Christmas in July!

 

Christmas is five months from today, y'all! I realize we're all sweltering in this heat (except for our Aussie friends... *waving*), but on this blog, we embrace the weather we love and ignore the weather we don't.  So... 

I made soup.

I'm calling this Frankensoup because I mixed together a couple of recipes and added some stuff of my own, so it's kind of a mess, but it turned out well. It's a slow cooker recipe, so you don't have to bother with the stove, and it's super quick to throw together if you use frozen vegetable mixes, which I love to keep on hand. For normal people, we'll give it a nice name:

Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup

1.5 lbs chicken, chopped (I used leftover grilled)

1 bag frozen soup mix vegetables (I use PictSweet Farms 28 oz bag)

1 c. frozen seasoning blend (onions, red & green peppers)

1/2 c. flour

Seasoning ***see note

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp EACH dried sage and rosemary

1/4 tsp dried thyme

a bay leaf or two

4 c. chicken broth

1 c. heavy cream

*****

Mix chicken, vegetables, flour, and seasonings (except bay leaf) in slow cooker. Pour in chicken broth and add bay leaf (I pop the bay leaf in last so it's easy to find and discard when done). Cover and cook on high about 3 hours. Remove bay leaf, add cream and stir well. Cook about 10 more minutes.

Because I was using leftover grilled chicken which was already seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion, I cut back on the other seasonings. If you're using raw chicken, you may want to adjust your seasonings and your cook time.

The soup mix blend I use has *everything* in it: peas, carrots, corn, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, celery. I love it. Use whatever vegetable blend you prefer.

Back to my little finish.

This is Santa is Coming by Stitchy Princess. I stitched him as charted with the recommended DMC, except for the border, where I used Caron Wildflowers in Ash because I was too lazy to alternate white and grey stitches. This gorgeous blue fabric is Inky Blue linen from this Etsy shop. It doesn't look like she has any at the moment, but perhaps she'll have more soon. It's a beautiful deep blue, that's very well balanced and doesn't pull too purple or grey.

I'm up to my eyebrows in a massive sewing room clean out and reorganization. It's the kind of project where it looks worse the more work you do, and you have to keep at it until it starts getting better. I'm still in the "it looks like raccoons got loose in here" stage, but I'm beginning to see glimmers of hope. Of course, I'm getting lots of "help."

They are ever-present, always underfoot, and progress is frequently derailed by emergency snuggles. But we're managing. 

Hope you're all well and enjoying your summer. I am so ready for fall. But I pretty much live in a state of being ready for fall, so I guess that's to be expected. Maybe a new Christmas chart and a new soup recipe will help you ignore the heat!

Five months til Christmas!

One More Patriotic Finish

 

I have one more patriotic finish to share before I move on to other themes for the year. This is Quaker Snippets No.3 by Brenda Gervais (With Thy Needle & Thread). Stitched on 32 ct. Natural Brown Undyed linen with the recommended threads.

When I started all this 250th stitching at the beginning of the year I only had a few patriotic finishes. I'm pretty happy with what I've gotten done (and finished & framed!) and my shelf-top display has filled in nicely. 

But I'm ready to move on to other subjects, namely fall and Halloween! I love Halloween and have collected some pretty cute little designs over the last couple of years that need stitching up.

Stay tuned! Switching themes and color palettes soon! 

Cool Stuff

 

When I find good stuff I always like to let y'all know because we all need goodies sometimes. 

I like to use a magnetic board to hold my working copy of my chart as I stitch, which also holds my needle minders and scissors. I can pick up one thing and it has all my stuff on it. Easy to move around and easy to put away quickly. Except for my colored pencil I use to mark my progress on my working chart. That was always rolling around somewhere or being stolen by a werewolf I will not name (Marigold).

I found these cool pencil clips on Amazon and love them (search for paper clip pencil holders). Now all my stuff is attached to my board and my pencil is safe from furry thievery. 

Speaking of colored pencils, I found these at Dollar Tree and they're my new favorites for marking my charts. They come in 12 colors (3 packs of 4 different colors) and have a nice thick lead and a tiny built-in sharpener which works really well.

It's always nice to find little things that make stitching easier and more fun. Especially if they're inexpensive!

Happy Stitching!

Happy Birthday to Us!

 

Happy 250th Birthday to all my fellow Americans! 

Today also marks 23 years of active duty service for my favorite veteran, Mr. Wonderful! Have a happy and safe Independence Day, everyone!

Birthday Cake! And Allergy News!

 

Still working away on my 250th stitching! This is an old Brooke's Books freebie from her free set of 12 monthly birthday cakes. This one is July, and the only change I made was adding the 250 to the ribbon. I stitched it on 32 ct. blue & white petit point linen. Sadly, I don't think these freebies are available anymore. After Brooke passed, her Etsy shop was closed and her website with all her freebies was taken down. Her Facebook page is still up, and you can scroll through the pictures to see this set of cakes, but I don't think there's a way to get a hold of them, unfortunately. 

I am sneaking up on getting my finishing done. It's been a stressful year so far, with a difficult health situation in the family (Mr. Wonderful and I are okay, thankfully), and a couple of other challenges. I haven't been settled in my sewing room to work as much as I would like.

I have also developed the most bizarre and annoying allergic reaction to the tree pollen here. It started last spring, but never having had allergies, and mine not looking like everyone else's allergies, I didn't realize what it was until this spring. Throughout April and May, I'm pretty much "carsick." That's what it feels like. No sneezing, no runny nose, no watering eyes, just so much pressure in my face and head that if I move my head too much, I get dizzy and nauseous.

I figured out on my own how to manage it, because all the allergy medicine has too much stuff in it I don't need for symptoms I don't have.

1) saline nasal spray (the non-medicated stuff): the medicated sprays are only supposed to be used for a few days and if used longer, can cause worsening congestion and even become addictive. I use plain old saline spray (with aloe) every night, without fail, and after I've been outside, to keep the pollen flushed out.

2) real Sudafed (from behind the pharmacy counter): it doesn't have any medication in it I don't need; it's just for sinus pressure and congestion. I take one if I'm going to be outside all day.

3) heat masks for my face: I found single-use heating eye masks on Amazon. They warm up nicely; gentle enough for the face but warm enough to soothe. I use one when my face hurts.

That routine got me through April and May this year. Once the tree pollen calms down, the pressure just vanishes. It's so weird. Hopefully none of y'all have this problem, but if you do, I recommend the saline spray and the heat masks. 

So that's what has been going on around here. Babies are fat and healthy. Stitching is happening. Finishing... not so much. Fingers crossed! Hope you're all well and enjoying your summer so far.

Happy Stitching!

Snuggly Sunday

 

Unsupervised, with Snacks

 

Another little finish for my 250th display (reveal coming soon)! This is Happy Birthday, America from With Thy Needle and Thread.

The babies and I are unsupervised this week. I'm caught up on laundry and housework, I have a casserole made that will last me all week, I have plenty of snacks, and it's thundery and rainy. Ideal "Play in My Sewing Room" conditions! Looking forward to some project planning and finishing. 

Back soon!

Saturday Sampler: All the Colors Edition

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and all those who mother!

Flag Lady available in this Etsy shop. I stitched her on Colonial Parchment from Fabrics by Stephanie, and used DMC 816 for the red. I also slightly altered her face and her hair color. This shop has several other flag ladies with different skin tones and different dresses, all so pretty. I would stitch them all if I had time!

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!