Hetty Child Sampler and Hoo Hoo finished

I finished Hanna Child by The Sampler Company this week.  I really enjoyed stitching her and was almost sad after putting in the last stitch.  I haven't signed her yet.  I'm debating (with myself) about whether to do my regular initials/date in the corner or to stitch a bit more in the margin that will be covered after framing.  I'll think about it for a while.

My next sampler will be Lucy Redd (Homespun Elegance).  I'd love to have sal buddy on this one.

I also finished Hoo Hoo by Hands on Designs.  (It appears in the 2014 JCS Halloween issue.)

Happy Easter!

Happy stitching!

Busy Stitching

The model arrived safely to the designer.  That's always such a good feeling.

I stitched this house from Blackbird Designs' "In Full Glory" for a designer-themed block exchange for one of my groups.  (Next designer will be Lizzie Kate.)

I'm also making progress on Hetty Child:

......and here is  "Hoo Hoo" from one of the JCS ornament issues.  (I'm stitching from a working copy and misplaced the mag while decluttering earlier this week for a out of town friend's visit.)  This one if for an owl-themed block for the Halloween Ornament sal blog.  Almost finished!

As I mentioned, a friend we knew from our Michigan days was in town for work so we went out to dinner with him and then brought him here for some apple pie and Blue Bell ice cream.  It was great seeing him again;  none of us could remember the last time we saw each other.  Forgot to take any pictures.

You may remember the story about my friend's son who likes to fish on our lake.  After his last catch, he was able to report that he has 14 pounds of catfish (cleaned).  He's invited us to a fish fry this weekend.  I think I'll make some lemon bars to take.  (I don't like to eat fist so this will be interesting.)

After raining all day last Saturday causing the lake level to rise above our dock and onto the concrete bunker, we've had some beautiful spring days.  Except for part of yesterday when a brief thunderstorm came through.  This weekend is supposed to be beautiful too.

I'm reading another Longmire book.  I'm almost finished with the series and will miss Walt when I'm done.

Happy stitching!

Friday Update....Stitching, Cooking, etc.

Happy Friday, everyone!

I finished and mailed the model I'd been working on.  It's always a good feeling to get to this point.  Then I hold my breath until it reaches its destination.  I enjoy model stitching; it's like being in on a surprise.  How fun it is when the model is released by the designer!

While putting away threads and looking through my wips pile, I found a piece that only needed a few more stitches and a button so I finished Homespun Elegance's "Fall House Sampler".  I'm not sure why I put it down with so little needed to finish but there must have been a reason.

Warning:  I've been too busy (and too lazy) to press out anything for the pictures today.

Next up...a selection from Blackbird Design's "In Full Glory" that I'm stitching for a block exchange.  I haven't decided yet just how much I'll stitch of this design.  It might turn out to only be the house.

Next is Hoo Hoo from one of the JCS Halloween issues for an owl-themed Halloween ornament sal:

Last but not least, I stitched some more on my Hetty Child sampler (Brenda Keyes):

I did a bit of baking since last posting, an apple pie for Pi Day and some chocolate chip cookies for DS who's been home this week on spring break.  For St. Pat's Day, I made some corned beef with potatoes, onions, and some roasted cabbage from a Pioneer Woman recipe.  I tried making some soda bread "farls" but wasn't happy with them.  It's basically a buttermilk biscuit dough that's fried in a cast iron pan.  If I'd do it again, I'd just cut the biscuits in circles and bake them off.  For dessert, DS wanted those store-bought iced, soft sugar cookies but I also made parfaits from slightly sweetened Greek yogurt topped with fresh blueberries and blackberries.

What I really like about the St. Pat's Day dinner is making the Reuben sandwich with leftovers the next day.  Some years there hasn't been leftover corned beef but I lucked out this year.

Later today I'll be baking a banana cream pie (an early birthday treat for DH) and another batch of cookies for DS to take back to college tomorrow.

Spring has sprung here.  I always say when you start seeing those lizards on your windows here in Texas, that it must be spring.  This week, I've finally walked all 5 weekdays.  (We'd had several days where I hadn't walked because of weather issues.)  Now I just need to work on increasing my distance.

Also, we're seeing flower buds on our Meyer lemon tree.  I'm hoping this year we'll have lemons.

