In honor of the weddings of my brother and best friend from college in December (2 seperate weddings... I did not go to school with my brother's fiancee, though that would have been fun!), I will contribute my top 10 uses for duct tape at a wedding - and then shut up about it, so they have the next 8 months to recover from the mental shock. :-D
10. Silver is a good accent color for a wedding. Use duct tape to make pew bows.
9. Tape the isle runner to the floor. Better yet, use overlapping strips to make the isle runner from scratch.
8. Gentlemen, having trouble finding a bow tie that fits comfortably? Make your own out of duct tape. Add a macthing cummerbund for effect.
7. Wrap flower boquet stems in duct tape. Rose thorns and leaves are no longer an issue.
6. Save money on the whole tux rental thing. Make your entire outfit out of black and white duct tape.
5. Make a garter out of duct tape. The guy who catches it will truely appreciate it!
4. Dress too loose at the last minute? Apply white duct tape as needed.
3. Afraid of flowers wilting halfway through the celebration? Make roses out of duct tape. They'll last for years to come.
2. Keep the bride and groom from seeing one another before the wedding. Tape the doors shut until the music starts playing.
1. Make sure everyone knows they were married! Write "Just Married" on the back window of the car before they leave the reception.
My love to both couples through this planning process. Don't forget that laughing often is an important ingredient in both marriage and planning a wedding!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Imperfect Quilt Squares
I've learned something today... again.
Beauty and Perfection do not need to go hand in hand. Oh, I've told myself that for years... that I don't need to be perfect, that you can't actually reach perfection this side of heaven... and yet I continue to reach for it. Perhaps wishing and hoping that if I achieve perfection, the empty places in me will be filled, that life will always be sunny (but not TOO warm!) and things will always be good. I know it's impossible... but when has knowing something was impossible ever stopped me from trying to do it anyway???
Mom made a quilt for me last winter. Sort of a combination Birthday/Christmas/You're-moving-across-the-country-and-I'm-going-to-miss-you gift. I got to help. The pattern is uniquely me. It's the first quilt design I've come up with in my head that has actually become reality. I'm now slowly in the process of creating throw pillows, pillow shams and other decorative items to match. My first major sewing project that involved more than 4 seams and some pillow stuffing.
Perhaps it's because I'm the creator of these new accessories that I see the imperfections in them. Oh sure, there might have been a loose thread here or there in the quilt Mom made, but I don't see those as imperfections. I see them as character. Then I look at the pieces I'm working on, and I see squares that aren't quite square, rectangles that were cut a smidge too long, seam allowances that don't line up... and I feel like I'll never measure up... that someone will easily be able to tell my mom's work from my own.
I've been reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge. Ladies, I encourage you to read it. You'll probably be faced with truths you would rather stayed buried and ignored, but isn't that what growth is about? Guys, I encourage you to read it. Hopefully it will shed some light for you on why the females in your life act the way they do. (Yes, we really do have a dancing/twirling/spinning gene. Please, Indulge that gene. It tells us we're beautiful.)
Captivating is teaching me - slowly - again, for the umpteenth time - why I feel lonely and imperfect. Why I feel like the cry of my soul has gone unanswered. The mental image in my mind is one of a child shouting into a tin can... when they could be listening for echoes at the Grand Canyon. I have restricted myself to my safety zone, and tried to stuff fluff into the corners (relationships with guys, diets, work,makeup, romance novels, etc.) to make me feel significant and beautiful, rather than asking the very One who created me if I'm beautiful... and then believing Him when He tells me "YES!" It's hard to believe that I'm beautiful when I look in the mirror and see imperfections.
I finally got one quilt square done today that I was truly proud of. Every piece lined up, every seam was straight (more or less), it was the correct size it was supposed to be for this stage of assembly. How shocking would it be if that quilt square stood up, walked over to the mirror, examined itself on both sides, then looked at me and said, "I'm not beautiful. I have a thread hanging out over here, this seam is going to come apart, and these folds got stitched the wrong way!" I have been guilty of doing that to God. Maybe not always about physical attributes (although those can often be high on the list). Sometimes it's circumstances and situations. "God, WHY did I have to feel that??" Sometimes it's stumbling block and emotional dead-ends. "God, I'd rather be doing this..."
