While Making Plans, Life Happens!

Yes, I know!  I've been missing in action for some time now!  You know how that goes -- while you make plans, life happens.

Here are a few of the things that have kept me away.

First we had a big celebration.

When we all get together, it is quite a party without additional guests!

Many family photos were taken on Friday night and then there was a dinner the following night with lots of family time in between.

Then there were a few projects that kept me busy.  I made bunting for the Church nursery.

Nursery B windows. These are double.  There will be a tutorial in the future.

This is a mirror for the kids, but a window for the parents who can check from the hallway without being seen by their precious babies.

Nursery A has the same type window.  This is the infant room.

The little curtain hides the collection of DVD's.

Then before I knew it --

It was time to get ready for Christmas!

Lots of presents exchanged!

Fleur de Lis was the theme this year.

The cousins love to get together and there is drama!

And a little fashion help.

And finally, last week, I got to take a quilting class with Bonnie Hunter.  More on that later, too!

That is what happened -- Life!  I've missed you, but plan to be a regular blogger now that those things are in the past!  I missed you all!

Until Next Time!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

The 25 Trees Of Christmas

What?  You don't have 25 trees for Christmas?  Actually, I don't either, but I've decorated 26 trees so far with two more to go.

However, 25 of the trees were only a foot tall and they were not for our house.  They were for an event we held for the kids and their families at our church. 

 

Here is one finished.

 

 

This gives a little more perspective to the size.

 

 

This is how the "good" trees started out.

 

 

Some needed a little help from a glue gun as the stands fell off.

 

 

Here is the "forest" fluffed and ready for the ornaments.  Funny how some of the foot tall trees were taller than others.

 

 

A few days later, they all had ornaments.

 

 

Yep, those little ornaments are 3/4" diameter.  There are 25 ornaments on each tree.

 

 

This is how they looked on the tables.

 

 

This event was to introduce "The Savior's CHRISTmas Tree" which is similar to the Jesse Tree if you are familiar with that tradition.  A scripture and family discussion to prepare for Christmas each day for 25 days.

 

 

This is the size the families were given to work with. We didn't make them do the tiny ones!  The Children's staff wrote the 25 devotions and prepared booklets for each family who attended.

 

 

There were other activities and snacks as well.  What's Christmas without cookies and cocoa and a rousing game of "bat the balloon"? The red team succeeded twice in getting more balloons across the rope to the green side.  Go red!

 

The families also teamed up to make human Candy Canes and told the Christmas story in a unique way with full participation of the kids.  Everyone had a great time.

 

And the trees?  they went home with some of the families.  I had the fun of making them -- they have the fun of keeping them and duplicating the ornaments as they do their devotional and activity each night leading up to Christmas.

 

Now, I can get back to the serious business of decorating the rest of my house for the holidays.

 

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

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Feathered Nest Friday  at French Country Cottage

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrstmas Day 2011

Okay, it is the day after Christmas, but lot went on here yesterday.  All of these "guys" were here plus their parents!

A lot of these needed to be opened.

So there was a lot of this....

And a whole lot of that!

We hope you had a Joyeux Noel!

We surely did!

Lots of laughter, lots of fun.

We ate way too much!

But it comes but once a year and we are so glad it does!

Getting ready for this took me away from blogging for quite a few days.  I'll post some more pre-Christmas photos this week while we wait for the New Year to arrive.

The best to you!

Lois

Sheet Music Cone Wreath 2011

Hello wonderful friends!  Do you feel it?  Christmas is in the air!!

Every where you turn you see Christmas!  I know, I know it's been in the stores since BEFORE Halloween, but now it is in our homes, too!

I'm very excited about the new decorations I made this year.  I learned a lot and will do some things differently if I repeat any of these, but mostly I'm pleased.

I promised to show you the wreath next, so here it is! (This is not where it will stay, it just needed to be photographed here for the light source.)

Here is how I did the wreath, but I didn't take photos that day.  I was actually home sick and decided to try to accomplish at least one thing, but taking photos was too much!

1.  Cut a circle out of chipboard with another circle cut in the middle -- like a donut.

2.  Roll sheet music into a cone shape and fasten with hot glue. (I used an old piano book that I had and no longer use.)

