Yep, There's a Whole Lotta Stitching Going On!

So after many, many days of cold and rain, remember this is North West Florida, not the North East, the temperature started getting back into a somewhat bearable range and the sun came out. I took that as an opportunity to take my current WIP out to the porch for some sun, some natural vitamin D absorption, and just to basically prove to the neighbors that I was not in fact a vampire who couldn't leave her house for fear of turning to ash, although I'm pretty sure the three sons have been wishing for a house to fall on me, it's been one of those months, if you know what I mean.

I scored the wooden bowl as part of a set at a local thrift shop that is standing room only almost every single day. It's really crazy. I figured they must be selling crack to old folks but turns out they have an interesting inventory and occaisionally I find something kind of off the beaten path. These bowls have a colorful rooster painted in them and there's a bigger bowl too. I'll take a picture in the next day or two because I got the large bowl and four small ones for $2. Can't beat that! They work really well for holding bobbins of floss for projects that don't use more than say ten colors.


Does every sampler stitcher let out a deep sigh when they reach the section of border where you hope and pray the stitches meet up properly? I was so happy when I got to the final stitch of vine border and everything all came together just like it was supposed to.

Do you see that? A border that's properly stitched. We will not speak of Rachael Holmes as I have a problem in one of the bands and am trying to decide if I can live with the miscount or do I frog. I'm figuring Miss Rachael was probably too busy too do too much frogging so I'm thinking she would give me her blessing to leave the mistake in and know that absolutely no one would notice it, just me and my obsession that everyone in the world notices every single thing I do wrong. But this border, perfection if I do say so myself, and I do! It's so rare I can say that.

Laura Parker

Rose Tree Samplers

32ct Clay linen(from the stash)

DMC-2x2
Here is Laura all finished and sweet. While I like Adam & Eve samplers and have a pile of them to stitch eventually for a wall of sin of the likes no one has ever seen I must admit that my motivation to track down this chart and stitch this sampler, is the fact that it's the Laura Parker Sampler. I'm on a mission to stitch samplers with our family, my family, my ancestors names on them and imagine my excitement(not too hard to imagine since I'm an uber dork) when I saw the Laura Parker Sampler by Rose Tree Samplers. It was a very quick stitch and was my alternate Olympic Challenge SAL project. It's really more an NCIS sampler since I worked on it when I wasn't watching the Olympics and when I would watch NCIS.

Here's a close up of Adam & Eve.

I like that Eve appears to be feeding the serpent. Wasn't she supposed to feed Adam?

My friend Pam gifted me with my most favorite cooking pot. That's potato soup you see simmering there:

I call this Seven Year Itch Potato Soup. Why that odd name? Well when I was a kid, my dad would you know get an itch and leave for a few months, until my mom or my Papaw found him and brought him back home. I have quite a few tales about that time in my family's life but I won't bore you all with that. Can you say therapy? But whenever my dad would leave making sure my little brother had supper became my responsibility and one of the very first recipes I learned to cook, out of desperation more than anything was potato soup. We loved the potato soup on Shoney's soup and salad bar so every day I would come home from school and try to figure out the recipe. My mom didn't care what was for supper, just that she didn't have to deal with it so we ate whatever came out of the pot. Over the years my attempts got better and while my soup would never win any awards it's still pretty tasty.

The other day I realized I never ever make potato soup and it's really sad because I love it and could honestly eat it all the time. I never made it for my kids, not once, and back to the therapy thing, I do believe that I never make it because it's so connected to very low times in my life back when I was just a kid forced to be an adult because of two parents who had their own problems.

Lunch and you know what else I discovered? There's no way to photograph potato soup and make it look like anything other than a bowl of ick....but it really did taste good!

The Eve of Christmas Eve

Well I've hit the serious Christmas countdown wall. I managed to stitch and finish three of the ornaments you see below: Candy Cane Seeds

SanMan Originals

14ct White Aida

DMC

(yes, I went old school with the stitching of these ornaments)

These are for my three great nieces. Have I mentioned I suck as an aunt? These are the first ornaments I've ever made for them. I was sewing on the ribbon hangers while the spousal unit was hovering, he had to get to work you know? I only had time to take a picture of one, but I did indeed stitch three of the EXACT SAME ORNAMENT. I didn't think through the finishing so the tops are kind of unfinished. I folded them over and hoped that when I sewed in the ribbon hanger it tacked the front and back flaps of fabric down a little. On the positive side the bit of excess fabric should hold the peppermints in the pouch. I can't believe I let it come down to the last five seconds of overnight shipping. Every year I say I'm going to follow Tasha Tudor's lead and start planning for next Christmas on Dec. 26th.

We put the tree up on Sunday and added lights, ornaments were added yesterday when my little buddy John was here. I let him decorate the tree to his heart's content.

