Finish-finished

Look at you all, congratulating me on seven years of inertia! (Actually 16, but who's counting?) I've been privately chastised for pretending not to be romantic when I have been stitching little love notes every anniversary for the past four years. Five if you count the one that got lost. It's true; we just prefer our displays of affection to be private. Last night we went to General Lafayette Inn where I had a matrimoniale, and the dude gave me a beautiful amber ring. Thanks again.

In my quest to increase the number of completed works that I finish, I put this little sheep that I stitched in January 2006 in his frame. Three down, five to go.

This is a Homespun Elegance kit, Wee Sheep stitched on the kit's linen with the called for DMC. It's finished in the brass frame that comes from the kit. I should aim for something bigger next.

Anniversary

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary. And this is what I made the dude.

It's the 2001 Collectors Heart from Heart in Hand Needleart. I stitched it in the called for colors, substituting beachcomber for the (now retired) julep.

I sewed the pieces as a sort of flat pillow (there was no way I was hem stitching in my condition). I then attached it to a second piece of linen. I probably should have let them do that. Well, I didn't know they would until I got there. It came out a little lumpy in the end. I had them make a shadowbox. Some days I think it's cute. Some days I think it's attrocious.

Kind of like the dude. (Just kidding. I'm the anti-romantic. Really if I waxed poetic about my love for the dude he might vomit a little in his mouth. I know I would. And he certainly wouldn't believe me.)

Mercy

Tonight I was mercilessly mocked for blogging. My cousin asked me if I had seen this comic strip. Of course because I am doing nablopomo this month the dude had to tell them how I was all het up to get on the computer last night. If you have a thin skin in my family, you will be eaten. It's kill or be killed.

Today I continued the domestic drudgery by weeding the garden. Here's the result. It's a good thing the results are so noticeable, or you'd never do it. (I love how I swept the walk before I took the photo.)
Our butterfly bush has finally reached the size promised on the container marker. It is taller than the dude. He's 6'.
I also went off to my alumnae knitting group today. I worked on Edgar's RR. There were 5 knitters. There was too much talk about children and grandchildren for my taste, but one of the newer alumnae ('08) was knitting a yeast molecule. From a pattern she was making up in her head.

Bananas

The dude finally got off the computer! He's been watching lectures from his library course all day.

I've had a strangely domestic day. In addition to doing four loads of laundry, watering indoor and outdoor plants, and cleaning the kitchen, I rescued the rotting bananas from the fruit bowl. Here they are in their new incarnation as banana muffins. The recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Unfortunately, I didn't alter one thing so I can't share the recipe. I can, however, highly recommend that you go get yourself a copy. They have a basic muffin recipe that you can change to accommodate your excess zucchini, abundance of apples, or rotting bananas. I can name about eight recipes in this book that I know by heart because we cook them so often. In fact, the book fell apart right at Hawaiian skillet beans. Which, with hot dogs, is a fabulous summer meal. Look, just because it's a vegetarian cookbook doesn't mean I can't eat an all beef frank with those beans!

Stitching content tomorrow, with photos! I'll have two finishes and Edgar's RR to show.

Silly Silliness of Epic Proportions

I am working on things I can't show, don't want to show, or I'm waiting to show until I finished ten hours. (I'm close to having two pictures for you. Really!) So I was thinking I've shown you food you can stitch, but do we ever have occasion to stitch our food?

I came up with trussing a turkey. (Thought Alton Brown says you shouldn't.) We string popcorn and cranberries which involves a needle but that isn't quite stitching.

So, do you stitch your food?

Photo courtesy of Wikicommons.

When Life Gives You Kohlrabi

fuck the kohlrabi and bail.
Sorry, I loved Paul Rudd's character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I'm so easily amused.

When life gives you kohlrabi, get out the parmesan cheese!

So, you know how ingredient lists aren't copyright-able. This was a cookbook recipe, but I read the amounts incorrectly. So now it's my recipe (especially since I revised the directions). You may want to use less parmesan. Like a third less. But I wouldn't. I didn't.

3 kohlrabi
2 T butter
3/4 c parmesan cheese

Grate the kohlrabi coarsely. Grate the parmesan finely. Heat the butter over medium heat. Cook the grated kohlrabi in the butter for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle on the cheese, cooking until it melts. Season with salt and pepper. This is what it will look like.

Yum! Kohlrabi has a nutty flavor that marries well with the parmesan. And eating cruciferous vegetables helps prevent cancer! (Especially when you eat crap all day.)

---

Today is the dude's 40th birthday. Because of his craptastic summer schedule (he is busy busy busy at work), we won't be taking his 40th birthday trip until October. Tonight we were going to have veggie curry, but I bought some grass fed filets at the farmer's market and I think we can roast some potatoes and steam some sugar snap peas for a delightful evening repast. You'll forgive me if I spend my time paying attention to him tonight.

Haunting

I'm not into Just Nan. I usually think her designs are too fussy. But I am in LOVE! with the inside of the needlework etui, Scream House, the new exclusive from the Silver Needle. Do you see that pumpkin inside? Removable pincushion.

As usual, it ain't cheap--$80. Plus the pins are $6.5 and the floss is $11.25.

Available in late August; reservations taken now.

Photo totally swiped from Silver Needle, but how can they mind? It's enabling free advertising.

