Christmas Napkins

Are these not the cutest Christmas Napkins you've ever seen?? I think so too. And they were so simple and easy to make! I ran across them at the quilting store in town, and this is how I made mine:
First I made a template on a piece of paper using a 16 inch pizza pan. (The ones at the quilting store were made using a 19 inch pan.). I purchased some random Christmas themed fat quarters (12 in all) with a gold theme to all of them as I made these for Christmas Eve dinner at my sisters house and she said she's having a gold theme. So first I cut out two half circles from each fat quarter.





Then with right sides together, I sewed around using a 1/4" seam.




I left an inch to inch and a half opening for turning them right side out.



I trimmed the corners so they would lay nice when they are turned right side out also.


I turned them inside out. I used a wooden spoon handle to push the seams out, then I pressed them flat.


I top stitched around the edges to give it a nice finish (and also because I'm lazy and didn't want to hand stitch the inch opening shut by hand!)





Then I pressed them this way...

and that way... so they lay flat and look like Christmas trees!! I know, ingenious, right!

It only took me a couple hours to whip these up from start to finish, I made twelve in all, 6 matching pairs. And I love that they are all different but similar enough that they won't look funny on the table.

And then I used the leftovers to cut up into squares to make into these cute fabric baskets (only Christmas themed!) You can find the tutorial on Pink Penguin's blog.

The fabric baskets will have to wait however, I do remember saying that my next project would be my table runner, so last night while I was chopping up these little scraps, I also cut up the charm pack for my runner, so I will be able to start piecing it today! Maybe... I have so many projects on the go right now. But as always, I will keep you posted!

Disappointment

I am sleep deprived. Today, I took my kids to get pictures done and was disappointed by the result. My son refused to cooperate and as a result I got a picture of my two kids with a three year old bearing the fakest smile ever. It looks so unnatural I can't stand it, and it takes so much effort for me to get them both ready and out the door and across town to the appointment that I don't want to do it again anytime soon, especially when there is no guarantee that my son will feel like being a part of picture day again. I may have to get creative and do something at home, as he is always asking me to take pictures of him here. Silly. And I was really disappointed with the studio I went to, as the quality of pictures for the price I paid was not up to par. Wal Mart and Sears take the same quality pictures (sometimes better) than the ones I received today, and are far less expensive, and you have more control over which shots you get.

Then, continuing on with my Nikon story, I took my camera back to the photo shop today, as it is still giving me problems with that shadow at the bottom of the photo. They kept it there as the Nikon rep will be there next week, so they are going to ask about it and do something. I feel better about that at least, as the fellow I spoke to said the flash on the camera is tested and rated for the 18mm lens that I am using, and shouldn't cause that shadow, and if it was the flash it should be consistently doing that, which it isn't, so hopefully we'll know by next week what the problem is. I'm hoping it's defective and they exchange it for me, as I really don't know what I'll do if that is really how this camera takes pictures, as at the moment my Canon 8mp digital elph takes better indoor shots. And HELLO! I have children and will take lots of shots indoors.

Then this evening, my baby was cranky again, tried to breast feed her and she wouldn't eat, so I warmed up a bottle and that is what she wanted. Made me die a little inside! I may have to pump and give it to her that way, so she still gets the good stuff for a while.

Then my husband came home at 10pm this evening, and told me we are getting freezing rain. Lovely. Roads are going to rock tomorrow morning!! I hate that he works in the oil patch and is on the roads all the time, makes me worry for his safe return when the weather gets bad. I also had some small shopping plans for tomorrow, but for nothing that is urgently required, so my plans may be thwarted by the icy conditions.

So all in all today was a bit of a disappointment, but I'm optimistic, and hopefully tomorrow will be a bit brighter than today... Would be nice to have some time with my husband, he's been working lots and late nights, haven't had real quality family time in a while and my son misses his daddy too.

I'm going to go to bed now, to pray for 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep, safety for my husband, sun to melt the ice, and a new camera. What the heck, I may just throw in world peace for shits and giggles.

Natural Progression

"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together. There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you."
~Winnie the Pooh

My baby is growing up!! She is now two months old, and I am no longer producing enough milk for her :(

She is still fussy after I have fed her off both sides and have started supplementing with formula, when I know she's hungry and I have nothing left. This makes me sad for two reasons, (maybe more, we'll see how long I ramble). Okay, first of all, it's just one more step of my baby growing up, needing mommy less, because once she's fully on formula anyone can feed her. Also, she is my last baby, so this will be the last time I get to experience the most natural thing in the world... feeding my baby the way God intended. I truly feel breastfeeding links me back to all the generations of women before me that nursed their children. How many hundreds of years have we been doing this very thing??

And I feel that from the time our children are born, they slowly begin the process of leaving us. Which is naturally what happens when they grow up, if you do a good job. They become self sufficient, productive adults that can rely on themselves. And this is step one of my baby leaving me. WAaaaaaa! :'(

I know that this is what she needs, and I have given her a good head start. Breast feeding is much easier (no sterlizing or mixing, or heating, or purchasing!) Although there is also a certain freedom that I know I will enjoy once I am able to leave the baby with my husband for more than an hour at a time.

I suppose that is the progression though, as she grows up and becomes more her own person and needs me less, it leaves me the freedom to reclaim all the time and things we mothers sacrifice of ourselves for our children. It just makes me ache a little inside to know that one day, will be the last. And it seems that in the beginning I resent having to give up the freedoms that I used to enjoy, I have to take the baby with me everywhere I go, I am 100% responsible for her 24 hours a day 7 days a week. But once that same responsibility is taken from me, I am sad, and it makes me think that one day, I will look back and miss it, and realize that I didn't take the time to enjoy it.

Funny thing, I was thinking the other day, how the "young" kids don't appreciate their own beauty, like when I was 18-25 I remember thinking how chubby I was and not fully appreciating my youth. But how can you when you don't know anything else? Now that I am getting older, I can look back and say that I didn't appreciate the energy I had, the body I had, and all the freedoms I had.

So I suppose I should enjoy the last few weeks of nursing my child, try to be more present in the moment when I am feeding her so that when I do look back, I will know that I experienced it the best I could, and enjoyed the bond with my baby girl to the fullest extent. They change so fast and grow so quickly and there are already things about her that have changed, the way she looks around and focuses, the way she kicks her legs and waves her arms is less jerky and more smooth, and these changes are so subtle that we barely notice til they're gone.

I think I repeated myself alot in this post, but if you notice the title, I am a rambler, and what it all boils down to is that I need to accept the change that will inevitably come with a child growing up, and enjoy every moment as it comes, because the moments are so fleeting.