It Was A Day of Errands for Art's Sake

Sub-titled: I Made Candied Ginger Cheesecake with Ginger Roo Crust and Drove My Daughter Crazy with the Aroma.

It's 27 April, guess what was on the ground this morning? Yes, that's right, SNOW, again!



I thought that I wouldn't get my all errands done due to the snow but it was gone by the time I was ready to leave the house. I met my friend Anita for coffee at the Perk and we also ran into Miriam and her husband, who want to buy a knitted felted purse from me for their daughter, woot!

I then went and got the transparencies done at the copy store to finish the decals that I am painting for the Colorado Medieval Festival's new banners (http://www.medievalworld.us/cmf). I have a pile of gessoed canvas waiting to be painted with the designs. At least I only have the painting part to do, someone else is making the big banners. Yeah for me in not speaking up to do them as well (nevermind, I DO NOT have the space for that).

I also made a stop at the art store to get large sheets of drawing paper (20 x 24) and some new coloured pencils for my sketchbox. I also picked up a 12 x 12 stretched canvas, since painting has been whispering in my ear lately and I want to try out something ala my friend Anne's artwork. (http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com)

I then ran to the library to read the article in the Gazette about our former priest (on the front page no less and him facing possible indictment) and the letter to the editor from one of our parishioners in response to an earlier article. After that, I hit the ATM to make a deposit. Sigh, no envelopes at the machine, had to go into the bank, on a Monday no less. I was that glad I had the Belletrix Stocking I am knitting with me to work on while in line. I must say, DO NOT be hasty in putting away size one DPNs, as I poked one right through my painted canvas purse and into the leg of my jeans. Ouchers, @#$$@^%$!

This weekend, I am going to the 2nd Annual Fort Lupton, CO Heritage Fair (link is way out of date, but here tis: http://www.lasr.net/). I always carry my sketchbox with me when I am traveling. As, I like to make little sketches of where I am visiting as a record of my visit. This was something that my Mum encouraged me to do as a child and I have continued it into adulthood. I sure wish I had some of those earlier books today. Oh well, wouldas, shouldas, couldas, will kill ya.

I am also taking my new spinning wheel with me (this wheel needs a name in the worst way). Katte Beth, Darla and I will be there as part of the Women's Craft demo team from the Ft. Lupton group and the Ren Scots (http://renscots.org). Spin Mistress, Darla is going to help get me started spinning again. I am really looking forward to that. I am taking the two new skeins of Dragonfly handspun (which seem to want to be a pair of wristlets/fingerless gloves) with me in case I do get to doing some knitting. I've got my tatting supplies packed as well.

As for the cheesecake, currently, our house smells gingerly divine. The Daughter O'Mine, Erin brought a few packages of Ginger Roos home from Las Vegas last year. Sadly, we didn't eat one of the packages soon enough and the cookies got HARD. I mean they went from squishy little rounds to round little rocks.

We both love Ginger Roos and hate like heck to waste them. Since we do not have a Trader Joe's close enough to run out and get them from we treasure the ones we do get(nearest TJs is Santa Fe, NM). The Daughter O'Mine decided to ask Peabody the Culinary One whether we could make bread pudding from the stale ones. (http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com) Peabody's response was likely not, but they could work well crushed and made into a base crust for a cheesecake. The DD and I had went Aha! Yum, cheesecake! This was a couple of weeks ago and the idea of the cheesecake has been perking in the back of our minds since them and the cookies have been getting even staler.

Last Saturday, The DD and I went grocery shopping as we decided wanted to make pizza from scratch for the supper that evening. While there, we actually remembered to pick up that extra needed brick of cream cheese for making the cheesecake with. Then we remembered the reason we hadn't made it before was that we didn't have one of these... It's a Springform Pan and a necessary pan to have to make cheesecake in. As cheese cake has a crumb crust and no crust up the side. The side of a Springform snaps loose and is removed, leaving the cake intact on the pan bottom for serving.

Since we were shopping at the Evil Empire Store, we hied ourselves over to the cookware department and looked at Springforms. We decided to get ourselves the 3 pack in graduated sizes. As I also make my Black Bun (Traditional Scottish Cake) in Springforms, we could justify the expense and the weight. Erin considers this every time she makes a purchase these days, as she has either to send it to the UK when she goes or leave with me.