Happy stitching!

Rainy week

It must be spring break for the public schools here...it's been raining every day.  Poor kids! 

A friend's son loves to fish and he occasionally comes here to fish on our lake.  Despite the rain , he was itching to stitch the other day when he had some unexpected time off.  Mostly it was a light rain but suddenly the sky opened up and it started pouring.  Luckily he was dressed appropriately...I think he  had even more fun because of the rain.  Here he is with his catch of that day:

I've mostly been model stitching lately but made so much progress last week that I took one day "off" to work a bit on Hetty Child.  I'm really enjoying this sampler. 

I've become quite a Brenda Keyes (The Sampler Company) fan.  I'd already stitched her Plymouth Sampler.  It's framed now and hangs over my "stitching nest".

I've since acquired several of her books and leaflets.  Just recently purchased one of her books and a sampler (Country House Sampler) on ebay and bought another sampler (Red House Sampler) from Down Sunshine Lane.  My biggest "problem" with these is deciding which one to start next.

I finished the LHN exchange block (Wool Needebook) and sent it off to the exchange co-ordinator.  I'll be stitching another one for me although may choose a blue for the house...or maybe not.  I'd like to finish finish it into a needlebook.  As long as I've been stitching, I need to make nice one for myself.

On the cooking front...we tried out a couple of recipes from the most recent Bon Appetit magazine.  Pork Ragu' with Creamy Polenta and Raspberry-Ricotta cake.  Both dishes were excellent with the bonus that they weren't that hard to prepare.  I loved that the cake satisfied my sweet tooth without being overly sweet as many desserts can be.

Pork Ragu over Creamy Polenta


Raspberry-Ricotta Cake

Here's what ours looked like:

Seeing everyone's stitching has inspired me to buy more designs either on ebay or through the shops.  I need to slow down a little....but I probably won't.  lol!

I hope to finish the model this week or next.  I'll then start the next exchange block (a BBD design) and the next Halloween ornament.  (I've ordered supplies for both.)  I'll also work more on Hetty and then decide on the next sampler start.

Happy stitching!

California Dreaming

One nice thing about being a SAHM empty nester is that when DH is traveling for business, I can go along with him if I want.  He attended a conference in San Diego last week and since I've never been there, I tagged along.

We stayed in the Gaslamp Quater at a beautiful hotel (where I enjoyed spending some time reading on a nice 3rd floor patio complete with a shallow pool with 2 fountains) and I did a lot of walking around while DH was in meetings.  One day I took a bus up to Balboa Park where I enjoyed exploring.

Since we were eating out a log, I spent a lot of time walking.  I walked the length of 5th street to a set of (96) stairs 1-2 times per day and walked along the harbor area to Seaport Village.  I enjoyed just sitting in the park along that pathway and watching the boats go by.  I discovered that the steps appear to be a Mecca for fitness buffs.  It seemed no matter what time of the day it was, there would be several people running up and down (several laps) the steps.

We spent the evenings walking around and dining with a colleague of DH's who had to leave his wife home because she's very pregnant.  One night he had the great idea of riding the ferry over to Coronado Island where we had dinner at a nice seafood restaurant.  Luckily there were other menu options since I don't eat seafood.  I had a great steak there!

Sat. afternoon when DH finished his last meeting we hopped a flight to San Francisco to visit our daughter and her fiance.  Since it was Valentine's Day, we didn't think we'd be able to get in at a restaurant so her fiance cooked dinner for us.  Everyone else had crab but he was sweet to also roast a chicken for me.  We finished the evening by watching a movie.  Sunday we took them to brunch at a dim sum place and then walked around a good bit mostly in Chinatown.  (Of all the times I've been to San Fran, this was the first time I've visited Chinatown.)  We bought some tea at a nice tea shop there.  We also visited the venue for their upcoming wedding.  Too soon Sunday afternoon it was time to fly back home.

I didn't get much stitching done on the trip but was able to finish 2 books...A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson (one of the Longmire books), and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  Wow!  I'd read this book was similar to Gone Girl and I guess it is in a way but it has it's own flavor too.  I sure couldn't put this one down!

Here is the progress I've made on my stitching in the past couple of weeks:

Hetty Child (The Sampler Company)

Flowers in the Springtime (Bent Creek)

I charted out the names and date yesterday and hope to get that part stitched asap.

