Tenth Butterfly In Progress

These are the four wing components for this butterfly. The larger ones especially are very ruffly, so lots of pinning is going to need to be done once this is all sewn together.

I'm planning to crochet the body and antennae in white. I like this pink and white combination.

This butterfly pattern is from a vintage hat and gloves set.

I wonder why women wearing gloves went out of style. Lacy gloves like the ones in this pattern are so pretty.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... Yom Sheni, the 19th day of the 3rd month
Outside My Window... the wind is blowing mildly, and it is nice and sunny.
I am thinking...that I wish I had gotten a little more sleep.
I am thankful for... Husband's provision for us.
From the kitchen... This week's dinners:Ground Turkey Soup*Steak with Garlicky Potatoes*"Baked" Chicken*Succulent Steak*Steak with Mustard Potatoes*Burgundy Beef RoastCheeseburger Macaroni(*these recipes are from 'Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly' by Phyllis Pellman Good.)
I am wearing... a hastily thrown-on housedress, pink and black (had to hurry and get Husband's statements printed off before he left for work).
I am creating... an account card template for Husband and The Great American Afghan for my youngest son.
I am going... to the library tomorrow to hopefully pick up the book I requested last week--'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides--which is the current selection for the Ravelry Book Club.
I am reading... Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 14-37.Korach--Torah: Bemidbar (Numbers) 16:1-18:32.Haftarah: Shemuel Alef (1 Samuel) 11:14-12:22.Ketuvim Netzarim: Acts 1:1-11; Romans 13:1-7.'Knit One, Kill Two' by Maggie Sefton
I am hoping... that Husband will have a better day at work than he did last week.
I am hearing... our new dog, Buddy, barking. I think he's being taught to 'speak' by the kids.
Around the house... I want to dejunk and organize, so I think I'll start from the front door and work my way around the house counterclockwise, spending at least 15 minutes a day on it.
One of my favorite things... is my children's smiles.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Call Mom and see how she's doing.Call my oldest daughter to wish her a happy birthday.Call my friend who's been concerned about me.Deal with all the medical bills and receipts.Organize my project bags.Finish the Priscilla Gibson-Roberts square for The Great American Afghan, or at least get one of the little socks finished.Write up and post the pattern for the afghan square I designed to represent the book, Here Be Dragons.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

Template Creation

If you would like to participate in The Simple Woman's Daybook, visit Peggy's blog, The Simple Woman, and then read the guidelines here.

Nearing Grace

Slow-moving and boring at times. The basics of the story have potential, but the movie just didn't reach that potential. It meandered, and some things really made no sense, and the things that did make sense weren't developed. Pretty pointless overall.

Tenth Butterfly Started

Since it is getting down to the wire for sending these butterflies in for The Butterfly Project, as soon as I finished Butterfly 9, I immediately started on Butterfly 10. So far I only have this one upper wing crocheted, and it turned out really ruffly around the edges. I sure hope it will flatten out during the starching and pinning process. Speaking of that, I need to go ahead and get started on that with the previously made butterflies so they'll all be ready to mail ASAP.

Randomness...All About Books

This week's questions are book related....

1. Who are your favorite authors?Anne Tyler, Alice Hoffman, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain.
2. What are your favorite books? Breathing Lessons, Turtle Moon, Pride and Prejudice, Hard Times, Innocents Abroad.
3. What kind of books do you tend to read? Sci-fi, Romance, Mystery...etc...? I tend to read lots of different genres--True Crime, Mystery, Biography, Popular Fiction, Fantasy, Classic Literature, Religious, Suspense, Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Alternate History and even some Horror. I'll try most any genre in case I may end up liking it or discover a good writer.
4. Do you prefer to borrow books from the library or buy them? I prefer to borrow from the library, but when they don't have what I'm looking for or if they have a long waiting list, then I'll look online, usually at Amazon or eBay for a used copy I can purchase. Every once in a while I'll come across a good sale and buy new.
5. Do you prefer hardcover or paperback? Paperback--easier to hold. I have the greatest bookholder in 2 sizes--BookMate--so it's much easier to read and take along paperbacks using those.
6. What was the last book you read? What are you reading now? Last read: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. Currently Reading: Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton.
7. Do you read everyday? Yes. At the very least, 3-4 chapters of the Scriptures every morning and as much as I can of the book on my nightstand before I fall asleep every night.
8. On average how many books do you read per year? I have no idea, but I'm going to guess around 25.
9. Do you belong to any book clubs? Yes, all of them on Ravelry--Ravelry Book Club, Ravelry Book Group, Knitting 19th Century Novels, Read~Knit~Cook--and I also listen to CraftLit.
10. Recommend a good book. I really liked Expanded Universe by Robert Heinlein, which is a collection of his short stories and essays along with commentary in between each selection. I thought his commentary throughout the book made him really accessible as a person, and I really liked the way he looked back at what was going on in the world when each selection was written as well as his projections about the future from his 1980 viewpoint.

