frames, curtains and recipes - oh my

Happy Easter,
We have had a few decoration changes on the house that I am excited about. We had not put curtains in the kitchen or laundry room yet. I want to buy  Park Designs curtains but I wanted to wait until we redid the kitchen. Well, that is still a year or two away because we are a little busy at the moment soooo the sun was shining in every day when I try and make dinner and it was blinding me! Scott put up blinds in the two kitchen windows and one in the laundry room. Wow what a difference!! It makes the rooms look different - and great! Of course for two days after he installed them - no sun! On the back door we hung the curtains I had embroidered for the kitchen in our Colorado home

I love metal stars - there is an abandoned sugar factory in Longmont Colorado that has them on the outside of the building and I always wanted some in my house! Scott bought some for the fireplace

Also hung some in the study - looks great! He bought a row of stars for the bathroom in our bedroom because the hooks that are there now are gorgeous leaves but they attach in such a way that when I lift my towel the leaves come off the wall - grrrr. He hasn't hung them up yet so that will be another post.
Scott also framed a picture - he bought the frame at Goodwill and stained it.

 My Gram loved Santa and my uncle worked for the post office  so I made this for her. That was a long time ago (stitched in 1992) and the framing didn't look so great anymore. Last July we stayed at my uncle's house and we told him we wanted to take it and re-frame it. Wouldn't you know I DID NOT take a before picture - damn it, but I do still have the frame it was in. It took awhile to find the right frame but here it is - ready to go back to my uncle!

this is the frame the postal Santa used to be in and no that wall is not green

   Last year I made the Blackbird Designs Casting a Spell Box but I had tried to save money by just using the fabric needed for the stitched pieces - not thinking that they had to be big enough to cover jello boxes - grr. So mine never looked very good because I had just put some stuffing in the box and tucked the pictures in there. This weekend I decided to fix them - I turned them all into little pillows - looks much better. I used bat fabric on the back hee hee

before

after

Remember las week I said I had been making flavored water. I have some tips. The strawberry lime or strawberry mint is very good. However, you can't eat the fruit after. My favorite is orange peel (be sure to wash them well first of course) I peel an orange for my snack and then slice some of the peel and put it in the water - save the rest of the peel in the fridge for the next day. You need to make it fresh every day - and don't use cutie peels - weird and icky.

One of my friends post The Splendid Table's 20 best recipeson her facebook page. there are some fun recipes on that link. I tried the gougeres because I have never seen a recipe that you partially cook the dough on the stove - they were pretty good, kind of eggy like an eclair. I used sharp cheddar,

 I saw the panna cotta - we used to get Russian Cream at a restaurant in Kenai AK called Charlotte's. I loved that stuff. When we moved back I tried to find a recipe for Russian Cream and the one I found was disappointing so I didn't try it again. This recipe is it - so delicious (and super dooper fattening)

I used the Bonne Mamon (best jelly ever you can buy at Kroger or Walmart) jars Scott ha sbeen saving. Next time I make it I am putting a half a cup of the cream in the jar instead of a cup - too much! It's easy and fun to make.
Scott and I decided about 8 years ago to go through the GIANT box of pictures we have been hauling around for 24 years (yep next Sunday is our 24th anniversary!!) All these years every time we would get a pack of photos from the developer or pictures from family and friends we would just toss them in this box. We bought photo boxes and then never did it - it's a daunting project and life got in the way. Well, we started the project a few weeks ago. It's kind of a hard project. It's sad to see people you have lost through the years because of death or time. It's hard to see that your time with your kids is already gone. It really has been hard on us. So, we are sorting them into boxes that are labeled with years - and how frustrating is it to find stacks of pictures with no dates or names. We have thrown some pictures out. We plan on writing on the backs of all of them - year and names so that our kids don't ever have to go through them and wonder who those people are. We only work on it a few hours on the weekend, so it's taking forever. One neat thing is I came across the picture of my best friend from grade school - Staci - looked her up on facebook and there she was!! How fun is that!!
Well I didn't mean to chatter on so long. Here are two more entries from Gram's autograph book.

 Ill be polite and use white
and save the yellow
for your fellow
                  Rayetta

When you and Herby get married
don't come to me for safety pins
                                    Bobby Stanton
Hope you have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

bread and stitching

Hello!
Hope this post finds you well. We are really having Spring weather - we had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night a few nights ago and today it has snowed all day. It's not the kind of snow that sticks, it's a lazy drifting from the sky one or two flakes at a time, but it's still snow. I'm OK with it. Yesterday I baked two loaves of bread - boy do I love homemade bread.

