Mind Your Own Beeswax

This made me smile when I found it. We used to say this all the time when we were kids, and I wondered aloud to Mr. Wonderful if kids still say this nowadays. Privacy and discretion seem to have gone out of fashion, what with data mining on one side and over-sharing on the other. I'm pretty old fashioned about privacy so this little design is just about perfect for me. It's available here. I stitched mine on 28 ct. PTP Sand (I think) with GAST threads in Apple Cider, Brandy, and Soot.

You know those super soft sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles the grocery store sells? Well, here's a homemade version and yes, they're better than the store-bought kind. These are lovely and the recipe is right here. The recipe I used is from her book Sweet & Simple and it is slightly different from the online recipe, but very close. It makes only 6 cookies (I got 7 out of it) so it's perfect for a weekend treat.

I also made scones and a tiny 6" chocolate cake. So that's how I spent my holiday weekend: stitching and baking. (And shopping for sprinkles because now I'm obsessed with this cookie recipe and I need sprinkles for every occasion.)

Antique Beasts & Birds Finish!

My full color version of Antique Beasts & Birds by Elizabeth's Designs.

Stitched on 28 ct. Natural Brown Undyed Linen (Wichelt) with Caron Wildflowers and DMC 938.

My color choices:

border: Copper and DMC 938
words: DMC 938

rabbit: Suede
dog: Burnt Toast
squirrel: Copper
cat: Caramel
bird #1: Dense Fog

butterfly: Mountain Haze
lion: Old Gold
elephant: Dense Fog
chick: Old Gold
bird #2: Oyster
horse: Burnt Toast

snake: Moss
monkey: Copper
bee: Old Gold
fish: Suede
dragonfly (?): Mountain Haze
bird #3: Lexi's Blue

One note about the design: I didn't notice until I'd finished stitching the words that the letter "s" is charted in two different ways, and the model switches them (from the chart) in a couple of places. It didn't matter to me and I left them as they were, but if that sort of thing bothers you, you may want to make note of it.

A New Stitching Buddy and a WIP Update

Y'all, look who just arrived at my house, all the way from Scotland! Isn't this the most adorable little pink frog you've ever seen? 

Look at this face!

And she brought goodies with her! Beautiful counting pins and buttons and needles and thread. All of these wonderful gifts are from the very talented Ann in Scotland. She made the pink frog--who hasn't got a name yet--but who is very much on duty keeping me company while I stitch. Thank you so much, Ann!

And here's another peek at my progress on Beasts and Birds. I'm now down to the last row of animals and a few more words, then it's on to the border. 

My sweet frog couldn't be more appropriate. It's been raining for days here, and I've been stitching by an open window, listening to the rain and to the extremely delighted frogs singing their little hearts out in the pond behind our house.

I hope my next update is a finish. My next project is all ready to go and it's calling me.

Chickens, Mo' Pottery, and a WIP Update

Another spring Saturday, another day of wandering the countryside looking at (and sometimes buying) stuff. Have I ever mentioned my life goal of someday owning a few chickens? Well, now I have. I want some chickens. We were plundering another pottery studio on Saturday, and the potter had the prettiest (?) chickens I've ever seen. Even Mr. Wonderful was charmed.

I mean, look at this gal:

And of course, the pottery hoard continues to grow (unlike my cabinet space).

I love this squatty little pitcher. I have a thing for pitchers. Never use them. Just love them. I think I'll start putting flowers in them and get rid of most of my glass vases. (See how cleverly I just came up with a "reason" to buy more pottery pitchers?)

Last year one of our favorite local potters was experimenting with teapots, and I got this little beauty. Saturday we discovered he'd made a few teacups. Had to have one.

I've been working away on Beasts and Birds. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the critters.

I'll post a complete list of all my color choices when I post the finish.

Here a (Purple) Peep

Finally, a finish! Here's my purple dress version of Here a Peep There a Peep from With Thy Needle and Thread, stitched on 28 ct. Lamb's Wool.

Original color --> my change

Weeks Sockeye --> GAST Old Brick
GAST Brandy --> GAST Golden Rod
CC Autumn Spice --> DMC 920
CC Candied Yams --> CC Sunkissed
CC Eggshell --> CC Toasted Marshmallow
CC Mint Julep --> CC Grape Pie
CC Ye Old Gold --> GAST Golden Rod
CC Crab Cakes --> GAST Holly Berry

I also left off the white stitches on either side of the dark stitch for the eye, and just filled in with Golden Rod instead.

And now for my next project, which I'm really looking forward to. Way back in November 2015, I had the wild urge to stitch the Plum Street Samplers Sunday Mystery Sampler (the Twelve Days of Christmas) in full color instead of the three or four colors it was charted for. It was a bit like falling down a rabbit hole. I had no idea where I was going color-wise, and obviously no idea what the finished product would look like, but I was undeterred. I chose a favorite, rustic-looking neutral fabric--Wichelt Natural Brown Undyed linen--and my favorite threads--Caron Wildflowers--and off I went. (If you haven't been around my blog for that long, click on the picture of the Twelve Days of Christmas finish in the right sidebar to see all of my posts about the project. There's a link to the free charts in there somewhere, too.)

