Mrs. Amy Butler and Your Thoughts

Some of you may or may not know that I love sewing. Love it. Really. But, just because I adore it, does not mean I'm any good at it. I took a sewing class at our community rec center a couple summers ago but right before we got to patterns, my teacher went into the hospital and class was cancelled. So, I never learned patterns. To say that having a try at using a pattern would be terrifying would be an understatement.

But I overcame it and had my first attempt at sewing a pattern when I wanted to make my Halloween costume this past year. SH and I were going as Lucy Van Pelt and Schroeder from the Peanuts Gang. I've always loved Lucy and I had the hair, the shoes and the socks. All I needed was the dress. But there was not one to be found so I thought why not make my own. Big mistake. My poor dress was crooked on the front, had half of the lining missing somehow and just plain did not fit. But I had no other choice- I tried. I had to wear the dress. So I embarrassingly submit to you my horrid Lucy dress. Thankfully it was only one night, and the poor girl got retired to the trash the morning after. But this event only deepened my fear of reading patterns.

That is, until I saw this...

Oh, Mrs. Amy Butler, you do know how to sweep a girl off her feet with your fabrics. I have been wanting this sweet bag ever since I saw it, but it comes with one caveat- you have to make it. Or you can buy it on Etsy already sewn by a much more talented seamstress than I, but what would be the fun in that?! So, I'm gonna take the plunge and do it! Expect some exasperated comments and many questions in the near future. Oh, and pray for me. Please. Although I'm sure you already did when you saw me in that sad little blue dress.

On a decidedly different note...

While at the bookstore this past weekend searching for Being a Mary in a Martha World, I came upon a book that caught my eye. Ten Lies the Church Tells Women is a book written by J. Lee Grady is that goes into detail on ten "lies" churches tell women to keep us second class citizens. (I put the word lies in quotation marks because this is, of course, subject to one's opinions.) Some of the "lies" include, "women shouldn't work outside the home," "women must obediently submit to their husbands in all situations, and "a man needs to cover a women in her ministry activities."

The more I read, the more puzzled I became. The author claims that researchers have misinterpreted the standards of the Proverbs 31 woman in order to keep them in oppression. There are many reviews by Christian women hailing this book as "getting to the truth," and a "myth breaker." The part I don't understand is that it is not written by a crazy feminist woman, but a married man.

Has anyone read this book? I really just don't understand it all and frankly, I don't buy it. What is your take on this?

Sorry about my scatterbrained post today.

Happy sewing!