I got to thinking about glitter while I was in NYC. Once home at a family dinner we all decided that a glittered nativity scene would be wonderful. Judy, Lorna’s mom, found this set for me at the Bonham Trade Days last Saturday:

It is ceramic and actually kind of pretty as it is. The tallest figure is 4″ tall. I’ve heard the best glue for glitter is Mod Podge and luckily I had some. My thought was to use the German Glass Glitter that you see in the photo. I was imagining something sort of subtle but sparkly. 

Last night Mom came for dinner and I started glittering. After I got the lamb done she said that the glitter really didn’t show much. I ignored her and kept on glittering. She then suggested that really, some color could look good. Gold perhaps. I got the idea that she really, really thought color would be better.

Mom has good instincts and I will admit that the clear glass glitter was indeed subtle. So I washed the first two pieces and pulled out the Martha Stewart glitter set.

As I was washing off the clear glitter Mom protested that it looked fine but once she saw these she decided that color was better – and there were lots of choices! She wanted gold but I did not so I chose aquamarine.

I do admit that the color is more eye-catching than the clear glitter was. I ran out of aquamarine before I got to the baby Jesus, so he got glittered in silver. But then I noticed that there were some areas that I had missed and I was out of glitter. Oh my. 

I went to JoAnn’s today looking for more glitter and found out that I’d have to buy another $30 set to get that one color. Not doing that. But I did find this MS glitter mixing set.

It works! The bottles are a nice place to mix different colors of glitter to make a new color and the little funnel and scoop are well proportioned. The bottles dispense the glitter pretty well. And the set was 40% off! 

Here’s how the newly glittered nativity set turned out:

OK, gold would also have been pretty. (You are never too old to be reminded that your mother is often right.) That said, I like this color and I like the way the figures catch the light. Steve is less happy with the new dusting of glitter in the breakfast room but he’s sort of resigned to that at Christmas.

So there you go… one more Christmas project idea! You really needed one more, didn’t you?

After all that work getting ready for the Christmas tour of my house, I woke up sick the morning of the tour. It may have been a reaction to the Bactrim I was on, or it could have been the sinus infection that just got worse (until I switched to a different antibiotic), or maybe it was a virus. Whatever it was put me on the sofa for two days. Luckily I was able to go to mom's sofa during the tour and Steve took over. 

As it was, I'll bet the folks who came through enjoyed having the man of the house there to talk to. Steve assured me that it went well and I think he enjoyed it. Today I am happy to be back on my feet with my house decorated and nothing on the calendar for a few days.

In other news, I did finish quilting the Chain Reaction quilt. It's a Christmas present so I couldn't put it off.

The quilting was simple and not particularly dense. It went fast and is perfect for this quilt which is intended to be used and loved. I put the Larkspur big print on the back…

It is entirely possible that Ashlyn will like the back better than the front which is something I'll just have to get over. Note to those of you who never buy this kind of print… this is why I do buy them. They make great backs!

In other Christmas-related sewing, my neice, Rachel, requested a stocking for her daughter. I had this Christmas fabric from Michael Miller and it seemed perfect – bright and festive and girlie!

I couched Annabelle's name in two different threads, sewed on some bells (of course!) and was able to use a sparkly trim that I've had in my stash a long time.

This sort of stocking is really easy to make. I admit that I referred to the directions for the lining and the cuff in our Quilt A New Christmas book rather than making it up as I went along, but if you don't have the book, you could probably do this without a pattern. 

Oh, one other thing! I got in a new brown polka dot that I love. It reminds me a lot of a brown dot that Linda and I did with P&B Textiles years ago. A yard of this one is going in my stash for sure.

I subscribe to NextDraft and get an email 5 days a week with links to the interesting things Dave Pell finds online. That's where I found this (and, just like a good Hallmark commercial) I got a little bit teary-eyed. I might want to be Mrs. Reiffel when I grow up.

I think you are going to enjoy this. Janine Spepherd has an amazing story… I could say more, but she says it better:

When I was shopping with Jeff in NYC we went the The Paper Source (twice). The first time they put a catalog in my bag and the second time I went back to buy what I found in the catalog. Which is why they put those catalogs in the bag!

I bought the supplies to make a wreath from paper straws. Remember these striped straws? Where have they been?

They had the flat cardboard rings but I didn't buy them. Silly me. Luckily, I am able to cut my own. I've looked on their website and can't find the wreath ring or instructions to make this wreath so let me tell you what I did. 

I drew a 5 1/2" circle inside an 8 1/2" circle on white illustration board and cut out a wreath form. Cut 40 straws (144 in the box) to 6 1/2". I have 40 little pieces left over that are 1 1/4" long that I get to figure out what to do with. 

Hot glue a short straw to the wreath form, with one end even with the inside of the ring. Next hot glue a long straw to the form. Alternate glueing short, then long. Change the angle with each straw. Cardboard shows between the straws.

My wreath ended up with two short straws together but I sort of hid that with the bow (below).

I hot glued the bow in place and hung it up in the bathroom. You wouldn't know how exciting this is because you can't see the ugly control box for the vent/heater that used to live above this towel rack. It was about even with the light switch, maybe a bit higher. It was scratched chrome with an ugly dial in the center. I hated that thing for 19 years!

Two weeks ago I hired an electrician and he rewired it so that now the vent and heater are each controlled with a switch (the switch plate now has 3 switches which you see above). It took about an hour and was not that expensive. He fixed the same thing in the other bathroom too. Steve patched the holes in the wall from the old control boxes and I painted. Hooray! Now that you know that story, doesn't this wreath look even better?!

I also, today, had a little fun sewing… I made the Peppermint Fairy Spoolkeep that I've got on the website. It makes me smile and I think it will be a nice Christmas decoration for the home tour this weekend. At least that's my excuse :-).

We went for a walk in Central Park for the last morning of my visit. It was foggy and gray, but not quite as cold. Jeff waited here for me, near a famous park fountain, while I took the photos that follow. This is Jeff, waiting patiently…

These alcove vignettes on the walls around the stairs were amazing. Each was different and I had to stop myself from photographing them all. 

Remember, you can click on these photos to open them bigger. The next one is so full of design ideas that you might want to do that. Can you see applique?

I don’t know that I have ever seen a witch on a broomstick in this sort of space. I didn’t even see the jack o’ lanterns until I was cropping the photo. 

All in all, these reminded us all of Harry Potter.

We walked through a group of farmers’ market stalls on the west side of the park. I like this sign and wish I could have taken those extra signs off for the photo. Oh, well, Jeff would have given me that look and then walked away…

I took more manhole covers. Jeff was almost enthusiastic – just one foot’s worth.

This guy was sitting with his dog outside of the coffee shop we stopped at. I am not a dog person but this dog gave me a look that I would expect from a person. You could tell that he was thinking behind those eyes. I could love this dog. The guy is grinning because I asked if I could take the photo. 

I didn’t quite catch him looking at me in the photo, but I think you can see what I mean. And he’s wearing a hoodie with a skull and crossbones on the back. I love this dog.

We went to one more holiday fair on the SW corner of the park and shopped a little bit more – I finally found something (spices!) for Steve – and then it was time to pack up and head to the airport. Jeff went with me on the subway as far as the airport (such a good boy) and now I’m on the plane home. It’s amazing how much fun it is to be connected to the web on the plane! 

It was such a great visit. I am truly blessed to have such good boys!