A Custom Christmas: Mod Christmas Trees, Manly Colors Conversion

Welcome back! Day 2 of this year's Open House features Mr. Wonderful's 2019 Christmas ornament. We choose our ornaments every year from the current issue of Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments, and I always tell him, "Don't let color put you off a design; I can change anything." He likes very traditional Christmas colors, and that's usually what I stitch for him, but when he chose this design, I said, "Do you trust me to do what I want with this?" He did, and I did, and here it is, my Manly Colors conversion!

This design is from the 2019 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue, and you can see the original colors above. I stitched it on 28 ct. Vintage Country Mocha using DMC Etoile threads (the sparkly ones). Be prepared, the next few days are essentially going to be a commercial for this thread, because I used it in everything. It's a bit fussy to get started smoothly, but once it calms down it stitches nicely and the results are beautifully sparkly. The pictures don't do justice to it. This ornament shimmers.

My Manly Colors conversion (original color--->my choice, all DMC Etoile, denoted by the "C" before the number)

large tree:
470--->C840
3849--->C938
743--->C738
3340--->C816
666--->C433
3607--->C433
checkered bottom of tree:
666--->C814
3340--->C433

small tree:
3607--->C433
743--->C738
3340--->C738
3849--->C938
666--->C816
470--->C840

trunks of both trees: 3772--->C3371

See how pretty and sparkly?

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Since we're talking about Mr. Wonderful's ornament, how about a Mr. Wonderful recipe? He's a dedicated tomato soup fan. In fact, it's really the only soup he will request. Happily, he'll eat whatever I put in front of him (super important quality in a potential husband!), but he's not wild about soup, generally. Except tomato soup.  This recipe is easy and delicious and you can use either fresh or canned tomatoes. In the summer, when you can get gorgeous, luscious tomatoes from your local farm stand, use fresh. It's more labor intensive, but it's worth it. In the winter, might as well use canned. It's still lovely, and it's a lot faster.

Tomato-Basil Soup

6 medium-ish tomatoes, peeled/seeded/diced, or 2-3 cans diced tomatoes
4 c. tomato juice
8-10 leaves of fresh basil, depending on your taste 
1 c. heavy cream (do not substitute half n half or milk... that's an order!)
1/2 c. butter
salt & white pepper to taste

Simmer tomatoes and juice about 30 minutes, add basil and puree. (I use an immersion blender; you can transfer to a blender and then back to the stock pot, but an immersion blender is much easier. If you don't have one, ask Santa!) Over low heat, stir in cream, butter, salt, and pepper. Heat through, but do not boil.

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Join me tomorrow for a very special custom Santa!