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A Few 40th Birthday Pictures


I promised 40th birthday pictures, but yesterday was a crazy busy day with meetings, homeschool, orders and two football games (both boys’ teams won, by the way!). I had such a nice birthday which included wonderful family and friends, all of whom made me feel so loved and appreciated. The flowers on the left above came from one of my oldest son’s friends, Kirstin, who tracked us down at a local restaurant at dinner to give them to me, along with the sweetest handmade card. The ones on the right came from my momma who is far away in Florida. They remind me so much of her–it was like having a little bit of her here to celebrate with me.

On Saturday, a few days before my birthday, my friends, Maray and Michelle, took me out thrift shopping and then we had a lovely Mexican lunch. Here we are with our three boys who are just a few months apart:

On Sunday evening, the lifegroup that we’ve been a part of for many years came to our house for our regular Bible study, dinner and cake. Someone apparently thought it would be amusing to have everyone dress in black. (I think I got the last laugh, though, because most of them are older than me . . . and they always will be!)

On Wednesday, my actual birthday, I got my four youngest kids up early, and we went to IHOP for breakfast. We had chess club in the afternoon, but we went out for ice cream at Braums after. That evening, my whole family gathered together to celebrate with another Mexican dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Angelina’s.

I received some wonderful gifts including this pile of handmade pillowcases to donate to ConKerr Cancer! Aren’t they sweet? (And you thought I was done with pillowcases, didn’t you? I am now . . . for at least a little while!)

The whole day was full of phone calls and visits and wonderful memories. I have to share one of my favorite moments, though. A friend called and her 5-year-old and 3-year-old sang Happy Birthday to me. When they finished, her 5-year-old daughter asked to pray with me, “Dear God, please let Auntie Bonnie have fun today–Andrew, stop that!–God, please let Auntie Bonnie have fun today and let this year be a good one for her.” I love it–the memory is bringing a huge smile to my face even as I’m typing. Thank you, God, for filling the last 40 years with joy, sadness, foolishness, wisdom, blessing, mourning, friendship, solitude and so much love.

Thank you, my friends and family, for joining in my celebration. I’m so excited to see what the next 40 years bring!

Happy 40th Birthday to Me . . . to Me . . .


40 pillowcases, sewn up over 40 days, are all finished in time to celebrate my 40th birthday! Thanks so much for cheering me on and joining in to sew with me! (In case you missed my 40 Day Challenge, you can read about it here.)

I have a wonderful day planned today spent with friends and family. I’ll post some pictures of all the fun tonight or tomorrow morning!

Pillowcases 36, 37, 38, 39 & 40!

With no time to spare, here are pillowcases #36 and #37: Pirate Bears & Sea Turtles . . .

. . . #38 and #39: Buggies & Froggies . . .

. . . and last, but certainly not least, #40: Apples & Pears!

This project was such a blessing to me, and I honestly feel a little sad that it’s done. Each of these pillowcases represents a child and his or her family in what is surely a very difficult time in their lives. Much prayer was poured out over these pillowcases as I sewed. I hope that this gift given for my 40th birthday brings comfort and joy to those who receive them.

Pillowcases 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 & 33: More for the Boys

I did say that I was trying to do plenty of pillowcases that little boys would love, didn’t I? I think all seven of these fall well into that category!

#27 & #28 Riding the Range

#29 Sailing Away & #30 Dinosaurs!

#31 Wee-Oh Wee-Oh Trucks, #32 Footballs & #33 Dirt Bikes

Only two days left until my birthday and seven pillowcases to go! I’m still having a great time sewing them up.

A Quick Sewing Lesson Produces A Stack of Pillowcases

Friday afternoon, we had a group of friends from our local homeschool group over to sew pillowcases with us! I think everyone had a great time, and we turned out a slew of pillowcases. The kids each made two pillowcases, one to keep and one to give. My hope is that the pillowcase that they kept will remind them to pray for the sick child who receives the matching one.

 

Folding

Cutting

Pinning

Sewing


(I love this one of me sewing with Jamie!)

 

And, the kids, each showing off one of their finished pillowcases:



We used the Hot Dog Pillowcase Tutorial with a French seam to make these, and they turned out great! The donated pillowcases will go to ConKerr Cancer’s Miles of Pillowcase Smiles project.

Monkeying Around with Cupcakes: Pillowcases 25 & 26

Pillowcases 25 & 26 are ready to go:

I used the Hot Dog Pillowcase tutorial from the Conkerr Cancer website to sew these two, finishing them up with a french seam. The group of beginning sewists who are coming over to sew pillowcases this afternoon will be using sewing machines rather than sergers, so I thought I’d try this method out and see how it works. It is so cool! I think the kids are going to really enjoy it.

For more information about my personal challenge and to find my 9 1/2 Minute Serged Pillowcase Tutorial, check out this post: Pillowcase Challenge.

A Little Local Quilting Store Love


We headed out after our book-work was done this morning to do some shopping and a little on-the-road learning. This Friday afternoon, we have a group of moms and children from our local homeschool group dropping in to sew pillowcases with us for the Crafthope pillowcase project. I thought my kids and I would enjoy a trip to Historic Downtown Carrollton to pick out fabrics for their pillowcases at The Old Craft Store.

We did a little math on the way. “If you need 3/4 yard of a main fabric and 1/3 yard of a trim fabric for one pillowcase, how much do you need for two pillowcases? How many inches is that?”

The kids did a great job picking out their fabrics. I was so surprised that Allen was the quickest, and Samantha took the longest! (I’ll post pictures of their finished pillowcases on Friday so you can see the fabrics they chose.)

This sweet quilt shop is packed full of beautiful fabrics, and I’m in awe of the projects that they have on display. I think I could spend a whole day wandering around gathering ideas to add to my sewing list. The ladies who run the quilt shop are amazing, too–they were so encouraging and so patient with my littles. It’s so nice every so often to just drop in to a place where you can shop and chat about your love of sewing and enjoy some comraderie with fellow sewing enthusiasts.


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