Scoop

With Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson in primary roles, one would expect this to be a pretty good movie, but I guess I'm in the group of people who just doesn't get the whole Woody Allen thing. He just ruined this movie for me. The storyline had great potential if only Woody Allen hadn't been in the middle of it. He is way too annoying for words, a bad actor, and his character was completely unnecessary and detracted from any benefit the rest of the cast might have added to the whole thing otherwise. If he had stuck to directing this movie and foregone self-servingly starring in it, I think it would have been much more watchable and enjoyable. I did love seeing Ian McShane from Deadwood, though.

Ninth Butterfly Completed

Finally finished crocheting this butterfly for The Butterfly Project. I tried to flatten it under a book overnight, but it's still pretty twisty and turny. Hopefully when I get around to the starching and pinning process for all of these butterflies, this one will straighten out and look better. This one may end up benefitting the most from that process. The yellow loops on the bottom wings especially won't behave.

This one is bigger than most of the others. Eventually I'll take a picture of all of them together to show their relative sizes. I kind of wish I had used different colors for this one as I'm not too thrilled with the blue and yellow together. I probably should have used the green in place of the blue. Too late now, though. This one was a beast to finally get finished. I think I spent as much time sewing and running in ends as I did crocheting it.

This butterfly was crocheted with Aunt Lydia's Classic Crochet Thread, size 10, in Delft and size 10 DMC crochet thread in Green and Yellow using a size 6 steel hook and this pattern.

Ninth Butterfly Still In Progress

All of the components of this butterfly have been crocheted, and now I have the task of sewing them together. By the way, that curled-up little thing in between the two large upper wings is the body and head with antennae.

Even after studying the picture on the pattern page and getting the opinions of my children, asking them to compare these components to the picture of the finished butterflies on the pattern page, none of us were certain which way the lower wings were supposed to go.

In the end, we just decided that one way looked a little better than the other way when shuffling around my components, so I'll go ahead and sew them together the way we all thought it looked best. This butterfly is so curly, though, that it probably won't look its best until it is starched, pinned and dried.

The Butterfly Project

"Come Out Of Her, My People!"

(I originally wrote and posted this to my previous blog on 03/09/2007.)

Reading: YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 49-51

Three times in the book of YirmeYahu, YHWH warns His people to flee Babel (Babylon), and it is this same warning that is repeated in Revelation:

Jer 50:8 "Flee from the midst of Babel, come out of the land of the Chaldeans. And be as rams before a flock.

Jer 51:6 Flee from the midst of Babel, and let each one save his life! Do not be cut off in her crookedness, for this is the time of the vengeance of יהוה, the recompense He is repaying her.

Jer 51:45 "Come out of her midst, My people! And let everyone deliver his being from the burning displeasure of יהוה.

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from the heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

What we know from the Scriptures is that YHWH/Yeshua did a lot more than has been written in the Scriptures--

Joh 21:25 Now there is much else that Yeshua did. If every one of them were written down, I think that the world itself would not contain the written books. Amen.

But we can be assured that what has been written is everything we need to know--

2Pe 1:3 as His Mighty-like power has given to us all we need for life and reverence, through the knowledge of Him who called us to esteem and uprightness.

So, then, why is this warning to flee Babel repeated multiple times? No doubt it is because our Savior wants us to heed and obey this warning!

What is Babel's crookedness? What are her sins? Why is YHWH so displeased with her and taking vengeance on her?

Rev 17:5 and upon her forehead a name written, a secret: BABEL THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE WHORES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The whole story of the Scriptures is about a Bridegroom and His bride--

Eph 5:31 "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
Eph 5:32 This secret is great, but I speak concerning Messiah and the assembly.
Eph 5:33 However, you too, everyone, let each one love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she fears her husband.

The Bridegroom is extremely jealous and, in fact, says His Name is jealous--

Exo 34:14 for you do not bow yourselves to another mighty one, for יהוה, whose Name is jealous, is a jealous El –

He wants His bride to have eyes only for Him, to reserve her heart only for Him, to serve only Him:

Exo 20:2 "I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery.
Exo 20:3 "You have no other mighty ones against My face.
Exo 20:4 "You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth,
Exo 20:5 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה your Elohim am a jealous El, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exo 20:6 but showing kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and guard My commands.

Idolatory is whoring and abomination to the King of Kings, and that is why He is taking vengeance on the mother of whores and abominations for leading His bride astray.

One day He is coming to take His bride to the place He has prepared for her. The bride needs to prepare herself. She needs to take down all the altars she has built to false gods. She needs to smash all the idols she has allowed to creep into her heart. She needs to subject herself to Messiah and ask Him to set her apart and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word (Ephesians 5:24-27).
Rev 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him praise, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife prepared herself."
Rev 19:8 And to her it was given to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the set-apart ones.

(Babel, or Babylon, is the abomination of adultery, spiritual adultery, which is idolatry. Idolatry is when we esteem anyone or anything greater than YHWH, when we put anyone or anything ahead of Him. Also, when we pursue other 'gods' along with Him, like a wife having lovers in addition to her husband. )