Since today's weather was so grim and I certainly didn't mind heating up the kitchen cooking a cheesecake, I decided to make it today. I used the blender to grind up the cookies, used the microwave to soften everything else and I chopped candied ginger into small bits. I spread the crust in the pan, mixed and poured in the cream cheese mixture into the pan, wrapped the pan in toweling (a trick I learned from a bakery in NJ to get the cake to cook evenly with as little cracking as possible) and then proceeded to torture Erin with the lovely gingery scent of baking cheesecake. The torture brought on by the fact that it is suppose to cool in the fridge overnight before nomming on. All of which means she can't eat it tonight, bwwaaahahaha.. Here's the picture of the cheesecake just out of the oven with its toweling collar. Can't you just imagine the lovely aroma wafting through the house?

I Can Sit and Spin Now!

A few days ago, there was a note on Ravelry.com in the El Paso County Crafters thread about a spinning wheel for sale. I looked at the ad and thought, I wants it, I do. I have been yearning for a wheel for quite some time, now. I used to wheel spin years ago as a demonstrator at the Texas Renaissance Faire. We're talking spinning with castle wheels, walking wheels and drop spindles as well. I have also tried my hand at spinning a few times over the last 10 years as a part of the Renaissance Scots Living History group.

I googled the Louet S15, which was the model that was for sale. It's a little workhorse of a single treadle wheel made by a reputable company. I have actually spun on one of these before, years ago. I thinking to myself, how am I going to buy it?

I was in a quandary. It's a good price, it's here in this city (no shipping), I could help out someone by buying it from her. What to do, what to do, where's the money going to come from, yadda, yadda, yadda? Well, the other day I got a letter from Uncle Sam telling me that I was getting an incentive payment, Cha-ching! Hmmm, found money! new tattoo, new tires, put towards a new digi SLR camera, the spinning wheel, what?

Then I talked to Erin about it and she's like, oooooh, cool!, a wheel, maybe I'll get back to spinning as well. To that end, this morning we went to ColoKnitter aka Gretchen's home to check out the wheel. I sat and treadled it and looked at the wood parts, the leather part and metal parts and checked out the general soundness of it's action and wrote out a check for it and came away with my, new to me, spinning wheel.

We parked it in the back seat of the car belted in and Erin brought it home as I was on the way to church to work on the garden plan and plant the tree (earlier post). Best part, besides my new toy, is that I have a big ball of merino roving ready to spin up here at home. It was meant to be, I suppose.

As you can see from the picture, I have a blank canvas to work with for decorating. So, I have to figure out what Celtic knotwork designs I want to put on the wheel. I will paint one on each side of it so that I see one as I spin and other folks see one as I demo spinning at the festivals this coming summer.

25 April - Today is World Wide Pinhole Camera Day

I was cruising the interwebs yesterday and ran across this link. http://www.pinholeday.org/org/. It was a "oh cool, I remember those" moment for me.

Here's my Creative Every Day thing, as I will make a fabulously decorated pinhole camera. I shall start with one of these.



My Da used to make me and my sister Diana, any number of these cameras when we were growing up. He had a dark room a lot of the time when I was a kid. Therefore, we used to play around with film and cameras a lot. He even turned an old box camera into a Polaroid. He was the one that also taught me how to safely observe a solar eclipse with a pinhole camera. It was a lesson well learned. Funny story, this AA taught the Lockheed engineers she worked with that trick of observing an eclipse as none of them knew it. I also showed them the trick of a piece of paper with a pinhole in it held above another piece of paper, they didn't know that one either. I was shocked, shocked, I tell you...

I have printed out the instructions for building one of these cameras and will relive my childhood for a little while whilst building it. I will let you all know how it goes and try to remember to take pictures of the building process along the way.

On another note: 24 April



I really have been missing having a space to garden in. Not having a space is largely the reason that I have volunteered for the Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church's new garden crew. Although, I don't really have the time with the festival season fast bearing down upon me. I just want to get my hands back into the soil for awhile, if just for the pleasure of seeing the efforts on a Sunday morning.

Here's a quote I found that expresses my current state of mind about it. I do have house plants and plan a few potted garden things like growing my own garlic.

“Just because you've only got houseplants doesn't mean you don't have
the gardening spirit - I look upon myself as an indoor gardener.”

