Lovely Christmas

Hello!!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! I couldn't post anything during the holidays!! My daughter Taylor had asked for a cookbook for Christmas - a family cookbook. One with recipes we have been making along with stories of where they came from. She had asked for it way back in July but we didn't start on it until much later. For a few weeks all we did was work on it - every free minute we had!! It ended up being about 85 pages - even has some secret family recipes - the children have been threatened with certain death if they share some of the ones that ended up in there!!

 Here is Scott and Mo working hard on the cookbook!

front and binding

 it has recipes the kids remember

and even pictures

  the section dividers have cooking information I found online - this one is from Chasing Delicious

or a page of the actual recipe cards I have in my recipe box

 sometimes pictures of food

 or the products they will need  - or tips they need to know to make certain foods

or pictures of the people we got the recipes from. I think it turned out wonderful. We gave one to Ryder too. They can add recipes too it and pass it along someday.
So we worked on that - then we decided to bake cookies to send to the kids and our traditional breakfast roll (which also made the cookbook!!). I made the rolls and Scott made the cookies. By the time we got their boxes shipped out we had not even put up a Christmas tree and it was a week to Christmas! We still had a lovely Christmas. I will show you a few things I got -

 a box carved out of cinnamon bark made in Vietnam - smells like cinnamon!!

 a starlight from artecnica

Heart of Christmas gnomes by Enesco if you click the link you can see the front and back - they are adorable!! They have little hair-ties and they are each numbered - I love them!!

a lovely sterling silver and swarovski crystal bracelet.

Some wonderul patterns!!!
 I also got a lovely coat - which I did not get a good picture of so I will post the link. It's a company called Greater Good that says they give proceeds to different charities. Buying this coat is suppose to be helping animals. Who knows if they really do it - I did look online and some places said they were legitimate and some sites said they weren't. I love the coat though!! So you can see I am a spoiled girl - I know I am very lucky!! We went the day after Christmas and bought a fake tree - great sale of course. So we will never be without a tree because we didn't have time to go get one!! It's set up with no ornaments right now and it is very pretty. The best part of Christmas was 4 days home together. We missed seeing our family - we did get to skype with the kids - gotta love technology!!!
As for stitching - I did finish the L but that is a post for another day... if I can get the finishing done!!
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!! Hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve - be safe!!

Can I buy an E?

I really wish I could actually buy the L because I am so darn sick of this project!! I haven’t had much time to work on it so it is taking forever to get it done. *sigh* I desperately want to start a new project but I really don’t need another WIP *sigh*.

We have been working so hard on getting packages sent to our kids that we don’t even have a tree up – or any decorations at all. We do have cookies though because Scott baked several kinds. I think we decided to skip the tree this year. If we put it up now it would only be up for two weeks. It’s a lot of work to get it up for such a short time. I think Scott is a little depressed about it though.

I did make a cranberry crunch cake and then I made a gingerbread cake. 

We had the gingerbread at Bang! In Colorado – on DDD of course. I was dreaming about the cake the other day when it occurred to me that I could make one!! I looked online and Bang shared their recipe – yay!! If you make it be sure to serve it with whipped cream – makes all the difference in the world!!

 Skinnytaste has a new cookbook out – I checked it out from the library – love it!! I have made two recipes from it already – and plan on making several more. I will photocopy the recipes I like . I don’t like having cookbooks because when I plan my menu I don’t want to have to drag out a bunch of books. I have photocopied every recipe I use and stuck it in my book. She posted an older recipe on her blog – beef and barley soup. Holy cow is it fantastic!! I can’t wait to have it again – such a good rich flavor!!  

my camera doesn't do a very good job - it was delicious!!

Scott always writes my menu on the blackboard he made me - he has lovely handwriting. Some of the pictures he does are funny - I forgot to show you the Thanskgiving one on my last post....

Not much to chat about this blog but I do hope you all have a very merry Christmas.!!

