Keeping Christmas

by Henry van Dyke

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.
But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts hungry for you; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world -- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death -- and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you can keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone.

Sew Long for Now!

5 Days until Christmas! I am oh so happy to be finishing up sewing for others and gifts to give! Below you will see one of the tea towels I embroidered for an Awana leader for Capt. Chaos. I have embroidered 10 tea towels for teacher gifts this week.

I also embroidered four cup gloves for our pastors. These go on those to go coffee cups like Starbucks. I am getting them Starbucks gift cards also. I will put these around an empty cup and put the gift cards in them.

I embroidered some altar clothes for another lady to give her priest. I still have two sweat shirts to embroidery and a coat to hem. If I have time I will make the table runner for my Momma, if not I will make one and give it to her for Mother's Day. Off to sew some more!

Sew Long for Now!

Ahhhh! All my little elves are home now. We went to VMI today and picked up Lt.Col. Cool. It is so nice to have them all here. Of course no sewing was done today. I did make gifts for Sunday School teachers Saturday and I will have to post a picture later. I am off on this chilly night to finish the pot of potato soup I am making for supper.

Sew Long for Now!

For you Linda, a picture of my new curtains. The material had a border on both ends and I choose to use it as the bottom of the curtain. I finished hemming a pair of pants and embroidering a saying on cloth for some one to frame for a Christmas gift yesterday. Today I am working on gifts for my children's Sunday School teachers. According to Capt. Chaos, 10 days until Christmas!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I decided our bedroom needed cleaning. I am embarrased to say how long it has been since I gave it a good cleaning. While working on it I saw the material I bought in October to make a curtain for our window. I decided to finally finish that project. The curtain was easy to sew. Nothing fancy, just a rectangle with a rod pocket. Now the bedroom looks so complete with the new curtain and cleaned. I took a break from other sewing. Today I must make myself get some done. Twelve Days until Christmas, my presents are not all finished. Are yours?

Sew Long for Now!

The soldier costumes for the ballet are done. They took a lot longer than I anticipated. I forgot to take a picture of them before they were picked up yesterday. Now, onto the stack of sewing for other customers I have here. I also have Christmas sewing to do. Oh, yea there is only 2 weeks until Christmas. I wonder if I can get it all done? Sometimes I feel like the cat in the picture (Orion is his name). Trying to reach forward, but something blocking my way. I can do it if I back up and take another way around! I am trying to type with that cat laying across my lap and arms now. It is very hard you know. He has been very loving lately.

Sew Long for Now!

The cutting is finally complete. 112 pieces cut out on this part. Today I start the sewing. I need to finish them by Friday. Hmmm.... Can I do it. Only with God's help.

Sew Long for Now!

The evening has been spent cutting out costume pieces. I have more to do. I need to stop for tonight though. Supper to fix, time to spend with the family. Over the weekend I didn't do any sewing. I did go to our annual ASG chapters Christmas luncheon. It was nice. They had a fashion show which was filled with beautiful outfits. They also had a fashion show of aprons members had made. Oh, the ideas. The runway was raising and it was almost like being at a high fashion show!

Sew Long for Now!

One of my favorite Christmas decorations.

I finished up the basketball pants and they have been picked up. Now on to more work on the soldier costumes.

Hope everyone's weekend is blessed.

Sew Long for Now!

Sewing is in full swing again here. I have been working on embroidering 12 pairs of pants for a jv basketball team. I have the stuff and need to finish cutting out the soldier jackets for the Nutcracker. The phone has begun to ring a lot with requests for sewing for Christmas. I keep playing the lines of an old song through my head, "If we make it through December every thing will be alright I know. It's the coldest part of winter and I shiver when I see the falling snow. If we make it through December every thing will be alright I know...."

Sew Long for Now!

The table topper was completed late Wednesday night. It graced Thursday's table. A table surrounded by family and new friends. One friend was a lady, 87 years young, who lives by herself. She was an only child and through her married life never had children. Now, except for a cousin she is alone. We invited her to join us and were so blessed by her. She has history. She told the children about her college life at Kent State in the late 1930' early 1940's. She told about being in the U.S.O. She told about playing for the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony. She listened to Captain Kitty play the violin, Captain Chaos play the piano, and Lt. Col. Cool play the guitar and gave them all helpful advice. We invited her to minister to her and she instead blessed us.

