Ooops! I Did It AGAIN!

Musing about quilting, while quilting, is not always a good thing! As I pondered the year ahead, I knew this year that I would have a couple of quilts to do for Christmas. Truth be told, I rarely even think about them much until mid-summer and often don't start until summer is drawing to a close.

We have a gift giving rotation with my husband's family. Several years ago, I decided that as each couple's turn came up, I'd make them bed quilts. With that finished a couple of years ago, the lap quilts came next. I did them for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, who live in North Dakota, two Christmases ago. Last Christmas we had my inlaws for the gift giving and they live in Arizona. They have no need for lap quilts, and I think get tired of getting quilted things so we got them a restaurant gift card.

This year, we have another brother-in-law and sister-in-law and I can hardly wait. They love to receive my quilts and live in Montana. As I thought about what I might do for them, I decided I'd also make them for their daughters. The last quilts I did for their girls were quite a few years ago now, very simple and machine quilted (that Christmas I made quilts for all 17 of my nieces and nephews.)

So that's 4 quilts to make. The thing is, my lap quilts....aren't really. If I need a quilt to coverup because I'm chilly, I need to be covered...so my "lap" quilts are at least 65 x 65, often bigger depending on the pattern and who they are being made for.

I have a quilting friend who often passes her magazines my way when she is finished with them. Some time ago, I started to go through them when I get them and I put post-it notes on the front with the pages and names of quilts or techniques that interest me. When I'm looking for a quilt to make, a quick look through the post-its gives me a pretty good idea what quilts I'm interested in and whether or not they will do for the project that I'm looking for.

I perused the post-it's on the covers of the stack of magazines and found 3 of the 4 quilts I need to make. I did some of the prepwork for them, I have a notebook I've been doing all my figuring in so I don't lose the sheets of paper. The notebook also has a nice vinyl pocket in the front, where I put the templates I made until needed.

While thinking about those four quilts that already need to be done, I remember that I've already decided on a few other projects for this year. First up will be finishing the quilting on the ring quilt and finishing the applique on the posy quilt. I had planned to quilt the flying geese quilt next, that one shouldn't take too long.

I had also planned to make two roman shades, one for our bedroom and one for my sewing room, both with cornice boxes. Our bedroom drapes have been up since we moved into this house, 23 years ago. They are in pretty poor shape at this point. In addition, this time of year the angle of the sun makes it very bright in our bedroom in the morning and I'm not an early riser. Right now, I have the valance taken down and a quilt clipped to the rod. It doesn't match at all, but was the only thing I could find that was near the right size and not to heavy for the rod. Each time I walk in the room, that shade is on my mind. I haven't chosen the design for that one, yet, I'll know the right thing when I see it. My hope is to have it done by fall, when it will also help to protect against the cold.

I think I've decided what pattern to use for my sewing room window, but haven't, yet, figured out dimensions, etc. This will actually be the same as my latest strip quilt, which may find a home on my chaise by the window since they will match. I'm going to figure out how many extra blocks that I need and add them to the pile since the latest strip quilt isn't that far under way.

The shades will be backed with room darkening fabric, not only for the room darkening effect but to protect the design side from the sun. The cornice boxes will be covered with a quilted topper, adding another small project to my list.

So...that is 4 "lap" quilts, 2 roman shades, the 2 cornice toppers, the ring quilt, the posy top, and the flying geese quilt...all on the agenda for this year. I also found a couple of tops while perusing magazines that I really want to make, those will likely have to wait unless some of this goes much more quickly than I anticipate.

Of course, in the midst of all this, I'm potty training Ruthie. We've been doing it off and on for a few weeks now, going full force when we are home for the whole day. Yesterday we *may* have had a break through, but I won't know for sure for a few days. She told me "potty" twice (usually this means that she's already wet) but was dry...she wet herself as we made our way to the potty chair. I didn't think much of it until it happened for the second time, then I realized she just may be starting to recognize that feeling.

Armed with quite a few pairs of training pants and rubber pants, I've been trying to keep her in underwear all day, only in a diaper at night. This doesn't work if we have to leave the house, but it's a good start.

I have to say, I'm tiring of sitting on the bathroom floor, and the many loads of wet laundry, but it's oh so worth it!