Sara Moss-Wolfe



Arbor Day, here's the linky to the Arbor Day site: http://www.arborday.org/

Arbor Day was yesterday. It kinda slipped by me and I didn't do anything other than look at my aspen with it's cozy on (see post of 22 April). Today we are suppose to be planting a tree in the church garden. I shall count that towards making up for the lack of planting a tree on the actual day of Arbor. Of course, it is all contingent upon the weather, yet again. Last weekend, we were suppose to start on the gardens and we had two days of snow. So work was postponed until today. Of course, we are suppose to have thunder storms all the day long. I shall take my wellies and my sun hat..

Dragonfly in Amber Sporran Swap

Over to Ravelry, there is a group or two or three for just about every interest one might possibly have. There are groups for journals round robins, fans of Moleskines, TV shows, quilting, movies, books, authors, designers, steampunk, geeks, knitting needle brands and all matter of other things, even for being cack - handed (a lefty).

One of the many groups I belong to is for the fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Here's the link to Diana's Site: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/. Within the group, we are doing read-a-longs and Knit-A-Longs. The book we currently are reading is Dragonfly in Amber, which is the second book in the series. We have been doing the Dragonfly socks as the KAL, please see earlier posts for pictures of the socks (I've made two pair, as I really like them).

It's coals to Newcastle for me to read this book yet again, as I have read the series every year since 1996 when the first one was published. I know that sounds crazy, but I am not alone in doing this. The Ladies of Lallybroch are legion. (The Ladies of Lallybroch is an on-line fan group of Diana Gabaldon. Here's the link to the site: http://www.lallybroch.com). I have 3 sets of the books, a set of autographed hardbacks and 2 sets of PBs. The PBs, I will lend to anyone I can con, I mean, er, introduce to them. Between Katte Beth and I, we finally got to our friend, Darla. She is going to start reading them as well. Woot! Another person to sit and spin and talk about Outlander with.

Well, anyway, to the point of this blog. We do a swap in the group by signing up and getting randomly selected to be spoilt and to spoil. I was given Tiffany to spoil and her sporran is on the way to her. K was chosen to spoil me. The Sporran Swap is a package of themed goodies tailored to the spoilee. In this, I was spoilt to a great extent by Lachlan, aka KRobin... She really outdid herself. She must have poked around on Ravelry and other places to see what I liked and what things are favorites of mine. She did a great job of sleuthing, IMO. Thank you, thank you, thank you, (100 million).

In the great box, I got a Moleskine-like journal with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front. There is a package of sliced candied ginger and a recipe to make Ginger Roos (if you have read earlier posts, this will make sense). There was also roving for needle felting including some smooshy Corriedale in a shade of blue that I didn't have. Two beautiful skeins of handspun yarn (they are whispering about a pair of wristlets to me), in some of my fave colours of cream, green and brown. A package of shortbread, cuz we're Scottish after all. Wonderful stitch markers of dragonflies to add to my growing collection of REALLY KEWL JEWELS for knitting. Possibly my most favorite item of all, an amber bead and wood bead with silver charms bookmark (I love, love, love bookmarks!). There is so much more, including dark chocolate, a skein of sock yarn in a colourway very similar to one I was contemplating just this morning. There was also a roll of ribbon, a postcard, a photo of Edinburgh Castle. Jealous (1), as she's been there, also some fun buttons and findings for a bracelet.


Again, a thousand thanks and I have enjoyed this experience to no end and would do it again in a heartbeat. Next up, Voyager and I got the sock pattern picked out already, the yarn to do it in now, as well. Thanks again, K!

Today is Earth Day - Creative Every Day

Or
Why I Put a Cozy on a Tree



I have been reading about the guerrilla knitters who have been decorating stationary items with knitted pieces. Basically, the knitters attach a piece of knitting to anything and everything that isn't nailed down. The knitting community in Houston, TX is quite notorious for doing this.

I've been thinking, how fun is this idea and how neat it is to come upon a piece of knitting somewhere unexpectedly. I suppose though, that you have to be a knitter or crocheter to really appreciate it.

My friend Kimi from Ravelry and I got to talking about this the other day and we challenged each other to "JUST DO IT."



So, I just did it. Here are the craptastic pictures to prove it.

As a point of interest, I went to the Philadelphia, PA first Earth Day celebration in Fairmount Park, WAY back in the day. I cannot believe that it's been SO many years and we are still having to educate and reiterate the same ideas and suggestions and continue to hope that even a small bit filters in.

REUSE, RECYCLE, everyone. Now, if I could just get the HOA to amend their rules to let me have a clothes line to dry my clothes, that would be a small victory.

