Friday Foto Friends: "Just Grin and BEAR it!"

 Good Morning and Happy Friday!  I've been promising you a special blessing and so I hope you will just "BEAR with me" today and let us enjoy this together.  First off, I've been doing this Photo-a-Day Challenge every day for July, and it's been a lot of fun. Chrissy T. from "One Season to the Next" got me started on this.  I know some others of you have joined in the fun, and it's really been neat to see what each of you has come up with for your photo challenges.  Most people are more disciplined than I am and they only show one picture a day. I've never claimed to be very self-disciplined when it comes to taking pictures, and especially when it comes to sharing them! It's just something I love to do, ever since the day my brother gave me my first digital camera...and then when I got a cell phone that actually takes pretty good pictures...there's just no stopping me!.  So today I'm asking you to not only "BEAR with Me, but to "Grin and BEAR it" as we go along, okay?

Today (24th) the challenge is for a "close-up".  That should be easy...

LAST week (HERE) I mentioned that " I did do something interesting and special this morning, but I've promised not to share it until after the person for whom it is intended has been properly notified and surprised, so you will have to wait a week for that.",  and so you all have been patiently waiting for me to explain what that something interesting was, and who it was for.  Well, yesterday was the day for the 'big reveal'.  I had mentioned yesterday that I was having a special guest over for lunch, and so I did...

Well, let me explain a little further. We will have to go back in time a few weeks to THIS STORY to explain.  Many of you will recall that my dear friend Maura had passed away just a few months after her sweet hubby Woody.  And so their granddaughter was working hard at trying to settle their estate and clean up their house, and they had a LOT of clothes that needed to go somewhere. I suggested to Katheryn (the granddaughter) that our church's "Sew & Sew" Quilting group was going to be having a yard sale to raise funds for their quilting projects  that they do for the Ronald McDonald house and Hospice, etc., and that they could probably sell a lot of those clothes. So Katheryn donated a literal truck load of clothes to the cause and we went and picked them up.  

Also Katheryn asked me if I knew anyone who could make a Memorial Teddy Bear from the clothes of a loved one, and so I asked the ladies in the quilting group if anyone could do that, and one of the ladies volunteered to do so.  So Katheryn gathered up some favorite clothes from both her grandparents, along with one article from her father who had passed away a couple of years ago.  What she wanted to have made was two bears, each made with clothes from both grandparents and a piece from the one article of her father's.   Well, last Thursday I picked up the completed bears from the lady at the Quilt House at our church. (They meet in what used to be the OLD parsonage, which is a little house next door to the church. They have turned that into their own Quilt House and they meet there every week to work on the hundreds of lap quilts that they make.)

So, much to my surprise, when I got to the Quilt House, the dear lady (her name is Deni), had made not just two, but three bears from the clothes. She said she had been confused and thought she was supposed to make one female bear and one male bear, but then realized the bears were supposed to have something from each, and so the one female bear was a bonus bear!  So here she is with the three bears. (Please excuse the extra lady in the background working on their quilting materials. This was their usual work day and there were about 10 ladies there all working very hard!)

Here's a better "close-up" of the three bears.  They each have a blue heart on them, which was the one piece of fabric from Katheryn's father's clothes.  

And the bear sitting up above (below) is turned backwards to show you the butterflies that were applique'd on the back of the bears, which came from one of Maura's blouses. The flannel plaid bow ties came from one of Woody's favorite flannel shirts. And all of the material to make the bears came from each of the shirts that Katheryn had chosen from their clothes, ones that were special to her.

Aren't they all adorable????

Katheryn lives about 30 minutes away, and she was busy last week, so she couldn't come herself to pick up the bears that day. So I invited her to lunch at our house for yesterday so she could pick up the bears. I asked her if she wanted me to send her pictures of the bears beforehand, but she said, "NO! I want to see them in person and be surprised."  So that is why I couldn't share any pictures of them last week, even though I was sorely tempted to do so. I'm proud of myself for having that much restraint! LOL.

And so this close-up below is a very smiling Katheryn, holding the three bears...and yes, she was very surprised and pleased.  The only thing we both agreed on was that she's going to try to figure out a way to change those staring eyes...at first they were cute, but after they stare at you for a while with that surprised look, well...we both decided that maybe some plain button style eyes might be easier to look at in the long run, so she will figure that out and use some buttons from her grandmother's button stash.

Thank you for "BEARING" with me for this little story!!...oh, but there's more...

Many of you will remember when I told you about this book HERE, The Little Sand Hill Crane, 

The book on the left is actually a journal, and she gave me this yesterday!

and that my friend Katheryn had written this book and it is for sale on Amazon. Well, yes, this is the same Katheryn!

And now my copy of the book is signed by the author!!!

She also has written a coloring book to go along with the book, in addition to the journal!

Click this link to more information about Katheryn's books

And this is her latest book!

I am SO excited for the work that Katheryn is doing with these little books. They are really well written and so very special! If you have grandchildren or great grandchildren they would make wonderful gifts!

Okay folks, that's all for today. I have to go as we have some tree work to be done on the property today,  and I have to get a move on.

God bless you all, and thank you for "BEARING with me today!!"  

Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."