Finished Projects

During my first few months of pregnancy, I was pretty much too sick to do anything more than sit in front of a fan and pray for the nausea to pass (or death to come... whichever). While I sat there, I put my hands to work.

Last week I finished a project for this coming Christmas. I made a Jesse Tree to celebrate advent, and to teach our kids about the Christmas story.

Because of some stroke of GENIUS (or baby-induced INSANITY), I decided to design the tree in such a way (maybe the ONLY way) that I couldn't use my sewing machine... So, it had to be handsewn. That was almost worth all the work - and blisters.

Then i made 25 ornaments to go on the tree. Here's the ornament that symbolizes the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam & Eve.

Noah

Joshua and Rahab in Jericho

Isaiah

John the Baptist

And the story of Jesus' birth. There are 25 ornaments in all. I thought I'd show just a few. The Jesse tree is designed so that each night (starting on December 1st), we'll take out an ornament, read the corresponding scripture (which is conveniently embroidered on the back of each ornament... another BRILLIANT idea by yours truly), then place the ornament on the painstakingly hand-sewn tree.

This way, we'll start in Genesis, and highlight the whole story of Christ and His coming, ending with the Christmas story on December 25th. Phil and I sat down together one evening and went through each character we wanted to highlight, read through the corresponding references and tailored the stories that we'd read to the way we'd prefer (there are many versions of the Jesse tree... we basically made our own).

I thought with all the moving around we do, and all the changes our family has rolled with (and will continue to experience), it will be nice to have one tradition that will come with us everywhere we go. I also thought it was fitting that the eternal Word of God should be the focus of that tradition.

With the seemingly never-ending project of the Jesse tree behind me, I though this week I would tackle the pile of felt and fabric that has been collecting in the basket next to my sewing machine. I determined to work my way through the pile and make use of all of it before we leave for the States (IN 10 WEEKS!!!). Above is a little Valentine's Day baurrette i made for Nadia.

And then i got a little carried away, and made 10 more for her and her friends. The rest of the fabric in my basket is being hacked to bits and made into a Boppy and 2 zippered covers for the little one on the way. (Just in case some of you are wondering where i get all this time to sew - i do it all while Nadia naps in the afternoon. I listen to Indonesian language texts while i work so that no time is "lost". Nearly each day i get about 1.5-2 hours to work on a project i've got running. I like to have something to do while sitting and listening to texts and scripts. I seem to retain a whole lot more that way for some reason. So, "Sambil menyelam minum air" - i take a drink while i take a dive).