I was really happy with how it turned out and I figured I would end up doing another project  using this approach at some point. And here it is.

I saw this when all the new Market stuff was arriving and immediately imagined it in color. I love the verse, especially, and all the little critters just shouted, "Color me!" My Caron Wildflowers collection has grown quite a bit in the last couple of years, but it's not complete, so naturally I had to order some more colors to play with. I'll be using the Natural Brown Undyed linen again.

These are my new colors. I don't know if I'll use them all, but it helps to have lots of choices on hand when you're making it up as you go.

I cannot wait to get started on this! Stay tuned for critter color updates!

Saturday Sampler: Sheep & Wool Edition

We spent the day at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  If you're a knitter, this festival is heaven: more yarn than you've ever seen in your life, and every imaginable goody related to knitting, spinning, and weaving. Fortunately, I'm not a knitter, so there's no temptation for me. We just like to walk around and look at all the animals and shop with the many other non-knitting vendors (of which there are plenty).

A favorite fiber artist of mine. Stunning felted wool animals.

Yes, this is felted wool!

Have a great weekend!

Off, and Back On Again

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

"Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

This question may be a bit of a joke, aimed by the tech savvy at those of us for whom turning it off and back on again exhausts our technical knowledge, but it's surprising how often it works. A quick off/on forces a system reset; it allows an always-on, always-processing machine to have a moment to itself, to collect its thoughts, and to get back on track. In our gadget-dominated digital age, our devices aren't the only things that need periodic resets.

I've been switched off for a while, for various reasons. Some have expressed concern about my absence, and I do so appreciate that. It's nice to be missed. I'm okay, Mr. Wonderful is okay, and Tiger Lily is okay. In fact, week before last, Mr. Wonderful and I wandered off to the mountains for a few days. The photo above is a view of the sunset from our room up in the mountains. One day, as we were driving along winding roads (and I was trying not to look down), enjoying the peace and quiet (we had the whole place to ourselves), the phrase, "we'll have to get back to the real world" popped into my head. And then it struck me: this is the real world. These mountains and trees and streams and deer and bear... all of these things God created... this is the real world. The world we go back to--beltways and traffic and  cell phones and computers--is valuable, important, necessary. But those are all things we made, and they do not comfort and soothe and revitalize like the things God made. 

So I've switched back on again, and my systems are slowly coming online. I'm slowly getting back to the things I love, that have been neglected for a while. If you've been reading me for a while, you know what those things are. If you're new, here are some of my favorite things that I've been getting back in touch with.

National Parks. I would rather be hiking in a National Park than sight-seeing in a city any day. I got some awesome goodies at Shenandoah.

Pottery. On our trip, we found a beautiful little pottery--Blue Ridge Pottery--just outside the park. The potters were busy, so the shop was on the honor system for the day: choose your pieces, add up your total and tax, put your money in the little box. We ran into this in North Carolina, too (see this post) and I must say, it charms me and refreshes my spirit to know that the honor system still exists in this world.

My pretty new fruit bowl.

A beautiful little vase. I'm partial to pink and rose in pottery because it's so hard to find. This is for my sewing room.

The green piece on the left is a little egg separator. See the hole? Isn't that cute? And another wee milk mug for my collection. This one is about 3 1/2" high. Even at 46, I'm still a milk drinker, and I love my tiny mugs.

Baking. Lemon Ricotta Cookies (recipe can be found here). Not low-carb, not small-batch. But in my defense, these were for a dear friend who has just come back from deployment. They're her favorite.

Lemon Cream Scones. My low(er) carb adaptation of a Bisquick recipe using Carbquick (see the "low carb" baking label in the right sidebar). When I get them exactly to my liking, I'll share the recipe. I'm also planning to experiment with a Vanilla Bean version.

Stitching. Today was the first day I picked up a needle since... I don't know when. I abandoned this gal a while back, but picked her back up today. This is my purple conversion of Here a Peep, There a Peep! by Brenda Gervais.

Making stuff. Supplies for a mystery project...

Books. Russians. Books about Russians. If that seems weird, see here and here. This book is one of my souvenirs from Hillwood, a museum in Washington D.C. that houses the largest collection of Russian Imperial art outside of Russia. Our second visit to the museum was back in February. Maybe I'll post more on this some time.

Precious, sweet Tiger Lily. She turned 12 at the beginning of April.

Again, thanks for the concern. Thanks for visiting and for commenting. I hope to keep making this a pleasant, cozy place for all of us. Have a wonderful week!