Frou Frou Gypsy in Combat Boots

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and is looking forward to a bright new year ....it will be here in just 14 hours! I can't believe it. We are just hangin' around the house today waiting on DH to get off work. We are going to my BFF's house tonight for Chinese take out and fireworks....a tradition now! the kids love it! I have picked up knitting in the past few weeks, as has DH, and i think we are both consumed! It is crazy! We look like little old people sitting on the sofa knitting watching TV. Hopefully i will be back blogging soon with lots of pictures to show and fun things to tell. happy new year!

( James 8, Lula 5, Emma 3 and Ethan 7 and three quarters) for as long as i can recall, so at least 10 years if not longer, DH and i have traveled to Nashville to visit some college friends of ours every Christmas. This year was no exception. Now, we have 4 kids between us, and our party of eight is quite a mess getting out the door or seated at a restaurant. Two or three years ago, we started making gingerbread houses with the kids...instead of buying gifts. The kids love it! It is so much fun...and yummy too! Here you can see our masterpieces!

I made this bag from 2 pair of recycled camo pants ....and lined it with some fabric leftover from another project. I just really love this bag. I hope the recipient loves it as much as i do. It was rather hard to make since the camo pants were rather well put together...disassembling and reassembling was a daunting task. i actually shattered one sewing needle on my new Bernina putting this little baby together. Once it was finished i felt it needed a little something so i hand embroidered this little rose and vine on the pocket flap. hope you all are wrapping up your holiday shopping and crafting! won't be long now!

my DD is modeling this scarf I made for a Christmas gift. It is made from three recycled Tee shirts. I just love it. It is so soft! two of the tee shirts were old faves....they just wore out. The third was pulled right from my drawer and sacrificed for the sake of the gift. I needed another Tee and it was the right color.

At least for me! my hub and mom chipped in to buy me this fantastic Bernina 230! yay! they were even kind enough to NOT make me wait til Christmas to get it! I am super happy about my new baby! I also wanted to share pics with you of this needlepoint rug I found while i was thrifting for $3.88!!! It is in perfect condition! It is sooo pretty! It had to come home with me!

I have a bit of a "thing' for Christmas trees. My "white" tree "died" this year and i happened to have a "spare green one in the attic....so I put it up instead. I don't like it. All the ornies were picked specifically for a white tree and basically look icky on the green one. so, now do i get a new white tree or new ornies? decisions, decisions! Well, this started out as a tree to go outside in a urn on the front porch, but then got way too fragile and cute for all that. it has ended up on the counter in the kids' bathroom. i LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it! here's what you need: styro cone garland hot glue tons of plastic/vintage/whatever ornies Here is my cone: I hot glued, and wrapped the garland covering the cone. This particular garland i got a while back at the Thrift Store for less than $3 for a whole bag! I have enough left to make another tree easily. I love it... It is this really beautiful pinkish silvery patina that is just y

Ok, I think i have found a new love....hand embroidery. I think it is so amazing....here are some of my favorite patterns at Urban Threads ....check out their site. They have machine patterns too! They are seriously cool!

May most favorite pair of jeans wore out. I just couldn't wear them anymore. I wasn't ready to let them go!!! If you know me, you are laughing right now because you recognize the jeans in the picture. hahaha! I used Simplicity pattern 2597 ...but instead of cargo pants, i used my beloved jeans. If you aren't familiar with this pair of jeans, the appliques were on the jeans, not something i added to the handbag. I must admit that the pattern does NOT call for the bag to be lined, but i like to hide my seams and seriously, it needed a lining! The thing i didn't do, and should have, was put some pockets on the inside!!! Seriously as many handbags as i have made, you would think that would be ingrained in my head by now, but sadly no. I was so excited about getting it together so i could see it "finished", that pockets totally slipped my mind, and were not included on the original pattern. I love it. It is nice and roomy and comfy...just like my jeans.

I am sorry to those of you who live "far off"....You can only participate in this give away if you live close enough that i can deliver this to you, or that you can pick it up from me, which probably means that you know me. i am going to post a link to this on my FB....so that will hit all my "friends". I have this "like-new", partially seasoned Pampered Chef Stoneware bowl that i simply never use. It is FREE to a good home. Just be the first person to claim it...or if there is enough interest i will do a drawing and see who gets it. If no one wants it, it is headed to the thrift store. I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!