Rachel and her boyfriend went to a nice restaurant for Valentine's Day, so Rachel painted her fingernails and toenails red for the occasion. Ruthie had to have hers done, too. It's not easy to paint those tiny little toes and then get her to sit still long enough to dry, but we got them done and they've stayed pretty well. She loves it and admires her toes whenever sitting on the potty, LOL, I see a lot of painted toes in her future!

And now, I'd better get to it or I'll never get anything done. A few chores and a lot of hand quilting are on the agenda for today. Happy Quilting!

Sue

Busy Busy!

I've been happily busy, mostly with quilting. I've also been busy with some extra household things, going through and packing up what's not needed and storing what can be used later, while donating or discarding things that can't.

We tend to be savers here, as it seems as soon as we rid ourselves of something it's needed soon after. That served me well today as yesterday my new mouse and keyboard stopped working. Jonathan found old ones in our crawlspace and that's what I'm using at present. I haven't given up on the new, cordless ones, but know that's a task best left for when I'm feeling motivated and like my problem solving skills are in full swing.

In the meantime, I'm happy to have the old ones!

I'm on block number 11 (of 64) of the ring flower quilt. It hasn't been getting much attention because of the posy and celtic quilt, but all in good time. I'm hoping to get at least a few more blocks quilted on this one during the coming week. Once the posy and celtic top is done, the ring flower quilt will be the priority. I'm a little afraid of putting the posy and celtic top down for too long as it still seems like a daunting project and I'm afraid if I leave it sit for too long, it will sit for VERY long. I'm also so thrilled with the results of the posy and celtic quilt that it's actually hard to work on anything else right now. The main problem is my very sore underneath finger, which could surely use a rest. Though the same finger is underneath for quilting, I end up hitting a different part of it so can alternate between the two.

For now, I'll suffer, LOL, because I'm LOVING this. I was concerned that where the braids met at the intersections that it would just be a jumble and I'd lose the under/over feel of it but was pleasantly surprised as I laid it out to see that most definitely is not the case. Now that I've got the logistics of it all worked out, I'm working bigger sections at once. Combined with the fact that I've done so much applique lately, this is moving along much faster than I anticipated.

Another concern after sewing the first section was that it would over power the posy blocks, but that doesn't seem to be the case, as seen in this view a little further away. The blocks stand out even more in reality, and looking at the pictures my eye keeps moving around just fine and isn't getting stuck on the braid, so I think it's ok. It sure is hard not to second guess everything sometimes!

I've yet to decide for sure what will be on the outer border. I did pick out a design to applique in the same way, and may add some posies to that. I won't be deciding for sure what I'm doing until the rest is finished so I can gauge how much or how little needs to happen in the border for proper balance.

Everyone is in bed here and has been for a while now. I had figured on spending the quiet time appliquing but decided to do this post instead since there is so little uninterrupted time during the day. Tomorrow Rebekah is highlighting my hair and I promised Rachel we could do DDR for a while, it's our current choice for exercise until the weather is warm enough for me to start walking again. Other than that, though, I should be able to spend quite a bit of time quilting tomorrow, laundry and dishes are all caught up and the day is relatively free.

And Miss Ruthie. Her language skills are exploding of late. She'll try to say almost anything now and her speech is getting clearer. She has a long way to go, but words have almost completely replaced signs and she now looks for things to say. Last night I washed her hair in the kitchen sink (laying her on the counter) and when we got finished, she ran to the stairs and yelled down (we have a tri-level, so short flights and the family room is visible from the stairs) "Daddy! Wash!" He said "Did Mom wash your hair?" She said "yeah!" (yeah is said in an adorable sing-songy voice every time she said it.)

She will often go to one of her siblings and say, pointing to her head, "Mom, hair, OW!" (Translation, Mom brushed my hair and it hurt.) We have a long way to go, but are so pleased with the current progress and it really seems to be snowballing, coming faster and faster all the time.

