12 in 2012

Last year I sewed a lot... but it was all for other people. Mostly Gracie :) And, why not?! She's little and cute... nothing had to be perfect... and if it didn't work, I hadn't invested too much time or money into anything because everything was little. She got dresses, a coat, cloth diapers; more things than she actually needed. I got a little carried away.

But for me? I never got around to sewing (except for a pair of PJ pants, but those hardly count).

So this year, I'm setting a challenge: I will sew 12 garments to cycle into my every day wardrobe during the year 2012. That is about one per month. I've got a couple bigger projects planned that may take longer than a month, so there will be some short ones mixed in, too. I'm excited by this challenge - I'm tired of my two pairs of ill-fitting "mom jeans" and a miscellaneous blend of other garments that don't fit well OR coordinate with anything else. In addition to my sewing projects, I'll be throwing out a lot of old things and making a couple of carefully chosen purchases so that hopefully by this time next year, dressing is both more fun and easier, with better results.

And, for almost the first time, I'm actually going to sew clothes out of the material they're supposed to be made from instead of quilter's cotton. Sigh. No wonder I don't like wearing the things I've made!

Here's my plan getting started:

• January: Black and white blazer from Simplicity 2652


• February: Black knit wrap dress (From a pattern I used a few years ago)


• March: Tunic blouse (Simplicity 2147) and pencil skirt


• April: 1940s swing dress from Sense and Sensibility (I'm so excited to do this one!)

And that's all I've got so far. Come summer I want to make some light weight every day dresses with full skirts so I can still get down on the floor with Grace. I like skirts and dresses, even rolling around on the floor: they tend to stay in place better than jeans, especially when I stand up again. I'm more comfy :)

I want to invite you to challenge yourself, too! What will you be sewing in 2012? I'd love to hear your plans for the year!

Black Bean Soup

Per request of one of my friends, I wanted to pass on my black bean soup recipe. This is our favorite winter-warm-up soup :) It fills the belly and is very “clean” according to my husband – it is his official anti-junk food meal, often requested after we’ve been away from home and eating out. Like all good soups, the ingredient quantities are very approximate and turn out differently every time, but it makes a consistently good dinner! It's cheap, too, and you can't beat that!

Black Bean Soup
About 1lb dried black beans, soaked and cooked or 3 cans black beans
2 onions, finely chopped
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 can tomato/pepper blend (ie Ro-tel)
4c chicken broth, veggie broth, or bean broth from cooking the beans
4c water
2c corn
Cumin
Black Pepper
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes

Cook beans if using dried. If using bean broth, reserve 4c. Set aside.
Sweat onions in a generous drizzle of olive oil until soft. Mince or slice garlic and add to onions; cook until they just begin to take on color. Add broth, water, tomato blend, and cooked beans; bring to simmer.
Spice to taste:

• Be careful with the salt, especially if you use packaged broth or bullion cubes


• A couple cracks of black pepper go a long way


• Be generous with the cumin – this is where most of the flavor comes from


• Feel free to leave out the red pepper flakes, they’re spicy!


• Cayenne pepper adds a great flavor, but it doesn’t take much. This is an undertone in the flavor.

Give everything at least 20min on the simmer to help the flavors blend together. Add corn and warm just before serving.
When we make this at home, we add in a little bit of whatever leftover cooked meat is around – usually shredded chicken – but its awesome vegetarian as well. Also, try blending some or all of the soup; it is nice pureed too. Serve with corn bread or cornmeal dumplings:

Cornmeal Dumplings
½ c all purpose flour
½ c cornmeal
½ c shredded cheddar cheese
1tsp baking powder
1 egg
2tbsp oil
2tbsp milk

Stir dry ingredients well. Combine wet ingredients then add to the dry. Stir to combine. The dough will be somewhat dry. Drop by heaping tablespoon (I use a melon baller) into simmering soup. Cover pot and cook for 10-12min.

A Special Gift

Back when my now-husband and I were first planning our wedding, my mom was planning a quilt.

She took our favorite colors... a lovely pattern... beautiful fabrics... hours of work...

She enlisted the hand-quilters group from her church to do the quilting (and it is fantastic I must say!)...

And like all the best quilts, marked the occasion by embroidering our wedding date on a perfect label for the back. We were blessed to receive the finished quilt for Christmas this year. I'm honored to use it and remember the many hands who prayed for our marriage while they were working on it. Thank you!

