Church's Christmas messages in NYC

An article about the Church's media efforts in New York City, with some Church-made videos about the birth of Christ.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-christmas-message-new-york

Jill Smith "Oh Holy Night"

Beautiful YouTube made about our stake's Nativity Celebration.  Jill Smith's voice is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaP6sotTtLE  (Jill Smith singing, photos of the nativity scenes.)

apexnativity.org (Information about the event.)

Schedule for listening to Conference Talks

I was teaching quilting in Fayetteville NC on the Saturday of General Conference, so I missed one whole session.  Then, sadly, I didn't pay very good attention to the sessions on Sunday that I got to watch and listen to.

So I made a goal to get on  www.lds.org   over the course of the next few months, and watch and listen to every talk again, or in some cases, listen to the talk for the first time.  I think it is nice to read along in the Ensign magazine and highlight passages that strike me as important.

Starting right now, I will need to listen to a talk about every 4 days to listen to all of them before the next General Conference in April.

I have only listened to the first two talks so far.

The second talk was by Elder Quentin L. Cook, one of the 12 Apostles.  The paragraph that struck me as most important was this one:

"Parents, the days are long past when regular, active participation in Church meetings and programs, though essential, can fulfill your sacred responsibility to teach your children to live moral, righteous lives and walk uprightly before the Lord."

A few paragraphs later, he said, "The moral issues of our day must be addressed in the family."

Good counsel.

Apex Nativity Celebration

I hope all of you will plan to attend the Apex Nativity Celebration, at our stake center.

You can see many photos if you go here:   www.apexnativity.org 
or here    http://www.christmasnativity.org/apex

The dates are
 Thurs. Dec. 6, 6:00-9:00 pm
Fri. Dec. 7, 6:00-9:00 pm
and Sat. Dec. 8, 3:00-9:00 pm.

The event closes with Handel's Messiah Sing-along at 7:30 pm on Saturday.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 590 Bryan Drive (off NC Highway 55), Apex, NC

Non-perishable donations for Western Wake Crisis Ministry accepted at the door.

Sign

This is what you see when you drive up our driveway.

Freedom of Religion is no more

Hobby Lobby's owners said it was against their religion to provide "morning after" pills in health insurance.  The federal government said "so what, you have to provide them anyway."


http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121120/NEWS/311209860/-1/NEWS09



Big gov't (Satan's Plan) now can tell you that no matter what your religious beliefs...you must comply with their dictates.

 No longer can you worship or practice your religious beliefs unless you happen to believe what the federal gov't tells you can.

Elections have consequences.

And America will now collectively suffer because of it.

IQF had lots of wool

The newest trend in quilting and in crafting that has really caught my eye has been wool.
I keep buying wool dyed pretty colors, and keep meaning to make some wool appliqued wallhangings or a nativity scene, but haven't done it yet.

In Houston at the International Quilt Festival, there was a booth that sold little balls made of wool.  They were hard like marbles, not fluffy like pompoms.  I just had to buy some.  Look at all the cool things you can make with them:

Now I probably have enough woolen fabric and wool felt and the little balls to make every project on these four pictures.  Daughters-in-laws: Do you want to have a craft day with me?

Bits and pieces from my trip to Houston

 I had the best time in Houston a couple of weeks ago, at the International Quilt Festival.  I shopped full time, and in 4 days I covered all 2000 booths (well, the numbers went from 100-2000 but I don't know how many vendors there really were.)

I ended up buying some supplies for some cute projects.  I bought about $10 of colorful buttons (to go with the ten pounds of buttons I already own) and I want to make wooden letters (see above) with my grandkids or with my daughters-in-laws.

 I read two more novels on the planes.  They were both by Adriana Trigiani, she is one of my favorite authors.  (My favorite so far has been "Lucia,Lucia").  I really like her Big Stone Gap series.  I just read the third book, "Milk Glass Moon", and the fourth, "Home to Big Stone Gap."

  Here is some vintage trim I bought, I have high hopes of making some funky curtains for my sewing room and using this on them.

Huff Post about Mormons

A great article about Mormons from the Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-mansfield/the-mormonizing-of-americ_b_2083125.html

Slacker Gardening

I planted a garden in the spring, and got so involved with househunting and preparing my old house for sale, and moving, that I never cared for the garden at all.  I never weeded it or even watered it (thank goodness it rains so much in North Carolina!).

Last week Wayne and I and Tara pulled out all the knee-high weeds to make the yard look better so we can sell that house, and we discovered so many sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, carrots and green onions, they filled an entire box.  That is what I call "low maintenance gardening".  I will be sure and try that again next year.

Surprise! My quilts were still represented at IQF

I had the greatest four days at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last week.  I haven't been there in several years, not since I taught there last time.  And since I haven't been advertising myself, my business has fallen off a bit.  I am still trying to figure out how to get my business going again.

Anyway, I went with the expectation of just shopping all day every day.  I had no quilts entered in the competition, and I wasn't going to be teaching any classes.

Imagine my surprise when I saw one of my quilts on the main posters on entering the building:

 My quilt, "My Stars and Yoyos" is the quilt on the right.  It was purchased by Karey Bresenhan for the International Quilt Festival Collection about 2002.

 Quilts from that collection were photoshopped onto famous landmarks for a series of posters on the wall at the International Quilt Festival this year.

 My quilt happened to be on two different posters.

I have no idea why they said "antique" quilts.  Mine is certainly not an antique.

I was excited that my quilt was up there,  too bad my name wasn't there too.  Karey Bresenhan has full rights to publish it however she wants without having to put my name on it.  It would have been fun to see my name on the poster as well.

The next day I was in the Bernina booth, and they had one of  my quilts displayed in there too.  I had made it for them, in partial trade for a Bernina sewing machine they sold to me at a reduced price for national teachers.  It was fun to see that even though I have been quite absent from the quilting business for a few years, my legacy still lives on!

Tessa stayed with us

 Seth and Janette's daughter stayed with us for two nights while they were in Germany.  She was such a sweet little girl.  She liked to carry around a rock, and she liked to explore our property.  She took me walking all over.  Here she is out behind the barn.

In the evening, we gave her a bath and dressed her in nice clean pajamas.  The next thing we knew, we found her with both arms up to the shoulders inside Zac's sweaty boots.  I guess her arms didn't smell too good after that.