Today was hubby's 55th Birthday.  Since he isn't overly fond of cake, I made him a Buttermilk Pie and it was DEVOURED!  Lol!  I had a photo of the remaining slice but can't get it uploaded right now.  Pie recipe from the Garvin County Cookbook:

1 pie crust, uncooked
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c Buttermilk
2 T flour
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/8 t salt
1 t Vanilla
3 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, pour into unbaked pie shell.  Cover edges with foil.
Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.  Pie should brown on top.  Remove foil for final 5 minutes of baking to brown crust.  Remove from oven  when pie no longer jiggles.  Let cool and set for a couple of hours before serving.

Eli's Hat

Here is the Crocheted Puppy Hat I made last weekend for my youngest Grandson, Eli.  Eli LOVES puppy dogs!  He was really excited to get a puppy dog hat!!!  His Mom told me that he wore it around all day the next day, saying "my Grandmommy gave me this hat!"   : )  I was finished with this pattern in about 2 hours.

I have also been working on making several crocheted ear warmers this week.  I found a nice pattern that I really like, and it works up quickly, which for me is essential for instant gratification.   I am currently trying to decide between various crocheted flower patterns to make for attaching to the earwarmers. 

Happy New Year!  We spent a quiet night and I went to sleep at 9:00pm.  LOL!  So much for New Year excitement!  Hubby will be starting a new job soon, so he is gearing up for that.  It will be a longer drive, but I think this job will be much better for him career-wise. 

I worked on a bearded beanie (photo above) last weekend.  The pattern is listed on http://imtopsyturvy.com/crochet-striped-beanie-pattern-multiple-sizes/ and http://imtopsyturvy.com/crochet-bobble-beard-pattern-multiple-sizes/ My daughter has been wanting some for herself and the kids so I was experimenting with it.  I scared Hubby when he saw me!  LOL!

I am also wanting to knit myself an earwarmer soon, pattern can be found here:http://imtopsyturvy.com/knit-ear-warmer-with-crochet-flower/.  I'm also getting interested in finding a good plain knitted scarf pattern.

We will see how much I manage to get done.  I moved to a different area at work and I work all the time now and don't get home till 6:30 or 7:00 sometimes! 

Thanksgiving

Today we had Thanksgiving at my husband's niece's house.  We had an awesome time with the folks who came.  Thanks once again for the hospitality, Camie and Joe!!!  Tonight we hit the Black Friday trail.  We decided to try Target and the line was literally wrapped around the back of the building and back out front by the time we got to the door.  We got there about 8:20 and the line was already around back of the store.  I figured we wouldn't get anything we wanted, but we actually got almost everything we were hoping to get.  I also have to say I have experienced a couple of Walmart Black Fridays in the past, and was way LESS than impressed, however, TARGET handled the crowd tonight in an orderly manner and the experience was actually GREAT for a Black Friday!  Thanks Target for being so organized, I enjoyed tonight's shopping experience!!!! 

My new granddaughter was born in September and is doing well.  I haven't had any time to craft lately, once again I'm running constantly at work and at home.  My computer has also been on the blink, but I hope to have some photos of my granddaughter to post soon.

Here is my crochet project from this past week.  Crocheted beanies for Baby Kimber.  The lighting was bad when I took this photo, and it was taken with my old iphone, at night.  The red looking one is really hot pink.  I haven't made any flowers to attach  to them yet.  I will add a photo later with the flowers I plan to add.  I am trying to make a hat in every color of Caron Simply Soft yarn that I have already, and have 5 made so far, with about 5 or 6 more to go.  The pattern is free and can be found here.  Teresa Richardson (the creator) has an online tutorial to show how she makes them.  I simply stopped at 16 rows instead of 21, and added a picot trim or a shell trim on each hat.  I have a couple more patterns I would like to try also, but this one is really fast and easy.  I can make a hat in about an hour. It is like chips, you can't make just one!   If I ever get extra time I could probably crank them all out in one day.

Babies and Boppys

My daughter is pregnant with my first granddaughter and I have been asked to make some baby things.  The first item on the agenda was a Boppy cover.  I got the free pattern from here. Here are photos of my first Boppy cover:

Next I will be finishing up some crib sheets. I have 3 partially done, and two more waiting to be made.  I just need to add the elastic at the corners of the first 3 and I will have those finished.   I have another Boppy cover cut out and ready to be sewn up and will be making several burp cloths and bibs.  I also want to sew a small baby quilt.  I have also been asked to make bumper pads and a bedskirt for the baby bed.  Glad I still have about another month and a half to complete everything!  I will be posting more photos as I get items made.

