You hem me in--
behind and before,
you have laid your hands upon me.
Psalm 139:5
behind and before,
you have laid your hands upon me.
Psalm 139:5
Artwork by Katie Hogue
Now that's security.
Being hemmed in by God.
I love Katie's playful take on the scripture, especially the metal sewing bobbin full of
robin's egg blue thread.
Ammended 6pm...
Katie sent out this email today to all of us in this advent swap. I just have to share her story behind the bobbin in her box. I am so blessed to own one!
Good morning, fellow swappers! I forgot to include the story behind the bobbin with my matchbox for today (Dec. 12th), and thought you might be interested to know.
The bobbin inside belonged to my grandmother, who passed away last August at the age of 92. It was one of hundreds she kept in her sewing supplies. I hope that when you look at it, you will be reminded of how much God loves his crafty girls. ;-) Below is an excerpt from a tribute I wrote about her on an old blog:
My grandma was a very strong, creative, and resourceful lady. The oldest of twelve children born to Oscar and Stella Payne, she and her brothers and sisters spent most of their youth as sharecroppers, picking cotton in southeast Missouri and Arkansas. She was only able to complete third grade, but persevered and taught herself to read using "True Stories" magazine. At 23, she married a boxer with a penchant for drinking, and after ten turbulent years and two children, she found herself a single mom. Armed with her Christian faith and a family who loved her dearly, she did not fall apart; on the contrary, she "picked herself up by the bootstraps" and survived, graciously.
Grandma learned to sew out of necessity when she was twelve. She hired out to make dresses for the ladies in town for $2 each, then hunted down the prettiest flour sacks to make clothes for her own family. When I was a kid, she and Mom owned a tailoring shop together, and Grandma lived in a little apartment in the back. After hours she would work on her own creative projects, crocheting afghans and making pillows out of the leftover fabric scraps (using plastic dry cleaning bags for the stuffing.) Not confined to fabric, she could produce a mighty fine table with just wood scraps and a hand saw. We still have beautiful snowflake Christmas tree ornaments that she made out of toilet paper cores and toothpicks, painted and sprinkled with glitter. And no one had a greener thumb; I swear she could put a pencil in the ground and make it grow. No matter what, she didn't stop.
She only had a little, but she used it all, always doing for her family, always trying to make things better, a little more beautiful.
7 comments:
love the repetition of form... nice!
Simply adorable. This is turning into one memorable swap.
Very nice, "sew" nice Advent addition. Thanks for visiting me. When we were young our tree was regularly "pinned" to the wall. My dad didn't like to search for the perfect tree, much to my mother's chagrin. I'm redecorating it right now - well, I was. Back to it. And thanks for stopping by. Merry Christmas! - Jeanne (and I loved the authbor!) My word verification for this is "sprenati" which sounds like an Swiss-Italian cookie
I love the theme of this box - did all of them come with scriptures?
I love this story, don't you!!!
The matchbox and story to go along with it are so very special and heartwarming!!!
oxo
Oh, thank you for sharing the story behind it... she sounds like a remarkable woman. I wish I could see the decorations..."beautiful snowflake Christmas tree ornaments that she made out of toilet paper cores and toothpicks" Oh, I would love to know how she did that. always on the lookout for new ways to use old things and ideas. especially economical, too... Lovely post.
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