Here are some links to information about guerilla knitting in the USofA:
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/events/2358.en.html
http://www.instructables.com/community/Guerilla-Knitting/

and in the UK:
http://www.glittyknittykitty.co.uk/

Edited at 9:00 pm to include Kimi's Images.

Kimi went all out and even did her car! I love the idea and am going to appropriate it for my truck. I bow to her greatness. This has been a fun experience. Long distance guerrilla art.

Two of My Embellished Tee Shirts

Here are pictures of two tee shirts I have embellished over the years. A friend from the Quilt Art list was asking for suggestions on embellishing some plain shirts she had. I, of course, chimed in about these. I have done more shirts but these are the only two I have kept for myself.

The blue one with the thistle applique is over eight years old and has been WORN A LOT. Which means, it has also been washed a lot. It has held up really well in my opinion. It was done with fusible applique and then the applique was satin stitched in place.



The brown tee was done last year. It's a Vintage Style from Joann Fabrics. The lace was knitted from a vintage Berroco cotton ribbon yarn (left over from the stock of my Mum's store, By Hand in Philly) and then hand stitched to the neck and sleeves of the tee. It has also been worn and washed a lot.

The Magic Loop - I Learned Something New Today

In an effort to keep my brain pan oiled, I try to learn something new everyday. My Grannie Virginia, had a piece of hand lettered paper with the words "Learn Something New Every Day" stuck in her dresser mirror. I have her mirror (and her piece of paper, somewhere) with a piece of my own paper with those words written on it stuck into the frame. These are words I can live with on a daily basis. It may help to stave off Old Timer's and it certainly can't hurt to learn something new.

To that end, I taught myself to do the Magic Loop. This is a method of knitting in the round with a set of needles attached by a cable as opposed to knitting in the round with a set of 4 or 5 double pointed needles. I have been wanting to try this method since I heard about. So, with the arrival of Erin's copy of How to Knit Socks, Three Methods made Easy, I thought I would give it a whirl. Here is a picture of my first effort at Magic Loop.



Erin has also learned something new and has taught herself how to knit in the round on DPNs. She is trying out the Harris Tweed Socks also in the book mentioned earlier. Below is a picture of her first attempt at knitting with more than two needles at a time. Woot for her! She IS the "River" of Knitting.

Tenth Anniversary of Columbine High School Shooting

How did ten years pass already? I so remember that snowy, sad day.



This photo is of the new library at Columbine High School that was built to replace the original one. There was no heart to ever use the old one again.





I remember being grateful to God, that after all, we couldn't afford to live in the district and therefore my daughter wasn't there. I remember the frantic phone call from her father in Texas who had forgotten we didn't live in Littleton anymore. I was grateful for all the phone calls and emails of support from friends and strangers in support of us here in Colorado dealing with the aftermath of that horrible day. Grateful as well, that our Vanessa survive that day by being in the parking lot instead of the library. For the very hard lesson learned to pay better attention to the lost souls. Learning as well the lesson, that I have to make them known to the appropriate people, even if it makes "someone mad at or upset with me".

Old Scottish Blessing - If There is Righteousness in the Heart:

This just spoke to me and I felt I needed to share it. It came by way of Jim Blair, a fellow member of the Clan Blair Society and my Co-Commissioner for the Society in the State of Colorado.




Old Scottish Blessing

If There is Righteousness in the Heart:

If there is righteousness in the heart,

there will be beauty in the character.

If there is beauty in the character,

there will be harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in the home,

there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation,

there will be peace in the world.

So let it be.

Renee Award - My Second Award and I am Humbled

All awards are special and some are greatly humbling to receive. I was honoured with another one this morning. My friend Anne has given me another award. Here is the link to Anne's blog, http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com. As you can see, I took what she wrote and added my own bits as I couldn't say it much better than she did even if I tried.

The Renee Award is relatively new and was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee. Here's the link to Bella's Blog http://bellasinclair.blogspot.com and also to Ces' http://cesandherdishes.blogspot.com. Renee is an incredible lady, who in the face of a frightening life battle is tackling each new day with great spirit and courage. Please check out the blogs of these three creative women. Since I faced the same life battle as Renee myself, eight years ago and have survived with my humour and creativity at least somewhat in tact, I appreciate the challenges and friends that are thrown in my path all the more.

Here is what Bella says of the award: "This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds its way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."

