Green Acres Weekend Update

Sometimes I get on a little creative streak, usually when pressured by an upcoming event.  In this case, it's Christmas and my Type-A need for order while living in a house that's in semi-shambles.  For years I've been meaning to make our own Christmas stockings because our set is rather mix-and-match.  And every time I hit an after-Christmas sale, I think to myself, "Self, you could make that for less, even though it's 75% off." 

And so here are our Christmas stockings, which I made by using an old one for a template and looking at some photos online.  They're a bit plain, but will do until I figure out how I want to sew our names onto them.  I spent less than $10 to make all four, and for Byron's and Charlie's, I used green velour-ish fabric I already had.  The lining I also had on hand.  I kind of like "off" Christmas colors, but...

...mine and Akea's are fuscia.  I did a very non-Type-A thing and let her pick out the fabric, okay?  (Oh, and they're hanging on the wall because we don't have a mantle at the moment.)

I love this border I found!

The past couple years I've also gotten into making my own skirts because I hate wearing shorts in the summer; in fact, the only pair I like are some grunge-era army pants cut-offs that have been demoted to chores like painting and gardening.  Anyway, it's so much more creative and cheaper to find fun cotton prints on sale.  Problem is the skirts I've made are for weather that's slightly above the Arctic temperatures we've been having lately.  Since things are tight, I decided to search for some interesting wool or flannel fabric and make myself a couple winter skirts, too.

I think this was less than $3 per yard, on clearance.  It's some sort of British-style fabric.  I found this skirt on the Anthropologie website and will probably shoot for a similar style.

Here is a favorite skirt of mine that I'll use for a pattern for this fabric:

I fell in love with this a couple weeks ago and it finally went on sale this past week!  The new skirt will be a bit longer than the one I'm using as a template.

Besides my little creative spurt, the kids and I took a field trip with my sister-in-law, Dawn, and their cousins to the science museum (thanks, Dawn for the guest passes)!  Our chapter of Classical Conversations had a Christmas party complete with a rocket-launching contest.  Apparently our rocket was much admired for aesthetics, but let's just say form did not follow function.  Yup, it was a dud.

And though we're past Thanksgiving, several events this week have reminded me to remain thankful and steadfast in the midst of trials.  Included was an unexpected and totally selfless gift from friends, and Sunday's sermon at church was insanely apropos given that I'd been thinking about the following verse for the past couple weeks.  I'll leave it with you now; my wish is that it gives you the hope it gives me:

The Lord of Hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Psalm 46:11