Pure Heart

Meaning:

The heart is mentioned in the New Revised Standard Version Bible 898 times. 166 times in the New Testament.

Matthew 22:37 … Jesus said unto him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Mark 11:23 … “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.”

The Heart, made with pearls, symbolizes JESUS' LOVE for all of us and HIS pureness of heart.

The Circle reminds us of eternity and the never-ending love of our GOD for us.

The 12 beads in the Circle remind us of the 12 followers of Jesus who became the first missionaries of the Christian faith. 

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And here is the PDF pattern “Pure Heart" for you to download.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol. I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

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The beads in this pattern can be quite expensive and sometimes difficult to find for purchase, so here is an alternative: "Pure Heart Alternative"

With this ornament you have a choice where to attach the ring of the gold beads to the heart = between the 5 and 3 of the 8 large pearls or in the middle of them (4 and 4). This changes the shape of the heart slightly. 

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Last but not least, there is a choice with the large version (church tree ornament) of the original pattern too. If you like it still a little larger you could add those 4 optional pearls (10 mm).

Another Advent calendar FINISHED!

Yeah! I am so happy! I was worried because of course there was a time issue. 

I have written this before but here is it in a nutshell again. After all, all three are totally different. Each one is special.

It's a third Advent Calendar of this kind I made for my church St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA. The church ladies (ECW) is going to raffle it off. I think 1 ticket is $5 or 3 tickets are $10. 

Every day you choose one Chrismon to add for the day starting December 1. I think it is a German thing because I grew up with having an advent calendar every December.  It's the count down to Christmas. In my childhood time of course it was just a paper one with little doors to see a picture behind.

The cross-stitched Chrismons were all stitched by my sister-in-law Jane in Windsor, England. Great big Thank-You to her!

Each Chrismon has its explanation on the back. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season! The idea is that each family member can have a turn to pick the one for the day. May be there can be even a little discussion about the meaning of it?

Want a ticket? 

And now on to the next thing on the to-do-list!!!

Sources for Material

We celebrated Christmas only about 3 weeks ago but with the pandemic still being a threat I managed to post three (3) new patterns. That is quite satisfying to me. I have seen that a number of people have already looked at them but ... no comments. You know I would welcome comments. I am not fishing for praise. Only God needs to be praised. Input from fellow Chrismon makers could be helpful. There might also be thoughts about the meaning of each symbol I have not thought of myself. With other words ... feel free to criticize too.

And ... I am slowly running out of ideas. What symbol did I not design yet?

Designing the new patterns and also starting this year's Chrismon project for my church and my friends has also made me think about material sources.

I desperately needed wire. I found some time ago that the best wire to work with is Zebra wire. I found that I don't have issues with it breaking any more like I used to. That was often so frustrating. I also found that the best source to buy it is Fire Mountain Gems and Beads. They have 1/4 pound spools (which for a 26 gauge wire is about 115 yards). They have lots of different gauges and even colors. I take inventory and try to buy what I need in one order to cut down on postage.

Unfortunately Fire Mountain does not have the beads I usually need. For many years I bought those at Rufty's and I have shared this before. 

But I found the same quality beads and pearls now also at DonnaKayBeads on etsy.com but for a much better price. Very recently I made a large order and could not believe how much I saved. Donna was most helpful and there was no postage since the order was large enough. I found it a bit difficult to find the kind/size of beads or pearls I needed but with the order came a sheet with all the different sizes and prices. Most helpful. There is a button to click "Message Donna" and you could probably ask for that list to be emailed to you. As I said, she is most helpful. If you order from her, you might tell her that Christa is a happy customer.

Most of my patterns use beads and/or pearls from either of these suppliers. A few patterns have special beads and I indicate on those patterns exactly where I got them. But of course you could substitute if you find similar ones (like the glass beads for the rainbow for example). 

I hope you find this helpful!!! May be you have a helpful tip?

Angel with Trumpet

The Trumpet is mentioned in the bible about 130 times. In Old Testament times the trumpet was most likely a ram’s horn. The trumpet was used when God wanted his people to listen and obey him.

Angels are messengers, created and sent by God.

In the Gospel of Matthew 24 we can read that Jesus is talking to his apostles about his second coming.

Verse 31: 

And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

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Die Trompete wird in der Bibel etwa 130 mal erwähnt. Im Alten Testament war die Trompete höchstwahrscheinlich ein Widderhorn. Die Trompete wurde verwendet, wenn Gott wollte, daß seine Leute zuhören und ihm gehorchen.

Engel sind Boten, die von Gott geschaffen und gesandt wurden.

Im Evangelium von Matthäus 24 können wir lesen, daß Jesus mit seinen Aposteln über sein zweites Kommen spricht.

Vers 31: 
Und er wird seine Engel mit lautem Trompetenruf aussenden, und sie werden seine Auserwählten aus den vier Winden sammeln, von einem Ende des Himmels zum andern.


