Angels Among Us - WIP early

This belongs to Abby. It's the cross stitch panel for her Christmas Stocking. Mind you - Molly had a stocking before she was born. Abby is now 13 and I am finishing hers. What is it about subsequent children? Is the lack of time? Is it the fact that you are continually overwhelmed and tired?

There is a plus to waiting for this kind of creation. Abby was able to select her pattern and have say so in all the color choices. And this angel kinda looks like her. Molly has this really cute Santa holding a teddy bear. Both of these will remain at my house when the girls fly the nest and I will make them one for their home.

I still lack the remaining backstitch in her hair and around her face and ABBY will be added between her wings in the same greens as the tree. Now for the fun part. The stocking will be made of green velvet. Again using what I have. I am making it from a dress I wore to a school pagent when I was a teenager. (I really should look for the picture and post it sometime). The dress was beautiful, but at sometime in the past it was hung in the sun and faded in areas so I am cutting it up for the stocking.

I got an early start on my September challenge. I have cleaned the space around the dresser in my bedroom and tossed several things. I have craft stuff everywhere and the toss pile included several dried up bottles of assorted glues. I gave away a long sleeved shirt way too big and put several things away. I also cleaned out a folder of old financial records and have a huge box ready for the shredder before I toss them. I am keeping a list of the tossed items and the giveaway items so that at the end of the 30 days in September I can post and see how much extra "weight" is gone. I did get a jump on this because I will be gone for a few days at the end of the month so the extra time will even out. I also have put together two boxes for some ladies who won a surprize from me several days back. A varied selection of stuff that I really hope they enjoy.

If you all remember the crocheted baby blanket in the bright colors and hot pink. I made it as a gift for baby Addison. Well she's here. Born August 30 and weighing in at better than 9 pounds, she is our newest angel. Congratulations Jonathan and Nancy, Haley and Mack. 3 more angels are on their way as well in our church family. All girls. So I have two gifts completed and two more to go.

I have no words of wisdom today. Just this celebration. As I work on a stocking for Abby, I pray for her and the lives she will touch. I also remember the joy of celebrating the Saviour's birth and the grace that comes with the love of God for me. As new lives come into this world, I accept the opportunity to love them and nuture them through their life. I add them to my prayers. It is amazing that the more we love, the more capacity we have for love.

30 days of using what I had. Now I will try to keep that trend going through September and October.

Have a beautiful day.