It's all in the detail. The discipline of patience.

In hoping to become generally aware of my own strengths and weaknesses so that I can generally grow and mature in life, I have become rather clear on one thing- I am not always very patient! I'm quite good at it on a good night's sleep and when all is peaceful and calm, but on a broken night's sleep/late night and in a slightly higher stress situation I find that I lose it surprisingly fast!

This can also apply to various craft projects. I like doing something, and then moving onto the next thing really quickly! Today however, I have forced myself to slow down and spend a large proportion of my evening painstakingly sewing bias binding into the insides of my little coin purses so that the seams won't fray.  Slow work, and not as satisfying as making the purses in the first place. But. Good practice for my patience!

During the whole process I had to keep reminding myself not to take short cuts, but now that they are done, I'm pleased with the result (and I'm sure my Mum will be proud that I've not cut the corners!)- I think they look almost as pretty on the inside as outside now!

I had a fun trip to the local (or most local to us!) haberdashery today, although when I arrived there (about 20-25 minutes in the car), I arrived in the pay and display car park to realise that I had taken my wallet out of my bag, and put it into another one over the weekend. I could have cried! However, I decided to try rummaging around to see if I could find enough loose change for the (cheap) car park fare. Alas I was not in luck, and had a toddler who was rapidly losing patience.
So, after praying and hoping for some miraculous answer, I decided I needed to swallow my pride and ask someone if I could borrow 60p! (or write them a cheque!). I had to explain my predicament to the car park attendant and then I went over to a kindly elderly lady who told me she would happily give me the money I needed (the idea of a 60p cheque being rather ridiculous!) and no sooner had she started rummaging around in her wallet than a Dad who'd been loading his toddler into a nearby car came over, confessed to having overheard, and offered me his ticket which had two hours left on it.  On my way back to the car I was offered yet another ticket from another kindly passer by.  Hooray for answered prayers, and the small yet significant ways we are looked after by God!

I had a lovely little visit after all that, and- hooray- the shop accepted cheques!
Here's some of what I bought...

Some rather lovely fabrics...

And plenty of zips!

A lovely friend and I also made some labels for my upcoming craft fair. Who knew label making and pricing could be such fun?

Right. Bed now, as school tomorrow. I hope you've had a lovely start to the week.