Snow, Giants, and Apple Butter

I'm back, Y'all! There has been a lot going on since the last time I updated. I am 20 now, which means I'm starting to feel old. I am also working part time at a local grocery store on top of keeping up with various sewing projects. I've also been doing extra cooking for my family.

From my vantage point by the window the ground is blanketed with a glorious covering of snow. (See my photo above.) I confess that yesterday I did not think it was so glorious. The roads were too dangerous to travel on and interfered with a special, family trip we were planning. I was extremely downcast and discouraged because we had to cancel something we don't get to do very often, but I thank the Lord for my father who helped me remember that God is in control and watching out for our good. Nothing happens that is outside of His will for our lives if we are in submission to Him. This area has been very dry. The snow will provide the moisture the land needs and that someone was probably praying for! I am very thankful for the Lord's grace in my life and for providing His wonderful instruction when I need it. He will never give up on me!

On a separate note, I went to see Facing the Giants this week and was both impressed and moved. The film has an unabashedly Christian message, and the Gospel is presented very clearly. It addresses several different issues such as trusting God and honoring parents and has a powerful ending. There were quite a few humorous moments, but I especially enjoyed seeing the embarrassment of the coach's wife as their car wouldn't start and her husband asks someone with a brand new car to jumpstart them. This moment is made funnier by the fact that their car is covered in duct tape! There is also an homage to the biblical David and Goliath story. I'll let you see the film before I spoil the ending here! I will say that the team discovers nothing is impossible with God.

One of the delights of the season is making fresh apple butter. The whole house smells like Christmas! I had made it before, but I was not completely satisfied with my recipe. For this batch I made my own applesauce using three varieties of apples and a mix of spices. Before, I used store bought sauce and only used cinnamon. I also discovered that using apple cider instead of water for boiling your apples adds a wonderful depth to the flavor. The recipe also compensated for the fact that some apple varieties cook up differently. Instead of calling for a specific amount of sugar, it calls for 1/2 cup brown sugar for each cup of sauce

Traditionally, an apple butter batch was cooked all day in a huge copper pot over an open fire. I knew I couldn't do that, but I wanted my recipe to come as close as possible to get the most authentic flavor. I did have to boil it for about 8-10 hours (I forget which!), but I was able to do it in two sessions. Apple butter must be constantly stirred so it won't stick and burn. If the heat is too high, no amount of stirring will keep it from burning! I am considering using a crockpot next time.

I recently joined the Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Garden Club, and I sold some of the apple butter at our open house. You can see the way it looked in my photo below! It was fun to see people enjoy it as much as I do. I hope you enjoyed reading about life in this corner of the world! I would appreciate any comments you have. God bless you!

Denim Quilt

There is nothing quite like a sewing project to bring people together in unique ways. Recently, I have been working on a denim quilt with my sister, Elizabeth of Study.Quiet. It would probably be more accurate to say that we are both working on a quilt, since she started one of her own.

It really has been fun. We had to take a break from it because of our family's trip to New Mexico, but the pictures show our progress. All of the fabric is scraps from either our father's jeans or worn out and retired skirts and jumpers. I think you will see from the pictures that we are both going in different directions as far as design, and it has been fascinating to see our different personalities come through.

Elizabeth took an organized approach and worked out on paper what she was going to do, how big her finished product would be, and exactly how many squares of each denim shade she would need. Of course, I ended up messing her up because I gave her the wrong seam allowance, and it will now be slightly larger than she imagined. She has a mathematical mind and was taking the project much more seriously than I was. As you can see in the picture, she is focusing on just two shades and using them in a checkered fashion.

For mine, I had a basic idea and just improvised from there. I am also using more shades, including black, and have them positioned in a more eclectic way. It started out to be just a simple picnic blanket, then I had the idea to put a thick border on it and applique designs all around. I'm not quite there yet, but those designs are now going to be cats to memorialize our cat, Empress, who we lost this year. She had three litters of four kittens each so I thought that 12 could be the number of cats on the border.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my project and that you will let me know what you think. Maybe you'll be inspired to make your own!

Happy Independence Day!

Welcome! I am delighted that you dropped by! It is my prayer that you are blessed by what you see here... and hopefully challenged, too. I am 19 years old, and my parents homeschooled me. It was perhaps one of the best things they ever did for me apart from providing a loving home for me to be nurtured in. I feel blessed that they took the time to instill in me a love for God's Word and trained me to withstand the pressures of our culture.

Unlike what the world would have me think, I understand that my gifts are for Christ and His glory. The Bible says in Romans 12:1 that we should present our bodies as living sacrifices unto God, and I pray for the strength to do this every day. The second verse also stresses that we are not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Many people do not understand why I am not going to college. There was a time when I thought I might go, but God has not since shown it to be His will. I believe that the highest calling for any young lady is to eventually be a wife and mother, and I believe that the best place to prepare for this is in the home. I think, though, that you will find me to be nothing like a typical homebody. My interests are many and varying and often take me out of my home for lengthy periods of time, but home is where I always return.

Thank you for showing interest in my blog. I hope that you’ll return often and that the peace of God will touch your soul.

I'm Officially Blogging!

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.