Christmas Aprons

Someone suggested to me I should sew some Christmas aprons - so I did!  I am not into the cutesy Christmas fabric choosing, instead, the beautiful classics that remain timeless.  I found some gorgeous fabric and was able to create a couple of really elegant aprons.  These are not your traditional quickly-sewn looking-a-bit-boring Christmas aprons.  These are filled with details typically seen on skirts, with the darts and pleats, but they are worthy of the beauty of the fabric and I am thrilled with the results.

This first one is a new style for me.  I call this the "Ali Apron".  I remember sketching this out many months ago and I finally made it into reality.

The box pleats at the bottom of the apron were quick to make, thanks to a little pleat tool I found at the thrift store about a year ago.  I found it again recently (my "sewing room" is a disaster!) and it makes quick work of making any type of pleats - no measuring required.

I knew I wanted to accent the apron with a large fabric flower so I did - it adds such a charming flair!

With all these details, this is most certainly not your get-down-and-dirty-in-the-kitchen kind of apron but a I-am-the-hostess-of-a-great-Christmas-party-and-I-want-to-look-great-while-keeping-clean kind of apron.

The second one I made was made in the Anne Apron style, with the pleated skirt.  This is probably my favorite type of apron to make (at least it was - with each additional apron I make, that opinion is possibly changing).  I love the elegance of it and how it actually looks more like a skirt than an apron. 

Once again, the classic Christmas colors of red, white, green and gold are so beautiful and this style of apron really showcases it.  The bolder fabric stands out while the more muted red and gold is a nice surprise under the pleats.

With the extra long tie, this apron can be tied in the front or the back.

I am going to be selling my aprons at a craft show here this weekend so we will see how it goes.  Regardless, I think I may have to buy some more Christmas fabric but I just might wait until it goes on sale in a little while!  Do you have a Christmas apron?  What kind of Christmas fabric appeals most to you?

** The very best part about sewing these aprons was that I could do the whole thing on my new-to-me 1954 Elna Supermatic sewing machine, gifted to me by my grandmother.  My new Brother sewing machine grumbles incessantly when sewing through anything thicker than 2 layers of cotton.  This machine, while sewing through 5 layers of fabric to attach the box pleats, didn't so much as hesitate.  It was a wondrous sewing experience!  I am smitten with my new machine! **

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Here's Wishing You a Christmas Filled With Love!

Every year Jason has the privilege of writing our Christmas letter. Here is the 2010 version! I hope you enjoy!

Christmas greetings to you all. As you celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus we hope and pray that you would also all experience the peace, joy and salvation that the grown man Jesus made possible. As I reflect on this past year and wonder about how to share our lives in one short letter I was taken back to last year’s letter and realized that, in spite of the demanding pace of life and the notion that we are all still about the same, much has, in fact, changed. It is very good to stop and think about what has been going on in my life and so this letter is likely far less for you than for me as it becomes an exercise in reflection and to show me how faithful God has been and how grateful I have reason to be. However, we have sent you this because we love you and want to share our lives with you, just as we hope to be able to share in your lives.


Arileigh – Nearly 2 now this whirlwind of a child has lived up to all my fears of being the busiest of the bunch. While I was voraciously anticipating the day that our youngest would be independent enough not to need Chantelle or myself for her every need, now that that has begun to happen I question the cruel irony of my circumstances. What I found as we closed the door of infant dependency was a much more daunting door opening in front of us. The constant infant dependence has been replaced with the constant toddler independence. Even in the time it has taken to write this paragraph I have needed to stop and remove pencil crayons from the one writing on the couch, clean up brown sugar, pancake mix and cheese whiz from the one who had removed it from the cupboard and fridge and was preparing to mix it all in the living, and remove a pen from the hand of the one who was poking another in the face with it. And all of this from the same whirlwind of a child! She has also shown a great aptitude for “talking”, the quantity of which can only be rivaled by her mother! Despite the dizzying challenges we encounter, we cannot imagine life without her and imagine that all this energy will likely benefit her in her newly found TV commercial stardom.

Aliyah – Psalm 56:8 is translated in the New Living Translation as “You (God) have collected all my tears in your bottle”. We believe God actually has a bathtub for Aliyah. She is definitely our most sensitive child crying for reasons from great injustices to just because the sun rose. Besides crying she enjoys babies, books and just sitting around and snuggling. During home school hours Aliyah feels it is just as important that she be doing school as well and can be found deep in thought in her preschool workbook. When the tears do dry for a while and a smile erupts on her face, what a beautiful little 3 year old girl she is, trying so hard to be and do all that her big sister is and does.

