Advent Calendar: Day 14

Last year my New Year's resolution was to finish more than 1 page of my advent calendar (from Mary Beale). I did it! I finished 4, and there are just enough days left before Christmas to share them with you.

This is David and Goliath. I really like the sheep on the hillside, but David is supposed to be ruddy and handsome, which doesn't quite come across in this picture.



You can see though, the foolishness of David in thinking he could take Goliath, and Goliath's confidence that this was going to be "no problem." So this fits into the theme of the Advent stories, that every day focuses on God touching the world to bring about his purposes. David was Jesus' ancestor, so things had to be right with him for the plan to carry through.

I am having so much fun, and no trouble at all, coming up with 15 projects for next year. Only about 1/3 will be new projects. I want to start sharing now what they are, but I will be good!

Weekend

We had a nice weekend. I wrote about the Christmas program yesterday, but Saturday was fun too. DD1 spent the day down from "the city" and she and her dad got some Christmas shopping in. I got in a little shopping, plus some time on my own for stitching, best of both worlds!

I remade this temari because I liked the first one so much (this is one of the ones I did not get a picture of before I gave it away). This one is stitched with Vatican Gold and Silver braid, and is not as sparkly as the first one, but still turned out very nice. There are 8 different 6-point designs, hopefully mindful of snowflakes.



Then I got a little tired of Christmas and snow colors, and picked a couple of more spring-like hues for this one. It is just 12 stars stitched "najiri" or interlocked style. The original was more complex, because they filled the space with the stitching. I was not precise enough in my placement of the first row of stitching for each color, so I quit while I was ahead, and it looks very lacy.



DD2 suggested that I take a picture of the tiny temari I have been stitching next to a regular sized temari, just to give an idea of how little and how cute they are.



I got some stitching in on my Alphabet sampler as well, completing these letters. Quite a bit of progress for one weekend, I think! The blue letters take much longer to stitch than the teal letters.



Last night C came up from the basement asking why the floor was wet (?!). After some investigation, it came to light that the hot water heater had sprung a leak. DH is on vacation this week, but the intent was for him to have some peace and quiet, not to be wrestling with a hot water heater. Of course, the extra bill at this time of year was not welcome either. But the Lord provides, miraculously! Ten minutes after arranging to have the heater installed, we found out we would be receiving a bonus, plus back pay! God is good.

There is a project group on-line that is planning on stitching something new every day for the first 15 days of January, with the plan of finishing all 15 items by the end of the year. The idea is very intriguing, but I cannot face 15 more WIPs (works in progress) plus the pressure of having to get everything done in this year. I am going to modify the plan, and stitch on something different every day for the first 15 days of January, but I will include current WIPs as well. That way I will be clearing out old projects as well as beginning new ones. I will work up a list, and let you know what the final plan is.

Christmas Program

Everyone is prepared for the Christmas program. C and P are all dressed up.




(I could not get a picture of a nice smile from P.)

C got all dressed up in her costume and looked very cute. Can you see her holding the donkey tail?



Here is the nativity tableau: two sheep, a donkey, Mary, Joseph, and the baby.



Then the song afterwards. They sang very well!



This is DH's favorite position, in the background, playing music.



We had a beautiful service for music. There was a French Horn prelude, a trumpet offertory, and organ, piano, keyboard, drums, bass, violin, and another trumpet with the singing, plus a solo for special music.




Then treats and presents afterwards. Very nice day.

Another Christmas Temari

This is another little guy, about 2 inches across, stitched with pearl #8. Christmas colors with just a touch of gold.



This is my "old faithful" pattern, but you do have to pay attention. Last time I tried to stitch it while I was teaching a class, and the guidelines were not straight. I still haven't taken the stitching out of that one, but I will.

The background is tissues, courtesy of C. She found a shoe-box at home last week, and started packing it full of things for her friend S, everything cushioned with tissue. When I told her I needed a box to carry my presents for work, everything got unceremoniously dumped on the floor, and the temari were carefully placed on the tissue. These things must be done properly, you know. She was very happy to have found a box for presents, and then to have found presents to put in the box.

Rose Temari

This is another one of my little temari. I really like the way it turned out. The rose, outlined with gold, is very elegant looking, even though it takes a lot of time and a lot of thread to stitch. (You end up with a double layer of thread with this pattern.)



I had been thinking of making a rose on both sides of the temari, but I ended up making a basket on the bottom half. Even that turned out very nice. (I love to weave!)



The fibers used are DMC metallic, and pearl #8 for the stitching.

Christmas Temari

I have stitched another handful of Christmas temari to give away this season. In fact, I gave away two yesterday without getting pictures! I know! How could I! My only excuse is that my battery was dead, and I lost my head.

This one is a simple Kiku, stitched with rayon threads from India. The base is made from one plastic grocery bag, and is only about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. This size temari is turning out so cute!



The other two I gave away were this size as well. One was a red base, stitched in a c8, with 8 different snowflake designs on the 6-part triangles, stitched in white pearl #4 braid. It is very sparkly and very pretty. The other was a s8, with a 4-petal red kiku and a 4 petal white kiku (I think it was on a red background as well), in interwoven style, stitched with #8 pearl. The contrast gives a very graphic look, and the kiku looks very different.

This small format is giving me a chance to stitch with some different fibers, and I am having quite a bit of fun.

I did give in last night and stopped by our electronic big box store for an extra battery and charger. DH says I paid too much, and he is right! I stored the new items (after charging up my camera, of course) in the drawer with the rest of the batteries. Next time I am looking for it, remind me, okay?

Camera Trouble

I have some temari to share, but my camera battery died this morning, and I couldn't immediately find the charger. DH and I both remember where we saw it last, but it is not there now! I hope I do not have to buy a new one. I have been meaning to buy another battery so I don't end up camera-less again.

I am glad it happened this way, though. C's Sunday School program was scheduled for last Sunday night, but was cancelled because of the weather. I would have been very upset if I had run out of batteries for that! My camera will be in working order by next Sunday, which is the rescheduled date, I promise!

Now I can't decide whether to stop at the store on the way home, or look around at home once more. I am leaning toward stopping at the store; I hate being without my camera!