Thanks for stopping by!  HO HO HO

Gimme an O!!!

Two down......two to go!

a passel of projects

We got a ton of stuff done this weekend!! First let me say welcome to my new followers!! I have TWENTY followers!!! Wowzers - I feel pretty popular!!
Also, I hope you all had a lovely turkey day. Scott and I hung out at home - we made a chicken and all the goodies that go with it. Sat in front of the fire watching TV and flakes fell from the heavens - but not enough to shovel which made it perfect!!
Scott got some framing done...

finished 2012 Mosey N Me

finished 2013 Lizzie*Kate

finished 2012 Little House Needleworks

hard at work in the workshop

 The frame on the first picture came from an estate sale - the third frame Scott built - he started building it when we lived in Colorado!!
So I have to give lots of thanks to other blogs. The first thanks is to The Inspired Stitcher on her 2013 finishes she has a necklace using the Queen Bee mini card by Prairie Schooler - and I thought ohhhh that's what I can do with that pattern - I've had it for years and always wondered what I should do with it!! Scott and I found a really neat "watch" to put it in at Hobby Lobby

open

closed

I think it turned out lovely!! When I posted it on my blog - Meari from Meari's Musings sent me a link to another blog - which I had commented on when it was originally posted and then forgot that I loved it (silly me) So thanks to Meari for pointing out the absolutely adorable time piece that Mouse from Tales of a Stitching Mouse made I took her idea almost exactly (thanks Mouse!!) except I added a heart and I made one in blue. It's stitched one over one on 40 ct country mocha Newcastle - which I love!! Look how tiny the stitches are....

I finished the small quilt I was making - (thanks Jessica - the outer border quilting idea was perfect - I added another set of hills - maybe made them too small but what are ya gonna do now? lol)

You can't really see the quilting as I had hoped - but there is the front, close up, back and it hanging on the hanger we got last month!
I made a little table runner - we had seen one in Ohio with a lace edge - they wanted too much for it - I spent $4 on crocheted ribbon and used some fabric I already had - I have half the ribbon left so I can make another!! I might tea dye it - maybe.

 I had posted the Harvest Keeper finish already - I left off one hive - Meari suggested more bees - brilliant!! I added just one more bee - maybe another one would fit but I love the additional bee (thanks Meari!!)

put on a box

still needs touch-up paint

Scott made oatmeal peanut butter scotchies mmmmmmm

I got goodies in the mail....

snowflake needle keep

YAY!!!

That's a lot of finished up projects - I'm proud of us!! I have most of my Christmas shopping done - have to since everybody lives far away!! We may decorate tomorrow - we'll see how it goes!! Hope you are having a jolly holiday season and thanks for stopping by!!! HO HO HO

  

Scott is so clever!

That man is good at fixing stuff up!! We found this medicine cabinet at an antique store in Greencastle. It was homemade - had too much varnish on it so it was thick and yellow. I thought I took a picture but I did not!! We only paid $20 for it!! Scott painted it and put chicken wire in - all the rage right now!! Hardly cost us anything and it's so darn cute!!!

Perfect for the little bathroom!!

 I had to take a close shot because the darn light - too dark to take it with the light off grrr. Scott also got those little  mason jars - he says maybe we should put two cotton balls in there in case you have a cotton ball emergency - silly!

 We bought this little quilt hanger - good deal of course - $15! Scott stained it.

before

after

darn you can't really tell a difference in the picture but it looks darker. I think the little quilt I am currently working on will be perfect for it....

I forgot to show you this crazy acorn squash I bought and the orchard!! I love squash!!

A few months ago we went to Kelley's Island - we bought some Ohio wine

it was super sweet - tasted like apples! My face swelled up and turned red - sexy right? Guess I won't be drinking that wine again. Scott bought some wine on a business trip to Ohio.

