I.O.U….

A progress picture of Beacon House:

Almost to the right side. But there’s still a ton of snow and water to infill, the numbers, 4 more pine trees, another dog and a person or two.

I also owe you a Christmas update: I’ve been reading a lot- Emily gave me a Kindle for Christmas:

(that’s the screen saver)

I bought a pretty pink cover for it:

She also gave me these 2 cross stitch books:

which contain some very cute projects. Dirty words, but cute!

She also gave me 2 pretty cardigans, plus some new horse ornaments for the tree, and LOTS of chocolate!

Merry Christmas to all…

and to all a good night!

The 2012 tree:

The 2012  mantle:

Chickie after all the gifts were opened:

My dinner:

My feet are killing me after being on them all day. I got wonderful gifts from Emily. I will tell you about it in another post.

Merry Christmas!

I have someone for you to meet…

Meet my new best friend:

She’s trying to convince me to go away for a few days- she’s an evil bitch she is.

Presents!

We had our yearly stitching group Christmas party last week. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse first, then back to Jeanne’s house for dessert. I forgot my camera – for shame!- but dinner was excellent (steak tips & mashed potatoes for me- YUM!) and Jeanne really outdid herself- gingerbread cake,  and 4 kinds of cookies- a peppermint topped shortbread, nutmeg logs, cranberry orange cookies & these thin crispy lacy sugar cookies, and Joanne brought the most colorful fruit salad I have EVER seen! Everything was delicious- thank you both for such a wonderful evening!

Deborah, from Cranberry Samplings, was my  secret Santa. She gave me a beautiful needle book:

Inside:

Outside:

I love me a pretty paisley and this one is gorgeous!

She also got me a bag of assorted trims from Victoria Motto Sampler:

which is totally sweet because I won one of Nancy’s drawings over the weekend for a chart of Christmas ornaments! I know what I’ll be stitching on next year, and I have all the trims for finish- finishing them!

Thank you Deborah!

I found several photos on my camera- enough for a few more posts so hopefully, I’ll get off my keister and do something about it!

Off to do dishes- it’s late for me!

Christmas Decorating…

someday I want to make one of these:

The directions are from this website. It seems pretty easy, and if I was really smart, I’d buy the bulbs after Christmas on sale.
These are cute too:

Link here.
And a bulb wreath too:

I Breathe, therefore I Pin…

So I have that little “Follow me on Pinterest” button over there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You can click it if you’d like and see what shenanigans I’ve been up to. I started my Pinterest account around Christmas last year and was amazed at all the holiday-themed ideas, recipes, gifts, decorations, etc. that were popping up. So if you need some inspiration or even just some holiday cheer, now’s a good time to check it out.

Here are some things I found today:

Butter Pecan Cupcakes

Bite Sized Baked Brie

Budget Friendly Christmas Tree Decorating

Pixie Stix Quilt

Mozzarella Sticks

Pink & White Peppermint Swirl Bark

According to Live Writer and Pinterest, I can embed pins in my blog, but it doesn’t seem to be working properly, or, more than likely, I’m not operating properly.

Saved by the bell! I’m cooking a quiche, and I always forget that less is more when it comes to quiche. So I overstuffed the pie shell, and it’s taken an extra 30 minutes to cook and I’m SOOOO hungry! (ham, broccoli, cheese & sautéed onions)

Epic Fail!

