December has arrived! - and we're off and running ...

I don't do as much Christmas shopping and sewing now that we're retired. First, I live in a really small town and there is NO shopping! If the local Fred Meyers doesn't have it - we apparently don't need it!! So we often give money to the kids to buy what the grandchild needs/wants. Easy-peasy, but I do miss the 'thrill of the chase' sometimes!

Small town post offices also have their own special challenges! I haven't been in the post office for months when there wasn't a l*o*n*g line and more than one clerk at the counter. And don't ask for special stamps - they are available online!!!

I have no secret pals nor small sewing group to make presents for. Yes, Scrap Happens, I'm missing you - as usual!

End result?? No looming deadlines! And that's a good thing!

I think I mentioned that I hadn't made a Christmas stocking for J2, A's wife. I swore I had - this is where lists DO come in handy!! When I checked back the last few years - on my list of finished projects each year ... nada!! So when I made Mr D's stocking; I also made one for J2.

A sent me a picture of his stocking ... good thing - I'd forgotten that rendition! The theory was put a plain Christmas tree on the front of the stocking to be decorated with appropriate buttons each year. Never did it!! LOL! L&J had the same stockings, they each had 1 button on them. So, my mission, should I decide to accept it, was to sew buttons on finished stockings! ICK! There's really no room to work with them.

So here is how I did them. You will notice, there are no hands pictured in these steps. I was sewing during naps and no one was available to hold the camera. PLUS I looked down at my cuticles ... water aerobics is not kind to hands!! You will not see my hands demonstrating anything any time soon!



Start with 'findings' aka very small buttons! I got these at JoAnn's and they are the same buttons I used on "8 Tiny Reindeer" last January. Cute, nice colors and just big enough for clumsy 59 year old hands to hold on to!



I used quilting thread - figuring it was strong - and 2 needles!



Thread one needle; don't knot it; take a stitch thru the front of the stocking where you want the button placed. Start from the top and end on the top.



Thread the second needle with the other end of the thread. With each needle, in turn, go up thru one hole and down thru the other hole. Do not go into the fabric of the stocking. It helps to use 'opposite' holes for each needle's 'up' stitch. Pull on your threads until the button is tight against the stocking.



Now, unthread one needle - it's easier. Tie a square knot with the thread under the top edge of the button. Then tie another square knot under the bottom edge of the button. That's it! cut the threads as close under the button as you can.







Give the button a tug - it seems secure. Of course, it could unravel later - I just did these. They seem sturdy enough - time will tell.



Mr M and Miss P show you that they do look better 'decorated'!! Notice those really cute glasses Miss P is wearing?? Not real!! Her doctor said she needed glasses. They went to the eye doctor, talked about the great glasses she could get ... but she didn't need them! Very disappointed, she was!! So when Mommy found this 'fake' glasses at the mall - Miss P got them!

They look like such angels, don't they. They had just 'hip-checked' each other up and down the entire length of the cupboard!! Jockey-ing for 'top dog' position? While I was trying to get a picture ... guess I'm lucky they are not just a blur!

A holding Mr D in the same room got a glimpse of his future parenthood!! We both had to act like we weren't giggling!! Happy Holidays!