As promised, I took a photo of the finished desk.  It isn't a very good photo, as I was too eager to get it in place.  Our bed is King size and takes up much of the bedroom, therefore there weren't any really good angles I could take a good photo from. 

DD had her baby shower yesterday (I couldn't go, as I'm using the rest of my vacation time for when the baby comes).  I had Wal-Mart ship her the stroller/car seat set that she had been wanting.

Last night I made my own fabric softener.  I have been collecting various DIY "recipes" from Pinterest.  I have been making this fabric softener for about a month and so far, no problems.  Laundry comes out smelling fine.  The "recipe" is 6 C. Water, 3 C. Vinegar, and 2 C. Suave Conditioner (any scent).  I believe the recipe I "pinned" is from "One Good Thing by Jillee", whose blog I also follow now (find her on my sidebar).

Our 4th was a lot of fun.  No pictures, but grandson X had a blast shooting off fireworks with his cousins.  We got some pretty fireworks this year.  Thanks for your hospitality, Camie and Joe!  : ) 

It will be back to the salt mines for me today, but hubby will be at home, repairing his truck.  He has basically rebuilt the engine on his truck.  It started with a cracked head and went from there.  He decided as long as he was that far into it he would replace several other things. We are lucky that he can repair anything. When it comes to repair/maintenance/figuring out how something works, my husband is a genius!  : )  He is the most handy person I have ever known.

I have been refinishing a sewing desk for myself, so I will have a permanent place I can keep my sewing machine set up.  I hope to have final photos soon when the project is finished.  I am  proud of it, since it is my first attempt at refinishing furniture pretty much by myself.  I found the perfect small sewing desk a couple of weeks ago at a garage sale for $25.00.  I sanded it down, re-stained the top and painted the bottom part black.    Hubby helped me by wood gluing all the drawers back together (which had all been duck taped together by the previous owner, haha!)  I hope to have it fully completed by the the weekend and will take final photos to show.

Today is the anniversary of the day Granddaddy passed away!  We all miss you, Granddaddy!

Update

I honestly can't believe I haven't blogged for nearly a year!  I haven't been crocheting/knitting/sewing much, at all.  I have been knitting some "Grandmother's Favorite" Dishcloths lately so at least I haven't totally quit needlework.  I haven't had a lot of spare time in a long time, but hope to remedy that by next week.  Then maybe I can start sewing for my newest expected grandbaby, this time a GIRL!  Woo Hoo!  While I love all the Grandboys, a girl will open up a whole new area for me to craft for!  : )  My daughter has picked a room theme of hot pink and black and white zebra stripes this time......my challenge is to make her baby bedding and some room decorations.  I already have some items purchased and ready to work on, other ideas are perking along in my head, now just to get my current obligations out of the way this week to free up more spare time in the evenings after work and on the weekends. 

Last August, one of my friends introduced me to couponing.  It has been so fun!  I don't "extreme coupon" by any means of the word, but now I can get a lot of items for free and I can usually spot a pretty good deal more than I used to be able to do!  : )  Another thing to blog about!  Haha!  I also have become interested in browsing on "Pinterest".  That is a really neat website that you can look at anything you are interested in out on the internet in one place.  I have found numerous recipes, crochet patterns, sewing ideas, etc.  I have also recently been on a kick of "do-it-yourselfism" or as my kids used to tell me, "Mom, you are a granola girl".  Nowdays, they call it being "green".  Haha!  I have recently made my own Fabric softener, window cleaner, mosquito spray and so on.  I would like to find some more of the Foxfire books that my sister once told me about, but those are extremely hard to find.  I hope to be able to blog more again, too!    Have a safe and happy 4th!!!

Here is a new (to me) potholder pattern that I have worked up recently. It is crocheted all in one piece, so there is no need to add a back. It is very quick to work up, and thick enough not to burn yourself on hot pans or dishes. I made the "Americana" one after July 4. I'm still reading a whole lot, especially now that I have an i-phone, I can upload e-books from the library for free and read any time I have some free time. "Real" books currently checked out: Secret of the White Rose, Devil Colony, The Queen's Governess, Crown of Dust, The Daughter of Siena, The Lion of Cairo, Fatal Error, The Beginners, The Bone Yard, & The Illusion of Murder. In the car on audio I currently have "A Discovery of Witches" and "Smokin' Seventeen". I have requested several more from the library that I am still waiting on to upload to my i-phone e-reader.

