WIP update - Gingerbread Santa.

Making good progress. Over 2000 stitches on this new start. Yay

Colored pencil sketches

Here is a cartoonish horse and a more realistic cactus. 

WIP update - Gingerbread Santa

Here is my progress thus far on my Gingerbread Santa by Sue Hillis

Watercolor Unicorn

Here is a cute unicorn. I haven't drawn a unicorn since 5th grade

Watercolor Gnome

Here is a gnome I watercolored. It made me wonder if the Santa Claus mythology came from gnomes. Mine has quite a resemblance to Jolly Ole St Nick. 

Watercolor Snowman

Watching some Christmas Advent drawings in watercolor and decided to create my own. 

Oh Me Of Little Faith

Oh Me Of Little Faith

Oh Me Of Little Faith (video)

by Susan Ashton, Margret Becker and Christine Dente

We are in a bit of a crisis at our church. Our worship leader left for another position at a different church and that leaves us with limited resources musically, but where we fail is in our faith. Many are falling apart in their worship life because they no longer feel fulfilled musically. We are limited in what we can do and so we have been doing basically the basics. Maybe that is our messages: we need to get back to the basics.

What is basic worship: (these are coming off the top of my head and may not be true basics)

A capella 

Hymns

Instrumentals

Feeling led to sing a particular song

Songs rooted in scripture

Our purpose is to glorify God and not ourselves. Do I want more contemporary worship? Of course. But is that what is best for our church? I don’t know. God seems to keep breaking it down so it makes me wonder.

Do I think we can do this? Maybe. I feel like the entire team is on this precarious edge of a cliff and we are threatening to tip over. If one more thing gets pushed out of place… all the structure will fall and we will be left with nothing.

And do we want that?

I don’t think so. I don’t.

I have been praying that we be led in the direction we need to go and things keep falling apart as a result. It seems a huge restructuring is in order. I wonder what will be left when all the pieces fall together.

Catch a Snowflake SAL - complete

I had to do 250 stitches in a project with a snowflake. This is over 280 stitches on 18ct Aida 

Starry Night a watercolor tutorial

It didn't turn out exactly right. My stars look more like midnight explosions. But I will keep watercolor sketching to get better. 

Catch a Snowflake SAL

Here is what I am doing for the Catch a Snowflake SAL

Watercolor Snowman

Watched a tutorial on YouTube and I made my own watercolor snowman

Winter Wonderland SAL - new Start

I decided to start Gingerbread Santa by Sue Hillis because Santa lives in a winter wonderland. 

The Finishes of StitchWhats

Here are my ornament finishes. I backed them with a sticky foam sheet and a yellow ribbon

4th & 5th Ornaments of StitchWhats.

Here are my last two ornaments ...on to finishing. 

3rd Ornament Finish of StitchWhats

Here is the 3rd ornament for the ornament challenge. I am really happy with this one. Simple and so super cute. 

The 3rd Ornament of StitchWhatsIts.

I started working on ornament number 3 from the winter 2004 Just Cross Stitch magazine. It's by Glory Bee called Joy. 

2nd Ornament finish

Not completely happy with the lettering but it is good enough. 

One ornament down, starting on No. 2

Yes! I completed the stitching on the snowman face snowflake. You can see it hiding behind the hoop. Now I am stitching a Joy to the world ornament. The thing was in petite point but since I am using Aida I have to try to figure out the script lettering on my own

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT NOT HAVING A WORSHIP LEADER?

I decided to journal about our lack of a worship leader. Here was my first question to myself:

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT NOT HAVING A WORSHIP LEADER?

I though that was a challenging question. I mean, what’s good about that, right? Here is what came up with.

1. We can sing whatever we want. Those songs we wished had been in the rotation, we can sing those now.

2. We are forced out of our comfort zones. Those hiding in the background are forced to be a more visible part of the team. And that is a good thing. We are a team and not just the back up of a worship leader.

3. We are forced to communicate and become more of a true team. We can each put in our ideas and the rest of us listen and evaluate. Not one person has the final gavel to say no to anyone. It is a group effort.

4. We become more of a family unit. Yes, there are fights and disagreements but we get over it and come together in some sort of compromise that not only benefits us but the congregation as well. We love each other and want the best for our team and church.

WIP updates - Crest & Ornaments

I finished my crest for the crest challenge. Some of the black threads from the word "Froggin" came through to the front making it look dirty in places. Where is a snagnabbit when you need one?

Started the ornament challenge last night

Check out my major progress already. Loving it.