a picture or two

This is a picture of my favorite table runner.  I keep it out all year round even if it does have an autumn feel to it.

These are just a few of the things I've been working on.   If I'm not sewing, I'm knitting or crocheting.
For some reason, I've just not been in the mood to sew lately.  I seem to really have to push myself to go to the sewing room and work on my Christmas items.  And I'm not doing any quilting until the Christmas stuff is done!  Ah, such is life!
Christmas decorating >  I love a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.  It doesn't have to be elaborate, with expensive ornaments.  Some of the most beautiful are the simple one.  But.... I don't put up a full size tree anymore.  Several years ago my hubby got a 'record book' elk and it now hangs in the living room - and it seriously takes up about a 5 foot square in the living room and my room is small - 13 X 15 (I think).  I do put up a 36" fiber optic tree and it is pretty - but not the same effect as the big trees.  And most important is my Nativity - if I don't put anything else out, my Nativity would be a must.  Not only because of what the Nativity signifies, but because my Nativity has a story............
I had wanted a Nativity for years and years and one day while shopping with my daughter in Costco here was this beautiful Nativity.  They only had one left and I grabbed it.  I could hardly wait to get it home and put it out.  So, daughter and I opened the box and started pulling out the figurines - and I wanted to cry!  Every single piece (except one - the baby Jesus) was broken.  I thought about taking the whole thing back to Costco but my daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, this was the last one.  Can't we glue the pieces together?"  and I thought "what do I have to lose"  So my daughter and I spent a couple hours gluing all those figurines together and I have to tell you - You would never believe it by looking at those pieces.  I sometimes think they've all been 'healed'!  So here it is 20 years (or more) later, and I still put up that very same Nativity and think about the time my daughter and I spent fixing it - I think it was meant to come to us.  Someone else may have taken it back to the store and it would have been disposed of - yep, it's very special!


Katie