A few minutes of applique and it will be time for bed. I'd hoped to make it a late, late night, but I'm feeling pretty tired and don't want to push it, I'd rather be well rested and ready for a productive day tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Finished Geese and Progress

As the Flying Geese top came together I got more and more excited to finish it. I'm so happy with the results of this one. I almost put it aside after I assembed the 4 sets of two rows and realized that with my configuration for the top that two of them were not facing properly for the geese to alternate pointing up and down. I hate having to rip any amount of seams, but ripping seams with paper piecing is even more tedious as I have to be very careful not to destroy the paper foundation in the process. Thankfully it didn't take nearly as long as anticipated and soon I was on my way again. I'm so thrilled with this top that it may be the next one in the hoop!

My other big project of the moment is the applique on the sashing between the posy blocks. The top went together pretty quickly, and marking the sashing didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. It was a little tricky as, rather than marking the braid from end to end going one direction and from sashing to sashing going the other, I decided I wanted the braids to "weave" where they met and alternate going over and under. I was able to keep my focus in spite of the stops and starts and had everything going the right way when I finished.

As I marked, I had what I thought was a horrible realization. The plan was to pick one of the "strands" of the braid and follow it all the way down until it's stopping point. Except if I did that, the bias tape would show in spots that it should be behind the design. This was going to have to be appliqued in small little pieces to get the desired effect.

I nearly didn't start the applique that day because I was really daunted by that, but decided to forge ahead and see what I'd gotten myself into.

I have to be very careful, as the order of applique is very important so that edges are secured under the proper pieces. I stared at it for quite a while, working out the logistics of it. The first completed section (shown further below) I cut and placed one piece at a time, but by the end of that section I was feeling more confident and this next section I'm pinning in place several pieces at a time, which is cutting down on the time it takes considerably. I don't want to do too many at once as it's hard to maneuver around too many pins. This seems to be just the right amount.

The pieces for each section of braid can be placed in four sets. Only one side gets sewn down and the second side isn't sewn until all the pieces for the whole section are in place. Here it is with the second set in place and ready to sew.

When all the pieces for all four sections are sewn on one side, then I pin everything in place and sew down all the second sides. While I do love the whole process, this part is especially enjoyable because I can just sew, the thinking has already been done.... at least until the next section!

And finally a picture with posies visible so you can get an idea what it will look like.

I'm babysitting this afternoon so there won't be much sewing time. I haven't decided if I'll be hand quilting or appliquing tonight, I'll have to see what I feel like then.

Tomorrow we're doing the grind from the deer hunt, which will take several hours but will leave me with quite a stack of packages of ground meat in my freezer. I'll be babysitting again in the afternoon. Wednesday will probably be my "free" day, though I will grocery shop, if possible, in the morning.

It's more likely I'll be shopping Thursday morning and babysitting all afternoon again. Friday is my quilting bee, and afterwards I need to do the prepwork on potstickers. The Super Bowl has always been a big event in our house and I'll be cooking all day Saturday for it so there won't be so much to do on Sunday except for the final cooking. It will be a busy week! I'm hoping that next week will be a little less full and I'll get to spend some good time on both the braid applique and the hand quilting on the ring flower quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Quilting Frenzy

I'm in one. Though in the 10 days since I last posted I've also done a boatload of cooking. Our son turned 22 on Monday and Sunday he had several friends over for playoff football and pretty much all they could eat. I spent Saturday doing all the prepwork, which took most of the day and cooked for most of the day on Sunday, but it was well worth it.

I'll be doing it all again for Super Bowl Sunday, though, as of now, for our family and the two boyfriends.

For the most part, though, I'm in a quilting frenzy. After spending the weekend cooking and cleaning it all up, I decided I'd take Monday "off". It was actually Joshua's birthday that day, but he had to work until 2:30. When he got home, about 3:15, he left here with my husband and other two sons (along with a friend and to drop off Rebekah), Rachel was babysitting. So at 3:30, my whole family was gone except Ruthie and they didn't get back home until 9:00. I had saved leftovers from the day before so I didn't have to cook and I sat and quilted for nearly the entire day. The result was four blocks completed on the ring quilt and I'm thrilled with the results.

I also have 3 tops that are in the works that I want to spend time on. One is the Posy and Celtic top and the next step on that one is to add the sashing and sew the blocks together. I'm hoping to get a start on that later today, but that depends on the flying geese. The blocks are finished and sewn into rows, I cut the border fabric this morning and will spend today sewing that top together. I hope to get it finished this afternoon, but one never knows what will thwart my efforts with all the activity here! At left is a picture of 2 of the rows sewn together and the barely visible border fabric. I went through my entire stash trying to find just the right fabric and I'd nearly given up when I found this one. I'm really excited to see it all put together!