No other sewing has been done since then. There has been shopping and decorating and more company over the weekend. Today I have to get back to business.

Sew Long for Now!

I am an avid coupon clipper. I love a sale. My husband tells the story about how he mentioned to me one time that our lawn mower needed a new tire. I was shopping and found a lawn mower tire marked down to .25 so I bought it. It didn't fit the lawn mower, but for .25 it was worth a try. He thinks I was silly for buying it. Hey, it was on sale! LOL. Yesterday I went grocery shopping. I haven't been in a couple of weeks and had been saving up lots of coupons for things I was hoping were going to be on sale this week. Nothing beats combining a coupon with a sale price. I also had quite a few Krogers coupons for money off your total grocery bill if you spend so much in a certain department. When I finally got to check out the clerk looked at me and ask if I was really going to use all those coupons. I said yes, that I had put a lot back because I found the store brand cheaper. When the sale was totaled I had $104 and some change in coupon savings.

On the sewing front I embroidered a sweatshirt yesterday that had 10 words on it! It took two hoopings with my biggest hoop. I did not get my table topper done. I mentioned that to the General and he volunteered to take Captain Kitty to both her dentist and orthodontist visits today and also to pick up Lt. Col. Cool from school. Yes! I will get it done.

Sew Long for Now!

11 more of the soldiers leotard undershirts are finished and now all 17 are gone to be fitted to the toy soldiers. They will be back this week for final hemming and seaming. Next onto the the outter vest that will make them look like toy soldiers. The reason they are made in two parts? Ease of movement while dancing. We also cleaned the fish tank over the weekend. Can you say ewwww! Today I hope to finish up the table topper (I know I say that everyday), and embroidery a sweatshirt for a lady. Shopping. I greatly dislike grocery shopping. Today I need to shop for some supplies for our Thanksgiving celebration. We will be having the General's sister and an elderly lady we have met who has no family besides all our family. I hear my parents are stopping by for dessert.

Sew Long for Now!

Cutting out. That's about it. I spent my time in the sewing room yesterday cutting out more parts to costumes for the nutcracker. I still have two pieces to cut out, they added more costumes. I need to get that done and sewing started today. I really would like to finish my table topper this weekend. I would like to use it next week. Oh, we had snow flurries here last night. It helps get you in the mood for the holidays!

Sew Long for Now!

I snapped this photo this morning while trying to get ready for our day. Captain Chaos and the kitty are watching the Bali sharks eat. They both looked so cute sitting there intent upon watching. Yes, cleaning the fish tank is on my to do list. We used to have a scum sucker fish, but the sharks ate it one day. There have been two craw fish living in the tank since July. C.C. caught them in a stream. One died last week and before I could get the net to scoop it out they had ate it. The kitty often tries to get his paws into the tank to get to the fish. I think if he ever did they would eat him! No sewing was accomplished yesterday due to running! I think if I could never leave the house I could accomplish a lot. I am off to sew out a digitized design tonight.

Sew Long for Now!

I hemmed the pants yesterday and that is about it. I have been working hand quilting in the evenings. I have a quilt I pieced together years ago and I also started hand quilting it. I put it in the closet for one reason or another. Last week I got an urge to work on it. Two evenings this week I have pulled it out and quilted while everyone watched some TV. LOL, well as much TV as you can watch with no cable.

Sew Long for Now!

I have almost cut out all the soldiers shirts. They keep changing the pattern and the number needed so that makes it hard to complete. I need these shirts done by this coming weekend. I just remembered this morning that I also haven't taken a look at that Bernina sample. Maybe this week. I can't tell. I am getting excited Lt. Col. Cool gets to come home for a break next week! I am so looking forward to him being here for a few days. Well, off to hem some pants.

Sew Long for Now!

