Sew Melissa Writes

Fondest greetings to you all. I have written you an opera  a tutorial! * Nods towards my Phantom of the Opera loving readers* As my friends will know, I have been scouring the internet looking for a good (free) CCW purse pattern for a while now, and so far, my searches have been fruitless. Unless one is willing to pay an arm and a leg for a pattern, the only other option was to pay two arms and a leg to order a CCW purse. Seeing as I need both arms and legs I currently possess, that wasn't happening, and I had to create a third option:  Altering a pattern.  Now, I love  altering patterns, and though it gets frustrating, I enjoy the challenge. I had made Swoon's Ethel Tote before (though I hadn't made it exactly according to the pattern that first time) and really liked the pattern, and since finding free purse patterns I like is almost as difficult as finding a free CCW purse pattern, I decided to use it. I already had a basic knowledge of the pat...

I know, I know, you're thinking, long time no write, Melissa!   Well, I didn't want to write without having something worth writing about, and since this is a bookish blog, it had to be... bookish, you know, and I didn't have anything bookish to write about.  Until I thought of one of my favorite pastimes: comparing books to their movie and TV counterparts!  Now, normally, I'd just complain about how inaccurate the costumes were or how poorly the book was 'updated' to be made into a script, but today, I'm just going to compare the basics of Jane Eyre  and its film versions.  Jane Eyre  was introduced to me by my bestie up in Maine a couple years ago. I had heard of it many times, but hadn't read it, and she assured me I would love it. She was correct. I read the book twice back to back, and still enjoy reading the book again to find little snippets I missed the last time I read it.  You might have already known the book's synopsis,...

I should have known it would happen one day. See, it all started last night. I was getting some more e-books- the good, free, clean kind, you know?- and then it all broke out. A war among my to be read books. The devotional books started praying that this would all end soon, and began compiling comforting words for the fallen in battle. The poetry books began writing eulogies for their lost comrades. The advice books tried to get everyone to sit down and talk out their differences, but one karate book slipped in the mix and suddenly HEE-YA! The dictionary and thesaurus began compiling a list of correctly spelled ways to surrender. The crime novels started organizing the perfect crime to get rid of the competition. The romance novels started fainting and crying for a knight in shining armor. The cookbooks... well, actually, the cookbooks were busy trying to make their way into the kitchen for the feast that would be prepared after the fight. The conspiracy theorist b...

For the most part, Jerusha didn't like it when people read over her shoulder. Oh, sure, she tolerated it but she didn't like  it. She could understand when necessity required it, but she couldn't enjoy the feeling of eyes scrutinizing her works as they happened. But for her favorite fan, she didn't mind. Jerusha's sister, Ann, was one of the few- nay, the Only- person given leave to read as Jerusha wrote. Why this started and how it became accepted, Jerusha knew not, but her sister enjoyed it, and often was helpful, so she was given exclusive rights to read what the world had not yet seen. Then the day came when Jerusha turned Ann loose with her writings, permission granted that she could read (and perhaps spell check) the efforts of many evenings spent straining her eyes at a computer screen. Ann was giddy and carefully censored any words that might even slightly be thought of as criticism of her older sister's writings. Thus how she won over Jerusha to...

Hello readers! Today's short story is being brought to you thanks to one of my friends and readers, Hayle. I hope you enjoy it! Most days, Elizabeth could take almost anything in stride. She could hold her head high, thank the Lord for the sunshine, and ignore the things that would bring her down. Today was not one of those days. Things had started out well, with the sun shining brightly through the clouds and in her window as she awoke, and the remembrance that she had bacon waiting in the fridge to fry this morning. Her step had some pep in it as she rolled out of bed and made her way to the closet for a clean skirt, even her amazingly messy hair had made her grin in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, and the excitement of a surprise party at work for one of her co-workers, who was retiring and today was their last day, had her humming her way through breakfast preparations. And then it had all gone south. Before she had even finished frying the bacon, the rain had star...

