Helping Santa......

Helping Santa is an important job! Many moons ago, I worked at a computer company and a fellow co-worker, Marlys Neudecker, helped me make stockings that our co-workers filled and donated to the local toy drive. A few years ago, I made some more stockings and members of our Bible Study group filled them. Last Spring, I asked the gals if they would help me make them. I brought my stocking patterns and my knit fabrics to the church and we spent an afternoon tracing stocking shapes, then cutting them out..........

 

 That's Doris tracing a striped stocking and Mary Ann is cutting them.

Working hard is Arline and on her right is our Pastor, Deb Meyer. 

That's Joanie on the left and me on the right. Notice those pretty stained glass windows. When the stockings were cut out, about fifty of them, they were pinned and ready to be sewn. Pastor Deb volunteered to stitch them. When she finished stitching around all the stockings, she returned them to me and I added the fur cuff and the loop for hanging. 

And then this morning after church service, it was time to fill them. Remember that we are only helping Santa. We fill them, he'll deliver them!

Lorraine, Sabrina, Dana, Hannah and Hailey are walking along the "assembly line" of candies, puzzles, stuffed animals (generously donated Beanie collection from Dana), coloring books, etc. to fill a stocking.

Pastor Deb was having a great time. We were all excited to think how happy some kids will be on Christmas morning when they get these stockings. It was serious work making sure every stocking had just the right stuff in it. Thanks to all the helpers today. Santa will be so pleased!

 And when we were all done, I lined them up on the piano...........stockings for good little boys.......

 and stockings for good little girls.........

All of them will be donated to a local toy drive to bring big smiles to lots of little kids come Christmas morning!!
After we finished with the stockings, I delivered this platter of fudge to our table at the Henderson Holiday Showcase event..........

and then I went home and enjoyed a cup of cocoa........followed by a long winter's nap!
;-)

Back tomorrow with a heart-themed post!
Sandi

Decorating Teamwork!

With my daughter, Collette still coping with neck pain, I packed up my glue gun, gathered my craft stuff, a small tree and some lights and went to her house to decorate a tree for her and Daryl and Jacob. Almost as soon as I brought in my supplies, I had two very interested helpers, Marty and Emmet..........

Yes, they were quite interested in a gift bag full of ornaments and I discovered why a couple hours later.........there were two pressed cinnamon ornaments in the bag and I decided not to hang them on the tree!
The tree I brought is one that I usually put in our Family Room next to our kitchen but I've got another smaller tree that will do for this year. I had some garland that we had used on our tree when Collette was little and after I put on the lights, I added that garland and it looked great. But it needed ornaments so I got some help from grandson Jacob to put the string on the colored balls.

And then they went on the tree along with the ornaments that were in that gift bag that Marty and Emmet were so interested in. And then it was finished!

While this isn't the tree they usually put up, it works for this year. It was fun to do this for Collette and brought back memories of 2006 when she and Jacob decorated a little tree for me and Steve when we moved into our house here in Henderson. :-)  On Sunday afternoon, I am hoping to get the ornaments on our big tree in the living room. That is unless I decide to take a nap............
Sandi

Holiday Traditions at the Henderson Library.........

This evening was the final night for our "Holiday Traditions" event at our Henderson Public Library. It was a really nice evening, in part, because the weather wasn't freezing cold like it has been lately! This was the second year for this event and it turned out well. Our "book tree" is decorated with books on it's branches and under the tree, all the books will go to the Lion's Club Toy Drive!

Our big red stocking is not as full as last year, but it does hold a number of baking supplies that will be donated to Sibley County Food Share.

And new this year is our "Stocking Stuffer/Mitten and Hat Tree"!! When our neighbors, Kevin and Amy moved this past summer, they gave their old tree to Arlene, a member of our Friends of the Library group. Notice that I started a paper chain for the tree but things got busy and that never quite got finished. ;-)

Folks started arriving at 6:00 p.m. to get in their last bid and to enjoy treats, stories and carols.

Everything looked so festive. It is always so fun to decorate and the room looks so bare, just like in our homes, when the Christmas trees and decorations come down. But.........the good part of this event is that all these lovely things go to a new home and the money they raise goes to programming and projects at our library!

I brought a stack of Christmas story books to share. I'm reading one of my kid's favorites........a little book called "The Happiest Christmas". There were carols, too. And when the bidding ended at 7:00, I read "The Night Before Christmas" from a big volume that Kaiser also likes. Yep, he took a bite out of it last Christmas. Some of you know that Kaiser has a real taste for books, which is not actually all that good. ;-)

While I was reading, our Friends President, Mary Ann, went along and marked the winning bid number on each bid sheet and then there was a hustle and bustle for folks to pick up the goodies and take them to their homes to add a special memory to this coming Christmas. 

