Pocket-sized prayer shawl

A couple of you have asked about the pocket -sized prayer shawl we each recieved as a gift at our Christmas Tea at church this year.  Here is a picture of it.

It measures about 4 1/2 inches and this is what the little tag says that came attached:

" May this pocket-sized prayer shawl, made with love and infused with prayers,

be a sign of God's sustaining presence with you always.  May it provide His

comfort and peace in your anxiety.  May it bring joy, gladness and richest blessings"

Macy's 8th floor Christmas Display

Went to Macy's on my break today.  The theme for the year is "A Day in the Life of an Elf".  On the walk to the auditorium there were these wonderful paintings of old postcards that were simply charming.

Here are a couple of scenes from the day of an elf...

building snowmen-

teaching reindeer to fly-

Santas workshop making goodies to eat-

and of course making toys!

It was sweet but over too soon!

Christmas Yule Log and Lights

We had our 23rd annnual Christmas gathering of our craft group on Saturday.  This year was my year to host.  I tried a new dessert- a Buche de Noel a yule log.  A jelly roll filled with chocolate flavored whip cream and cut to look like a log!  Here is my first attempt at this dessert.

Tonight Michael and I took a drive to see some of the Christmas lights...

This tree had racing lights that looked like shooting stars.  It is in the front of the Bachmans store on Lyndale.

Then we drove south to see "the tree" on Cedar Ave.  It has been there for a number of years and is absolutely amazing!!!  This photo is from the highway.

This photo is at the end of the driveway.

Things are officially out of control

Ok, so I have lost a Christmas gift.  I need to get it wrapped and in the mail and I can't find it.  Yes, it was small and I saw it just a day or two ago- now when I have to get it wrapped it is no where to be seen.   ARRRGH!
Look at the absolute, chaotic mess...

help.

Zipper Flowers

I went to our WOW Quilters Meeting tonight.  After the regular meeting, well an abreviated meeting we had a make and take.  We had a choice of making 2 different designs of flower pins using a metal zipper.  Here is the one that I choose to make.

There was a drawing at the end of the meeting and I was one of the winners!  I got to choose one of the samples that were made for the evening.  I choose one of the other kind of flowers we could make.  Here it is.

Interesting what someone can think up to do with something so mundane as a zipper....

A Cup of Christmas Tea

This morning was our Christmas Tea at my church Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Plymouth. MN.  We had 30 tables with 8 people each.  The tables are hosted by an individual who brings the place settings, table decorations and a small gift for each guest.  This was my table hosted by Sally Price.

We had a wonderful speaker Mary Schmidt who is a historian and story teller of used and dated clothing,  She spoke of the joy of "dressing up" and listening to the stories that the clothes can tell.

The luncheon was catered by Heavenly Hosts that works out of our church.  The food was absolutely "heavenly".

There was singing of Christmas songs done by the Armstrong Chamber Choir which was all sung acapello.

It was a beatiful way to spend the morning!

Thank you to all of the hostesses and the planning committee.

In the Christmas mood..

With the snow coming down and 32 degrees it has been a perfect December day!  Had a lovely Swedish lunch with entertainment and ended looking at Christmas lights!

Did a bit of decorating in the house, some shopping and look what we saw on the way home tonight!

Daughters...

Having my daughter home for a couple of weeks in between her contracts working at Yellowstone has been delightful.  She has given me a great idea for next years blog.  I have been thinking of doing another 365 days of crafting but with my new job and longer hours I didn't know if I could actually accomplish it again.  She said that many people are doing 52 weeks of crafting.  I think that is something that would be do-able!  I will ponder it a little bit longer and let you know before 2012!  She is full of ideas and solutions to problems....

Well, with Christmas in the air I have been enjoying the decorations of downtown Minneapolis.  There have been concerts just about everyday during my lunch hour too.  Everything seems a little brighter and more cheery with the decorations everywhere you look.  This was my concert today.

