It's his birthday but what was he thinking?

Okay, my daughter bought this toy but oh my, it just looks strange:

Odd



Weird

Peculiar


Okay, I am going to have to hide this toy. It is too wierd.

But it is his birthday. He is one year old. This is Chaucer at 11 weeks old. How cute!!! I made a yard sign to announce our new baby.



And now he is one!!!

Decorating: New Office Chairs

I had these office chairs reupholstered for my "girlie" office. Here is what they used to look like.

They came last month but with Christmas, geesh, who wanted to hear about my new chairs.

Aren't they pretty? Oh I need to paint that stool.


The fabric has a very fine line of khaki swirled through the fabric.


See how it matches the rug!!! I likey.




I think I am going to make each one of them a cute pillow like these I found online. They are so beautiful.

Well, I have to keep working on this office. Spring is coming and I will be in the yard

Sewing: A Confession: I love vintage fur

Okay, I admit it. I love, love mink. My grandmother had a mink stole and hat. She always looked so elegant and beautiful in her diamonds, gloves and mink. This is her stole on my unnamed mannequin. She was cold.


I also have the most beautiful fur muffs, one has a little zippered pocket inside so ladies you can put your keys, money and lipstick in it and no need to carry a purse.

Don't you wish we still wore this to church? These ladies look so chic.


Okay maybe it is only me.

I know there is a lot of old mink stoles out there waiting for someone to love them. And they are very cheap. So what to do with them?

What else do you think we could make out of these beauties?


A Teddy Bear?


A scarf?


A dog bed, too bad my dogs are each 80 pounds. So no I don't think so.

A pillow?
A ring.... kind of creepy

A bracelet? even more creepy....

Mittens?

How about a handbag? This is very cute.

Or even this one.

I guess I will need to think hard on this idea.

Cooking: Creole Shrimp and Grits

Did you ever have a recipe and think, all this work and it is not as good as it could be? Well, I LOVE SHRIMP AND GRITS!!! and I love creole flavoring. The following is the recipe from Southern Living, January 2009. It looked good, so I tried it.

Ingredients:

Peel and devein 2 pounds of shrimp, reserving shells;

Bring shells and 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes. Pour shrimp broth through a colander over a large bowl, pressing shells with back of a spoon; discard shells.

Heat 1/4 c. oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; stir in 1/3 c. flour, and cook, stirring constantly, until flour is caramel colored (about 8 to 10 minutes).

Add one medium onion, 1 stalk of finely chopped celery, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 medium bell pepper and cook, stirring often, 5 to 7 minutes or until tender.

Stir in 2 cups shrimp broth, 1 can of tomato paste, 1 bay leaf, 1 1/2 t. of Creole seasoning, 1 t. of lemon juice and 1/2 t. of Worcestershire sauce. After eating this dinner, I think the recipe is fine up to here. I would cut the tomato paste in 1/4. Double the Creole seasoning, use a whole lemon, 1 T. of Worcestershire and add either cayenne pepper or tabasco sauce. The sauce needed to be a lot hotter.

Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes.

Add shrimp, and cook 10 minutes, stirring in 1/4 to 1/2 cup remaining shrimp broth to reach desired consistency.

3. Meanwhile, bring milk, 2 1/2 cups water, and salt to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Gradually stir in grits. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened.

Serve Creole Shrimp over grits.

Overall, good but not great. I usually make the recipe as stated and then make it again the way I think it needs to be improved. This recipe definitely needed HEAT! and less tomato sauce.

Tell me your ideas to improve this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds unpeeled, medium-size raw shrimp (26/30 count)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked quick-cooking grits

Sewing: A Ballet Bag

Actually it can be a cute tote. It just happens that my niece needs a ballet bag.

I bought a cute sewing book on how to make totes. I decided to make her this yummy bag.
Problem with some cute fabric, it needs to be quilted.

Cut out fabric, batting and backing according to pattern specifications. I needed two front and two back panels. Pinned the fabric, batting and muslin backing together. Sewed a freehand crazy loopy pattern on the fabric.


Here it is on the backside. I got better as time went on.


Here is the front of the bottom piece.

Once all the pieces were quilted. I embroidered my niece's name on the top front panel with my embroidery machine.

Next, Sew the bottom panels to the top pieces. Sew one side together. Important to take a minute and press all the seams open. I then top-stitched the side panel on both sides.

The pattern in the book was wrong so I actually had to take this sucker apart once.

Next, add a ribbon embellishment to the bag while you can lay it flat.


Sew the other side and the bottom of the bag. Next, the tricky part. Take the bottom corner and lay the corner like a triangle. Sew 2 1/2 inches in from the point. This will make a flat part of the bag. This is the bag sewn and unlined.

Next, make a pocket for the lining. Then sew one side of the lining together and sew the pocket in place. Sew the lining together, repeat the step above with the point of the bottom of the bag. Place the lining in the unfinished outer part of the bag with wrong sides together. It was tricky to get the lining to lay the way I wanted it but eventually it did.

Next make bias tape with one of the coordinating fabrics and pin it around the top of the bag. I hand sewed the bias tape in place because it makes it neater but you can do this with a machine.

Here is the picture of the pocket inside the bag.

I added a cute bow with the handles, and bows to tie it to close the bag.

A little up close picture. I hate the yellow lighting, I need to do something about it. I hope she likes the bag as much as I do.

My 100th post

I am a little over due for my 100th post and I thought I would host my first give-away to honor all my blogging friends.

I love this cookie book. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. You have until Friday at 9:00 P.M to win this book and a $25 gift card to Target, in case you need anything to help you make some cookies.


It will help you make the most beautiful cookies. I did not show you my Christmas cookies, too busy during the holidays and I only had my iPhone for a camera. You would think I stopped and gotten my real camera. Oh well, here they are.


Christmas Ornament:


Christmas Tree


Snowman
Another snowman

Pretty house


Christmas Present
Wreath
Gingerbread men

Candy Canes

More presents