In the planning stage I have an Irish Chain, being done as part of an email group. I've chosen my fabrics, figured out my size requirements and how to make the blocks, and have written out the cutting directions. I'm hoping to have this one cut by the end of the weekend and maybe even have a start on the sewing, but I'll have to see how time plays out. I'm doing a Double Irish Chain and the open white spaces will have flowers appliqued in them. I'm really excited about this project!

I promised myself that I would finish quilting "Joyful" before starting the ring flower quilt, and I did. When I photographed the top, I had a hard time getting the colors to photograph true to color, this time they are spot on.

Here is a closeup of the quilting on the blocks and borders.

And here is a closeup of the back. I enjoy the backs of my quilts nearly as much as the fronts!

And no post is complete without a Ruthie picture. She was quiet for a while so I went to see if she was sleeping and found her all curled up with a blanket and a movie. I never tire of that smile!

I babysit all afternoon today and have to get a quick lunch before he comes. I'm hoping to get some, if not all, of the flying geese top assembled this afternoon and Thursday nights are quiet here so I should be able to finish whatever is not done. Then there is all the paper to pull off since this one is paper pieced. I don't mind that, though, it's great TV work!

Here's to a healthy, productive day, and QUILTY day for all!
Sue and Ruthie

Sewing room changes, quilting goals, and Ruthie update

It's not a clever title, but tells you exactly what you'll get!

Before Christmas, I decided that my sewing room really needed an overhaul. It felt cramped and was very cluttered, as I'd gotten into the habit of placing some storage on the floor in front of existing storage. I also had a stack of bins that looked messy and had a tendency to lean. I was just not happy with it all anymore. I did manage to wait until after the holidays to pull it all apart, I was itching to do it the week before Christmas, but knew I had way too much to do Christmas week to have the room in disarray!

Our bedroom was also getting the same feel, so I tore both rooms apart, moving some storage between them, and revamped both rooms.

In the first picture, the area on the right is the "clutter" spot and tends to gather the bits and baubles that need to be put away. It used to be the cutting area, but I now use my table for that as I can clear it off easily and have plenty of room. The old cutting area tended to be a bit cramped when working with larger pieces of fabric or making larger cuts.

The middle area is a dresser, which contains "office" type supplies, along with some bags and a couple of works in progress. I can put them away out of sight, but have easy access to them. On top of it is a small ironing board, which can also be easily moved to the table if I need more space. For most of the pressing involved in quilt piecing, it will be just fine where it is and be right behind where my sewing machine will be set up, providing easy access.

The second picture shows my table, which has an extra leaf available when needed. I placed it on an angle, which really opened up the room a lot. The shelves full of bins don't look nearly as cluttery in person as in the picture to me, but it is what it is!

The bookshelf is all the way to the right and has a small quilt hanging on it. I plan to make a couple more that size so I can change them out with the seasons. This one says "Let It Snow" much to the chagrin of Rachel (16) who really doesn't like winter once we get past the holidays.

The biggest change is in the third picture. I brought down my chaise/couch (sits like a chaise, looks like a couch) from our bedroom and put it in front of the window. The dresser that was there went to our bedroom. The dresser in the earlier picture was in the corner, but I brought down some storage boxes from our room for that spot. Because of the angle of the boxes, there is a small space between the couch and the boxes that is just perfect for my sewing machine in it's case. It's out of sight, but quite easily accessible. The couch is not only nice for doing handwork on, but will allow me to keep an eye on Lucas and Ruthie when they are outside and I would rather not be. The seat of the couch lifts off and provides a bunch of storage underneath. I took all the basted quilts and finished tops out of the leaning tower of boxes and they ALL fit in this space. Again, easy to access when looking for a project, but totally out of sight.

So now I love this room more than ever. When joined by one or more of the kids, I don't feel like we're all crammed in a small space, and I can't get to what I want/need.

