Christmons Explained

It occurs to me that when I posted my first two Christmons, I never bothered to explain them.  That's actually one of the major things about a Christmon tree, it is essential that you know the meanings of the symbols you are making.  I have the book from the Danville church who has pioneered the beaded Christmons with a lot of different explanations.  The symbols actually get quite complicated.  These two are still Christmons even though they aren't beaded (Christmon being a Christ monogram).

It's important to note that symbols were very prevalent in the early church.  The church was underground since it was illegal to be a Christian in the Roman empire until the time of Constantine.  If it was discovered you were a Christian, well, you were in trouble.  Emperor Nero was known for making Christians torches in his garden or feeding them to sea snakes.  The symbols helped them communicate but yet were mundane enough that other people wouldn't catch on their true meaning.

Fish - Many of Jesus' early disciples were fisherman.  When Jesus was calling his first disciples, he said, "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt 4:19).  From this passage, it makes sense that the fish was a Christian symbol as Christians are called to go out and spread the good news.  You may notice the Greek letters in the middle of the fish.  They actually spell "fish" in Greek.  In the early church, this was a monogram for "Jesus Christ, God's Son."

Alpha and Omega - Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last.  The Alpha and Omega symbol is a direct reference to Revelation 1:8 which says "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."  It's basically like God saying "I'm A to Z and I cover everything inbetween."  It's a reference to God being eternal.

Hope I haven't bored you too much.  Not a lot of stitching going on but I have been working on the quilt at work (that way Zoé doesn't see).

Looking Ahead to Christmas

I know it's a little early but when you have as much stitching time as I do, you have to start early.

I know I have some new followers so for those of you who are just joining up--welcome and thanks for the lovely comments on the wedding piece.  For this post to make sense, I need to fill in some backstory.  My husband and I met at college.  His wife left him about 3 years ago and we reconnected and got married (he is in fact, Biblically divorced, so he was free to remarry).  That's the short story.  The college we went to had 2 courses of study:  Christian teaching and pre-seminary for pastors.  So, we both have a very Lutheran house.

He thought it would be cool to have a all-Christian Christmas tree.  Now, I love Christmas trees as much as the next person and I have a very large collection of ornaments.  But most of them are secular, sad to say so it's really not "Christian" in that sense.  My goal is to make a collection of Christian symbols for the tree.  So, today I got started.

I have a bunch of patterns for different Christian symbols that I got out of my grandma's stash.  They are supposed to be made of three different shades of gold (in this case, meaning "yellow").  I thought it would look cool in metallic gold and white and black.  So, I had some DMC metallic gold and perforated plastic and went to work.

Needless to say, they turned out a bit small.

I figured I would try again with larger plastic canvas.  I had some Lions Brand Glitterspun yarn which was the only yarn I could find that was metallic gold.  I got it a few years back when I was making a kleenix box cover for a friend.

Much better sized but I cut it a bit weird. 

You can clearly see the size difference.

I am also hoping to do some beaded Christmons like what my Grandma used to do.

I also glued Tartan Teddy onto the journal.  I used Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue which Pat recommended.  Bob recommended Mighty Mendit but I decided to try the other stuff because Hobby Lobby had it on sale.  Next task for it to do is fix some couch cushions.  We'll try the Mendit if this stuff doesn't work.

Wedding Sampler Finish

So, we were overstaffed majorly today.  They were bracing for extra calls due to the hurricane (to those of you anywhere near it, I hope everything goes ok and feel free to ship that water down here, we can use it).  So I had time to finish all the french knots and the personalizing.  Here's the final result:

Now for a frame.  I'm thinking Silver...will have to wait for some money though :(


Also picked up some glue for the Tartan Teddy Journal.  Should have a final pic up soon as well.

Tartan Teddy Journal

So, I finished stitching the Tartan Teddy today.  I stayed home from work (they had time off and I was dead tired) so I got it finished.  Here it is on the journal.  It's just not pressed and glued yet.  Yes, I did FINALLY buy an iron (it was $6 at Wal-Mart).

RAK Update

So, I've made more progress on my RAK.  Yes, I can post pictures because she doesn't follow my blog (that I know of).

First of all, though.  Sadly, Jennifer at "Feathers in the Nest" has decided to delete her blog for personal reasons.  I always enjoyed visiting.  Hopefully things will settle down enough for her to start posting and stitching again.  I know it was her dream to publish her designs.  My prayers are with you Jennifer.

Now, to the RAK.

I bought this journal at Dollar General for $3.  It looks like it's leather (it's not) and it has a nice strap to keep it closed and a built in bookmark.  

