PJ Time

Let the sewing begin

And I am off... time to get going on Christmas PJ's.  It is only a couple months away and all I have done is cut out the material, but I feel that I have a good start.  I go through spurts of working on the pajamas.  The other night I cut all seven pj's out (with no material left, cutting it very close, scary) in one night.  Off course that was a very late night.  Next, I place all the separate pj's pieces for each person in a different bag and write their name on the bag.  Now I just need to sew them together.  For some reason every year I cut the pajamas out to the size of the pattern per person, but they generally come out big.  So, I started with my jammies and am trying to make it the way I want it.  Then, hopefully, everything will go smooth with the others.  I had an idea in my head of the design for the year, I just have to figure out how to make it work, and of course I need to find the open space of time to sew them.  I enjoy making pajamas every year, even though I get stressed.  I find something very rewarding about making outfits for my family.  On Christmas eve everyone opens their one gift, they know what it is but they still get excited.  Then quickly run to get their new pajamas on and see if they actually fit or look good (some years have been better then others :)). Christmas morning we all sit around in our matching pajama's, read of Christ's birth, and bless each other with presents.  Guess that means I better get to work, Christmas will be here before we know and it would be good to cross the jammie making off my list.  Happy autumn and look here, Latisha is now 30 weeks pregnant, three-fourth the way there.  We are so excited.  Have a great day and God bless.

They are looking good!

Unfortunately, Isabella had another seizure that went off
and on through out the night, until 2:45 am.  

We were all pretty sleepy the next day, but Sierra stayed close to her
as she worked on her school. Isabella was so tired she didn't
move much either.

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

Don't you just love a good wedding?   What makes a good wedding is up to the viewer, but watching two people commit to live together in holy matrimony till death do they part is a good thing.  We have been blessed by being invited to several weddings this year, each with their own flare, beauty and mishaps.  As women, many of us tend to start planning our wedding at a young age.  We think about the colors, the dress, the line, the ceremony, the groom, the venue etc...  I love big weddings but I also enjoy small weddings.  It is a celebration of love and hopefully a love based on shared faith and love in God.  We have been to outside weddings and inside weddings this year.  Inside weddings are wonderful because you can control the weather, but outside wedding are generally so beautiful.  So much time and effort goes into most weddings and with it is, a helping of stress and maybe a little drama to dot the path.  The outcome of all the preparation is hopefully a beautiful wedding.  The wedding is only the start, the marriage lasts a lifetime.  I look at these lovely couples embracing the mystery of marriage and pray that God will bless and direct their marriage.  The wedding is but a day the marriage is for life.

 May the joy for all of us who are married not end on the day we say "I do" but continue to the "death do us part."  Today is another wedding for us to attend and this past week we have two new engagements.  There is still love in this world.  God is good, have a great day.

Alicia

I finally got to use my birthday present quilting frame to make a quilt for one of the bride and grooms.

the finished product.

My Present

The holidays have once again come and gone.  It really was a nice peaceful holiday season.  My shopping was done early, we had a couple fun parties, and the best part was to being together as a family to celebrate the reason for the season, Jesus birth.  It was so nice to have things to do but I didn't have that overwhelming feeling and that was good.  I think we are learning our limits and turned down a couple invites because we just needed to.  I hope no one was offended but sometimes you just need to know your limits.  Of course as I say that I am about to share a couple posts from some of the fun activities we did do, which were not a few, but we stayed within our limits.

A couple months, before Christmas, my loving husband came up with a great idea.  He planned to redo my craft room.  I wish I had a before picture but it was quite a mess.  My children like to share my craft room and they don't always put away their projects.  David emptied out my room over a month before Christmas, and began his plan.  My only input was the color of paint.  It took him right up to the week of Christmas before he had it all done.  I was not allowed to see anything until Christmas morning.  Christmas morning after all the presents had been opened, David took me to the craft room door.  It had a big bow and a card on the door.  The card was a beautiful letter of his appreciation for all I do for the family and all the things I make, including all those yearly pajamas.  It totally choked me up and all the family that had gathered around.  I then got to open the door and see all the work he had done to give me a room for my crafts and sewing.  So much work went into this room and I am so happy with it.  David is so good at organizing things and everything is in a logical neat place, just absolutely perfect.  What a blessed wife I am.  One nice part is to have my sewing machine setup and ready to use as needed.  I also have my grandma's sewing machine in the room that can be used as a desk when not needed.

