Christmas musings

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

I spent a lot of the afternoon painting and coloring with Aaron. I decided to pull out my watercolors and just create. I ended up producing the above. I spent a long time trying to figure out what I wanted to do about people because I didn't think I could do them justice. I liked the empty manger but Aaron insisted it needed the baby Jesus. I debated what color to make the blanket and Aaron chose the blue. I was surprised when as I formed the blanket the Spirit touched my heart in testimony of the sacredness of that night and the truth of the nativity story. I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Boy Toy

Part of my creative itch is a desire to do something with the boys. Memory making. That's what I am after. I laid awake for a few hours in the middle of the night and used the time sifting through pintrest. I was looking for Christmas and kid crafts. By the next morning I found a gem - a catapult made from craft sticks. 

Jared looked at the picture very carefully, counted each stick and together we made our first catapult:

Aaron made one as well and soon battle ensued with lincoln logs as ammo.

I went to go shower and while I was gone Jared proceeded to make five more!! They played all morning long. I think my plan to make memories worked this day.

Birds

I have been in the mood to create and though I have plenty of projects I could finish, I wanted to do something new. I had high hopes for creating things this Christmas season, but have gotten a really slow start. I was searching through www.allpeoplequilt.com looking at the handmade ornament patterns and came across two that were particularly interesting: a star and wild bird ornaments. 

apqshop.com wild birds

I had hoped to get the pattern for the bird but discovered it would cost $5.99. I figured for $6 I could figure it out close enough. I dug through my stash of fabric and with Aaron's help began my version. 

My first task was to figure out a way to create a pattern. I thought about printing the picture displayed but it seemed too daunting to try and manipulate the sizing with the printer and scanner. It finally occurred to me it would be simple to do the manipulating with just the computer screen. So I zoomed in on the picture until I got the size I wanted, put my white cardstock on the screen and traced the bird like a transparency. 

Once I had my template it was pretty straight forward. Put right sides together, stitch leaving a hole to turn inside out, stuff and piece together. I did realize that the wings had to be sewn on to each side of the bird before stitching the body together. I also sewed in a ribbon on the top so the bird could hang like an ornament. My biggest challenge was getting the sewing machine foot over the big  poofy wings and having some rough looking attachment seams. I don't know how the designer was able to have no seams showing on the wings. It is a mystery. I thought about just doing a topstitch all the way around so that the seams would just be part of the end product and maybe give it a more finished look but decided against it. 

I have never made a stuffed animal before, but I think it isn't bad for a first time. Aaron was pretty happy with it :) The only thing I still need to do is give her some eyes and a family. 

I used polyfil to stuff the bird, but I am wondering if just putting a layer of batting would give it the filled look but also soften the poof enough to make it more like an ornament and less like a stuffed animal.