huge, fabric, advent, candles, wall hanging have a new home

My candles have made it to their new home.

You can read about me making them here.

they do a good job filling in the space.

ps- I love our praise and worship band!

Oh and Zeke got a really cute hat that I'm trading a doll quilt for :)

there are good days and there are bad days- which do you choose?

I follow this blog and she posted something that made me think.... What kind of days do I choose?

You can read Estelle's blog here

You know, surprisingly, there is alot of criticism going out to those who are labeled as "optimistic" or "positive" people. I've heard it many times. As soon as something positive comes out of your mouth, there's usually someone there to bring up the negative.

"You just wait. Your turn will come."
"Wake up and smell the real world."
"Someday, you'll come around."
"I've heard that before."
"Ignorance is bliss."
"Too good to be true."
"Don't get too excited."

It's almost like people don't want you to be positive, or perhaps they think that your positivity is somehow a tool you're using to make them feel bad about being negative. Or maybe they're trying to help you get a grip on "reality". Frankly, our "reality" is marred in such a way that can definitely benefit from a little positivity.

I have always considered myself to be a positive person. I choose to think the best about people, I don't hold grudges, and I make thankfulness a habit in my life. That being said, I do have bad days just like everyone else. I don't go talking about it on facebook, and I don't bring it up in conversation unless I really feel I need to. My life is not perfect..but focusing on that will never help me succeed. Just because you speak positive words in the midst of your difficult circumstances doesn't make you fake or ignorant. It only makes the negative things temporary in your mind. Negative circumstances should never be treated like they're the norm or like they're a permanent "resident". There's no way I'm going to live and walk in that mess. Doesn't mean my circumstances have to change first...it means I have to change first.

So I have a bad day every so often...SO WHAT? I can either choose to soak it up, bathe in it and make it a part of me, or I can choose to rise above it, recognizing that it's only temporary and I will not own it. .....continued....

Read more here

I am choosing to have a good day :)

huge, fabric, advent, candles, wall hanging

Does that title make any sense?

Well on Wednesday morning at 8 am I get a call from our Pastor.

He asked me to make some large fabric hanging candles for Advent to put behind the band where the contemporary worship service meets (in the fellowship hall.) Find out about advent candles on Wikipedia

He first asks for 5--6 feet tall candles, I say I will think about it and let him know.

At 9 am Zeke and I are heading off to Hickory Walmart to get some cheap fabric- yes they are the only walmart nearby that has fabric. Its much cheaper then going to a quilt shop and paying $4.99++ a yard. I got 1 yard of pink at $1.99 yd and 3 yards purple for $2.99 yd. MUCH better.

I started with the pink candle since it is not needed until week 3 (this sunday is week 2- so we are a bit behind.) I figured this will give me time to get more material if I mess it up.

This is what I came up with after finding out that 4~ feet would be ok.

first try- not sewn together- 3 pieces

I got all 4 together on Thursday. I used the length of the salvage to salvage for the length of the candle and made them ~18inches wide.

The taper piece at the top I took a 18"x8 inches and cut a 45 degree angle.

For all pieces I folded over the edge and just sewed a straight seam. 

Now I had a problem.... I added hooks but I needed a way to stiffen the tops to that it would stay up when hung. 

I put out a distress call to 2 friends who I thought might have something for this- interfacing or starch.

MC was the life saver. She makes crocheted ornaments and uses this glue stuff (that washes out.)

You first get your fabric wet so it will soak up the glue. Then you mix the glue 50/50 with water and spread it over the fabric.

all pieces drying and stiffening 

See the hooks? I also added a piece of 3M removable velcro at the top on the wick for extra stability.  

But it dried stiff enough not to worry about that.

I also added the velcro to the flames to hang them that way.

I used some parchment paper so the felt would feed easier. It was my first time using it and I liked it. The paper gets perforated and easy to remove.

Done on the kitchen floor. You can see where the glue is  and it will remain that way- but thats ok. It washes out. I'm going to take these back after Christmas and quilt them for next year.

to give it some scale.

All candles done, blog posted by 9:30 pm Friday.

Phew! what a busy few days (all done during naps and at night)

I'm impressed with myself- its the first time I did something like this.

I get a pat on the back!

UPDATE: they have a new home here

Zeke and pillows

Zeke does this on a regular basis and seems to happen more when he is tired. At least when he falls he has a soft landing :)
He was doing this at least 5 min before I pulled out my camera.

enjoy :)

The Christmas Pageant

(I got this as a fwd and thought it was cute)




My husband and I had been happily
married (most of the time)
for five years
but hadn't been blessed with a baby.

