Friday, October 30, 2009

There’s A garden Growing Again!

 

Where we last left off:

GG25 

Here’s what I’ve done this week:

GG26

GG26A

I’ve finished up pages 6 & 7, and am almost done with page 8.

Some close  ups:

GG26 macro

GG26A macro

There’s 5 shades of green in that pink ball flower.

And you’ll have to take my word for it that I’ve finished the left side of Prairie Schooler Christmas Eve:

PS XMAS eve9

Back to my personal insane asylum.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wandering Wednesday Wrecipes

No cooking to speak of this week, so I shall point you towards some food blogs that always have awesome recipes and far superior photography to the pitiful “snaps” I routinely offer you.

First:

 Closet Cooking  Kevin always has interesting, extremely varied offerings. Beautiful, scrumptious photos that make you want to try every recipe

Second:

Cookie Madness Anna has THE BEST cookie recipes! I’ve made more than a few. (And my hips show it!) She has everything organized in her side bar. I highly recommend you scroll thru her site. She also usually describes alternate ingredients and/or tweaks to suit any appetite.

Third:

Smitten Kitchen Another blogger who has a vast repertoire of different culinary styles. She’s just had a baby and has been cooking up a storm! She was also a recent guest on The Pioneer Woman. Which leads me to:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks You all know who Ree is: our favorite city girl turned rancher wife. She’s all about the butter. (enough to make Paula Deen look like a feather weight.)

Have you checked out Tasty Kitchen? Ree made an off-shoot to her main blog that is interactive with readers in that you can upload your own recipes. Members can rate and comment about the recipes.

Last-but-not-least is not really a source of recipes, but it IS food related. If you are having a bad day, then this site will definitely make you laugh out loud. Cake Wrecks is, without a doubt, one of the most wittiest blogs out there.

I hope you enjoy these sites. Do you ever scroll thru other bloggers’ favorite blogs? It’s a great way to find new writers of similar interest/perspective.

See you next week with a recipe, I hope!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

I couldn’t wait any longer….

I had to start “The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy”:

TGPC1

on 28 ct. “Exemplar “ by Lakeside Linen. I’m substituting over dyed cottons for the DMC flosses.

I just love the crows! (This one’s missing his feet.")

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Fabric Give-Away

Look at these fabrics:

Giveaway02

And they can be yours if you visit Pumpkin Patch Primitives blog and enter.

Here's the link to the contest post.

 

If you qualify to enter, please tell her that you came from my blog and I'll receive another entry. Thanks!

Unfortunately....

I came across a new meme today. You Google the word unfortunately plus your name in quotes. So my search would look like this:

"unfortunately Mary"

And these are some of the hits I received:

Unfortunately, Mary has been making some public statements that have hurt her reputation.

Unfortunately Mary's cooking was rather basic, which means that nobody would eat it, and the restaurant closed in short order.

Unfortunately, Mary could not compete in the competition because the routine she had planned was working with more than one dog.

Unfortunately, Mary needed to marry in order to be taken more seriously and to ward off unwanted attention by men hoping to gain her hand in marriage lest start rumors that would compromise her virtue.
Unfortunately, Mary's white blood cell count was low again this morning.

Unfortunately, Mary discovered that lobbyists could invest years into something and never know if it would come to fruition.

Unfortunately, Mary Elizabeth didn't have much to say regarding her experiences with death and destiny.

Unfortunately, Mary doesn't share (or even understand) her desires.

Unfortunately, Mary's story is common.

 

Jeesh! I could write a really funny book with these!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes

More sweets. I've tried substituting butter for the shortening, and it didn't really come out as well- the cookies got very hard and dry. If you bake these just until the edges barely turn brown, and take them out even with a tiny bit of moistness in the center, the carry-over heat in the baking pans will let them cook perfectly while they cool on the sheets. Store them in a zip-bag or other air-tight container, and they should stay tender for an entire work week of lunches.

Peanut Butter Cookies

  • ¾ cup peanut butter
  • ½ cup shortening- plain or butter flavored
  • 1-1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 3 TBSP milk
  • 1 TBSP vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup Demerara sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl and beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg and beat just until incorporated.

In a separate small bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda with whisk. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Pour Demerara sugar in a shallow bowl. Using a small cookie scoop or a heaping teaspoon, drop balls of dough into Demerara sugar. Place sugar- topped cookie dough-balls 2” apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure sugar is on top! Using a fork, flatten each ball slightly in a criss-cross pattern.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling completely.

peanut butter cookies

Monday, October 19, 2009

Let it Snow...

I've started the snow on PS Christmas Eve:

PS XMAS eve8

My plan is to add blending filament to the snowflakes, so I'm holding off on those as long as possible.

In other snow news, the Patriots opened a can of whoop-ass all over the Tennessee Titans. They were doomed as soon as the snow started.

Snow was still on the shady areas of the ground at work by the time I left this afternoon.

I had an eye exam tonight. The nice doctor showed me the huge difference readers/bifocals would make. And the nice receptionist kept adding double and triple digits to the $99 price on their "value" eyeglasses, first for progressive-ness, then for ultra-lite lenses. I used the excuse that I need Em with me to pick out frames because I can't see myself to know how good bad I look in any particular frames, and walked out with my prescription. Plus, when I asked if I could get over the counter readers for stitching, he immediately said "NO!" Maybe because of my nearsightedness issses? I'm pretty sure BJ's or someone offers 2 pairs for $99. I bet I could get a pair of readers and a pair of distance glasses for that deal.

I'm getting anxious to start The Pumpkin Conspiracy; i might pick out fabric from my stash tonight.....

Thursday, October 15, 2009

You're going to be jealous!!!

LOOK:

CS quaker halloween

Those are the flosses I'm going to use. Now I have to decide to start this or the Pumpkin Conspiracy.......

