pair of circular needles that look like they've seen far too much work already (I didn't know that knitting needles could lose the paint on the tips that quickly, haha!)... I'm finished :). I'd love to make a hat and maybe some booties to go with it before baby gets here.

We tried another church yesterday, and then went to the pastor's house for the afternoon. I forgot to ever post the story about the first time we tried to attend that church, hahaha. It was quite the tale ;). But, we made it yesterday, and their family was really sweet :).

Daddy had a four day weekend this past week! Today's his last day home, we've enjoyed having him home for four days in a row :). And, now, we have a nice blanket of snow outside the window, with gigantic snowflakes continuing to fall, so we'll probably brave the cold as soon as Daddy and Andrew get back from the grocery store, and enjoy it :). Hopefully poor Peter feels up to it, he's a little under the weather, and Emmi's catching it, too :(. We'll see!