I'm still working on his ornament and because I didn't really think through the fabric thing, 28ct linen, it's going to be kind of the size of a sofa cushion. Let's hope their tree doesn't fall over when he tries to hang it, it's quite possible that could happen. But the kid loves everything I make him so he's going to get this ornament before Santa hits the skies tomorrow night. With any luck he'll get it this afternoon. His last year's ornament is laying around here in an unfinished state because I've lost the pattern, the PS freebie of Santa and the canoe. I don't know what I've down with the pattern so 08's ornament will remain unfinished until the pattern comes marching home. I did mention how I suck right?

Last night I made a batch of Chess Squares:

Chess Squares - 16978 - Recipezaar

I had these for the first time in 1982. I was working at the University of TN College of Dentistry and Mrs. Chapman, the cashier, brought in a pan of these and OMFG! I had never tasted anything so wonderful in my life. These quickly became a family favorite.

I wanted them so bad last night too, and I followed the recipe and then forgot, completely and utterly forgot to set the oven 25 degrees less for a dark metal pan. I burned up the crust like you would not believe. I'm going to make another batch today and PAY ATTENTION while they are baking.

So far I have purchased one Christmas gift, for the 14 yr old. It was purchased after being insulted by a salesperson at a big name appliance/electronics store. We got there at the butt crack of dawn, were the third and fourth customers through the door, ad in hand, freshly printed on Saturday night, and was told the item we wanted was not in stock as it sold out the week before for the $400 and really what did I expect four days before Christmas? Can you believe that punk salesman said that to me? "What do you expect four days before Christmas?" Well I didn't make up the ad, it was brand new, so I expect you to have in stock what your ad says you are going to have on sale four freakin' days before Christmas. JERK FACE! So I walked out of the big name appliance/electronics store that happened to be an hour from my house, I called the store in Pensacola to see if they had the item was told no that no one in our part of the country received their shipment so the closest store was Tampa. So headed over to the store who shall not be named and tried to work the price comparison deal. Unfortunately while it was the same exact item, it was one digit off in the old stocking number so we paid the regular price at the store who shall not be named but at least they didn't insult me and ask me what I expected four days before Christmas. The first guy is lucky I didn't try to cram the Gateway he was trying to sell me in place of the item I wanted up his cocky, rude nose. If I could have afforded the Gateway at $450 I reckon I would have purchased the item I really wanted the week before for $400 duh!

The oldest wants gift cards for clothes and that's what he'll get. He also needs a new DVD player so if I can find one on sale I may add that to the gift cards. The middle son, a.k.a. money bags, has been buying everything he could possibly want and I was in a serious depression about what to get him and then remembered a recent conversation with some friends about a Sonicare so he's getting one of those with the whitening setting. I'll probably pick up each of them a pair of PJ bottoms and some plain tshirts to wear around the house and we'll call Christmas done.

I've pretty much had a reindeer up my butt the last few weeks and have had wanted to skip Christmas altogether(just call me Mrs. Krank or Mrs Grinch either one fits the person I've been most of the holiday season) and someone recently mentioned a gratitude journal and whenever the waves of depression have hit I've tried to think of all the things I'm grateful for. Instead of fretting over the son I can't buy anything for and who has no need for extra cash, I should be glad that he's employed, he's a hard worker and saves the majority of his paychecks.

Instead of complaining over not getting the aforementioned item on sale, I should be thankful that yes, four days before Christmas I was able to get the 14 yr old what he wanted even if I did end up paying more for it than I wanted to. I was still able to do that and not at the big chain electronics/appliance store--I won't be going back there, cold day in you know where before that happens and that makes me sad because I do enjoy this particular store. Anyway, it's the only thing he asked for so it's bought and hidden and he should be happy on Christmas morning.

So in 2010 I'm going to focus as much as I can on the positives in my life and not the negatives. I just have to get through the next oh, 72 hours, and I can put this Christmas season behind me.

I want to wish everyone a blessed Yule and thank you all for coming here and reading and emailing. In case anyone hasn't told you all lately, You Rock!

Tonight's Post

Is brought to you by the colors red and white and the numbers 8 and 27. Red and white seem to be the theme for the past weekend. Months ago I cut out lots of red and white squares with the intention of making a quilt for my bed. I cut them out and left them to sit and sit and sit. I thought I could turn them into a quilt top by astral projection but apparently it doesn't work that way.

White iPod = 35 hours of Stephen King's Under the Dome. King rarely lets me down and I enjoyed Under the Dome, I have the sore ears to prove it.

Spaghetti with meat sauce, courtesy of Real Simple's Easy Delicious Meals special issue. White plate part of my original every day dishes set when I got married, Sears Federalist, if I'm not mistaken.

Why #8? Well this is the 8th day my kitchen table has been laundry free. My family is shocked and falling into the routine of looking for their clean clothes in their rooms. No more half asleep staggering into the kitchen searching for jeans or t-shirts or work clothes, no more drips of water creating a trail from the bathroom to the kitchen in search of underwear. We are almost a normal family.

The spousal unit wants to know when the Mothership will be beaming the real Missy home. (Yes if you're my friend on Facebook you've heard that one before but it's no less true.)


