more furniture?

We have been hanging out at home the last few weekends – I think we got burnt out with all our running around!!  We should run around while we still can – if this winter is like last winter we will be staying home a lot this winter!! We did go into town to Traderbakers – one of our favorite places to wander through. People have booths and sell trash or treasures. Sometimes we find a great deal – sometimes we find nothing!! We got this fabulous antique table for a steal!!

I had to have this sled – I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

This table - too cute!!

 Then I had to have this dresser thing – it’s small and didn’t cost much but I felt a little bad stealing it for the craft room.

 These pictures are in a circle – overlapping a bit so you see the whole room

 My thread boxes don’t fit but my specialty threads – beads and fabric do!! I love it!!
I also found this lovely Santa nesting doll! I love that place – I really love finding a great deal on something I just HAVE to have!!

We did manage to make it to Indy and eat at....

The Rathskeller

Mephistopheles

Don Quixote

so delicious!! the mustard will melt your brain

Jaegerschnitzel with creamed spinach and potato cake

Mixed Wurst Platte with spätzle and potato cake

We also tried the stuffed mushrooms - very tasty and the serve dinner with a salad - also good! It was expensive but very good!! We took half home of course - tons of food!!
Looks like Scott and I will be alone for the holidays this year. It’s so expensive to fly the kids here and they certainly can’t afford to get here – neither one of them has worked for more than a month or two the whole damn year (grrrr) We are both still sad about it – but we are not going to let it bring down the holidays!! I think we are staying home and making a chicken for Thanksgiving – mmmm – I will stitch and we will watch movies. It will be fun!!  
Hope you are getting ready for the holidays with loved ones - thanks for stopping by!

stitchy stuff

  I have a finish – yes, I left off one of the hives.

 I just didn’t like the third one – too crowded and the pattern of the hive too crazy. I had so much trouble with this pattern – frog on my back haha. You can’t go an inch without an error – I don’t know why I had so much trouble but it sure drove me crazy!!  It will be awhile before I can finish it – of course I will show it when it’s done!  I also made the Prairie Schooler mini card freebie – I will be making it into a necklace - I found a great "time piece" to use!! 

 I am back to Renato Parolin’s Noel – I believe I mentioned how big they are!! Here is mine so far...

the N is done - I work on the O at work and the E at home!

Ugh the wrinkles are awful!! After doing the witch on 40 count – over two and the bees on 28 count  - over one,  these stitches are HUGE!! I feel like I am doing beginner stitching! I wish I had used a smaller count. I have one done, one almost done and one I have started the border on (there are 4) so I won’t be starting over. Renato Parolin just came out with some new patterns Bush Mountain carries them – I ordered Anterselva di Mezzo

picture off the internet!!!

                                                         LOVE IT – can’t wait to get it in!!
That's all the stitchy news for now- hope you find a Renato Parolin to stitch!! Thanks for stopping by!!

It’s November already?

Where does the time go?

 We have been drowning in leaves! Scott bought a blower and he has cleared the lawn several times – needs to be done again. Honestly – we have a TON of leaves!

Scott has done leaves twice this year because last year we didn't get it done before the snow (sorry Marly Ü) fell - and fell and fell!!

 On Halloween we went to dinner instead of staying home and handing out candy  – a new restaurant in Greenwood Indiana called Revery. The food wasn’t bad – a little expensive – and the portions small enough that we had room for dessert. They bring you flavored popcorn while you look at the menu and cotton candy that they make there – with you bill. Ours was grape – fun! 

homemade ricotta with blackberry jam

chicken with a mushroom and cheese crepe

steak with blue butter and fries

lemoncello cake

jar cake

grape cotton candy

When we got home – just beyond our drive a tree had fallen across the road and some of our neighbors were there trying to get by. So, on Halloween it was snowing (sorry Marly) and blowing – and Scott was out there with a chainsaw cutting up the tree – perfect end to Halloween!!  It was so cold that weekend that we started a fire – cozy! We had to replace a piece of glass on the fire insert and Scott thinks the oven is a coal burning oven. We might have to try burning some coal.

We went to the apple orchard in Mooresville – Anderson Orchard. I love that place!! We got to pick raspberries – it was like $3 a pound and I didn’t even get a pound – they probably should have weighed me before I went out there though Ü.

raspberry field

Scott’s grandfather had an orchard in New Mexico that had Winesap apples – he hasn’t had one that tasted like those apples in 30 years – we found some called Stayman Winesap. We bought a bag of them and Scott sent some to his parents. He also bought some gourds for our table – pretty!!We even had apple cider slushies!!
Hope you are enjoying the Fall - thanks for stopping by!!

