January Sewing Project

 

I sewed this pink pinafore this month. January was a one project month for me.

The pink pinafore goes with this butterfly dress that I made in November. The pinafore really finishes the look.

The top part of the pinafore is lined  with a light weight muslin. The pinafore fastens with a tie at the side and a hidden button on the inside.

I am happy with how this pinafore and dress turned out. I plan to make one more set starting in February. Check back next month to see how that goes!

J.S.Bach

"The aim and final reason of all music should be none else but the glory of God

 and refreshing the soul. 

Where this is not observed there will be no music but only a devilish hubbub."

 - Johann Sebastian Bach 

I never knew a whole lot about Bach or his music, although, there are a few pieces of Bach's music that I have loved over the years. I, also, had heard a little of his testimony as a Christian, which endeared me to learn more about his works.

I recently have listened to a series of lectures from The Great Courses by professor Robert Greenberg. I also listened to and audio version of Johann Sebastian Bach by Rich Marschall. What information I am going to share in this blog post is based on what I can remember of this course and book.

Johann Sebastian Bach lived from 1685 to 1750. He composed a massive amount of music. His compositions were in the highly ornamented baroque style. Most of his works were for church services. Bach was a devoted Lutheran. He lived in Germany his whole life and never traveled over 300 miles from his place of birth.

His Bible has been discovered and preserved. It is a German Bible translated by Luther. Bach made notes in the margins of his Bible so historians are able to get an idea of how personal his faith was to him.

At the top of the page of a vast majority of his compositions he wrote Jesus, juva meaning Jesus, help me. And at the conclusion of his pieces he wrote the abbreviation for to God alone be the glory in Latin: S.D.G.

Not only did Bach write religious music he also wrote music for birthdays, weddings, and entertainment. One of my favorite pieces of his compositions (Sheep May Safely Graze) was written for some important person's birthday.

Bach was born into a musical family, which no doubt contributed to his skill, but there is no denying that he had a special musical genius. He was truly gifted by God. His music transcends time and language. Those who hear the beauty in his music can hardly help themselves from thinking of their Creator, regardless of personal faith or religious beliefs. At least that is what I see in the comment section of Bach performances on YouTube. And that is how I feel about many of his most famous pieces. Bach strove to glorify God and I think he was supernaturally blessed to be able to make music that lives on after himself and points the listeners to a Being greater than themselves, the only Being possessing the power to create life and all things lovely: God Almighty.

Bach was a devoted father and by all accounts lead a happy family. The Bach family was very large. His first wife, Barbara, gave birth to 7 children. After Barbara's early death Bach married Anna Magdalena. Anna had 13 children. Sadly, infant mortality being what it was in those days only 10 Bach children survived to adulthood. Bach taught his children music and how to play the organ and maybe other instruments that I can't remember. Bach's wives and children helped him to make hand copies of music to pass out to the all singers and musicians every week. There were no copy machines back then!

About a hundred years after Bach's death someone cataloged what works of his that could be found. (This is still an ongoing project.) Much of his music is lost to time, but well over a thousand compositions remain to this day.

Random facts:

>Bach was big fan of coffee.

>When renovations were done on the Church where Bach's body had been inturned they measured his skeleton and said he must have been about 5'7" tall and had a large head.

>Bach's music has been sent to outer space. The Voyager space craft carries a golden record to represent mankind's best musical art and three of Bach's compositions were included.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces of music by Bach. Please tell me if you have any Bach favorites in the comment section!

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
This is a part of Cantata BWV 147 
This is the song that I walked down the aisle to during our wedding ceremony.

This is an arrangement for guitar and cello.

Sheep May Safely Graze
This is a part of Cantata BWV 208
This song was also played at my wedding!

This is an arrangement for piano.

Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in Major BWV 1007

This is only the prelude. The whole suite runs about 18 minutes. The prelude is so pleasant. It makes me think of all the beautiful things in the world; the people who I love, babies being born, sunsets and mountain peaks, the sound of the ocean, green leaves unfurling, and the way fresh clean air feels in your nostrils.

Cantata BWV 140 also known as Sleepers Awake

I was introduced to this song by the lecture series. At first my favorite part was movement 4, and then I really liked movement 6, too, and then I listened to the whole thing and decided that I like the whole thing altogether. This cantata was written to be sang during a church service. The scripture reading for the particular Sunday was the story of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come. The words of the Cantata parallel the message from the ten virgins story. All the words are in German but I was able to find a video with the English translation written on the screen. After reading the translation the vocal music seemed to come alive for me, even though I still can't understand exactly what they are saying. I am able to catch on to the spirit of what they are singing.