So i had this idea for a baby quilt. I wondered if i could pull it off....i think i just may have! Some friends of ours are expecting. He is a musician, primarily a Guitar player. I wanted to make them a quilt that would be meaningful and something that they would really appreciate, and i wanted it to be cool. They are having a little girl so it is (obviously) pink and yellow. It says..."my dad rocks!" and then smaller at the bottom it says "and my mom rolls" and has an embroidered baby carriage I of course waited until the last possible minute to take a picture of it, so I didn't get a GREAT picture of it....i did get some detail shots I modeled the guitar after one of his guitars....i was happy with it. I did the quilting and the applique with my machine but all of the embroidery was done by hand. It was the first time i ever tried applique, it was a lot of work, but totally fun and i think they really liked it.

well It's back... maybe i will be more successful this year. I had a scrapbook nightmare last week. i do so want to do this again this year. go check out the journal your Christmas post and i know you will want to join in on the fun!

ok, i found a crock pot cook book on clearance at my local book store and i bought it....i love my crock pot! I tried my first recipe from it the other night and it was a big hit! EASY BEEF STEW 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 in cubes 1 can (4oz) mushrooms {I used one package of fresh mushrooms chopped} 1 envelope dry onion soup mix 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup red or white wine {I used white} Hot cooked egg noodles. guess what? toss it all in, except the noodles, let it cook on low 8-12 hours...and voila! dinner is ready! I did add a little sour cream and a bit of a corn starch slurry at the end to thicken it a bit and make it more like beef stroganoff, which is what it looked like to me anyway..not beef stew! DH loved it and the kids said they liked it. but didn't eat a ton of it. There was enough left to freeze for leftovers on another day!

OK, i have to confess, I got this recipe from the crock pot blog that i have mentioned in earlier posts. But i changed it a little. It was the easiest thing EVER and all four of us loved it!!! OK, buy a whole chicken. skin it. you can do this, trust me! :) think of all the calories and fat you are eliminating :) slice two onions and peel one whole head of garlic. Rub the chick with seasoning...I used a Greek seasoning blend that I buy at the grocery...comes in a yellow container, can't remember what it is called. plop the bird into your crock pot and put the lemon slices and whole cloves of garlic in and around it. cook on low 6-8 hours. I prepped mine the evening before and put it in the fridge until the next morning. The chicken was moist and tender and literally fell apart in the cooker. It came out in pieces and was very yummy!!! hopefully soon i will have some updates for you and pictures. blog slacker that i have been.

those of you who know me, know that i am a little bit sad that my daughter wants to be a boy. She's five and not girly AT ALL. There are moments though when she blows me away. Not that her wanting to be a boy keeps me from loving her so much it hurts, its just that i'd love it if she'd wear a skirt now and then! or a funky dress! anyway...those moments that blow me away...every night after her daddy puts her to bed, she asks for me. she wants a song, the same one every night, and she wants me to lay with her...just for 5 minutes. She's happy with 5 minutes...that's all! she snuggles up next to me, and usually wants to hold my hand. It is the sweetest thing. She's not a snuggly girl. This is really special time for us. the other thing is that she's taken to using my camera. the little point and shoot, she's knows she's allowed to use it ... Here's evidence that she's been at it again...

TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! ok, ok whatever! but i made this awesome tree block, just trying to figure it out and loved it. I wanted to do something with it, so i decided to quilt it. Gave me some practice with my "Walking foot". I have always been too scared to use it. *shrug* ok TRY, not to laugh here. Yes, i KNOW it looks like Elmo colored all over my quilt square.... but again, i was just using up scraps, trying out a maverick star , and thought...hmmmmmmmm wonder how that free motion quilting thing works????? so i gave it a whirl. lol. not as scary as i thought, nor as easy as i had hoped. lol. but, it is practice...and another coaster/trivet/pot holder thingy! I finally finished the "blue jean" quilt top i have been working on for my DS. I am terrified to quilt it. It is sooooooo heavy and soooooo big. I don't usually "do" small. oh well. Maybe my friends at the quilting group can help me figure it out...hint! hint!!

the recipe for this can be found here . first, let me say that mine, looked very little like her picture of it. I suspect that i overcooked mine i suppose. While the concept was good, and easy, ours had a bitter taste. I even bought pulp free OJ just like she recommended. K seemed to think there was too much orange rind in it...til i told him there was none! ha! DD ate it up...which is odd to say the least. the rest of us did eat it, though the addition of some soy sauce to kill the bitterness(from overcooking the OJ???) did help. Not terrible, just not yummy like i had expected. Might try it again sometime and tweak it a bit! hmmm, well that was the 2nd day of slow cooking. ****also I would like to direct your attention to the "blogs i love" in the side bar....a few new additions....Mrs. Medlin, be sure you check out that first one....you'll love it....you know him!!!***