The dolls are finished and delivered. We hope that three little girls will be happy to receive these for Christmas. Captain Kitty made the dress for the red headed doll in the middle. This weekend brings lots of work. I have to cut out more soldier outfits for the ballet, work on digitizing an embroidery, hem some pants, and the list is longer but the time is not. I love when people ask me will I not be bored when my children leave home. I have so many ideas and dreams of things to make that I hope to never find myself with nothing to do!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday Captain Kitty and I worked all afternoon on the Salvation Army dolls. Captain Chaos went to a birthday party, so Kitty brought her sewing machine into my room and we set to work. I made all the slips you see here to go with the bloomers I made before. I have not attached the snaps on the back of the slips yet. Captain Kitty finished all but the snaps on her dress for the red headed doll. I made dresses for the other two dolls. Today we need to add the snap closures to everything and they will be ready. On the way to take Captain Chaos to the birthday party we went by one of the local area quilt shops and I bought some Christmas fabric to work on a new table topper. I still need to quilt the last one. I also need to sew out a digitizing I am doing for some one and hem some pants. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. No worries here!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was violin and piano lesson day. We also had to run errands due to a birthday party and church today. My only sewing related event of yesterday was going to JoAnn's to purchase a 12 1/2 X 12 1/2 square Omnigrip non-slip ruler to help with some Christmas presents I want to make. I had a coupon and you really need one to purchase this ruler. It retails around $20. Today I have to finish the doll dresses. Let's hope I find time between school, running, etc.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I thought I wouldn't get any sewing done. We all had dentist appointments and I had lots of errands to run. By evening though I found some time. I digitized a design for a martial arts group. I also began the doll clothes. Above you see two sets of bloomers. I had a pattern of sorts. It was a hand drawn pattern on a piece of copy paper with hardly any instructions. I later figured out I did it the hard way. I have ideas now on how to do the next ones much easier!

Sew Long for Now!

I had entered my name in a give away over at Mountain Musings and look what I received in the mail! My children told me this was the best type of mail! There was a magazine with recipes also, but a certain girl had disappeared with that to check out the ideas. Thanks Sarah! I embroidered a jacket over the weekend for a customer. I also cut out three outfits for the Salvation Army Christmas dolls.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I finished remaking the sweater. It's a bit wrinkled in the photo from the manipulation I had to put it through to get it in the hoop. I will hand wash it and lie it flat to dry before giving it to the customer. I hemmed the sleeves using a fancy stitch on my machine that looks like pansies.
Here is a close up of the sleeve. I didn't use interfacing so that it would get that ruffles look. I think it turned out sweet. I also put both sides of my table topper together.

Sew Long for Now!

Because of the season of life I am in I don't often get to go to all day workshops. As part of my birthday present I got to spend all day yesterday at a workshop learning to make a quilted table topper. I did not complete mine in class. It is completed up to the point that I need to sew the two halves together and then attach the batting and backing and quilt it. It was so fun to spend the day sewing for fun!

Sew Long for Now!

I have a few people I sew for who bring me clothes to remake. That is the only type of sewing I do for them. This cream sweater is plain. The lady wants me to make it 3/4 sleeves. She wanted black and white pansies on it and there is a place on each sleeve that needs something done. I am going to put the two pansies on one sleeve to cover up a set of holes she tried to mend and on the other sleeve I will put the one pansy to cover up an ink spot that can not be removed. This is the front that I have embroidered already. I think it would look good with some black sheer fabric ruffled around the bottom and the bottoms of the sleeves.

Sew Long for Now!

I never got time to try out the pattern sample this weekend. I did hem a pair of pants for a lady and fix the too much gather in my shirt. Saturday we picked up our rat and went to my parents farm. One of my brothers had a deck built on the back of my parents home and surprised them with a hot tub on it. We went up to test it out! My parents grilled for us and had a pumpkin pie for my birthday. I love pumpkin pie. I have decided though store bought cannot compare to home made. They are not hard to make either. Sunday was my actual birthday and the General had to work. The children and I went to church, I brought a pumpkin pie Captain Kitty had made me to Sunday School.:) When the General came home he brought me a beautiful card, the roses, and French horns (another thing I have had a sweet tooth for). He ask me if I wanted to go out and eat, but I declined. Instead he fixed me grilled steak and fried potatoes at home. Ahhhhh! That's my idea of a great birthday.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday the only sewing related thing I accomplished was downloading the free trial from the new Bernina software. This software lets you put in your measurement and it gives you a 3D view of your body in the pattern. You can even audition fabric with the style. I think I see my Christmas present. You can find it at My Label. I think I will play with the sample this weekend.