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And here is the PDF "Angel with Trumpet" for you to download.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.
I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

Manger

It is amazing how an insignificant thing like a manger, a feeding-trough for animals, can have such important meaning. Luke mentions the manger three times and this is the most known: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

From the day of His birth, Jesus was destined to die on our behalf. To accomplish his work as Savior, Jesus offered his body and blood as a sacrifice for us and by accepting that sacrifice we find salvation.
In the words of our Post Communion Prayer:
“Eternal God, Heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. ...”
Thus, it is fitting that the Savior, at the start of his life, would be placed in a feeding-trough as a sign not only of who He is, but of how He will fulfill His purpose and effect our salvation.


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Krippe

Es ist erstaunlich, wie eine unbedeutende Sache wie eine Krippe, eine Futtertrog für die Tiere, kann so eine wichtige Bedeutung haben. Lukas erwähnt der Krippe drei Mal, und dies ist die bekannteste: ". Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn und wickelte ihn in Windeln und legte ihn in eine Krippe, denn sie hatten sonst keinen Platz für sie in der Herberge" ( Lukas 2:7)Vom Tag seiner Geburt, Jesus war dazu bestimmt für uns zu sterben. Um seine Aufgabe als Erlöser zu erreichen, bot Jesus seinen Leib und sein Blut als Opfer für uns und durch die Annahme dieses Opfers finden wir Erlösung.In den Worten unseren Abendmahlgebetes: "Ewiger Gott, Vater im Himmel, du hast uns gnädig als lebendige Glieder deines Sohnes unseres Erlösers Jesus Christus angenommen, und hast uns geistige Nahrung im Sakrament seines Leibes und Blutes zugeführt ... "Somit ist es passend, dass der Heiland am Anfang seines Lebens in einem Futtertrog plaziert wurde als ein Zeichen nicht nur dafür wer Er war aber auch wie er seinen Zweck erfüllen und unser Heil bewirken wird. 

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Hope to have the pattern written in a few days. I need daylight for the pictures to be good. 

updated 12/27/2015:
And here is the PDF "Manger" for you to download.

Please do not sell the patterns of the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.

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I am also a lacemaker and am working on what I have dreamed about for quite some time:

the Chrismons in Lace Series.

This is a design by Brigitte Bellon. She is incredible generous and allowed me to share her pattern here with you for your own personal use PDF “ Manger “

Here is my finished lace for my Advent calendar:

Alpha & Omega

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)This is mentioned in the bible several more times and has been used as an important Christian symbol for Jesus Christ or God, often combined with other Christian symbols, from early Christianity and even appear in Roman catacombs.

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Alpha and Omega sind der erste und letzte Buchstabe des griechischen Alphabets."Ich bin das Alpha und Omega, der Anfang und das Ende, spricht der Herr, der da ist und der da war und der da kommt, der Allmächtige." (Offenbarung 1:8)Dies wird in der Bibel noch mehrmals erwähnt und wurde als wichtiges christliches Symbol für Jesus Christus oder Gott benutzt, oft zusammen mit anderen christlichen Symbolen, vom frühesten Christentum und ist sogar in den römischen Katakomben zu sehen.

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And here is the PDF "Alpha and Omega" for you to download.

I have also made a VIDEO explaining what I mean with the up-wire and down-wire. Please let me know whether you find this helpful or what I could do different.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.

I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

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updated 04/23/2015:

I am also a lacemaker and am working on what I have dreamed about for quite some time:

the Chrismons in Lace Series.

This is a design by Brigitte Bellon. She is incredible generous and allowed me to share her pattern here with you for your own personal use PDF “Alpha & Omega"

Here is my finished lace for my Advent calendar:

Posted with Blogsy

Dove of Peace

The dove with the olive branch is seen as a symbol for peace today as it was for the early Christians. We can see it depicted in the Roman and other catacombs. The olive branch was even used as a symbol of peace as early as the 5th century BC.
“He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.” 

(Genesis 8:11)

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Friedenstaube

Die Taube mit dem Ölzweig wird als Symbol für den Frieden heute gesehen, wie es für die frühen Christen war. Wir sehen es dargestellt in den römischen und anderen Katakomben. Der Olivenzweig wurde sogar schon im 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. als ein Symbol des Friedens verwendet.
"Da kam die Taube zur Abendzeit zu ihm und zwar mit einem frischen Ölblatt im Schnabel. Da erkannte Noah, daß sich die Gewässer von der Erde verlaufen hatten. " (1. Mose 8:11)

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And here is the PDF "Dove of Peace (flat)" and "Dove of Peace (3-D)" for you to download. I would be interested to know which one you prefer.

Since there is also a 3-D version which is difficult to photograph, here is a video. In my opinion: the 3-D version is easier to make then the flat one.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.

I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

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Another one in the:

Chrismons in Lace Series.

