Love made me do it

Hi everyone.  This is a short post to let you know that I have put aside Miss Pumroy, and Miss Eunice in favor of Miss Lydia Broome.  I couldn't help myself.  A first for me too, because I always worked on one project only, recently graduating to two.  But THREE!?! 

 Love is a powerful force.  So is that damn frog.  I was coming to the finish line and regardless of my count twice efforts, was two down and 1 over.  Goodbye tail.  That potted plant should have six sets of leaves but if I don't tell anyone, no one will notice.  I plan on finishing this before returning to Eunice, if she'll forgive me. 

I was making a path putting fabric away and decided to put the homespun checks together.  I love checks.   Too bad I can't find the black ones. 

One more thing.  I was very surprised to see that this sampler done long ago on Lugana fabric, coffee stained to the same color as Malabar's linen, expecting only pure linen and cotton to take the stain evenly.   Ewe & Eye's Peacock Spot, Malabar, and Lydia would make a nice grouping but I love the frame that Pineberry Lane used and may do that. 

  It's been a rough week for several reasons, no decision on the kitchen, and I came up with a third layout.  Not good.  If there was a pill for memory,  procrastination and another for decisiveness, I wouldn't be able to choose a pharmacy, then put off getting them ordered, and ultimately forget where they were.  I can't swallow pills anyway.

Hello to new followers!   Putz that I am didn't even know you could click Followers on the Dashboard and see who they are.  I'm finding WAY too many blogs to read but so enjoying them all, and way too many ideas on Pinterest. 

Thank you for taking time to stop by.  I appreciate your visits!

Have a safe coming week ~ talk to you soon.

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Cake, rice, and sweet potato

Hiya everyone!  Hope all is well with you and yours.  We've had major repairs to do (septic and pumps) along with family member projects (hot water tanks and spigots) so we've been busy and I haven't done too much stitching.  But we finished yesterday so I'll return to Eunice today.  Every once in a while I get a bug to work on something that is time consuming and often never even materializes to my satisfaction.  These did.  I made a set with houses for a friend but needed to replace an older order that has bugged me.  It ended up that I remembered how much this friend loved A&E's, and since I was working on one anyway, voila!!  She will be getting these and I get to keep the houses!  One of these is only reproduced because she is a friend of the designer and it can't be done again or sold - I know someone will ask because of its popularity, but no can do! 

I'm going to have to stitch a lot more if I want to come up with some new labels. In the Company of Friends (click on) is doing printed sampler labels on boxes and other items and a wonderful site to browse.  Lots of great items and fabulous gifts for stitchers.  And here's my first attempt at the rice stitch.    

It's going to take a while to do the entire alphabet in this but I will.  I was going to use eyelet in one row but this linen is coarse, yet soft, and the tension will be tedious.  So far I think I've come up and gone down with that needle in every possible direction.  I need to look it up again and follow a stitch pattern.

I want to mention that if you plan on using the pearl gray to tone down your floss, use a tiny bit of the powdered in a cup of hot water and test the intensity.  I just tried it again and used a sprinkle of the powder, maybe even less than 1/8 tsp.  If you need more you can always add but start with the tiny amount, and if too dark, add more water and dip quickly.  My reds needed a soak time and the yellow - one quick dip!

Now for a few pictures of my favorite summer plant - the lime sweet potato vine.  Since the house is bare of shrubs in the front and very stark and primitive, I don't like a lot of flowers and use the vine for color, and simple white miniature petunias.  The back is loaded with flowers and color and that's where I spend time.

Now for the cake.  For those of you with gardens, another way to use zucchini.

 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Preheat to 350 degrees.

In large bowl combine 1 double chocolate (or dark chocolate fudge) cake mix, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 1/4 cups of black coffee and blend.  Beat 2 minutes at medium speed, then fold in 1 cup shredded unpeeled zucchini, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, and 1/2  cup chocolate chips.  Pour into a greased and floured 10" tube pan or bundt pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.  You can add a chocolate drizzle or glaze but it's not necessary.  Very moist and delicious!