Sew Long for Now!

Thank you God for the rain. It has rained on and off here the last two days. We desperately needed it. Rainfall has been sparse lately. In the afternoon yesterday I spent some time catching up on our families mending needs. I hemmed two pairs of jeans for Captain Kitty. I altered a shirt for her. I also tried to fix a shirt of mine. It is a store bought shirt. I really like it. The only problem is my shoulders and chest are smaller than my hips. Whenever I buy shirts to fit my hips they are huge and gapping in the shoulder and chest area. With the make of this shirt I decided to put elastic in the neckline to give it some gather. I made the elastic too short and got too much gather. I am going to cut it out and try again.

Sew Long for Now!

My company left this morning. It has been a whirlwind bit. I went shopping after moving the rooms and broke down and bought a bedspread and new sheets. I purchased some fabric to make curtains for our bedroom, but have not gotten to that yet. I also broke down and purchased new curtains for the living room. I wanted to make them, but I also wanted new ones up. I altered a bridesmaid dress, hemmed some lined dress pants, shortened and hemmed four shirts, and embroidered an item. During the time my company was here my father-in-law ended up in the hospital here. He missed all the events of parents weekend at VMI, which he had traveled from Kansas to see. I spent all day Saturday at VMI and then the General brought our son home on Sunday and he attended church with us and spent the day here. It was busy, but nice. Tomorrow, life goes back to our normal routine. What ever that is here!

Sew Long for Now!

The moves are all completed. I have been so busy. I have six of the undergarments for the nutcracker soldier costumes put together. I have so much sewing to get done before Friday. My company starts arriving on Saturday. I love the layout of where my sewing room is now. It used to be our oldest son's room, then our youngest son. It needs paint. I feel like I am in a cave with the grey walls and black trim! Maybe next spring we can make it look more lady like.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I cut out some of the parts for the soldier jackets for the nutcracker. They will be wearing an under garment of spandex type material with the sleeves attached to it. There will be a vest type garment to wear over this. I cut out 6 front and back panels of the spandex type material. I cut out 12 sleeves from the jacket material. I need to cut out 12 sleeve linings and then I can complete this. I have one complication. The General and I went furniture shopping this morning. We were given a king size bed frame a few months ago. Captain Chaos needs a new bed. We bought a king size mattress and box springs and are giving him our full size bed. Another complication. My in-laws are coming in two weeks. My mil cannot walk up and down stairs. The only beds they could sleep in are downstairs. We will be moving rooms around again! I promised I would not do this again. (I have been known to move bedrooms around in our house once a year) It seems now I have to. My sewing room will be going downstairs in Captain Chaos' room and he will be moving up stairs into my sewing room. I will also have to finish the nutcracker outfits and a formal dress I have to alter before they get here. My life is never boring! The good news I got a new couch and love seat also! Our couch was my parents. It was in my parents living room for 40 years and when they moved they got new furniture. I took a lot of their old furniture. The couch survived in their living room because it was the company sitting room when we were growing up and no one was ever allowed to sit on it except guests. A few weeks at my house with Captain Chaos using it as a tumbling mat did it in. That was five years ago! Next weekend they will deliver my new couch and loveseat. The next few weeks should prove to be more hectic than the last few. Lessons will go on, along with all the outside activities, and add all the moving, extra sewing, and cleaning to get ready for three extra guests for a couple of weeks. Well, it will give me some incintive!

Sew Long for Now!

Do you ever wish that you had enough time and energy to sew all the ideas in your head? Or even to complete all the small tasks piled next to your machine? I am trying to get some mending done. One of my shirts that I really like got some stains on it. My solution...embroidery over the stains and continue to wear the shirt. I have done this on several clothing items to extend the life of the garment. Recycling. Sounds better than cheap!

Said shirt in progress of being remade!

Sew long for Now!

Has it really been that long since I updated here? My only excuse is that life has been so very very busy. I have been sewing. Nothing major, just little things here and there. I do have several bolts of material and a pattern laying here to make jackets for a local ballet company's preformance of the Nutcracker. It started out 12 jackets and now they want 16. Lessons are taking up a big part of our time lately. That and home renovations and winter preparations. We have been harvesting the ends of the garden and I have been putting up the produce from it. I have made lots of salsa. The General began the task of getting our windows ready for winter. We haven't done this in a few years, so it needs it. He pulled two of the windows out and sanded them, re-glazed them, and then gave them a new coat of paint. We only have 8 more to go!

