A Custom Christmas: George & Martha, Red & Green Conversion

Welcome back for the Grand Finale of A Custom Christmas! Here it is, the design that sparked an idea and started it all! I have wanted to stitch this lovely freebie (click on the tiny picture of George and Martha) by Brooke Nolan for so long, but I knew I wanted to do a color conversion and that it would be rather involved. So I put it off and put it off, and years went by. But I finally got it done and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results!

Oddly enough, I've spent all week sharing my departures from traditional Christmas colors--a pink Mrs. Claus, brown Christmas trees, a blue Santa--but today I'm sharing a conversion to traditional colors. As lovely as the pink and blue original is, I've only ever seen this design in my head as red and green. It's stitched on 28 ct. Vintage Country Mocha with DMC and one shade of DMC Etoile.

Here are the details of my George & Martha, Red & Green conversion. Please forgive the handwritten notes. There was no way I was going to be able to type the chart symbols as accurately as I could write them. (chart symbol followed by my DMC choice in parenthesis)

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I am a lemon fanatic, and I know a lot of y'all share this passion. It's pretty hard to get something too lemony for me, and it's not unusual for me to be disappointed in trying new lemon-flavored recipes that just don't have enough lovely lemon flavor. This is not one of those recipes. These sandwich cookies, filled with fresh lemon curd, have a wonderful, bright lemon flavor that's a nice change from the usual Christmas flavors. And though sandwich cookies don't sound like they fit with my "quick and easy" theme, they do: we're using sugar cookie mix and a super easy microwave lemon curd recipe! 

Lemon Snow Bites

1 (17.5 oz.) package sugar cookie mix
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2/3 c. lemon curd*
2/3 c. Cool Whip, thawed
powdered sugar

Prepare cookie mix according to package directions, adding lemon juice and lemon zest to mixture. Cover and chill dough about 30 minutes. Shape dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute, then remove to racks to cool.

For filling, stir together lemon curd and Cool Whip. Place a rounded teaspoonful on bottom side of half the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies, bottom side down. Press together lightly and sprinkle tops with powdered sugar. Store in the fridge. Yield: about 2 dozen.
*Lemon curd. Make your own, using this recipe. Yes, I know you can buy it in the store, but this is so much better and it's quick and easy and you will be glad you did.

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We've come to the end of my 6th annual Christmas Open House. Thank you for coming! I'm so glad you stopped by, and I do so appreciate all the kind comments. I hope I've been able to spread some Christmas cheer, and share some recipes you'll enjoy, and maybe even inspire you to look at Christmas designs with different eyes. Not everything has to be red and green... although George and Martha did! I hope this blog is for you what it is for me: a happy, quiet, safe, creative place to snuggle down into the joys of stitching--and Christmas. From our home to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh, one more thing! I've already chosen the theme for my 7th annual Christmas Open House! There will be much adorableness... I can't wait!

A Custom Christmas: Time for Tea, Winter Conversion

When I saw this cute little design, my mind started spinning with ideas for conversions. I went back and forth for quite a while, trying to decide whether I wanted to do a Christmas conversion, or a more general winter conversion. I finally settled on a winter conversion that I could display for several months, instead of just at Christmas. 

Here's my winter take on Time for Tea by Country Cottage Needleworks!

I stitched this design on 28 ct. Twilight/silver evenweave from Fabric Flair, available at 123 Stitch, using DMC and DMC Etoile. The snowflakes are tiny buttons with the shank clipped off. For the berries, I simply rounded the corners of the blossoms (see the second picture) and I replaced the center roses with leaves. Ta-da! It's winter time!