This is a design by Brigitte Bellon and can be found in the Heartland Lace Guild newsletter Pillow Talk #94

A membership form can be found here.

update 02/07/2015:
Brigitte Bellon is incredible generous and allowed me to share her pattern here with you for your own personal use PDF “Dove of Peace”

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Oil Lamp

The Old Testament has many references to the oil lamp and its light. “And you shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive-oil for the light, that a lamp may be set to burn continually”. (Exodus 27:20, Leviticus 24:2)
“A man’s soul is the lamp of God, which searches the chambers of one’s innards.” (Proverbs 20:27)
Fire was often described as being destructive, light was given a positive spiritual meaning. Oil lamps were a very important household item at Jesus’ time and he too uses it in his teachings like in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25). He says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

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Das Alte Testament hat viele Verweise auf die Öllampe und ihrem Licht. "Und du sollst dem Volke Israel befehlen, daß sie dir reines, gestossenes Olivenöl bringen für das Licht, damit man ständig eine Lampe aufstellen kann.  (Exodus 27:20, Levitikus 24:2) "der Lebensgeist ist die Lampe des HERRN; mit ihr durchleuchtet er das Menschenherz und seine Gedanken." (Sprüche 20,27)

Feuer wurde oft als zerstörend beschrieben, Licht hat eine positive spirituelle Bedeutung bekommen. Öllampen waren ein sehr wichtiger Haushaltsartikel zur Zeit Jesu und auch er benutzt es in seiner Lehre, wie in dem Gleichnis von den zehn Jungfrauen (Matthäus 25). Er sagt: "Ich bin das Licht für die Welt. Wer mir folgt, tappt nicht mehr im Dunkeln, sondern hat das Licht und mit ihm das Leben" (Johannes 8,12). "Laßt euer Licht leuchten vor den Leuten, damit sie eure guten Werke sehen und euren Vater im Himmel preisen". (Matthäus 5,16)

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And here is the PDF "Oil Lamp" for you to download.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.
I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

*  *  *  *  *

updated 05/06/2015: 

 

I am also a lacemaker and am working on what I have dreamed about for quite some time:

the Chrismons in Lace Series.

This is a design by Brigitte Bellon. She is incredible generous and allowed me to share her pattern here with you for your own personal use PDF"Oil Lamp"

Lamb

Agnus Dei is Latin meaning “Lamb of God”. The lamb is often a symbol of Christ, symbolizing purity, meekness and sacrifice, gentleness of character, patience under suffering.

Prophetic pictures and references to the coming Lamb of God are scattered throughout the Bible’s Old Testament.  Many times we read about the importance of sacrificing a lamb, an innocent lamb without blemish to atone for sins. The stories of Abraham (Genesis 22) and the Passover (Exodus 12-13) are important examples.

Christ became that innocent lamb to take away our sins.  Since Jesus’ crucifixion sacrificing a lamb is no longer needed.

“The next day John  (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

“For Christ, our Paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7)

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Agnus Dei ist lateinisch und bedeutet "Lamm Gottes". Das Lamm ist oft ein Symbol für Christus, symbolisiert Reinheit, Demut und Opfer, Sanftmut des Charakters, Geduld im Leiden.

Prophetische Bilder und Verweise auf das kommende Lamm Gottes sind im ganzen Alten Testament der Bibel verstreut. Viele Male lesen wir über die Bedeutung der Opferung eines Lammes, ein unschuldiges Lamm ohne Makel für Sünden zu büßen. Die Geschichten von Abraham (Genesis 22) und dem Paschamahl (Exodus 12-13) sind wichtige Beispiele.

Christus wurde dass unschuldige Lamm, das unsere Sünden wegnahm. Seit der Kreuzigung Jesu ein Lamm zu opfern ist nicht mehr benötigt.

"Am nächsten Tag Johannes (der Täufer) sah Jesus auf sich zukommen und sagte:" Seht! Das Lamm Gottes, das hinweg nimmt die Sünde der Welt! " (Johannes 1:29)

"Denn Christus, unser Osterlamm, wurde geopfert." (1 Korinther 5:7)

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And here is the PDF "Lamb" for you to download.

Please do not sell the patterns or the ornaments. If you give them as gifts, please always include the explanation of the symbol.
I would love to hear from all who are using my patterns. It would be nice to know that my efforts are not in vain. You find my email address on the pattern if you have any question about it. Happy to help.

*  *  *  *  * 

This is an early version of my design with a flag instead of the cross ... and some other little details besides it being really tiny because I used much smaller beads.









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updated April 8, 2016:

I am also a lacemaker and am working on what I have dreamed about for quite some time: 

the Chrismons in Lace Series.

This is a design by Brigitte Bellon. She is incredible generous and allowed me to share her pattern here with you for your own personal use  PDF “Lamb “

Here is my finished lace for my Advent calendar: