Making A New Ironing Board Cover

The women of the past knew how to cover an ironing board! They didn't buy a new Teflon coated packaged deal at the local merchantile ~ no, they didn't! When the old one had "had it", they simply folded some old sheets and wrapped them around the top of the old one and pinned the new cover in place. After a lifetime of use, an ironing board was pretty heavy to carry around with all that padding, but it was wonderful full padding with nice rounding at the corners.

My Grandmother and Mother were women who did this. I could never figure out how to do it with safety pins like they used, though!



Yesterday the time came for this old ironing board to be recovered. I had inherited it from a lady in her 90's who left it in the last house we bought. May be some day I will tell you about Bea.
This has wonderful cast-iron type legs, although it takes up a lot of room due to the wide legs on the wide end of it. Take a length of fabric over the top of the board. Allow maybe 5" to hang down. Starting at the wide end, cut the sides straight, not trying to follow the contour of the board. Round off those straight angles of the corners.


Then using some twill tape, sew it to the edge of the fabric, then turned it down to form a casing. Leave the openingin the narrow end. After stitching it down, run a cord all the way around the whole cover.



Pull up the cording a bit in the round areas to form gathers. Fit it onto your board and distribute the gathers evening on the rounded parts. Tie off and tuck the ends under.



I'm not sure how to rotate this picture for you to see, but you can see there are two springy thingys that span the width underneath to keep things in place. They came with the deal!

I will say, I lined this cover with a piece of soft, but heavy fabric under it and treated both pieces as one. I thought the thin fabric would wear better.

Now pressing is a pleasure!

Arrived By Post

There is something so exciting about getting a letter or package in the daily post; a sense of the personal. Perhaps it goes back to the days when letters were handwritten and packages were carefully wrapped in brown paper and secured with string. Those things were thoughtfully done by hand.
When Ashley or myself receive a package in our big country mailbox, whatever we are doing is forgotten for the present and breath is suspended until the package contents are revealed!
On this day recently, it was I who received the package! How exciting to see it ~ sitting there in the mailbox!

Having found Ashley in her garden, I squealed with delight and called her over to revel in my excitement. My men~folk who were working out in the field just sort of looked at us, thinking something really BIG had happened, but quickly realized it was a fit of feminine passion! Of course, Ashley was appropriately excited, so she came over and we opened it together. (It's so satisfying to share these moments with someone who "laughs when you laugh"!)

Upon opening the lid, all this lovely cantaloupe colored tissue was revealed.



And then ~~~~~~ the lovely seed packets!


The memory of this simple pleasure with my Daughter does something good in my heart!

A Lesson From a Calf

Recently, we have had an unusual guest at our country home. She came to visit because her Mama was unable to care for her and she needed some serious nurturing.

She was just less that four weeks old in this picture and seriously undernourished. Her Mother was sick and unable to nurse her, so she had had very little sustenance. In this picture, she was nothing but skin and bones. She was listless and was developing an ugly eye infection. She also had a cough.


Here is Tristan, one of her caretakers. He pulls her out of her shelter and gets her on her feets. She has been put on formula now and needs to eat three times a day, but is too weak to get on her feet to nurse. It is doubtful that she will live.


You can see the bucket hanging on the fence that has her milk and nipple. We soon realized that she was to weak to suck the nipple for very long. She doesn't get enough on her own. So it becomes necessary to feed her with a turkey baster. Here you see my husband and son getting her milk down her.
After one day of feeding her this way, her eye infection clears up, and her cough disappears. In about three days, she is sucking her nipple and eating everything in her bucket! In less that a week, they increase her ration because she isn't satisfied with 1/2 gallon!

There is a good lesson to learn here. As Christians, we have been given new life that must be sustained by regular "feedings". Those feedings must begin at our "new birth" otherwise we can become stunted in our growth like our little friend above. Lots of sin-sickness can afflict us, the effects of which can follow us all our lives.
The wonderful thing is, that we don't "shrivel up and die" like the calf because our spiritual life force is in Christ. Instead, we can begin to feast on The Word and begin a process of growth that will continue as long as we "eat" and "exercise".
Ladies, it is so easy to neglect our Bibles; we become so busy and there are so many things we "have" to do that we can soon find ourselves with a lagging appetite for His Word. Pretty soon we can become content with other things to fill the void in our hearts. As long as we stay too busy to think about the gnawing hunger in our soul, we will be satisfied with the husks of the flesh.
Let's give as much attention to the health of our spirits, as we do our own bodys!

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God".