Little hands tugged at Anne's skirt as she set the mixing bowl on the counter. A little voice begged her, 'Up!' as Anne tried to stir the cake batter. Little feet stomped impatiently when Anne didn't stop what she was doing and give the little person attention. "Yes, Abbie, I heard you the first time. Just hold on." Anne sighed, looking down at two big blue eyes and hoping her little friend could wait just a minute more for her to pour the batter into the cake pan. This was Anne's life. A constant little shadow following her around, interrupting her work and feeling like all Anne's attention belong to that little person alone. Did it get annoying? Sometimes, but Anne was so used to her shadow that she rarely thought about it anymore. In fact, Anne actually liked the fact that someone thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. For the past year and a half, Anne had been babysitting two year old Abbie and her older siblings while their parents we...

"What have I gotten myself into...." Caroline groaned as she looked at the number by the inbox. 74 messages. And they had all come within two hours of Caroline taking over for her friend who moderated a book discussion group online. Her friend had warned her that the messages could be overwhelming at times, especially with over 300 members in the group. "I seriously should have reconsidered offering to help Hannah with this for the weekend..." Caroline muttered as she started opening messages. "I don't care if she is maid of honor at Rebekah's wedding!" Pushing back the frustration, Caroline read the first message. "Dear Moderator, I'm hoping you'll agree and send permission for me to advertise-" Deleted. Hannah had said specifically, no advertising. That was taken care of. "Dear Moderator, I have a question. I'm supposed to be studying for my test, and I was wondering if you could help me with a math problem- mayb...

I wrote this story last year, and it got me so tickled that I still go back and read it from time to time when I need a smile. Hopefully y'all can see the humor in it, but also the truth: gossip only hurts people, and says a lot more about the person gossiping than the person they're talking about! Update: I appreciate those who read my blog and take it for what it is- encouragement and made up stories. Sadly, there are those out there who only wish to indulge in back biting, sowing discord, and gossiping amongst family, friends and communities. So for this reason, I have turned off the ability to comment on this post. I appreciate those of you who read this from a godly standpoint and hope you continue to read and find encouragement.  For the most part, the Covington family lived in a peaceful world.  Since the passing of Mr. Covington, Mrs. Covington had done her best to give her children a happy, peaceful life. Her youngest children, still in school, were happy and heal...

I thought it was about time I introduce another of my fictional couples. Actually, this time it's a trio of characters, because the third character is too important for me to leave her out. Meet Josh.  Josh is a widowed father struggling to keep up with his growing daughter since he lost his wife. Quiet, serious and rather stern, Josh finds it easier to shut people out of the protective little world he has created for his daughter, rather than take chances that the life he has made for himself and his daughter might be disrupted. An architect by trade and Christian by choice, Josh has to face facts that having a broken arm, a rambunctious daughter and trying to take care of everything by himself isn't exactly possible at the beginning of this story, which brings me to my second character.... Meet Isabella.  Pretty, rich and heartbroken, Isabella has had her heart broken in love, though not quite like Josh has. Her dream of becoming a teacher has never quite came true, tho...

 This is another of my favorite short stories, perhaps even my own all time favorite. I hope you enjoy it! Seven little faces looked up with awe and fear at the stern, wrinkled face that gave no sign of friendliness as they entered the Sunday school room. Seven pairs of eyes took in the sparsely decorated room, wondering how they had managed to deserve moving from the fun kindergarten class to this scary, unfamiliar first grade class. Seven pairs of feet shuffled in unwillingly as the old lady who was to be their teacher boomed out,  “Let’s take our seats boys and girls.”  Little Rhoda Jones sat down on the closest chair to the door, her best friend Amber sitting next to her. The two scooted their chairs as close together as possible as if being closer to each other would protect them from whatever happened in first grade Sunday school.  “Now, since this is your first Sunday in my class,” Miss Todd said, her voice monotone and somber, “I’ll go over the ru...