Archive for the ‘Family & Friends’ Category

Ready for the Big Game!

Three Shaggy Little Boys

Three Clean Cut, Slightly Silly Little Boys

A Little Progress

Moms Night Out

Scooby-Dooby-Doo!

Valentines Dinner & Fellowship

From 2012 Project 365

Multitasking

Birthday Quilt In Progress

In the Office with Mama

Samantha’s Artwork

HELP! Jedi Have Locked My Head in a Box!

Bare Feet and Grass Stained Knees

Daddy & Daughter Birthday Celebration

From 2012 Project 365

Pecan Pesto & Whole Wheat Pasta

Can We Play?

Say Cheese!

It’s Mine!

Running in for the Score!

Sean

Saturday Morning Breakfast with My Big Boys

From 2012 Project 365

Free . . . Five . . . Go!

Time to Do the Dishes

Uncle Charlie: “Hold Ka-e!”

Spinach, Mushroom & Rice Lasagna

Hugs for Katie

Ice Cream for the Birthday Boy!

Celebrating Jamie!

From 2012 Project 365

I’m having quiet, reflective day today, and I’m not feeling very talkative.  Do you have those days?  I feel like I should write down some resolutions.  It’s what we’re supposed to do today, right? Instead, I pulled out my new quilting journal and planned out a new quilt.  Honestly? I couldn’t have possibly imagined a year ago today everything that would have come to pass in a year’s time.  It was a year full of blessing and amazement and uncertainty and faith.  Definitely faith!  I did a whole lot of stepping out in faith.  I have a list of decisions to make over the next few weeks . . . business decisions, family decisions, little and big decisions.  Today, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with not knowing what’s ahead.  It would be nice if we could know how today’s decisions will affect tomorrow, wouldn’t it?

One of my Christmas gifts from my sweet husband was this book, which I’ve wanted for years:

I’ve been enjoying flipping through and reading while sipping my morning coffee. This quote seems perfectly appropriate for the end of a old year and the beginning of a new one:

Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still.
C. S. Lewis from The Allegory of Love

It is true, isn’t it, that everything we are today is a result of the decisions that we’ve made, the experiences that we’ve had and the people that we’ve interacted with? I’m excited to see who I am, where I am, what I’ll be doing this time next year!

. . . and all through the house, no more projects were waiting, at least not for now!

Handmade Christmas tree ornaments wrap up my list of handmade projects. These are simple, inexpensive wood blocks adorned with scrapbook paper and digital pictures printed from my home printer. We followed the guide for these at How Does She? These will be great fun to hang on our tree year after year!

Of course no Christmas is complete for a sewing mama without handmade Christmas jammies for her little ones. I suppose that means you get 13 projects for the price of 12 . . . a baker’s dozen! (Isn’t this Cowboy Santa fabric perfect for a Texas Christmas?)

Praying that each of you is blessed with a Christmas packed full of joy and overflowing with many wonderful memories! Enjoy this beautiful telling of the Christmas story by Linus as a little Christmas gift from me to you:

Adding three more handmade Christmas projects on my way to a full dozen. Today’s projects are all handmade bags!

This is my mom’s new Christmas bag. She asked me to make her one like the one that I made for her when she visited a few years ago only in black and red. I used my now out-of-print Sammi Grace Bag pattern and modified it just a little by adding a button closure with a fabric-covered button and piecing the outside in strips. Inside, there’s a divider and several pockets for cell phone, pen or pencil and business cards.

Next up is my sister’s gift. She didn’t offer any suggestions for what she’d like, but she does love green, and everyone can use a nice tote bag, right? I had a picture in my head of how I wanted this bag to look, but I really made the pattern up as I went along. I love that it’s really a simple tote, but it has a much dressier look to it!

Finally, my middle niece, asked me to sew her a messenger bag like the one that I did for her older sister a few years ago. I pulled out my messenger bag tutorial and went to work. I added a machine-applique penguin and a magnetic snap to the flap. About 3/4 of the way through assembly, at the point where I was ready to sew the flap to the outer section of the bag, I realized that I had sewn the body layers together sideways. I sort of liked the longer, narrower look . . . and I really didn’t want to rip the whole thing apart so I trimmed down the sides of the flap to match the new width and went with it.