The one on the right - despite it's cute label - too sweet. Like grape juice and vodka yuck! The one on the left is delightful!! Sweet and crisp!
In the last few weeks we had a fire alarm that would chirp - not often enough to to figure out which one. How silly it is to try and figure it out. This week it finally chirped often enough that could stand in each room waiting to see what chirped - turns out it was in the basement! Scott took it down to see if that was the one - never made another noise. Replaced the battery anyway and it isn't chirping. It's crazy all the things that can chirp in your house!
I am baking cardemom braids - our traditional breakfast bread on Thanksgiving - to send to my kids and one for us. I love cardemom - so delicious! It made me realize my blog is almost 2 years old!  Time sure flys by!
I hope you have a nice turkey day - gobble gobble!

leaf me alone - wood ya!!

Holy cow…. The weekend is already over and I can hardly move!! We raked and used the leaf blower all day Saturday – allllll day!! 

Raking, bagging and then crushing the bags with my knees to get more leaves in – my whole body aches. Scott carried that blower around all day – after about 10 minutes it seems to weigh a ton so he is in the same sore boat!! It was cold out too … 38… and even with all the work my little digits were froze!! We had to stop halfway through and have a cheese and cracker counter picnic!! Brie with fig jelly, green chili cheddar, peppadew Havarti – mmmmmm. My new favorite thing is a cracker with some walnuts and honey on it – delicious!! 

Anyway, I’m glad the raking done – and that was the last time this year we will be doing it!! A deer went running by the back yard while we were out there – I didn’t get a picture because I sure didn’t expect it!! After we got it done we had to run to Bloomington to do some errands – plus go to the craft store!!  We went to dinner at Scotty’s Brewhouse – nothing like burning 1000 calories and then eating 2000 calories! I got a crazy burger called The Shrewman – it has bacon, cheddar, jalapenos and peanut butter – yep you read that right! It was really good – the peanut butter does not make or break it though. It would have been just as good without it. I had their homemade chips –not as good as I wanted them to be. I didn’t take any pictures – darn it!! They have Sprechers Root Beer on tap – my absolute favorite root beer!! Only place you can buy it here – other than restaurants - is a store called Menards. The cream soda is pretty good too!! Scott got the Philly Burger – mushrooms, onions and Swiss. Scott also had Two Lucys Blackberry Wheat beer, a local brew. He liked it. We took a piece of peanut butter pie home to share – it’s so rich that one slice is enough for two. Here is a link to the recipe I use (same thing) – delicious!!  Peanut Butter Pie.

Sunday morning we had 3 ricks delivered – that is a stack of wood 4 feet high by 2 feet wide by 8 feet long not 3 guys named Rick – I didn’t know any of that information until this weekend. They dumped it in the drive and we had to stack it. That is a lot of wood – more sore!! 

Scott had cut some trees off the property but not enough for the winter and they are all wet even though we had covered them. 

We also filled this box in the garage with wood – so it can dry out before coming in the house!!

 The best part of that was when Scott built a lovely fire and just a few hours after we finished out outdoor chores – it started to snow!!

 I finally got to spend a few hours stitching, with my cat and some tea – ahhhh cozy.

 I got a new issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework (January 2015 already!!). There is a new pattern by Barbara Ana. It started in the September 2014 issue and I didn’t think I liked it very much, but this issue has the whole picture and I just love it!! 

So I tea-dyed a piece of fabric for it – machine-stitched the edge and I am ready. 

Oh wait, I have to finish the things I’m working on grrrr. Not enough time!!  

Scott framed a picture this weekend – Victoria Sampler Pumpkin Farm. I finished it in 2012. I changed all the non-variegated threads to DMC.  

Scott found the frame in Colorado at a thrift store for $1.25. He had to cut it down – re-paint it and distress it. It looks marvelous!! He does such a good job on my pictures!!

Being sore and the snow made getting up to go to the gym this morning a real treat – NOT!! I need a weekend of stitching and bon bons!! I hope you had a restful weekend – thanks for stopping by!