So I did forget to post last night. I worked all day, then I had to go to one of those "buy-something" parties at my barn-friend's house. I got home by 9:15, and refused to turn the computer on- not remembering I hadn't made a post when I had my computer on after work. I believe my thought process then was: "you can write about the buy-something party when you get home". So much for that.
This party was from a company called "Trades of Hope". The products are fair trade craft items- jewelry, home decor, scarves, xmas ornaments, etc., from around the world. The workers are for the most part women in 3rd world countries. The Trades of Hope people set them up with a business creating these items from sustainable, local goods and materials, and work with them to ensure a consistent quality, sell-able product. The women get paid first, then T of H people back in the US. It seems like a nice idea.
Of course, I spent way too much on some items I normally wouldn't buy, but it kicked off my Christmas shopping, so that helps.
Plus I got to hang out with my pooper-scooper barn buddy Michelle for the evening, and met some of her friends that she's told me about as she gabs while we did our chores.
I miss my old barn tons, but Axe is fitting in nicely at Alice's. While I am now thoroughly enjoying being able to sleep in on weekends- it's been over a year since I could-I started doing weekends last end of October 2011 after Jodi got back from Worlds, I do miss barn chores.
Today I put that plastic film on some drafty windows. That stuff is NOT for women of a certain age who need readers and refuse to get them. I was convinced I had a faulty package of film because all the sheets seemed to be cut too short and I couldn't find an edge to peel back. Finally i measured a sheet and sure enough, one dimension was half as long as it should have been- telling me that the film WAS folded in half.
It took a bit of rubbing and crunching the edge to finally see the two plys, and then get my fingernail in between to separate them. So that's done. I am now procrastinating big time at picking up my tree limbs from the Hurricane- and thank you Anna & Krista for the info on "Superstorm Sandy"- it was very interesting. It's a terrible shame that the authorities had so much advance warning to the storm and for what ever reasons, didn't have the necessary follow-up in place.
Well, my computer is pestering me for a re-start to finish an security update, so I should comply.
TTFN

Good News & Bad News….

The good news: I barn sat this weekend, and stitched a bit on Beacon House and on the Lizzie Kate Joy Sampler.


The bad news is: I was supposed to stay over both Friday and Saturday nights, but at 6:00 pm Saturday, I got a call from the barn owner who was at a horse show in Topsfield. Her horse had coliced and was about to go into surgery. They were going to come home Saturday night around midnight.
Long story short, her horse came out of surgery fine. She’ll be at the vet’s until the end of the week, then back home for several months of recuperation. So basically my barn owner’s show season is over, which is sad because  she does so well. She was hoping to go to Nationals this year in July, but that won’t happen. And even if her horse is recovered in time for Worlds in October, I don’t think she’ll have the points to qualify. (I’m assuming one needs a minimum amount of points to qualify.)
Needless to say, no discounts on my board for a while. %^(

Thursday Stitching Progress…

Beacon House:

I finished the stag, backstitched the first bunny, added his (her?) companion, continued the border outline and filled in with some snow. It seems this snow is about all we’ll be seeing this “winter” here in SE Massa –two-shits. (as the Prez likes to say it). I also did a bit more on my February ornament:

I need to get cracking on this one or I’ll be behind all year long.

Stitching Fun…

Here’s tonight’s progress on Beacon House:

Have I mentioned how much I hate Windows? It has taken over 5 minutes to post everything you see above this point!
Anyway, here’s my February ornament:

Ewe & Ewe & I  Friends Christmas Sampler (again). I stitched this last year and gave it to my barn owner this past Christmas. It’s a really sweet design and I wanted it for myself.
I have to go before I throw my chair through the monitor. More updates have come thru and I seemed to have slowed to a crawl……….arrrgggg!

Better Late Than Never…

my January ornament:

From JBW, on 28 ct. even weave of some kind, with my choices for floss. I’ll put a bead at the tree top.

I put the CoHRH square 10 on the back burner for now; the over one was making the stitching experience not enjoyable.

23 more days to find, kit up & stitch February’s ornament!

Thursday Stitching Update…

Beacon House progress:

My piece of yellow floss ran out with one row to go. I also don’t think the individual snowflakes show up very well as the Smyrna crosses that they are. I used one strand of floss for those because they were just a hot mess with 2 strands.

I obviously didn’t finish this for my barn owner:

But this year I’m planning *SNORT* (we’ll see how that goes!!) to stitch an ornament a month again.

Jane brought these delicious peanut-butter brownie bites:

The peanut butter was low fat, so these were virtually health food! We all had several- yummy!

Off to my couch-TTFN!

Merry Christmas!