RhÉanna – Our fearless leader continues to amaze us in her outgoingness and willingness to try just about anything. Although only 4 she was insistent that it was time for her to start school and is now excelling at kindergarten. She is almost always the first one done her schoolwork and is usually disappointed that there isn’t more for her to do. Although we have tried, somehow she has not received the memo that she is not in charge. We have caught she several times telling her siblings what sort of punishment they will receive for the wrong things she has caught them doing including telling them to go to their room. This doesn’t go over well with the younger siblings, never mind her 2 older brothers who receive this corrective action with about as much enthusiasm as a mosquito bite. No doubt though, the highlight of our year with Rheanna is that this year she made Jesus her forever friend! Just as with the boys, we are thrilled that she has understood His love for her and her need for His help in all she does. We anticipate greatly the things God can do through her.

Adlai – At 6, Adlai has now gotten over the novelty of school and has begun to show his true colors. His comedic and restless character pulls him away from the table any time he can get away with it, and you can find him much more likely building Lego, drawing pictures or just making his brother and sisters laugh. While school may not be the highlight of his day he is certainly showing that he has a great mind for math. Time and time again, this creative boy can be found playing alone creating some great masterpiece out of Lego (then leaving said Lego lying around his room!).

Payton – Our 7 year old gentle giant continues to live up to the firstborn stereotype of being cautious, responsible and a great caregiver. His outstanding ability to read, matched by his remarkable memory leaves him spouting out facts both useful and useless that make me wonder if he was smaller for his age and was in the public school if he would get beat up a lot. As this is not the case, my questions turn inward as I ponder how long it will take him to figure out he is smarter than his dad. His heart is a generous one and often piles of seemingly useless recyclables end up in his bed as he creates treasures out of trash for those he loves. His desire to help in any and all areas has made him quite proficient in the kitchen – he is already making Macaroni and Cheese and Quick Cheese Biscuits with little to no help from mom!

Chantelle – continues to have far more interests than any human can possibly participate in. However, having not yet come to the realization that she is human, she continues to teach, work, and create, in ways that make Martha Stewart appear to be incompetent. I also introduced her to the chainsaw this year (Lord only knows why!), which she handled very well and can now add to her nearly exhaustive list of skills. She continues to home school the kids and does a remarkable job at it although she finds it much more challenging than it may appear to be at the surface. (This may in fact be the thing that breaks her and reveals her humanness) All kidding aside, she certainly feels that the Holy Spirit is using this endeavor to develop a deep character inside of her. Somewhat related to home schooling (so I thought), I heard her say to me that she had successfully gotten through the year without shooting a kid. I told her that was fantastic and I was glad she hadn’t shot a kid either. She gave me that “you’re an idiot look” and repeated what she had actually said “I have successfully gotten through a year without sugar.” Looking back that did make more sense to me and goes along well with the idea that she may not be human after all.


Jason – as for me, it is now been 13 days since I began this family newsletter. I had great hopes of FINALLY getting one of these out before Christmas. Perhaps I should stop setting such ambitions goals. Between work, church, and home, my life is looking more and more like a hamster wheel. That probably explains the shredded up paper lying all over the floor. Now if someone would please come and clean up the turds that we seem to find from time to time that would be great! On a completely different note, after nearly 12 years I am transitioning out of the hog barns and back into the grain farm. It is a slow and ambiguous evolution that leaves me wondering am I really switching directions or will I just be left with 2 full-time jobs. I guess I’m not a real farmer anyway until I am working 80 hours a week. We did, however, manage to get away for a wonderful week with family this summer in Minneapolis. We had such a good time I am already planning our vacation for next decade whether we need it or not.

Kids Say the Funniest Things:

Adlai: “Marshmallows won’t kill you.”

While Payton & Adlai were playing chess, Payton told Chantelle, “I got Adlai’s queen but Adlai got all mad so I gave it back.”

Rhéanna: “When am I going to grow up?”

Payton: “Can someone turn off the angel? It’s making me have bad looks in my eye balls.”

More Memorable Moments:

• Payton had surgery for T-tubes…again


• Adlai has a new found need for glasses


• In classic Rhéanna style she learned to ride her bike much younger than the boys did


• Arileigh learned to walk way back in March


• We spent many hours in the country cutting down trees and pushing over buildings and making wiener roasts


• Payton learned to mow the lawn

If you have ever wondered what Chantelle and I do with ALL our free time here is a statistical snapshot of a few of the major things.