That's all I have to report!  Today will be a day of a little rest and I MUST make a decision on this kitchen layout.  Both plans are good and each has pros and cons so how do I decide?  I've drawn the plans, like them both, and will of course want the one I didn't choose when it's finished.  But this time, picking #2 first is too risky!!!  And I also need a haircut.

Have a beautiful day and thank you very much for taking the time to read this sometimes boring and not very stitchy blog of mine. 

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Another Lydia and Eunice

Good day to you.  Thanks for the help in choosing a small sampler ~ I chose Eunice Birchard from The Scarlet Letter.  Two reasons ~

1.  Patience was my first choice but I always waffle and wish I would have chosen the second, so now I go right to #2.  It saves time and frustration. That would be Eunice.

2.  I saw "God save America" in the middle and thought it was appropriate in an election year.  Even though America seems to be excluding God wherever possible.

I'm ready for the rice stitch and need to refresh my knowledge for proper execution.  Months ago, that execution would have been a different type, usually involving a lighter and flames, but I've been a really good girl lady stitcher.

Now for Lydia.  Lydia Broome.  I miss a lot of the new releases and never even saw many of the older. But while browsing blogs last night, I visited Pineberry Lane and saw this new design.  I got all warm and fuzzy.  Love at first sight.  I hope they don't mind my snagging their photo.  I'm not adding this to my list of charts to purchase because I want it NOW.  Besides.....can't find the list.

Hannah Way will probably be after Patience and I wanted to show you the instruction for the seven-step cross, which she used and I won't, and also the marking stitch.

The over one area has missing stitches but they would obviously be "thy dear Saviour's birth" and I will stitch the missing area.

It's bad enough to have visitors look around and wonder why everything is stained with coffee, let alone missing parts of the letters.  I'm taking the time to kit a few of the smaller projects because it is such a chore to find the right size and shade of linen in my mess.  I have so many odd sizes and always spend time trying to use those before cutting into that yard of linen.  Gives me the bejeebers just thinking about it.

JoAnn's was having a sale of 50% off all interfacing and batting bolts.  The midweight is one I never tried, I use the featherweight, and prefer Craft Fuse but they had none.  I am so pleased with storing them in these envelopes along with the directions for each.  The thickest batting is 54" wide and I got two yards.  When I tried to remove the bag it exploded like a self inflating raft.

Last purchase was at the antique mall for this 36" long skinny old box and after much time wasting, decided I like the less is more approach.   I had it horizontal with so many small items in it, changing every half hour, and now I can't remember where they all belong.  It will be hung on the wall and I think I'll look for an even longer dipper gourd or maybe hang two thin ones in the space. 

That's about it.  I hope everyone is having a enjoyable weekend.

  Thank you so much for visiting!

My swing needs a sampler

Greetings!  Hope you enjoyed the 4th and everyone is staying cool.  I heard that power should be restored to all storm areas soon - hope that's true.  A cold wet towel across the back of the neck or shoulders helps but where do you get cold anything without refrigeration?  

I sit outside on my swing in the afternoon and evenings for a while and realized the current sampler project is too big for that.  I checked stash and found  several smaller ones but when trying to determine size (it irks me when the count isn't shown on the chart) I found that these young sweet girls just couldn't do a plain cross stitch.   I just want a simple design that is easy to follow and I was surprised at how many charts included the Queen stitch that I am trying to avoid.   Most also have over one stitching but not very much.  I may still find it, but these are what I came up with so far.  First off is Hannah Way.  Remember her?  Small but mighty.

Next up is Patience Ross.

This chart seems a little odd with strips of graph sideways but I think it would be easy to decipher once started.

The next contestant is Frances Ragsdale.  Mostly cross stitch but lots of eyelet and some other odd stitch.

 

Eunice Birchard looks tame but that large alphabet is rice stitch.

I love the colors of Ann Price but after the top alphabet, the rest is ALL eyelet!

I was leaning toward Eunice today, but as my flashes intensify the heat index, Patience Ross is looking better.  When I'm sitting in the heat and then set on fire by hormones, I feel like a comic book hero that could create spontaneous combustion at the least bit of aggravation.   The sampler of least resistance would be the best choice.  I may find something else tomorrow or pick a small freebie.  Wish me luck!! 