Eight Eight Oh Eight

Back in February 06, Melissa needed help finishing a project so we decided to become one at a time stitchers for the duration of the winter games. She's doing it again. I thought this may be my opportunity to finally bead the Toy Gatherer. The last time we saw Toy Gatherer back in May 2006 I had finished the stitching, a mere 11 years after I started it. (Talk about a UFO.) So two years later and I still haven't beaded the stupid thing. But beginning 08.08.08 I will work on this until the last medal is handed out in Beijing.

When Life Gives You Broccoli

...realize that broccoli casserole is too heavy to eat in the summer. Then contemplate how it is virtually the same recipe as your mother's macaroni and cheese. Decide mac and cheese can be eaten any time of year. Contemplate the CSA broccoli in the vegetable bin and, eureka, combine the two recipes!

3/4 pound of elbow macaroni

a head of broccoli

1/4 c butter

1/4 c flour

2 c warm milk

1 lb white cheddar, diced (orange cheddar is unnatural, don't use it.)

two slices of bread

butter

Set the oven to 375. Boil the macaroni to just shy of cooked. It will soften when you bake it. Then boil or steam the broccoli. Using a blender, pulverize the broccoli. Some chunks of stem will remain, but you mostly want broccoli mush because you really don't like eating flowers, do you?

Melt the butter. Brown the flour in the butter, stirring frequently. Slowly whisk in the warm milk. When the sauce begins to thicken, stir in a handful of cheese at a time. Once all the cheese is melted, remove the sauce from the heat.

Butter a casserole dish. Add the broccoli and macaroni. Stir to combine. Slowly add the cheese sauce. You won't need it all. You want the mixture pretty wet, but not soaking. Save the extra cheese for baked potatoes. Mmmmm. Butter the bread. Cut into 1" sqares. Sprinkle over the mac and cheese. You really want to do this because the bread will soak up oil from the cheese and it will be very very yummy. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Photo courtesy of Wikicommons.

---

I am trotting out some of the recipes we've been using with the CSA vegetables for two reasons. The first reason is, for some of these veg, we're having to do full scale research to figure out how to prepare them. It's like I'm getting my PhD in vegetables. We are eating some crazy ass veggies. Like pod radishes. Did you even know about pod radishes? I sure as hell didn't. We had Hawaiian lettuce, anuenue, last night. Which I highly recommend to people who like iceberg's crunch but not its lack of flavor. The second reason is that I have thrown out my rotation in favor of secret traveling projects by day. I haven't been stitching by night. Lately, I've become obsessed with these stupid Jane Austen mysteries. It's embarrassing. But not so embarrassing that I'm not reading them in public... Oh, and there's this whole food theme for the nablopomo this month.

Anyway, enjoy the veg. I'll get back to stitching Edgar's RR and showing snaps of my work soon.

When Life Gives You Swiss Chard

make curry!

1 bunch Swiss Chard, spinach, Han Tsai Tai etc.
1 T butter
2 chopped shallots (or a small onion)
1 T minced ginger
pinch red pepper flakes
15 oz can red kidney beans
15 oz can tomato sauce
palmful curry powder
1/2 can coconut milk

Boil the greens until tender (about 7 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water.

Heat the butter over medium high heat, cook the shallots until lightly browned. Stir in ginger, and season with red pepper. Mix in greens, kidney beans, tomato sauce, and curry powder. Stir in the coconut milk, and continue cooking until heated through.

The sauce very closely replicates the sauce from our favorite mushroom dish at Chandni in Santa Monica. So I think you could change this up by skipping the greens and doubling the butter so that after you cook the shallots you could brown a ton of mushrooms, let's say, a pound. Then everything else the same. No, skip the beans. So no beans and no greens. It'll be delish.

Quilts!

This is a very popular part of the festival we attend each 4th of July--sadly, this is our first time through the quilt exhibit. We're usually at the fair with my nieces, and by the time we hit the area the quilts are in, it's getting to be time to go... Anyway, this year they're in Maine, and we got to see quilts.

A quilting bee. I overheard a guy being outraged on behalf of these women because the lighting was so poor. "They're going to ruin their eyes!"

Attendees were invited to quilt a bit and sign their work. I wanted to but I could tell the dude wasn't that interested. Plus when we walked by after buying our quilt the frame was full of (amateur?) quilters--including two guys. (The woman in the middle said she was making her quilting debut when I took her photo.)

There were a lot of quilts--over 2500--all for sale or up for auction.

Here are some of my favorite award winners:

"Storm at Sea." Something interesting happens when you photograph this quilt. It looks like there's a heart in the middle. You don't see that in person. Optical illusion?

This one is called "Something Old, Something New." It's a bunch of very traditional patterns put together in a very nontraditional way.

"Courthouse Gardens." These are being auctioned today. Most of the starting bids are $1000. You can see more of the award winners here.

Ours! This 22"x22" log cabin wall hanging was labeled "No Sunday Sales" which means it was made by an Amish woman who can't allow her work to be sold on the Sabbath. This is the cheapest hand quilted Amish quilt I've ever seen. Now to find just the right spot for it.

