At Home My Way

Do you think I have fallen off of the Earth?  Well, I promise that I haven't.  Just cold days here in Missouri (misery) with little desire to do much other get home from work and stay in my rut.   I haven't been trying many new recipes as winter just makes me want to operate on auto pilot ..... be cozy, comfortable, WARM, and eat things I know I can make. I've done a little cooking - making things like: Hawaiian Chicken (which was DELICIOUS - I should make this more often) Chocolate Pie   (One can never go wrong making this pie!) Homemade Alphabet Soup (for my freezer - for fast lunches - a favorite) I tried a new pattern for crochet slippers.  I absolutely LOVE making these slippers (I've made three pairs so far).  I made some for my mom.  Hers are the orange pair; made some for my sister-in-law, who requested a bright color so her's are aqua, and some for me - which are gray- my favorite color these days - probably bec...

Remember the Strong Man Quilt I made for my niece?  Well, I was right.  Her baby is a strong little man!   This strong little baby decided to make his grand entrance into the world six weeks early. The baby arrived at a wopping 3lb 8 ounces and 17 inches long.  Tiny but healthy! The little booger is strong as an ox! The hospital said they usually keep babies until they are 5 pounds, but this little baby needed nothing from them so they sent him home.   The only thing this little guy really needed  at home was that he had to wear hats to keep his body warm.  My niece commented one day that she only had one hat and that she needed to wash it.  I told her "You needed only to tell me that!  Aunt Gigi and her crochet hook to the rescue!"   Overnight I was able to crochet for him four little hats of various patterns.   I made one like a football (Just a simple double crochet beanie changing colors for the white str...

I made some very special pillowcases a few weeks ago for a friend at work.  My friend's mom has been battling bone cancer.  She just found out that the battle will now include leukemia.  When I heard this diagnosis, I was so sad for my friend.  It was about that time that I saw some beautiful pillowcases on Pinterest.  I was in the midst of a crochet phase and decided to drag out the sewing machine and see if I could do it.  I decided that I would make them for my friend's mom because if you have to be sick, you should get to lay your head on something pretty and cheery.  I had a great time making these and my friend was so touched when I brought them in for her to give to her Mom.  It sure made my heart feel good to give them away and to know that they might bring my friend's mom just a little bit of comfort. I thought this green and pink flowered fabric was about the cheeriest fabric I could find.  I love it! This is th...

Last week my niece sent me a facebook message asking if I could make her baby son a football beanie (crochet)?  "Uh.... YEA....!". I'm always looking for someone who actually WANTS some of the busywork that keeps me occupied.  I whipped this up in only about 20 minutes and its so adorable! From the picture that my niece found on Pinterest, I searched for a basic double crochet baby beanie pattern and found a terrific blog that actually had beanie patterns for different sizes.  Perfect! This is what I came up with.  Turned out cute and fit her baby's little head perfectly!  And we think he liked it.  He didn't even jerk it off his head like my babies would have done. Here's the blog I found with the instructions for the beanie.  Easy peasy! http://familybugs.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/basic-beanie-free-crochet-pattern/