I Lost A Week

 Sniffle , Sniffle, Cough , Cough

Oh bother, that was how last week was for me. A winter bug hit me like a ton of bricks, and I spent days in bed . 

In between naps, I watched Andy Griffith, but other than that my days lingered with the sniffles. " I have lost a whole week, " I told Mr. Pinker yesterday.  "I think I lost a couple of pounds too." Hee! Hee! I did not have an appetite at all.  But Mr. Pinker  was  a trooper and made chicken noodle soup which certainly put me on the path to recovery.  

Santa's Hens

What all did I miss out on this week as I swam in a mountain of tissues? Well, the grandsons' first basketball games (though I did watch a little via Facetime), the Christmas parade ( 1st time in 10 years) and all of the Christmas chores that I was anxious to tend to.   Anywhoo, I am feeling fit as a fiddle now. 

 In fact, I felt so good last night, that I finished the applique and the embroidery work  on the freebie from Bunny Hill Designs called A Merry  Little Christmas,. I needle turn appliqued my pieces and added a snowflake button for the toboggan pom pom. I also changed the words to " A Very Merry Winter " so I can keep it out throughout the winter season.  It will go into the hoop this week.  

As I was looking through my little unfinished quilt tops, I found a wee 4 patch to put in the hoop as well. 

 Are you ready for Christmas yet? No not me. 

My youngest daughter and her new hubby are coming home for the holidays so I do need to clean , wash sheets and such.  Oh, and then there is the wrapping of Christmas presents, and I must not forget the grocery shopping. Busy , busy , busy.  Now how can I get that lost week back? 

Mom and I are narrowing down our Christmas menu. One of the sides that I will bring is my "Over the Top Green Bean Casserole". Green bean casseroles used to linger around as a leftover until I made this one and now it is one of the family favorites and is gobbled up in no time.

 

OVER THE TOP GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

6 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup onion diced

1 1/2 cups of mushrooms , chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup.

1/4 cup of milk

1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese

salt  ( to taste)

pepper  ( to taste)

dash of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

4 ( 15  oz) green beans , drained

1 1/2 cups of French fried onions

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray casserole dish with cooking spray. Cook bacon. Reserve grease ( 2 Tablespoons). Place the 2 Tablespoons of bacon grease in skillet , add onions. Cook until translucent. Add mushrooms - Cook until brown. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Stir in mushroom soup , bacon, green beans. Mix.  Add milk and cheese. Mix . Add dash of salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning .  Stir in half of French fried onions. Pour into casserole dish . ( I bake mine in the iron skillet) . Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. After baking, top with remaining French fried onions. Bake for 5 minutes. 

"Jingle , Sparkle, Joy" is a freebie from Deborah at Midsummer Nights Musings blog in the October 22, 2008 post. 

New thrifty finds to add to my milk glass collection. 

Did you have one of these little chairs when you were a child ? I did - a  little yellow one.  I found this little chair for $4 recently and the thermos for just 50 cents. What a steal! The crock and enamelware plate were thrifty finds as well. I will be showing some of my latest "treasures" in future posts.  Before and after Christmas is a good time to go on "treasure hunts." 

Well Sweeties, I am going to see if I can catch up with all of the goings on. I wish you a wonderful start to your week and...

As always,

Happy Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

"It is easier to keep up than catch up. " - Gretchen Rubin  

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗🧵

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy . I miss and love you so much. .   ❤👼

I am joining these lovely ladies' link parties. I hope you check them out; they always have so many wonderful projects going on and provide the opportunity for other needle workers to meet.

Frederique at   Quilting Patchwork Applique for Patchwork & Quilts - Saturday

Kate at Life in Pieces for  Stitching Stuff ( Sunday) 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap - Sunday 

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew & Tell- Sunday

Brenda at Songbird Designs for Monday Musings

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Farm Christmas Tree

Good morning. Woo Hoo! My farm tree is up! I have been working on ornaments for this tree since July.  My tree  is a little wonky and already leaning probably from the weight of all of the ornaments Lol. But it is up. Do you know what?  I have never had a new tree; I have always been the lucky recipient of family hand me downs which is fine with me. I received this tree from my brother a couple of years ago. 