I place a bid on this tree that my friend Sue decorated. Thought I might take it to Collette as she isn't up to putting up her tree yet. I wasn't the winning bid, though, but that's okay. I have an extra tree here and I will put it in the car tomorrow (or Sunday) along with some ribbons and ornaments and with help from my grandson, Jacob, we shall see what kind of tree we will come up with for them. Whatever we do, I am sure his cats will have fun playing among the branches.
So that's the end of this year's event. Have already made some notes of what we should do next year and loved some suggestions that guests made. Time to go relax and do a little reading......that is if I don't fall asleep first!
Have a lovely weekend!
Sandi

Fifteen years of Crazy Quilting Potlucks!!

Tonight, my dear quilting friends and I gathered for our fifteenth Christmas potluck. It is such a joy to be a part of such a special group of friends. I missed our potluck last year due to icy winter weather but today was clear and fine, just cold. Our group began meeting in February of 2000. It all began when I coordinated a fundraising crazy quilt project at what was then known as Murphy's Landing (now called The Landing). Tonight, we reminisced about how our group started. We meet at the Stans Museum in Shakopee and we asked staff member, Stephanie to take our picture.

 Left to right.....Laura Cloutier, Judith Hentges, Deanna Geer, and me/Sandi Andersen.

Deanna is a Manager of Education at The Landing. I met her in the mid 1990's when I visited The Landing and inquired about volunteering at the site. It's an "open air history museum" and on the site are homes that were once located here in the Minnesota River Valley area. It was like "stepping back in time". It is a wonderful place to visit! And I really enjoyed both volunteering and then working as as interpreter and sharing the history of the homes and the Minnesota River Valley. Judith was Coordinator of Education at the Scott County Historical Society and I think I met her in 1998, during the time we were working on the crazy quilt project. We enjoyed making the quilt and it raised over $2000 that went to maintenance of the homes on the site. One day we were all in the Landing office and got to talking about what fun it would be to continue to make crazy quilting blocks. Deanna and I said it would be great to continue to meet but we couldn't do it at the landing as the houses were too cold in the winter. And Judith said "then let's meet at the Stans Musuem which is the home of the Scott County Historical Society. And so on a very cold night, January 20, I presented a program on crazy quilting to a group of about twenty guests. There was enough interest that we decided to start meeting monthly and that's how the common love of stitching and friendship got our little group started and keeps it going. Some of our original members have passed away, a couple have moved away. There are only about six of us that meet regularly. Laura and my friend, Sharon Ritchart, joined the group a few years ago. For ten years we went to a lovely retreat together in August. I've shared many photos of those retreats. Perhaps I need to do a re-run of those in a future post. :-)
So, anyway, thanks to meeting Deanna and Judith, our group got it's start. I wanted to give them a little gift tonight in remembrance of that and our friendship. I found some pretty decoupaged coasters at HeArt of Henderson and here they are looking at them.........

I gave Judith the set with the ice skates because I had the feeling she had probably gone ice-skating as a kid, but it was the strand of bells that "caught her eye". She said she had a string just like them at home!

The peppermint set reminded me of Deanna and the bits of Christmas words on the design, reminded me of the old print shop that used to be at the Landing. It was a fascinating shop that had a working printing press and school group kids loved it. Sadly, it burned to the ground in 2001.

Back to our crazy quilting group...........we used to do an ornament exchange. I was often lucky enough to win one of Judith's handmade ornaments or she would just make me one as a gift. Last year, she mentioned that it would be fun to see them all so I packed them in a special tin so I could bring them out this year. The little ornament with Santa sleeping the day after Christmas is probably my favorite!

If you live anywhere near Shakopee, MN and have an interest in crazy quilting and stitching, please consider stopping in for a visit. You don't have to want to learn crazy quilting to come. You can just bring any form of handwork as some of us work on crazy quilting but sometimes we work on applique, wool projects, cross stitch, knitting and crochet. We meet the fourth Thursday of the month at the Stans Museum but do not meet in June, July and November. And in December we meet for the all-important Christmas Potluck on the first Thursday of the month! You can call the museum for more information at 952-445-0378. 

It was so relaxing to get together with Judith, Deanna, and Laura! It has been a busy week but when I got home, my husband had good news......Collette will get in for another MRI tomorrow. We will take her to the appointment. Hopefully, it will provide some answers for her pain. 

Time to turn out the lights.......

Sandi

Stockings and Joy!

