Three....

My baby is three today.
It's still Christmas Eve for about 45 more minutes in my timezone, so it's still her birthday. My little unicorn (see... oh, about four posts back) is three today.

Sitting here, alone in the living room with the Christmas tree lit and stockings to be stuffed I feel so eternally grateful that sweet Lucy Margaret is here to celebrate Christmas with us this year. It's still quite raw when I allow myself to go back to when she was sick and it's like a fire hydrant of fear, sorrow and tears is opened if I really allow myself to feel the emotions that I went through during that time. One week that still brings me to my knees.

I don't look back on it so that I can constantly live in the past. I keep it all in my heart so that my view of life is altered. If chocolate milk is spilled down the front of a dress -- even a dress I made and put *hours* into making -- those hours mean nothing if the little girl wearing that dress isn't around ever. A stain is a stain and it's simply a mark of living.

Happy birthday, Lucy. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Just a rest stop..

I'm still dashing (in theory, at least) to get Christmas gifts done. But I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. Or stopped at a rest stop for far too long and got distracted.
I've picked up a new hobby. One I obviously need (because I don't have *nearly* enough already... and oh-so-much time to complete them all.. ha!).
I'm now absolutely loving embroidering by hand. I just LOVE it! I can carry it anywhere with me and have relatively little to carry around. I like keeping my hands busy. I really dislike being somewhere and doing nothing. Any sort of tv time is the worst. While we don't have cable, relatives do... and if there's tv-watching, I'd rather be doing something crafty.
I've only done three corners of napkins thus far (and have another in the works), but I'm having such a lovely time doing it already and I can see myself continuing on.
I ordered the Ultimate Kit from http://www.sublimestitching.com/ which included the scissors, embroidery thread (a color pack of your choice), a textile to embroider upon, an embroidery needle, an embroidery hoop... and maybe something else? Oh yes, a transfer pattern pack (I picked "Flower Power" for my beginning ventures). And, um, I *might* just have another order with them in the works right now. One that includes more color choices of embroidery thread, more needles, more patterns... and there *is* a gift for somebody else in there too! My oldest has an embroidery kit from last year that she got but it's a tad on the cheap side of things... yet she's had an AMAZING time with it. So I went and got her a prpoer kit from here so we can sit and embroider together!
So now for photos... here are two napkins (the one on the right was my very, very first project ever!) that are quite Christmasy. Not sure where they'll make their home (the back of the one on the left isn't quite as pretty to look at... which is kind of a dilemma since they're napkins and the back *does* show).

And my favorite thus far (out of only the three projects I've completed):

Laying on my desperately-needing-a-new-cover ironing board.

But I really can't take any more breaks along the way. Not only is Christmas just around the bend, but my youngest's birthday is on Christmas Eve! I have a divine dress planned, but I'm being held up in the process by not tracing out the pattern in her size. I HAVE to do that today. My sweet little just-about-three-year-old deserves a big, ol' happy party this year. Because we're blessed to still have her here.

Hanging my heart(s) out there...

And I started on some blues....
I ran out of the heart ribbon, so I need to go and look for some more. I have more hearts cut out... they just need that extra punch with the ribbon I think.

Simple whimsy

They're not incredibly fancy, ornate or amazing... but I think they're just so cute.
These are going to a silent auction at church that's tomorrow. I'm making up some more for gifts in just a few minutes.
I just love, love, LOVE this batch because I think they play off of each other *so* well!