This is my new acquisition. For national sewing month my local sewing shop had sales each week. I purchased this one week. This lovely piece of equipment is a ruffler. I have tested it and it really works!

Sew Long for Now!

I finished five walker caddies for the ASG community service project. They actually take a bit of time to make. They came in a bag precut from our chapter. With this green corduroy it was hard to decide what to do. Since it has nap on one side and not on the other, which do you want to show the most. I decided to put the nap on the outside. It gave directions for sewing the pocket by sewing a seam down the center making two pockets. I changed this a little. I took a magazine and measured the width, then I made one pocket big enough to fit a magazine or folded newspaper and the other pocket is smaller. We are putting more effort into our school lessons so I have had less time to sew. I still have walker caddies to put together. I told the nursing home we volunteer at that I would make socks with polar fleece and non-skid for Christmas. They want as many pairs as I can make, five hundred would be nice! I doubt I can do that many. I have three dolls to dress for the Salvation Army to give at Christmas. I am also helping make costumes for the Nutcracker Ballet one of our local ballet companies is putting on. Right now I have the toy soldiers jackets to work on. Then there is the usual hemming and such for people.

Today was a gorgeous fall day here with beautiful blue skies and a nice wind. I adore autumn. I doubt it will be a colorful autumn here because of the lack of rain and high temperatures we have been experiences. That doesn't bother me though. I still love the feel in the air at this time of year. I love the smells of autumn. I love the sounds of autumn. I love autumn!

Sew Long for Now!

This is one of my favorite pictures of a sunset I took off my front porch this summer. Days end. It's been a busy day. Yesterday I did some sewing. I finished another tote, hemmed some pants, and began five walker caddies. I also cut Captain Chaos' hair, and went shopping. Today I put up 10 pints of salsa, hung out clothes, swept and mopped the kitchen and livingroom, and cooked, cooked, cooked. My list still has many chores I needed to get done, but my body has given out. It has been a year now since my last surgery and I am just starting to get back into the swing of life. Five surgeries in four years drained me. I still have things I will never be able to do the same the rest of my life and I am finally overcoming and adapting to these changes. Even when you think you are ok, 2 weeks after surgery or even three months after surgery, your body takes a while to heal. Spiritually, you think everything is fine. Even spiritually and emotionally it takes time. Some days I just take a deep breath and think I actually feel like doing something. Life is good.

Sew Long for Now!

Our computer has been feeling cranky the last several days. Every time I come on to post about our trip to New Market something happens. Here's a picture of my two boys on Sunday. We went to New Market Sunday morning to see our eldest take his oath, charge the field, and get his shoulder boards. Then we watched them parade in downtown New Market. Later that evening we all went out to eat together. We are so proud of him.

This a picture from earlier in the day with his sister.

Sew Long for Now!

A friend of mine came by and took the children to the pool with her today. In the quiet I made and canned salsa, made 6 more pairs of fleece socks, made a tote bag for a friend, worked on school planning, and putzed. I could have done the same with my children here. My children are great helpers. Our youngest son does yell Mom every five minutes and come and tell me things and ask me questions. No matter how much one on one I spend with him it's never enough so I have to tell him that I will give so much time a day totally devoted to him, but I have to spend some time doing other things. He knows that I will listen and pay attention even when I am sewing, cooking, or cleaning; I just can't stare him in the eye at that time. It is tiring, but I love him. Most of the time I try to incorporate him in helping. A lot of the time he doesn't want to and will go find something to do for a few minutes. He is very obsessive about things. Today his obsession is if he had the equipment he could make a tv commercial for his favorite toy. He has come and told me the same thing ten times since three o'clock. I am sure I will hear it again a few times before he goes to bed. Yesterday he spent all day writing a song about his favorite toy. He sung it to me over and over and over. It was very interesting.

Sew Long for Now!

