Feliz Dia De La Madre

Happy Mother's Day--it's a bit early for everyone back home--but May 10th is the "day" here in most of Central America.  Several years ago, the government added it as an official holiday so banks, government offices and many businesses are closed so families can celebrate the day.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to share the most recent projects of the ladies of Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.  Although the group was smaller than usual, almost everyone finished the baby bibs which we started in April.  The reversible bibs have cute cotton fabric on one side, absorbent terry cloth on the other and close with a plastic snap!  They will soon be worn by cute grandchildren or gifted to new mom's in the church.

We also started work on our next project--hanging kitchen towels.  We are going to make 50 of them to give as gifts to attendees at a women's ministry event at our church in Apopa.  Here's a sample of our work.

Christmas Cooking and Sewing

Living in El Salvador has drastically cut down the amount of Christmas cooking I do--after all, Christmas cookies just aren't very portable.  Before we took the trip to Panama, I made cranberry pear butter (like apple butter, but not apple) to share with friends.  Tuesday, I made saltine toffee (recipe) and strawberry cookies (recipe) and today I'm taking a tray full of both to the church office.  Hopefully, everyone likes things that are sweet, because the toffee is the definition of sweet.

I started my Christmas sewing about a month ago, but it's still going to come down to the last minute.  I made 30+ miniature fabric trays (pictured below) using Christmas fabric I ordered in August.  I've given almost thirty of them away to my Bible study ladies, our IDEM group ladies and more.  

I also finished the sewing gift for my three grandkids.  (Not going to put a picture because their parents may read this and I want it to be a surprise.) 

I'm making two quilted table runners.  One of the tops is done and the other is still in pieces.  The fabric for the border, backing and binding is on it's way to California, so I'll have to find time to finish them when I get there.  If not, they'll be after Christmas gifts and will be ready to decorate the house for Christmas 2016.  That's just the way it goes when I don't have access to everything I need.

Two more days to get everything done before we fly to California--my "to do" list has never been longer.

Final Prep and Fruit of our Labor

The Hilo, Aguja y Biblia ladies met yesterday to prepare all of our items for sale.  We finished up a few more Christmas towels and individually packaged all of the items, including the miniature fabric trays.  The signs were printed, the change boxes were prepared and the sales scheduled was finalized. At the final count, we had 70 towels (33 Christmas and 37 Jesus Te Ama) and another 70 small fabric trays.  If we're able to sell everything, we should raise about $300.  

I was able to give them an early Christmas gift--their very own Hilo, Aguja y Biblia t-shirt.  Every lady received a shirt, even if they weren't going to be working at the sale.  

This morning we sold our wares.  Since Stephen wasn't scheduled to play the piano, he and I went to Lourdes with towels and trays, and I wore one of our new shirts.  The congregation was very supportive, and we came back with almost $45.  

I stopped by the hotel to drop off the very few towels that were left from Lourdes and added them to the "inventory" for the final service at the hotel.   

We don't have the results from the sale at the main church in Miralvalle, but between Lourdes and the hotel we raised $164!  Praise the Lord--we will use the money to clean/repair our sewing machines and cover the cost of some of our future projects.

Hilo, Aguja y Biblia

Two weeks ago at Hilo, Aguja y Biblia we all worked on cutting drawing and then cutting out the pattern pieces for our appliqued apron project.  By the end of our time, everyone had their pattern pieces, fabric for the applique and their apron fabric.  

We started this Saturday with breakfast!  It's always fun to celebrate and share with these special friends and the traditional Salvadoran breakfast is always tasty!  Once we finished breakfast and cleaned up, everyone got down to work cutting out their applique pieces and placing them on the apron.  Some of the ladies were able to start the embroidery stitches around the small pieces.  

We finished the morning with another lesson in our series from the book of Esther.