I also worked a bit on the border of Wicked Witch (La D Da)

Happy stitching!!!

Model finished and other stitching

Can I hear a WOO HOO!!!!!?  I finished and mailed out the model and it has been received by the designer.  I'll let you know when it's been released.  That's always exciting fo me.

I also stitched my heart on a RR and will be sending it to the next stitcher today when I go out.

I stitched my skeleton (a PS design) for the Halloween Ornament themed sal.

I even worked a bit on my Hetty Child (The Sampler Company) sampler but not enough to take a picture yet.

Annnnndddd.......I officially started Bent Creek's "Flowers in the Springtime" for our daughter's upcoming wedding.  I gave her a selection of wedding pieces from which to choose and this is her choice.  It fits them...they love hiking and camping and are pretty low key (liking simple things).  I love what it says.  I'm enjoying stitching it and it's moving along pretty quickly.

It's sad to watch some trees being taken out of "my" walking track at the community college.  They've extended the construction fence line so there's a lot of the track that's closed now.  I suspect that eventually that whole field will be "developed".  I took some pics this am but haven't uploaded to my computer yet.

We enjoy trying new recipes and most of the time they're pretty good ones.  This week, however, we tried some Kale, Potato, Leek soup with bacon.  It was just ok and not very filling.  DH and I decided that it would be best used as an appetizer rather than a main course. Although it wasn't hard, it sure dirtied a lot of dishes.  For the result, I decided it wasn't worth it.  The new recipes can't all be winners, I guess. 

Happy stitching!

Brrrrrrr!!!

It's so cold in Gulf Coast Texas (How cold is it?) that I have to wear real shoes instead of flip flops.  We're hovering at about the freezing point which--I know! I know! isn't that cold--- but it is for our area.

Being from "up North", I'm enjoying the colder weather and celebrated by making a big pot of soup the other day.  I think I'll make some white chili today.  (One DS is still home for his college break and he requested this.)

I've been enjoying stitching on Brenda Keyes "Hetty Child" sampler that I started on Jan. 1.  I reached a "milestone" yesterday in finishing the flower basket motif in the center.

In the spirit of my "year of the sampler", I've ordered "His Eye is on the Sparrow" by Heartstring Samplery.  There's a FB SAL group for this one.

There's also another FB SAL group started by Jean Farish to work on her "America, Land that I Love".  I joined this one too.  I'd started it a while ago but it's become a WIP/UFO.


I also put a few stitches in a Primitive Needle freebie "By the Light of he Moon".  I joined a Halloween ornament sal group here:  Halloween Ornie SAL 2015  .  January's theme is Witches and I thought this might work.  Unfortunately it's a little big for an ornament so I might have to stitch something else for this theme.  I think this one would make a cute no-sew cube, though.

I fear I've bitten off more than I can chew with these SALs.  (There are a few more too.)  I also am working on another model and need to stitch DD's wedding piece.  I feel like it's ok though and will be happy with any progress I make on these...as long as I finish the model and DD's.  I'll never be bored because there's always something to stitch.


We ran out of pie (according to my guys, a serious problem) so I baked my late DMIL's banana cream pie that has rum-soaked raisins, toasted slivered almonds, and banana slices between the cream and meringue.  The story about this pie is that my MIL called it "Louie's Pie" because she said it was DH's favorite.  He whispered to me once that, although he loves it, it's not his favorite.  Apple pie would win THAT distinction.  He never had the heart to tell his mother.  Of all her pies, this is MY favorite, though.  The cream part is wonderful....so thick and rich.  It uses vanilla bean--YUM!--and 8 egg yolks.  Not exactly good for you.  We have it rarely so I guess it's ok for a splurge once in a while.  Now THIS pie is nearly gone and I'm hearing noises from a certain couple of guys who live in this house that "someone" needs to bake another pie.  lol!

Finally....on a very sad note....I am horrified by the terrorist attack that happened yesterday in Paris.  I feel like this was not just an attack on the Parisian/French people but an attack on all free people everywhere in the world.  I can't say that I know the answer about solving the problem of terrorism that we all face and I fear that our leaders don't have the answer either. I pray for us all that we can all learn to live in this world together with peace, mutual respect, and dignity.

Happy stitching!