Fair Food

As is our 4th of July tradition, we headed to the Pennsylvania German Festival in Kutztown today. We looked at the quilts (and bought! I'll show you that tomorrow) and checked out the crafts and the artisan demonstrations. Mostly we grazed. It's going to look like we ate a lot...but we shared...okay, we ate a lot. But what are these holidays good for if not for eating?

The dude wanted to start with ox roast. This ox was put on the spit last night. They take about 20 hours to cook. This was the fifth ox of the festival. We ate its predecessors. They were good.

I turned this photo around. Promise. I don't know why it's uploading like this. This was billed as a corn fritter but it was a corn pancake. And pretty yummy.

Homemade chips. We sprayed them with vinegar and sprinkled salt on. These were awesome.

Pickle on a stick. The dude's was spicy and mine was half sour. Everything tastes better on a stick. (I was tempted by the frozen cheesecake on a stick, but the dude pooh-poohed the idea.)

After we bought our quilt we brought it to the car so it wouldn't get wet. On the stroll back through the food area, the dude saw pie and coffee and had to have it. That's blueberry. I had a bite, but it turns out I still don't like fruit pies. He thought it was a good solid pie.

I only had two bites of the ox sandwich, so I was still hungry. I had the sweet potato fries and the hickory smoked sausage with onions and peppers. The dude who'd just had pie and coffee claimed to be full but the power of sausage was too great. And those peppers and onions were awesome.

To make up for the lack of vegetables (that weren't fried) we had a veggie dinner of kohlrabi and salad. The salad included spicy greens mix. They taste like mustard and horseradish. If I liked roast beef, I'd totally put those greens on a roast beef sandwich. But they're good in salad too. More on kohlrabi in the days to come.

Hope your 4th of July was as tasty as ours!

...And Drink?

Yesterday, Jo asked if drink was included in the "food" theme. I don't know. Most bloggers who are doing nablopomo seem to be talking about food, or food for thought, and no drinks. My list from yesterday included hot chocolate, but gave short shrift to some of the drinkier stitching patterns. Even though I included many LHN food patterns, I ignored her coffee menu, Angel Stitchin's coffee series, Waxing Moon's coffee philosophy, and Lynne Nicoletti's coffee stitch. There are all kinds of tea samplers, tea samplers, and that doesn't include all the tea paraphernalia. (So I shan't.)

But it's not all tee-totaling. Several designers feature beer designs: Amy Bruecken, Sue Hillis, and Hinzeit (scroll down, they're in alpha). Not to be outdone there are some oenological patterns: here, here, and here. You knew they couldn't resist the pun. We have the dry turkey (I guess that is tee-total) from Raise the Roof, Glory Bee's Another Martini and Margarita, and Ole from Sister's and Best Friends. Sunflower Seed tells you how to handle life's lemons. The sisters and Sue Hillis have the right idea with their drinking philosophy.

Definitely fewer forays into drink. My guess is that booze's association with vice--and cross-stitching's association with virtue--account for the lack of boozy stitching patterns. Because those definitely don't mix.

Sisterhood Travels

Wendy is close to finishing the traveling pattern. Get your name in the drawing. She's picking tomorrow morning.

July's Theme: Food

As you saw from the list of goals I am doing the NaBloPoMo thing again this month. I sort of owe it to you because of all the "oh my finger hurts" posts from the last two months. And speaking of my finger, on my last visit to the doctor (26th) they were a little disappointed that the shrivelled brown skin hadn't fallen off yet. I shouldn't have been wearing the bandage, they said. But I ask you, it was this nasty brown lump of shrivelled skin, would you go waving it in everyone's face? I thought not; hence the bandage. I was ordered to soak it twice a day and switch to a band-aid. I soaked it at work and when I went to soak it at home, it fell off. So now I look like I have a wart at the top of my finger. There are two black spots on my nail (from the stitches). Besides the small scar on the side of my hand, you'd never know that I cut the tip of my finger off just two short months ago. But I digress...

This month's theme for NaBloPoMo is food. You'd think stitching and food wouldn't mix. But there are loads of stitching designs for food.

The mother and daughter designers at Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks have given us Cherry Pie and Chocolate Shop (LHN) and The Bakery, Ice Cream Sunday, and Summer Strawberries (CCN). Marie's Garden reminds us to Eat Good Food. Fruit shows up in fruit bowls, della Robbia wreaths, and packs. Not to be outdone, Janet Powers Originals has a whole series of veggie still lifes including onions. Unsurprisingly, there are lots of cakes. Birthday cakes, cupcakes, blueberry cheesecake--all kinds of sweet treats. Candy is widely represented from candy corn to candy canes. We profess our love for candy and get more specific about where we spend our calories. You can even find a recipe for love. We're sometimes reminded of the drudgery associated with food. There are lots of messages about diet too; something for the Atkins adherent and those who know Weight Watchers' mantra and those in deep denial.

But our most food obsessed designer has to be Casey Buonaugurio, who has brought us these tasty treats:
Carrot Cake Sampler
Cherry Cheesecake Sampler
Chocolate Cake Sampler
Cupcake Sampler
Hot Cocoa Sampler
Irish Cream Sampler
Lemon Meringue Sampler
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Pink Plaid Pear
Strawberries and Cream Sampler
Taco Sampler.

Piece of Work

Piecework Magazine has turned a corner, I think. I actually read all the articles and didn't think, "man, they need an editor."

