Christmas time

Shea and I have been busy at work on some outfits for Kinley and others and some gifts for friends and family.  Today I was finishing up some hoodies for 3 little girls who we miss seeing as often as we'd like, Avery, Ali-Grace and Anna Camille.  I hope they like them as much as I do.  I wouldn't mind having one myself!



Detail of the front of Anna Camille's pullover.



I kept remembering as I was sewing this one, when this little one was asked her name she would always say it was "Ali hyphen Grace".  I can never see her name without her sweet face popping into my head.

Avery is growing up now and I tried not to make her hoodie look too much like a little girl.  It's hard to believe that she is 11 years old now!

Detail of the front of Avery's hoodie.

Detail of Ali-Grace's hoodie.

Fleeman girls we still love you!

Kinley had several outfits for Christmas this year.  After all, she is my best advertisement! :)

I still love to smock and Shea really likes the bishop dress so that's what Kinley's Christmas dress is this year.  I love the new look of smocking on a print and really love this Michael Miller fabric that I got at City Craft.  Kinley is very busy and it's difficult to get her still for pictures but she looks cute anyway.

Can't you just see the mischief in her eyes?

I love this one too!

Shea caught this cute shot of her with our tree in her bubble skirt and matching shirt outfit. 

She has several shirts that match these sweet little single rufflle pants so she wears something Christmassy almost every day!

Shea made this cute outfit.  It's reversible and has a more Christmassy applique on the other side.  It looked really cute in her Santa pictures!

See what I mean! 

I've made quite a few of these Christmas nightgowns and of course, Kinley has one too!  It has always been my tradition to give each of my children and now grandchild new Christmas P.J.'s that they get to open on Christmas Eve.  That way, Christmas morning pictures are always very cute!

This picture expresses my feelings right now!  I am so thankful that all our family is going to be together on Christmas this year.  God has blessed me with a wonderful family! 

Merry Christmas!  May God bless each of you! 

Implosion explosion!

Today was a huge day in the life of our church, First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX.  We imploded 5 buildings in order to make room for a new sanctuary and new children and youth education space.  Most of these buildings have been there for many, many years and many of our members have grown up using them.  It was an exciting, historic day!  We were privileged to get to view the implosion from the 34th floor of the Republic Tower and I had my camera ready and set on continuous shooting so I got some pretty awesome pictures.  When the dust started to clear there was a single ray of light shining on the steeple of our historic sanctuary!  It was as if God was saying, "It's all clear now.  You can get on with the building and reaching of Dallas for Christ."  I am awed and inspired to be a part of this great time in a great church!  Praise the Lord!

Here's a look at the implosion as I saw it:

Note the small puff of smoke below and to the left of the ARCA sign.  This was the first explosion of dynamite. 

In this picture you start to see the building going down just above the smoke.

If you notice the upper left hand corner of the building in the lower right of the picture, that is where the "button" was and our pastor, Dr. Jeffress and some of the other church and city leaders, including Mayor Leppert are standing up there.  The dust cloud almost engulfed them.

And then we could see the steeple.

Ryland and I walked around  and I was able to get shot of the rubble from the street.  They are already getting the streets cleared and taking away the old rubble awaiting the new buildings.  

Belief is Building! 

 

 

Smashing matching!

A couple of friends at work have asked me to make some matching outfits for them.  The first is for a couple of little boys, one of which isn't even born yet, so these are for the spring. 

I think these turned out really cute.  Hopefully, I will get to see some pictures of the littles guys wearing these outfits next spring.

The second set was made for a pair of little girls whose dad is a huge Philidelphia Eagles fan.  So, maybe these will bring them luck on gameday!

Emore amore! and Pumpkins galore!

I have been wanting an embroidery machine for a really long time and a few days ago I found one on Craig's list which had hardly been used at all, so.............I bought it!  I'm so excited!  Shea and I have been learning how to use it this week and so here are a few of our projects!

The Babylock Emore!

Double pumpkin applique

Fall leaf applique.

This is the same fall leaf applique we just changed the colors and added it to a tshirt for Kinley with matching pants made by her mom, Shea.

I found these dish towels at Target and added some really nice embellishments!  Aren't these cute!

We also made a trip to the Dallas Arboretum today to see the pumpkin village and get some fresh air.  It was really nice.  The weather here is beautiful this time of year.....warm and clear with low humidity and blue skies.  Being at the arboretum makes you forget that your in one of the largest cities in America.

Ryland and I in front of one of the pumpkin houses.

Shea and Kinley enjoying the sunshine and pumpkins!

Kelsi's home for fall break so she got some pumpkin time too!

My family makes fun of me for taking pictures of animals and bugs but I love nature and creatures so I saw this beautiful butterfly and had to get a picture.  I think it's a pretty good shot!

There were lots of bees too and so I had to get a few shots of those.

And one last shot of the butterfly. 

Happy Fall Ya'll!  Get out and enjoy this gorgeous weather and God's beautiful world!