Why #27? Well that's how many quilt blocks I pieced over the weekend. Yes, it's true, and I would say that I was channeling Kwilty Kim but my piecing is quite naieve compared to the quilt tops she makes so I'll just say I pieced in the spirit of Kim.

These blocks were pieced courtesy of Stephen King. I wanted to listen to my book and when the sewing machine was humming no one talked to me, I could plug up my ears and disappear to the Dome in Maine and before I knew it I had pieced all the little squares I cut out so many months ago. Not all my corners matched, but in my defense more seams lined up than didn't, and I'm quite proud of that accomplishment. I ripped back a few blocks and resewed and others that weren't too far off the mark, I left as they were.

This quilt top is handmade, it's homemade, and well it's going to look it. It's taken me a very long time let go of my desire to piece perfect quilt tops. That's what was taking the joy out of the process for me. If it wasn't perfect it wasn't worth doing. Don't get me wrong, I don't want tacky ass quilt tops but at the same time I want to enjoy what I'm doing and how many people are going to look at my quilt top on my bed and say "OMFG did you see that five of those blocks had seams that didn't quite meet up?" Yeah, I don't think anyone will notice but me. Although if I'm honest there are two blocks that are probably not so good but still it's not that noticeable unless you are looking for flaws and if you are looking at my quilt on my bed and wanting to see flaws, well you will be rewarded.

So this is where I've been the last few days, virtually under the dome in Maine, physically in front of my sewing machine or stove depending on the time of day, and mentally in a very good place in regards to the never ending laundry.

I think I'm seriously going to shoot for 365 days of no laundry on my kitchen table in 2010. I think that is one goal that is seriously doable and this is from someone who hasn't seen the top of her kitchen table since last Thanksgiving.

The Proof

That I am on Day 4 of a kitchen table that is no longer covered in people's underwear, socks and t-shirts. This is a remarkable thing around here because it really doesn't take much to lure me back to my lazy, slacker ways. It's so easy to pile up laundry on the table and go about my business, but now, after four solid days of a cleaned off table, having laundry on it seems wrong. I do fold clothes here but they are put away immediately because leaving them there would be wrong. I never wanted to become that person, but where laundry is concerned, it feels pretty good. I'm not obsessed, I do my one load a day, I put the stuff away, and it's done. Not piled there waiting on me to do something with it. I hate that it feels so good and that maybe my mother was right. I really hate admitting that. You see my mother has a laundry obsession. Laundry must be placed in the washer just so, whites must go it alone. You have to use Tide and Downey. You must remove the clothes from the dryer and fold them or hang them up immediately(I am still not there, we are so very much that wrinkled family from the Lowe's or Home Depot commercial. I may have changed a few bad habits but I have not lost my mind, yet!) So I don't know if I have spent the last 25 years of doing my laundry my way to show my mother that it doesn't have to be that way. So what if all our white underwear and t-shirts are gray. Gray is a good neutral color. Take that mom! And Tide, that is not always in the budget, Arm & Hammer and Publix laundry detergent are just fine thank you very much--or even homemade with Washing soda, Borax and Fels Naptha. (Ok I've been buying Tide with Bleach Alternative lately but I do not do whites in a separate load, it's just wasteful--unless it's something red or something I absolutely know will bleed on the whites) oh and I do not wash whites in hot water, all my laundry is done in cold water. My mother would cringe at that.

My Pistoulet Chicken makes me happier than it should. Granny Smith apples, buy a bag, get a bag free at Winn Dixie, also have two bags of Red Delicious, same deal. I see apple pie in our future.

I'm currently coveting Amanda's new breadmachine. It looks awesome on Amazon.

Amazon.com: Cuisinart CBK-200 2-Pound Convection Automatic Bread Maker: Kitche

I did two batches of pizza dough in mine yesterday and I think the motor was about to give up, it was hot, hot, hot and that was just on the dough cycle. I like that the Cuisinart makes long regular loaves. Very cool.

I made these cookies this morning:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Spicy Molasses Cookies

Not bad but do not in any way overcook them. I did my first batch, decided to let them go another two minutes and that was a mistake. I also think I went a little too heavy on the cardamom and I tried to be careful to use the exact amount but it's a pretty strong spice and mine was from a freshly opened jar.

I've read a few reviews of this book and had hoped my library would have it but they don't:

http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Hungry-Feeding-Men-Boys/dp/1579653561/ref=wl_it_dp_o

The reviews I've read have all been positive. Although one person does point out that girls get hungry too, yes we do! And the text is a bit annoying about cooking for men and boys but that is the point of the book, but we girls we like us some food too! But reviews of the recipes I've read on various blogs have all been good.

I've also been wanting this cookbook for a while:

http://www.amazon.com/Rustic-Fruit-Desserts-Crumbles-Pandowdies/dp/1580089763/

And my library hasn't gotten it in either. Another book where the reviews have all been good.

