May 17, 2011
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Our Bible study is jumping right in with distress. Fortunately, I had some distressing events on Monday, so I was able to get into the spirit of it. I'm fairly placid, and also pretty good at getting over stuff, so it was useful to have an immediate source of distress for this lesson.
I was reminded about a lesson I once studied on Hannah. You may not know the story of Hannah. She wanted a baby, and she prayed and cried and carried on so severely that the priest thought she was drunk. Once she explained herself, the priest assured her that her prayers would be heard, and she cheered right up. Shortly thereafter she had a baby.
This story is often used as an illustration of faith, but the speaker at the study I attended pointed out that Hannah prayed and poured her heart out to God rather than whining to her girlfriends or complaining to her husband. This changed my mental image of Hannah. I had always thought of her as a major whiner. In fact, she restrained herself from being unkind to her sister wife who had lots of kids and pointed it out regularly, or to her husband.
The psalms which are the subject of the study are filled with highly demonstrative prayer
(that's the term the study uses for pleas to God to dash out the brains of babies and cries of "Woe is me!"). #1 daughter suggested that God had sent us the distressing events specifically in order to help me understand these things from my smug and satisfied perspective.The distress was short lived. Yesterday I had a pleasant talk with Janalisa, setting up a workshop for the local Chamber of Commerce, and then a working lunch with #1 daughter where we talked quite a bit about accounting, and then a meeting with a local company that needs a new website. There was also much blogging, but I stopped at a reasonable time, cooked dinner, and continued with the Summer Top Project. Here is another Butterick 5354 with the tucks thread basted in the old fashioned way. I'm hand sewing them, too, because my machine sewing skills are limited.
My photography skills are also limited. I have no idea why the same fabric has such a hectic flush in this picture, but you can see that the tucks are coming out nicely. This one will also have sleeves. This is a much lighter weight rayon knit, very soft and drapey. I think the end result will look quite different from the first, hot pink one.The fabric came from Fashion Fabrics Club, a good place for high quality fabrics at low prices, though you can't tell enough about a fabric from a photo swatch to ensure that you never regret a purchase from them.
I bought one summer blouse, on sale, for what really seemed like a lot of money. Then I got the idea for the STP and bought 7 lengths of fabric at FFC for the same price as the one sale blouse. If I actually succeed in getting the tops sewn up, it will represent a savings.
I bought all prints, not usual for me, but I figure since I'm not trying to match anything a slew of print tops will liven up my otherwise solid and neutral wardrobe quite a bit.