Movement 4

The whole Cantata BWV 140

Gingerbread Recipe For Gingerbread House Making

 

Last year I bought a gingerbread house cookie cutter set. The recipe on the back of the package worked well. I used the same recipe this time. 

I made a triple batch and it was the perfect amount. We made 5 houses and had a few spare parts. If we hadn't needed our spare parts we could've made 6 houses.

Gingerbread Triple Batch

1 1/2 cups Butter, room temperature  

1 cup Sugar 

1 cup Molasses

1 TBS. Ground Cinnamon

1 TBS. Ground Ginger

1 TBS. Baking Soda

3 Egg Yolks

1 TBS. Vanilla Flavoring 

3/4 Salt

6 cups Flour

Place sugar, molasses, cinnamon, and ginger in large sauce pot over medium low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. 

Remove from heat. 

Stir in baking soda. 

Stir in butter one tablespoon at a time, sitting well after each addition. (Room temperature butter is really helpful for this step.)

Add egg yolks, vanilla, and salt, stirring to combine.

Add flour, a cupful at a time, stirring to combine. 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough comes together and is no longer sticky, adding flour a tablespoon at a time if necessary. 

Place dough in refrigerator for 2 hours or until thoroughly chilled. 

Divide dough into 6 sections. Working with one section at a time, roll out each section to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out cookie and house pieces. Place on cookie sheet. 

Bake at 325°F. for 12-18 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. 

Remove from oven. 

Cool on cooling racks. 

Once cool assemble with royal icing.

Royal Icing (AKA Construction Glue)

3 Egg Whites

3 1/2 - 4 cups Powdered Sugar 

Beat with whisk to form thick icing. Spoon into plastic bags. Snip a small hole in the corner of each plastic bag to make a piping bag.

Sewing Projects In December

The highlight in our December was the wedding in the family. And the highlight of this post is going to be my sewing projects related to the wedding.

First up, I finished the flower girl dress and it turned out just right!

I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of my daughter all dressed up for the wedding. I have regrets about that. These pictures of the dress hanging in a tree will have to work for this post.

I hope to see some of the pictures that the photographer took of her during the wedding.

I found this darling little hoop skirt on Amazon for her to wear under the dress. It's so cute! It makes me want to wear one myself! :)

My Mom gave me this blue dress when we saw her over Thanksgiving. I was hoping that I could wear it for the wedding. It needed some alterations to make it suitable. It was a little too short and a little too low cut for our family standards.

(Yes, there's a baby in there! Needing a maternity size dress limited my choices for wedding attire.)

I went to our local thrift store hoping to find ideas/material to fix my dress. I found this very wide piece in a color that I thought would blend well with the dress material. I made an underskirt to hang down and cover my knees. I hand stitched it in place at the elastic waist band. I did my best to straighten up the hem. 

I tacked a new V neckline in at the neck. I left enough room to still be able to get my head through the hole.

I was pleased with how it turned out. Nothing spectacular but it made me feel dressy at a stage in pregnancy when it is hard to get that feeling.

During our travels for the wedding I was able to do some sewing on the doll dress that I have had queued up for a few months. I completed the doll dress and installed a snap button.

To finish the month I have a few tertiary sewing related projects.

I sewed a missing button on one of my boy's shirt cuffs 

This bag may look like a purse to the untrained eye, but this bag is indeed a crayon bag for our children's ample supply of crayons.

The handle of the crayon bag had fallen apart so I repaired it this month by sewing it back together.

Last of all, I have cut out the pieces for the pink pinafore. I am going to use some light muslin for the lining pieces because the pink fabric is quite heavy. I wouldn't want two layers of the pink fabric if I can lighten it up by using a different material as the lining.

And that is all for December, in fact that is all for 2024! I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! See you in 2025!

Memory Verses Thanks To Church

I want to highlight one of the ways that being a part of a local church has blessed my life. Our church does five-a-month for Bible memory verses. During the announcement portion of every service our pastor asks if anyone has recited the verses for the month and he adds new names to the list of individuals. Names of those who have joined in memorizing the five verses for the month are printed in the bulletin every week. 

Some may make the point that memorizing Bible verses to be recognized is the wrong motivation. I can see the point. We are supposed to let our alms giving be done in secret and our heavenly Father will reward us openly.