Something about the holidays and a bit of a chill in the air that really gets me in a cooking mood.

Seeing Knitting Iris photos of recent meals really makes me long for wide open spaces, a large garden and cabin in the wilds of Montana. Although I don't think I could eat a heart sandwich. It looks good in the picture, but I'm not a vital organs consuming kind of girl. My friend Cassie used to force me to eat liver and onions once a month because it was good for me. Hard to believe we're still friends after that gastronomical torture.

Recently I rearranged the living room. I set up a new stitching area and once I get the Rubbermaid bucket out from under the table and replace it with a basket of some sort with a lid to keep the cats out of the yarn I'll take a picture of the whole corner but for now you get Sabrina:

She took my spot. She likes curling up on the unfinished Vintage Vertical Strip blanket that I folded up and use for a cushion.

She is annoyed that I interrupted her bath and she's not impressed. The Breeze as we call her runs the house. She terrorizes Pineapple and Naomi the two other cats and pretty much scares my Polly Prissypants too.

Here's the queen telling me to go away, leave her alone, let her cuddle up and lay in the afternoon sun.

I am currently listening to Stephen King's Under the Dome. I love it. I am up to hour twenty something of thirty five and I don't want to stop listening. I think that's what has aided my cleaning mojo.

The Spousal Unit says I will not be able to stay up until midnight to see New Moon tonight. It's going to be hard, I'm usually asleep by ten, I hope I can get a nap in today.

You Are Going to Want to Kiss Me Right on my Mouth

When you make these cookies:

They are Surprise Cookies from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. The recipe is also online. It can be found here:

Surprise Cookies and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video dem

Don't the cookies look like they are bathed in celestial light?(works for me, much better than saying my photography sucks, doncha think?) But they do taste heavenly. Trust me on this.

Even Rachel Holmes wanted a piece of this action. My fabric is not touching the chocolate I promise, but come to think of it that might add to it's aged appearance.

Speaking of Rachel, here's a current pic. Yes it's washed out, I tried several different spots outside and this was the best. Click the pic to enlarge.

In other late-breaking news, I am on day three of absolutely no laundry on the kitchen table. People wander through the house towards the kitchen searching for shirts, underwear, socks, then they remember, "my clothes are in my room". Twilight Zone music then begins to play because they have obviously been transported to some bizarro land where clean clothes are exactly where they are supposed to be. It's difficult not to take the stuff from the dryer and toss it on the table and move on to the next load, but I'm slowing down, folding, hanging and putting things away. This is huge for me. All the laundry put away, freakin' awesome!

In Thanksgiving news, the turkey is purchased and in the freezer temporarily, got a 20 pounder. Started to go for something a bit larger but good grief we don't need that much turkey. I already see a couple of turkey pot pies in our future and I'm pretty sure this year I'm going to toss the carcass in a pot with some water and make turkey broth to freeze for the Yule bird. We do a ham on Christmas Eve and have a turkey on the big day.

I'm pretty stoked about the new more organized me. Never fear, Casa de Dog Hair is still alive and well but there is not one single piece of laundry on the kitchen table. I'm super serial.

Migas for Brunch

Or the episode where I pretend I'm sitting in a cafe in Austin having brunch with Missy Ann and Michelle. Music, food and friends, Austin is one of my dream of moving to cities and it's in Texas which I think is extra cool because it just is.


I discovered migas via Homesick Texan and whenever I want something extra tasty for breakfast other than oatmeal or skillet potatoes and onions which is then turned into a breakfast burrito, I make a pan of wannabe Migas. Cause I'm not from Texas, never been to Austin and never had the real thing. My Migas are a lot like Homesick Texan's(type in Migas in her search field). Her recipes are my guide for all things TexMex.

First you cut a few corn tortillas in strips and pan fry them in a bit of oil:




I drain my pan, growing up with heart disease in the family you learn the importance of draining off as much grease as you can. I then put the corn tortilla strips back in the pan with a smidge of butter and a bit of chopped onion and fresh jalapeno:




I let the onions and peppers soften up a bit and then pour in my eggs, this is three eggs with a splash of half & half. I let the bottom cook a minute or two then give it a stir, then when the eggs are almost done I top with some cheese, I used four cheese Mexican this morning because it was what was already opened.

Is there any way to make eggs look pretty in a skillet? They really are just a slimy, yellow blob.

I was out of salsa because we had tacos and enchiladas for supper last night so I topped my migas with some Rotel. When we moved from Memphis to Lima, OH back in 1986 I had a meltdown because the grocery store didn't carry Rotel and not only did they not stock Rotel they didn't know what it was. Did these people not know the joy of Rotel cheese dip made with a can of Rotel and a pound of Velveeta? How did they get through Friday nights? The horror!

My mom sent me a case and when anyone would come to visit they would bring a few cans of Rotel and some Pancho's Cheese Dip.

This is an easy filling breakfast and would be really good with refried beans on the side. I wish I had some this morning, actually I just made them so it's practically lunch. I learned to love beans for breakfast when I read Tassajara Cooking years ago. They are an all day food, ok, maybe that's a stretch.

