Day 1 of WIFD and Suprise!!!!!!!!!

Hey ladies!!!

I am a very happy daughter and seamstress in the making right now because I get to introduce you to my new sewing machine!!! Yes I have a new sewing machine, curtousy of my father who is gifting me this sewing machine as an early christmas gift. I have a lot of sewing projects coming up and in the making and I paid for half of the machine. Its not the thread banger that I wanted, but its a Janome and its the Magnolia, which is pretty much the same as the thread banger. It just does not have the same ammount of stitches. I am so happy and I have almost finished two sewing projects this weekend I will plan to share with you all soon. Its lovely and I could not be happier! What a blessing from the Lord to have my own sewing machine.

 For all of you who do not know WIFD stands for a week in feminine dress. Jennie Chancey over at Sense and Sensibility patterns hosts this at here online forum. Her website is in my side bar. I wear dresses/skirts on a daily basis and I have been for 3 years now, but I still love to share my outfits to encourage others in feminine clothing. Although I do wear pants sometimes when needed, I still try to be feminine and set apart as a woman of the Lord in whatever I am wearing.

You can see my outfit better in this last photo. Its the skirt I made this past week I already posted about along with my favorite purple top that was only $5.00 at Ross last year. Its the same top I am wearing in my profile picture and wore for my graduation pictures. I paired this top with a long sleeve white shirt for warmth since its so much colder today and I was ready for church. I also was helping in the nursery at church after discipleship hour, so I needed to be warm, but not too warm. So ballet flats were in order, not boots.

It was fun chasing 3 year olds around and bouncing babies on my hip. With no younger siblings church is really the only time I get to be with children, unless we visit to bring meals to all the families at church or just go to visit. Which is probably only every other month. So yeah I was happy! :)

have a lovely monday tomorrow and renewing Sabbath!

In Christ,
Rebecca

Finished sewing project- Black skirt

Hey everyone!
I have been wanting to see modern clothing for some time now! Its been so much sewing of the 1860's and 1770's that I have not had time for modern cloths until now November. So I made a black skirt as that is one thing my wardrobe has been lacking as of late. I have had the fabric and pattern for a while, about 2 years! hehe So I finished it last week and its been all over town and been through many days. I love it!

 The skirt was so simple, it has a box pleat in the front and a side zipper and walla!!! Its done in about 3 hours. :) My type of sewing project! Not too much time spent and the results are so practical and feminine. I used the Simplicity pattern 2758. A great pattern for 3 types of skirts and 2 great blouses too.

 Oh and that bag may seem familiar to those of you who read Bramblewood fashion! I love Ashley and Gabrielle's posts about modest and feminine fashion. I entered their give away to win this lovely purse and I won! It came in the mail last week and I love it! Thank you Ashley for sewing it up! I love the lace and beautiful inside fabric. The dark denim makes this bag so versitale I don't have to worry about switching purses as I usually do to match an outfit better.

Thank you for the bag and I am loving it! It fits books, my Bible, journal, our new big camera, and lots of other things! a practical and feminine bag. My sister even asked if she could have it! She loved it so much. I believe she will be borrowing it in the future. :)

Oh and my jacket was only $2.00 at the thrift store up in west VA where my adopted grandparents live! I love lavendar and now I have an item of that hue in my wardrobe. :) Have a lovely saturday and renewing Sabbath!

In Christ,
Rebecca

Feminine Friday

Hey everyone!

So in case you were wondering, no I did not wear my 1830's gown from Sarah all day today. I wore the outfit below for most of the day. I love fall colors, even though I am a winter in the colors that are best on me. So I still wear browns and reds that are not the right colors. :) I love tartens and I found the skirt below at the thrift store, but it was too big in the waist and too long in the hem. So it was a quick fix to redo the elastic waist band and hem the skirt higher. I love it and its wool! So its quite warm and was only $5.00 I believe. Can't remember exactly. My red sweater was also a thrift store find and no mending was needed for $5.00. My brown top was from target for $10.00. So my outfit was pretty much not that costly, since I wear all these things with other things in my wardrobe anyway. Oh and the shoes were $4.00 at the thrift store as well. I love brown shoes!

I am also wearing cotten green socks/ stocking in civil war terms that I wear for civil war living history and colonial, but I also wear them for modern wear as well since they are so warm! I love them.

I love fall and I am loving where the Lord has me at this time in life. I just passed my first clep exam yesterday for my college studies through collegeplus! I am so glad that is over with! It was the analyzing and interpruting literature exam. It was hard for me as I do not love the types of poetry and drama you have to read. All of its romance, or modern, or just plain depressing. But the Lord is good giving us His Word that is not depressing! Its living and activie and beautiful! I am so grateful for His beautiful dramas and poetry to us that is living!

In Christ,
Rebecca

My favorite era from a friend!

Hey everyone!

Recently I bought a dress from a blog friend who also has a lovely blog, Sarah Jane. If you love everything feminine and old fashioned or anything that is lovely head over to her blog to see her amazing sewing skills as work. The dress I bought from her is an 1830's reproduction made by her and it fits me. So without further or do the gown below on myself. I did my hair in a molly hair style as I have posted about before. Wives and Daughters is a movie set in the 1830's, so if you love puff sleeves as I do watch that movie! Or even read the novel by Elizabeth Gaskel.

 Now all these photos were done by my dear sister Bethany Lynn with our new Nikon camera! Amazing! So much better than our little sony that was lost.

 She did the one above as an experiment and we quite liked the result. :)

 In case anyone is wondering, no I did not sew up new undergarments that are reproductions for 1830s to wear underneath this 1830's gown. I am wearing my 1860's corset made by my sister, chemise made by my sister, and 4 petticoats that I made.  Yes I also realize that pearls were only owned by the wealthy! But I had them and I love these canadian real pearls my mother gave me.

