winter-y, pumpkin-y

I’m so happy! Pat who is the shop-owner of the LNS finished knitting my Midsome Mitts and I’m truly appreciative and so pleased by how they turned out. Aren’t they pretty? She did such a fantastic job. She was fast too. Go to Staci’s blog for the free pattern.

I started on Winter Row by Bent Creek. I don’t have a progress pic to share, but I started the first snowman. I’m using different color linen but the same count and I am using the recommended threads though.

This afternoon while the boys were attending school and dh was at work I decided to do some baking. I don’t get to bake very often but I’ve had this recipe for awhile now. I borrowed it from my mother and she borrowed it from her friend Judy. I believe she’s the source of the Pumpkin Coffee Cake. It is really good, however, next time I’m leaving out the chopped nuts. I can do without them. Nonetheless, it is good. I can’t wait until morning time. Coffee brewed, piping hot, and warm up that coffee cake. Yum-yum!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
½ c butter

¾ c sugar

1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, beaten

2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

1 c sour cream

1 can pumpkin (16 oz)
1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 c sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Streusel Topping:
1 c packed brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 c butter

1 c nuts, chopped

Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Add 3 beaten eggs, beat well. Combine flour, baking powder and soda. Add to butter mixture, alternating with sour cream. Set aside. Combine pumpkin, 1 beaten egg, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Prepare topping by combining dry ingredients and cutting in the butter. Pour half of the batter into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Spread to cover the pan. Sprinkle half the topping mixture onto batter. Spread pumpkin mixture over the top. Spread remaining batter over pumpkin mixture. Spread the rest of the topping o the top over that. Spread remaining batter over pumpkin mixture. Spread the rest of the topping on top of batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

As I type I’m falling asleep. I guess that’s a sign I must retire for the night and call it quits. Talk soon….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"f" is for

Floss tag…

I stitched up a little floss tag for my Aunt Pam. It’s her first one. She really loves it and was taken by complete surprise when it arrived in the mail.

ABC Bird. It’s from Alexandrina. I used 32 ct linen, hand-dyed by me, using GAST Brethren Blue, Dark Chocolate, Shutter Green, and WDW Copper. I personalized it by adding our initials and year to the back. With love always, Aunt Pam!

Fall decorations…

I traded the Halloween trimmings for fall ones. I enjoyed taking everything off my hutch, wiping them down, putting some away, rearranging others, switching items around, adding a little of this and a little of that. I’m quite pleased with my dining room area (except for the blue spongy walls). I even added a couple pieces of fabric as table linens just to give more fall coloring to the room – it’ll do for now until I can quilt some up.

Freebies…

My hopes are to get these two stitched and finished up while fall is still in session – LOL. The first is Thankful by primitivebettys. Second is Give Thanks by Heartstring Primitives. Both very talented ladies. I want to get to The Sampler Girl’s freebie called Blessings to You, but I want to finish one of these first. (Get those freebies while you can!)

Feeble…

Chia Head is looking awful. He has a white mossy substance growing near the root. Yeah, I think it’s about time to de-weed, clean that bald cranium, and store Chia away for the winter. I’m done taking care of him as I have too many things to take care of at the moment. So, a much-waited-for good-bye is in order. Good-bye Chia Head! I am not going to miss you.

Fever…

Jose stayed home from school today. He’s running a temp of 101.5. He’s having sinus pressure and head issues. I guess the crud is all in his head. Poor thing. He may need to stay home tomorrow too and we might see the doc. I’ll probably put Cameron in daycare. It will be best for them to avoid each other as much as possible at this point. Cameron’s ear infection is improving so that’s good. He’s due for another flu shot soon though. That time of year…ahhh! Talk soon!

from the babbling brook

Ahhhh!!! I’ve got so much to blab about it isn’t even funny. Ever since last Wednesday I’ve been rather busy and not just with stitching because I really don’t have a whole lot of stitchy-news, but just life in general. My Uncle and grandparents came to town for a visit on Wednesday and just left yesterday morning.

Sunday, April 19 was my Aunt Pam’s birthday and as far as I can tell she received a lot of lovely gifts. My mom sent her a Rascal Flatts CD along with a discontinued Vera Bradley bag called Little Traveler. This bag is genius for stitchers, let me tell you!

