Crystal Boudreaux
"She shops around for the best yarns and cottons, and enjoys knitting and sewing."
- Proverbs 31:13 (The Message)

::Previous Entries::

-- Goodbye Blogger, Hello Wordpress
-- Life Gets in the Way of Blogging (long, picture he...
-- Trying to Resume Life
-- Tragedy
-- GULP!!
-- Heirloom.....
-- Easter '04 Disaster
-- Green Sock KAL
-- Nate's Quilt
-- More 2006 in Review


::Archives::

--January 2006
--February 2006
--March 2006
--April 2006
--May 2006
--June 2006
--July 2006
--August 2006
--September 2006
--October 2006
--December 2006
--January 2007
--February 2007
--April 2007
--August 2007
--September 2007


::Favorite Links::

-- Hope Wilbanks
-- Quiltville
-- Designing Hope


Goodbye Blogger, Hello Wordpress

Sunday, September 02, 2007

My new blog home is here: http://upinstitches.wordpress.com/ .

New posts will happen at the new home.
Please update your bookmark.

See you there! :)
Crystal
 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 2:22 PM
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Life Gets in the Way of Blogging (long, picture heavy post)

Monday, August 20, 2007

Well after recuperating from the fire, the children got out of school for the summer and life is always hectic when they are home. We took a week long trip to the Great Smoky Mountains and stayed in a cabin on the mountain (eek!). My daddy got to come and meet us for most of the week, and we had a ball. Made some great memories.

Here's the children with Popa:
And here is Abby with Popa:

This was at Dollywood. We got there one evening in time to catch Veggie Tales Live on Stage and then went right into Untamed Illusions (a magic show that included a white tiger, a lion, and tons of sheepdogs). The kids talked about these shows more than any other part of our trip.

We rode the sky tram up the mountain to Ober Gatlinburg one day. I really enjoyed that. We got to view the mountains on the ride up and it was so gorgeous. This at Ober Gatlinburg. Aaron and Abby rode in one Ski Lift and Luke and I rode the car behind them. We were riding further up the mountain so that we could ride the Alpine Slide back down. The Alpine Slide is a plastic "thing" (like a thick sheet!) that slides in a concrete trough down the mountain. You have to sit on the plastic and control it with only a hand brake. Ok people, I was already freaking out on the ski lift. I only let go to take this picture. So you can imagine how they laughed at me put-putting down the mountain on my plastic sheet when they were zooming down and having the time of their lives lol.
And this is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We rode through the park the day after Daddy left. When we found a spot wide enough to park on and not to steep to climb down, we stopped and let the kids go in the stream. They couldn't walk out too far because it got deep quickly and was very cold. We almost didn't get Nate to wade, because he was so scared. Right before we left, he got brave and let Aaron take him out to this rock. Then he decided it was fun and wanted to stay. Of course, Moma didn't get to go because she had to stay on the bank and yell at the kids to be careful. Also Moma is the mastermind behind all the terrible photography, so that's why I am in none of the pictures.

Here's my Abby girl. She is like a fish when she gets around water. I wasn't worried about her because she is usually cautious.

Luke on the other hand is not so cautious. In fact, he tends to push the envelope when no one is looking. He loved walking and slipping on the rocks and proceeded to fall in the freezing water right on his butt. Needless to say, we had to ride with the windows down because we couldn't use the a/c all the way back to the cabin (2-3 hr. ride). That's my cowboy :)

Here are 2 of my 3 favorite men in the world.


We also saw the Dixie Stampede one night. This was Luke's favorite thing we did. After the show he went around the arena and petted every horse. And by the way, this is the only picture of me on vacation lol.


We also stopped at Chattanooga on the way home and visited Ruby Falls and Rock City at Lookout Mountain but I'll save those pictures for another time.

And this is pictures of the boys from their end of the year school program. The boys had a seperate program from Abby since they were in K and pre-K. My cowboy cleans up nice huh?

Whew! I had a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully, I can show some things I have been working on all summer now.
 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 5:30 AM
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Trying to Resume Life

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Here is my sweet Katie bug in her new bonnet. A box arrived Monday from Maggie B. and it included a couple of dresses and this bonnet. Katie was in love! She didn't want to take it off all evening. Thanks Maggie for the beautiful dresses. You have been such a blessing!



She sat (im)patiently waiting for me to finish taking this picture so that she could put the bonnet back on lol.


