Kneeler

Many years ago, a group of women at my church decided to do new cushions for the kneelers used for communion. Designs were chosen and I was one of the volunteers to stitch. The cross in the center and the lambs on each end are the same on all kneelers; the other two represent a season of the church year. I asked to do the Christmas one because the Christmas rose is so pretty. It's all done in needlepoint and measures about 5' long by 1' deep. It took me a year to complete, during which time I posted to my first base (I had recently joined the USAF), and met and married my husband. 30+ years later we are living in my home town and from time to time I still go to services at my old church. I'm delighted to see the kneelers still being used and still in pristine condition. So, now that I have my digital camera, I've taken pictures of 'my' kneeler.

Fourth Banner done!

I'm very pleased to say that the fourth and final Lenten banner is completed. I had the basic part done - the background, top and cross. June came over last night and we worked for quite a while on creating a crown of thorns. She'd found a small grapevine at the craft store and thought it would be great to have a 3-D one insted of just felt. I must admit, it is not what I had in mind. That said, I specifically did not want this to be "my project" and I was happy to have her take the lead on this banner. After much experimenting, we came up with the finished product. The 'crown' is attached with wire that was wrapped around one end, poked through the felt, run along the back and brought up through to wrap around the other end. It didn't stand out enough (visually) from the rest of the banner, so we put a bit of white felt behind it to let it show. Finally, we added another small piece of wire to hold the bottom of the grapevine down too. The pictures don't really do it justice, but I think they will give you the idea.

I've enjoyed working on these. They were a stretch of my crafting skills and creativity, but more than that, they are a way to remind me - and others - of Christ's sacrifice and to thank God for it. Now that they are completed, I am looking forward to getting more cross-stitching done!

Although, there is that idea I have for the Easter banner...

March update

At last! I have a stitching update as well as another banner update. I'm so pleased to have made enough progress on Winter Fairy to post a new picture. Let's hear it for quiet, sunny Sunday afternoons! I was able to get a couple of hours of stitching on each of the past two Sundays, and the bright sunshine made it so much easier to work. I'm nearly done with the green band and then I get to move into the purple and blue skirt. I'm looking forward to that!

I've also finished banner #3 in the Lenten series. I must admit I'm particularly pleased with this one. I wanted to show the reconciliation of God and man through the cross, and I think it does that. It was a bit challenging to get the details on the hands right. I didn't want to use a marker because it would bleed in the felt, so I finally settled on cutting thin strips of the dark purple felt. It took a while to cut, place and glue them, but it was worth the work. I'm getting together with June this week to try to get the fourth and final banner done, and I'll post a picture when it is completed.

Lenten Banner #2

Last Wednesday I spent the day at home because our dog was too ill to be left alone. During the times when he was asleep I finished the second Lenten banner. It was a good distraction - enough to occupy the mind but not requiring as much concentration as cross-stitch, which I certainly would have messed up. When my husband got home from work we took Shadow to the vet and let him go in peace. Definitely not a high point of our year, but the vet assured us that nothing more could have been done for him, so we take a little comfort in that.

Anyway, here is a photo of banner #2. Not sure when the other two will be done. We had a houseful of college students this past weekend, so I got no crafting done at all. I will have to get together with my cohort and get to work.

Lenten Banner #1

You may (or may not) have wondered why my cross-stitching has slowed so much. Here is a major reason. I've gotten together with another woman from my church to create four banners to hang along the sides of the sanctuary during Lent. When I proposed this, I thought, oh what fun! A few of us will get together for a couple of weekends and make banners. You know, the classic "sewing circle". It didn't quite turn out that way (I really should know better). There are just two of us, with occasional help from our daughters when they're available. She & I both work, so the only time we can get together is for a little while on Saturday afternoons. We cut out the banners, headers and crosses - all four banners will be identical that way. The girls got about half of the letters cut out to spell "Lent" at the top of each banner. Now in order to complete these before Lent is over, I've neglected cross-stitch and all but basic housework to spend my free time on the rest. Last night I completed the first one, just in time to hang for the first Sunday in Lent. I have some work done on the second and I hope it will go a little more quickly. My cohort is working on an idea for the third banner and we agreed on the pattern for the fourth. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the first banner. I want to mention that my oh-so-handy hubby cut the poles (I stained them) and added the chains for hanging.

Feb 2011 Update

Well, here is my first update for 2011. I didn't get much sewing done in January, not enough to warrant posting a picture. I was just starting to get back into sewing when my aunt died, and that knocked me off kilter for a while. It was hard to concentrate on anything. The one time I tried to work on WF I had to frog every line I stitched, so I quickly stopped. This past weekend, however, I finally got in a few good hours of sewing and am pleased enough with the progress to post a picture for you. I really love how the colors create the drapery of the fabric, and I'm excited to be nearly done with the light section. Next I get to the green band!

End of the year

Well, it's nearly the end of 2010 so this will probably be my last post for the year. Wow, hard to believe it's nearly 2011. How did we get this far? I remember when the world was worried about Y2K! Anyway, I always save a few vacation days so that I can take the week between Christmas and New Year's. Originally it was to be home when our daughter was on school break and too young to be by herself. Now it's so I can have time with her while she's home from college. Hubby had a long weekend but had to go back to work today. :(

So Meg and I are enjoying down time. Today except for shoveling, we did not leave the house at all, and I went back to bed for a couple of hours after hubby left at 5:15am. What luxury! In between taking care of dishes and laundry, she read and I stitched. Finally completed the backstitching on the section of Winter Fairy that I have done (p. 1 of 4). I have to order some Kreinik threads for the wing backstitching, as it is not available around here.

Here are two pictures. One is of WF as she is today. I'm excited to start page 2 tomorrow. The other picture is of Meg with the picture I stitched for her for Christmas. It says "Silly Socks are Toe-tally Awesome!". As you can see, Meg loves silly socks, and she was very pleased with her gift.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2011 will be a fantastic year for each of you.