Then I started thinking about the squares I'd made that I didn't consider as measuring up. How often I feel like one of those squares... sitting on the discard pile, waiting to either be taken apart and reused or tossed in the trash as completely useless. Ladies, Satan wants nothing more than for us to be frozen immobile in life by believing that we are worthless and are sitting in the discard pile. Even if we are in serious need of a spiritual makeover, I promise you that God will NOT discard any one of us, from the crankiest grandma to the abandoned newborn. We may go through a time in our life where we're taken apart and put back together again, but we're not destined for the trash heap.
Read Captivating. Stasi and John are so much more eloquent than I am (not to mention having a professional editor!) And God is even more eloquent than any of us. We just need to risk sticking our heads out of our safety zones, pulling our fingers out of our ears, and listening to what He has been shouting into the Grand Canyon, "You are my daughter, and you are beautiful!"
Beauty and Perfection do not need to go hand in hand. Oh, I've told myself that for years... that I don't need to be perfect, that you can't actually reach perfection this side of heaven... and yet I continue to reach for it. Perhaps wishing and hoping that if I achieve perfection, the empty places in me will be filled, that life will always be sunny (but not TOO warm!) and things will always be good. I know it's impossible... but when has knowing something was impossible ever stopped me from trying to do it anyway???
Mom made a quilt for me last winter. Sort of a combination Birthday/Christmas/You're-moving-across-the-country-and-I'm-going-to-miss-you gift. I got to help. The pattern is uniquely me. It's the first quilt design I've come up with in my head that has actually become reality. I'm now slowly in the process of creating throw pillows, pillow shams and other decorative items to match. My first major sewing project that involved more than 4 seams and some pillow stuffing.
Perhaps it's because I'm the creator of these new accessories that I see the imperfections in them. Oh sure, there might have been a loose thread here or there in the quilt Mom made, but I don't see those as imperfections. I see them as character. Then I look at the pieces I'm working on, and I see squares that aren't quite square, rectangles that were cut a smidge too long, seam allowances that don't line up... and I feel like I'll never measure up... that someone will easily be able to tell my mom's work from my own.
I've been reading Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge. Ladies, I encourage you to read it. You'll probably be faced with truths you would rather stayed buried and ignored, but isn't that what growth is about? Guys, I encourage you to read it. Hopefully it will shed some light for you on why the females in your life act the way they do. (Yes, we really do have a dancing/twirling/spinning gene. Please, Indulge that gene. It tells us we're beautiful.)
Captivating is teaching me - slowly - again, for the umpteenth time - why I feel lonely and imperfect. Why I feel like the cry of my soul has gone unanswered. The mental image in my mind is one of a child shouting into a tin can... when they could be listening for echoes at the Grand Canyon. I have restricted myself to my safety zone, and tried to stuff fluff into the corners (relationships with guys, diets, work,makeup, romance novels, etc.) to make me feel significant and beautiful, rather than asking the very One who created me if I'm beautiful... and then believing Him when He tells me "YES!" It's hard to believe that I'm beautiful when I look in the mirror and see imperfections.
I finally got one quilt square done today that I was truly proud of. Every piece lined up, every seam was straight (more or less), it was the correct size it was supposed to be for this stage of assembly. How shocking would it be if that quilt square stood up, walked over to the mirror, examined itself on both sides, then looked at me and said, "I'm not beautiful. I have a thread hanging out over here, this seam is going to come apart, and these folds got stitched the wrong way!" I have been guilty of doing that to God. Maybe not always about physical attributes (although those can often be high on the list). Sometimes it's circumstances and situations. "God, WHY did I have to feel that??" Sometimes it's stumbling block and emotional dead-ends. "God, I'd rather be doing this..."
Then I started thinking about the squares I'd made that I didn't consider as measuring up. How often I feel like one of those squares... sitting on the discard pile, waiting to either be taken apart and reused or tossed in the trash as completely useless. Ladies, Satan wants nothing more than for us to be frozen immobile in life by believing that we are worthless and are sitting in the discard pile. Even if we are in serious need of a spiritual makeover, I promise you that God will NOT discard any one of us, from the crankiest grandma to the abandoned newborn. We may go through a time in our life where we're taken apart and put back together again, but we're not destined for the trash heap.
Read Captivating. Stasi and John are so much more eloquent than I am (not to mention having a professional editor!) And God is even more eloquent than any of us. We just need to risk sticking our heads out of our safety zones, pulling our fingers out of our ears, and listening to what He has been shouting into the Grand Canyon, "You are my daughter, and you are beautiful!"
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