My winter conversion details:

words, berries, dots on teacups: DMC Etoile C816
branches: DMC Etoile C3799
leaves, borders on teacups: DMC Etoile C318
teacups: DMC Blanc
steam: DMC Etoile C415

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For years and years I searched for a spicy chicken soup recipe, after that glorious concoction saved me during a bout with pneumonia. It was made for me and delivered and I never got the recipe. Last year I stumbled across a good base recipe and fiddled with it just a bit. I call this Emergency Chicken Soup, for a couple reasons, and there are three versions of it, or I should say, three heat levels. It's emergency soup because you can keep all the ingredients on-hand all the time (everything is frozen), and because you can put this together while you're sick. Yes. If you can drag yourself to the kitchen and function for about 10 minutes, you can make soup. Also great if you're taking care of someone and have your hands full, and you don't have the time or energy to stand in the kitchen chopping ingredients to make homemade chicken soup. Also great if you just want to throw some stuff in a crockpot and go stitch. Needing to stitch can be an emergency, too.

Emergency Chicken Soup
Heat level: you probably want to start (and stay) here

2 c. frozen cooked & diced chicken
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 c. frozen onions
4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin
2 dried bay leaves
2 Tbsp. chicken powder
8 c. water

Add all ingredients to slow cooker and cook on high 2-3 hours.

Version #2, heat level: spicy, but not fatal
*increase red pepper flakes to 1/2 tsp.
*add 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Version #3, heat level: have your affairs in order
*1 tsp. red pepper flakes
*1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
*1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Version #3 is the way I first tried this recipe. It is delicious, but it will take the hide off your mouth. Through trial and error, I finally ended up at version #1 for my go-to recipe, but it's great to finally have a recipe for a spicy chicken soup for when my quadrennial cold rolls around.

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Come on back tomorrow for the Grand Finale of A Custom Christmas! You'll want to see this one!

A Custom Christmas: Wild Blue Yonder (Air Force) Santa

It's about time this house had an Air Force Santa! My dad served nearly 30 years, and Mr. Wonderful has served 16 years and counting. The Air Force has been my whole life. When I saw this freebie I had a dozen ideas for conversions but at the top of the list was an Air Force Santa, and here he is, in all his blue and silver glory!

Three great things about this design: 1) it's free! 2) it uses only a handful of colors so it's easy to do a color conversion, even if you've never done one, and 3) the space between his mittens is exactly an inch (on 14/28 ct. fabric) so you can put anything in his hands as long as it's about an inch wide. The possibilities for this little design are endless. I may do one every year!

Here are the details for my Wild Blue Yonder Santa: (original color--->my choice)

754--->3779
733--->mittens: DMC Etoile C318; border of coat: Petite Treasure Braid, silver
165--->DMC Etoile C415
730--->DMC Etoile C3799
309--->mouth: 3778; coat: 797
815--->820
739--->948
168--->03

I found the Air Force wings pin on Etsy. It's just pinned into the foam core the design is mounted on. I found the trim in the Christmas gift wrap section at Wal-Mart. He's stitched on 28 ct. natural linen with silver, from Fabric Flair, available at 123 Stitch.

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Yesterday's soup recipe needs some biscuits, doesn't it? These are perfect with tomato soup!

Cheddar-Garlic Biscuits

4 c. Bisquick

3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/3 c. milk

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. onion powder

parsley

Mix ingredients well and drop by 2 tablespoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 for about 11 minutes. Meanwhile, combine:

6 Tbsp. melted butter

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. onion powder

pinch of salt

parsley

Brush onto warm biscuits. Using my small cookie scoop yields about 3 dozen.

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See y'all tomorrow for Day 4 of A Custom Christmas!

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!

A Custom Christmas: Mrs. Claus, Pink Conversion

Welcome, welcome, welcome to my 6th annual Christmas Open House! I am so glad you're here, and I'm so glad I'm here! It's been a challenging year and there were times when I wondered if I would get this done, but I was determined not to let this tradition lapse, and I was too excited about this year's theme to skip it.

Y'all know how much I love color conversions (there's a tab at the top of the page you can check out), and last year while working on A Christmas Tea, I was mugged by an idea, and A Custom Christmas was born. This week I'll be sharing Christmas projects that I've customized to fit Christmas at my house, and as I do every year, I'll also be sharing some of my favorite recipes. This year, I'm focusing on really easy recipes that go together quickly with ingredients it's easy to keep on hand, to leave more time for stitching and relaxing this holiday season. So join me here every day through Friday, bring your favorite hot beverage, and just wallow in Christmas! The kitchen and the sewing room are open!