Clutter report:

We can see the top of the coffee table, the three top shelves in one of my bookcases is pretty well organized, the dining table in the family room, great room, space that no one has a clue what it's for since my kitchen is an eat in kitchen, is decluttered enough to see the wood. My sewing machine is still out and will be until I get a fold out table for the bedroom and we paint. No, we haven't painted yet but the room still feels good even with disgusting walls.

I've started putting the granny square afghan together but putting together isn't near as much fun as making the squares, baby steps, baby steps.

I'm really in no hurry to make the two ugliest ripple afghans in the world and I'm not starting them until the granny afghan is complete. Yes, it's a plot to put them off but it's like 80 degrees here so the boy will not freeze in the next few weeks.

I haven't crossed a stitch since Sunday so I plan to stitch this afternoon and watch horror movies on AMC.

Don't forget to head over to Missy Ann's and enter her 13 Days of Halloween giveaway!

Random Wednesday

Should really title this baking Wednesday but there ya go:

Homemade bagels above

Homemade bagel loving on the cream cheese.

Pita dough balls


Flattened pita patty

Baked pita pocket, only about half actually became pocketed but that's ok. They were might tasty.

Your action shot for the day a butterfly sharing the love with my pot of vincas. I should have had the camera on the sports setting and I would have gotten a better picture, maybe, but since I'm behind the lense that is very debatable.

I have unfinished summer blog stuff and hope to catch up tomorrow.

Making Whoopie

Whoopie Pies for cryin' outloud, get your minds out of the gutter!


The Spousal Unit commented last night that I never bought anything containing chocolate any more and the fact is the kids don't really eat that junk food stuff these days. I mean the last few boxes of Little Debbies or Hostess Snacks I bought went uneaten. I know, shocker that. So today I decided I wanted to make some good old Amish Whoopie Pies. Well truthfully I bought this book:

Martha Stewart's Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Shar

Which reminded me that I had this cookbook, my all time favorite by the way:

Cooking from Quilt Country : Hearty Recipes from Amish and Mennoni



So I combined both recipes and then screwed up the filling. I made a deal with my friend Pam, "these cookies were supposed to be a surprise but do you think you can make the filling because I've already wasted three cups of milk trying to do the one in the Quilt Country cookbook". She reminded me that all my surprise gifts ended up having a string attached(like the bag I made her but she had to do her own lining--) but thankfully the awesomeness that is the Whoopie Pie made up for my lack of skilz.

This recipe is similar to the one I used:

Cooks.com - Recipe - Chocolate Whoopie Pies

My filling though is a basic vanilla buttercream frosting--thanks again PAM!

I have just noticed that I have yet to blog on this season's Project Runway, my favorite was auf'd last week. I loved Kellie--hope I got her name right. I thought she was creative and was a solid designer. I'm enjoying this season when I remember to watch it. The whole Olympic thing has thrown off all regularly scheduled tv viewing, like I keep forgetting The Closer on Monday nights. What is wrong with me?

The spousal unit and I started watching Season 1 of Weeds. I see that I must subscribe to Showtime because we are digging this show. I've also heard good things about Californication too.

I'm trying to get some order back in my life since the kids are back in school but I seem to be failing but hopefully I'll get it all figured out soon.

Summer Olympic Challenge

And other things----

I finally got around to creating a blog for the Summer Olympic Stitching challenge. If you posted a comment that you were interested, I'll try to get an invite out to you today. My computer access this summer has been hit or miss. Every computer in the house decided not to work all summer except mine. That is why blogging has been so sparse this summer.

Here's a link to the blog itself- Summer Olympic Stitching Challenge

Feel free to leave a comment in this post or email me at gulfskye at aol dot com and I'll send your invite ASAP. 13th Colony Bay is coming out of the baggie today, YEA!!!!

Things I've been enjoying this summer:





This is Ree's Veggie and Cheese Bagel. It's been my lunch of choice for the last two weeks.

Below you see my breakfast of choice:




I know, the picture isn't appetizing but there is nothing I love more than eggs scrambled with zuccuini and onion. Yum! I saute the zukes and onion in butter, a little garlic, salt and pepper, then move them to the side of the pan, add in my eggs, start scrambling then as they get a little more done I start mixing in the vegetables. Zucchini was born for eggs. I like my zucchini to stay crisp so I don't saute it for very long.

And now for the Puppy Monster:

This is Sidney-licious(it was Sid Vicious until we had nothing to fit his neck but this pink collar)my oldest son brought him home for us to dog sit for "two weeks" while his friend relocated. Uh, she relocated, lost her phone, slipped through some vortex or worm hole, I don't know. When he came to live with us his name was "Killer" I changed it to Sid. He looks like a Sid to me and I absolutely refused to call him Killer. Anyway he's a pit bull, we can't keep him and are looking for a responsible home for him. He's only about four months old and is already really rough with my Polly and I can't have him hurting her even if only in play. I knew saying yes to dog sitting was a huge mistake, but I'm a sucker and his friend is pregnant, her apartment was broken into and I didn't feel she needed any more stress so I said yes. A 12 week old pit bull isn't scary like a one year old pit bull, I expected him to be gone by now and now we've gotten a little attached, he's a good dog, smart and sweet and DESTRUCTIVE! But I can't keep him so the search begins for Sid a new home.

