I’m still around and still stitchin’ and cookin’. But not so much blogging for a number of reasons – first my laptop required a trip to the PC doc, and now we’re in the midst of snow days, meaning the eldest is enjoying a break from kindergarten while I “enjoy” a break from my sanity. And we’ve been sick, all of us – colds and pink eye (my boys) and now a slight ear infection in my youngest. I’m also trying to exercise more and think I’ve already lost a little, or at least shifted it around – yay me!
So I’ve not felt too inspired to blog. Like I said, I have been stitchin’. My mom came by two weekends ago (or so) and navigated me around my sewing machine. I quickly set to work sewin’ up some easy burp clothes (for relatives that are expecting a second child) – just need to finish them (I want to blanket stitch around the edges). I picked up a cross stitch kit at Hobby Lobby the other day on clearance that I’m working for my boys. And I am working an embroidery sampler, using a book I got for Christmas – The Embroiderer’s Handbook. I might take some WIP pictures soon.
I’ve also been reading. I’ve committed to reading the Bible in its entirety in 2010 (I always got stuck around Chronicles in the OT, and barely made it through Romans in the NT) – so I purchased The One Year Bible for Women NLT. Now I don’t know why it’s “For Women”, other than the fact that it is pink with a flower on the cover, and that it includes the occasional gal-friendly quote. But it is excellent. Aside from the translation, which is very easy to understand (I joked that I needed a “Bible for Dummies”), I am really enjoying the format. It’s not organized like a standard Bible (so be warned – I was initially disappointed until I got into it). It’s organized by date, and each day includes: an OT reading, a NT reading, a Psalms selection, and a Proverbs selection. The readings are in order, so, for example, you will read Genesis in order in a little less than a month. The reading for each day takes about 15 minutes, so there’s really no excuse not to fit this in. I think getting this Bible allowed me to discover my problem – over-reading. I think in prior tries, that I would exhaust myself, and then get myself into a position of picking one (reading my Bible) or the other (whatever else). With this, I can devote myself to reading the Bible, actually digesting it (key, I think, and not what I was doing before), and then allowing myself to move on, refreshed, to whatever else I want to do.
Which lately, has been my addiction to 1491. This book kinda fell into my lap. A couple of weeks back, I met my brother for dinner (for my birthday – Shalimar in Green Hills. Delicious.). He then said “I was going to get you a Barnes & Noble giftcard for your birthday. How about we just go to Davis Kidd and I’ll buy you a book?”. And so we did. And after sifting through everything (my process is getting a ridiculous stack and then whittling down to one) – I chose this one (it beat out a rather thick volume of medieval Icelandic literature, I kid you not). I love non-fiction, was in the mood for some good non-fiction, and have had a long fascination with pre-Columbian cultures. And this book does not disappoint (so far). The writer is a journalist, so the book reads more like a National Geographic article than a study – the reading is not dry at all and has been fascinating and addictive. If you have any interest in ancient civilizations, archeology, pre-Columbian culture, etc…. I definitely recommend that you pick this one up.
Well, that was a more lengthy description of my hiatus than I set out to write. I will come back as the inspiration strikes and I have something interesting to write.
Today’s great idea involves organization. I think that organization is pretty important in needlework – you’ve got to keep up with all that floss (I keep mine in an old cigar box) and fabric! Today though, I write specifically about how to organize a kit project.
Anyone out there work kits? I started my embroidery journey on kits – they’re a great way to test the waters and learn some basic stitches – I learned satin stitch, stem stitch, back stitch and straight stitch all through kits.
When I worked my first kit – “Embroidery for Dummies” (seriously, but it’s a good first project for a total beginner. I digress.) – there were about four colors of floss. Not a lot to organize, so I kinda kept it all together in the box it came in. No biggee.
When I worked my second project) there was a lot more floss. I remembered my mom using a hole-punched card, so I took a cereal box lid and hole-punched it up to put the floss in there. Great for separating the floss – but a bit of a pain when you’re working your kit – pulling out the floss resulted in tangles and it just was not a method I would prefer.
My most recent kit – a cross stitch kit, which is just shy of completion (Dimensions is sending me some extra floss – hooray for their customer service, FYI):
I started this kit in the car. So I didn’t really separate the floss, and there were about 10-15 colors, in shades of steel grey and light grey and….not separating was not to my advantage. I finally did separate them, but ended up throwing them, separated, in the plastic kit bag. Not a good method at all.