This month, the pincushion contest winners are featured. I like the winner, a biscornu with French knot berries and beaded edging pictured on the cover. But I am not that impressed with the cross stitched entries. Either the stitching on the others was defective or the judges were high--or influenced by the tatted edge--but I'm not crazy about the cross-stitch piece that won. But how about that knitted pincushion purse that opens to display scissors! The "pincushion" featuring tatting or lacemaking is groovy. And I can't believe the stumpwork camel only got an honorable mention. I guess you'd have to see these in person. They're on display in Kentucky from 8/1-11/30.

I was especially impressed by the article about Dorothy Reade who championed the symbol chart in knitting. The article about lace-making in Poland knows what the story is (how lacemaking brought the area out of poverty). (Many times the articles in Piecework are listlike or boing lacking story or purpose.) An article tracing the history of a sampler maker succeeds in making me care and finds the girl's life story. Anyway, a page-turner that I can recommend.

Month's End

This year is flying by. I don't know if it is because I didn't make any clear stitching goals this year or if it is the lack of stitching for the past few months but I feel like I haven't made a ton of progress. Clearly, I need goals.

July goals:

• finish Edgar's neighborhood RR
• start DD's rabbit RR
  
• 10 hours on the apple sampler
• 10 hours on 18th Century Knot Garden
• 10 hours on Snowman Stocking
• 10 hours on Anna's Bird
• bring the total of finished finishes to 8
• blog every day, sometimes about food
  

I did bring in four more pieces to be framed this weekend: the dude's anniversary present, Moon Garden, My Needle and Floss, and A to Z and in Between. Wait until you see Moon Garden. It's going to be spectacular.

Thanks

On Tuesday, I was looking ahead to taking pictures, so I didn't stop to say thank you for all your kind comments. That's been happening a lot to me lately because of the situation at work. I'm looking ahead and fighting imaginary battles. They tell you, in these cases, to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but I am so unimaginative that I cannot even think about how bad things can get. I told the big boss that I was unsatisfied in my discussions with the AVP. He told me he could review my job situation after July 17. Right, after you get a month's work for a low, low price. So I told him that was a long time to wait when I am being expected to do 60 hours worth of work. He said we can talk about it when the AVP returns. My cousin's husband keeps saying let them fire you, rather than quit, but I think they don't care how little work I do in protest of my treatment. I think something's better than nothing as far as they're concerned. Tomorrow he's going over the SWOT analysis with my "group." What a joke. I'll tell him what the biggest threat to my department is! My favorite part is that we've been told we can be honest because "there's no place for your name." Of course, if you're the only person in your department...

Anyway, derailed again. I came here to say thank you for all your comments on my picture gallery.

Thank you!

Abandoned

The dude took off to a conference in Chicago with the computer which means I will have to blog from work where I am ass-deep in it. My senior and junior colleagues are now long gone, making poor-you faces at me from their new desks and laughing their asses off. The good news is the evil AVP is off on a ten day holiday. The bad news is she has increased my responsibilities to 60 hours a week and refuses to discuss salary with me. The good news is I fully intend to go over her head while she is gone. In fact tomorrow. Hey, I gave her chances. And also, I have only been doing my regular jobs rather than work 60 hours a week. I think that's reasonable. Anyway, now you know why the posting has been erratic. Some days it's all I can do to sit upright at my desk and avoid weeping openly.

So anyway, no pictures til the dude returns*. Just boring old blather and whine, whine, whine from me.

*Too bad for Edgar because I've been working on his round robin. (DD, yours is next, promise!)

Pictures of Another Kind

It's the 25th tomorrow and time for more photographs. I think tomorrow's may be the most boring ever. I will be holed up in my office avoiding my evil boss and the dude is leaving for a conference in Chicago before I head to work. Oooh, but I will be picking up the farm share. So look forward to photos of my feet, the sky*, and some vegetables. Aren't you glad I own a camera?
You can see my previous photos here and here.

Photo courtesy of Shimelle; used by permission.

*Check out the pdf for the reference.

picture gallery

The Strawberry Sampler called on Saturday to say the pieces I brought in during their May framing sale were ready. Yay! I hopped right in the car so not another minute would go by without these lovelies in my house.

Trio of Hearts
Twisted Threads
Completed June 2004

You Are My Sunshine
La D Da
Completed June 30, 2006
Gift to the dude for our 5th anniversary

My Whole Heart
SamSarah Designs
Completed July 7, 2007
anniversary gift, 6th anniversary

And presenting, my favorite and yours
In the Tall Flowers
Liberty Street Designs
Completed February 21, 2008

Now I have about ten framed pieces for my stairway gallery. I need my mom to come help me hang. She has a way with these things.

Happily I have filled my second "discount card" at the store and will get 20% off. I have about 60 more pieces that need to be finished, mostly framed...

Counting Cross Stitch

You know I love it when the news media call cross stitch by some crazy variant on the name. Especially counter cross stitch. Today, google alerted me to a new variation:

Originally from North Carolina, Dampier and her husband, Dean, are the
parents of four children and eight grandchildren. Outside of volunteering, she
enjoys going to their beach house in Galveston, reading, counting cross stitch
and going to the Houston Symphony (emphasis added).