Without further ado, here she is... my pink Mrs. Claus! This is Spirit of Mrs. Claus by Brooke Nolan and she's available in Brooke's Etsy store.

Here are the details of my pink conversion (original color--->my substitute):

border of dress:
3713--->369
3716--->368
335--->320

dress (I used Cosmo threads for the dress, but DMC has a couple of pink ranges that are similar):
666--->Cosmo 431 (lightest shade)
321--->Cosmo 432 (medium shade)
815--->Cosmo 433 (darkest shade)

collar:
676--->white
680--->762

belt:
700--->369
890--->368

mug:
164--->368
913--->320
321--->Cosmo 432

cake stitched in ecru and 433

Kreinik #8 braid:
3202--->101
003--->007
3509--->089

Mill Hill beads:
02011--->silver

DMC Memory Thread (roses, details on wings, glasses, braids): white, pink, white luster, silver

I omitted the lazy daisies stitched on the bottom of her dress, as I wanted more of the pink sparkles to show. As I always do, I gave her brown eyes instead of green, and I skipped stitching the puppy. And I changed the cake to white with chocolate frosting because that's Mr. Wonderful's favorite.

I used Cosmo for the dress because I wanted a muted, dusky pink and DMC doesn't have the exact range of pinks I was looking for. The range on the right is close, but richer and has more red. The range on the left is pretty, but much rosier than I wanted. Either would make a lovely pink Mrs. Claus, if you can't get hold of Cosmo threads.

UPDATE: A very helpful update from reader Joanne--she found a reliable online source for Cosmo threads! Thank you so much, Joanne!

And here are instructions for how I finish perforated paper, and my thoughts on the joys of perforated paper, in case you've never worked with it. 

And now for a recipe! As I said at the beginning of this post, this week's recipes are all about quickness and convenience. If you've been reading for a while, you know that I am serious about slowing down the holidays and making them quiet, cozy, and enjoyable. (I rambled at length about this subject a while back: Part 1 and Part 2.) With that in mind, I'm sharing a few of my favorite throw-it-together-and-get-back-to-stitching recipes.

This one is wonderful for breakfast or snack time. Get some bagels (I like the mini ones), toast them, spread this goodness on them, and enjoy. Scrumptious.

Orange Cream Cheese Spread

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. orange extract
3/4 c. confectioners sugar
bagels

Beat cream cheese til fluffy, then beat in orange juice and orange extract. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Store in the fridge. Try not to eat it all the first day.

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Hope you've enjoyed the first day of this year's Christmas Open House. Come on back tomorrow to see Mr. Wonderful's Christmas ornament for this year!

It's Coming...

You're invited to my 6th annual Christmas Open House! Come on over next Monday, 9 December and settle in for a week of Christmas cheer!

Thanksgiving Wishes

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

(The stitchy finish is available in this Etsy shop in a set of four seasonal designs. I made a few changes to it, but I'm too lazy to type them all out now. I promise I'll post a better photograph and share my changes, when I recover from Thanksgiving!)

A Finish & A Tip for Stitching Eyes

I ran across this little snowman and his friends while window shopping on Etsy and couldn't resist (available in this shop as either hard copy or pdf). I stitched him with the recommended DMC on 28 ct. Snow linen by Fabric Flair (available at 123 Stitch) and just added a few beads from my stash.

I also added this super cute, tiny candy cane, which I also found at 123. 

While I was stitching, it occurred to me to snap a few "in progress" pictures to share a tip for stitching eyes. Eyes are usually stitched in dark thread against a lighter background, which makes the "x" very obvious, even if you railroad. Those x-shaped eyes remind me of old cartoons where someone has been cracked on the head and knocked out cold, and their eyes turn into little x's. So to avoid my stitched folks looking like they're unconscious, I use a Smyrna stitch for their eyes instead. Below, you can see the difference. The eye on your left is a Smyrna stitch and the eye on your right is a regular cross stitch. 