Wow. This is a tough act to follow and I encourage you to read Tristan's post. Here's the link to Tristan's blog at http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com. Now, my job is to pass this on to eight fellow bloggers that make a difference in my life daily. There is no particular order in how I post these----everyone is on the same level for me. Friends, people who inspire me, reading I enjoy, folks who are working hard to make creativity a living breathing thing, folks who just are working hard with life. As Anne says "I salute you ALL!!!

Diana at http://otterwise.blogspot.com
Rebecca at http://danceswithpitbulls.blogspot.com
Camilla at http://soulshamans.blogspot.com
Jan at http://jantsart.blogspot.com
Lini at http://essexhooker.blogspot.com
Kay at http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com
Tala at http://corvustristis.livejournal.com
Leah at http://creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday

It's April 17th & the 1st Annual Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is so kewl. Check out the link here: http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com and view some wonderful work included in the 1st ever Online Blogger Quilt Festival. The raven postcard pictured here is one of my favorites. It was made for the 200th Anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, which is being celebrated this year. I will post a different quilt later on when it's completed. Take a look, as well at "While the Octopus is Away" in an earlier post. It was done from a Bag o sCrap. The theme for that one came about after my daughter got back from seeing the Cirque de Soliel LOVE show in Las Vegas and describing the Octopus' Garden segment.

Rebecca, if you are reading this one, go check out the ParkCityGirl blog and then you should post the Pirate Quilt or else the new neutral one with the brown borders.

In reference to the date in the title of this post, it SNOWED AGAIN today. April is half way over, what's up with that?

Quilt Guild Door Prize and Life is Funny that Way

This morning was the meeting of the Piecing Partners Quilt Guild of Colorado Springs, CO. I have been a member of this guild since I moved to the Springs last year. I am the Block of the Month Coordinator as well. This requires that I pick out a quilt block and choose the fabric colours and type. I then make samples to show the ladies how it will look when finished. Last month was a paper pieced Aspen Leaf, to be done in a medium to dark blue background and yellow-green leaf. Rebecca and I are the only ones that got it right. Rebecca got it right, cuz I gave her the yellow-green fabric, LOL.

It has been a challenge to get the ladies to stick to the chosen colours consistently. I can't figure out if they don't know what the colours are (even tho I make 3-4 samples for them to see) or if they just don't care and are doing their own thing. To that end, for the Appliqued Columbine that I chose for next month BOM, I stole an idea from Vinda (also a member of the Guild and in charge of the Guild Challenge Quilt) and got paint chips in the colours chosen for the block for them to use in helping them pick their fabrics. We shall see what we shall see. It is a challenge to the winner of the blocks to make something from all of the blocks if they are difficult to put together, either colour-wise or size-wise.

I also induced my friend, Rebecca to join the guild a couple of months ago. She has been setting up her CQ kits to sell at each meeting. So, last month I won a door prize and as I had at least one of, if not more of every object in the bag, I gave them to Rebecca as she didn't have a bone folder or a magnet wand for picking up pins. The deal is, win a prize and bring another one back the next meeting, so I brought a pack of fat quarters of batiks this month.

Well, I won another door prize today. I got the bag and turned to Rebecca and said, "I wonder what I am giving you this month?" Then I opened the bag and there was fabric I recognized! It was a crazy quilt kit that Rebecca had put together and donated for the door prizes! What was even funnier, is that it was a bag of greens that I had given the fabric and embellishments to Rebecca so she could make kits from it. We about had hysterics over it, along with Rebecca's friend, Sheryl, who we have also induce to join the guild. Rebecca IS so bringing the door prize next month!

I also showed off the Baggo'Crap quilt in the making at show and tell as it will be finished and on it's way back to the owner before the next meeting. Yummy, dupioni silk, fake rose petals, beads, velvet, ribbon yarn and tassels. Ye Gods, it sounds like a stripper! A Baggo Quilt is made from a gallon zip bag filled with bits and bobs of stuff. The bags are sent to a central person, who them sends them out again to someone else. The challenge is to create something from the crap in the bag. After the quilt is completed, a picture is posted to our Yahoo Group, the Fiber Pirates and the person who's bag it was claims it and gets the quilt that resulted. Here's a preview of what is to come. I am pretty sure the person whose Baggo I got doesn't read my blog so I can get away with posting a partial view of it, I hope.

Edited: 22 April at 9:20 pm to add picture of the finished Baggo 2009.

