Advent Candle

After seeing Emily's advent calendar, we all thought this would be a great addition to that. Besides whatever fun things you are doing during the month of December, this is a nice way to bring more into focus the true meaning of the Christmas season.

Shauna originally gave this to us years ago. I'm not sure where she got it, or if she came up with it on her own. But here is how it works. Each evening, as sort of a family devotional, you light a candle (if you want), and then read a scripture verse that talks about some aspect of Jesus Christ's life. You can then add more discussion, if desired, with your family, adapting it to the ages and attention span of your kids.

Click HERE for the pdf. of the "Advent Candle" which includes simple directions, a list of all scripture references, and a corresponding characteristic of Jesus Christ. All scripture verses taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (A HUGE Thanks! to Steve F. for walking me thru how to work the pdf. Your directions were great!)

If you do not have access to the Holy Bible in your home you can click HERE to request a FREE copy from Mormon.org. Or you can visit HERE and pull up the entire New Testament to cut and paste the corresponding scripture verses.

Here is a good place to find some nice pictures depicting scenes from the Nativity.

Another great resource to have is a beautiful DVD called "Joy to the World". This is produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you can receive it FREE at the same site above. The DVD is around 20 minutes long and depicts the birth of the Savior. We try and watch it on Christmas Eve and I have been pleasantly surprised that even the little ones in our house will watch it quietly and give their full attention.

Advent Calendar Ala Oh, Fransson! Version #2

I got a preview a couple weeks ago of Emily's Advent Calendar and decided that I, too, needed one of these. For various reasons I've gotten rid of all others that I've had previously. We've made our own "advent" chains with candy each day and I really didn't want to do that. With all the fun little pockets we can do some days with candy treats and other days with something else.

My color choices are a little less subtle than Emily's, but as our mom would say, "To each his own."

I do have to say that I am not good with randomness. As I was working on this I had a hard time mixing it up and making sure it remained random looking. I had Hubby come and look at it once I had it where I thought I wanted it and he was less than helpful.

Hubby: "Is it supposed to look so chaotic?"
Me: "You mean random? Yes."
Hubby: Immediately he responded, "It looks great then", and walked off.

Later:
Hubby: "Why are the numbers not in order?"
Me: "Because I wanted them that way."
Hubby: "....O.K...." (remember that Hubby is an engineer--they don't think randomly--they think extremely, extremely precise)

He also asked me why I didn't do 25 squares instead of 24 and then I could have it be 5 across by 5 down. Of course, he mentioned that after everything was already organized and partially sewn. But it is something you may want to think about.

Here's what finally came to pass with my struggle for randomness.

At this stage in my life I don't do fancy quilting. Straight lines, like topstitching, are what I do best. I may eventually try and practice the free motion quilting, but not for now.

Back view: Besides the dowel corners that Oh, Fransson! recommended I added a center loop just to make sure the calendar wouldn't sag while it is hanging up and all filled.

Close-up of the dowel and holder.

My adjustments:

1. Bought 3 fat quarter bundles packs from Jo-Ann Fabrics, plus 4 more fat quarter pieces. (This is WAY more than what you need, but it worked out for what I wanted to do and I used coupons to cut the price down.) I've been working on a Christmas quilt from the remaining pieces. Will post that later on.

2. Also cut 5" squares--I don't like to think in 1/2" measurements.

3. Cut 2" sashing.

Stay tuned in the following days for some suggestions on what to fill the pockets with. We've been brainstorming and hope to give you some good ideas.

Winner

~Michelle~

is the big winner!

Congrats!

Your quilt is on it's way...

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

I had a great time reading through all your thoughts!

Made my day to see that so many of you are content or down-right happy about your age. That's the way it should be! Besides, does anyone really want to repeat high school?! The thought of it makes me gag!

Have a good one!

Christmas Reading List--Guest Post

Our cousin, Annette, is a book fiend. She freely admits it. And we are freely going to use it to our advantage. She posted on her own personal blog (earlier in October no less) about the Christmas reading list she was putting together for her kids this season and we asked if she'd be willing to share it with everyone. We thought we'd get this out sooner than later so if you like the idea you, too, can get started on rounding up the Christmas/Seasonal books your family likes.

_________________________

One of our favorite family traditions every December is reading a Christmas story by the Christmas tree. And every December it's one of the traditions that quite often gets skipped due to parties, school events, getting home late, etc.

This year, however, I have vowed to have a slower, quieter, more meaningful Christmas season. I hope. I saw the idea on a couple different blogs of wrapping the Christmas books and then letting kids unwrap one each night to read. The only problem with that was that about half of my stories are just typed ones that I have in a big binder. My girls prefer stories with pictures anyway, so I figured this was a good year to stock up on Christmas books.

Amazon - which just barely gets edged out by Target as my #1 place to shop - has been a great place to find very cheap, used Christmas books. Most of the ones I bought this year were hardcover books in "like new" or "very good" condition and cost $0.01 plus $3.99 shipping. I think the most expensive one I bought was $2.00 plus shipping. Over the past couple of months I've bought 2 or 3 each payday. There are still a few I'd like to get but now that I have enough to get us through Christmas Day I'm not in such a hurry.

I tried to keep the books a secret but my kids quickly figured out what I was doing and quite often I catch them trying to cheat and read them ahead of time. Then I threaten to call Santa Claus, they cry and scream, and order is restored.

