Yummy . . .

Edited to fix the link for the recipe

These are the cookies I made yesterday. So good, so easy. I don't always have success with cookie baking, and I'm trying to get better without wasting ingredients. I feel like I should be a better baker, since I was just gifted with very nice kitchen supplies, but it's still a learning process to change over from cooking with gas to cooking with electricity. But these came out very nicely and looked pretty much like the picture, which is always a good thing in my baking world. Even Left-brain, who does not like lemon, and who, when told I am baking cookies, automatically assumes them to be chocolate chip, said these were good. He's not a fan of my more exotic cookies, so I know they're good. They're a little bit of color and light in the bleak mid-winter.

It was a fruitful weekend stitching wise. Here is the finished Patriotic Summer by Midsummer Night Designs. I'm not sure if I want to make it a framed finish or an easel finish, but if I can find a square frame, it will probably end up on the wall.




I also pulled out an older UFO, Frost is on the Pumpkin, by Cricket Collection and worked on that on Saturday.

It's pretty slow going, though, but I feel no shame in admitting I worked with the area that needed DMC 922 because I need that floss for another project I'm working on, and wanted it out of that envelope into the next. So I worked on that a little, because any progress is progress, right? I started this in 2005, but didn't have all the floss, and then it got separated, and I lost interest, so it's been a long term UFO. I might as well finish it. I think it will make a pretty fall wall hanging.

I was on a roll, so I pulled "It Snowed Last Night" out into the rotation to work on on as my Superbowl project. I made a little bit of progress on it. It's a fun project to work on with really pretty colors, and, since I didn't have a vested interest in the game, other than being against the Steelers because they knocked my Ravens out, I needed something to focus on.


As for the game, it was OK. I liked the half-time show, but I love the Black-eyed Peas (I wanted to use "I Gotta Feeling" for our reception entrance music, but Left-brain didn't like that idea, probably for the best). I didn't really like a lot of the commercials, but I did like the Motor City Chrysler commercial A LOT. I kept asking Left-brain what Eminem was driving, because it was a hot car. After we found out, I told him I WANT it. He just looked at me. It was a fantastic commercial; I thought they were talking a bit about America. Maybe Detroit's struggles are really just a smaller version of our struggle. But they're not dead, we're not dead. Did anyone else like it?

Since I've finished 5 projects so far in 6 weeks and started my fair entry, which puts me MONTHS ahead of my usual schedule, I felt like it was OK to start something new. This morning I've started "Feels Like Fall," a freebie by Plum Pudding. I had all the threads in stash, and am using a scrap of fiddler's lite, which is my go-to for fall ornaments. I'm going to finish it into a small banner ornament in a rustic style. I think it will be cute. It should be a super-quick finish for me, something to break up working on larger projects. I won't post a photo til I make some real progress on it--right now it's just a few lines of black.

So that's pretty much it for my weekend. Hopefully, we can get through the week without a major snowstorm. Spring is a lot closer than not!

Another finish

My camera battery needs recharged, so I haven't taken a picture yet, but I finished Patriotic Summer last night. I took it to work with me, along with a UFO from the bin, but forgot the floss at the house, so I wasn't able to work on it til I got home. But I have three Crazy January finishes now. Woo hoo!

I'm baking today. I found a recipe for Zesty Lemon Cookies on Full Bellies, Happy Kids (the blog link is to the left), so I'm going to make them. I want something light and springy for dessert. Hopefully these will turn out yummy. This is my second try wrangling the big stand mixer, so I am hoping it plays nicely with me.

Patriotic Summer Progress

Patriotic Summer is moving right along. I'd like to get it done by the end of the weekend, but I don't think it's gonna happen. I still have the stack of critters on the right to do (I have finished the sheep's feet, but that's all), and the flag to do, along with putting windows in the house.

I need to say this. I don't like CC's Sassy Brass. I like every other color Crescent Colors makes, but I don't like Sassy Brass. It's not pretty. It's tolerable in small quantities, but that house is too much. Problem is, I couldn't think of another color that would have looked alright for it that's not already used in the chart. So I'm stuck with it. Maybe it will "settle down" once I have all the other things stitched. That happens quite a lot, and usually it looks alright. I may just be looking at that color with "in the moment" hatred.

I was organizing my "collection" (see, doesn't that sound more dignified, almost scholarly? You study a collection, you hide stash,hee hee) last night, and realized I need to go on the wagon, stash wise. I found two charts I didn't know I had and rebought recently. And one or two I must have picked up at GTGs. I don't understand how I can be this disorganized, when I put a lot of effort into being organized. So, since I now have more stash than I can possibly keep track of, why add more? At least for now. And I do have to say, it was fun to go through my charts last night and renew old acquaintances. I was ogling Priscilla's Babyland, a Priscilla Hillman book, and found some cute bunny charts for my Christmas tree. I found some charts I'd bought at the last CATS and forgotten about. And some charts for smalls. I could spend a year stitching my small charts. So I'm going to try to have a bit of a backbone about this, but I make no promises.