While the Octopus is Away was the 2008 edition of the Baggo..

What Colour is Your Rainbow?

Got this from Rebecca's Blog.

Here's the site for the quiz:http://spacefem.com

Your rainbow is strongly shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What it says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

New Wellies - It's a Funny Old World

On Sunday, you might not be aware, it snowed here in Colorado. It was that wet sloppy snow, which of course is all gone now, as it was nearly 60 degrees yesterday. This leads me to the topic of this post. I wore my new wellies to church on Sunday. No cute shoes for me, as it was a wet, sloppy and six inches.

I had bought a pair of Debbie Mumm garden wellies on sale last weekend. My daughter of course thought I was a loon for getting them as they are a kinda ugly green with flowers and the soles and trim are orange. I wanted the yellow and blue ones but they didn't have my size. However, as Erin reminded me, I have a lot of clothes that have these colours so they were actually the better choice.

I was dressing for church and looking out the door at the snow trying to decide on whether to wear my purple suede heels or what? Looking at the sloppy snow, I decided to wear my wellies to church. My daughter asked me "If I was really going to wear them?" My answer was an unqualified "Yes!" I pulled on a pair of wool stockings and rolled the cuffs over the top and away I went.

The funniest part of the whole thing was the compliments I got on them, from the men, no less. I guess they were glad to see a woman in sensible but FUN footwear that was appropriate for the weather. I was able to offer my services to other people to escort them to and from their cars and therefore be of service and not worry about slip, sliding away on the sidewalks myself.

Anyway, I think the money was well spent and they ARE fun. I hadn't expected to wear them before next winter, but I had forgotten that it usually snows on Easter here and therefore a perfect opportunity was presented.

Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church - The Bishop was here for Easter Sunday

Just a quick update about the Easter Service today. First off, we woke up to SNOW! The DD brought it on yesterday, as she said, "Mum, it's Easter tomorrow, you do know it's going to snow?"

The Bishop of Colorado, the Right Reverend Robert O'Neill drove down from Denver in that snow to officiate his first Easter Service at our historic church on Tejon Street. He has been with the congregation for the last three Easters due to the sundering of the congregations right before Holy Week in 2007. He has been an amazing tower of support during this time of trial, exile and change. We have been very grateful to him and his staff, these last two years.

We also had a member of the clergy from 1st Christian Church, our home away for the last two years, process with our clergy. Again, we are so grateful for their many kindnesses to us in the last two years.

The church was bedecked in Easter Lilies and other floral arrangements. The music from the brass quartet was an incredible gift. We are truly blessed with our Taylor Organ and Deke Prolifka, our organist and choir director. The choir sang magnificently. I dearly love to hear Plainsong sung by gifted singers.

The church was packed again as it was on Palm Sunday. Now that Holy Week has ended, I shall be interested to see what the size of the congregation really is.

On a sad note:

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will discover that I am now moderating the comments. Sadly, an anonymous person left a very unkind and very unchristian like comment about a previous post regarding this particular church and this denomination. This person took great pains to conceal his/her identity. If that person had used their name or had had a way to be contacted, I would likely have left their posting intact. I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. This is true whether I share that opinion or not. What I do not believe in, however, is concealing one's identity in order to express that opinion.

Check out This Blog

Here's another contest for you to check out. I don't know what the prize will be, but then that's not so important.

http://welovequilting.com/blog/2009/04/april-give-a-way-surprise.

Good luck to you.

Return to Grace

Grace and Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church



It was with abundant joy, that today, we celebrated the return of the parish to our historic property on Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs. Five hundred plus of the faithful attended this morning's 11:30 Choral Service. The only fly in the ointment appeared to be the very fine line we needed to walk between our joy at coming home and the solemnity of the Passion of Our Lord.

Again, we offer grateful thanks to First Christian Church, also in downtown, for their wonderful hospitality during our time of exile.

I So Stole this from Erin - Contest

I'm feeling crafty.....so I think this one will work out fine...

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me. (You do not have to have been tagged.) This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully: HECK I MAY JUST SEND TO ALL THAT POST A COMMENT :)

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. What cha get, is what cha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It'll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. It may be baked goods.
5.I reserve the right to do something extremely strange, if inspired to do so.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make something for me and the first 5 to respond to your note.
7. Send me your mailing address if you don't live close to me!

IMPORTANT:
This offer is at your discretion but I would like to think null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward!