Finding a Church

Mr. 3 and I went to a wonderful church in Northern Virginia.  I found them about 6 years ago and I loved everything about the church - the people, the preaching, and my wonderful small group.  Our previous Pastor was so so gifted and he married us two and a half years ago so we had a personal connection to him.  I've often sent Briana recordings for her to listen to in Florida, especially when the topics covered relationships and marriage.

Mr. 3 and I were really concerned about finding a church in Richmond that we could feel connected to the congregation and find a gifted Preacher.  We weren't interested in a mega church or a church with huge mortgage payment.  In our experience, the larger the congregation, the harder it is to make a meaningful connection.  The larger the mortgage payment, the less good works the church is able to do in the community and abroad.

We tried out a few churches in the Richmond area (one even met in a old movie theater with a great chandelier from the 1920s!).  I haven't "shopped" for churches in quite sometime and I was surprised to find that I had very strong feelings about what I did and did not want in a church.   Besides the mega church and mortgage payments, we went to one church where no one sang.  There was a band, but it seemed like not a single person was singing in the congregation.  To each his own, but I just felt weird about it.

I've been asking God to guide me to a place we could feel at home with the congregation and the Pastor.  After a fairly quick search, I think we've found one we want to stick with and start attending regularly.  Besides the above qualifications I've already mentioned which this church does meet, the music is wonderful, the people are so friendly, and I think the Pastor is gifted.   I'm so so thankful that we did not spend months and months looking for a church.

This isn't our usual Posh Purpose type of material, but I wanted to share with our readers (some of whom are my Bible study group members who have been praying for us to find a new church home!) that sometimes its not all home decor, parties, and the latest mascara.  Sometimes, it's about finding a place you can focus your faith and your life on God's plan which is greater than anything you could ever imagine for yourself.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Do y'all remember those wooden spoons I painted as Christmas gifts back in 2014? Well the paint is still holding up well (at least on my sister's set) even after being run through the dishwasher plenty of times. The spoons have been commandeered, however, by my toddler niece.

Happy Friday! And happy long weekend for those of you who have Monday off (I do not).

First Richmond Craigslist Purchase

As I lurked around the internet, stalking all things craigslist, I found these beautiful things:

Gorgeous, no?  I love the shape and this is probably the first time I haven't hated beige fabric.  The seller wanted $200 for 4 chairs.  I wanted to pay no more than $40 each.  I took Mr. 3 with me, because...hello?  stranger danger!  Don't ever craigslist alone!

The seller lived in a gorgeous row house in the Fan part of Richmond.  I had to refrain from asking if some of his other furniture was for sale as well!

The chairs were pretty, but had a fair amount of staining/water spots.  There wasn't any horribly dark staining, but there was a few red marks (probably from markers based on the rugrats I saw walking around) and stray pen marks.   The seller told me that the other stains were dog slobber....charming.  After a thorough inspection, I found the chairs to be comfortable and firm enough.  The springs were fine and the webbing on the bottom was still intact.  The wood bits had a bit of scuffing, but no major issues.

He wanted them to go to a "good home" and get a few dollars for them.   I talked the guy down to $25 each! I plan on trying to clean them up (future post to come!).  If they clean up pretty well, I will use them, as is, for kitchen chairs.  If they don't, I will look into having them reupholstered sometime next year...either keeping them as kitchen chairs and using the same fabric orrrrr recovering them in different fabrics and stashing them in different places around a future house.

I'm super excited to have found such a great deal on craigslist for such pretty chairs!  Even if I wind up recovering them, they are still quite the steal!

Sewing Projects Christmas Gifts

I sewed a lot of Christmas gifts this past year, thanks to my wonderful sewing instructor. She suggested ideas, found patterns, and obviously helped me learn how to make pretty gifts. I want to share a few of the things that I made, not because I want to turn Posh Purpose into a DIY blog, but because these gift ideas are super easy for a beginner. 

pillows for J's mom

pillows for my mom

 I love making pillows! If you buy the piping, making pillows is super easy and fast. Of course, I had to make my own piping to get the exact look I had imagined. I purchased the pillow forms, the fabric for both the body and the piping, and piping cord. I used a thinner cord for the bird pillows and an extra fat cord for my mom's pillows.

 I made three table runners this year. One for each of my sisters-in-law on J's side and one for my sister. Table runners are another easy project, but they do require more fabric. You need a top fabric (shown above) and a lining fabric to go underneath. Some people use the same fabric, but I went with a plain brown for the floral and a subtle green print for the wintery runner. Table runners are one of those home good items that can be a lot cheaper to make than it is to purchase.

I made way too many aprons last year. Sorry for the horrible photo editing above - I have no desire to share my somewhat messy kitchen on the blog today. I did not intend for the picture to end up on the blog, but I just realized I didn't take any other pictures! Anyway, I made two like the one above plus two others. Aprons can be easy or complicated, depending on what look you want. The one above had a lot of circle hems, so take that into consideration. You can probably find a lot of online patterns for aprons, or just wing it if you are so inclined.

Another project I made is this giant laundry bag for my dad's sailboat. I bought the canvas fabrics at Habitat for about $2 and totally made it up from there. Somehow the bag ended up far larger than expected. This is a case of the aforementioned 'winging it.' I put a draw string in the top and reinforced the horizontal seams quite a bit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the rest of my projects before wrapping and giving them away. Maybe my sister will take a picture of herself in the apron she received (hint, hint). I really enjoyed sewing Christmas gifts and hope to do it again next year, but I may be otherwise occupied with sewing projects for my own home! 

The Barn Antiques

If you ever find yourself near Lake Alfred, Florida, you must check out the Barn antique store. Even if you don't normally visit central Florida, this store is so wonderful that you might as well make a special trip. After you look through rooms up on rooms of antiques, you can take a lunch break at the Back Porch Tea Room located on site. There are a few gift shops on site as well. I visited in October and the gift shops were decorated for Thanksgiving and Christmas (so many trees!). My more recent visit (when I bought stained glass) was a few weeks back, and the gift shops were decorated for spring.

Here are some of the items that caught my eye. You may notice that I got a little caught up in all the pink art deco mirrors. I managed to escape the store twice without buying one, but I doubt my strength for a third visit.