My Favorite Christmas things

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas things this year.

 A 12 Days of Christmas anonymous gift of a new Nativity. It's really cute and fairly child friendly. That's the best kind. Big blessings go to the family who gave us this.

Being able to display some of my Nativity's this year without having to worry too much about them being manhandled to death. It brings a nice Christmas focus into our home.

Seeing Meg enjoy her gifts. This Princess bed tent from Aunt Wendy was a big hit. She loves, loves, loves it.

Playing games on Christmas day with all of the new games you got. Adam and Dad are playing Monopoly You Build here. Bug likes different Monopoly games and has a collection of about 6 so far.

Our sad little Christmas tree all lit up and looking kind of pretty. All child friendly ornaments this year, which was good because the cat knocked it over once and once it just leaned a little too far on it's own. It recovers nicely.

Having Sister Pett come over and bake some cookies with the kids was a real highlight this year. They are missing out on Grandma time big time, and I just couldn't be on my feet long enough to help them do the cookies this year. They all had so much fun. It was balm to my soul to hear them all in the kitchen giggling away.

One of the best ever things this year was going out to the garage and finding that the best husband ever had wrapped all of the gifts, complete with bows and ribbons. That is one of my least favorite things to do and he did almost all of them this year. And they were pretty. What an awesome guy. I am so lucky.

I don't have a photo, but participating in the Stake Choir this year was amazing too. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to do it, but there were only 5 practices and it was so well put together, it was easy to do. I am glad I was able to sing this year. It just doesn't seem like Christmas to me without being in at least one choir.

What great blessings we have had. Hope you had a great Christmas  too.

Christmas projects

We had some fun Christmas projects this year. I hope the people who received them enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed putting them together.

First up was the Super hero aprons. I first saw these on Pinterest and loved them, but couldn't really afford the price tag. I looked up the Etsy shop and saw that she had patterns for sale that looked incredibly similar to the super hero aprons and thought I could make the necessary changes, so I bought the pattern from Modern Vintage Designs and tweaked away. I love how they turned out. Although time consuming, the details definitely made the aprons.

 

(Don't you love my apron model? He can be bribed.)

We also made some other little things. I made boo-boo bags out of wheat, flannel and essential oils. Meg helped me fill them up and choose the fabric for them. Meg got an 18 inch doll for Christmas, to replace the porcelain doll with the shattered face. Along with the doll came clothes from Grandma Cozy, a bed made by dad and a quilt, mattress and pillow made by me. If you want to know how to make the mattress, try here. I also made Fort Kits.  I first saw them about this time last year and knew I had to make them for my nieces and nephews. Find the tutorial and printables at Saltwater-Kids. Adam and I worked on the quilt for Grandma Cleo for some time. It was first featured in this blog post. I am glad to be able to say I finished it all the way and did get it sent off in time.

Last of all Justin worked long and hard on a gift for Adam. It started a couple of months ago when he mentioned that what he really wanted for Christmas was bigger maps. He has just about worn is Atlas out. He's into geography lately. Justin found a discarded train table on a walk one morning and magically transformed it into a command central table complete with storage area, white board, removable plastic top and all the maps the kiddo would need for the foreseeable future. It's really very cool.

I do love doing handmade Christmas gifts. I think it adds something to the spirit of Christmas for me. Maybe it's the service oriented part of me, but I love making gifts with love and thinking about those who will receive them. I hope you all had a great Christmas this year. I know we did.

Christmas stuff

Yesterday my table looked like this:

Jealous? I can honestly say that packing up all of that fun stuff is just about the worst part of the entire season. Besides the standing in line at the post office, which I have a strange phobia of. I  have to talk myself into it a few days in advance. That's why my shipping date can't change, it then takes me forever to talk myself back into it. Today is shipping day. 9 packages are boxed, taped, addressed and ready to go. Good thing we don't have a big family, right?
Aren't you just dying to know what's inside all of that perfectly packaged goodness? I can't wait to post about it, after the holidays. I had a good time sewing and being creative this year.
  On another note... it's hubby's birthday and he's sick. Birthday post coming soon. Wishing him health and comfort this year. He's a pretty awesome guy and I am one lucky girl.