I had this pattern for a journal case in the "Loom Crafts with Knifty Knitter" book but I decided to modify it a bit.  Instead of having two pockets, it has one with a strap.  I should have used the yellow long loom with clips instead but the yarn is stretchy enough it seems.  It calls for the pink loom which is what I used.


Here is the final result:

And this is what it looks like with the journal inside:

I used "Homespun" in the "lagoon" color.  It's a funky color and the camera really doesn't do it justice.


And since the cover of the journal looks a little boring, I decided to start this which will be attached some way to the journal.  I'm still not sure if I should use hot glue, super glue or some other adhesive.  


It's called "Tartan Teddy."  I have one color left to go which will do the eyes and nose and then the backstitching.

It's being done on 14 count Aida.  I found a scrap of it in my collection.  It's kind of an oatmeal color.

hi

Hello everybody.

Thanks for all the lovely comments.  Th wedding sampler has made more progress but I forgot to take a picture.  Hope to have one up on Fri or Sat.

And AJ ..on that pincushion it did take way more time to pull the threads than it did to actually stitch but I do like the finished effect.

Joy

Some backstitching done

Half the green done...then I have to do the words.

And a Finish...

So, I finished the pincushion today.

Here's what it looked like before any finishing:

I trimmed it down and then sewed on the backing fabric.  Because of the pulled threads, I had to also sew fabric behind the cross stitch piece as well:

And this is what the back looks like:

I'm hoping to find some fancy pins to send along with this.  I managed to secure a journal today and am starting the journal cover. 

Quick Little Project

One of my friends RAKed me earlier this year when I was really down at the end of my pregnancy.  So, I'm going to return the favor.  I've started on the first thing.  She's an avid seamstress so the first thing I'm making is a Victorian Pincushion out of The Cross Stitcher's Complete Companion.

 I'm using 28 count Monaco.  It has pulled threads in it. 

This is the fabric I'm going to use to finish it.

I have no idea where I got it from but it was in my collection of fabric.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post the finish a bit later.

Bracing for the backstitching

So, I'm almost done with the cross stitches on this piece.  Next up, all the backstitch.  I have started the bride and groom but there is a lot more backstitching to be done.  And a bunch of french knots.  So, maybe it'll be done about the middle of September.  We'll see.

Quilt

As I said, progress is going slow on the quilt.  Here's about the best picture I can manage of the progress on it.

 There's twelve of those on the quilt so like I said, slow going.  But November's a fair clip off so hopefully I'll finish it in time.  Still trying to figure out the binding part.

Some more progress

Hello everyone.

Finally got my new phone and am loving it.  They have lots of apps.  Not as many as Android or iPhone, but the ones I've downloaded have been useful.

Used the camera on the phone to take this picture of the wedding sampler.  I've made a lot of progress.  Progress is slow on the quilt since I have to work on it when Zoé is not around.

New phone

So, my trusty old Touch Pro 2 has decided that it no longer wants to take a charge.  It's an older phone...I got it in the fall of 2009 when it first came out.  I had to exchange it this spring because of some issues it was having (gotta love extended warranty).  On Thursday night, it decided to not charge :(

So, they're sending me an HD7.  The Touch Pro2 is out of stock in the warehouse so that's what I'm getting.  It's huge (4.3" screen) and has no keyboard.  Not sure I can get used to that.  I like my keyboard.  And it's running Windows Phone 7 which is completely different from Windows Mobile 6.5 that I was running so it'll be a big adjustment.

So, hopefully new pictures will be up of any progress I make today or tomorrow later on Monday night because the new phone has a 5mp camera with flash.  :)

Completely Finished!

I finally finished binding the edges of the latch hook (I use thread and not tape), added the fringe, cut the dowel to size and braided the hanger and now the "You are Loved" latch hook is completely finished!  Here's a picture:

  

My Mom also sent this kit in the mail.  I'm not sure when I'll get to it.  It's crewel, which I've never done before.  It was my Dad's but he apparently never did it.

Kinda Lazy Thursday

If you've been watching the news, you'd know that Texas is experiencing a bad drought.  Here, they've put limits on watering and there's a burn ban.

Here's a picture of my backyard:

We got excited this morning when we saw the clouds.  It was really smelling like rain and I could hear the thunder in the background...

And it missed us :(

Thursday is one of my days off of work (I work 4 10 hour shifts so I have 3 days off) and we normally do our shopping.  So, we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some stuff (they generally have the cheapest diapers) and then went to Kroger.  We found a bread machine at a local thrift store for $6 and it actually works well so we've been using it to make bread.  I needed to make french bread for work so I used it to mix the dough, then removed the dough, shaped it and baked it in the oven.  All that baking has worn down our supply of flour so that was on the list.  I also got some of that powdered buttermilk since it seems several varieties of bread call for it. 

