Carving

Well, tonight we are going to carve the pumpkin. Every year we carve the pumpkin and I roast the seeds. My mom always did this and I have always loved those toasty seeds. I doubt very seriously that 3-year-old Lillian will try them this year but that just means more for me! This year, I am going to follow these instructions that I found while browsing recipes...sweet and simple. She gives instructions for several different ways to toast your seeds--I always do mine in the oven with a little salt and olive oil. YUMMERS!

Do you roast your pumpkin seeds? Any special spices?

Don't forget about the giveaway on Friday:) That cute little gnome would love to come your way.

ROLLLLL TIDE!

WHEW!!! I feel like I'm back from the dead. My Photoshop editing software was on the fritz and I just haven't had time to figure out what was wrong so I couldn't post pictures and I just felt like I was losing it. Well, I sat down tonight and it's really embarrassing how easily the problem was fixed. I feel like a genius, though . We moved this month and things have been a little out of whack but I'M BACK and it feels great. Here's an outfit that I made for Lil to help her show her team spirit at school on Fridays during football season.

Family Time

When Chad isn't here at night, Lil is somethimes still up at 9:40 pm. Only because she doesn't "WANNA GO TO BAAAYED!!!" There's a bunch of other reasons too like she "wants some GUMMMMM!" Or she needs to "GO POTTY"--a phrase she rarely utters unless it's bed time. One of the best excuses is that she doesn't want to close her eyes. That leaves me saying 'you don't have to close your eyes, just go to sleep'. NOW!!!
Anyway, I was sitting down to post about what a great time we had at camp this weekend. But I sat down to post this over an hour ago and once I got the photos edited and uploaded and once I got the "GUMMMM!" and once I took her to the "POTTY" and once I realized it's now 9:50 and someone is still awake, I just don't have a lot of time to write about the fishing and the marshmallows and the swimming and all of the other fun stuff we did. So I'll let the photos do it for me. There was a first fish experience and some other cool stuff. Oh and a sweet little pic I snapped of her while she was pulling leaves off of the trees. Next time I'll start this after I put the little night owl to bed. I'll be typing away as she's sleeping with her eyes wide open.

Sorry

Okay, so I'm not very good at tagging people even when it's as nice of a gesture as the "You Make My Day Award". I was supposed to tag 5 folks who make my day and post the badge on my blog. Well, I don't know how to post the badge and I just suck in general sometimes but there are so many great blogs out there and I've added so many to my Google Reader that it's hard to keep up. Here are 5 that I read EVERYDAY!

1. Dooce: Heather Armstrong is hilarious and I laugh outloud everytime I visit. I love her sense of humor because, although I love the soft and cuddly things in life, I also love sarcasm and crassness (is that a word? yes, it is)

2. Portabello Pixie: Just click over there and tell me if she isn't one of the most talented and creative folks in webdom. Her new line of fabric, Ginger Blossom, is begging me to make something out of it. But in the mean time it has to sit in my sewing room while I dream of what it will become.

3. How About Orange: This talented little lady is dedicated to her blog and has a line of fabric available at JCaroline Creative. She finds the coolest spots all over the web. These are two of my favorites: ONE and TWO.

4. Make and Takes: Marie is one busy Mama. And oh so creative. She makes the simplest of things look so much fun and comes up with the neatest crafts for her two precious (and lucky) kiddos.

5. Hello My Name is Heather: Another awesome Heather on my daily list of blogs to read. This is one talented lady and I own some of her Freshcut line of fabric. I've made several things from it and love it just as much now as I did when it came out.

Well, there are many more (too many!) but these are 5 that I know I can count on for a laugh, inspiration, and a good aha! moment each day. I would love to hear of some of your favorites. Oh, and I have to post a photo...this post looks lonely without one.


It's ME!!! and my Lil and my sister (from Left to Right).

I Am So Tired

Of talking about myself. I'm sick of it...I feel really bad that I've put up post after post of "hey look at what I did". Anyway, thank you all for commenting and emailing and finding ways to lift me up on your shoulders so I feel as if I've really accomplished something with my sewing and smocking and blabbering about ME! Anyway, I know I've written about Heather before but I just LOVE her. See here and you'll see why. She's an incredible writer and her (written) voice sounds like the voice inside my head. She can put words on paper like no one else. Oh, if you don't like curse words or are easily offended--please don't click the links.

Just Enough

She now has just enough hair to pull up into pigtails. For months, Lil has been handing me pony tail holder after pony tail holder until her hair is littered with little sprouts of hair like water spouts---the elastic barely hanging on to those few strands. "More! More!" She would insist not realizing that she didn't have enough hair to support one ponytail much less "More!" So just the other day, I went for it. Eureka! We got two REAL ponytails out of those curls and now she feels like a princess.