It is all so special and such a very thoughtful gift.  Thank you so much my love.  I'll share more later but for now here are a few pictures of the room.  God bless and have a blessed day.
Alicia

looking in.  He even got wall decor 

New shelves and drawers to keep things organized.  Everything has a place

Me and my faithful 25 year old sewing machine, ready to do some work.

Bibs, Bibs, Bibs

In my last post I mentioned Christmas pajamas.  It is a tradition I started when Alex and Latisha were little.  I make Christmas pajama's for them to open Christmas eve.  I just got started on this year's jimmies, and it is going well.  I always wonder what to do with the left over material.  Generally I put it in a box and think, "I might need it for something later."  Sometimes I do use it, but the other day I thought of a good use for it.

We are frequently looking for a decent bib for Isabella and Aidric.  Isabella is quite a messy eater and still needs a bib, but she has learned how to take them off and Aidric is following her lead.  If it is a velcro bib they just pull at it till it comes off and if it is one that goes over the head they slip it off.  So I decided to make some that tie.  They are unable to take them off.  I also make them big enough to cover most of their outfit.  I dug through my material to find big enough pieces to make bibs.  Here is how I did it.

First I cut out two layers of material to the shape I wanted it 13 1/2 inches by 14 1/2 inches.  I then used it as a pattern for the other bibs.  I made a total to 10 bibs (which means 20 pieces)

 Next, I sewed together 2 layers of fabric, around the bib leaving the neck area open

 Then I clipped the corners close to the seam

 Then I turned it inside out and sewed around it.

 I cut the double sided bias tape into 2 foot segments

 I pinned it into place and began sewing at the end of the bias tape (holding the thread so the bias tape pulls through) sewed down and connected it to the bib, then to the end of the bias tape.  I then went back and did a zig zag stitch on the part that connected to the bib to hold it securely.

Here is Isabella in a blue one from Christmas past

and here is Aidric with his bib from another Christmas past.

Just a easy project to make life a little easier.  Have a blessed day. 

Alicia

Quilting

I finally finished the quilt.  When I got married I was blessed with 3 quilts, one that was stitched and two that were tied.  I had stitched a quilt and it is quite a project but I have always wanted to tie a quilt.  When I worked with a MOPS group we had some ladies come and show us how to tie baby quilts on a round table.  I have wondered if that would work with a full size quilt on my ping pong table…. so I tried it and made a lovely quilt for Latisha and Brent.  I would like to share my results and how I did it.

First I bought 16 feet of material for the front, 16 feet of a complimentary material for the back and batting.  I cut each material into 8 foot strips and sewed the fronts together and the backs together.  Then I taped three sides of back material right side down tightly to the ping pong table.

 Next I taped the batting snuggly down and then the front piece right side up snuggly down.

 Here are a couple pictures of it taped down and the beginning of the tying.

 Notice the one side hangs down.  I used quilting needles with a big enough eye to fit yarn and thread about 5 foot segments of yarn.  I liked using squares so I didn't have to measure my knots.  I just counted five square then put my needle through to the table and brought it up.  Then counted five more squares and down and up.

 Then I clip half way and triple knot each piece.

 After the first section was full, I took off the tape, moved the fabric over to the unknotted side, retaped and continued sewing and knotting.

 Next, I went around and cut the layers to the same size.  Then I folded the top layer over the batting, folded the bottom to match and pinned it around.

 I sewed around with a decorative stitch through all layers.

 Then I was so excited to finish my blanket.

Here is my final project.  I am happy with it and am excited to give it to the soon to be newlyweds.
Hope all is well, have a blessed day.
Alicia

Happy New Year

Here it is, a new start to a new year with so much in store.  I just dropped my son, Alexander, off at the airport.  I always hope to say something profound as he heads off to a new semester but as always I get chocked up and blubber my way through the goodbye.  It was so nice to have him home and this year we put him to work on a new project.  A couple years ago I painted my dining room and had planned on getting the kitchen and living room done.  So while Alex was home we put him to work again and with the help of the family got it done in just a few days.  It got pretty exciting some times with some of the hard to reach areas but it is so nice, clean, and warm.  I like how it turned out.  Thank you Alex!  :)


Now that that is done and the Christmas decorations are put away, it is back to school and wedding preparations.  I bought some material to tie a quilt for Brent and Latisha as a new project for myself.  Unfortunately I haven't got my last project of my brother's Christmas present done.  So I need to get that done first.  Guess I better get on that.  Have a blessed day.

Alicia

The finished paint job

material for my new project.  