 Today I made three cheese and mushroom soup from Skinnytaste to go with my bread. The package of shitaki mushrooms (which ends up on my list as "8oz shit" haha what's worse is the baby bella mushrooms end up as "8oz baby" yikes!) at Kroger is only 5 oz so I add an 8 oz package of white mushrooms too. Love this soup and it is wonderful with homemade bread - but what isn't good with bread?  I have been making fruit infused water -deliciously different (I'm not a fan of plain water) and no calories! I found a lovely blog that has some good recipes - things I'm sure you wouldn't think of like cinnamon. I'm not sure I want cinnamon water but some of her other ideas are good. It's called Nutrition Stripped the link is to the water recipes. We have had strawberry lime water and this morning I made apple lime. I'm excited to try that one.
Scott made some frames for some of my older finishes - he does such a lovely job! He bought some frames at a Goodwill - he cuts them down to the size he needs, paints them and distressed a few of them - I am lucky to have a framer!!

I know you saw one of these but they go together. Bent Creek

Shepherds Bush Hunt Sheep

Shepherd's Bush Lucky Sheep

I did get the mystery sampler in the mail - borrowed from another stitcher! I joined a group on Facebook called Fans of Blackbird Designs and found a few ladies willing to let me borrow - wish I could find one for L'Atelier Perdu too. Since I was borrowing I made sure I had my threads and fabric ready because I know there is someone after me - here is the first two parts

Someone else is sending me three and five and I already own pattern four - so exciting! I'm using 32 count Summer Khaki Belfast and the variegated threads it calls for. While I wait for the next set of patterns to arrive I am making this pattern again

I will be making a few of them because Scott and I came up with a cute idea - but you have to wait to see it.
Scott reminded me that I was posting pages from my Gram's autograph book entries - darn it I sure did forget to do that - so here we go. I'll do two Hope you enjoy.

Dear Mary ellen
I love you little
I love you big
I love you like a little pig
yours truly.
Nadine Bowman
5916 NM
1605 E 14th

 Dear Mary ellen,
Ducks on the pond,
Swans on the ocean,
Mary ellen can't get
married till
allen toster takes
a notion.
Your Cousin,
Doris xx
Hope you are all having weather that you like - whatever that may be. Thanks for stopping by!

finished things

Spring looks like it is here - we have had some decent weather for the last few days. YAY!! I am on spring break right now - I have straight As at midterm! I signed up for anatomy and physiology for the summer semester and I ordered the manual for my big test - the one that you have to take to get into the nursing program. They give points for your grades in English, Psychology and Anatomy - plus the test score to get in the program. eeekkkk!!! It's scary and exciting at the same time. I finished the apple block on my Teresa Wentzler fruit bell pull

Three down - three to go. The next block is suppose to be pears but the pears and the apples are basically the same color so I am putting cherries next - then pears then plums. I am hoping to get the first two sections of  "Beyond My Heart" mystery sampler in the mail today so I can work on that during my break - before I pick up the evil bell pull again! I decided to redo the sheep on L'arbre aux Oiseaux buy Jardin Prive - the sheep were just too dark

before

sheep on left still old thread - sheep on right new white thread

after

I guess the pictures don't really show how much better the sheep look - but they really do. Scott framed a picture - looks great!! I love the oval frame with the square picture!

Crows a fine day by Bent Creek

In my last post I mentioned that I had messed up a picture and wasn't interested in doing it again but that was when I was sick. I tore all the threads out - measured it again - bought a new skein of thread (which I only needed for TWO stitches lol) and redid it! 

Warm Winter Welcome by Sisters and Best Friends

 Scott has these little mason jars in the bathroom  - they are so cute - this weekend he had the idea to fill them - one with marbles, one with shells from Ohio and Alaska, one has antique buttons, and one with bottle caps and a bigger one with rocks from Alaska - adorable!

and we put our outhouse birdhouse and metal bird on the shelf - I love it!
I better get back to homework - yes even on spring break grrr! I hope you are all having some lovely weather - instead of cold and snow! Thanks for stopping by!