Brown County

should be called Fall County - or Beautiful County. Maybe Brown is a name to mislead - like Greenland and Iceland... Anyway the leaves there are gorgeous!! We went up early yesterday morning - early is best because the amount of people is unbelievable!! Plus, we were there when the sun was out - wasn't out much yesterday!!

We had a lovely time!! We wanted to go to Nashville IN but by the time we finished looking at leaves there were so so many people in town that we decided to skip it. The town looks really cute filled with cute shops. We decided to go back another day early - when we first drove through town there was hardly a soul in sight. so maybe in Novemeber - or wait until December when they have their Christmas lights up....who knows!!
We decided to go to French Lick IN There is a hotel there - the West Baden Springs Resort. It has a fabulous history!! The springs were discovered in 1778. The original hotel was opened in 1845 but burned down in 1901. The new hotel was built and opened in 1902 with an amazing 200 foot dome!! The place was a hospital - a school and then closed. It was re-opened in 2007 after being closed for 75 years.  There are pictures inside of how bad it looked before they restored it. I didn't expect it to be as beautiful - and huge as it is. If you ever get the chance to see it - do it!! We hope to stay a night or two soon.

click on this to make it bigger

a mosaic terrazzo tile floor composed of 2 million one-inch squares of marble was installed in the Atrium by Italian artisans

In December we went to to Indianapolis to see replicas of the angels they found in the dome - they believe they were painted by the Italian artisans. You can click the links to see the stories. I wasn't so impressed with the angels until now that I've seen the hotel. Wow! We managed to get in some letterboxing  then we went over to the casino - that hotel/casino is as big as a city - crazy big!! The casino was full of cigarette smoke and we lost $22 in about 10 minutes on the machines. Losing is no fun. so then we went back to the West Baden hotel for dessert and coffee - the center of the dome changes color at night  - beautiful!!I didn't have my phone so no pictures. I had a chocolate dome dessert - the hard shell glittered!! It had a tiny square of chocolate with the hotel name printed on it - wow! Scott had carrot cake - fabulous!!
This morning we went to breakfast in town and took some pictures of our neighborhood leaves -

turkey vultures - amazing - huge!! There are 2 off camera as well - yikes!!

I haven't finished any projects. I decided to just go back to working on one. I couldn't figure out why I can't get as much done as I used to. The sad truth is my other job (the one that paid really really well) allowed me to stitch so I stitched probably 30 hours more a week than I get to now. Trying to do more than one project is foolish with the amount of time I have. I started Harvest Keeper and I was loving working on it - then the frogging started. I have had a frog on my back for this whole project - I don't understand!! Every ten stitches there is an error. No matter how close I pay attention it still happens. Just one of those projects!! I also never understand how I buy the exact fabric and thread and mine is always less variegated and the fabric darker. I realize it's all hand dyed but always darker? always less variegated? The Little House mystery sampler was like that too - and I ordered the kit!!! Weird.

Orleans IN

Bloomington IN

 I found a website for spirilizing recipes (found it on Skinnytaste's facebook page of course!!) Most of the recipes are outrageously fattening so I won't be trying them but occasionally she posts one we can try. This is raw beets spiralized with sunflower seeds, goat cheese and a balsamic glaze (Scott found a bottle of it at Walmart) I didn't like it - the beets taste better cooked - oddly they have more flavor when cooked! It was a lot of work to eat it to - really crunchy!! The next one I try is "black bean and butternut squash noodle tacos" sounds interesting - right!!  The site is Inspiralized but be careful - some of the recipes have so much fat - you could of had a cheeseburger.

looks pretty though

A few weekends ago we ended up in Cleveland - I love that city!! We went to the West Side Market (of course) We bought chicken sausages, ground beef, bread, fresh made noodles and some butter sauce, raviolis, dried fruit. We freeze most of it and use it as needed - it's wonderful to have fresh made things to cook with - (not factory made) plus the market is a wonderful experience.

I also had some time in a cross stitch store - super fun!! I bought a pattern and fabric for some hornbook ornaments - the designer is Milady's Needle. I will have to show you a picture next time.

 Scott decided to put jute in the wine box but the damn cat would not stop eating it and throwing it up again - grrrr so we had to go back to burlap. dumb cat.

Scott bought me a fabulous bracelet

 We found these fun wood blocks at The Primitive Porch in Berlin Ohio

 We bought a twig wreath at Hobby Lobby - for less than $20 and put star lights on it over the fireplace.

I love this room - so cozy and inviting!! Winter is coming and we will be burning wood in that fireplace!!

fun yarn bombing

I hope you are having a lovely colorful Fall. Thanks for stopping by!!