SLeep Tight Santa!

Sleep Tight Until Next Year Dear Santa! As we wind down the old year I imagine Santa is getting ready for a well deserved winter's sleep. As this is my final post for this year I have a couple of give-a-ways!

Enter your comments on the following: What was your favorite Christmas as a child? Did you believe in Santa Claus?

I did definately believe in Santa. I remember one Christmas at my Grandparent's house in Buhl, ID. I was about 6. I was sent to bed so Santa could come. I was so excited I couldn't get to sleep. I was in a bedroom that was under the eves of the house. It was snowing and the wind was blowing. The branches of the ivy that clung to the window were shifting in the wind and lightly brushing the window. The moonlight streamed through the window above the bed. All at once I was sure I heard Santa's sleigh bells! I was thrilled beyond belief! Was it my Uncle with the sleigh bells? My vivid imagination? I never really knew, but it was a magical moment that I have never forgotten. Guess what I still believe in Santa. . . or the spirit of the giving of Santa. I think my favorite Christmas has to be the one I received my favorite doll, Nancy. I will post after Christmas about her. She rests in my cedar chest after all these years. I was 3.

What do you win? I have 3 packages of hand dyed silk threads (6-7 colors of about 2 yards each, with a coordinating ribbon and a Santa Beeswaxer). If you bend a piece of copper wire and heat it in a candle flame you can turn the Santa Beeswaxer into an ornament. One of the 3 winners will also receive the Un Natale Da Ricamare 2009 Booklet on Ornaments and recipes which I was a part of for several years. I will choose 3 winners and then draw one from those to also receive the book. I look forward to your stories of Santa and your favorite Christmas as a Child.

Blessings at this season -

Cece

White Sage & Angels

White Sage & Angels

White Sage has been used for years in ceremonial purposes by Native American Indians for clearing negativity inside and outside ones self and dwelling places by the use of smudge sticks. Herbally speaking it has been used in steam to treat colds and respiratory ailments in sweat lodges. Bees love White Sage and native birds eat the seeds. It is made into herbal teas. Often quite pungent in smell, it can also be very soothing when not overpowering. In soap it is said to be a natural deodorizer so I think it makes a great kitchen and garden soap! I recently made two batches of new soap using White Sage Butter as well as our Shea Butter. White Sage Soap has a lovely, light herbal scent. Sage, Sweetgrass and Cedar Soap is 'pure heaven in the forest' type scent. Other soap scents are available on our www.soaponawhim.etsy site. We only have a few of our available scents listed even there at this time.

 

The Angel is a freebie design I made by importing a black and white ink angel photo I found into my cross stitch design program. Now for the deals:

If you'd like the free angel pattern you can send me a stamped, self addressed envelope. I'll mail you the free pattern for the angel.

The other 'deal' involves our soap and our threads. If you purchase any of our soap on our Etsy site or phone us to place a soap order you can add on to your soap order any of our threads or ribbons and we will discount them 50% off our suggested retail price. This deal is only available from today until January 3rd, 2011. You can go to our website www.threadgatherer.com to find our phone number or contact information. Remember that we usually have over 30 different scents available at any given time so you can ask us for scent families of citrus, spicy, floral, fresh, sweet etc. and we can tell you what is available at this time. So, try a great soap, (stitchers do like clean hands to stitch) and save on threads all just for followers of my blog! In addition, we will include your free Angel Pattern with any soap and thread orders.

All the best for the New Year!

I'm off to the dye pots!

Cece

More About Green

Sorry for the long delay. . .it has been a hectic month. I loved all the recipes, and we are gradually trying each of them. Although we did have our open house it was without homemade cookies except for my springerle that I had made early Dec. We had a flooded kitchen. . . .if you do not know how to turn off your water at the main turnoff at the street I recommend it!! I did not, and the turnoff valve for the hot water under my kitchen sink was corroded till it would not move and after 10 minutes of steaming water you can imagine what my kitchen looked like. A ruined hard wood floor, etc. Luckily my neighbor was home and knew how to turn off the water. It turned my December upside down in one afternoon. Anyway, now for some good news. Carol you won the cookie contest blog give-a-way! Please email me your address so I can send you $50 in greens (silk 'n colors!!). Carol submitted a Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie Recipe and she was the chosen comment #.

I forgot that I started spotlighting green earlier in the year. I guess I'm just now finishing 'green' up! Now for some information on green:

The symbolic meaning is renewal of life and nature.

Green has a Biblical meaning and is the Christian color for the season of Ephiphany.

There are many cheap dyes and plants that produce a variety of green colors.

Green is closely associated with the medieva legend of Robin Hood.

Green is said to be the most restful color for the human eye. Some say that green can soothe pain and has great healing power.

I hope you had a lovely and restful Christmas.

Dyeing - threads that is - until later. . .

Cece

December Greens

Welcome December! I couldn't decide on a color for this month - between red and green so I will feature both. . . .and most likely white since we are having beautiful winter weather here in Idaho.

I love feather trees! One of my favorite ones is our minty green feather tree which we always decorate with our bird ornaments.

What colors come to mind with green? Mint, forest, olive, fern, pine, chartreuse, spruce, grass, holiday green, leaf green, and moss. Do you decorate with greens for Christmas, have a fresh tree, or bake green cookies?

The winner of our NOVEMBER CONTEST was comment #3 by MARGARET!! Please email me your address so I can send out your fall stitching packet!   My email is thethreadgatherer@msn.com

Now, for a December contest: Leave me a comment with your favorite cookie recipe. Can you tell I'm looking for a new recipe to try? This is worth $50 in Silk 'n Colors for the winner - all in some of my favorite 'greens'. We'll pick this winner on December 5th!! So don't delay as I need a new recipe before Dec 8th as we are having a soap and body butter open house on the 12th!

More later as I'm now dyeing - green that is.

Cece