Today I went to help my daughter, Collette, as she copes with this neck/shoulder pain issue. While she was resting, I worked on some Christmas projects. These are stockings that I'm adding a fur cuff to and a loop for hanging. They will be filled this Sunday after service at our church. We have coloring books, candies, puzzles, games, and stuffed toys to put in the stockings that will bring a smile to some kids on Christmas morning! My friends, Doris, Arlene, Joanie, and Diane helped me cut out the stockings, then Pastor Deb stitched them up and I'm putting on that finishing touch. Teamwork is awesome!

After Collette had rested, I shared a little something that I bought at HeArt of Henderson this past Tuesday. All of their framed treasures were 50% off. Couldn't resist this treasure that was marked at just $5.00. I nearly squealed with delight when I saw it as I thought of Collette right away. Her favorite symbol of Christmas is the tree and the framed piece was in her colors and will great in her living room. When I got ready to show it to her, I told her I didn't get her a card, I got something better and I held up the framed tree. She was delighted, too. "Gorgeous!" was what she said. She smiled (have to be honest, that she smiled amidst the pain) and it made me smile to think it made her feel just a wee bit better.

The floral chair that the framed tree is sitting in is one of two chairs that belonged to my mother-in-law, Ora/Collette's grandma. They are the sweetest, daintiest chairs and very comfortable...........just ask Emmet and Marty, the family cats!

They were curled up in the chair while we ate supper (I made chicken and noodles, good comfort food) and then watched the movie "Heaven is Real". I was working on another little crafty project after supper but I can't show that one for a couple days yet. Back soon.......
Sandi

Felt Ornament fun at the Henderson Library!

This past Saturday, I took a mountain of felt, a dozen cookie cutters and lots of other supplies to the Henderson library for some felt ornament crafting with local kids. I had help from my grandson, Jacob, but daughter Collette was not able to go because of the stiff neck she had (she is improving a bit). Here are some photos of our fun day............

 Our first visitors for the day were Ella and her mom, Kristen. Ella loves red!

 Tiegen was working hard on her heart ornament .............

 and when she finished her heart, she decorated a bear for baby brother, Riley (sitting on mom's lap).

The kids had a great time choosing from all the felt colors, then picking a cookie cutter and tracing around it on the felt. Then they cut out two of each shape, glued them together and began decorating.

And while the kids enjoyed crafting, moms and other folks were bidding on the Christmas trees and other silent auction items. 

Look at all that fun stuff on that table and the happy faces of the kids. I am the big kid in the red sweater. LOL! Lydia is holding her silver bell ornament. Gayan made a white jingle bell snowman.

Ayla was so delighted with her googly-eyed star ornament!

And here's my buddy, Landon, playing CAR cards with my grandson, Jacob. I was so glad to have Jacob's help that day. He was our guy to go get sodas and then hot dogs at Toody's Sweets and Treats, and he helped with clean-up! He also enjoyed the cookies and I'm looking for the recipe for one that he really liked.

 Here's my good friend, Doris who was in charge of the cookie table for the day. While she tended the treat table, she got a chance to keep an eye on little Kathlyn while her brother, Landon, and sister, Lydia made their ornaments. 

It was a very fun day! 

It's December!

I am going to try to post every day in December. My blogging has been sporadic for the past year. Seems like family health issues keep me hopping and once again that has been the case this past week and today. My mom had a little "speedbump" but is getting a bit better. My daughter, Collette, though, hit a major "roadblock"......developed a stiff neck that just got worse and worse. Went to the doctor this morning and had an MRI, and still in pain but maybe there will soon be a diagnosis. I appreciate any prayers and positive thoughts you would like to send her way. :-)
I have several things I want to blog about in the coming days. I love this time of the year.......... the Christmas carols, the smell of cookies baking, the Christmas trees, the lights, pretty wrapped presents, and the manger scene placed under the tree. Such a lovely time of the year!
I have had a lot of fun decorating for our library event "Holiday Traditions". We decorated trees, made felt ornaments with the kids, and decorated wreaths with ribbons and glitter ornaments. I had so much fun decorating the wreath for the library activity room that I had to make another one. And this one was for the auto parts store where my son, Devlin, is store manager. I told him my idea and he said, "Go for it". Here it is.........zoom! zoom!

This was so much fun to make that I am going to make one for the Silent Auction at the library next year! I love to wrap the tiny packages and then weave the tiny bows. I used to make oodles of these in the years from the '70's, '80's and '90's when I was active in the Midwest Miniature Guild. I just wrap blocks of styrofoam for the gifts, then add the bow and a little name tag. Each tag is an employee at the store. I might even decorate a little tree with cars and trucks for the Silent Auction next year. Then I should probably do a Princess themed tree.........or zoo animals......or tiny teddy bears. Yep, the list goes on. :-) 

Happy December 1st! 

Sandi