(Note: There are a few images from The Passion toward the end of this video, in case you have little ones around.)

 Psalm 86   A Psalm of Supplication and Trust.

Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me;

For I am afflicted and needy.
² Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man;
O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
³ Be gracious to me, O Lord,
For to You I cry all day long.
⁴ Make glad the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
⁵ For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
⁶ Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
⁷ In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You,
For You will answer me.
⁸ There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,
Nor are there any works like Yours.
⁹ All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord,
And they shall glorify Your name.
¹⁰ For You are great and do wondrous deeds;
You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
¹² I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And will glorify Your name forever.
¹³ For Your lovingkindness toward me is great,
And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴ O God, arrogant men have risen up against me,
And a band of violent men have sought my life,
And they have not set You before them.
¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
¹⁶ Turn to me, and be gracious to me;
Oh grant Your strength to Your servant,
And save the son of Your handmaid.
¹⁷ Show me a sign for good,
That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,
Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

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Hi!

I thought recently, "If I aim to post on my blog once a month, that's a goal I can achieve." I was wrong. March turned out to be just too busy. But here's April's post with March's content! A few fun (bad quality iPhone) photos...

This friendly kitty had markings shaped like a butterly on its forehead.

Pike Place Market flowers. 

Mount Rainier. Bad photo. Seeing it in person on a clear day is mesmerizing.

There is a Gauguin exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, for anyone who happens to be in the area and likes Gauguin. I do, but I didn't know about the exhibit, so was not able to see it.

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Bluebird in a Tree

 Right before Christmas, possibly-perhaps-just-maybe the last day I could send a package to my friend Jessica and have it reach her in time, I decided that her gift needed something more...something with purple felt...something embroidered. It's possible I had just stumbled upon this and was flying on the wings of inspiration. Unfortunately, my embroidery skills are...basic. Folk-like? Not great, in any case. 

I decided on a  simple design, then kept on adding and adjusting and realizing that this was not going to turn out how I'd envisioned it. But I pressed on (one eye on the clock)! At some point I knew this would not work as the bracelet I had planned it to be, so it became a bookmark. A bookmark is a far more useful thing for Jessica, anyway. 

It still looked very plain. Leaves were added. Better. Finally, it seemed the last thing that was needed was a bird in the tree, and voila! It was not me, I have no idea how it turned out so perfectly, but look at that birdy. Look at it! Look at the beak! The head and beak? That's ONE stitch!!! I pulled that needle and thread through, looked at it, whooped, and immediately texted Mary about the awesomeness that had just happened through no talent of my own. I mean, it looks like I actually planned the stitches that created the bird, when I really just kind of stabbed at the felt and hoped for the best. 

And Jessica likes the bookmark very much, which pleases me. Next time, though, even more purple!

Technical note: The knots I used are Colonial knots, which I've found yield more consistent results for me than French knots.

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“From my distress I called upon the LORD; The LORD answered me and set me in a large place. The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” -Psalm 118:5-6

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Sigh of relief

I've had my embroidery thread stored various (inefficient) ways over the years. I've been wanting to put it on the little card thread holders for a few months now, but put it off since I'm not terribly good at embroidery and don't do it that often. I felt that my time and budget were better served elsewhere. However, while working on a Christmas gift which involved embroidery thread, I realized I should at least find out how much getting organized would cost, because, as tidy as I could make the container holding the thread, it still wasn't anywhere near even acceptably messy. A trip to Ben Franklin on 20% off day, and $2.79 (for box and cards!) later (but not counting the twelve NEW threads I picked out, pictured on the right...), I was on my way to the above blissful rainbow of perfectly tidy organization. Ahh!

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Merry Christmas

Source: 3krazychics.blogspot.com via Claudia on Pinterest

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My only problem with this is that it's not at least seven times as long.

I did not enjoy the book Wuthering Heights, but I've been curious to see a film version. It looks like it will have to be this one. And not just because Mumford & Sons wrote an itty bitty song for it. But partly.

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