banner redux :)

So I'm pretty happy about this. I made this banner over 15 years ago (maybe 20!) and was never ever happy with how it turned out. I was shooting for the names of the Trinity in a cross shape. But in typical *me* fashion, and owing to the fact that math is definitely not my favorite thing, and that I usually fly at things without a complete plan.....about half way through it all I realized that I was going to run out of room before I hit the end of my fabric. Hindsight tells me I could have left off a few names and probably made it work, but I was on a roll, so I just started bunching them all together. ( and now I realize there are a few more names I would have liked to have included. sigh.)

About 5 years ago I decided to take it down ( it filled a rather large space in the back entryway at church) and redo it. And promptly put it in the back closet and forget about it for a few years. eek. 

Fast forward to this summer and some hot-weather-hibernation......I dug it out and got to work. The names were originally painted on tablecloth canvas, using an over head projector to trace out the computer generated words. I simply cut them all out, leaving a small 'halo' - re-positioned them on a larger background ( using 108" wide quilt backing fabric, doubled. The fabric I chose has a nice mottling to it and really added to the overall look, I think :) )  and glued it all back together using fabric glue.

So here's the finished project:

which is MUCH more like my original vision. Of course, it looks a little more like a sword than a cross, but I can live with that. The fun part of the whole thing is that there is a puzzle included- if you start at the top and look for the dark letters within some of the words, then make your way south, you'll find one more name !

All Saints

Tomorrow we celebrate All Saint's Day at church. I made this mobile for the Sanctuary- at Pastor's suggestion :) I love that our new Pastor actually encourages me to be creative, and trusts me enough to just let me *run with it* ! The picture really doesn't do it justice, especially with the light shining through the middle of it all. All Saint's Day let's us be mindful of those who have gone on before us, and to recognize that we are sinner and saint at the same time :)

starbucks card :)

A little coloring today to satisfy my *inner child* - heh heh. you might recognize the 'background paper' from your pumpkin spice latte :) hard to see it, but of course there's bling and glitter involved. Got the idea from here. Happy Fall

pumpkin patch

yes, I know it's only September......but we've had such a dry hot summer here in the Pacific Northwest, that the trees think it's already fall! and in my *defense*.....I've already had my first pumpkin spice latte :) 

I got this idea from Pinterest.....there are tons of these on there (with directions) if you look. They are made from sweaters that I found at the Goodwill ( my apologies to Liz Claiborne :) Super easy to make. Some have wine corks on them instead of wrapped stems. I was able to make 5 pumpkins from each sweater ( 4 smaller ones from the sleeves, and 1 larger one from the body)  I picked up an aqua sweater yesterday that will make a beautiful batch. Now I'm in hot pursuit of a purple one :)  

Happy Autumn!

more *ordinary* :)

here's a follow up from the previous post- and a fun story to boot. normally I hang a swag on the large cross in the front of our Sanctuary, using a telescoping fiberglass pole- all very handy 20 feet up in the air :) BUT THIS TIME my "epic pole handling skills" seriously failed me. Imagine a 40 pound Marlin on the end of a 20 foot pole, and weaving around on the altar between candelabras, mic stands, the drum kit, cords everywhere...you get the picture. I just couldn't get it to *swag* like it should. So I left it dangling weirdly , called my worship leader ( who is awesome and willing to get on a tall ladder) and asked him to *fix it* for me. Of course, this was Saturday. Oy Vey. Bless his heart ~ he made it look better than I ever could have. Amen! 

a season of growth in the church

So now we enter the *Ordinary Time* of the church year (which I call *green season*) .....the time after Pentecost when the church grew exponentially larger as the disciples spread the Good News :) Here's my offering for the Sanctuary mobile this year. I got the idea from Pinterest- here's the original pin . I had lots of fun collecting wooden embroidery hoops from my favorite store ( goodwill) and bought six different colors of tissue paper. I learned that they are superduperfragile ( and had to redo one that my cat attacked. argh.)  In case you're wondering....there are about 100 circles, strung together with fishing line, different on each side. I'm hoping that they are so lightweight that the air currents will gently spin them around.

On a *side note*.....if you came here from Pinterest.....PLEASE know that I don't actually consider MY creations to be Liturgically Awesome :) I was so excited when I started finding banners and church decorations on Pinterest  I started that board because I thought the art was awesome! But then I started pinning my own stuff on there, so it would be in good company :) Trust me, the only thing awesome about me is Christ :) 

the Day of Pentecost

This is the swag for Pentecost- I went pretty *low key* this year compared to previous year's worth of Pentecost "Jellyfishes".  These are also some of my favorite Paraments. I'm working on a big elaborate mobile for the "Ordinary" / growth time of the church year, so I thought I'd keep it simpler for Pentecost :)