MLK Weekend

I'm almost done with the long runner I showed a couple of weeks ago and have also been working on a couple of Valentine's Day projects. I haven't had the opportunity to do much sewing lately, however, Last week I put in a lot of overtime as part of the team preparing for our church's weekend MLK luncheon celebration which included a performance by our local treasures, The McFadden Brothers

and a keynote address by author Clifton Anderson on Living Dr. King's dream. 

This morning members and staff gathered at the church to sign up for a variety of serving events in the community, including picking up trash in the inner city, serving meals at soup kitchens, playing games with kids at a children's shelter, stocking shelves at a food pantry, organizing clothing in a thrift store whose proceeds benefit charities, writing notes of encouragement and assembling snack bags for students taking assessment testing and making Valentines with seniors.

We are honored that our senior pastor, Adam Hamilton, has been invited to deliver a sermon tomorrow at the National Prayer Service. DH and I visited the National Cathedral last March. I was impressed by its size and grandeur (and, of course, especially appreciated the beautifully handcrafted needlework prayer stools and stolls on display).

I can't imagine what it would be like to give a sermon in such a majestic church, let alone before the president and other high ranking officials. We're all praying for him and if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for him, too, that would be great! 

Designer?

I saw this design on Pinterest and love it! However, I have not been able to trace it back to the designer. Do you know who created it?

2013 is off and running! The pace between Christmas and New Year's slows down and lulls me into believing that life will always be that way, but then the calendar turns and once again I'm behind and trying to catch up. Thank goodness the church is growing but with that comes new job assignments and changes. I am blessed to be stepping into working with our children's literacy team in 2013. We will be seeking ways to encourage the love of reading and distributing more books so inner city kiddos can acquire personal libraries. I just take it for granted that all kids have access to books at home, but that is not the case. What a difference it makes to kids to have fun books at home to read, alone or with their family.  However, this new assignment means more work hours and less crafting time, so I've had to step away from Simply Primitives. I was sad to do that, but have to be realistic about my time and, having done so now feel relief which confirms it was the right thing to do. What changes are you facing this year?

New Year's Resolution

Son and I were running errands this evening and he asked me if I made any New Year's Resolutions. "Yes", I said "I plan to do more online shopping this year." He laughed and I admit that, on the face, it may seem like a rather frivolous resolution. But I'm always trying to find ways to save time and I think I'd save a lot of time if I don't have to drive somewhere and park and then walk around looking for whatever I'm looking for but in the meantime get distracted by something that's on sale or just plain appealing. And on a more serious note, I hope to frequent some of the talented artisans I've met online and be a better friend to small businesses. I know it has meant a lot to me over the years to have the support of customers across the country. Are you a resolution maker?

Maggie Bononomi Design

We got a good dusting of snow and a blast of cold here yesterday, so we all stayed indoors and attended to various projects. In addition to taking down the tree and putting most of the Christmas decor away I  assembled a long botanical penny rug and I'm off to stitch away.