Counting Cross Stitch is a band from Berkeley. I hear they have a new song out called "You Can't Count On Me" about a woman who is having problems keeping track of her stitches on a project. They did a song "Round Here"--very popular--about the roundabout kits released by Heart in Hand Needleart. What you may not know is that Barbara was the muse for "On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago." Also, "Anna Begins"? Yeah, they know I have startitis and no will to finish my projects.

Of course the editor was probably trying to make the verbs parallel (going, reading, counting, going). However, if they took two seconds to find out how one constructs what one does when they do cross stitch, they may have been happier with "cross stitching" or "doing counted cross-stitch."

We Are Young Despite the Years

The dude and I went to the REM concert with a friend last night. After The National and Modest Mouse, these two girls behind us had this conversation:
"I hope these people stand up when the show starts."
"They won't. They're old."
"I hate going to old people's concerts."

I'd like to point out that we were all younger than Michael Stipe. The dude pointed out that they played a song about the Iran hostage crisis; "what can you girls tell me about that? I thought so." Later they were saying how hot Michael Stipe was and yelling for him to take off his shirt. Um, apparently they didn't know who the old people at the concert were.

Photo from Wikimedia.

More Sheep

Last week, we took care of Sissy's dog from Thursday to Saturday. When she arrived to pick up her pup on Saturday afternoon, she found us asleep on our couches trying to recover from the Day Out with Thomas. Yay-o loved it. Loved! It! And we got to spend the day with her. But it really tired us out.

I spent some time while the dude was doing his library homework (last class!) choosing the anniversary present. Given my late start and the state of my hand (improving but still not right), I've decided to do the 2001 Collector's Heart from Heart in Hand Needlearts. I had to order almost all the flosses. How do you get away with calling something a kit when it doesn't contain everything you need to stitch it?

I've been reading up a storm, but I've done a tiny bit on Curly Q Ewe from LHN. This is what it used to look like.

Making Up is Hard to Do

This one is making the rounds. Make-up is sort of a constant battle for me because I am an old-school feminist from a fashion-forward family. Even my sister tries to get me to wear more make-up.

Foundation: When I have to see my grandmother, I'll put on a bronzer or a tinted moisturizer
Mascara: My mother buys me expensive stuff for Christmas, but I love the pink and green tube.

Day Cream: Mostly in the winter
Favourite Make-up Product: If I only used one thing to enhance my face it would be eyeliner.
Perfume: SJP Lovely, Pacific Paradise and Sunset Heat from Escada (mmmm grapefruit), Hanae Mori Butterfly
Nails: Weak and brittle, I keep them short--but when the hand was bandaged, they grew long and showed how weak they were by curving into waves.
Hands: Right now they're a sight. But the stitches are out!
Feet: Because of the bunion surgery I have two completely differently shaped feet. I do like a pedicure, but don't get them as often as I'd like.
3 Products to bring to a deserted island: Sunscreen, books, potable water.
Women I admire for their beauty: I admire women for their intelligence, strength, and abilities, which may make them beautiful.
Women with the best sense of style: Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn. (They don't make them like they used to.)
My ultimate dream: To stop work and finish up projects around the house before dedicating my life completely to crafting.

How do I define womanhood: It's like pornography; I know it when I see it. (Spoken like someone who worked with MTF transgendered people...)

Favourite fashion publication: Go Fug Yourself

We Lived!

Um...Goals?

At the beginning of May, I had the audacity to record these goals:
May Goals
1. Finish My Needle and Floss
2. Bring the finish-finishing of 2008 up to eight items.
3. Work on some UFOs
4. Start the dude's anniversary present

I must have had a crazy moment of optimism to think I would do any of this! I'd just cut off my finger! Reviewing it does remind me to start the anniversary present. I think I'm going to go with the flow for the rest of the month (duh), but I'll make some goals for July.

My goal for today is to make it through the whole Thomas the Tank Engine brouhaha. The report last night was that she was Really! Excited! That will make it all worthwhile, won't it?

Stitch!

Tomorrow is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Look up your locality and go stitch.

Tomorrow is also the day we are taking my niece to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Strasburg. Depending on how much energy I have after taking a mildly retarded, hyperactive kid to see trains how late we get back, I may join the knitters at Ewe and I in Narberth.

New Stuff

Yesterday on a work break I perused the new releases on Hoffman's site. I made careful notes but my DSL was down when I got home last night so I could not share them with you.

• Bent Creek, Americana Angel: What the hell does she have in her mouth?
• La D Da, Zippity Do Da: A quick google search shows that the actual lyrics to "Song of the South" are Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. I just can't stitch it her way. Cannot.
• Nora Corbett, Letters from Nora: Love! (I know, seems so not me.) When will she get to the letters I need?
• Sam Sarah, Hip Hop Black Cat Doubles: Is it wrong to love the felt thing more than the stitched thing?
• Shepherd's Bush, Scatter Freedom: Um, is anyone else reminded of cluster bombs? It's all I can think of...
• Twisted Oaks, Patchwork Garden Pincushion Ball: I'm not so keen on the stitching, but how much do I love the finishing. Could this be the next biscornu? Stay tuned...