Here We Go Again

It's off to the races, as my dad says.  My pajama project for Christmas has begun again.  I ordered my material, got it in, washed it, and set it out waiting to be cut and sewed into our annual Christmas jammies.  This year I am using the ping pong table to cut out the patterns. I think it is working nicely.  Such an ordeal.  Finally today I began really getting down to work.  I had really hoped to have gotten more done, as I am a bit behind, but we got a good start and with all the help from my girls, we'll get them done.  It is hard to find the time.

This year has been especially busy.  We have been trying to get Isabella in to the right therapies to help her.  I wish I could be enough but she is still not talking and needs lots of supervision.  I was blessed to have a friend recommend a wonderful Christian home school mom/physical therapist/natural path who has been where I am, with one of her own children.  She has been able to answer some of my questions, provide insight, and give helpful ideas.  Also, she recommended a speech therapy center.  This week we had our speech eval at this center and Isabella scored extremely low.  They had set us up with a speech therapist who offered great encouragement and told me her story about her own child.  It sounded so much like my story with Isabella.  Somedays I feel like we're the only ones going through such struggles but hearing other people with similar personal experiences, who are trying to help Isabella, brings such encouragement.  Next month we begin occupational therapy, have neurological testing, and meet with a geneticist.  It is like I want the answer to what is going on but am fearful of the answer they might give.  Then I find I have been having a hard time not getting offended by comments made by other people lately.  I look at my beautiful little girl, my heavenly Father gave us and I just want to wrap my arms around her and protect her from everything.   I know that God is with us and He is so much bigger than any of this.  I hope I can be an encouragement to someone out there.  God is never surprised.  He doesn't ever say, "Wow, I didn't see that one coming."  I find in my moments of despair, when I surrender and fall down at His feet, He is there to lift me up.  Rachel Wissmann wrote a song we sang in Bright Lights called "I am your Shield."  Sierra will sometimes play it for us on the piano.  It is a beautiful encouraging song and I recommend it.

Other than that we canned 24 quarts of apples, thank you Amy.  We also froze several bags of carrots from our garden and made a yummy carrot cake with some of our carrots.  Today we made carmel apples with apples we got from my Grandma's tree.  I posted that recipe in 2011 under recipes.  School has been going great.  Sierra, Danika, and Cassandra are in horse riding lessons, thank you Mom and Shana.  The girls are loving it and Cassie is quite fearless.  I'll have to get some picture of that but for now enjoy some other fun pictures.   Have a great day and remember God is always more than enough.

Alicia

my little "Belly Bear"

Aidric never shies from the camera and his sissies love taking his picture

Cassie loves matching Isabella

my big boy figuring out the mirror

Carrot Cake

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter milk

1 tsp vanilla 1 3/4 cup shredded carrots

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp ginger

mix 

combine and fold in...

2 cups flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

bake 350 degrees.  Top with cream cheese icing.  Yum.

Let the sewing begin.

First let me update on my garden.  It is doing good.  I have a strange effect on tomatoes.  They grow huge.  I'm not sure why but they do.  People show me their tomato plants and they are cute and full of tomatoes.  My plants are huge and produce little fruit.  So I give it a trim here and there but it just keeps on growing.  My strawberries are doing better.  I actually have a couple watermelon after a delayed start and we have been eating spaghetti squash, zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, beans, and corn.  Very fun. 

My first Christmas pj project.

So now the sewing begins. Christmas eve for the past 16 years, except one, I have made Christmas pjs for our family. A couple days ago I began the cutting out task. Cutting out the pattern is my least favorite part of the job. It requires much time and space and I sure do make a mess. But I finished getting all 8 pj's cut out today. I enjoy being creative and each year I try to make the jammies a little different. Some years they are cuter then others but the kids love opening their presents and I love us all matching. The job has gotten a lot larger over the years but so has the help. We have two sewing machines and I will, at times, have one daughter on each machine as I pin and press and they sew. We can get a lot done together. I really wanted to get the pjs cut out before school started so I am glad to have it done. It is always a walk in patience going to the store to get the material. Searching, brain storming and standing in line. Then getting everything to go with it and standing in line again. It surprises me how time consuming it gets. I don't think the line behind me really appreciates it when it is my turn and I ask for 26 yards of fabric. Then I get the question of "what are you doing with all this fabric?" It is fun.  Well, I hope you are all having a blessed day.  God bless.
Alicia

laying out the fabric and pressing it.  I'm grateful for enough room to lay it all out.

trying to figure out how to make it all fit

Yeah, I made it with just a little fabric left.

Last years pjs.  I can't wait to see how they turn out this year.