31 May 2020

Spring Alphabet


Just finished this lovely Spring Alphabet sampler from Bluebird Needleworks. Ivita is becoming one of my favorite designers. I also stitched her Believe in Magic Christmas design and the gorgeous teapot calendar I'm working on (see my last post) is also hers. I am always looking forward to seeing what appears in her shop next. I loved the colors and the delicacy of Spring Alphabet, and the space. It's beautifully balanced and so soft. I stitched it with her recommended colors, on 32 ct. Vintage Pecan Butter from Lakeside Linens.

All the early spring flowers are here. Tulips...

Snowdrops...

Crocuses... 

And of course, there must be a sweet bunny. 


This is my last spring finish of the year because it's time for...

Summer of Halloween! I'm so excited. I'll still be working on my teapot calendar, and my Christmas Open House projects (which y'all can't see yet), and a couple of other things, but this summer I'm going to do a lot of Halloween stitching. I've been looking forward to it since last fall and I'm so glad the time is finally here. If you're a new-ish reader, have no fear. My Halloween tastes are what I like to call "spooky cute," that is, nothing unpleasant or gross. Just kitties and pumpkins and... a pig? Stay tuned! 

26 May 2020

Time for Tea Update

May block is finished!


Info on this design in this post.

21 May 2020

May Flowers




My favorite flower, Tiger Lily.


11 May 2020

Prescription: Chocolate



It has been a week, y'all. Mr. Wonderful messed up his back getting off a plane last week. If you've ever taken care of someone who can't move you know what my week has been like. He's finally better and able to get around by himself, slowly. No stitching at all from me, but today was a baking day, because today had to be a baking day, if you know what I mean. I tried two new recipes and am happy to report two successful bakes! 

The first one I made is Impossibly Easy Brownie Pie. This is a low-carb chocolate pie. The batter whips up almost like a mousse and it puffs beautifully in the oven. As it cools, it settles to a thin pie with a very smooth texture. It reminds me a little of my Grandmother's old fudge pie recipe. A few notes on how I baked mine:
*I am not super strict about carbs, so I use regular chocolate chips in my lower carb baking, but you could use 1/2 c. sugar-free chips.
*I omitted the optional molasses.
*I omitted the walnuts (didn't have any).
*I baked mine 20 minutes and it was perfect.

This one I made for Mr. Wonderful, who tries to watch his carbs more closely than I watch mine (at least right now)...

...and this one I made for ME. It is most definitely not low-carb or lower carb or whatever, but it is small. And it's lovely.


This is a Chocolate Snack Cake and what a nice little recipe it is. I made it according to the recipe but I would add one note: make sure to cool the melted butter mixture before adding the eggs. Mine took 30 minutes and turned out deliciously moist. I wanted to taste it as-is before fiddling with the recipe, and I'm glad I left it alone because it's very good plain. However, you could add a little cinnamon or espresso powder or chocolate chips. Or you could frost it. It's just a very versatile, very quick, very easy little cake recipe. A keeper.

That's my public service for the day... testing chocolate recipes and passing along the good ones. Somebody's gotta do it. 

06 May 2020

Spring Stash Update


The cherry tree in our front yard is doing its thing and smells heavenly. We have been having some ridiculously gorgeous weather and it's making me want to get out and do something about my front flowerbeds... provided Mr. Bun is off doing bunny things and not in his spot. Wouldn't want to disturb him. 

I lost my head and went on a bit of a spree at about the six week point in our voluntary lockdown. Among other things, I did some stash enhancement. I have been wanting to try Cosmo's metallic embroidery floss for some time, so I finally got a few skeins from one of my favorite Etsy shops for stitchy goodies. I haven't stitched with it yet, but it is gorgeous and has a lovely texture. The weight is between Kreinik #4 and #8 braid: just a wee bit heavier than #4, but not as heavy as #8. I also got a small piece of the newish Zweigart 32 ct. pink Basalt Splash fabric. It's a very pale (not rosy) pink, pretty close to DMC 225. I stitched Winter Train on the dark grey Basalt Splash and just loved it, but I hadn't seen the pink. 

From the same shop as the thread and fabric, a new pair of scissors. I couldn't pass up this soft, fresh green.

And from various shops, some new charts. With Thy Needle & Thread: Project Quarantine: Stay Home & Stitch. For each purchase, the designer is making a donation to charities assisting those hard hit by the pandemic. 

JBW: Rabbits in the Round and With Thy Needle & Thread: Spring Serenade. Can't have enough buns in the springtime. 

A relatively new designer that is really growing on me. I fell in love with her big sampler release at this year's market (Huckleberry Farm) and I've had my eye on Sleeping Bee for a while. I also picked up Winter Valentine. 

So that's the stash that has recently come to live at my house. My spree also included a set of vintage cooking magazines that was such a bargain I practically stole it. When I finish looking at all of them I'll photograph them and do a blog post. Y'all will love it. They're wonderful.

I'm hoping to be able to get out soon and visit my favorite small businesses. Most are open and have been open to varying degrees throughout these last couple of months, but I have only been going out once a week for groceries. We have never been under a stay-at-home order here, and most businesses that could do so safely have remained open, but I know they're hurting.

Hope everyone is still safe and well and getting as much stitching done as needed. Don't forget to be good to yourself.

01 May 2020

Time for Tea Update


All caught up on my Time for Tea calendar! Here are the "March" and "April" blocks.

You can find info about this design in this post. As you can see, I'm stitching the Russian version, but it also comes with an English version. 

I thought about pushing ahead and getting the May block stitched, but I really need to get going on... Christmas Open House! Yes, you read that correctly! It's already time to start stitching for Open House. Spreading the projects out over the whole year allows me the freedom to stitch fall and other Christmas stuff in season, instead of frantically stitching Open House projects September to December, like I had to do last year because of our move. Yuk. So, I'm off to put the first stitches into my 7th annual Christmas Open House. 

Happy Stitching!