The darkness within us...

Yuck!  Why in the world would we look at something so non-Christmas as darkness, especially the darkness that is in our hearts?!  Talk about ruining the holiday spirit!  Bah humbug!

Yeah, it's not one of my favorite topics, but we need to look at it so we can understand just how wonderful the gift is that God gave us when Jesus came to earth.  It's never pleasant to stop long enough to reflect on our thoughts, words and deeds and agree with God that some or a lot of them are sin.  The Bible is pretty clear that every person who has ever been born has sinned.  All of us.  No exceptions.  Even the perfectionists among us.  And we don't get to define what sin is.  God already did that for us in the Bible.

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds; and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.  But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.  And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Alexandr Sozhenitsyn

Did you know that darkness is not the opposite of light?  It is the absence of light.  Yes, there is darkness within all of us, but God has sent the Light to dispel the darkness and set us free!

In the end, we must acknowledge the darkness within us and the light that comes only from God.  Both are unrelenting, and both define every moment of our life.  Every atom in our bodies is infected by the disease of sin, but every atom may likewise be covered by the grace of God.  The vilest offender can reap the deepest joys of heaven.
Dr. David Jeremiah

That is what Christmas is all about - God sending the Light to earth so we can be truly free from the darkness within us.  Amazing grace!

Christmas Stockings

As our family grows, I have made more Christmas stockings.  Because the stockings I made for our girls when they were little are country style, I chose to keep that style as I add more to our display on the mantel.  It's fun to personalize the stockings, too. Because I was making several stockings this year, I decided to make a new stocking for myself.  The old one was...well, boring!  I dug through my fabric stash and had enough fabric for most of the stockings and only had to buy 1 1/2 yd of fabric.

You will need:
three coordinating fabrics: the body of the stocking, the cuff and the heel and toe patches.
Pellon Wonder Under transfer web (for applying heel and toe patches to the stocking)
thread
buttons or other items to embellish the stocking
ribbon for the hanging loop

Draw your pattern on newspaper or pieces of printer paper taped together. (That is an 18" ruler)
Fold stocking fabric right sides together and cut out two stockings.

You will need to fold the cuff fabric twice - on top and on one side.

You will end up with a piece of fabric that looks like this when you unfold it.

Cut a square of the Wonder Under that is big enough for both the toe and heel pieces.  Cut a square of the fabric for the toe and heel pieces just a little larger than the the Wonder Under. (You don't want to get it on your iron.)  Place the Wonder Under on your ironing board, paper side down.  Place the fabric, right side up, on top of the Wonder Under and carefully iron the two pieces together.  Turn it over and iron on the paper side.  Let cool.  Place your heel and toe patterns, upside down, on the paper side and trace with pencil, then cut out. 

                                     
 Carefully peel the paper backing on both pieces, leaving the mesh.  Place the pieces on the front of the stocking and iron in place.

Pin the two stocking pieces, right sides together.  Sew them together, using a 1/4" seam, leaving the top of the stocking open.  Clip the fabric in several places on the curves, being careful not to clip the thread.  Turn right side out and iron flat.

Fold the cuff in half, right sides together, and sew with a 1/4" seam.  Iron the seam flat.  Fold the cuff over in half, right sides out, and put it inside the stocking pinning the raw edges onto the top opening of the stocking.  Sew all around the opening.  Fold the cuff out and over the top of the stocking and iron.

Now for the really fun part, embellishing the stocking.  Pencil on the stocking owner's name, then trace over it with a fine black Sharpie.  I used the end of a small paint brush dipped in black acrylic craft paint to make the country dots on the letters to keep our stockings somewhat uniform.  I've also seen letters cut from felt and glued onto the cuff.  If you have a machine that embroiders, you can use it to put the names on the cuffs.  I have used buttons and other items to embellish and personalize the stockings, too.

 

To finish the stocking, I added a grosgrain ribbon loop for hanging the stocking.  Firmly attach the loop to the back seam on the inside of the stocking with an X stitch.

We are now up to ten stockings this year!  I don't have that many stocking holders.  They wouldn't fit on the mantel anyway.  I'll show you the perfect solution tomorrow.