 I love the fall weather, because its perfect for fall pictures. I am just so tickled pink that Sarah's gown fits me perfectly! Thank you Sarah for your wonderful handy work and I will wear it once I find a place to wear it to! Probably we will have a historical tea at our house for all of our friends to come dressed up to in any era. Then I would wear it. Although I am tempted to wear it to a ball or another historical dance sometime in the future.

God bless everyone and have a lovely day! I am writing this to you all still in the dress. Its nice and toasty with my black shawl. :)

In Christ,
Rebecca

October and November Reading

hey all!

I have been doing a lot of reading as well as studying for clep exams. I have set of reading goals for each month until January to keep myself on track and always learning things other than my college studies. Right now I am reading the Children of Cloverly from the lamplighter book company! It is so encouraging and lovely little story. I am reading poems by Stockton, The Utmost for His Highest, The Power and Freedom of Forgiveness by MacArthur, Verses of Virture by Belle Philips, and lastly Pierced by the Word by John Piper. I am loving reading more often! During my school years in homeschool, I got to read a lot, but not as many books I chose, mostly books from my curriculumn, so its a treat to make a reading schedule for myself. :)

 I finished in the month of October, Already Gone by ken Ham, I highly, highly recommend this book! Its a must read for anyone who is apart of the universal church. I also read Family Reformation by Scott Brown, it was also amazing to read quotes by John Calvin and see where I agreed with him in regards to family reformation and where I defer in beliefs. I believe all the teachings and quotes were encouraging in this book, but one area I defer is child baptism. I believe in believers baptism where you are baptised after you have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So I believe we should not baptise children who can not make that decision or be convicted by the Lord as a infant.

And of course I am always reading the Word of the Lord. In October I finished the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Isaiah. Both books I had already read before, but I found a lot of new passages I want to memorize and really ponder through with the Lord after reading them again. The Bible can never be fully comprehended I believe! I am always learning something new or being challenged about something I had not read or thought about before from the Scriptures. Praise God for His Holy Spirit that can guide us in reading the Word of the Lord.

what have you been reading lately? Any particular favorite reads or convicting books?

In Christ,
Rebecca

Feminine Monday

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share with you a favorite outfit of mine I wore yesterday and today. A white blouse with my favorite wool plum sweater and favorite jean skirt and black shoes.

All of these items were thrifted or given to me. The sweater was $7.00 thrifted, the skirt was $7.00 thrifted, the blouse was free from my sisters closet, and the black shoes were $4.00 thrifted. That a grand total of only $18.00 and I have used these items over and over again! The jean skirt goes with so many of my things in my closet as does the sweater, shoes, and blouse.

 Yeah you can see my desk with my earl grey tea, computer, and water. I have been studying for my first clep exam all morning. Lord willing I will  get it done by the end of the week at the local university. Its the Analyzing and interpruting literature clep. Never thought I would have to know what a bathos or a simile or a syntax and the like ment. But now poetry, prose, and dramas are in my head! :)

I have found as others ladies I know agree that when you dress in a feminine and beautiful manner you are more likely to be motivated to get things accomplished. Maybe its just me, but when I put on a feminine outfit I am ready for the day and reading to tackle tasks that need to get done. I love cleaning when I am in a 1950's shirt dress or a skirt and blouse, I do not always wear extremely fancy or over the top outfits, but I want to dress in a way that is modest, makes me feel beautiful, and pleases my Heavenly and earthly father. I want my reputation to be good in others eyes, our clothing says a lot about our inner person. It says who we are. So if you are dressing in an immodest manner that may say there is something that needs to be dealt with on the inside. I know for me the inside of my heart had to be dealt with before I could see that my outer appearance needed to be dealt with in regards to modesty and femininity too. So pray about it to the Lord. He always answers!

In Christ,

Rebecca

I love our Nikon!

hey everyone!

We received our new nikon camera in the mail yesterday after much anticipation and depravity of a camera these past 2 months or so! I can't believe the quality pictures this camera takes! My old camera was a sony cyber shot and I loved it, but it was 4 years old and not the best. But it was great until it was lost. Now our family can do lots of photos and this camera is so much bigger than the old one we definately won't lose it!

I finished my civil war star quilt last month and now I can finally post pictures! We used it the last reenactment and I now am using it on my bed at home. I am so proud of it and I will be using it Lord willing till it wears out. Maybe even my grandchildren will get to use it. You see I want it to last for generations. These days people don't sew quilts, but I plan to sew many and pray they will hold memories for each new generation.

 Yes one of our cats named Oscor really loves the new quilt! :)

 Bethany has been teaching me how to knit and I am loving it! I don't know why I ever thought it was so scary or hard, but now I am knitting a knubia, which is a scarf for civil war reenacting for myself. Its made out of thread weight wool yarn I bought from a sulter at the Ceder Creek reenactment last weekend.

 The quilt! I am so excited to be able to share the finished product with you all! I am loving all the random scraps from dresses and other projects all in this quilt.

Every single start is quilted around the perimeter of each star and around the boarder of the quilt I quilted stars. It was a lot of fun and lots of time invested into this quilt, but it was well worth it. You can read about the construction of this quilt in these previous posts below. here and here and here are the older posts about how I started my quilt and what steps you have to do in order to complete a quilt by hand. It was so much fun and a great learning experience. And of course the scrap bin does not even seem as though a dent was made! :)

have a lovely rest of your day! I am off to cut out a baby quilt for a friend and start sewing the squares together, then its off to Joann to get some supplies for some modern clothing for my family.

In Christ,
Rebecca