Happy New Year!

I wish that in 2012 there will be many a nice cup, filled wih beautiful experiences, unveiled for you!

Happy Holidays!

His high endeavors are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright.
~William Wordsworth

http://www.quotegarden.com/light.html

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

http://quotations.about.com/od/specialdays/a/christmas5.htm

Christmas Cards

These are my Christmas cards this year: little handmade quilts with a hand-appliquéd tree-motif on top. The quilts are the size of a postcard, so it's easy to send them with a normal envelope. I decided not to use any templates, so each tree has an invividual form, plus I add one or more stars (embroidered with yellow yarn) and a tree top, which is made of silk yarn ( when I work with silk pieces I collect the threads I cut off).

 I also decided against any glue or other things that are not that typical for quilts, but then again I had to solve the problem where to write Christmas messages ? So I had the idea of simply attaching a little bag to the back of the quilt, and here I can put in a little card or a folded piece of nice paper. So the recipient of such a Christmas card takes the message out of a little quilt bag...I think that sounds ok, doesn't it? 
(I also attach a little loop, just in case anyone wants to hang up this little Christmas quilt.)

St. Nicholas' Day

It's December 6, St. Nicholas' Day, today and that's for me the start to work on my Christmas Quilt again. It's some kind of a ritual which started 2009: from December 6 to January 6 each year I work on a Christmas Quilt. This is my first one and the top is nearly finished, I'm working on the border now. Maybe I am able to finish the quilting work this time....and on Jan 6 I will carefully fold it and store it until the start of the Christmas season in 2012. (The picture from the post below - December 4- was taken last year.)


The best thing is to unwrap the piece on St. Nicholas' Day and see what was done before... so I nearly forgot that I already had started to work on the border last year, I am delighted to see that it looks really good, to me that is! :-) This working on a Christmas quilt - whoever might use this piece later in life - gives me some good feeling I can't describe further, I only know it's much better than rushing back and forth through shopping malls. I feel that I give my time to something that really counts. Baking cookies and such: the same thing! Ahhh, I love this season (just like I love every other season, too!).

Christmas Time

It's Christmas Time Again

(by Bob Lazzar-Atwood)

Put your problems on probation
Run your troubles off the track,
Throw your worries out the window
Get the monkeys off your back.
Silence all your inner critics
With your conscience make amends,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Call a truce with those who bother you
Let all the fighting cease,
Give your differences a breather
And declare a time of peace,
Don't let angry feelings taint
The precious time you have to spend,
And allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

Like some cool refreshing water
Or a gentle summer breeze,
Like a fresh bouquet of flowers
Or the smell of autumn leaves,
It's a banquet for the spirit
Filled with family, food and friends,
So allow yourself some happiness
It's Christmas time again!

http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/poems/poetry_page_3.htm#tistime

Special

"The heart is forever inexperienced."

Henry David Thoreau

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/heart_4.html