Right Now

I am dreaming of starting this: Jane Atkinson



I'm wanting to finish 13th Colony Bay. Really. Really. Seriously. I want to finish this.



I want to work on Sonne Spotte--it's SO beautiful.



I have to finish 6 or 7 ornaments for a swap I'm in. I know what I want to stitch, but I'm not feeling the Christmas spirit at the moment.



I want to get over myself and sew the lining in the fat bottom bags. I hate it when I procrastinate.



I am so ashamed that I watched two straight days of America's Next Top Model on MTV this weekend. I absolutely positively did not want to leave the house at all, for anything. Ok, I didn't want to leave the couch for any reason, not just the house. It's such a great show. I am waiting patiently, sorta, for the new season of Project Runway to start. Come on Nov. 14th!



I want to start my Dresden Plate quilt, knit or crochet a few scarves, finish those fatbottom bags, make some Granny squares, and cross stitch all these amazing projects. There is not enough time in the day. I have overwhelmed myself with projects so instead I do nothing but watch two straight days of America's Next Top Model.

I did work a little bit on Samsarah's Always Be a Wildflower. Considering how much TV I watched you would think I would have that sucker finished but no, I only played at stitching. Made progress but not a lot.

Is it crazy that I'm not really a knitter but I'm wanting, seriously, if I don't get the whole interchangeable set of these I'll just die. I'm not a knitter, I only play at it right now, but these
needles are just beautiful! I think I could become a real knitter with these. Just gorgeous. I've been dreaming about them ever since I got the new Knit Picks catalog in the mail.

Anna-I made those Rachael Ray's Devilish Chili Dogs Recipe Recipezaar today for lunch.
YUM-O! Very good. Thanks for the link.

Tonight's dinner, chicken and noodles. I'm thinking I might make some Moosewood Lentil Soup from the original Moosewood cookbook one day this week. It's still ridiculously hot down here but I'm craving the comfort foods these days and few things are as comforting as that Lentil Soup.

And it's really hard to quilt when the dog ate the plug off the iron. Ironing is kind of important to quilting and if you decide oh well I just embroider some tea towels using one of Aunt Martha's Iron on transfers instead....DOH! The key word would be "Iron" on or maybe the key phrase is "the dog ate the plug off the iron"...hmmmm.....When does America's Next Top Model come on again.....at least that doesn't require ironing.

One Girl's Trash.....

Is another girl's treasure! A friend--Hi Diana! Gifted another friend--Hey Pam!!! with a box of old cross stitch magazines. This morning Pam and I went through the box to see what magazines we already had and which ones we couldn't live without.

I know what you're thinking, MEOW! Cat fight! Probably better than anything on Rock of Love. Well you're wrong because Pam and I have very different stitching styles. We ran across a few designs we both like but we are very civil. We One Potato, Two Potatoed for them. Very dignified and adult.

I love the Sunflower Sampler to the left and the Quaker, I can't recall if that is in the Best of CS&CC book or not(I have that in the cross stitch library), but I really love the ship sampler, the third from the left. You can't see it but there's a whale in the water. The pilgrim sampler to the far right, I don't know if I'll stitch it but I love those ships in each corner. I think I can figure out a use for them. Thanks Diana! What a fun way to spend the morning.



The generosity of friends never ceases to amaze me. This fabric arrived in my mailbox a few days ago. Thanks Anna! The fabric rocks! Now to find a very special use for it.



It's all Angry Chicken Amy's fault. I started buying Martha Stewart's Everyday Food because Amy kept mentioning it on her blog. I had been very good avoiding this magazine when it first came out. Now I'm hooked. Tonight's dinner is the Country Fried Steak pictured below. I'm making mashed potatoes to go with and will probably make that old staple, green bean casserole along with plain old green beans because I'm search of comfort food right now. Country fried steak and a casserole made with cream of mushroom soup, well that's comfort right there. Also made a Red Velvet cake, thanks a lot Kim-Threadheads Unite! You just had to mention Red Velvet cake the other day! I craved it for several days thinking I could make the mood pass, no way. I love Red Velvet cake. My all time favorite.

Today I was craving chili dogs big time but ever since the dog food scare and discovering that canned chili was canned in the same facility, I have decided that making my own chili would be for the best.

I found these tomatoes already seasoned for chili. Since I'm the only one that even likes chili in my house, this seems a good solution for my chili cravings and it makes a small enough batch that I don't feel guilty making it just for me to put on a hot dog.