Wal-Mart may say they have low prices but they rarely have stuff on good sales or clearance. Kroger on the other hand can have some awesome sales and almost always has manager's specials on stuff.  Today I got 100 bottle lines for the playtex bottles (the generic brand) for $2.99 :)

It seems to have wore Miss Zoé completely out because she passed out in the checkout line at Kroger.  This was her at home:

Not been getting a lot of sleep lately since Adèle has bad diaper rash and wakes up every time her diaper gets wet.  Since she and Zoé share a room, we have to be careful to remove the one crying baby so we don't wake the other baby.


We've been doing a bit of decorating on this house slowly but surely.  We got one of those Eclipse curtains for the babies' room so that it stays darker.  Since this is a rent house, it only has basic blinds in every room.  We got a large curtain rod and put up some of the curtains we already had in the living room.  We liked the Eclipse curtains so much that we got another 2 for the windows in the master bedroom but we haven't put them up yet.

Here's some of the stuff we've hung up so far.

My Dad picked this up at an antique store at some point.  I don't know who made it or even when it was stitched.  I have it by my piano.

My cousin made this when I was a baby.  I have it up in the girls' room.  My husband moved the cribs around so I don't have any nursery pictures since I haven't moved the pictures back around yet.

This is the shadow box I made of my stuff from high school since I didn't have a letter jacket.  The top row of letters is for math track as is one of the medals.  The other letter and the rows of medals are for handbell choir and all my performances at the state contest for piano, voice and handbells (they're all first place if you're wondering but they are different colors for the class of the piece and district or state level).  On the left hand side, you can see the yellow of my National Honor Society cords and the tassels from my high school and college graduations.  The medal on the right is from my college graduation.

We also hung up my grandma's bird pictures in the hallway.  I would post pictures but blogger is being a pain.

Have to go make meatloaf now.

A Better Pic of the Wedding Sampler

I got a better picture of the actual progress on the wedding sampler today.

Finally, a UFO finish!

So, my goal this year was to finish up some UFOs....and it hasn't been going so well.  Well, today, I finally finished my Carnival Afghan...

I decided not to do the tassels.  Adèle really really wanted to help Mommy sew the panels on.  She has been looking especially cute today.

She is crawling now, saying "Ma ma" and stealing her sister's toys and chewing on everything because she has two front teeth coming in.

Wedding Sampler Progress

I made quite a bit of progress at work this week.  Actually, there's a little more progress but I forgot to snap another picture.

I hate Wal-Mart.  We went today and there was almost a fist fight in the parking lot and then Zoé got stung but a bee on the finger in the meat department.  We got the stinger out and she's ok.  Doesn't appear to be allergic.

Also, Lynn is having a giveaway for this fantastic Paris collection:

Maybe I'll finally win something for once....

Switching Projects

I had a little time today to work on my stocking.  Here's a picture of recent progress:

The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The colors are really quite vibrant.  Maybe I'll get out my 5mp camera and take some better pictures when it's done.

I have switched projects over to the Pooh quilt I'm doing for Zoé for her birthday.  This is the one deadline I'm really trying to keep (so it has to be completed by November 30).  At this point, I don't see the point of making deadlines since with the little ones, I never know if I'll have any time to do anything at this point.  Especially since Adèle is officially crawling now.  I got the thing pinned and I got one block stitched.  I don't have any hoops anymore so I'm using one of my qsnaps.  Also continuing to finish binding the latch hook.  I got a dowel for it the other day so once I'm done binding, I'll put the fringe on the bottom, cut the dowel to size and braid the hanger (for $1.99, this kit came with EVERYTHING!) and it will be ready to hang.

Made lasagna tonight.  I used my mom's microwave recipe but baked it in the oven since my Pyrex pan won't fit in our small microwave.  It turned out very good and my husband even liked it (or so he said as he doused it in pepper)

Review: The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Level: Adult

Scanning the reviews for this book, I notice that it either gets 5 stars (mostly seem to be Christians) or 1 star (mostly seems to be non-Christian). 

Really, what this book is about is one man's investigations into the validity of the Christian faith.  Strobel outright says this at the beginning of the book that he is retracing the steps that he took after his wife converted to Christianity and he wanted to learn more.  So, being a journalist, he looked up some scholars, argued some points and this book has his conclusions.

I don't expect anyone to be converted by this book, however, I think it has some interesting points about the New Testament and it's testimonies.



View all my reviews