With that big project out of the way, I'm turning my thoughts to my winter quilting. The stained glass quilt, "Joyful", is nearly done. I have 3 1/2 more blocks to quilt and then the small borders. I'm hoping to be binding this by the end of the week. Once it's finished, I'll be taking a couple more pictures and hopefully the colors will be more true. I love the picture, LOL, but the colors are much brighter than the picture shows.

As soon as Joyful is done, the ring block quilt will be next in the hoop. This one will take a long time, it's very large, 98 x 98, and has a lot of quilting on it. I've been looking forward to this one since I finished it and even moreso since I revamped the outer border. I'm hoping to make quite a dent before the weather gets warm and then the small frame might make an appearance again. With my room redone, I should be able to have it out without it being too disruptive to the space.

Also on the agenda is assembling the posy and celtic top. The blocks are finished now and I had planned to put the top together over the weekend but got waylaid so it is still needing to be done. I've decided not to get out the sewing machine until I have to bind Joyful, so this won't be worked on until then. Once out, the machine will stay out for a while as I have a couple of other tops that I want to work on as well.

One is a new strip quilt. This one has background fabric on half of the block and will be set in a zig zag setting once finished. With only half of the piecing of the other quilt, this one should go much faster. There will be a motif quilted in the large triangle and when set together it will nearly look like a continuous design.

I've also pulled out an old project. Many years ago, my first foray into the internet quilting world was an IRC chat line. We did quite a few swaps, and one of them was a flying geese swap. Usually when I did a swap, I made enough blocks to make a whole quilt top, but way too many of these would have been needed. I have several strips of 6 geese from the swap and also traded fabrics with a good friend who designed this paper pieced foundation. We also both received some fabric pieces from other friends, the goal being to have no two geese the same. These were out of sight, so out of mind, but a few months ago I came across them and really want to finish. The blocks are nearly done, will be set into long, vertical rows, and there will be a print strip of fabric between the rows. That's the plan, anyway, I won't know for sure until I lay it all out!

Writing it out makes me even more excited about it all. I've been doing chores while waiting for pictures to upload, so once I'm done posting I should be able to quilt for a good part of the day. It's supposed to snow here again, and I'm hoping it starts while still daylight so I can quilt and watch it fall.

And finally, Ruthie. She's doing so well, and is more verbal every day, it seems. The baby look is totally gone and she's quite the young lady. She looked so adorable dressed for church yesterday so I tried to get some pictures. Of course, getting her to sit still long enough AND look and the camera made things interesting!

At first, she just ran away.

Then she wouldn't look at the camera, though at least she was standing somewhat still.

At right, I coaxed out a smile.

She decided this still displaced storage box (it will soon hold some of the hand-me-downs we've been given for her that are still way too big) was a good place to sit for a picture, though didn't sit there long enough for me to get one!

She's quite the busy girl these days, going from her movies (she sometimes watches two at a time, one on the small TV in their room and one on a portable DVD player that she uses when Lucas is using the TV) to checking out what everyone is doing, playing with her new dolly, and "helping" the kids play games.

With her currently occupied, it's time to fix a quick lunch for me (everyone else has eaten) and get to my sewing! After listing out all the fun things I'm looking forward to, I really want to get to them.

Happy Quilting and Stay Warm!

Sue and Ruthie

Christmas Wrap-up and Looking Ahead

Whew! It's been crazy here since last I wrote. These couple of weeks at the end of December are always wild, it seems, but not usually quite as crazy as this year.

Ruthie got the stomach flu on Christmas Eve, which put a bit of a damper on things. I was singing at church that night so couldn't stay home with her. Rebekah and Brian offered to stay with her so my husband would be able to go.

She was fine on Christmas morning, though a bit crabby about opening gifts. In the end, a good time was had by all. We had our Christmas feast, which was enhanced further by four 1+ pound lobster tails courtesy of Brian.

If you look in the picture above, you can see the big TV on the bottom. That was my grandma's and it stopped working not too long after we got it. Our family TV, which had been moved to my sewing area, was moved back and it stopped working the Sunday before Christmas. When Lucas got the Playstation 2 from Rebekah and Brian, he glanced over at the non-working TVs, wanting to be able to play in the family room, but able to play in his room if needed. I told him quietly that we'd move my sewing room TV, the 19 inch my kids bought me for my birthday, downstairs so he could play. Brian caught wind of it and took charge.