I’m pooped! But I had to share that my wicked awesome daughter got me a Keurig “Elite” coffee maker and a ton of assorted accessories!  I’m so excited- I can’t wait to try it tomorrow am.

I hope everyone has had a marvelous day with family and/or friends. Thanks for  visiting and all the wonderful comments you leave- I truly appreciate them all!

(Image from the Green Mountain Coffee website)

I made an apron for her:

It’s reversible- “evil” side and “good” side.

I also finished this pillow, and made a second:

I have to get a bigger form for the top pillow.

I made this for Michelle at the barn:

“Barn Yard” by Bent Creek I think. Here’s the back and a 3/4 side shot to show the thickness:

 

The horse I tried to emulate Molly, the horse Michelle rides. She’s a chestnut Appaloosa, although the only white spot is low on her belly on the left side, and she has two white socks on the rear.

Off to the couch for me. Merry Christmas and good night!

Almost there…

I finished this for my barn owner:

Here’s the backing fabric:

I think my obligatory cooking is done. I made this:

- a cheesecake for Tom. It came out perfect!

These:

Almond Poppy Seed Breads from Our Best Bites

and this, from Joanne of Thursday Stitching group:

White Chocolate Popcorn with Craisins. So easy! Pop 3 bags of salted-only microwave popcorn. Pour into a huge bowl. Melt one 12 –oz. bag of white chocolate chips- 2 to 2-1/2 minutes on high at 30 second intervals should do it, stirring each interval. Pour chocolate over popcorn and mix to coat evenly. Add one 5-oz bag of craisins and mix again. Spread out on baking sheets to set for an hour or so if you’re packing it up for gifts or start eating- your done! I melted about a 1/4 cup of semisweet chips (the same microwave method) and drizzled that over the spread out popcorn.

Tomorrow I have to brine my turkey, and make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies because I’m out. Almost all those cookies I made last weekend are gone. I’ve gone thru 5 lbs of sugar, a dozen eggs, and 3 lbs of butter. So far.

Time to wash dishes and have supper and finish another stitchy gift.

Time is Getting away from me….

We had our annual Stitching group Christmas party last Thursday. We went to an Italian restaurant called The Chateau. I had a combo plate of chicken parm, fried ravioli, and a meatball. It was so yummy I ate almost all of it! Then we went to Jeanne’s house for dessert.   I wish I hadn’t eaten 2 slices of Scali bread!

Joanne had brought Cupcake Charlie’s (of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars!) 

Berry Champagne flavor and Chocolate Candy Cane:

Jeanne baked the Pecan Tassies in the foreground- so delicious!

She also baked Surprise Cookies; they are in the back beyond the plate of tassies.

Here’s Deborah, of Cranberry Samplings, taking my picture while I took hers. Check out her latest blog post for more of our merry shenanigans.

Jeanne pulled out all the stops when it came to decorating her house. Just get a look at her Christmas Village display:

   

Two tables’ worth! Her husband wires all the houses so it’s entirely lit. It’s just stunning.

Here’s a view across the kitchen island back towards the breakfast area:

 

And this is so cute- it’s a glass block filled with mini lights. Jeanne changes the adornment for each holiday throughout the year.

Here’s the tree:

It’s actually very straight, despite the photo. I promise it’s NOT because I was drinking! I wish I could decorate my tree like this. It seems it’s a skill I was born without. My tree always looks like I threw the ornaments on from across the room.

An Anna-Lea (?) doll- a lamb knitting a sweater!

Jeanne gave me 2 wonderful gifts- I can’t wait to use them both:

magnetic measuring spoons

And Joanne Chang’s cookbook “Flour”

I want to make EVERYTHING in this book! The recipes look easy, with in-your-cupboard-already ingredients. Plus a lot of the recipes have a stop-here-and-refrigerate-for-when-you-have-more-time-to-finish steps. Awesome for those of us who have places to go & things to do every day after work.

If you click on the pictures they should enlarge.

Thanks to Jeanne and Joanne for a fantastic evening!