Night of Comfort and Service

Last night, the Women's Ministry at our church put on a Night of Comfort and Service.  It began with a potluck dinner with lots of good food and conversation. 

After dinner, everyone adjourned to the gym where there were several serving stations set up.  Kyleigh helped make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and later helped make sack lunches for a local food bank and a homeless shelter for families.

Janice helped pack snacks, also for the food bank and the homeless shelter and also helped pack lunches.

I helped cut out waterproof linings for sanitary pads that go to girls/women in underdeveloped countries.  They use these instead of disposable pads which are hard to come by.

There were also stations for rolling bandages using strips from old sheets and crocheting plastic bags into mats for the homeless.

Afterward, there was a short worship service focusing on prayer led by three students from Concordia University.   They'd also set up prayer stations so that you could write a prayer request on a 3x5 card and leave it in a bowl.  At the same time you were able to take someone else's prayer request and pray for it later.

 

Fully Finished Gallery - February

The Fully Finished Gallery SAL was created by Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher to encourage us to fully finish our projects instead of just storing them in a drawer or box never to be seen again.  Click on the link to see more details and what other stitchers have posted.

My first fully finished ornament this month is St. Nicholas.  I've backed it with red felt and added a hanger of leftover green and gold beads.  The hanger is short since I ran out of leftover beads.  As I mentioned before, I know his hat is crooked, but I don't think it will matter once it's hanging on the tree.

My second fully finished ornament is Moose Joy from the 2019 JCS Ornament Issue.  I'd originally planned to make a pillow ornament using the same fabric for the backing, but when I was trimming the square to size, I didn't realize that I was counting from the wrong point and was left with only one square on the left side of the tree.   So, I cut the other sides down to one square, backed it with a white 3x5 card and then with red felt.  I added some cord from my stash as a hanger.

I also finished two ornaments from 2016. These were simple finishes as I glued them to felt that matched the color of their icing, trimmed around them with pinking shears and added complimentary ribbon.

I also have a question about finishing.  For those of you who finish your stitching with fabric, how do you do it?  Do you use a sewing machine or backstitch/running stitch around both the square and the backing?  Or some other way?  Thanks in advance, as I'd like to do this with some of my finishes.

Happy Dance - Valentine Mouse

Started: 2/6/2020

Finished: 2/9/2020

Stitching Time: 7 hours 28 minutes

Furry Tales are designed by Lucie Heaton and a different one appears each month in the World of Cross Stitching.  This one was in #238.

It's stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted with the called for DMC.

This is the mouse for February that I will send to WOCS to be made into a quilt when all the months are completed.  I'm currently looking for a suitable girl mouse to use for April.

Next Up: Let's Learn from Our Cat (Finish)

Peppermint Purple SAL - Week 6

The block for week 6 is stitched with DMC #75.  Since this is a double square, it took 1 hour 23 minutes to stitch over two evenings.

Here is the whole SAL:

End of Rotation - Let's Learn from Our Cat

This is Let's Learn From Our Cat from Ursula Michael after 30 hours.  It's stitched on light blue 14-count Aida, but I've changed all the colors.  The color is truer in the first picture which was scanned.  The second picture was taken with my phone since it no longer fits in my scanner.  I don't have too much left so I will probably finish it during the next rotation, even if it takes more than 10 hours.

As of 1/21/2020

As of 2/5/2020

Next Up: Furry Tales - Valentine Mouse (finish)

Happy Dance - Ladybug Alphabet - K

Started: 1/31/2020

Finished: 1/31/2020

Stitching Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

The Ladybug Alphabet was designed by Lucy Heaton and is in issue #265 of Cross Stitch Crazy.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to stitch it for Kyleigh's quilt since she's always been fascinated with ladybugs.

It's stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted with the called for colors and was a fairly easy stitch.

Next Up: Let's Learn from Our Cat (10 hours)

Special Friends Day

Every year on the last Friday in January as part of  Lutheran Schools Week, Kyleigh's school puts on an event called Special Friends Day where each student can bring an adult to school.  It can be a parent, grandparent, other relative or even just a good friend.  I went for her first one, back when she was in preschool (I think she was three.) and this year it was my turn to go again. 

In her classroom. she interviewed me about when I was in 6th grade and we did some review quizzes on her iPad.  We also attended chapel which was about the love of animals and how it was unconditional like God's love for us and saw a really cute video of animals demonstrating their love. 

They used the sets and leftover crafts from last year's VBS for taking pictures and some of the crafts.  We had our picture taken and then Kyleigh made a frame for it.  

 

 Kyleigh's friend and classmate, Grace didn't have a Special Friend with her so she joined Kyleigh and I for the morning.

There were several crafts available outside that involved beads, tiny rubber bands, etc.  Kyleigh and Grace chose to make bracelets out of the tiny rubber bands.

We used markers to color key chains in the Art Classroom. 

The one on the left is Kyleigh's.  She said it's the devil snake from Genesis.  Mine is on the right.  I was at a different table so it was just coincidence that we both chose the same animal.  They also had tigers, monkeys, etc.

Kyleigh and Grace are both wearing their POM uniforms because POM performed in the Quad at the end of the morning.

We both had a fun time and I saw a lot of people I knew. The mother of Kyleigh's "off and on" friend that is a boy also introduced herself to me.  (They're currently "on".)

Next year will be the last year Kyleigh can participate, because the 8th graders help with the games, crafts, etc.  and she's hoping to bring her grandpa who hasn't been yet.