Hearts and Bones

I have been stitching a bit lately (since I got the finger turban) but mostly I've been reading. The action's been going on over here. I recently finished a historical mystery novel. Not my usual thing. I'm not going to consult the OED over this, but I am pretty sure calling someone a dumb-ass in the late eighteenth century may be historically inaccurate. And that sort of thing is why I don't normally read historical fiction of any subgenre. However, I read this one and I enjoyed it in the way one enjoys gummi candy.

If you've ever read Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers," this novel will seem familiar. (There's even the obligatory dead caged bird.)

In Hearts and Bones, the midwife-detective, Hannah Trevor, has access to evidence that the men don't. But the best part is the needlework is the most important evidence in solving the crime! Take that Monica Ferris! Margaret Lawrence has thought about embroidery in ways I can respect. At one point someone asks the midwife Hannah if she finds embroidery useless. Hannah defends it by saying when men do useless things it's called art. And the interlocutor responds, "I perceive you do some needlework yourself, Mrs. Trevor. You defend it very well." She does; she's a quilter and the title of the book refers to the quilt pattern she is currently working.

Later, Hannah writes in her diary, "Here I draw out in part the pattern of briar roses from [spoiler prevention: a person's] crewelwork, which I saw on the pocket in Mrs. Emory's room. It is a woman's kind of proof, but proof it is, and no man would think to record it." Okay, okay, it takes Glaspell's short story and beats the dead horse. Still the pattern is kind of cool, and if I didn't have WIPs out the ying I'd stitch it up as a little rememberance of a mystery that really uses needlework as the solution.

Nancy Pearl recommended this book because it is set in Maine. Maybe I just don't know Maine all that well, or 18th century Maine, but I thought this could have been set anywhere where it snows a lot.

Big Sale in NH

Those who find themselves in or near Center Harbor, NH will find all kinds of excitement at the Keepsake Quilting Summer Tent Sale. (I'm pretty sure there's no Winter Tent Sale.) 70% off fabric! There are some allusions to the fact that it's more than just quilting. Knitters, you know them as Patternworks. Cross-stitchers recognize the name from Keepsake Needle Arts. (But the poor scrappers, Keepsake Paper Crafts is going out of business.) You can read about last year's fun here.

I can't be there this year, maybe next. I'll get my cousin the engineer (yes, she's gone back to work!) to start thinking about how best to cram fabric into a zip-top bag (apparently you can buy as much as you can get in a bag for $5.)

Highlights include a fabric auction, games, and great prices. Because in New England, people are cheap and you have to price things low.

More on the Challenge

I have written twice to Tracy Riffle, the designer of the pattern I had hoped to use for the challenge, and I have heard nothing from her. So I am going to keep looking for something else we can use. At any rate, we have to wait until I'm stitching again.

Which may be sooner than I think. I had the big bandage removed today. Now I have a bandaid on the stitches on the side of my hand and a little turban on my middle finger. The ugly bruise on my palm where they shot me up with novocaine is laid bare. I might see how a little stitching goes tonight. But first I had to walk to the library. And it's a much longer walk than I thought; 3.4 miles according to google maps. A book I requested was in and our car has a flat tire which we discovered when we fired up the Civic last night.

Yeah, yesterday was the day of suck. (Or shitty island, because the dude is reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.) Besides the flat, we were late picking up the CSA--according to the guy whose house we had to go to. (All my e-mails said 7:00 pm, but you don't want to piss off the volunteers). It was raining, okay pouring. And we discovered the flat as we pulled out of the driveway to go get the vegetables. We had to walk. I also had to skip the annual meeting of my alumnae club since there's just the one car. And after two blissful and productive days of working from home, I went to work in the office which is rapidly losing its appeal. I think I'm working for Machiavelli, and even my temperate mother-in-law thinks it's a farce.

The Random Integer is 19

N-n-n-n-n-nineteen.

The sisterhood is moving north to Canada: Wendy is our winner.

The dude will be slightly disappointed because he thought it should go to Africa or South America. I'm sure Wendy will have this piece speedily stitched up and ready to move on soon. So bookmark her site and keep an eye on her progress.

