Christmas Candy Cane Wreath

 

I have seen so many beauty wreaths

made with the colored mesh, I thought I would try

to make one for our home.

 So this is my attempt.

 

I thought it turned out pretty good, considering

I had to do a lot of fluffing to

spread out the mesh.

 

The ornaments are some I picked up at

Fred's and Hobby Lobby.

 

I bought some more mesh and wreath

making supplies, so maybe I

will try again.

Maureen Cracknell Handmade: A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

Maureen Cracknell Handmade: A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :: *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  It's Fabric Giveaway Friday! Today, The Calico Cottage Quilt Sho p has an ama zing ...

More Pictures from our Western Trip

Devils Tower in Wyoming was awesome to see!

Profile of George Washington on Mount Rushmore.

  Mt. Rushmore!

Buffalo and 'red dog' (baby buffalo) at
Custer State Park in South Dakota near
Mount Rushmore.  The buffalo were huge
and roaming all over the park, even blocking
traffic!!

A visit to Laura Ingall Wilder's home in Mansfield, Mo. was

a real treat.  This is the home where she wrote the "Little House on the Prairie" books.

Quilts on Barns

We saw lots of quilt patterns painted on barns and other buildings.

Our last tour before heading home was a trip to the

National Quilt Museum in Paduach, KY.



Then it was heading back to Alabama and home, sweet, home.

It was a wonderful 29 days we were on the road seeing so many beautiful sites

and meeting interesting people along our way.

I thank God for providing us a safe trip and for the glories of our America.

Our Vacation Out West

We have just returned from a wonderful trip out West.  It was a great trip and we saw so much over our four week tour of the west and northwest.

We crossed over to the Grand Canyon, then north to Utah and many canyons like Zion and Bryce.

Made it across Idaho, Oregon and Washington and the Pacific Ocean.

Then started our trip home crossing Montana, into Wyoming, and visiting Mt. Rushmore, and Custer State Park in South Dakota.  Started our southern route into

Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and then home to south Alabama.

I will try and post as many pics as I can of our trip. 

 I think I took almost

800 pictures .... don't worry, I won't post them all.

 We saw many windmill farms, something you don't

see to many in our area.

Crossed into New Mexico and the scenery really started to change into desert and mountains. 

Ate lunch in Joseph's Mexican Restaurant in Santa Rosa a stop

on the historic Route 66.

We stopped in the Petrified Forest in AZ.  This is one of the first sites of the badlands.

It was an amazing site and the picture doesn't do it justice.

We enter into Arizona.  I tried to take a picture of every welcome sign in

each state we entered, but I did miss a few.

Prairie dogs were playing outside our hotel window in

 New Mexico. 

They were very entertaining.



More pics of the painted deserted and the flora we saw.



Knocking on wood, that is petrified wood.  This was a

great stop at the Petrified Forest.  An amazing site.

Here is a hurricane root as we would saw in our neck of the woods that is

a petrified root.  It was a huge root.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

Happy Birthday Ben!
My oldest son has a birthday
coming up on July 15th!

Hope you have a great day!

We Love You!!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

Happy Birthday to my youngest son,

Matt!!!

He turns 31 on July 3rd.

Time has passed by so fast, and now you are grown,

and have a family of your own!

We love you so much!!!



New Quilt Books

Just got some new quilt books in the mail the other day.

One of the books is actually an old book, but one I

have been looking for a while.

I am so excited about Civil War quilts and the history

behind them. 

A dear friend introduced me to the

'Dear Jane' quilt a couple of years ago.

While I didn't realize it at first, I was

falling in love with the stories and women behind the quilts.

Both North and South. 

My friend had already finished a lot of the Dear Jane squares and if you

haven't seen the quilt, you can find it online.  There is so much

involved in working on just one small square.

I am busy collecting civil war fabric to start mine one day.

In the mean time I started cutting our hexagons in civil war fabric.

I still have a lot more hexagons to go.

I may just make a wall hanging...will see.

Here is a picture of the fabrics I have cut out so far.

More on Natchez Trace Trip

I have really fell behind on doing any posting. 

 And completely left out the last part of our Natchez Trace trip in April!

So here is the deal...we hoped to finish out the Trace,

but only made it up to Meriweather Lewis. 

So guess there is another trip in works...we will finish the Trace!!!

Here are some pics from our Jackson to Meriweather Lewis trip

We stopped at the French Camp and it has a great historic center and museum there.

