A COUNTRY GIRL'S INSPIRATION

I live in the RIO GRANDE VALLEY, in beautiful south Texas. It is the land of cowboys, cattle, and farming. We are deeply rooted in a dual-culture of Tex-Mex. I find many of my inspirations for my arts and crafts from the local flavor.

SPRING BREAK 2009

Catholic Teen's ACTS Retreat

I want to thank the wonderful A.C.T.S. brothers and sisters who served on the retreat team at the March 2009 Teen Retreat in Weslaco. I sincerely admire your adoration of our glorious father God, and I appreciate your service to our youth, especially my teen son. Many of my friends and relatives have attended an A.C.T.S. retreat and it has been a life-changing experience. So many others have gone on to serve our community by serving as retreat team members. An A.C.T.S. weekend retreat is designed to help the retreatants enter into a new or deeper relationship with our Lord and fellow parishioners. This is accomplished through Adoration and daily prayer, the call to Community in one’s parish as a member of the Body of Christ, and Theology in encouraging the study of scripture and our Catholic Faith. All of these which emphasize and encourage the virtue of Service to our Lord, our parish and one another. My life has greater purpose and direction since my A.C.T.S. retreat in Nov. 2008. I am forever grateful to my sister Angela for bringing this retreat to me. Angela attended her retreat first. When I saw her peace and joy, I knew it was going to be something very special. I highly recommend this retreat to everyone! Contact your local Catholic Church for more information. Everyone is welcomed! You do not have to be a member of the Catholic Church; you just need to be open to a deeper relationship with God. Make the call, we are waiting!

MARCH 2009

March brought more sewing innovations. I turned the dinning room into a sewing room. My son Vinny calls it a "sweat-shop". I fully extended the dinning table. I purchased a couple of beautiful wrought iron mannequins. I am on way to great creations!!

I found gorgeous pillowcases at a local discount store. As soon as I saw them I knew they would make the perfect eclectic apron, which I named "Freedom of Speech". My fabulous friend Kay helped me sew men's aprons this month. We found the perfect sports-theme fabrics and made pockets out of them and put them on full-size black aprons.

During March I also bough an awesome book, A is for Apron. It was totally fun reading. I got a lot of ideas that I'm sure to use.

Also during March my daughter Gina got the creative-bug. She is making decorative felt "stuffies". We bought so many colors of felt, buttons, threads, and much more. She has donated several felt sheets to me for my apron designs.

Jessica signed up JOY Marie's Boutique to participate in our local Onion Fest next month. That means I need to get busy!!