I also used a Smyrna stitch for the snowman's buttons, the eyes on the bird and the reindeer, and the reindeer's nose. Any time I want a stitch that looks more rounded, that's what I use.

For those not familiar with this stitch, it's simple. After you make your "x" stitch, just stitch a "+" on top of it. Just as you would always stitch the top leg of your cross stitches in the same direction, if you're using multiple Smyrna stitches, make sure the top leg of your "+" lies in the same direction, either horizontal or vertical. (I always make the horizontal leg my top leg.)

I'm happy and very relieved to say I've finally finished my Christmas Open House projects, the finishing is done, the photography is done, and all that remains is the blogging. I actually have a couple of weeks now to work on some fall stitching... amazing. It's so nice to stitch without a deadline. I hate stitching to a deadline and usually avoid it at all costs, but this year, with the move, it was unavoidable. But now it's done and I can goof off for the rest of the year and stitch whatever I want, when I want. As it should be.

Happy (no pressure) Stitching!

A Snowy, Blustery Veterans Day

Veterans Day at our house was quiet and cozy inside and cold and snowy outside. Tiger Lily snuggled down in one of her many winter baskets, our favorite veteran Mr. Wonderful studied in his library, and I stitched away on a non-Christmas Open House project, because I am finally done stitching those! Hooray! It's been a challenging year, and there were times I wondered if I'd get them done, but I did. I hope to get most of the finishing done this week... fingers crossed. It's so nice to be stitching something without a deadline! 

Remember Mr. Bun from this summer? (see this post) He still visits his spot almost every day, even in snowy weather. I open the front door a bit and talk to him every morning. We're friends. Can you see him?

Here's my little project. Every now and then in my wanderings around the interwebs I stumble across something I have to stitch yesterday. This is one of those projects. The adorableness was irresistible. I hope to have a finish to show you later this week.

Tiger Lily and I will be unsupervised for a couple of days this week while Mr. Wonderful goes off to help protect the country. No telling what we'll get up to. Stay tuned! And stay warm!

Fancy Pumpkins Finish!

I took a break from Christmas Open House work to finish up this gorgeous little pumpkin piece I've been dipping into here and there, between other projects. (Link to purchase this chart in this post.) I stitched it on 28 ct. Dirty linen with the recommended DMC, but I did make some changes.

*I omitted the crow and the word "pumpkins."
*I didn't use the 522 (pumpkin stems) or the 368 (vine on white pumpkin). Instead I used 470 for both.
*I substituted 3854 for 3705 for the berries on the white pumpkin.
*I used beads instead of French knots on the black pumpkin.
*I used two strands of floss to backstitch the mouth on the white jack-o-lantern, instead of one.
*I stitched the flowers in the border using 3853 & 3854, with 3855 centers, instead of the 3865 called for. I wanted to pick up more of that gorgeous, glowing orange.

It sounds like a lot for such a small design, but all I really did was some editing: fewer design elements and fewer colors.

Mr. Wonderful and I had our annual Halloween party. We are extremely low-key, so by "party" I mean eating stuff with lots of carbs and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. For the first time in the history of ever, we ran out of candy. In 30 minutes. Four big bags. I've never seen so many trick-or-treaters in my life, and I will be ready for them next year! (Although I did think I was ready this year!)

Anyway, we had baked ham and Swiss sandwiches.

And a little Halloween cake (half a Spice cake mix but a whole container of vanilla frosting!).  I thought I had overdone it with the sprinkles, but Mr. Wonderful said it's not possible to overdo sprinkles.

And a cold weather tradition, my mom's hot Percolator Punch (recipe in this post). 

In between laundry and cooking, I managed to get in some stitching and finish up Fancy Pumpkins, with the help of my little homemade Bride of Frankenstein needle minder. I call her Elsa, after Elsa Lanchester, the actress who played the role in the 1935 classic. We watched it again last night and I'm always amazed by her performance. Probably less than 5 minutes on the screen, and yet she created a classic character.

Too much going on at my house this year to get any fun Halloween stitching done, but I've saved this cute little freebie for next year, and thought I'd share it in case y'all missed it.

Happy Stitching!