Speaking of Rock of Love a few questions for those that admit to watching this GUILTY PLEASURE, how did Rodeo get eliminated? I have missed that episode three different times.

***SPOILER*****(we can hope Blogger keeps a bit of space between this line and the paragraph.)

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What do you all think of Jes winning and Heather's hissy fit? I like Jes. Think she was the most normal and while she came off as boring, she did stay true to herself.

No Oven For Me

Thanks everyone for the comments on my bad day. It's good to know that everyone has those horrible days. Sometimes you feel like you're the only one that that is struggling to get through it. It being all those things that cause one to feel as though she's Chicken Little and she knows the sky is falling. Once I sucked it up and realized that nothing that went wrong was truly the end of the world, I got over myself.

I wish I had some stitching to show you all but no, I've been too tired to stitch. Why have I been too tired? Well we splurged this year and bought season passes to a local waterpark. It's the best money we've ever spent. We've been three times and the passes paid for themselves on the second visit. So a waterpark and being tired what does one have to do with the other? Well this park is great, I truly thought I'd buy these tickets and then resent having to take the kids or hate myself for doing it in the first place. Was I ever wrong. The first day we got our passes, found a spot to put our stuff and started running all over the park to do this or that, well I was so exhausted on the way home because everything in this park is up. Up this stairway, then up that stairway, then you go down a hill on a tube for ten minutes and it's back UP again. I did this three days in a row, I swear if I don't lose weight by the end of the summer I am stuck with this body. To describe exactly how sore I am, today after taking the middle son to summer school I went over to the beach. I walked to the water across the sand dunes, it was ok, my calves weren't screaming, but on the way back I opted to use the freshly built walk across or boardwalk whatever you want to call it, I thought it would be easier. My calves were creaking. I'm not kidding. The beach was quiet, I could hear the muscles in my calves creaking and popping, my eyes were welling up with every step up or down. I finally made it to the car and let myself cry a little. Pain, I think, is a good thing. It means that even though I'm floating around on an innertube I'm definitely getting some good solid exercise in. I do believe that's the best of both worlds. Exercise and floating around--two very good things. We've got the trip to the waterpark down to a science now, with our passes we can go at two in the afternoon and stay til close and go all day on Saturday and Sunday. My kids have passed out early the last two nights, slept late and been happily exhausted. No more "I'm bored" and me, I'm getting out of the house and doing something that seems to be good for me. We never take our kids on vacation because when the spousal unit and I moved here, that was the point, we'd never have to go on vacation again- we moved to our regular vacation destination. It never dawned on us that the family might actually want to go somewhere else every once in a while. Yeah, we're giraffes. "Giraffes are selfish" anyone know where that quote is from? We use it a lot around here.

So I have been too tired to stitch but I have made a teeny tiny bit of progress on 13th Colony Bay, nothing worth photographing yet, and I did do a little on the grass on the Monkey Sampler nothing worthy of a photo though.

I am still slowly cutting out wave border pieces for Just Beachy, I'm dreaming of making this bag: Hello Yarn.... Skull Knitting Tote. I have some A.C. Moore 40% off coupons and am going to try to get the Patons Wool this week. I also need the size 13 circular needles too. I thought I had some but the largest I have are size 11. I'm also wanting to make a Vintage Granny Square-Ellen Bloom like Ellen Blooms. I love me some variegated acrylic yarn. I can't help it. What a great project this would be. Oh and I also picked up the latest copy of Interweave Knits Crochet and want to make a Larger Than Life bag. There's a CAL here: Larger Than Life CAL I want to make two, one in Sugar n Cream or Peaches & Cream for the beach and another in wool or maybe acrylic because I'm hard on bags and anything I carry ends up having to be washed a lot. My Vera Bradley Sherbert purse is a perfect example. It's been washed so many times and is all faded. I love that bag, so acrylic might be the best thing for a crocheted tote bag that's going to be used by me, a lot.

Ok, I've been doing some serious pondering regarding CHS Mermaid Stocking, The Deep Blue Sea. I have tried to get excited about the whole punchneedle thing, nope, it's just not doing it for me. I'm thinking of attempting it in embroidery. I'm also thinking about creating a cross stitch chart for it, I found my Patternmaker disc finally. I just can't get the warm fuzzies about punch needle. I know that the people who love it really love it, as much as I enjoy cross stitch, so I love this particular design and am going to play around with it for the next few weeks, I found a great quote at Posie, Alicia is writing about her creative process, the fact that she uses the sheets she embroiders and yes they eventually fall apart, rip, but that's not the point. She writes in her post Zing that she believes in just going with your gut, jumping in, just make something and if you don't like it, make another thing. After whining about this stocking I want to make being designed for punch needle and not cross stitch, I decided to just jump in and make something with this pattern. I have no idea if it will be good or not and I think I'll be able to just let it go if it sucks, and then I'll probably give in and do it in punch needle. I absolutely don't want to go down the punch needle road-not if it can be avoided. I don't need another craft in my life, embroidery I can do, maybe not expertly but I'm going to play around with this pattern and see what comes off the needle. Reading Alicia's post was so liberating, it's not that I don't know that I can do something differently than it's designed, it is the permission for it not to be good and I can toss it aside and make another thing. I love that. I get so focused on cross stitch and the time invested in my projects that the thought of letting them go becomes the worst thing ever. So much time, so much TIME, to be able to just let it go, what a creative gift.