I have to end with a few fun pictures. (My apologies that they are icky flash pictures. There was an incident this same night involving my 18-55mm camera lens, so I’m currently operating with just the 70-300mm which doesn’t work with my light scoop.) Our oldest son, Sean, and his friend, Josh, spent a few minutes frosting, decorating and eating sugar cookies with us on Sunday night. They were on their way out to an Ugly Christmas Sweater party, so they were dressed in sweaters that they tell me were borrowed from Josh’s grandmother. (Adding a note here that I am not saying these are ugly sweaters at all! Loud and very Christmas-y? Very much! But, ugly? I’ve seen uglier.)

Is it really only a week until Christmas?! I still have a few things left on my to-do list. How is yours coming along? For me, last week is a blur of shipping the last of my Market orders (with the new Everyday Camp Shirt pattern!), sewing the last of the handmade gifts that I have to ship away, two days of a miserable cold virus, one day of homeschool field trip and Christmas party fun and several days of updates to my website and blog! (I was so busy, in fact, that I totally forgot to blog about my giveaway at Create Hope Designs! I hope you all got a chance to enter!) Cynthia of Webwurkz has been working on some pretty major updates to my website, and it’s looking so nice. (She’s amazing, by the way! If you ever need web design work done–I wholeheartedly recommend her!) I spent most of the day yesterday redecorating my little blog home here. What do you think of the new look?

Last night we had a little family Christmas fun. We started with the local Christmas light parade, which conveniently passes right in front of our home. Then after dinner, we had a blast decorating a gingerbread house with our youngest four children. It’s certainly not going to win any grand decorating awards, but I think it turned out quite lovely! Everyone helped, too. Ray assembled the house. Jamie shingled the roof with chocolate chips. Samantha, Allen and I handled the walls, walkway and “lights”. And, Charlie shoved candy into his mouth as fast as he could while he thought no one was watching!


Be sure to check back tomorrow for the first of my 12 Handmade Gifts for Christmas posts! (All relatives are hereby warned that if you peek over the next week, you just might spoil your Christmas surprise.)

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is celebrated annually as National Tie One On Day . . . tie on an apron, that is! Participants pause in their busy Thanksgiving preparations to make or purchase an apron and gift it to a friend or neighbor along with a freshly baked loaf of bread. National Tie One On Day provides the opportunity to return the “give” to Thanksgiving by simply sharing a kind gesture. You can read more about it here: Apron Memories.

Last Wednesday, I spent the afternoon sewing up this apron for a friend. She was out of town with her family for the holiday and should be home this evening, so I haven’t given it to her yet. This morning, I baked a loaf of cinnamon bread to give with the apron. (Actually, I baked two, so I can tell you for sure that it is very yummy!) I hope she likes the apron and the bread, and I pray that it will bring a smile to her face and joy to her heart. (She has a way of always doing those things to me every time I’m around her!)

It’s all packed up and ready to deliver tomorrow! (Don’t you love my “upcycled” gift bag?)

Happy Thanksgiving! Do you have exciting plans today? We’re enjoying Thanksgiving dinner this evening with our whole family and a few dear friends. The morning and afternoon will be spent cooking and preparing and munching! I’m starting the day with my morning coffee and a piece of Chocolate Pecan Pie shared with my sweet almost-2-year-old. The rest of the house is quiet still.

The quilt block above is one that I pieced last week to join others in a quilt for a grieving mother. My online friend, S, lost her unborn baby boy last month just a few weeks before his due date. My 12-year-old, Allen, prayed on Tuesday night, “Lord, help us to all be thankful, especially for those things that we don’t think matter very much.” That was a simple, beautiful reminder to me to be thankful for my husband’s smile in greeting from across a room, my oldest daughter dropping by with her little one just to hang out, my oldest son wrestling in the family room with his little brothers, my youngest daughter cuddling up and reading a story to my youngest son, my middle son pouring out praise in a song sung as loud as he can sing, my preschool son’s cuddles in the mornings and goodnight kisses every night, and my little guy’s “Side? Me? Pease?” when he wants to nurse. It’s the little things that we sometimes miss everyday that I want to be sure to be thankful for today. I should be more careful to be thankful for them everyday.

I pray that each of you has a beautiful Thanksgiving Day today, shared with those you love and filled with the joy of being thankful for the little things that we don’t think matter very much!