15330 – items of clothing washed in one year

28470 – number of plates, utensils, etc washed in one year

3285 – number of diapers changed in a year (last year’s stat)

22 – the number of children Rhéanna thinks we should have

1/2 - the amount of food that makes it into Arileigh’s mouth

1/2 - the amount of food that ends up on the floor under Arileigh

1095 – the number of times in a year that the dining room floor needs to get swept

3650 – number of toys that get cleaned up in a year

32850 – number of toys or toy pieces that would be cleaned up in a year if they were cleaned up each day

365 – number of days in a year that Jason ponders throwing all the toys away.

600 – number of liters of milk we buy in a year

365ish – number of days in a year we feel incredibly blessed by the life and family the Lord has entrusted to us :)

Halter Sundress For 18" Bear

RJ is getting another Build-A-Bear for Christmas (shhhh, don't tell her!). This time it is a bunny! However, rather than buying clothes for the bunny, I wanted to make her a dress. So I did! I had an idea in my mind and it turned out just like I pictured! Don't you love when that happens?! And since I love to give, I am going to give you the pattern and instructions on how to make this simple halter sundress for any 18" bear, Build-A-Bear or not, for free! This is really very simple to make, requiring only straight stitching and very little time. I actually made this entire thing in front of the girls but they had no idea what I was making! :)

Free Sewing Pattern for 18" Build-A-Bear - Halter Sundress

Supplies Needed:
1 - 18"x4" rectangle of fabric
1 - 36"x6" rectangle of fabric
2 - 9"x2" rectangles of fabric
36" piece of lace
1" piece of Velcro
matching thread
sewing machine
iron
pins, scissors, etc.

1. Take your 18"x4" rectangle and fold it in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. You now have an 18"x2" rectangle. Open the folds you just made. Take the raw lengthwise edges (the 18" sides) and fold them in 3/4"; press.

On the ends (the 4" ends) fold in 1/2"; press. Fold your rectangle in the middle again (the very first fold you made) and you now have a rectangle about 1 1/4" wide by 17" long; press well. We will refer to this piece as the band. Set it aside.


2. Take your 36"x6" piece and turn under a 1/4" on the bottom 36" edge. Press. Turn under 1/4" again; press. Stitch. You have just made the hem at the bottom of the dress. We will refer to this piece as the skirt. On each of the 6" sides, fold under 1/2"; press. Fold under 1/2" again; press again. Stitch.


On the raw top 36" edge, sew a gathering stitch along the top of the piece, close to the edge. If you don't have a gathering stitch, set your stitch length to long then make two rows of stitching close to the edge. Make sure the rows do not cross over each other. Gently pull up the bobbin thread on these two stitch lines you just made. You will gather this edge of the skirt. Gather until it matches the length of the band you previously made.

3. Once you have the skirt gathered, you will attach it to your band. Place your band with the open long edge at the bottom and the folded long edge at the top. Take your gathered skirt and place it inside the band, a bit more than 1/4" in. Pin in place. Stitch across the band catching the skirt as you go. Once you have finished that first row of stitching, do another row right close to the first row you just made. Then stitch close to the upper edge of the band, across the whole band. You should now have the band and the skirt attached to each other.

You are getting close to being done! Take the 36" piece of lace and attach it to the bottom of the skirt. If you do not want to use lace, I would make the skirt about 1" longer.

4. Take your 2 - 9"x2" rectangles and fold them in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. Open up the fold. Fold the long 9" raw edges in until they meet in the middle; press.

Take the short 2" ends and fold in 1/2"; press. Fold the rectangle in the middle again so that your finished size is 8"x1". These are your straps.

5. Take your dress and fold it in half to find the midway point. Place a pin here on the band to show you the middle. Measure 1 1/2" out on both sides from this middle point and mark with a pin again. These second pin marks are where you will place your straps. Sew your straps in place. They will tie in a knot behind the bear's head after you put the dress on the bear.

6. Take your piece of velcro and sew it on the back of the dress, where the ends of the band would meet.

7. Add any embellishments to the dress as desired.

8. YOU ARE DONE! Congratulations! Obviously this can be modified to make a sundress with spaghetti straps instead of halter straps or shorten the dress and omit the straps and you have yourself a skirt. I am sure that little girl will enjoy this dress on her bear just as much as you enjoyed making it. If anything is unclear or needs further clarification, please let me know!

More Christmas Baking

Over 200 cookies added to the 2010 Christmas Baking stash!

Today's recipes:

Secret Almond Cookies

(or called Secret Kisses Cookies if you use regular Hershey's Kisses)

Mini Kisses Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossoms

(The recipe above doesn't call for cocoa and uses regular Hershey's Kisses. On the back of the package of Mini Hershey's Kisses baking pieces is the recipe I used. Basically, make the recipe like the link says, adding 1/3 cup cocoa to the flour mixture, make the cookies slightly smaller and bake for 6 minutes, adding the mini Hershey Kiss instead of the regular one, as the recipe indicates.)

