Temporary Interruption of Website Service

Hi everyone! We apologize for any inconvenience but our website will be down temporarily as we switch to a new host. The current website will go down on Wednesday Dec. 29th and the new one will go live on Thursday Dec. 30th. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Kristin and Jan

Peek at our Christmas Touches

Season's Greetings!
Thought I'd let ya'll have a peak at our home decorations. I have been collecting Christmas decorations for years, some people say I have way too much....maybe I do and maybe I don't....kind of like a fabric stash you just never know what you will need. Notice the quilt...you just knew I'd relate this to "fiber" somehow, didn't you. This is "Winters Blanket", part of my Minnesota series. Every few years I get nostalgic, make a quilt to honor where I grew up and then come to my senses...and remember how cold and long the winter's were. Still love to visit but after the Fourth of July. The skates were actually Kristins when she was little.
Found this Santa at a craft show in 1991, he's by Boardwalk Originals. This year he's standing guard on the hearth in the family room.
Our entry is 2 stories, every year I decorate the stairway and then the space looks unbalanced ...not finished. So this year I went vertical....well as much as I dared cause I have a teeny tiny fear of heights.

My 12 Connected Challenge Piece for the "Icon" theme; "Simply An Icon" by Jan Girod

Have you ever fought within yourself over doing what first pops into your head, in a test it is called "second guessing" I used to do it all the time. The moment the new word was "unveiled" 2 months ago I pictured doing this piece, at least in some fashion. However, I spent the entire time trying to talk myself into doing another piece when all was said and done I found myself back at the first thought, the first image that had come to me.Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. When we found ourselves in the space with the Russian Icons, I was stopped in my tracks. Have you ever felt like your moving in slow motion? There I was standing in one spot, turning slowly, wondering how I was going to look at them all. They were exquisite! Some extremely ornate, some expertly painted, others were very primitive; but all were very beautiful. I could have stayed there all day; however I heard someone rather loudly instructing me to move on, move on. All I could think ....was oh no....please let me stay here...I swear I will be on the bus in time. Poor guide was afraid she would loose her job, I moved on, but have always felt like I missed out. Someday, maybe someday I will return.

Please check out www.12connected.blogspot.com to see the challenge groups work. It is amazing how different everyone's work is and how each person interprets the given word.