How to make a zig zag quilt, step by step

I have decided that I can complete one gift quilt a year. That doesn't sound too intimidating to me. This year the quilt is for Christmas (I know, the end of the year) for an unnamed family member. Lots of love goes into a quilt so I thought I would explain my creative process to you. Maybe it will help you get a project to two finished.

Step 1: Start months in advance. I started thinking about this in September in hopes of getting it done and mailed by Christmas. It's the mailing that gets me in trouble from time to time.
Step 2: Search Pinterest for the perfect quilt idea. Easy, quick and attractive.
Step 3: Search the blog world for the best tutorial out there that does not involve triangles. I know how I am with triangles. I found the perfect tutorial at Bee Square Blog. Go ahead, check it out.
Step 4: Search the depths of the craft closet for that jelly roll of Moda fabric you know you bought on clearance 3 years ago and haven't done anything with yet. Replace all the contents of the closet with only minor guilt for the 12 or so unfinished projects you found in there.
Step 5: Head to the fabric stores (yep, 4 of them) in search of the perfect blue. You have to keep looking because no one locally carries Moda fabric that old anymore and the color is just hard to match. I found something that will work, not something I love.
Step 6: Cut out lots of blue strips to go with your jelly roll. Replace your rotary blade and try not to bleed all over everything.
Step 7: Sew strips together and cut blocks the correct size. This means going back and correcting the first two rows because you are 1/4 inch off.
Step 8: Have your 10 year old son help you place blocks in the right order on the diagonal. He's more spatially aware than I am and can see a pattern form before I can. That's why we have kids, to help us when we get older.
Step 9: Spend an hour on the floor replacing the blocks that got knocked out of place by your 4 year old trying to help. Talk your husband into helping you pin the rows together so that you don't  have to have your son help you out all over again the next day.
Step 10: sew blocks and rows together to complete your top. Be sure to ignore the 3 loads of laundry sitting on your couch the entire day so that you can get the top finished. Realize you don't have enough backing fabric when you are done ironing the top and clipping the threads on the back. Fold and put away your completed top for another day.

So far, that's all I have. Hopefully I will be able to get this all the way finished and in the mail on time for Christmas. I would love to post a picture, but it's a Christmas gift... so here's just a peek. Good luck with your Christmas projects!

Gifts of Christmas

I admit I am a crafter. I like to create, I like to make messes and I like to see the reaction people have to my creations, good or bad. I love to learn new things and in the crafting world it's easy to learn things one step at a time. I also have a dark side. {no comment from my family, please...} I am a procrastinator extraordinaire. I have the best of intentions and worst follow through ever. I started making Christmas gifts in July. Really. I finished the last one Dec 23. Ugh. My other real problem is that while I am amazing at taking an idea and making it my own, I am lousy at coming up with my own unique idea. So thanks to all of the wonderful crafters out there in blogland. Your ideas helped make a great Christmas for my family!

Christmas gifts I give have criteria to meet. I don't just give any old thing. First, it has to be fit for a variety of age groups. Nieces and Nephews range from 2 months to 12 years old. Some of the parents are bigger kids than the kids. It has to be a family strengthening gift. Toys don't last, memories do. Also, some aspect has to be handmade. It's better if I can come up with a plan and make it for each family (9 in all + grandparents), but I am happy to do different things for each family too. Lastly, it has to be affordable. Lots of people, we don't draw names and we have to afford Christmas for our own kiddos too.

This year was the year of games. I loved this idea from a blog I read. I have posted about it before and the same warning still applies. Every family got Yahtzee games with a hand made drawstring bag with their name on it.  The idea was to be able to add personalized games to them throughout the year. I have cousin memory coming up by Easter I hope. I also saw a version of Family Go Fish I liked a lot too. We shall see what actually gets done.

I borrowed an embroidery machine from a friend of mine. (It's actually for sale. Contact me and I will fill you in on the details.) I forgot to take a picture of this,although hopefully Dad and Annie will send me one to add.(Thanks Annie.) It was a bird tablecloth with matching gold napkins. Each corner of the tablecloth had a bird from a different season on it.

 It was really pretty when I was done and quite a learning experience. It fit the criteria in that it's only them living there, she loves to cook and entertain so it brings them closer together.

I also did a couple of quilts. For my FIL and his sweet wife I did this fun quilt.

I got the idea from Crazy Mom Quilts. Good for cuddling on the couch after a long day of horses and chores on the ranch. I decided that one quilt per year for was going to be my limit, but then this one fell into my lap. The same friend who had the machine I borrowed also had a rough outline of this cute quilt done.

