i finished lexi's dress (which was her handmade christmas present) just
in time for the high school's production of Bah! Humbug!
i love the cartridge pleated skirts from this era! I have always idealized civil war era dresses as the epitome of beauty, but the more i study 1800s dressmaking, the more i realize that the 1840s (Dickens, Nauvoo) was really the loveliest. civil war era was extreme fashion. 1840s was feminine and flattering.
i learned a lot making from making this dress (sleeves need to be tighter, etc, and i would love to make another.
lex ready to go on-stage:
she sang a beautiful solo as scrooge's dying sister - her best performance ever.
tashi was wonderful too. they each had multiple roles - a necessity in our little school. this performance was a fund-raiser for the spring musical - thoroughly modern millie!
(lex and tash in center)
i helped with hair and enjoyed being backstage before the performance.
we had a twice blessed christmas, first by traveling to utah to share christmas with extended family, and then coming home and having our own little handmade/second hand christmas, and we loved it.
i made the flannel jammies/night gown using a vintage pattern from etsy and then made matching one s for their dolls with another vintage pattern from etsy published in 1972, when i was younger than grace.
in retrospect, i should have switched the colors for the girls, because gracie and her nighty are the same color!
mia made this cape for noah (with some help from me):
he loves it and so do i!
noah made gracie the cutest coloring book ever. brock made me shelves for our closet, and a bookshelf for noah. i made pajama pants for noah and brock and a baby doll carrier for grace, and matching aprons for mia and grace.
i had some concerns about certain children being disappointed by our christmas exchange rules, but even the teenagers agreed that it was probably our best ever. it helped that we found some fun second hand games, dvd's, puzzles, legos, books, and a few other treats. we found that we put much more thought and care into every gift we gave, and more time and effort than money, whether it was hand made or second hand. and it felt more to us like christmas should.
last year after reading a friend's blog post about a homemade christmas, i was inspired. it was too late to put her plan into effect for that year, so we agreed to do it this year. i am already so glad. i am more excited for christmas than i have been for the longest time. of course, i have many more plans of things to make than i actually have time for, especially since we've decided to go to utah for christmas, and leave on the 15th or 16th...but i'm having so much fun.
here is the plan: all gift giving must be something handmade (by yourself), second hand, or written (story, letter, testimony, etc). our extended families have both adopted this plan too, with brock's family exchanging written gifts, and my family following our plan of handmade, second hand, or written.
i cut out this dress for gracie in may. our christmas plan gave me a reason to finish it.
it is a version of the dress i designed for her for easter 2008, made with this fabric from my shop. she loves swirly, twirly, pink and frilly things, and tries to wear as many outfits matching this description a day as possible..
lots more goodies are in progress, many involving the coziest flannel. and we're having a blast searching for second hand treasures. we have been amazed to discover though, that many, maybe most, used games and toys go for more on ebay than it would cost to buy them new on amazon! especially once you add in shipping from ebay sellers, and get free super saver shipping from amazon. what are people thinking? this part has been a bit frustrating, but all part of the adventure of the hunt.
our family home evening last night:
always in search of fun projects for our hand made (or written, or second hand) christmas, i am looking for cozy pajama projects to use with this selection of flannels from my shop:
i love vintage, and feel blessed because that's just about all that's available in pajama patterns now. i'm considering some of these options i found on etsy for my littlest girls:
it would be so fun to live closer to my mom (for many reasons! including:) so that i could raid her vintage pattern stash for the perfect nightgown, like i did for easter dresses in 2008.
i love this idea for little man,
but i'll use my own jenbei pattern i bought in japan to make summer jammies for my little japanese babes.
i love this space between christmas & new years. it may be my favorite time of year. the rush and hustle are over, all is calm, all is bright. time isn't over scheduled. kids are at home and relaxed. there are new games to play and new puzzles to put together, and new books to read as a family. the warm glow of christmas lingers the newness of a new year beckons.
i learned to love this time during our life in japan when everything would shut down for a week or more before and after new years. our first year there, '95/'96, we were shocked to find that everything was closed: banks - including atm's!, grocery stores,post offices, every type of store, absolutely everything. we were shocked, and we liked it. we spent time together as a fmaily, without any outside pressures. msot of our american and foriegn friends went back home for the chrismtas season. our japanese friends went to their grandparents' inteh countryside. we were left alone in tokyo. and we learned to treasure it. the pollution subsided, because there were no delivery trucks on the roads. we could see glorious views of "mountain fuji", as tiny tashi called it, without the pollution clouding our way.
i did get to some of my sugar plum sewing, finishing two projects up after christmas, so they well be ready to be enjoyed next year.
i have wanted to make this little gingerbread guy since i first saw the pattern in American Patchwork & Quilting, dec 2004. i did make one last year, but gave it away. this one stays with us. just as with the pillows, the felted wool works up to quick and easy. the red heart was a wool skirt that someone gave me and i felted in the washer & dryer. all but one of the fabrics in the patchwork border were in the big bag of fabric that landed on my porch. i love that. the eyes are tiny antique bone buttons - i collected some of the funnest things while i was running my antique quilt business.
the quilt is a printed panel, cheater cloth. this isn't me preferred method of making quilt, but it is fast and easy. and i can assuage my conscience by remembering that cheater cloth existed even in the mid 1800s. i love that this panel focuses on christ, not santa or snowmen (or gingerbread men). i made and sold two of these last year. and cut one apart to make christmas pillows. this one stays with us, for now.
thunderstorms that shook & rattled our cupboards like an earthquake on saturday washed away all of the snow and ice, leaving green grass and clear blue skies. it is difficult to believe it is the same landscape we looked out on and photographed last week. i went for a walk today, and felt like it was early spring. but i'm not fooled... the ice and snow won't stay away for long.
we have had a beautiful christmas, and hope you have too.
i'm willing to risk being reported for child abuse in order to share this photo from christmas eve....
noah has been asking daily for weeks to go swimming in the back yard. we, very wisely of course, explained carefully why that wouldn't work. he would seem to understand, but then start asking again the next day. so brock staged this in an effort to help him understand. it didn't work. he was sure that after we got the water in the pool, it would warm him up - he just needed to go in the house to get warm clothes on until then. the hose couldn't be used to fill the pool, as everything was frozen up, so he still isn't a believer in the impossibility of the situation. but he did settle for swimming in the bathtub yesterday.
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