I live in a small house so this  tree is lovingly placed in front of the window between the queen Anne chair which is from my great grandmother and a little wooden desk from about the 1950's . You get   a slight glimpse of my couch . Can you guess how old it is?  59 years old. Lol It is a hand me down from Mr. Pinker n Punkin's family. I have it slip covered with colors that I am attracted too. 

This is how my tree looked last year. It was in  the gingerbread theme. 
This year you can find all kinds of ornaments and decor in the gingerbread theme, but two years ago it was harder to find in my area so I made my own decorations. All of those gingerbread men and peppermints are made from Coca Cola cardboard boxes cut up and painted. It was thrifty  way to get a lot of cute ornaments. I decorated my tree in gingerbread in 2018 & 2019 so it was time for a change. 

 Now this year I used a variety of filler ornaments to go in with my Barnyard Christmas cross stitch series. I used a barn plaque from Walmart as the tree topper with a big red bow from the Dollar General.

I have a variety or ornaments all pilled on the tree.  The ornaments may not be hung perfectly straight , but that is ok.   I have to admit there is a lot to take in: I really love it to be crammed full. That is just my style. The Holestein cow ornaments were finds from Walmart this year. 

The cross stitch ornament is my Christmas Barn . 

At the Dollar General , I found buffalo checked ornaments and silver bells for $1.00. 

The barn ornaments were also from the Dollar General. They came in a white and a red .Dollar General also had the cute mason jar ornaments.  My daughter bought me the Farm Fresh Christmas Tree pillow on Black Friday. She is such a sweetie. 

I had a couple of Santas in my Barnyard Christmas series including "Santa's Visit" and "Santa on the Farm" . 

The Christmas Goat was one of my last ornaments of the Barnyard Christmas series. Isn't that the cutest Buffalo checked barn? 

The sweet little sheep ornament was called "Special Delivery". I enjoyed stitching this little piece.  I got the little milk can ornament at Dollar General.  Can you see a pattern here? I did a lot of Dollar General shopping- Lol. 

"Hanging the Star ' is a sweet little ornament . I love the slight tilt of the sheep's head. 

The first ornament in the series was called 'Chicken Sled" . It started the whole series and tree. 

Throughout the tree, are little paper chickens with handwritten words on them like "Bless the Farm", "Christmas Farm" and "Cluck , Cluck" etc. 

I have some little tobacco basket ornaments which I treasure. I found those at Walmart and how appropriate since I grew up on a tobacco farm. If you look carefully, you may see a Barnyard Christmas ornament that I did not post- it just did not make the cut. Lol. 

.

I stitched the little sheep pillow last year. I believe it was a freebie. I made it in a little pillow and added a little buffalo checked ribbon and pine cone.  

 I used white spray paint to lightly coat pine cones from the farm to add to the tree. 

Below the tree is a little village including a farm scene.  Hanging above the barn is "Santa' Ride" . 

I was tickled to death to get this little barn this year. I have the village on an old lace tablecloth. 

This scene inside the barn  brings back fond childhood memories of milking old Blackie on our farm.

The Santa on the tractor was a Christmas ornament that I snipped the string hanger off. 

So that is my Farmhouse Christmas tree. I have to admit I did not decorate the back or the sides too heavily if those areas were not going to be seen.  The grandbabies have already started moving the ornaments around and playing with the village. It warms my heart to see their eyes sparkle with excitement when they look at the tree. 

If you missed any of the Barnyard Christmas charts, you can click on the names below and you will be directed to those charts.  

Previous charts include: 

Chicken Sled ,   Santa's Ride ,  Special Delivery , Christmas Barn, Christmas Bucket, Christmas Tractor , Santa on the Farm,  Mrs. Claus on the Farm , The Stockings Were Hung ,   Santa's Visit  ,  Hanging the Star .   , Skiing on the Farm ,  Farm Truck  , Baking on the Farm , and Christmas Goat .

Thank you so much for visiting and for checking out my Farm Christmas tree.  I hope to add more cross stitch ornaments to it next year. 

Happy Stitching, ya'll

Melisa