The Unveiling

What have I been doing lately? I started on Weight Watchers back in September of 2010 and was going to try to get my weight off before I saw my siblings, so I could surprise them. Sadly, my younger brother's Father-in-Law passed away recently, and at that time, two out of three of my siblings saw me then. I have "officially" lost 41 lbs so far (as of today) on WW, and I had already lost 8 lbs on my own before starting with them. I would like to get another 22 or so off. I have added walking on the treadmill into my daily routines to help get me to my goal. I also walk the stairs with one of my co-workers at break time. No crafting, sewing or crocheting, I have been watching Grandkids and reading a bunch. However I saw all the lovely potholders everyone on Ravelry has been doing and am getting interested again in crochet. Now that my weight is down a bunch, I am also becoming interested in sewing for myself again.

Happenings

February arrived with an ice storm, snow, and freezing temperatures! March has brought better weather and a trip to South Padre Island and Seaworld. Sadly, I haven't been crocheting, knitting OR sewing much since October. My oldest GS wants a beanie and a neck scarf made with camouflage colored yarn, so if anything, that will be next on my to-do list. I never finished even one Christmas stocking. The 2011 Potholder Swap is on, so I might get some done to send. I have mostly been absorbed in listening to audio books and reading books lately. I have two stacks of books from the library and just randomly choose the one that looks best to me at the moment. Currently my favorites are "Indiana Jones" type thrillers to Medieval Murder Mysteries, American Indian Murder Mysteries and Ancient Egyptian Murder Mysteries. Not much else is happening around here beyond the regular day to day living.

Short update

It's almost Thanksgiving, and I don't have much to show for crochet content. I think I have almost burned myself out on making potholders for now. I found a cute Hexagon Christmas stocking pattern I want to make, and have one hex block made so far. I've gone back to reading a lot for now.

My grandsons are all growing and getting to be more fun daily!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

This weekend

The above are potholders finished this weekend. Still didn't finish the other magic square (ran out of that color of yarn) or the Hot/Cold Potholder (uh, oh, the loss of interest). The floral potholder is the Rose Ripple pattern by my friend, Claudia Lowman.

These were completed in between going to an all day family birthday party yesterday, and all of our normal errands that we usually run on Saturday.

No photos today. Just a quick update. We didn't travel this weekend, but kept oldest GS and got to keep newest GS ( 2 months old) overnight on Sunday. He still wakes up alot in the night, so the challenge was to get some sleep! :) I have decided that Dh is a "baby whisperer"along with already being an "animal whisperer". He was great with the baby, who actually slept a lot of the night due to his Grandaddy's intuitive attention. The little guy has colic and doesn't sleep well at night. I got to Crochet a little bit, started 2 "magic" potholders for me, but didn't finish either. Almost finished a "Hot/Cold" Potholder, but need to finish the edges up. Probably won't make that one again, as it is kind of plain looking, but somewhat "fussy" to make. I'll add a photo when I finish them.

Another Gehaekelte Topflappen. Sorry for the poor quality photo, but this was the best I could get at night on a dark background before I sent it out to the recipient. I made this one to send to a swapper for September. I thought I would really like the colors on this one, but now that it is finished, I'm just sort of "meh" about it. I now feel I should have added more color, and have decided I'm not all that fond of the ombre's anymore. Oh well, live and learn, I guess. At least someone can use it. LOL! I am feeling the same way about my Sugar n Cream yarn. I don't like it anymore! However, I will still use it to make myself dishcloths because it is perfect for that!!!

Ripple Potholder

Ripple Potholder by Claudia Lowman. This has been my latest potholder project. I really enjoyed the pattern, and as with the other ones I have made lately, there are endless color variations you can use. Claudia likes to make additional embellishments for the middle of hers, but I am not going to add anything to this one. Claudia hosted a "crochet-along" for her pattern on Ravelry recently and had a good response.

My current audio book is "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley. Very entertaining so far!

More stained glass

I am making this one with J. P. Coats thread #3. I like the colors, but compared with the other two I have made, it appears not to be as bright. Maybe if I frogged it and added yellow instead of purple? The thread is a little bit too thin for my liking also. I can add another row since it is smaller thread, thus getting more color on it and it still works up to my favorite size, 7".

Yesterday was DH's birthday, and we celebrated quietly with our son and his family. For his gift, I bought him a set of boat seats to replace the old torn up ones in his boat. My grandson X, came back from Lubbock where he had been visiting his mother for the summer. My boss at work quit!!, and so I have had a busy week at home and at work. ;)

I am between audio books right now. I would like to continue the series I have been listening to, but our Library doesn't have the last two books on CD yet. My son has an Ipod that he might let me borrow, and I can possibly find them and download them from the Library on Overdrive or NetLibrary. I have been proud of myself, as I am trying to get a little more technically savvy this year. :)

Dh’s mother got to see her newest great-grandson the other night. She is recovering from a recent fall, but still hosted the family at her house, so that everyone could come at once to meet the newest family member.

DD's birthday was yesterday! (Happy birthday, Grim!!)