Yes, I maybe take this stuff a little too seriously but it's a huge part of my life. One of my biggest problems is letting go of a project that isn't going well. I'm trying to do better. Move on to the next big thing. It's all a learning process, what fails on one project might work next time.

Speaking of Posie, I made the Chicken Tikka Marsala recipe in this post:

Tikka-Masala Makin'

And it was a major hit with my family and my neighbors, even my friend's son who won't eat anything loved this stuff! The middle son is requesting that I make it again this week. This is rare in my house.

I'm also making another batch of Farmgirl's Crazy Cookies. I'm sticking with what works these days and trying hard not to complain about the whole cooking thing. If I can make food that makes people ask me to make it again, then that's a blessing I'm not going to think too hard on the whole cooking thing any more.

Sopranos anyone? Disappointed? Greatest final episode ever? I'm torn. I wanted resolution but maybe this was more creative. I just don't know. I was left wanting to know more, is that what you really want from a series final episode?

I started She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel today. I'm loving it. It is bringing back many memories of my childhood in the 60s and 70s. Over the past few weeks I've read Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper and also Chill of Fear by the same author. Hope I got that title correct. These books were ok. Nice beach reads.

With This You Get

You get egg rolls.

Step one: the filling--I adapted a recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen--the original Moosewood Cookbook.

Here's the beginning of the envelope roll:

Hard to take a picture and keep the egg roll together:

Here they are all nice and fried up:

And plated with some shrimp fried rice:

What inspired me to make my own egg rolls? This post Posie Gets Cozy: keeping her in eggrolls.

What changes did I make to the original Moosewood recipe? I added some shrimp so they weren't vegetarian. I used soy sauce instead of tamari. I subbed shredded carrots for celery and used canned bean sprouts because I couldn't find fresh and I left out the dried mushrooms because I couldn't find them. These weren't bad. I should have rolled them tighter. I thought I did, next time I will definitely make sure the corners are tucked in extra good.

And since this is a stitching blog and not a cooking blog here's my progress on Midsummer Night Designs, Monkey Sampler.

If you all haven't checked out Kiwi Jo's patchwork bags, head on over there and be ready to be awed. My sewing skills are limited at best but I have to make me one of these. Very cool, Jo.

Check out Jan's latest post, Be*mused. I love the paragraph about preparing yourself for sewing. Uh, nope not around here. Knock on my door, prepare to be frightened when I open it.

Weekend Stuff

Here's today's progress pic of CHS Strawberry Blonde. As you can see I still have not completed the large tomatoesque strawberry. Close but not there yet.

I'm trying to understand why some people can take pictures of coffee cups and they look like art and my still lifes(lives?) come out just looking dumb. Not one to be afraid of humiliating herself, I give you "Strawberry Blonde with Strawberries".



Yes, you are correct in assuming the table needs to be painted. The spousal unit does not understand the concept of putting down newspapers before painting anything. You think this is bad? Don't even ask about the kitchen table. I'm just glad there are such things as tablecloths in the world because, our naked dining table, there are no words to describe how ugly it is!

Current picture of the Vintage Vertical Stripe Crocheted Blanket Pattern above, the four or five rows to the right are the most recent additions. Once again, attempting the artsy still life, I present, "Strawberries on Top of Vintage Striped Blanket".

I've managed to finish a couple of books over the last week:

Break No Bones, Kathy Reichs

Kate Remembered: Books: A. Scott Berg

I started Kingdoms: A Love Story, Mary Jane Salk and also started

Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words and by Th

Been doing some cooking, trying a few new recipes. One night we had Ree's

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich for dinner. It was a hit with the family, with the exception of the 11 yr old. He won't eat anything that isn't spaghetti or pizza or a chicken nugget. The sandwich is great, requests were made to add it to the dinner rotation.

Last night I made Shrimp Fried Rice, Egg Foo Young, and used Meari's Musings. General Tso's Chicken recipe. When you click on the link scroll down for Meari's Recipe. It was good. I didn't have any rice wine vinegar and just used rice vinegar. I think the sauce would have been a little bit sweeter had I been able to find the rice wine vinegar. I also went a little overboard with the soy sauce. I added a little more than the recipe called for by accident. You know you're pouring the soy sauce into the measuring spoon and it kind of overflows into the bowl because you aren't paying attention? So my sauce was a teeny tiny bit saltier than it probably was supposed to have been.

Hopefully the weekend will be quiet and uneventful. Those are my favorite kind.

Jane has a nice post on a room of one's own, read it here: yarnstorm: a room of one's own

I'm looking forward to her book.