Creating Christmas Memories!

Anyone who knows me, would not be surprised to hear that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Growing up with my dad and step-mother who had 12 children between the two of them, left little time or energy to put much effort into Chistmas and as a little girl, even into my teen years, I vowed that when I had chicldren that Christmas would be what it was meant to be ... a magical time of year.

Well, during my whole pregnancy I searched through my cross stitch magazine and book collection, looking for the perfect stocking for our little angel. I finally had it picked out and when he was 3-months-old I started stitching. I spent any free time I had on it, which wasn't much with a newborn. 3 months into it, I realized that despite my hard work, I had managed to miscount when crossing from one page of the pattern to another, leaving a 12-stitch gap. UGH! I had to start over! I was nearly halfway done and the mistake was right in the middle of the whole thing. Rather than cry over it, I started collected what I needed and decided that I would stitch it on 14-count Aida, instead of 28-count, over 2. I prefer the softer look of the smaller count, but it definately harder when working on a larger project and I only had from Septemeber until Novemeber to stitch it and sew it, so we could take his Christmas photos with it.

Well, I'm making progress. I work on it for a few hours each day and am only ehind about a week from where I'd planned to be. So far here is the weekly progress pictures.

Week 1 (Sept. 5, 2010)

Week 2 (Sept. 12, 2010)

Week 3 (Sept. 19, 2010)

I feel like I'm making progress this week, despite Jamie's teething issues. I'll post updates as I go along.



The stocking I chose was "Opening His Pack" by Nancy Rossiin the book, "The Stockings Were Hung." (Sorry for the glare!)

Well, off to get a little stitching done before bedtime!

Until our next cup of tea ...

Monkey's Favorite Spot

So this past summer we went home (Texas) for a month while my husband was out of the country on an assignment. Many of the family members had yet to meet this little guy since the Army deemed it vital to move us to the OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE U.S. when I was 8-months pregnant, but that's Army life!

While we were there, our little Monkey, as we like to call this happy and active little gift of our, spent a lot of time being spoiled. As the first grandchild/great grandchild on both sides, he was quite a commodity, though my brother quickly followed up with the second grandchild, first grand-daughter, 3 months after Monkey was born.

So went a day on Pa Frank and Ma Joyce's ranch (my grandparents). While we were there lil man recieved his first "made with love" quilt ... his response was to promptly fall alseep on it ... in nothing but a diaper! (How's that for breaking it in!?!)




Over the past few months he has become quite attached to it ... to the point I have to make sure he doesn't fall out of the recliner in his room when I pull it out. Let me explain ...

Monkey is very good at sitting in the recliner with a toy while I fold his laundry or change his sheets, however, every day after his lunchtime nap, I lay the quilt on the floor, throw some toys on it and we practice sitting, crawling, and other age appropriate activities. Now he's got a small room and with the quilt on the floor nearly the whole room is covered in furniture or something, so as soon as I pull it off the toy box (beside the recliner) and open it up, he flips over on his tummy and pushes off the back of the chair and slides down the front to get to the quilt. Luckily I am there to catch him as his feet hit the floor ... much to his amusement. It is a fun game for him, but mommy still gets nervous. Maybe this game is why he was standing on his own, long before the crawl or sitting were attempted (on his part.)

He is content to play on the quilt for quite a while, unless the puppy walks by and he tries to follow. He's just happy as can be, playing on his quilt ... and mommy is happy becasue she gets to sit doen and relax for a minute!







Until our next cup of tea ...

Emerging from Chaos, Still Sleep Deprived, But Stitching!

So lately I've been juggling a lot of things, life with a baby, job search, home maintainence, weight loss (attempt), unit families, leading Baby/Toddler Music group and well, my sanity. My sanity seems to be on the loosing end.

In an attempt to not end up curled up in a corner, crying for my mommy (or chocolate!) I have to spend some time, though not nearly as much as I'd like, on craft projects. My main priority is the baby's Christmas stocking, but I also have two quilts that the tops are about halfway completed (one a little more, the other a little less).

When my mom and step-father came to visit in early August I had the chance to get a little more time in on projects while they took care of the baby. Granted they kept pushing me to relax more than I was, but its hard not to constantly feel like I needed to clean the house while they were here. For years I suffered under a "clean your room, clear your dished or suffer the consequences" regime, so relaxing is hard if there is even one dish in the sink or dirty sock lurking nearby.

I did take some time though and wanting to be a little more organized, decided to make a quick-stitch tote (no liner or anything fancy) so that I could keep whatever project (the baby's stocking) all together and be able to "Grab and Go" if needed (like if Geo has to go to the base to check in or something before we do dinner.)

So my mom and I made a quick trip to JoAnn's while my step-father watched the baby (EEK!) and an hour after starting this is what I had:



My mom really liked it and rather than risk finding it missing after she returned home, I offered to make one for her too. She picked some fabric from my small collection and this is what she got a little over an hour later!



Now the stocking is another story, and I'll post progress pictures and details soon (hopefully!) Life here is crazy and I am sorry to say my blog may be suffering, but I will try to be better ... (It took me 3 days to finish this one!)

Until our next cup of tea ...