I don't see Bible verse memorizing equal to alms giving, though, so I wouldn't apply Jesus' instructions in Matthew 6. My view on the subject is that seeing other's names on the list can be encouraging or even convicting. Like, if these people can do it than I can, too, or, I should, too. I think myself memorizing the five-a-month and publicly proclaiming the fact has encouraged my friends to join in. And I know that I have been inspired by those members of our church who memorize the verses every month.

I think this is one of the types of things that Jesus established the church to accomplish. I know that I wouldn't be memorizing these verses if I was a lone ranger Christian. If I didn't go to church, I wouldn't have the will to memorize this much Bible. The local Church is ment to equip believers and be a purifying force in their life. By having a five-a-month club and publicly displaying those names I am being provoked to work on my spiritual walk. These verses that I have memorized this year have been so good for my spiritual walk. I have understood God in ways that just reading my Bible hasn't accomplished. (I still have a long way to go!) The amount of meditation that memorizing takes produces a better effect than only Bible reading.

My church is a huge blessing in my life. Bible memory is just one of the ways that my church has formed me into a better, more Christ honoring, believer. I hope that every believer can be joined to a local body. That is the way God planned for Christianity to work.

To close this post I will add the memory verses from this year and explain my memory technique.

For long term memory storage I have always had success with using tunes. I come up with a tune for each set of verses. I use an audio recording app on my phone to help me work on each tune. I add to the tune slowly. I will chant the first part of the verse to a tune that comes to mind. Once I feel confident with that small section I record it so that I can leave off from working on it. I move to the next section and come up with a tune. I chant the second section to the tune until I feel confident with it. Then I will put the two parts together and sing them conjoined until I feel confident with them together. I make a new recording with the two sections together. Then I come up with a tune for the next section. And so forth and so on..... I just keep adding to my song little by little with the words of the Bible verses. 

Sometimes I draw pictographs and little symbols to help me memorize the words. If I have to work without the audio recording app I write out the verses and draw little lines and dashes to indicate whether the notes in my tune go up or down, long or short. That is the only way I used to work before I had an app.

Are songs the best way to memorize Bible verses? That depends on your goals. Songs are the best way for me and my aims. I am not memorizing these verses to quote to other people in conversation. I am memorizing these verses for my own connection with God and for long term storage. I want these verses to be in my mind for the rest of my life. Music is special in that way. I have read about Alzheimer patients that can sing their part in a singing group even after they have lost the ability to recognize close family members. I also think of being in a place where owning a Bible becomes a crime or being in a place where I won't have access to a Bible. In scenarios like that I will want my memory verses to be solid and long lasting as only I have found them to be in song.

Here are my Bible verse songs from this year. Maybe they can be helpful for someone else. Forgive me if I slip off key in these recordings, or don't keep steady tempo, or miss my high notes...... I am just putting these out there in case they may be a help to anyone.

January 

1 Corinthians 12:14-18 For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

February 

Nehemiah 8:8-12 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

March

Ephesians 5:17-21 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

April 

Matthew 28:5-9 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

May

Romans 8:22-26 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

June

John 7:5-9 For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.

July

Mark 11:22-26 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

August

1 Corinthians 15:54-58 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

September 

2 Timothy 4:1-5 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

October 

Acts 13:1-5 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

November 

Revelation 22:17-21 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

December (Our pastor only picked out 2 verses to memorize in December.)

Isaiah 9:6+7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Natto Making Experiment

This post is *not* a tutorial. I just want to document my first attempt at natto making. Making natto was an adventure and I made many mistakes along the way.

I have wanted to try making natto since I watched Emmy do it on her YouTube channel.

I started by soaking the soy beans for 24 hours. I heard that this small foam that develops on the water surface is an indicator that the beans have soaked long enough.

I drained the beans.

I cooked them in my electric pressure cooker for 25 minutes under pressure.

I put the hot soy beans into a couple ceramic vessels that I had sanitized with bleach. 

This is when I started to make mistakes. I realized that every example online only used shallow dishes to ferment natto. I had counted on using a deep container to ferment a whole bunch at one time. I had to alter my plans and use only a shallow layer of beans in my containers.

Boy, did I have a lot of extra soy beans!

To inoculate my soy beans with the right culture I put a chunk of frozen commercially prepared natto in the center of the hot beans.

After a few minutes it was totally thawed and I stirred it around thoroughly to get culture on all the beans.

I used a piece of plastic from an old cereal bag, which I had also sanitized, to seal in the moisture. I poked a few holes for breathing and left my thermometer through one of the holes to monitor the temperature.

