Advent

I had so much fun making the Lenten mobile different each week, that I'm doing the same thing for Advent. So here's the first installment :) fun story.....I wanted to try something different, so I used poster paper, and cut the words out with an exacto knife, then slid some foil between the layers. Of course........if you look at the OTHER side of it, it's BACKWARDS. Which is going to drive me a little batty every time I look at it ( and unless it spins around before Sunday in the air currents, I WILL be looking at the backside ~ that's the drum set in the background that  I sit at most Sundays playing my heart out for Jesus :) )  So I WILL be making it right next week when I take it down again. Yeesch. 

Happy Thanksgiving :)

This was the 'altarscape' at last night's Thanksgiving service- so beautiful! and done by my *co-partner in decorating mayhem* Scott. So blessed to belong to this fellowship of believers. Hope you all are blessed, and thankful for every good thing ( and the not so good things- because they cause us to grow in character!) poured out from the Father's Hand.

a long awaited finish

I am celebrating. after 40 years of pack ratting Christmas fabric (over 150 different ones. ahem. ) and procrastination, half a dozen design changes, months driving my family and friends bonkers talking about it, and a few solid weeks of actually cutting and sewing it together.....it is finished and on the bed- ready for the next layer of cat hair. It actually took me longer to see this to fruition than it did to raise two kids. I'm pretty excited about how it turned out (thanks to the ladies at Just For Fun quilting who machine quilted it for me, and got the wave pattern exactly how I imagined it ) Christmas is coming a weeeeee bit earlier than usual in one corner of the house. wooooo and hoooooo :) it's funny how accomplished i feel from simply sewing material together in a straight line. 

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!