Article: Blessed are the Un-Cool

I stumbled across this article today and it made me think. I just had to pass it along:

People sometimes assume that because I’m a progressive 30-year-old who enjoys Mumford and Sons and has no children, I must want a super-hip church—you know, the kind that’s called “Thrive” or “Be” and which boasts “an awesome worship experience,” a fair-trade coffee bar, its own iPhone app, and a pastor who looks like a Jonas Brother.
While none of these features are inherently wrong, (and can of course be used by good people to do good things), these days I find myself longing for a church with a cool factor of about 0. [Read the rest at Blessed are the Un-Cool]

We used to attend a "cool" church - big stage, big lights, big band. But there was also a big hole where Christ should be. It got to the point on our very last service there that the pastor never even touched a Bible, which is when we decided to cut ties and worship elsewhere. Now we're at a very "uncool" church, complete with the amateur music the article's autor desires.

Where do you attend? Would it be considered "cool"? I'd love some dialogue on this!

Grace's Snowflake Christmas Dress

I have waited what seems like forever to make a baby Christmas dress. Here's to a life-goal being completed!
I dreamed of a gown with so much fluff my sweet girl would be hard to hold. I wanted something that was a lovely blend of classic and modern; suitable for Christmas but beyond that into the rest of the winter - who wants to spend hours on a dress that will only be worn once?


I found Simplicity 2392, a reprint from the 1950s. So cute! And it was exactly what I was looking for :) I chose black satin for the top. The skirt is one layer of cream satin and one layer of sheer organza printed with glitter snowflakes. Can you see them?

Although I followed the back of the envelope in regards to sizing, the dress is huge (as you can probably tell). The only alteration I made was to lengthen the sleeves to be long - it is winter after all! As big as it is, I have high hopes this will fit NEXT Christmas as well. I know I can't put her in it on a regular Sunday because she'll destroy it in the nursery. Again, maybe when she's walking next year it will be more practical.

But practical or not, I most certainly had fun making it!

Christmas Blessings

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Gracie. It's so completely different to have a small person in your house! This was our fourth Christmas married, and I must say... the past couple years have really lost their sparkle. It's hard to get excited when it is just two adults buying each other "needs" since neither of us can think of any "toys" we actually want. Boring. And last year we were in the middle of our church transition, which added challenges in experiencing the spiritual side.

But then, Grace...

The fun started early. She affects every one of our decisions: Christmas cards instead of breakable ornaments, the hight of said cards on the tree, the location of said tree... She spent weeks petting that low branch and giggling. I guess fake pastic feels nice? (and yes, I did get a tree skirt made before the "big day.")

Our neighborhood has a fun tradition on Christmas Eve - the luminaria walk. Every house in the neighborhood - a 4 block by 6 block rectangle - is invited to place out luminaria at dusk on Christmas Eve. They line the sidewalk from about 4:30 until they burn out (most of ours were still going when we went to bed at 10). We bundled Grace up nice and warm and spent the evening wandering the streets while the nearby churches rang their bells and the Rees Carillion played out carols. This is the first year we participated, although we did go walking last year. I plan on this special time becoming a family tradition as long as we live here.

We enjoyed a modest but fun gift time before heading to church. And of course, I forgot to get a photograph of the super-exciting gown I made for Gracie. I'll dress her up again in the next day or two for pictures - once she's gotten over her tummy bug. I think we should have church on Christmas morning every year, not just the years it lands on Sunday. I can't think of anything more appropriate!

And thanks to Grace inspiring excitement in the season, I was even able to pull of a long-hoped-for surprise gift for Shaune. My husband is an excellent pianist and it has been a personal tragedy that he has not had access to a piano for years. Although a "real" piano is outside of our means right now, both by space and by cost, I succeeded in finding a sweet deal on a good quality keyboard. I even hid it and got it set up for Christmas without his suspecting a thing! It is such a blessing to have music (and Gracie's interpretation: slamming) spreading through our house at last.

Having a baby changes so much. There's many things I've lost - mainly, the ability to sleep through the night :D. But the things I've gained so outweigh the losses. Like the joy in remembering that long-ago happening where a young girl became a mom for the first time to the Son of God. I'm one step closer to understanding. Merry Christmas!

Family Photos!

I'm so excited to share these with you. Earlier in the month, we went to visit our friends up north - bloggers Jena of Organized Everyday and her daughter Joanna of Jo-with-it's Portfolio (and the rest of their family, of course :) ) Joanna is planning to start college next year to learn photography and volunteered to do photographs of us. They turned out delightful! I'd love to share (Click on the picture to go see!):

http://jowithitsportfolio.blogspot.com/2011/12/preston-family.html

The Unity of Believers

I’ve been having a lot of long, deep talks with Christian friends lately. Time after time, I hear from people about divisiveness in the church. You know… those big issues that people can just get SO angry about. I’m sure you can think of some, but here’s a sample of what I’ve heard lately: stay-at-home vs working mom; breastfeeding vs formula; the definition of modesty; how we’re to respond to social activism causes; birth control; Santa Claus. The role of women in the church. The list goes on… and on… and on. People get SO angry about what are essentially little things. They aren’t salvation issues.