Here's the list of what we'll be reading this December:

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer retold by Dennis R. Shealy


2. Frosty the Snowman retold by Annie North Bedford


3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss


4. Santa Claus by Rod Green


5. Magical Hands by Marjorie Barker Yoshi (technically not a Christmas book but it's got an inspiring message and we always read it at Christmas)
6. Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect by Richard H. Schneider


7. The Bears' Christmas by Stan & Jan Berenstain


8. How Many Miles to Bethlehem? by Kevin Crossley-Holland


9. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski (How'd you like that last name?) ***There is also a DVD of this story that Renae found at her local library. Check yours, they may have it also.
10. This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten
11. Punchinello and the Most Marvelous Gift by Max Lucado
    


12. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
13. Who'll Pull Santa's Sleigh Tonight? by Laura Rader


14. Mooseltoe by Margie Palatin


15. Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner



16. The Christmas Humbugs by Colleen Monroe
17. Christmas Oranges retold by Linda Bethers


18. The Legend of the Christmas Stocking by Rick Osborne
    
19. The Little Shepherd Girl by Juliann Henry
    
20. The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
    
    


21. Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera
    
22. Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas by Elise Primavera
23. Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer
    
24. Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton
    


25. Jingle Bells Illustrated by Kathleen O'Malley


26. Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson will be my 8 O'Clock Club selection (the book I read at bedtime with my kids) this year. A few other classics are missing from this list mostly because we watch them rather than read them in December. Having my husband, Ron, make us hot chocolate, then watching him sing and dance to the hot chocolate song in The Polar Express has become a tradition we would never, ever give up.

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Thanks, Annette! If you want to leave us a comment telling us about a book or books your family loves to read for the season, we'd love to hear your recommendations, too.

Birthday Giveaway

Tomorrow is my birthday--I will be turning 35!

I happen to like having birthday's and getting older. I feel like I get smarter each year. And, honestly, my 30's are WAY better than my 20's, so I'm hoping that trend continues. Surely we get older for a reason, right?!

In honor of my birthday I am giving away this quilt top to one lucky person. It's made from the remaining 3" scraps from my nine patch quilt. It measures approx. 36 by 42 inches .

It includes lots of the same scraps as my coin quilt. After using them for the last couple projects I am now completely sick of them. They were good scraps, but I am ready to move on.

If you want a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment telling us how old you are and your feelings about it. I'll draw a winner on Tuesday Nov. 17th.

Can't wait to read through all your thoughts!

Advent Calendar Ala Oh, Fransson!

Here's my version of the advent calendar that I saw at Oh, Fransson!. (You can see my November version here.) Elizabeth is such a precise quilter. Make sure you scroll through her blog--she makes beautiful quilts!

My old advent calendar was missing some pieces, and was probably 7 years old or so. Time for a new one. When I saw Elizabeth's I knew it would work great for my family. I mean, POCKETS that actually hold something?! Brilliant! Also, love the fact that the numbers are jumbled up.

I think I'll be putting in a treat, a scripture verse to read, and the name of a Christmas book for our nightly reading. Hopefully the kiddos will be as excited as I am about it.

The fabric I used is called Frosted Memories from Moda.

This piece was from my stash. I used it for the backing and binding. I'm embarrassed to stay that I've had it for.ev.er! I decided it was high time it got used.

I think the sheet music lines make a nice subtle bit of interest on the binding.

Here are the slight changes I made:
1. I cheated and used 2 charm packs (which are 5 inch pre-cuts) instead of cutting out all those 4.5 inch squares. The charms worked great, but I had to dig into my stash for a few remaining fabrics to finish it off. If you don't have a big stash, I would suggest buying 3 charm packs to get the 96 total squares.
2. I didn't stagger my pockets (my brain can't do staggering) so I used 1.5 inch sashings on all sides.
3. I added a 2 inch border to the whole outside to give it a little more presence.

Show and Tell

Anyone else feeling the pressure build as Christmas gets closer? I sure am! I have one big project that I REALLY want to get done in time to give as a gift. I am making some progress, but it really should be farther along than it is...

This is going to be a Plain Spoken Quilt. The solid blues, greys, and white are making me so happy right now. It is going to be SO COOL when it's done!

Our parents were in town for a visit last week. I gave them the Family Reunion Quilt. Mom seemed happy with it. Dad is only ever concerned if it's going to be long enough to cover his feet and come up to his neck. :) I think it is...

The names faded a bit when I washed the quilt so mom said she was going to embroider all the names on. I am so happy she is doing that. I had thought that was what needed to be done, but I wasn't about to do all 33 names. Mom has way more time and many more years experience than me. She will make them look great!

This sign makes me laugh! It is in the restroom of the fabric store I like to visit when I go to my in-laws. It points to a trash bin. Do you think it actually stops shoplifters from flushing the evidence?


Finally, if you want to see some skills, check out my latest family picture taken by Leslie in exactly 5 minutes. My kids don't sit still very long...and yet the picture is AWESOME!!

Baby Blanket Quartet

There are times when I can't take it anymore and I just have to finish up projects before they drive me crazy sitting there in my sewing room. Or before I start on another mad sewing binge with a different project. I reached that point recently and finally got a bunch of the baby blankets all completed. Now someone I know just needs to have a baby. Any takers!?

Lavender Squares
Black & Blue floral (love this one--so unconventionally girly)


Yellow Clown
Bandanna & Cowprint

This was also in preparation and for a bit of practice before I get serious and tackle the quilting on this project that is yet unfinished, albeit pinned and ready to go.