Decorations Installment #3

Things are changing, never staying exactly the same. Keep reading for more.


There are six of these white ceramic doves on our tree. I took my daughter and her best friend, Stacy to a local ceramic place to do arts and crafts. They chose these ceramic doves to paint with a shimmery white paint, and then the eyes and beaks. I think they had to be fired in the oven again and then I think a final coat of glaze was applied. It took us several trips to the ceramics place to do these and the girls, around 10 years old or so seemed to have had fun. Stacy's family also has an identical set of doves on their tree.
Now for the changes. I read in our local paper that the city recreation department, who ran the ceramics house, has decided to close down the ceramics place. And this year both my daughter, Elise (6/24/06) got married and now Stacy, this week-end will be married (12/02/06).
So this year, these ornaments became much more valuable. From what I know they are irreplaceable. There is no ceramice house to go to and I doubt I could get these two very busy young ladies to make anymore. Lets just hope they don't get broken!

Decorations Installment #2

Some of the oldest decorations on the tree are the ones that I made myself. When Don and I first got married we had the plain glass balls and tinsel type garland, but after a few years I made this set of decorations.

These are only three out of the total set. Each one is for a name or adjective for Jesus. There are actually many more names, but I think I only made twelve. They are counted cross stitch and then inserted into very cheap plastic frames. Each one is only about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. I love using them because it reminds us what the Christmas season is all about.

Post Thanksgiving Festivities

The Thanksgiving holiday continues on with my brother Jonathan and his wife Beth stopping by to visit on Saturday. This was a very special treat because for several years they have been living in various areas of the country as travel nurses and it was always just too far to come home for the holidays. But this year they are only about 3 1/2 hours away so they were able to make it over!

Jonathan brought a quilt that he had been working on. It's actually an old comforter that belonged to his wife that was being given a second life as a quilt. It was suppose to be for their two cats to sleep on, but I think it's too nice for that. Jonathan wanted advice on the border and after I showed him the ins and outs of the use of my "old" sewing machine he had the quilt complete by the end of the night.

The Cat Quilt is almost King Size with extra thick batting.
I told Jonathan to smile like a man who had just finished making a quilt. He should be very proud.

Oh and we have to note that Beth Brinton, his wife contributed about 3% in the making of the appliques so this was a team effort.

Most of the appliques were either ready made patterns or from coloring books. (You'd think they'd been quilting for a long time to know to use the coloring books!)
But this close up of one of the cats was actually designed and an original of Jonathan's.

It's hard to believe that this was Jonathan's first quilt. I think he may be hooked and after I showed him my hand dyed fabric he's promised to come play with me some day soon with that as well. After that who knows where this quilting will all lead to!

While Jonathan worked on his quilt, Beth and I used the computer and picture editing software to work on gifts for her sister. Not wanting to be the one to spoil that surprise I won't reveal what the gift is and I forgot to take a picture. I can say that it involved extensive picture editing to get things just right and Beth was awed by what can be done with manipulating photos these days.

So this brings our Thanksgiving holiday officially to an end. Food and Family that's what we had and it was all great! We just hope that next year will be just as great!