From Hip to be Squared

What is in the back of your car? A southeastern Pennsylvania atlas, a squeegee, an ice scraper, a roll of paper towels, two empty soda bottles, an empty McDonald's cup.
What color is your toothbrush? blue
Name one person that made you smile today? It's early for smiling yet.
What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Waiting at the bus stop.
What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Turning on my computer.
What is your favorite candy bar? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Have you ever been to a strip club? No, my friends brought the stripper to me.
What is the last thing you said aloud? Uh huh.
What is the best ice cream flavor? Moose Tracks
What was the last thing you had to drink? a glass of water
What are you wearing right now? A brown skirt with green leaves and red and blue flowers with a brown sleeveless jersey and an olive green sweater.
What was the last thing you ate? an English muffin with cashew butter.
Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Yes, a swim trunks for the dude.
When was the last time you ran? I sort of jogged to the bus stop when I thought we were missing the bus.
The last sporting event you watched? French open
What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Kettle Corn
Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on Myspace? I don't do Myspace.
Ever go camping? Yes. But I don't think I shall do it again.
Do you take vitamins daily? No, don't tell my dad.
Do you go to church every Sunday? No, don't tell my mom (just joking, she knows)
Do you have a tan? No. I'm a little peely-wally these days.
Do you like Chinese food over pizza? Yes.
Do you drink your soda with a straw? Sometimes
What did your last text message say? That chess bitch sent u a book. (The dude won a round of fantasy chess. I know! He asked Shahade to sign it and she congratulated him on winning the fantasy chess and told him to teach chess to all the women in his life. I've declined, but maybe he can interest the others.)
Are you some-one's best friend? I hope so.
What are you doing tomorrow? Going to the doctor.
Look to your left, what do you see? A bookacase full of magazines, a photo of the dude and my dad, a photo of the dude and me at our wedding, and a piece of art best pal gave me.
What color is your watch? the face is dark forest green
What do you think of when you think of Australia? Miles Franklin.
Do you use chap stick? I have a lot of lip balms; one of the ones in my nightstand is a Chap Stick.
What is your birthstone? Opal
What is your favorite number? 6
Do you have a dog? No :(
Last person you talked to on the phone? Kiki
Have you met anyone famous? Sure.
Any plans today? After work I have to go an Annual Meeting for my alumnae club. But first I have to pick up the veg from the CSA.
How many states have you lived in? Four.
Ever go to college? Yes.
Do you dye your hair? Well, I pay someone to do that for me.
Biggest annoyance in your life right now? The bandage on my right long finger.
Last song listened to? Romeo Void, "Just Too Easy." (We were listening to Fred in my sister's car.)
Can you say the alphabet backwards? Yes.
Do you have a maid service clean your house? Yes.
Are you jealous of anyone? Yes, the people leaving my office for better jobs.
Is anyone jealous of you? Wouldn't you be?
Do you love anyone? Yes.
Do any of your friends have children? Almost all.
Do you eat healthy? No.
What do you usually do during the day? Work, write.
Do you hate anyone that you know right now? No, hating takes too much energy.
Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes.
What color is your car? Black.
Do you like cats? No, I'm allergic.
Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes.
How did you get your worst scar? Right now it was having bunion surgery but we'll have to see how the skin graft heals...

May 25

I never did get around to showing the photos from my day o' pictures last month. All that spending time with my MIL got in the way.

Up a little later today. We've got nothing in the house for breakfast, so I toasted some stale crusty bread (Don't tell, but I cut it with a very sharp knife.) Then we went outside to work in the garden. The dude and MIL conditioned the soil. My job was to line up the plants. We got them all in.


Then we cleaned ourselves up and went to Chanticleer.

We had dinner at the General Lafayette Inn and Brewery, which was empty because of Memorial Day. I had the Buffalo chicken cheesesteak. From left, MIL (lamb sirloin), the dude (fish and chips), Sissy (crab cake sandwich). Then Sissy took us for a drive to see Erdenheim Farm. We drove by the Morris Arboretum and saw this field of poppies an installation by Gary G. Miller. All in all a very relaxing evening.

Weekend

This was me at reunion:
"Kitchen accident."
"Not exactly, you know the mandoline slicer?"
"Yes, the whole tip."
"No, it was too small."
"Skin graft."
"I had surgery yesterday/Friday."
"Vicodin."

Every once in a while I had a really interesting conversation with someone and that made it all worthwhile. Plus, each visit is always like an Amway meeting--I come away more invigorated and more in love with my school.

When I came home Sunday afternoon, I took a nap. Then read. Then slept...perhaps I overdid it on Saturday. Then we took my MIL to the airport. I'll miss her. It was so helpful to the dude to have her around. (And I got to impress her with the American medical system. Sure it's expensive, but sometimes you get what you pay for.)

I saw the doctor and they checked on infection in the area where they took the graft. None. Then they rewrapped my hand. If it is at all possible, I am wearing an even bigger bandage on my middle finger now. They'll take off all the bandages for a look on Thursday, but I think I am going to be bandaged for 7-10 days.

I'll be posting some pics from old projects over the next few days so I don't lose the few readers I have left.

Hand Model

I want to thank you all for your wishes for my recovery. I'll keep you posted on how things are going. But I have to give props to the dude and his mum who have been fabulous to me.

Last night, I bullied best pal, who is in town for our 20th reunion, into visiting. She asked if she could bring anything for me. "Ice cream!" I shouted with abandon. Because I had asked the dude, and I knew he wasn't thrilled with the idea but he had already done so much. She showed up with 3 pints of Ben & Jerry. And you wonder why I love her so much.

This is taking forever. I'm signing off for a while.

Surgery Tomorrow

Sigh. I had thought it wouldn't end this way. The good news is that this should help the whole caboodle heal faster.

She's Packing Her Bags

I've been stitching!

And I have finished Flossie, as I've been calling this sister. I know you are looking at her and thinking, "What is with the clown clothes? Is she the new female Ronald McDonald?"

But I stitched her to have pride of place in the new craft room. Not so silly now, hey gringo?


So she's ready to move on. Please comment on this post, and I will use a random number generator on June 4th to see where she's off to on her crazy world tour!

Wonderful Weekend...Crap Tuesday

I could spend all day telling you what a wonderful, relaxing weekend I had but my boss--the good one--told us she is leaving. She'll be here until mid-June then I get to deal with the wicked grandboss directly and on my own. Things may really deteriorate here, people. I will have a finish to show tonight so you can look forward to more than me bellyaching. Courage!