This a picture of a pair of fleece socks I made last evening for our ASG's community service project. These are so easy to make. They require three pieces and it took me no time to put them together. The nursing home I visit once a month listed socks as a need for residence for their Christmas wish list. I think I will make some, but I will put non-skid fabric on the bottom. Most of the residence at the facility we visit do not wear shoes and that will be safer for them.

I have been busy lately with non sewing related things. Even though we do lessons all year around here, come August I get the bug to organize. I usually makes lesson plans and other scheduling. I have spent the past several days working on 52 weeks of plans. We heard from Lt. Col. Cool last evening. He survived h*ll week. He sounded very good and upbeat. Classes started today for him. We are all looking forward to next Sunday when we get to see him take his oath at New Market Battlefield.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was a very productive day. In the evening I put binding on a case used to hold a sail. I also embroidered two gym bags for soccer players. This week is our start to get back into a routine week. We are slowly getting there.

Sew Long for Now!

Captain Kitty's pillow for her grandmother's birthday is finished. She cross stitched the picture and picked out the fabric to go with it. I sewed the border around and made it into a pillow. She did such a great job. I can't wait to mail the present off to Kansas tomorrow.

Sew Long for Now!

One of the things we have been busy with was getting our oldest ready and off to college. Saturday he began matriculation at Virginia Military Institute. It's not going to be an easy ride, but it is what he has always wanted and strived for. This week especially could you pray for him. They call this h*ll week. It is an intense time of physical and mental challenge to get him ready to become a VMI cadet.

Sew Long for Now!

It's done! This is the wall hanging I made for my mother-in-love, whose birthday is today. Blue is her favorite color and her first initial is L. I used an alphabet that has a rose bud to match the material used in the middle border and sashing. Captain Kitty cross stitched her a picture of a bird that we will be making into a pillow tonight.

Sew Long for Now!

My mother-in-love's birthday is next week and I have been working on a present for her. This is a close-up of one part of it. I finally finished "the curtains" tonight. I need to give them a press and Sunday I will give them to the customer at church. I will post a picture of the finished present when I...well finish it!

Sew Long for Now!

Here is a picture of my sweet baby Captain Chaos. His 10th birthday was this past week. He has the sweetest heart and I love the freckles on his face! I often tell him I am going to keep him just because he has handsome freckles. All our children are special because we were told we would never have children of our own. Then when I was pregnant with both boys the doctors told us they would not live. I spent three pregnancies in the hospital and went through many procedures and even surgery to have them all. I wanted six children at least. I am grateful to have half as many. After spending the first six months of Captain Chaos' pregnancy in the hospital we were told he would have a disease worse than Downs and never make it to his 1st birthday. They ask us to choose to have him. We told them there was no choice. Our faith would help us to love and deal with what ever God choose to bless us with. I remember the morning I went into the delivery room. They hadn't told us that they had gotten a special pediatric neurologist to come assist in the delivery because of what they expected. He introduced himself after I was strapped down on the table for the c-section. I was blown away. I don't know if it was anger or just perturbment. Couldn't they have warned me? CC came out healthy physically except for a huge umbiblical hernia. He has had some special characteristics since he was born. The doctors thought he was deaf, nope. They thought he had sight problems, nope. They thought he had autism, the early tests showed not. Reading about Aspergers lately has us convinced that he does have that. We don't think it will affect his life negatively and that we can help him overcome some of the challenges. He has such a loving heart and is my right hand.

Sew Long for Now.

One set of scrappy pillowcases to replace old worn ones. I did tuck in those serger threads last night before taking them out of the sewing room.

Sew Long for Now!

Another embroidery finished. This time a quilt square for a couple to add to an anniversary gift for friends.

Sew Long for Now!

My days have been so busy with laundry, cooking, gardening, lessons, cleaning, and relationships that my sewing is having a hard time fitting in. Over the weekend I did make it to my favorite local sewing machine dealer and JoAnn's for some supplies to work on things, but no actual sewing. Yesterday I was determined to complete something for some one so last night at 8:30 p.m. I embroidered four towels and a wash cloth for a girl to take to college next week. Don't you wish you had all day to sit and sew? Why do people have to eat and have clean clothes any way? LOL!

Sew Long for Now!

I recently came upon a a site called Burda Style that has free patterns. These are not Burda pattern company patterns, but they do seem simple and look interesting to try. Take a look and see what you think.