Christmas Creations - Black Apple Dolls

I have the absolute pleasure - nay, the privilege (movie reference, anyone??!!) of teaching 6 adorable 2-3 year old girls Sunday School! Every week I get to see their beautiful faces and hear their beautiful voices as they interact with me about different Bible stories and we dance up a storm while singing. I love those mornings, even though they can be a bit tiring! So, for Christmas, I wanted to make something for them that they will treasure, at least for a little while, if not for the rest of their lives. That's not too much to ask, is it??☺

Red heads. Blondes. Brunettes. Oh my!

I stumbled upon this pattern for Black Apple Dolls put out by Martha as created by Emily Martin. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to make at least one. Maybe two. Okay 6! 6 different little dolls for 6 very different little girls. They really are easy to make if you remember the following:

1. I don't believe the pattern includes a seam allowance. I enlarged the pattern 150%, as stated, then added 1/4 inch around all sides for a seam allowance.


2. When sewing on the arms and legs, the pattern simply says to sandwich them between the front and back and then sew all around. However, when I tried it this way, the legs and/or arms were only partially attached. My suggestion: sew the arms and legs to the front of the doll first using a scant seam allowance. Then when sewing the front and back together, make sure to either sew on the seam you just made or just inside it to cover it up. Make sense? It was waaaaay easier this way and everything was properly attached.


3. She suggests using acrylic paint for the facial details. I used a red and black Sharpie. Works great. No clean up!

That's it. That is all I would do differently. Get creative with your embellishments. Check out the web for other crafter's versions of the doll and their ideas. So easy! So much fun! And hopefully the girls love them! After doing this, even I have a favorite! We will see who gets her.


Now, go find some scraps and make some dolls for that little (or big) girl in your life! She will love you for it!

A Father's Gift

I cannot remember when it started. I think it was only when we were out of the apartment but I could be wrong. Whatever the case, one evening, my father-in-law showed up at the door with a gift. For me. As I opened it, I found a beautiful red poinsettia. I was so touched. A gift from my FIL for me. And it has happened almost every year since. Sometime in the weeks leading up to Christmas, he shows up, by himself, with a beautiful red poinsettia. One year I waited and waited and waited. He never came. I didn't want to act like it was expected but I was so disappointed. I told him later on after the holidays that I really missed getting that gift from him. He laughed. He said he didn't think I really cared. Oh, how wrong he was. I absolutely love it. I always give him a really big hug. It is a big deal to me. Maybe because I don't remember getting flowers from my dad. Whatever the reason, I was thrilled and touched all over again when he showed up two nights ago with that beautiful simple gift. A father's gift.

Pleasantly Surprised!

Yesterday was a day I was looking forward to. And dreading. I guess both of those feelings don't really co-exist but they did. Yesterday was the BIG day. The day we all, all 7 of us, packed up and went to the city to eye appointments and shopping. Jay and I both needed to have our eyes checked (I wear glasses and go every 2 years, Jay has never been while we have been married!) and I decided it was time to get the boys' eyes checked, too. Imagine almost 1 1/2 hours in an optometrist office. With 5 kids. Potential for unruly behaviour! But, they were fantastic! Well, I did need to use all of my pursuasive powers to convince the boys to do as the doctor asked. But they cooperated. Turns out Pepe has an astigmatism (slightly more than mine but nothing that requires glasses - yet) and AJ is far-sighted (slightly more than they expect to see at this time but nothing that requires glasses - yet). But those 1 /2 hours were totally great. We prepared by bringing stuff for them to do but the ladies at the office put on 'Madagascar' and the kids were content. 12 o'clock rolled around and it was off to lunch. We went to the food court at the mall and luckily found tables for all of us. Not an easy task when you need 7 spots! Jay ordered a family-sized pizza and they all ate contentedly. After lunch, it was off to Wal-Mart to shop for Christmas presents. Not for them. For their cousins. And, though there was potential for total selfish "I want that" tantrums (they did ask but no tantrums. Mom's "no" means "no".), they choose their gifts and away we went. We packed them all back up and off to the grocery store we went after a couple other quick mom-only stops. The girls fell asleep so the boys and I went in and completed the task as quickly as we could. Which was really about an hour. Not so quick when you are sitting in the van. Finally, after one more mom-only, it was back home. 7 1/2 hours later. Everyone was happy. No one was crying. No arguments occured. Could a mother be any more proud of her family than I was yesterday? Maybe it is because we take them out so seldom. Especially at -20C! But I enjoyed my day yesterday more than I expected. The kids were amazing. The tasks were completed. How nice it is to be pleasantly surprised.