 Thank you very much for visiting and have a great and safe weekend!

Frogging season part 2

Hello everybody.  You won't believe it.  Well....maybe you will.  Before I get to the floss dilemma, I want to wish you all a celebratory but safe 4th.  My old 8' pull-down style flag is pretty faded so I moved it to the deck and got a new one. 

The pull-downs are always too long at 8' but I like the style.  Why did it take me years to  buy a 3x5 and fold it back?  I don't believe cutting to create the other style would be considered defacing,  but mine is folded and stitched to the back because I may change my mind and want the full 3 x 5 size. It's a perfect fit for a door and here's the end result. 

Here's my old one hanging on the deck.  I love the way it looks at night.

On to the floss.  So what happens to the sampler threads over the years?  Fading if in light, dingy and dirty from age.  It wouldn't become a warmer shade, more of a ..... gray.   Rit's pearl gray?   Possibly.   Oh no!!  I'm dyeing again!  Half of these skeins were dipped as a test and I'm anxious to try the others. 

There is a good possibility that I will stick with the original thread colors and dunk them into the dye.  I still may have to change a few but this could be the answer to future projects too, instead of wasting time pulling other colors.  I was wondering if after graying the colors I should do a quick bleach dip to get a faded look, and then decided it isn't worth it.  Never thought of this before so between the folded flag and the floss aging, I'm either on a roll or way behind the wagon.  

Thanks for your visit and have a safe holiday! 

Frogging season

Hiya.  Hope you are staying cool and safe!  Lots of stuff happening and I hope the worst is over and everyone has come through unscathed. 

We finally got a little rain yesterday and these positions should tell you how hot it is. 










She slept for hours like this!

Eliza is not going as well as I had hoped.  Not only did I have to remove and restart twice because of positioning, but as I did the alphabet, I realized these beautiful bright colors were not sitting well.  I've seen designers use the original bright colors and also offer the faded versions created by time.  So I thought I would stick to the same color family and choose a more subdued version.    The charted skein is top and my choice beneath.  Those colors in the top border are charted and I decided to not remove them and see how they fit in.  Alphabets and another border, still not happy.  Is there a tutorial on frogging?  And how did that term come to be? 

I have always removed the thread from the top instead of using the Lift 'n Snip. 

I've only had one mishap with those but it seems to take so much longer to remove the threads and I have a mess to clean up.  I guess it's up to the stitcher which she prefers since both methods are favored in certain areas.  I used both (for variety) since I've done it so many times already.  But if it doesn't feel right or look right to us, better to take the time to remove and get what we want before going any further.  Maybe it's the 32 count that looks more refined and smooth compared to the rougher 28's I usually use.  Maybe it's the color of the linen that isn't warm or dark enough.  Something.  I may end up going back to the original colors on darker linen and have a very nice sampler that isn't my style, or cut down on the number of colors and stick to the ones I prefer.  I hate to change the linen but a few letters with these colors on another piece wouldn't hurt.  Look at the time I've wasted already!   Better grab a small freebie or another Santa while I'm thinking.  I am determined to stitch her and don't want to change designs.  We'll see. 

I also want to mention that I downloaded a program to check for spyware and ads which seems to be throwing a lot of emails into the junk pile.  I rarely check it but did recently and found that even some comments (which are emailed to me) end up there.  If you emailed a question and I didn't get back to you, try again!  I'm sorry if I missed you!  I guess I better change the settings to not delete or block any messages.

Leaving you with a picture of the babies.  The mid day raccoons that I've been feeding (all moms) have now brought the babes out!  One big momma has FIVE little ones.  Yesterday one came running up to me and I had to get that bread out quick!  Several of my brother's friends trapped and removed their mid day visitors so I doubt if the babies survived.  They are coming later and later in the day and some not at all now that the babes are out of the nest. 

I'll be working outside today and thinking about what to do while I'm on the tractor in the dust ball it creates.   Hopefully, something will click and it won't be a bone.

Thank you so much for visiting and have a wonderful week!

p.s.  Ever since I scolded spellchecker about not having menobrain or hysterectobelly is its database, it quit working.  Please excuse any spelling errors until we reconcile.

The boys are back in town!