The Forgotten Man

Don't You Just Love Being Criticized?

Yeah, I thought so, You love it as much as I do. Who doesn't hate being criticized? Lately, it seems the Lord has thought it necessary for me to learn how to respond to criticism in the right way. Fun. I started working through the first issue only to turn around and have it coming from another direction. Okay Lord, I guess you are trying to teach me something here. It is especially hard when you feel it is unjustified or that the person didn't get all the facts before being critical.

So, how do you respond? My first reaction is to become self-defensive. It is so easy to come up with a million reasons to defend yourself. But, wait a minute...am I letting pride real its ugly head? Maybe God is trying to show me mine own critical attitude. You know, of course I never criticize and neither do you, do you?

Let's look at this criticism again...ok, maybe there is at least some truth in it. Still, it is so easy to go on the defensive. Isn't is easy to turn around and start being critical of the one criticizing you? Yup, I'm not the only one. So...do I listen to the criticism or do I let it make me bitter?

Next time you think of being critical, think of something kind or encouraging to say to the person instead. And...next time someone criticizes you, take what you can from it, forgive and move on. It's not worth getting bitter over.

Proverbs 15:23, "A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!"

Sewing Progress

What I have been working on....

 Baby Blanket - 1st set of squares

More to come...

Mini Quilt - Just need to quilt and bind

Table Runner - All finished and packed away for next Christmas!

I decided after Christmas that I was still in the mood for sewing Christmas stuff. I had a lot of scraps leftover from making Christmas presents so I made this runner with them. Inspiration came from "Diary of a Quilter." Tutorial is here. I didn't do the quilt as you go method. I sewed all my strips together first. 

Trying to clean out my fabric stash and numerous scraps...my goal this year is to see how much of it I can clean out. It is so hard to restrain yourself from buying fabric, nevertheless I will resist the temptation. :)

Linking up to:

Thought Provoking Thursday

Allowing fear to hold you back from going forward will ultimately lead to more fear and failure.

Thought Provoking Thursday

“After winter comes the summer. After night comes the dawn. After every storm, there comes clear, open skies.” 
~ Samuel Rutherford

Thought Provoking Thursday

"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern--it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that...one stitch at a time, taken patiently."

--Oliver Wendell Holmes

UFO's

This has been in the pile to finish for a long time (emphasis on LONG :)...it was finished I just needed to bind it. The problem was the binding fabric was buried hence the reason it was sitting unfinished. Finally, I unearthed the fabric and sewed the binding on. I even attempted something new and did it all on the machine instead of finishing it by hand. So glad I tried this method; it goes so much faster and I will definitely be doing it that way in the future.

I also recently finished (or sorta finished) the top of this quilt. I think I should have cut the borders wider. The quilt isn't quite big enough. I am still trying to figure how to fix that problem. I think I am going to add another pieced border. Hopefully that will look ok. I have lots of scraps from the other fabrics leftover.

My Life...

So right now, I feel pretty dreadful. I think my head is about to explode. I have had strep throat for the last week or so. I am currently on my second antibiotic which seems to like me about as much as the first one did. I keep having reactions to them. So that's currently my life...I can't wait till spring and hopefully the misery of this sickness will be over. I have been fighting sickness since November. On the bright side, being sick has given me lots of time for crocheting. Hopefully, I will have some finished projects to show soon.

Reading Challange Update

My reading goal for this year is to read at least one book each month. In January I finished Creative Bible Teaching by Gary Bredfeldt and Larry Richards. It is published by Moody Press. I had to read this book for school and do a report on it. This book is definitely on my list of top ten teaching books. It is very practical for anyone who teaches the Bible.