So for my next kit, I decided to get organized. So here’s how I’ve approached floss organization this time:
This is how I organize my floss for general, non-kit embroidery, so it makes sense to take that approach to kits too. And this kit has a lot of color going on, and lots of detail (frankly, with all those lines I am intimidated by this project and am right now working something else). Taking that bit of time at the beginning of the project to get organized is so worth it.
So, how do you get organized? Please share in the comments!
The other day I got a serious cravin’ for egg salad. But I don’t keep mayo on hand – we’re not big fans of it – and I wanted to make my lunch a little more upscale than standard egg salad. So with some inspiration from 101 cookbooks (their take on egg salad here) I came up with this:
2 boiled eggs
1 tsp (ish) fat free sour cream
5-6 kalamata olives
salt and pepper
feta cheese (remember, a little goes a long way)
baby spinach
First, boil your eggs. My method (learned from my mom) – put your eggs in a pot and fill with water. Bring to boil. Once you’ve got a good rolling boil, cut the heat, cover and leave it alone (on the same burner – don’t move it!) for 20 minutes. Voila! You have boiled eggs.
While you’re waiting on your eggs, you might as well take care of those olives. Put them in your bowl and just cut them up with a fork. Mine was pretty chunky.
Get the shells off your eggs and throw them in with your olives. Chop them up with your fork. Throw in a little feta. Now add your sour cream – just enough to bind everything together – and get to mashing! I mash with my fork but do what you do. Salt and pepper during this but remember, those olives have some salt, so go easy on the salt.
Now, toast yourself some wheat bread, put a little mustard on that, and then a layer of baby spinach. Spoon your freakin’ egg salad sandwich on top of the spinach then close up that sandwich.
I’m serious, it’s heavenly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. How do you like your egg salad?
I’ve been really wanting to use this needlecrafter pattern for a while. Finally I decided that I need a new bracelet:
I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It’s actually more like a cuff than a bracelet, but it fits perfectly. I love making bracelets from felt because you don’t have to worry about perfecting buttonholes – it’s not going to fray. The buttons are vintage – they came from my grandmother’s jar o’ buttons. I had a lot of fun picking through buttons. Love buttons.
I had a very difficult time deciding on something for Mom, and when I saw this pattern I just fell in love. Hope she likes it.
I also gifted her this little cross-stitch; pattern here. I did not follow the pattern exactly – I used the colors I had on hand, and outlined in gold which came out fantastic!
An additional gift for my sister-in-law was this little brooch. I am SO proud of it. Who doesn’t love buttons?
For those of you curious about how I embroider on felt (I’ve had several questions): I trace my design onto tissue paper and pin it onto the felt, hoop the felt, and stitch away through the felt + tissue paper. On this particular piece, I removed the tissue paper once I had the outline of the tree done, and then just filled it in (all stem stitch on this one). So far, the tissue paper method “works” for me, though I’m sure there are other ways of doing it!
Last week BHE picked up It Might Get Loud from the local video & tanning (where more people tan than rent videos, of course). I love the southern small town invention that is the video and tanning. Who decided that this was a great business combination? But I digress. (Nevermind, he picked it up at Movie Gallery. It was Paranormal Activity that came from the video & tanning, where the lady was apparently surprised at the end that the film is fiction but then said “it could totally happen”.)
Anyway, I strongly recommend picking this flick up. We watched it twice before we took it back, and believe me we don’t typically re-watch movies. It’s just a very interesting look at the guitar, and three amazing guitarists and their approach to music. Massive music nerdness going on here.
First off, I apologize for the Vintage Love delay. Last week was the holidays, and this week there was a death in the family (BHE’s granny), so we have been traveling. But without further ado I would like to direct you to some Vintage Love from gracefulfig-on hold. Isn’t this gorgeous?
Also, getting back into the swing of things with 2010, I’ve got to pass out some blog love, don’t I? I’d like to pass it on to Wee Folk Art. This site helped me out fairly recently, as (though I did not directly use the pattern) their Stacking Bird Applique Block led to my stitching up this little felt birdie brooch for my mother-in-law:
And we’ve been sick, all of us – colds and pink eye (my boys) and now a slight ear infection in my youngest. I’m also trying to exercise more and think I’ve already lost a little, or at least shifted it around – yay me!
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