 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 5:35 PM
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Tragedy

Friday, April 13, 2007

Monday night at 11:00 my little sister's house caught on fire. They were all asleep but thankfully their oldest child (4 yrs.) woke everyone up. I thought I would share some pics of what was left for family and friends to see. You can click on the pictures for a bigger picture.





The refrigerator is laid over in front of Faith's bedroom door. It's a miracle that they got out.



This is the back wall of the living room where the fire originated.



This is what was left of the washer and dryer.

Donations can be made to this paypal account: icrochet@bellsouth.net

 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 7:27 AM
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GULP!!

Monday, February 05, 2007


I finally worked up the nerve today to chop up the Easter dress. Abby went through patterns and magazines this weekend and decided on what this will become. This is all that is left...
I guess this will be my Project Spectrum project since I can't get motivated with any other blues.

And of course I had to share my baby doll. Luke has been patiently (NOT) waiting for a cowboy quilt. We have been picking up small cuts of cowboy fabrics since last year. When we visited Granny and Daddy -O- a couple of weeks ago, Granny had put this fabric back for him. He was so tickled to see the horses :) The other night, Luke asked me what I want to be when I grow up *tee hee*. I said, "Well I guess I need to think about that". The he proceeded to say that he is definitely going to be a cowboy when he grows up :)
 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 1:22 PM
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Heirloom.....

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

def.-Something that has been in a family for generations

I hope the heirloom quality outfits that I make become true heirlooms. I hardly keep anything that I make. I put lots of hours and love into everything that I make (ok, maybe not everything :D). I just hope that these special gifts become as special to the recipients as they are to me. I have also learned that the hours of time spent stitching these creations are a great time for prayer and meditation.


This dress is from Australian Smocking and Embroidery #38 (sorry, no link as this is a rare issue). It was originally named Tuesday's Child but I think my version will be called Serenity (The absence of mental stress or anxiety). Serenity is the only word I can use to describe the first month of this year. I have made changes during December that have already started to have a wonderful effect upon my state of mind. I have battled depression for the last 5 years and for the first time I feel that I am free from it rather than just having a respite before the next wave. Every time that I think of these changes, I will think of this dress. Anyway, on to the eye candy....(excuse the first pic, the light was awful)
This is the cover dress and I have loved it since I first layed eyes on it. It is so yummy, I could just eat it!!


It is of course a bishop so the whole neckline is smocked and embroidered with bullion roses and forget-me-nots.


The hem is part shadow-work embroidery and part bullion roses and forget-me-nots. Shadow-work and bullions are my absolute favorite embroidery. I love to see a picture take form from thread.

Tomorrow I will post pics of the Hedera socks that I finished today (shew! barely made the January deadline that was self-imposed).

 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 3:05 PM
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Easter '04 Disaster

Saturday, January 20, 2007

February and March '04 were consumed with making my children's Easter outfits. Abby was 6, Luke was 3, and Nate was 2. I was determined that they would have matching outfits if it was the last thing I did. I finished all three outfits on Easter morning, 30 min. before church. They were so sweet!! (I'll have to dig out the picture of them later). Luke had blue/white seersucker knee pants, a white shirt with blue/white trim, white knee socks and white saddle shoes. Nate had a blue/white seersucker shortall that was smocked with Peter Rabbit, white knee socks and white saddle shoes. Abby had this dress......The underlayer is periwinkle lawn and the overlayer is leno windowpane check. The neck and sleeves have tatting and it buttons on the front shoulder with mother of pearl buttons. This dress cost about $80 not counting the time investment.
Ok, so the outfits are done and worn for Easter services and egg hunting. I decided that the next weekend I would go and get professional pictures made (they were just so cute!!). Tuesday morning, I am at work and get a phone call. My babysitter/sil is crying and says that Luke has cut the dress. Well I'm thinking it can't be that bad but when I get home I saw this:5 gashes in the right sleeve!! I have been so upset about this for 3 years that I cannot fix it. This dress was so special to me and I can't get inspired to fix it. So I have decided to rework the whole thing. If not, I would probably keep the dress the rest of my life and take it out to cry over it every know and again. I have some ideas for it. Since it has a 6 inch hem there is lots of extra fabric. So stay tuned for update photos. I may make something wonderful or I might make a mess!!!

Have you ever had project heartbreak??



 

posted by Crystal Boudreaux @ 5:23 AM
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Copyright 2006 Crystal Boudreaux. All Rights Reserved. Website by DesigningHope.com.