As soon as I took this photo, I knew I would have to include it as a blog posting so I went ahead and edited it so that, when I found time to write, the photo would be all set to upload. Well, the next day I'm going through my favorite blogs and what do I see but this. I thought that was pretty cool. Almost the same shot. There's something so sweet about pigtails.

Learning

I feel that I'm all the time learning something. If there's ever a lull in the learning then I seek out something to learn. It could be something simple like learning what a charm pack of fabric is:) Yes, I'm one of the few sewers who still doesn't know what one is(until about 20 minutes ago). Or it could be something BIG like smocking. I've signed myself up for a smocking class that starts Monday. I'm so excited. Even more exciting than that is in February I'm taking a quilting class. I want to learn to quilt so badly. So, in the mean time I have put my little shop on hiatus while I learn some new moves. I'll keep you posted. Here's a few things that we've been up to lately:

We went to the Christmas tree farm to find the perfect tree. Well, I guess, I should say for the experience of finding the perfect tree. I like Frasier Firs and Frasier Firs do not grow in Alabama but lots of Pines do. So we bought a severely overpriced but absolutely beautiful Frasier Fir that had been shipped from North Carolina and kept fresh in it's own little pail of water. My brother and his fiance on the other hand love Pines for Christmas so Lillian got the full experience of riding the Mule drawn carriage through the Pine fields and then walking up and down the isles of trees with our pole to measure and find the perfect Pine. We always went to the tree farm growing up and I'm excited that Lillian will get to experience this year after year.





Afterwards, I stole a few shots on the porch swing.



And between all the baking and potlucks and parties and gift buying, wrapping and giving, I found a little time to sew.

The sweetest little set for a great customer:



The snazziest of collections for a college friend of mine:




And a little something for a sweet little boy.



Of course there was more ~ this being the giving season and all ~ but this post is long enough and there are tornadoes looming in the distance on this scary warm January day, so I'll put it to rest now and go check the weather.

Happy New Year to you all!

ahhh...vacation

I can't believe I was just there. In St. Martin, St. Thomas and the Bahamas. All of my photos look like postcards. It was just that beautiful. I missed Lillian so much toward the end of the week but the trip was long overdue and just so perfect.

There is one season in the Caribbean and it's a nice one but what a nice season to come back to with the changing of the leaves and Christmas right around the corner.

Busy in the Little City

Life around here has been hectic and heartwarming all at the same time. September through January is a busy time in the Gamble Household. There's my birthday, then Lillian's birthday, then our anniversary, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. And in the middle of all of that Chad and I scheduled a week long vacation. Lillian didn't come with us and I can honestly say that I will never leave her for 8 days again....not until the back talk starts then we may have a room to rent.

Just Checking In

Just checking in as I'm trying to get better at this blogging thing. I read so many wonderful blogs and I'm so envious of all of the creative talent out there. I was a late bloomer when it came to sewing. I've always had these crafty ideas buzzing around in my head but I could never put my finger on what it was that I wanted to do. In highschool and college it was writing. Soon after marriage it was decorating my spaces. And now that Lillian has been born it is sewing. My mother always had her sewing machine out. Always. I remember being told to never use the THOSE scissors to cut out my paperdolls. I remember always having to stop what I was doing to model her latest creation. She taught me to cross stitch at age five. I still have my first project: a brown owl about the size of my thumb and just about as interesting. I picked up sewing again around age 8 and made a ballet skirt out of a sheer scarf and ribbon and then a denim skirt. And then I stopped. I picked it back up about 5 years ago but was terrified of patterns until very, very recently. Now I can't stop. I want to make everything for Lillian. Anyway, back to the blog envy. Since I have been such a late bloomer, I have no clue how to change patterns up to meet my needs much less create my own patterns. I stumble upon this and I just want to cry. I mean weep for the absolute talent that this woman has. After reading Heather's blog I have to wipe up the drool. She's amazing and such an inspiration. I'll just have to live with sewing by patterns for now. Here's my latest: a sweet little summer outfit for Lil. I couldn't be more pleased...except that I really wanted it to be reversible but the pattern didn't call for that...oh well.

The Sweetest Thing

I could post some photos of recent projects here but in looking through my photos this one just jumped out at me. Is it not just the sweetest thing? Lillian has her head cocked to the side listening so intently to her Nana. I think they were both in heaven here. I did make the outfit that Lil is wearing so I guess I did find a way to work a project in after all.

Has It Really Been A Month

Wow! I can't believe it's already been a month since I last blogged. What a slacker. Anyway, life has been busy, busy, busy.

My niece was living with us for a while and she is just 16 months older than my little Lil so time got away from me before I knew it. In the mean time I messed around and designed some new paci clips. My sweet friend, Kerrie, was so excited that she ordered four. Now that's one safe pacifier. Here's a peek:

They are just too cute and I'm making more as we speak. Life is never boring and there's always 5 other things that I should be doing so gotta go for now!