Quilt Quild Meeting

Had my November quilt guild meeting tonight.  We had a guest speaker from Willow Wood Market in Bemidji named Bonnie Lundorff.  She is the owner of the shop and designs patterns for use with wool and dyes her own wool.  She said that currently wool is selling for $68.00 per yard!  She showed many samples that she had made and many patterns that she had designed.  I took some photos of the smaller pieces that she passed around. 

Another Long Time!

Even though I haven't blogged for a long time I have been getting a few things done now and then.  Almost every day at work during my lunch hour I sit in the Crystal Court of the IDS building and watch/listen to the falling water and the world going by.  It is a wonderful change from work!  After my lunch I usually have about 20-25 minutes that I have been working on miniature baskets which you have seen before. This is my "work box" that I keep in my desk drawer at work.

There is now a huge Christmas tree in the Crystal Court and some entertainment while I eat!

Fun to see what is going to happen each day at lunch!

My daughter made it home for a visit from her job in Yellowstone National Park.  She is full of ideas and energy.  She gave me a great suggestion for next year and crafting.  I was thinking about doing another 265 days of crafting and she suggested doing 52 weeks of crafting.  That may be more do-able with my current work schedule.  I am going to ponder that one a bit...

A bit of crafting...

Have a quick wedding shower to go to tomorrow and decided to make a couple of cat collars for the bride-to-be.  Little velvet black bows to wear for the wedding!!

Oh, what the collars are laying on is a fall table runner that I am working on and would like to have done by the time the sisters and mom come for the weekend....we shall see.

11-1-11

I know it has been a while (again) but I have been busy.  I made new curtains for the garage windows out of muslin.  This is the little basket I have been working on during my lunch hour at work.  As you can see I still haven't figured out the last step in the finishing around the top of the basket...

And the "Petester" snoozing on my daughters empty bed which is temporarily set up in the space next to my sewing area in the basement.

The weekend

Wow, do they ever go fast!  I did re-make the "pea" bracelet from Oct.13 blog entry.  I found some square orange beads and here it is- remade! (And no, Carol there is no pattern!) It does look like peas and carrots!! I think it just a hoot- especially the fact that I really dislike peas!

Also took photos of one of the first quilts I made in 1984.

It was from a class called "It's ok to sit on my quilt".  The blocks are about 16" square, used a sheet for the backing and it is tied- not very much.

We use it in the trailer.

Here is the "label" I put on it.

These are the other little bracelets that I either re-made or made this weekend.

Tie a Quilt

I have begun to push to do some things!  I worked for 2 nights on getting this small quilt tied.  The 2 inch blocks are all hand cut and belonged to a friends aunt who passed away.  She gave them to me and I made them into this quilt. (You can see this quilt in different stages on May 8 and June 30 blog postings.)  Here it is being tied.

All tied.

W.O.W. Quilt Show

I went to my first Women of the West Quilt Show.  Sponsored by the W.O.W. quilt guild of Plymouth.  Only a $5.00 entry fee and the quilts (all sewn by guild members) were amazing!  They also had a lovely botique, speakers and even some vendors!  Setting was great too!  Here are just a few of my favorites: 
This was was so adorable and so much work.  Each basket was different.

This one was actually done by a gal in my church quilters group and was so precisely sewn and was huge!

Here is a close up.

This one is all 1/2 inch finished squares!!!

Here is a close up.

I am always drawn to circles.  This was one of the few quilts that were hand quilted with the tiniest of stitches.

This is just a little tease of the wonderful quilts that I saw today and was inspired by. 

On the way home I stopped by a quilt shop I haven't been to in years.

Blue Bamboo.  What absolutely beautiful fabrics.... 

Still crafting...

The camera has been upstairs and my studio is in the basement...
Have cut some new quilt squares in various sizes...

Two little bracelets from the beads I bought in Taylors Falls:

one is on memory wire and they are beads from Africa,

the other one looked likes peas to me...my worst vegetable!

A couple more mini baskets in process...

Things don't always work out like you planned-

this is an example: the beads are just a bit too big

to work for this basket so I took it apart.