After some discussion as to whether or not our TVs were worth fixing, it was determined that at 10+ years old, they probably weren't. Brian showed up Sunday with the spare TV from his basement. Were we surprised to see this come through our door!

He installed it and hauled away the two old TVs. The look on Lucas' face later in the day when he turned on his Playstation was priceless.

The night before the TV switch was made, Lucas got the stomach flu. The day after, both Mike and I got it. Rebekah got it New Year's Eve and now the only holdouts are Joshua and Rachel.

The ups and downs of the past December are a little mind-boggling when I think them all through. In the end, I think that we came out feeling more positive about a lot of things than we have in a long time.

So now it's time to look ahead! I realized that over the course of all these difficulties that I withdrew into my quilting. It was a good thing for the most part. It gave me peace and pleasure and helped to protect my aching and confused soul. I feel as if I'm coming out of that fog and one of the results is wanting to spruce up our house.

Change comes little by little. As our kids have gotten bigger, slowly the house has become easier to manage. Instead of fighting fires, I want to prevent them. My sewing room and it's lack of aesthetics, has been bothering me for a while. I love the space in general, I'm just ready to take it to the next step of organization.

Part of that will include making some changes in our bedroom as I move storage pieces between the two rooms. I figure that this will be a project that encompasses a few days and I'm anxious to start, but really shouldn't until Monday, when our schedule is back to normal and it is less likely that we'll have friends floating in and out among my mess. I am going to start getting ready, though, by doing some necessary cleaning out and organizing to make the implementation easier.

I feel like I've been running a marathon. I took yesterday "off", or as off as I can get. I was also able to relax and applique some on New Year's Day and the result of these is the posy blocks are finished!

So in addition to sprucing up and reorganizing several rooms in the house, I'm also looking ahead to my quilting for the winter. The stained glass quilt is in the hand quilting stage and not very big so I expect that one to be done soon. As I reorganize, I'm going to see if there are any other smaller quilts in progress that I can finish before tackling the ring quilt.

My plan is to cut sashing for the posy quilt today and I'd really like to get the sashing and blocks all sewn together today. I won't be adding borders yet as I'm not sure yet what will be in the outer border and don't want to limit myself by having the size chosen and already sewn on.

The marking of the sashing on this one will be a bear if I do it as I hope to and then there is a lot of celtic applique to do before this top is finished. I've been really looking forward to the sewing part, but am a bit aprehensive about the marking part.

I also have another strip quilt in the works as well as some other old piecing projects that I wouldn't mind seeing finished this year.

But first off, I need to get organized. This will allow me to be much more productive, with the added bonus of more enjoyable surroundings.

And then there is Ruthie. Aside from the stomach flu, she's been doing just great. Christmas wasn't met quite as enthusiastically as I expected, but she had a good time and she is interacting more and more with people who come to the house, which is really wonderful. In the next week or so, we're going to attempt potty training. With developmental delays, she hasn't seemed anywhere near ready before now, and I'm not really sure she is now, but you never know until

you try. Santa brought her a whole bunch of pretty underwear, which she loved, stacked and re-stacked and wore as hats. We'll see!

Until next time, I hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying this quiet, post holiday time.

Sue

Christmas Spirit

I didn't have much. I was feeling downright grinch-like, to be honest. At this time last year, we were hoping the new year would bring some relief to our woes, but the year started off telling us otherwise, with my sewing machine breaking down and our water heater dying in the first two days of the year.

And so it went, one thing after another, fighting fires, taking care of the most pressing matters as we were able, letting the other slide until money was available.

As we headed into December, I knew it would be another year where we wondered where the Christmas money was coming from. As late as mid-month, we were wondering if there would be any at all. I planned well with my groceries and was able to plan our Christmas feast and cookie making without adding too much extra to my grocery bill, for that I was really thankful. One of the highlights of Christmas for my kids is dinner.

Last Tuesday, I got the surprise of my life. Noah's mom called to ask me if I was free for dinner when she picked him up. Amazingly I was, my kids are usually busy most evenings and I don't often have someone available to watch the younger kids. Her mom met us at Panera (her mom is our pastor's wife and a good friend) and we enjoyed a nice meal together. I was then told they had additional plans. They wanted to take me shopping. I guess each year they pick someone to surprise with something special and this year it was me. Citing the fact that moms are always the last to get what they need, they wanted to spruce up my wardrobe.