I decided to do some serious
praying and promised God
that if he would give us a child,
I would be a perfect mother,
love it with all my heart
and raise it with His word
as my guide.

God answered my prayers
and blessed us with a son.

The next year God blessed us
with another son.

The following year,
He blessed us with
yet another son.

The year after that we
were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd
been blessed right into poverty.
We now had four children,
and the oldest was only
four years old.

I learned never to ask God
for anything unless I meant it
As a minister once told me,
"If you pray for rain,
make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses
of the Bible to the children
each day as they lay in their cribs..

I was off to a good start.
God had entrusted me
with four children and
I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day
the children smashed
two dozen eggs on
the kitchen floor searching
for baby chicks.

I tried to be understanding...
when they started a hotel for
homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, 
although it took me nearly two hours
to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured
ketchup all over herself and
rolled up in a blanket to see
how it felt to be a hot dog,
I tried to see the humor
rather than the mess..

In spite of changing over
twenty-five thousand diapers,
never eating a hot meal
and never sleeping for more
than thirty minutes at a time,
I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise
to be a perfect mother -
I didn't even come close...
I did keep my promise
to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark
just a little when I told
my daughter we were going
to church to worship God,
and she wanted to bring
a bar of soap along to
"wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost
in the translation when
I explained that
God gave us everlasting life,
and my son thought it was
generous of God to give
us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came
during the children's
Christmas pageant.

My daughter was playing Mary,
two of my sons were shepherds
and my youngest son was a wise man.
This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd
had practiced his line,
"We found the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes."

But he was nervous and said,
"The baby was wrapped
in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said,
"That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly.
That's dirty, rotten clothes."

A wrestling match broke out
between Mary and the shepherd
and was stopped by an angel,
who bent her halo and lost
her left wing.

I slouched a little lower
in my seat when Mary
dropped the doll representing
Baby Jesus, and it bounced
down the aisle crying,
"Mama-mama."

Mary grabbed the doll,
wrapped it back up
and held it tightly as
the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward
wearing a bathrobe
and a paper crown,
knelt at the manger
and announced,
"We are the three wise men,
and we are bringing gifts
of gold,
common sense
and fur."

The congregation
dissolved into laughter,
and the pageant
got a standing ovation.

"I've never enjoyed a Christmas
program as much as this one,"
laughed the pastor,
wiping tears from his eyes

"For the rest of my life,
I'll never hear the
Christmas story without
thinking of
gold,
common sense
and fur."

"My children are my pride
and my joy and my greatest
blessing," I said as I dug
through my purse for an aspirin.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jesus had no servants,
yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree,
yet they called Him Teacher .

Had no medicines,
yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army,
yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles,
yet He conquered the world.
He committed no crime,
yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb,
yet He lives today.

Feel honored
to serve such a Leader
who loves us.

Dave's Batman Quilt

Dave has been requesting a quilt from me for a while- but he had a specific theme in mind. He wanted to have a Batman quilt. This proved to be a bit difficult since he wanted to have the bat symbol as the center of the quilt.

I was trying to think of ways to make this without having to piece the bat symbol myself. 

During one of my many trips to wal-mart, where I swing through the clearance aisle faithfully, I found it!

They had a twin sized batman sheet set and curtains on sale. The sheet set was just what I needed - the pillow had the bat symbol!

When I brought it to the counter it was even more on sale- it was only $9!

I had this sitting for a few weeks in the guest room/quilting room. Then Dave asked me when it would be ready and that he would like to hang it up for the Family and Friends Fun Night at work.

This.was.in.two.weeks!

I had to get moving!

I had to rip the seam in the pillow

here are the sheets

choosing colours

Dave wanted to have the colours expand as they radiated out. this quilt quickly grew larger then the wall hanging he was expecting. 

it fit the top of the bed!

I used the other side of the pillow case on the back to make the backing sheet fit. I basically created another quilt top for the back. 

I also had to make a way to hang it. I used the trim from the sheet to make the sleeve for the curtain rod to go in.

Having 2 quilt tops made it very difficult to quilt together and line things up straight. I quilted it by machine to get it done in time. I had a lot of puckering then I would have gotten if I quilted by hand.

Here is the back of the quilt where I was sewing up the seam with Zeke "helping"

I got it done by Thursday morning with the event on Friday.

And here is the final product- hanging large and proud at work for Dave. 

Dave loves the size. He never did measure how big that he wanted the quilt to be. He just wanted something to hang in the glass divider. The other side of this wall is the ping pong table and pool table. On his side is his and his co-workers desks. 

The guys seem to like this :)

And on the back - Batman keeps an eye on the pool players.

a couple of videos

Zeke has been walking with his hands behind his back lately