Another Photo Op

I've already taken my first photo this morning. Others to follow: MIL and the dude in our new garden, then the three of us at Chanticleer Garden, maybe us having dinner with Sissy, and I think, maybe a finish. You heard right! I started stitching again last night, and I think something may be done soon.


Photo by Shimelle; used by permission.

Follow the Links!

Sometimes I think people are reading my mind. By which of course I mean to refer to this guest, or this one, but not the current one. Though her little pigeon laugh will get on my nerves before the visit is through. Why am I not a better person?

Hello, I'm Your Hostess, Cupcake*

I frequently talk about how talented my cousin is in the cake decorating department, and today I'm finally making good on showing off her talents. These are some cupcakes she made for me this weekend. She "owed" me a birthday cake, and I was hosting the alumnae knitting group (total bust), since I am the invalide I asked her to make cupcakes for the gtg. I saw the flowers on Bakerella and forwarded them to her, but she found the butterflies in a book called Hello, Cupcake! (which I was trying to win for her at Bakerella's site. Well, at least I don't feel any pressure now in that regard.) The butterflies are chocolate and tasted awesome. The flowers are cute, but are made with candy melts. There are worse things you could eat...but look at what a gorgeous display of cake and confectionary I had!

I visited the doctor today, and it looks like I may not have to have a skin graft after all--and that's the word of the fully trained doc, not the pessimistic resident. We'll know more in ten days. They encouraged me to wear a bandaid instead of a bandage. They want me to bend my finger more. I still can't hit keys with it. I keep trying for the "i" and getting a "9;" I'm getting warmer...

*In college, I once had a party where we made people wear nametags. I ended up wearing one that said "I'm your hostess, Cupcake." The play was on Hostess and was lost on many of our midAtlantic guests who ate (shudder) Tastykakes.

For Coral

Regarding the celebrity face in cross stitch, Coral said she might stitch someone famous, like Marilyn Monroe. Which reminds me...

Given how regularly I make fun of the B-list celebrity face in cross stitch, I probably should be embarrassed to show you this. But I'm not. Because it's not a face. Not a whole face. The pattern is by Dimples Designs. It's Marilyn Monroe, but my dad, a huge fan for whom I stitched this, didn't recognize her. But he did appreciate how many tiny exes there are; it's stitched over one on 22 count fabric with the called for DMC.

And I think David Tennant's mum getting a cross stitch of his face from one of her friends is brill...I might have to rent the DVD!

Stats

Last night the dude asked me what "google analytics" was. So I was showing him the stats on this blog. In the last 6 months, someone has visited from every state in the U.S. (California is the top, New York second, then PA) and a surprising number (to him) of countries from all over the globe. We were looking to see if anyone visited from Durham where the dude grew up (no, but Darlington, Newcastle, and Sunderland residents stop by). Then we were looking at N.H. where I grew up. People, I have what can only be described as a HUGE following in West Lebanon, N.H. More people visit from West Leb (pop 12,000) than Los Angeles (Glendale even). I'm thinking Hanover doesn't show up on the map, and that a handful of students or staff or faculty at Dartmouth are reading but using different computers and showing up as unique visitors. Or maybe I'm going to go to West Lebanon and be honored as the conquering hero (maybe you remember me as the girl who handed out Kudos bars at the grocery store when they were first introduced). Or maybe a bunch of kids at Kimball Union are just really, really bored. So, if you are visiting from West Lebanon or the surrounding community, do tell! Is my URL on the bathroom wall at Four Aces Diner?

The dude is also utterly convinced that my visitors from places like Bulgaria and Ghana* and Egypt are expats. So, a poll which is up there ^^^^. I can't make blogger put it down here. Also, I haven’t researched this so maybe I could but I am lazy today with the rain.

My MIL arrives today for 16 days. Don't forget I adore her. It might be rude to blog the whole time she's here. I will try to keep you up to date on the finger—doctor's appointment Monday.

Edited: *Oops, they speak English (officially) in Ghana. So change that to Brasil.

The Nine Fingered Pedant Strikes Again

This week's SBQ is:
For seasoned stitchers: Define a stitching term or acronym for new stitchers.
Because I so rarely do exactly as I am told, I am going to undefine an alleged acronym. Lots of people have claimed (okay, I've seen it twice) that ort stands for Old Ratty Thread. No, it does not; that's a false etymology. Ort is a word in English. Go ahead, check the dictionary; I'll wait. I hate to say I told you so... (no I don't) but you should do more crossword puzzles.

I am a member of the yahoo group Stitching Bloggers, and I'm supposed to answer questions, which I never do.
Which of these do you prefer to use when stitching, and why? Hoop frames Q-snap frames Laptop/Tabletop stand or Needlework Stand.
None of the above. I stitch in hand. I like touching the fabric.
What's your favorite guilty pleasure? I won that list book with this list of guilty pleasures:
1. sour cherry balls
2. [redacted]
3. lying on the bed still wet after the shower and air drying
4. Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name"
5. reading so intently I can't hear what's going on around me
What is your least favorite household chore? Dude, all of them. That's why they're called chores.

Someday I'll be interesting again. I swear.
Also, if you got a random e-mail from facebook telling you that you should join, that was me. You won't recognize the name at all. Apparently my mother is a more sophisticated facebook user than I am. Apologies.