Here I ran into another problem. I had counted on using the electric pressure cooker to keep my fermenting beans at the right temperature just like the lady in the video had done. The problem is that my electric pressure cooker is not an Insta-pot brand and it does not have a yogurt setting, which I had not noticed until I was ready to ferment my beans.

After ample googling and blog reading I came to the conclusion that I would try my crockpot on the keep warm setting. I believe that the keep warm setting is still too hot. (Natto ferments at 90°-113° F.) I planned to turn it on for a while and then turn it off for a little bit and so on and so forth through the night. 

I fell asleep and left it on for too long, or so I thought. And then it got too cold one time, or so I thought.

I wasn't too optimistic when the fermentation time was over. I checked to see if the beans had the strings to prove that they had turned into natto.

We had strings! Somehow it had worked!

We eat our natto on top of a serving of rice with sardines or boiled eggs. 

I like to garnish with pickled onions or peppers or green onions. And always a sprinkle of soy sauce.

I eat my bites on little pieces of nori when we have some. Very tasty and very nutritious.

Beef Liver Pâté

 

I like this liver spread on toast. I feel good about eating this because I know it's a food with a lot of nutritional value. The flavor is an acquired taste I would say. It is a very adult food. 

Liver Pâté

1 onion diced

1 carrot shredded

2 T. fat or oil

1 1/2 tsp. ground thyme 

Dash of cayenne pepper 

1 lb. Beef Liver 

3/4 cup broth

1 T. lemon juice 

1 T. Worcester sauce 

1 T. Salt

1/2 T. Pepper

1 stick of butter

Saute the carrots and onion in the fat or oil. Sprinkle in the ground thyme. Cut the liver into chunks. Add the liver to the skillet with the onions and carrots. Add the broth and cook gently until the liver pieces are no longer pink.

Add the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. 

Pour everything into a blender. Add salt and pepper. Blend until smooth and cooled down a bit. Add butter a few tablespoons at a time. 

Chill for one day to meld flavors. 

Sewing Projects In November

I finished this dress for my daughter. It's one of the dresses that I wanted to make for her upcoming birthday.

We have been living in an RV for the last several months. There are not any large enough surfaces to lay out material to cut. This is how I cut out the material for the dress. 

I lift the mattress off the main bed and prop it against a wall. Under the mattress is a nice large wooden plank. 

Then I cut out a dress. If you're ever living in an RV and need a large flat surface, keep this tip in mind. ;)

On Saturday, I can set my sewing machine up at the table. Nevermind the milk in the picture. I had left some frozen items out on the table that day to thaw, including the milk. :)

On week days I do a lot of hand sewing jobs while I sit and homeschool. I was basting sew-in interfacing on the collar and cuff pieces in this picture.

I still have to make a pinafore to go with the butterfly dress. I have this pink material picked out.

This is the fabric that I have picked out for the third and final dress and pinafore. I will be hard pressed to finish for her birthday, but we shall see.

Another project that I finished this month was the golden mock up for the flower girl dress. (You can read about it in this blog post incase you missed it.)

Now, I have started working on the real flower girl dress. Boy, am I frustrated with the rookie mistakes that I have been making!

I have the bodice assembled. I have been having a lot of trouble with the sleeves.

I had my iron heat setting too high and messed up the first sleeve.

The extra heat left ripples in the fabric. The damage was not very obvious. 

I wanted to cut out a new sleeve, and start over. But first I had to cut out the skirt pieces to be sure I had enough leftover fabric to cut another sleeve.

I have found that the mattress with the bedding removed is firm enough for me to lay out fabric and cut pieces on it. No more propping the mattress up and blocking the door way.
 

Anyway, I had enough fabric to cut out a new sleeve. Yay!

I sewed the new sleeve all together and went to set it in the bodice only to find that I had put it together with the wrong side of the fabric facing out! Agggggh!

The fabric is so hard to tell right side from wrong side. Maybe I could get away with using it wrong side out? But, the back part of the sleeve with the double notches was at the front, and the front of the sleeve with the single notch was in the back. The curve at the top of the sleeve is not symmetrical and can't be reversed.

Oh well, I had to do a lot of stitch ripping. I am going to have to put it together with the right side out this time. I have not made as much progress as I had hoped on this flower girl dress this month.

And that is the conclusion of my sewing progress this month. Pray for me to not make any more mistakes on this flower girl dress. It is getting discouraging!