 It didn't take long to finish it up, since it was all cut out and had all the pieces together. A lap quilt was perfect for this Grandpa.

For my grandmothers I made tater bags. They both loved them. Good for re-heating rolls, heating tortillas, baking potatoes or apples, these are fun and easy. Both of them have everything they want and love something new and different, so this was the perfect gift for them. No photo of that either. Think bright lined flannel with a bright yellow lining. Cute and functional.

No Christmas cards were sent out this year, I just didn't get to it. Maybe for Valentine's Day. Lots of cooking, lots of sewing {and with a brand new sewing machine, who could resist?} and lots of errands. We helped two friends move away in December, which was sad, but we know they are on to new adventures. I participated in a Christmas Choir, we had illness visit our house and Meg started Pre-school. I did 3 family photo shoots and 2 sweet babies but didn't manage to get our own family photos done. We also celebrated two birthdays and made lots of cookies.

 I traveled to WA for the funeral of my Grandfather

and returned to the biggest storms So Cal has seen in many many years. Here's our unofficial rain gauge for the 5 days of rain. There should be another almost 2 inches but my son emptied it out. Crazy, isn't it?

Still reading? Wow. That was long and involved. There were other gifts this year too. Gifts to me personally that made a difference in my life. Gifts of mercy, when I needed it most, gifts of patience, gifts of self reliance, endurance, music, creativity, hope, family and testimony. Without those gifts, where would I be? We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and feel ready to take on the New Year with joy and energy. 2011, here we come...

Yeah Baby Jesus!!!

This made my Christmas season, really. What a treat...

As a family, we attended a community event sponsored by our church called the Creche Exhibit. It's wonderfully done, beautifully put together and a treat to attend. This year there were about 600 Nativity Displays along with a live Nativity every hour by different performers and live music in both the display area and the chapel almost the entire time. It's so peaceful and sweet. (Thanks Annie, Robyn, Julie and Amy for singing while we were there... you really touched our hearts and Justin even commented on your talents.)

We arrived just in time to find a seat for the Live Nativity performance. Meg had already had time to notice the manger and the baby doll playing Jesus resting in it. She has a doll thing right now, so she wanted desperately to investigate.

Someone else came and got the doll and Dad grabbed her so that we could sit to watch Mary and Joseph and their real 6 week old baby enter the room. She was fascinated with the whole thing, and then Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger and he started to protest. Meg kept saying "Baby Jesus?" over and over. About the time the baby in the manger worked up to a cry she was in a frenzy. She was cheering and lifting her arms in the air and yelling, in toddler loud volume, "Yeah, Baby Jesus. Hooray! Yeah Baby Jesus!" Mary started giggling, but tried to keep her part going, then Joseph started giggling too. Good thing it was almost over because by the time they were done, the entire cast, including children were giggling at her.

Sweet Meg was so excited to see Baby Jesus. She was so happy he was there, and she didn't want him to be sad. It was so sweet. I couldn't help but think of how excited we can all be for the second coming of Jesus Christ and how joyous it can be to invite Him into our lives now. Meg really did show me the true meaning of Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas one and all. No matter what you celebrate, I hope you find some peaceful time this season to count your blessings, share with friends and remember what's important to you.

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and has plans for the best New Years ever. I wanted to share some of our great days this Christmas Season. Thanks to all of the friends and family who were part of it in some small way. It isn't Christmas without the love and friendship of all of you.

Our Holiday Season Top 10 List

(not necessarily pictured above)

1. Adam meeting John Curley at Zoo Lights.

2. The furnace getting fixed.

3. 12 Days of Christmas gifts showing up at our home. We loved that!!!

4. Megan learning to really crawl.

5. Not having to cook dinner. Catering is the way to go. (Thanks for all of it, Annalia.) Going to Grandma's house was so perfect for us this year.

6. All of the plates of cookies and goodies that made their way to our house. We loved sharing them with cousins and family.

7. Watching the kids participate in two Nativity Plays.

8. The Stake Christmas Concert- and the Creche display. That was AMAZING.

9. Decorating cookies with friends.

10. FHE with friends, even though I made salt hot chocolate instead of good hot chocolate. That's okay, we fixed it and I am grateful no one held it against me.

~Allicia