Sew long for Now!

An altar cloth I embroidered for an upcoming wedding. Such a delicate piece of linen.

Sew long for Now!

The curtains, the curtains. All I had to do was line the curtains. Sigh...it has ended up to be this challenging task. The curtains stretch as you sew them, must be some spandex in the material. The lining has black marks on it, the customer nor I saw until cut out. Now after all that, I am 1 1/2 yards short. I will be making a trip to JoAnn's soon. I did replace a zipper for a friend this weekend.

Lt. Col. Cool is home from the summer transition program at VMI. In a few short weeks he will be going back for matriculation. Capt. Kitty is writing for a homeschool newsletter. A conversation between myself and Capt. Chaos: Capt. Chaos "I teached myself to do that." Me "Taught, you need to used the correct past tense." Capt. Chaos "I am trying to learn your English." Me "English is not a second language for you, it's your English also." What is Wookie his first language?!

Sew Long for Now!

This is my close personal friend these days. I am ripping all the seams out of six panels of curtains. I have cut the curtain lining out and when I finish ripping I will sew the seams back with lining under them to back the curtains. Ripit, ripit.

Sew Long for Now!

Today I finished these five lap quilts for our ASG community service projects. They have flannel on one side and a cotton fashion fabric on the other. I like them so much I may have to make me one to use while on the computer!

Sew Long for Now!

Sewing is happening, but nothing fun. I have been working on altering pants for the minor league baseball team. How many pants does that team have. I know I have done home and away pants, but it seems like I have done so many for them. Oh, well it's good money. Off to find something fun to sew!

Sew Long for Now!

I am still here and still sewing. I took the purple dress and they wanted adjustments in the sleeve. I just cut them out and remade the sleeves. I delivered it again on Friday. I got another emergency dress alteration for a wedding last Saturday. That one was fun. It was a size 2 dress and it was too big! I did some pants for the baseball team and have 7 more pairs here to get done by tomorrow. I have lots of projects due for Thursday's ASG meeting and I have a couple of sets of curtains to line for a customer. It's been terribly hot here. Not much rain. We have had to water to upper garden in the evenings. We have been getting cherry tomatoes and last night I got some zucchini. Today is our day to volunteer at the nursing home so I must run.

Sew Long for Now!

I have completed the purple formal dress. I will be delivering it today. It took a lot longer than I expected. The adjustments I made to the shoulder and back seem to affect every other area of the dress. I have ripped many seams out and redid them in this dress. I also finished both my skirts that I found the tops to match. The material was a little thin for my taste so I lined both the skirts. I choose to line them with bleached muslin. My reasoning was that I wanted to wear them mostly this summer and the muslin would not be as hot or stick to me as much as the silky lining material. I wore the green outfit yesterday when we took Lt. Col. Cool to VMI for the STP program. We did a lot of walking and it was warm (not as hot as usual) and it was very comfortable and worked well. Over the weekend I got a call of a desperate lady whose daughter was singing at Niagra Falls, N.Y. over the holidays with a local college children's choir. Her daughter had grown and her dress was too tight in the bust. They could not order new dresses until September so she wanted to know if there was anything I could do. The dress was made almost identical to the purple one pictured. The only problem was it was made out of velvet in the bodice. Since it was going to leave a mark from letting out the seams I let it out in the back and side seams. I tried to search the internet and see if there was a way to got the mark out of velvet, but I had no luck. It gave it enough to hopefully get her through the next three concerts before she could order a new dress. I am off to more sewing.

Sew Long for Now!

Remember the material I bought in Richmond? Today Captain Kitty and I were out shopping and I found these two shirts on sale. I thought they looked like they may go with the material so I took a chance and purchased them. Ah! I was so excited when I layed them with the material. They are perfect matches! I must get busy on these two skirts.

Sew Long for Now!

This is the formal dresses zipper. I had a fitting with the young lady and had to make some adjustments to the arm holes and neck. This affected the zipper. It took me three times of removing the zipper and adjusting the waist seam to finally get everything to line up. Thankfully, I had basted the zipper in place. I ended up not putting the invisible zipper in because one of the times I did try it, but because of the adjustments it did not look very good. I found a lilac zipper that matched perfect.

Sew Long for Now!