A job well done, my sons!

Hymn For The Lord's Day: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

Excerpts from the Thirty-third Psalm

Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ...

The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. ...

There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.

For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.


GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH

William Williams 1717-1791


Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more,
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through;
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my strength and shield,
Be Thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;

Death of death, and hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's side;

Songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever give to Thee.
I will ever give to Thee.


I encourage you to pick up the Holy Scriptures this day and turn your thoughts to His Word.
If we, as individuals, familys, churches, and as a nation, ever needed His counsel, it is now.

Temporarily Out of Touch!

It has been over a week since my last post, but you should know it is only temporary! Our computer decided to die the death, but we are trying to resurect it. It is currently getting fixed by someone who seems to know more that we do. We should have it back by next week sometime.
In the meantime, our family has been viewing Wives and Daughters again. It is so enjoyable. This time, we are watching it in segments. It gives us something to anticipate, while we wait for our computer to come home to us.

Hymn For The Lord's Day: Grace Greater That Our Sin

Grace is that supernatural power, given by God alone, to do what we can not do for ourselves. We can not save ourselves. Only God can save us ~ through His grace ~ His supernatural power.

God's grace is not deserved: it is freely given to sinners. "Now to him that worketh not, but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4:5)

It is given to those sinners who who trust in Christ's sacrifice alone to merit God's grace. "For by grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9)


GRACE GREATER THAT OUR SIN

Julia H. Johnston 1849-1919


Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide,
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! there is flowing a crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be today.

Grace, grace, God's grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleasnse within;
Grace grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe;
All who are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, Grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Seed Packets and Peat Pots

This time of year is perfect for dreaming of gardens. My mind always goes to flower gardens. When I was a tiny child, someone planted the "seed" of gardening in my little mind. It must have been a long-ago Sunday School teacher who raised a batch of pansies in little cups and sent one home with each of her students for their Mothers on Mother's day. I was one of her little recipients of a sweet pansy, and~ so was my Mother. I don't think I had ever seen a real flower before.

Because we have two very large areas right around the house, they simply cry out to be filled with blooms! You may remember the roses I planted last fall in these gardens. They are all dormant now, of course, but they are the largest bushes I could find without being climbers.
So seed fever has taken possession of me ~ I have poured over seed catalogs, spent many inquiring hours on the internet researching English cottage gardening. I am realizing my hot southern, drought stricken soil may not produce exactly what I long for. So I have turned to the book Jim Wilson wrote called "Bullet-Proof Gardening". He and his wife lived here before we bought the place and apparently filled these gardens with flowers. So I know there is hope.

Finally, I've made my selection. I will once again order from Botanical Interests. Tomorrow is the day. They have to be planted by the middle of the month in order to be ready to plant outside by April.

Each seed packet is a complete guide for growing this particular seed!


Open up the packet and find oodles of information! This is so helpful to someone like me who hasn't done this much before!

I use plastic forks to remind me of important information! Cilantro germinates in complete darkness. So just cover that part with something to keep the light out.

I don't know of too many people who enjoy spinach. Mom frequently served it from a can when we were growing up. It was good. She always put the vinegar cruet on the table when she served spinach. YUM!

So just get yourself a seedling flat with peat pots or plastic pots, some potting soil and a packet of seeds and go to it! Let me know how you do!

Mexican Enchilada Sauce

I found this receipt a few months back on http://www.recipezaar.com It was posted by Donna Matthews.
I served it yesterday and our whole family LOVED it!
I made some brown rice and fried two pounds of ground venison with home mixed taco seasoning. I added a partial jar of salsa from Aldi. After stirring the rice and meat mixture up, I added about a cup of the sauce and filled whole wheat soft taco with it all. Of course, cheese too!
After fitting the rolled up enchiladas into a baking dish, pour the sauce over the top. Yummy!
I'm sure it would be fanitastic with any other filling you may like to concoct!

Mexican Enchilada Sauce
15 minute prep time!

3 T chili powder
3T flour
1 tsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp oregano

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, or medium saucepan.

3C water

Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste.
Pour and mix in the rest of the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly untill mixture thickens.

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

Stir in tomato sauce.
Use in your favorite enchilada recipe.

A Hymn For The Lord's Day: Like a River Glorious

LIKE A RIVER GLOURIOUS

Frances R Havergal 1836-1879


Like a river glourious is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller ev'ry day,
Perfect yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Stayed upon Jehovah, hears are fully blest-
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest-
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Ev'ry joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do-
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest-
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.