Also there is the Council House Cafe and the potato soup and

the 'Big Willie' BLT was great!!!

This pic below is a little hard to see because of the  screen

they had to prevent us from entering, but loved the wood floors, walls

and ceilings.  The old beds and sewing machine.

Below is the museum and it is full of old photos, historic papers,

wonderful vintage clothes and vintage tools and much more!

You can check out more about the French Camp here 

North of Tupelo there is a side trip you can take, that

will take you onto part of the original trace.   Just one lane

and dirt roads.  Only about 2 miles so not too long.

This part of the Trace show some of the destruction of the

torando that came through last year, April 2011. Lots of

trees down for a long way.

And finally to Meriweather Lewis monument on the

Natchez Trace.

Lewis was traveling on the Trace north and was

'mysteriously' killed....or so they say.....

We turned our truck around, headed back to the campground

in Tupleo. There is a nice Natchez Trace Visitor's Center in Tupelo on the Trace.

The Natchez Trace Campground  (I think)

Nice campground, and they are working on more improvements.

On the Road Again

We are off and running up the Natchez Trace again.  This time to finish out the parkway.
Last fall we started in Natchez, MS and made it up to Jackson and had a wonderful time.
But that was all the time we had for the trip. We have been planning to finish out the Trace
for some time.  Finally the time has come.....

We left Robertsdale this morning, made a couple of stops before hitting the MS state line.  Our plan was to take off where we ended which was on the Clinton side of Jackson, but as it turned out we decided to get on the Trace just north of Jackson and on the west side of the Ross/Barnett Reservoir. 

We made one stop in Magee for lunch at Penn's Fish House for our usual poorboy sandwiches.
DH had catfish and I had Shrimp and they were good.  We discovered the diner a couple of years ago when we were going back and forth from home to Clinton when a dear aunt and uncle were in need of care.  They passed away in 2010, but every time we find our way going toward Jackson, we stop at Penn's.  So that is my commercial for them.

We have been on a diet change, trying to eat healthy and hopefully we can stick to our new eating style, but it is hard to pass up a poorboy sandwich.  More on the diet later.

We stopped at Sam's to get some of that $3.58 gas and filled up the truck.  By the way we travel in a Chevy pickup with a pop up truck camper, (this is from an earlier trip).  It is tight inside, but we spend much of the time outdoors. 

We made our way onto the Trace and followed it up along side the Reservoir.  That is a huge lake, I only wish we had stopped for a picture.  Lots of folks just pulled off the side of the Trace and fished or enjoyed the wonderful weather.  And the weather was great, lots of sunshine and lots of wind.

We traveled for approx.  20 miles and got off for the night.  We are staying one night at the Holmes County State Park just off I-55.  It is not the best of campgrounds, but it will do for overnight.
We did enjoy a short walk this afternoon and sitting outside and enjoying the quiet and peacefull surroundings.

In the morning, back on the Trace where we got off and on to Tupelo.  We will stay in a state park there for a couple of nights while we finish up the Trace.  Hope see some wildlife tomorrow and stop at some historic sites.

So it is late and must get off to bed. 
More later on our trip!

Yummy Turkey Sausage

Fryin Up In the Pan!!

My first time trying this recipe and boy was I surprised!!!

They tasted great!  I am hooked on making my own

turkey sausage!

and  healthier too!!

Draining on paper towels.

Easy recipe, but next time I will mix together in the morning or day before,

so that the spices and meat blend together.

Recipe follows.....

Turkey Sausage

About 2 lbs. ground turkey meat

1 tsp. ginger

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sage (think I will use a little more next time)

1/4 tsp. cayenne ( will use a little more of this too)

1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Mix well together until blended.

Make into patties.

Fry in non stick pan, coated with cooking spray (like Pam)

Fry until brown on each side and no longer pink in the middle.

Enjoy!!!

Could also crumble and fry for pizza topping!

Happy 91st Birthday to My Mom!

My Mom turns 91 on Sunday, April 1st.
Happy Birthday Mom

 You haven't changed a bit!

This picture is a about 3 years old,

But she is still the sweetest mom!

I love you!

More Quilts!!!

A few more quilts from the Pensacola Quilt Show beautiful!! 

Pensacola Quilt Show March 2012

A couple of weekends ago,

Maddie and I went to the

Pensacola Quilt Show!

It was fantastic!!! Amazing quilts!!

I am posting some of our favorites. 

There were so many, it was hard to say which is my favorite.

 More Quilts On the Next Post!!!