the gift of gab

this post is longer than I expected.....
I know I haven't been great at blogging but I have a good excuse... a few of them really. School is a lot of work and I spend most of my time doing that. Add chores and meals and I have just been super busy. I am getting over a pretty nasty case of strep. I guess I wasn't paying attention since I was was so focused on the other things. I had a sore throat for a few days so I used a numbing spray and kept chugging along. Three days later the sore throat was gone - good for me!! I was still worn out but didn't think anything of it. A few days later I woke up in the middle of the night ablaze and hurting from one end to the other -pretty sure I was dying (you know how weird things are when you wake up sick in the night - crazy thoughts!)!! I didn't go to the doctor for two more days (of course) When I got there I had taken 1500 mg of acetaminophen two hours earlier and still had a temp of 100. I thought I had a UTI - I'd never had one but EVERYTHING hurt!! That was clear and the flu test was clear but the strep test was not. The doctor gave me Augmentin which I am apparently allergic to - that was fun. I got another antibiotic and have been getting better every day!! Who knew strep could be so very awful?!? Looking back on last week I lost a few days there. I was sick enough that instead of stitching, like I usually do when sick - I laid in bed. I had a pysch test yesterday and was worried because I had been so out of it but managed to get 78 out of 80 whew!!
 I did mamage to finish my Renato Parolin two or more weeks ago - I don't even remember when!!

Mr Parolin sure has a thing for odd shapes. This one is 27x3 He never uses very many colors. When I was doing the snow I thought I hated the colors but once you put in the houses and trees the colors look right. He does use some odd colors though. I still love his patterns. I did some of that huge border on my flights to and from Vegas! I also started another small picture

I got that much of it done - sadly with variegated thread  - and realized that when I centered it I didn't figure the sweater (which is a real sweater - not a cross-stitched sweater) into the math and so there is no room for it, so it's trash. I was so mad at myself for that - maybe that's why there are no centering arrows on the pattern itself grrrr. I don't know if I want to stitch those words again so it will be put aside for now - plus I need to buy another skein of the variegated thread grrrr. I am back to working on the terrible fruit bell pull by Teresa Wentzler. I have a new pattern obsession  - of course the patterns are OOP!! It's the mystery sampler Blackbird Designs stuck into some patterns they put out years ago called "Where my Heart Blooms" Here is a picture I found online

I only found it because they named a new pattern the same name - one I saw on Barb's blog Wicked Stitcher that I loved so I was looking to buy it - never did because I got caught up in trying to find these patterns!! The mystery charts are in:
Blessings and Kind Wishes, Loose Feathers #31  with Bonus #1
Beyond My Heart, Loose Feathers #32 with Bonus #3
Keepsake Box & Pinkeep, Loose Feathers #33 with Bonus #4
Two Hearts, Loose Feathers #34 with Bonus #5 
One of them has two bonus patterns in it so that makes 5. I love this pattern - I love the birds - the saying  - the snowflakes - I just love it!! So, I continue the struggle of trying to find the last two patterns. I don't understand how patterns can go OOP - it's not like the old days where you had to have so many printed in order to get them printed at all - nope. It's probably a PDF on someone's computer and could easily be sold on etsy. I still continue the search for L'Atelier Perdu as well.
Last year my girlfriends went on a stitching shop hop and they took me along (a picture of my head lol)

Sharon, me and Jessica

 They sent me presents!! They sent me the projects with supplies for all three shop hop projects - isn't that sweet of them!! I have such nice friends!! One of them had tea and cookies in it - not there now yum! I'm excited to make these projects! What a wonderful package!!

look at all that fun stuff!!!

Scott found these in the biggest truck stop in America on I80 in Iowa while on business

they tasted just like birthday cake....crazy! I found these at Walmart - they say white chocolate on them and if you think about it while eating them you can taste it but if you think about carrot cake while eating them - they taste just like carrot cake - crazy!!!

Last night I tried the new recipe on Skinnytaste Shanghai Beef with "broodles" - broccoli noodles. I didn't like it. The broccoli noodles weren't as good as I had hoped, I like zucchini better. I started to take pictures because I thought I would love it - nope.
I hate to complain about the snow because we haven't gotten much this year and some states have just gotten slammed but I'm gonna! I have a ridiculously long driveway and even though it's my fault for buying it and not buying some snow removal device I am still going to complain. I was at the doctor on Friday and shoveling on Sunday - ugh. Scott tried to keep me from helping but that is too much heavy snow to do alone. Plus, it didn't kill me and it was a good workout.

  My bird feeder has been having some fantastic visitors!! Along with my normal visitors I had a male and female Northern Flicker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker and even an Eastern Bluebird - the only one not a woodpecker! I guess my suet feeder really brings the woodpeckers to the yard (Scott hat was for you haha)

Scott does not allow the cat on the bed but here he is so focused on his phone call that Mo managed to get up there and snuggle - I was shocked!!
I forgot to tell you about the calendars Scott made - at the end of the year we got a couple of coupons for Shutterfly calendars so Scott made one of the diners we've visited and one of family. You can have a different picture every month and he could even add birthdays  - these are so cute!!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm - and NOT getting sick!! Thanks for stopping by!!