3.  Starting a 12, 6, 3, and 9 -- on a clock face, begin attaching the cones with the pointed side toward the middle.  The size of your wreath will depend on two things -- the size of the music (or book page) you use and how closely you put the points to the center.  If I'd known I was going to cover up the center, I might have put the points closer together.  This wreath is HUGE!

4.  Fill in between the first four cones to fill out the first layer.  Then add as many layers as you want on top of those using the same method.

5.  For the center, I used a paper doily with the words Joyeux Noel.  The words were printed on photocopied sheet music using MS Word Word Art.  If When I do another one, I will use a bolder font.  The scrolly one is hard to see from a distance.

Here is a closer look at the center.

Now you can actually read it!  One side of the wreath isn't as symmetrical as it could be, but once the glue is dry, you just can't change it!  That is the second thing I'd do differently.  On the other hand, if it was perfect, it would be hard to tell it was hand made, right?

It would be fun to do wreaths using the pages of books in different sizes.  It might look quite elegant using paper doilies, but that would be a lot more expensive than using an old piano study book! LOL  Any way, I like the look of the wreath.  It will not stay where it was for the photography.  I haven't quite decided if it will be in the foyer or the Master bedroom.  Maybe I do need to make another one!

What kinds of wreaths do you use?  Do you use real greenery or artificial?  I use mostly artificial, but I miss the smell of the real thing.  However, with artificial, I can decorate earlier and enjoy it longer!

Next time, I think we'll either talk angels or have a stocking show.

Until then, enjoy the season!

Lois

Coffee Bag Stocking

Hello Friends!

Are you getting excited yet?  I am!  I absolutely LOVE Christmas!  It's even COLD in AZ so getting in the mood is easier than when it is 80 degrees!

Saturday I had planned to take some photos of Christmas quilts and other stockings that I've made, but it was gloomy and rainy all day  -- but I am NOT whining!  Sunday was better, but I had other things to do, so today I'll show you the stocking I made this year from the coffee bags I scored not long ago.  I told you about theme here. 

This stocking is made from the back side of one of the bags.

It will hang this way in my house as I usually hang stockings with the toe to the left and heel to the right.

But it could be hung this way and look just fine:

The sun was bright and shiny the day these photos were taken.  That's not a flash you see reflected in the armoire, but instead it is the sun shining through the window.  It had to be morning as those windows are on the East.

My dad finished the armoire.  He used a glossy varnish.  Though I've had this for years, I've never taken the time to refinish it with a lower gloss finish.  I really like rubbing the wood with oil and then using a paste wax on them.  That's how I did our antique oak kitchen table the last time.  I had used a polyurethane when the kids were small, but took it off and refinished it several years ago using tung oil.  But that's another post for another time.

The cuff on the stocking is left over from another stocking I did in the past.  It is actually a crocheted doily I purchased and cut to use as the cuff.  I like the contrast between the burlap of the bag and the lace of the cuff.

This weekend I also made some more ornaments for the tree.  I had edited some that I've used in the past which left holes in the decorations.  I'll show the new ones I did in another post.  I did make a few more of the pleated music with the rose, too.  This time they were made from photocopied "Winter Wonderland" sheet music.  I just couldn't cut my original as it sits on the piano during the holidays.

Next time I'll show you the sheet music wreath that finally got photographed.

How are you coming with your decorations?  Are you done?  Do you wait until later to decorate?  Do you do a LOT or a little decorating?  Do you use a theme or just use whatever you have collected over the years?  Be sure to leave a comment and tell me about your decorating habits.

Until next time!

Lois

Christmas Past and Preparations

Hi friends!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had three tables full of people with overflow sitting on the sofa and chairs in the family room.  I love it when the house is full of family having fun together! The cousins can't wait to play with each other as they don't see each other too often.  Of course, the older of our grandchildren don't so much play as talk.  And talk.   And talk!  Granddaughter, K3, also celebrated her birthday (which was actually Friday) turning 13, so in addition to the traditional Thanksgiving pies, we had a birthday cake.