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Wicked Wednesday Wrecipes

I got nothing people!!! I made this for tomorrow night at Stitch and Bitch:

cake2

This was from the Pioneer Woman's site-Billie's Italian Cream Cake. I'll let her typing skills suffice and save me the trouble. Instead of the cream cheese frosting, I made a double batch of this frosting: Creme Frosting, substituting 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla with 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, and obviously decorating the sides with slivered almonds and omitting the Oreos.

DONE!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

More Progress...

I had some time this afternoon- about 3 hours of sitting in my car and this is what happened...

PS XMAS eve7

go me.

Monday, October 12, 2009

I am SO going to see this!

astroboy1

My favorite cartoon of ALL time has been made into a movie!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

A Tiny Bit of Progress...

on Prairie Schooler "Christmas Eve":

PS XMAS eve6

The border on the left is one stitch to the left-most edge of the sleigh runner.

I finally have all the silks for the Pumpkin Conspiracy:

pumpkin siks

Aren't they beautiful?? I can't wait to start. Well, I do have to pick out some fabric first...

Friday, October 9, 2009

Wishful Thinking...

So the Online Needlework Show is underway. I found these 2 charts:

merry olde santa claus

"Merry Old Santa Claus- Thomas Nash" from the Scarlet Quince

and this:

quaker halloween

"A Quaker Halloween" from Cherished Stitches

I had Deb order them for me.

I like this one, too, but between the Santa above and the Sisters & Best Friends one I did a while ago, it seemed a bit redundant:

santas magical coat of colors

"Santa's Magical Coat of Colors" from Lavender Wings.

I still owe you a photo of PS Xmas Eve; the boss's wife emailed this morning that she was coming in to "finish" up the wedding present, so no stitching today (yet). She hasn't made her appearance yet, but seeing as the office above the garage overlooks their kitchen door, I can see her, should she come out of the house headed towards the office.

We had awesome snacks last night at S & B! Joanne brought an assortment of cheeses and crackers and made some Pioneer Woman parmesan bacon crackers too. Deb brought chips and dip, Nancy brought Kondieter Meister pastries and Jeanne brought beverages. I didn't even need to eat supper when I got home!

Thanks goils!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes

OK- pull up your aprons, girls, today's recipe is a tough one- it ranks right up behind marshmallow treats and in front of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Don't be fooled by the extensive list of ingredients.

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast

potroast1

  • 2-1/2 to 3 lb chuck pot roast
  • 1 packet of beef gravy mix
  • 1 packet of italian salad dressing mix
  • 1 packet of ranch salad dressing mix
  • 1 cup water

Line your crockpot with one of those awesome Reynolds slow cooker plastic liner bags- you'll thank me the rest of your life.

potroast4

potroast2

(NEVER, EVER get "round"- ALWAYS GET "CHUCK"!!!)

Plop (technical culinary term) your beef in lined pot.

potroast5

In a smallish bowl, mix the dry packet ingredients together,

potroast3

potroast6

then sprinkle on top of roast, but not so much around it.

potroast7

potroast8

Pour the 1 cup of water around the roast.potroast9

Put slow cooker lid on,

potroast10

and turn that baby to low.

potroast11

(I store my pot in the basement, hence some rust)

Cook on low for at least 8 hours; I've cooked my 3-lb roasts as long as 11 hours.

potroast12

Expect marriage proposals from every man who eats this.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

An Infrequent Tuesday Post

Didn't ride tonight; I was going to walk the Axester, but she had cut herself on the upper edge of her hoof, at the coronet band, which is like the quick on a fingernail. Instead of getting it all dirty in the indoor, I opted to let her chill out in her stall. I raked the track in the indoor then I came home and covered my firewood pile from the monsoons predicted for tomorrow, then started this post.

I worked a little on PS Xmas eve yesterday:

PS XMAS eve5

Best laid plans and all: I was going to stitch some more at lunch again today, except we had a new copier delivered to the office just before lunch, and my boss was hanging around. totally blew my lunch break.

I tried one of those hot-set jewels on a scrap of Aida:

test jewel

It actually bonded surprisingly well. I'm very impressed with the idea; the heat tool crapped out after about 5 jewels though. I tried 2 additional sets of batteries and it wouldn't get warm anymore at all. I exchanged it for a different brand this afternoon that's a plug-in model with different tips. I have just ONE more jewel to attach to one of the wedding Snugglis, then those are finished. I'll try to get photos tomorrow (if I remember the camera!)

My gawd- this has turned into a real post! Time for some TV.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

PS Christmas Eve Progress

Finally, a stitching photo. My mojo has gone off and left, I guess. I DO like this design, and it's fun and easy to stitch as well. I want to start the Pumpkin Conspiracy, but not until this is done. Ah, my particular form of OCD!

PS XMAS eve4

My "project" with my boss's wife has gotten easier, I think. We were going to do a joke wedding gift for Barbara, with whom I use to work up until about 4 or 5 years ago. She moved up to Gloucester after separating from her husband, and became a realtor. We worked together for about 20 years, though. In fact, I still refer to her desk as "Barbara's desk", and we (my boss & his wife & me) remain pretty good friends, even though it's mostly phone conversations.

Any way, the gag gift has evolved into a pair of Snugglis, bedazzled with the Bride & Groom's initials, which happen to be "B" and "G". I bought a hot set rhinestone gizmo and "jewels", and pre-made jeweled iron-on appliqués; my boss's wife is in charge of the Snuggli purchase. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyway, I was wondering if these hot set rhinestones could be used to bling up cross stitch. Does anyone out there have any experience with these things?

indoor axe1

indoor axe2

"Not me!" "Is that a tiger out there waiting to eat me???!!"