30 ct. Straw linen by WDW
DMC threads listed by designer

I stitched and assembled primitivebettys My Favorite Kitten Pinkeep for my aunt. I even added my own personal tag to the side of the kitty. My aunt’s home is a safe haven for cats of all denominations. :o) I think at one point she might have had 12 cats, and she has a dog too. She’s an amazing feline mother and thought it only appropriate for her to have one of “my cats” for her “studio” (as she calls her room). She loved it and I’m happy that she does. It may even be her first “primitive” piece. My aunt’s specialty is samplers. Her walls are like a museum of sampler art from the last 20+ years. She does amazing work. She received other wonderful treats from her friends and daughter too. I think she had an overall fantastic birthday. Happy Birthday, Aunt Pam!!!

28 ct. White Monaco (coffee dyed)
DMC colors of choice

Awhile back I stitched my mom primitivebettys Spring Time tulip freebie design as a just-because-I-love-you gift. I made moms into a wall hanging and used yellow and gold tones as the primary colors. I liked hers so much that I made myself one. I changed the colors just a tad, added some buttons, fabric on the back and made it into a pinkeep. I really like how it turned out. And I must admit that I’m getting better at whip stitching which is a much needed relief . The navy blue, flowery fabric in the background is what I used as the finishing fabric.

4o ct. White linen
DMC threads listed by designer

I have begun a dainty piece from Blackbird Designs called My Needle Book. It’s from the My Heart Is True booklet that was released earlier this year. I decided Tuesday needed to be filled so BBD took its place. Wednesday is still open, can you believe that? In addition to this project I decided to take a stab at the contest piece that Alma and Barb are having. It’s a sweet, sweet piece so go check out the details on their blog.

An outside report ~ Spring is definitely in the air and so are my allergies. I am miserable! Can’t say it enough. When I was younger I used to get shots in both arms twice a week. This went on for sometime, but now I have nothing to help me cope. I need to get on this and soon.

Aside from this, there is a robin that is making quite the home atop one of the columns on our front porch.

Before she accomplished her temporary home she had one hell of a time getting the initial twigs and debris to stay up there. We’ve had many, many storms come through and to say that it hasn’t been windy would be an understatement. As you can see, she made quite the mess on the porch, which I’m leaving there in case she needs extra insulation for her babies, but I believe she’s a good mama. She never quit. She kept on persevering until the job was done. Day in and day out ~ she never stopped gathering whatever she could fit into her mouth and find on the ground to stack up on that column. Yay for mama robin!

On Saturday morning the older boys were doing “manly” things outside while Cameron and I stayed inside. (I could barely take the outside because of my allergies.) It was perfect weather, but I couldn’t handle it. Once I stepped foot outside, it took at least 30 minutes to recover once I returned inside.

Jose mowed the front and backyards. We are almost on a full acre (.79 to be exact) and that may not sound like a lot to some, but when you live within city limits, 8 minutes if that from downtown, that is a gracious amount of property…and we’re paying for every shard and blade of grass too!

DH played with his Cobra Mustang while the child worked his tail off (he did assist though). DH does this every spring because he stores the car through the winter, so it is time to get Sally out and play around with her. He’s had this car a long time and has spent many, many nights, days and mornings with her. She’s been driven like 10,000 horses and treated like a baby all her life. She is a beauty though and she is extremely and violently fast. The torque is insane in this thing. There is some work to be done in the rear so DH is going to sell one of his guns in order to pay for it.

I have really been on a reading kick lately. Ever since I dove into the Twilight saga I have been so curious to read as many novels as I can cram into my life, for the rest of my life. I’ve read books here and there in the past, but never religiously or diligently; not like I have with the Twilight series and not how I want to continue from this day forward. I also met a really neat girl named Annie on Goodreads. She writes and has amazingly articulate reviews to what she reads. She is a read-aholic in my book and I love reading what she has to say. I find her opinions insightful and comprehensive.

my 'to-read' shelf:

I joined Goodreads dot com in October 2008 and have recently added more and more books, especially in the last week. I’ve taken a few quizzes and read reviews. I have found numerous quotes that I simply adore if not stand true to myself. I’m a bit philosophical myself at times. I have a few friends and hope to gain more. I really need help and insight into the storytelling world as I’m fairly new to this arena and wouldn’t know what was good and what isn’t. Tanya is another great source of reading insight too. I don’t know how she crams all this reading into her already abundantly busy life. :D

Anyhoo, I’ve added numerous ‘to-read’ books on my sidebar and quotes that really mean something to me now or struck me when I read them, especially Stephanie Meyer. So far she is my favorite author, and she’ll always be a favorite but there are other favs of mine, but she takes top-spot right now. I love the quotes from Twilight.

I’m nearly finished with Breaking Dawn by Meyer (on page 601) and I believe I’ll pick up The Host by Meyer after BD. I hear The Host is excellent and that Meyer only gets better in tune with her writing. Since I cannot afford to buy all the books, I’ll need to head to the library. Hopefully, it’s available.

Ugh! I’m finished. My babbling brook has arrived at the precipice. Talk soon!

bbd contest

For all you Blackbird Designs addicts, and I know there are a ton of you, the blog is having a first-time-ever contest in which they have a free chart available (right now!), you stitch it by a certain date, submit a photo of it and they randomly chose a winner. Your gifts are items they pick up from France. Anyhoo, they explain it a lot better than I have so go over and check it out.

Blackbird Designs Blog Contest

finishing fridays

I haven’t put one stitch in today except for beginning a finishing project which consists of back stitching a border to ready it for floss tagging.

This is the backside of the tag and for some stupid, stupid reason the front side image kept rotating during download. Why does Blogger do that? UGH!!!! This is the only photo I took of the front so I’ll need to take more and re-download tomorrow – sorry. Anyway, I did assemble the January Primitive Floss Tag from The Needle’s Content today. I have February and will soon get March and will continue to get the remaining months.

[Not the best photo in the world. My camera sucks at taking close-ups.] I’m still not ready to show my fully assembled kitty, but here is yet another sneak peak of the backing fabric. I’m going to be honest. The kitty is for my Aunt. I mentioned to my Aunt awhile back that I was stitching a kitty for her but she hasn’t seen it; and I know you’re reading this Aunt Pam. :D This was a fun stitch and easier to assemble than I first thought.

Call me crazy! “I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen.” I know what I said about the movie not being as good as I thought it should have been even though the book was an amazing read. I enjoyed the movie, don’t get me wrong, and since owning Twilight I’ve watched it three times. I know, call me crazy! I’m so in love with the vampire that I cannot help myself from learning about Robert Pattinson who played him. He is smoken! Then add in his British accent ~ OMG! Double smoken! He is soooooo young though, but even still he needs his cradle rocked. LOL STOP!!!

I am stitching a border around the design and I believe I’ll make it into a floss tag; therefore, it’ll get used just about every day (hee hee). This was a freebie from Paulette and it’s still available if you want one. I stitched it on black Belfast, 2 over 2. I was able to stitch it in one night; last night, but started the assembly today. I’m using a red fabric for the back to compliment the red apple.

I made a decision for Friday’s position. I took The Heart’s Content Seahorse Fob & Scissors out of the WIP’s basket and transferred to the current rotation. I started this last fall during ‘Celebration’ in Louisville, KY and shortly thereafter stopped. It’s so cute and vibrant and done 1 over 1. Maureen Appleton’s over 1 techniques really prove themselves and I enjoyed the outcome thus far, so I’m looking forward to getting this done. Besides, it comes with seahorse scissors which are really neat. You can never have too many pairs of scissors, right!?!?

I haven’t made a decision about my other opened days yet. I’m thinking I may start the Little House Needleworks The Traveler. My mom ordered the finishing companions from Mary Kathryn and they arrived so quickly ~ thank you Mary Kathryn! Ours are the spring collection and are green instead of the pink that sold out and they are truly lovely.

I’m getting really excited about April. Country Sampler just announced that Stacy Nash club members will be receiving the second cross stitch kit for the year. We have no idea what it’s going to be, or at least I don’t think anyone does, but it should be here as soon as April arrives. Woo-Hoo!!!

That’s it for now. Talk soon!