I’m sharing this with you in the hopes of pushing my friends to seek unity. There are some problems that are salvation issues, greatly worth fighting for. Others are more about sanctification – becoming more Christlike while we are still walking this earth. I believe in fighting for truth in salvation doctrine, while being much more forgiving in the issues of sanctification. Basically, it’s about being true to the Bible, while walking in grace. Need examples?

Salvation issue: Jesus tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Anyone who speaks otherwise is telling a lie. It’s black and white, and very much worth standing up for the truth.

Sanctification issue: Modesty. Yes, it’s commanded in Scipture: “I want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety…” (1 Timothy 2:9). But Scripture doesn’t define modesty as only ankle length skirts… or knee length… or mid-back length hair… or never cut hair… or a specific amount of ease across the chest. Look all day, but I’ll tell you, it isn’t there. This is a gray area. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate grace to our sisters, encouraging and teaching them, but not something to beat over the head about. Where there is no clear Biblical teaching, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to guide. When in doubt, be truthful but loving.

Salvation issue: Christ is the sole sufficient sacrifice for sin; nothing else will do. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Also, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left” (Hebrews 10:26). Once again, very clear truth that we must defend.

Sanctification issue: Birth control. There’s so many issues rolled up into this that I truly believe there is no one right answer for each family. First we have the “control” issue – who should control births, God or us? Or is there ever a time when a particular family is called by God to either give birth or prevent it? There are some clear distinctions here (specifically, not murdering an unborn child), but also a ton of gray. And this whole issue rolls right into my belief in seasons of life and faith (which I’m writing a post about right now!). But my current point is this: where there is no clear teaching, there must be room for grace.

I guess this is just a sweet holiday reminder, as much to myself as to anyone else. Where the Bible draws a firm line we are to “stand firm and let nothing move you” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Where there is gray, let us “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

May God bless you and all your interactions with believers this season!

Fashion Statement

Let's do a little math on inequalities.

Whatever is clean + Whatever fits + Whatever is warm + Whatever is on the top of the pile DOES NOT EQUAL Whatever matches.

Sigh. I try... really. But you'd never know by 5pm.

Your baby eats WHAT?

No offense to the fine baby food companies (ahem), but baby food is gross. Seriously yucky stuff. So I tried to do solids the "right" way... pureeing my own veggies, shoveling it in her mouth three times a day, trying to distract her enough to open her mouth... but it took WAY too long, was way too messy, and quite frankly, was not a pleasant experience for anyone. Totally frustrating.

Beef stew and blueberries - definately a favorite!

That's when I gave up. I read a book called "Baby Led Weaning" by Gill Rapely. Full disclosure: this not a scientific book. The only scientific study referenced in it was done in the early part of the century. It's full of first-person testimonials, which are interesting but definately not scientific. That being said, I found a lot of logic and rational thought in it. Primarily, do you really think that moms through the ages spent hours pureeing food for their babies? Or wasting so much time trying to spoon-feed little ones who clearly don't desire to be spoon-fed? I doubt it. I don't buy everything in the book, but the basic concept seems sound. So, last week (just in time for Thanksgiving), we switched our approach: Gracie eats what we eat.

Chicken noodle soup

She's actually doing surprisingly well with it. I know she's eating (we cloth diaper... use your imagination), and actually eating a lot more than I thought she would. She's tried pretty much everything I've put in front of her. Sure, it's messy... but you should have seen what we were dealing with when spoon-feeding. Believe it or not, this is cleaner. And she's SOOO happy! We all sit down for our meals together, with Gracie getting a small portion of whatever the meal is. Sometimes I'll cook her something a tiny bit different: last night we had fish but I didn't season her piece, and for lunch today I didn't put sauce on her pasta. But that's minor in the grand scheme of things. We're teaching her not only what food is, but also what family mealtime is. She's a part of our family, and family mealtime is something we very much believe in.

Some kind of sherbert, and yes it's a spoon, but her face is priceless!
This kid makes the best faces.

Has anyone else done this, or something similar? I have a couple friends here that have done solids basically this way. It just seems so natural. Thoughts?