Christmas Decor - Beautiful Banister

I have finally finished my Christmas decorating and it is so nice to just sit and listen to the strains of Christmas music difting through the air while the tree softly glimmers in the living room and the candles glow so beautifully! The banister was the last thing to get decorated this year - it is usually a quick job (well, as quick as it can be with constant interruptions by 5 kids - so, what, 3, 4 hours from start to finish??!! Uninterrupted, maybe 1?) and this year was no exception.

I start by wrapping the banister in fake greenery - 3 of the 9' lengths work perfectly for me. I wrap it quite tightly so you see little of the banister and lots of green. After adding many white lights, I weave narrow tulle through the garland. I bought it from a dollar store a number of years ago - it is soft narrow tulle that came on a roll. You could also cut tulle-by-the-metre into strips and do it that way.

Finally, I add just a few ornaments. I always put my dried orange ornaments here. With all the traffic up and down, I don't have to worry about things falling off and breaking. I dried these eons ago when we lived in the apartment right after we got married. It took forever in that oven but was so worth it. I don't remember what temperature to do them at - really low, I am sure - but I do remember to dry them until they are no longer sticky. If you google it, I am sure you will get some better instructions. After they were all dried, I sprayed them with gold glitter spray for some extra sparkle. I made some into a garland and some as single ornaments. When the light shines through them, they remind me of stained glass!

This year I found some additional pretties at the dollar store. I found these red sparkly berries/apples on tall picks. I pulled them apart and made bunches of threes that I stuck here and there.


I also added a few white poinsettias, also from the dollar store, edged in silver sparkle.

Finally, I made a large bow out of some red, black and white wired ribbon and attached it to the base of the banister. Just perfect!

What a festive way to greet guests as they come in our door.


Simple, easy, quick and oh-so-pretty! I love having these lights on and watching the glow!


Now to turn on that music, plug in the lights, light the candles and relax! Decorating is done!

Holiday Inspiration

Need some holiday decor or crafting inspiration? Check out The DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights for many great ideas - including my Advent Calendar!

Christmas Creations - DIY Advent Calendar Tutorial

I finished it! And it is not even December 1!! Woo-hoo! As promised, here is the Advent Calendar that I made this year. As I mentioned earlier, I have always by-passed the ready-made cheap ones you can pick up everywhere. They just weren't for me. So, I usually didn't think about them come the Christmas season. However, this year, the idea came to me to make my own, after hearing about others making their own. DUH!! A perfect solution! So, here is my version of the Advent Calendar.

My inspiration came to me when I stumbled upon these little tin containers. You can find these in the wedding favor aisle of department stores or even bead containers in craft stores.

Next, I had to label each of these with the numbers counting down the days until Christmas. Now, obviously it had been a very long time since I had even looked at an Advent Calendar because I thought, mistakenly, that you needed 25 spaces. After all, December 25th is Christmas. I was very wrong. You only need 24 as I am sure was obvious to you, just not to me!

I decided to use scrapbooking paper that I already had on hand. I went with the red, black and white to coordinate with the rest of the decor. I cut a large black circle, a smaller red scallop and finally a small white circle that had the number printed on it by the computer in various fonts.

I glued the black circle to the front of the tin's lid using a regular school gluestick and then glued the red scallop on top of that. Finally, I used foam tape to apply the number, adding a little dimension.

Once that was done, I got my husband to cut me a piece of MDF (again, from stuff that we had around) that was just the size I needed. I decided to make a rectangle and make the calendar look like a present. I did toy around with the shape of a tree but thought it was a little trickier to figure out the size of the wood. Just tricky enough to make me choose the rectangle.

Once the wood was cut, I primed and painted it using Krylon paint. I had used this for the armchair redo and loved the 360 degree rotating nozzle. I decided to use it again.

After the paint dried, I hot-glued each of the little tins on the wood, leaving an appropriate sized edge of wood all around. I set the rows closer to the bottom to make sure there was enough room for the bow on the top.

I filled the tins with 4 pieces of chocolate each, 1 for each child, not including baby, or mom and dad, for that matter. Maybe next year I will make one for the two of us and fill it with dark chocolate for me and white chocolate for Jay!

Add a bow and VOILA!! My very own Advent Calendar! Isn't it just great? And reusable, too!

Finally, if I have time after I tackle more laundry today and school tomorrow, I want to add Scripture references to each tin. I want us to trace the whole story of Christ's birth as prophesied in the Old Testament and realized in the New Testament. After all, that is the real meaning of Christmas, isn't it? Let the countdown begin!