Anyone watch What Not To Wear? It felt like that, without all the criticism. I didn't even know where to begin, but they got a feel for what I might like and they started pulling things off the racks and I went to the dressing room and tried on all different things. There was the "doesn't fit and/or we don't really like it" pile and the pile of things that we all liked. I went out to show them everything that fit at their request.

Now initially, I was horribly uncomfortable. I didn't feel deserving of it and wondered how in the world I choose when someone else's money is being spent. I need not have worried, they had a plan. They took the pile of things we liked and, while I danced Noah around the store (it was getting late and he was getting tired) they picked out what they wanted to buy.

The bottoms are basics. Nicely fitting jeans, a pair of black slacks, and a black tulip skirt, just below the knee with a little flare at the bottom.

These are the jackets. Each very different, each usable with all 3 bottoms.

These are the casual shirts. Again, each a different style and each one usable with all 3 bottoms.

And the dressy shirts. The one on the left has a metallic gold accent running through it and the one on the right has little sequins.

Finally, the accessories. We were finished with the clothing and I was about to begin walking around with Noah when I heard "shoes!" and we headed to the shoe department. The necklace was a little added surprise in the bags.

It was a mind boggling night. I had forgotten what it was like to really get dressed and not just throw on a pair of jeans and a big shirt in the morning. It was also a little bittersweet. I had just been given a marvelous Christmas when I was wondering how to provide Christmas for our kids.

Sometimes I feel like God's most unfaithful child. While we had less than usual to spend, we did have some money by Friday and I worked on my Christmas list to make the most of it. Monday was to be the big shopping day. I needed to take Jonathan to shop for his siblings, bring him home and then take Lucas to shop. I would then leave to do mine, needing to be home by 6:00 so Rachel could babysit and the boys could leave for a planned outing.

But Sunday night Joshua's car wouldn't start, which means he needed Rachel's car, which meant I didn't have a car to use until my husband was home between jobs. I could then take him to work and get started...at 2:00 in the afternoon! Sunday was also bitterly cold and windy and Monday was expected to be the same. It was daunting to think of doing so many errands on such a day, and trying to fit them in so little time seemed impossible.

Rebekah and her boyfriend have been sharing her vehicle as his wasn't working. He got his fixed, though, and she showed up at home Sunday night with her truck. I didn't know until Monday morning, but an early start was again possible.

I left at 9:30 in the morning with Jonathan, brought him home and picked up Lucas, finished with him and picked up Rebekah, who helped me with grocery shopping and picking out a few things for Rachel. I dropped her off at home and picked up Rachel, who also had an errand she needed to run, then she helped me pick out some things. I brought her home and headed back out for the few things she couldn't be with me while I bought. I finally arrived home for the night at 9:00pm. Rachel's babysitting was canceled and the boys opted to stay home which allowed me to shop until I finished.

EVERYTHING was done. The Christmas shopping, the grocery shopping, every bit of it. I found so many good sales that I felt like the boy with the loaves and fishes, the money we had seemed to go so much farther than I expected it would. I had assumed I'd have to go back out today, but when the car issues cropped up I knew it would be best if I got everything finished.

So today, I should be able to get everything finished that I thought I'd have to cram into today (around shopping trips) and tomorrow morning. The wrapping is already finished as I woke very early with aching legs and feet and couldn't get back to sleep. I figured I might as well get up and get started! I have laundry to do, laundry soap to make, two pans of cookie bars plus bread to bake, and I still have to do the homemade marshmallows. As time permits, there is also picking up and vacuuming and bathrooms to be cleaned.

My husband told me to try to lay down for a while, even if I can't sleep, but there likely won't be time for that. If I get it all done today, though, tomorrow can be spent relaxing!

So my Christmas spirit, while a long time in coming, is here in full force and I'm so very thankful for that. I also figured out the nice thing about shopping so late...I don't have so long to wait to see them open their gifts!

I hope this Christmas season find you all happy, healthy and rejoicing that God sent His son.

Sue