Now we turn our attention to Christmas.  I absolutely LOVE everything about Christmas.  I love the sounds, the smells (cinnamon and pine being my favorites), the tastes, and the sights of Christmas.  And most of all, I love celebrating the birthday of the baby who grew up to be our Savior!

So far we have the tree up, but not decorated.  Here is a view of what it looked like last year.  Hmmm, maybe that was the year before last!  It will have additional ornaments this year.

I'll do close up views this year when the tree is decorated so you can see some of the ornaments better.

The foyer area also gets a different look for December.  These are pillows I've made over the years.  Sometimes I put a Christmas quilt out there, too.  I haven't decided about this year yet.

I think my favorite is the Christmas version of the honey bee traditional patchwork pattern.  That is the one with the holly leaves in the four corners. I think I might make more of those this year if I can find some time.

Another favorite area is the Santa collection that in this house "lives" in the loft.  That's where all the grand kids hang out when they are here.  Some of the Santas are hand made, but many have just been gifts or purchased.  These used to always be on the mantel, but we have no fireplace in this house.

Normally this area has photos of all the grand kids continuing the family theme of the wall above it.  The two frames in the back are of green pine tree quilt and red school house quilt that were purchased as greeting cards.  They are embossed and lovely little miniature paper quilts.

Today I have a bone density test scheduled so did not go in to work.  After the test my plan is to do a little shopping and then spend the rest of the day decorating.  It takes more than one day for me to get all the things out and in place.  Can't wait to get the Christmas quilts out -- they just "cozy" the place up!

It's the most wonderful time of the year -- savor the season!

Until next time,

Lois







Christmas Ornaments 2011

Today I planned to show you both the Christmas ornaments I've been making and the Christmas stocking I made from the burlap coffee bags I showed you here.  However, for some reason the stocking photos did not get uploaded from the camera to the computer!  As the camera is at home, and I'm not, those photos will have to wait.

One of my favorite blogs to read is Miss Mustard Seed   She had shown some Christmas ornaments she was selling at Luckette's in Virginia that I really liked.  As going to Luckette's isn't an option, I had to come up with my own.

Here are the results of my version of her ornaments.

The main differences between hers and mine are that she used sheet music so hers are two sided, I added a red (except for 1) ribbon rose to the middle and also used ribbon for the hangers.  I also think mine are smaller.  I sort of like small ornaments.

I am also working on a wreath that is actually from sheet music.  It is HUGE and is taking a while.  It probably won't be finished until after Thanksgiving since we are having 20 or so for Thanksgiving dinner!  That's another story!

A few years ago I started moving my ornaments to mostly white ornaments and mostly angels.  One of the first of the angels I did was for the very first Christmas Tea that our church did.  I made over 100 of these angels and they are still a favorite of mine.  The ladies loved them, too.  We had fewer people come than expected and we were surprised when those in attendance asked if they could buy the extras we had made.  We were able to buy a vacuum cleaner for a Missionary with the proceeds.

Here is a photo of that ornament.

This photo is unedited as I was trying very hard to create the bokah in the background.  It's not too bad for a "point and shoot" camera for a first try.  Well, at least I don't think so -- you excellent photographers will probably laugh, but I'm just learning about this stuff.

Do you do a "themed" tree?  Or do you have ornaments from forever that you just add to from year to year?

I used to change the theme each year, but decided I was getting too many ornaments to store.  I still have FAR more ornaments than go on the tree every year, but for several years running now they have been mostly white and mostly angels.  There are some snowflakes that I crocheted and macrame'd years and years ago, too, that always go on the tree.

Do you make ornaments or do you collect special ones from places you have visited or from a particular designer?  Which are your favorites?

Our tree usually goes up the day after Thanksgiving and the rest of the decorations go up within days of that.  The Christmas quilts come out and it begins to feel quite festive.  Oh, how I love the feel and smell of a Christmas ready house!

For the next couple of days, though, it will be the Thanksgiving dinner that will have my attention -- turkey and dressing, pecan pie, cranberry relish and always, always home made yeast rolls,  Mmmmmm! 

Until next time -- have a wonderful time preparing for the holidays!

Lois