A Crazy January finish, a WIP, and a new start

I was a busy stitcher this weekend.

I had to get out of the house Friday night. I hadn't left it since Tuesday afternoon, thanks to a 13 inch snowfall, and we were starting to run low on food, so Left-brain got my car out of the space and I went to what was, to me, the happiest place on earth, the grocery store. It was a joy, especially because I got to see people I'm not related to. I stocked us up for the storm that is supposed to come through tonight through Wednesday, and came home to stitch.

I finished Hope Perches. I'm happy with it. It will look fantastic when it's finished into a pillow, something fresh and springy to remind me that better times are ahead. This is the second Crazy January start I've finished. Woo hoo!



With the finish, I rotated in another Crazy January start on Saturday. I had thought about doing another little one, but I know myself well enough to know that, if I do all the smalls first, I will be stuck at the end with the big projects and a chip on my shoulder, so I'm going to go back and forth with them. I think that's a more efficient way to do it. I chose Patriotic Summer to work on.



I had to frog out one of the flowers--the colors and symbols were very close, and so I, given a 50/50 chance of getting it right, got it wrong. But I got a little progress done. We went to my in-laws' house to celebrate his dad's birthday, so it wasn't a lot, but every little bit helps. I don't think this will take that long to work on, it's fun, like all of Midsummer Night Designs' pieces. And the colors are so pretty and fun to work with.

Yesterday I started Dimensions' Barnyard Kitties. It's my projects for the special contest at the state fair. I'm hopeful the judge won't nitpick that these are 'kittens', not 'cats', but if I don't win, it's OK.


I really like working on this project. Most of what I've gotten done was in a 5 hour stitching session. For a Dimensions project, this is a lot of progress, and it didn't feel like a hassle. The fabric is 14 count, and so it's not that hard to pull the floss through (nothing like trying to jam 3 strands of floss through 18 count aida to get the ol' heart pumping). They even cut the fabric decently--it's two inches on each side, so it shouldn't be too bad to frame. I do need to have good light, though, in order to work. This may be a lunch time and high daylight project. And, when I scrunched it to remove the sizing (I normally don't do that anymore, but I had to with this), it left white marks on the fabric. I think they'll wash out fine, though.

So that's my weekend. I appreciate all the comments on Betsy. I am beyond pleased to have her done and done well. Now to cross fingers that she'll look good in the frame.

Hoping everyone is having a great start to their week.

Day 9: Patriotic Sheep Start

The camera battery recharged, so here is a posting of my Day 9 progress. This is stitched on Bay Rum something fabric with Crescent Colours and DMC floss. I am pretty tickled with myself for how I handled the sun with the CC floss. I was pretty careful to keep the dark gold in the middle and at the bottom, with the lighter being more of the outer rays. I wanted some symmetry on this one. Perhaps I may end up running out of a color for my efforts, but I liked how it turned out. I'm pretty happy with the progress. I got a lot done, considering that we left in the middle of the day to go have Left-brain's birthday and didn't get back from that til 10. I have high hopes that this will stitch up quickly. This is why I chose small projects; I figure that a lot of progress, seeing things visibly take shape after a day of stitching helps keep my interest. It will offset the distress I know I'll feel when I stitch on something all day and just have an eyeball completed.

Day 10--Arrghhh and Blarrrghhh

Diane Graebner does beautiful work. I LOVE her Amish designs--they make my heart happy. I chose Sharing with Our Deer Friends as my Day 10 start, because it's calming and beautiful.

Can I just say I hate the way she charts the designs?

They're hand-drawn, which does something to me. Something bad. It makes it hard for me to stick with them.

That happens quite a lot with hand-drawn charts. I know it's a rather silly tic I have, because, when I started stitching, there were a lot more hand-drawn charts being sold than not, but I guess, as I've aged and my eyesight worsens, I just can't do it well anymore. And that bums me out because I love these charts and I collect them. I wonder why she still does them this way? I would probably stitch all of them, joyfully, if they were just charted using software. But maybe I just need to get new glasses now rather than later. I'm going to get this done, but just don't expect a lot from this start today.

I will have to post a photo of Patriotic Summer a little later. I worked on it a lot yesterday and it works up quite quickly, but I left the camera on all day by mistake and lost the charge in the battery. I am a bit concerned because I'm stitching it on 32 count, not the 40 that the chart calls for, so I'm a bit concerned I'm going to run out of overdyed floss, but I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. I should have put a bit more thought into it when I was buying the supplies, since I don't use 40 count. But I'm going to cross my fingers and hope she didn't really need the entire skein of floss when she designed it.