Marvelous Monday Update 2/6/2012

As you may have noticed, I have a new look to my blog. I thought it was time to change it up a little. I'm still in the process of tweaking it. This is an older template so the advanced design features of blogger don't work with it. What's that mean for me? It means I have to change the HTML code for some things in order to get them to work (like the tabs in the upper right corner). What do you think of my new look?

WEATHER
Phil says, six more weeks of winter. Really? Thanks to El Nina, we've been experiencing weather unheard of for January. Way above normal temps. Last year at this time, we were digging out of a blizzard. This year, there's hardly any snow on the ground. With weather like this, I'll take six more weeks of winter!


STITCHY STUFF
I received mailart from my exchange partner last week. What's funny about it is I used the same chart to create mailart for the exchange, who was a different person! The piece I did can be seen HERE and HERE. I really like what Connie did for my mailart:

Don'tcha just love those tiny scissors?


DMC has 24 NEW shades of the Color Variations floss line coming out soon. You know what that means, don't you? More stash! A color chart for Color Variations can be dowloaded HERE.




I made some good progress on JG last week. I really like how it's coming along.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.
GIVEAWAY
Mary Louise is hoping to reach 100 followers. When she does, she'll be sending out a giveaway. Check out her latest stitching and Holly the kitty at Stitchey Stuff!

COOKING
Last week, Vickie talked about trying out a Zuppa Tuscana (love that name!) soup in the crockpot. Crockpot cooking is awesome -- easy, peasy -- throw the stuff in and go. I did a quick research on Zuppa Tuscana and apparently it's served at Olive Garden.


Doesn't it look good? I did change it up a little... I have another recipe that adds spices to turkey and it ends up tasting *just* like sausage. So, I added those and did a few other tweaks. Yummo!

What does nori, shoyu, gari, and, rice vinegar have in common?

Sushi!!
I love sushi! It only took me about an hour to make a huge platter of sushi this past weekend. Again, Yummo!

VALENTINES
I participated in a good old fashioned Valentine's Day exchange. SNS2 hosted a Historical Valentine Exchange whereby the participants create a valentine with supplies on hand. I received a valentine from Kari in Canada:


I thought she did a really creative job in making this valentine for me. I like how she used the torn paper wording. I'll have to remember that idea!

I made a valentine for Char in PA. As you can see, I'm not so creative in the papercrafts. Even so, she said she liked it so much it has a special place on her mantle. I'm glad she likes it!


To all of my readers, Valentine's Day isn't just for couples!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Until next time,

I Was Caught!

I'm a big fan of Gail's blog, My Repurposed Life. I've emailed her a time or two with questions I've had, which she graciously answered. Remember my "facelift" from a couple weeks ago?

Well, I was CAUGHT by Gail!

Click on the button,
and scroll about halfway down the list ☺

Birthday Drive-By

♫♪♫ I had a really nice birthday! ♪♫♪ Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. This year, I participated in two Birthday Floss Club exchanges.

First up are the lovely cards/floss received from CSE:


I also received a LOT of lovely cards and floss from the Stitching Sisters group:


I've been eyeballing the Jardin Prive charts for a long time. With a lot of prodding and pushing encouragement from my Stitching Sisters, I splurged and bought the charts as a combination graduation/birthday gift to myself.

Sampler aux Bouquet I
Sampler aux Bouquets II
Sampler aux Bouquets III
I plan on stitching them as one long sampler like this:


I received a very cute stitched card and some floss from Berly. Even though we've "known" each other for a longggg time, we didn't meet in person until the 2010 ILCS retreat in St. Louis.

Thank you for thinking of me, Berly!
I even received cards from Discover and Menards! Menards sent me a gift certificate for 14-piece LED lighted screwdriver set. Every time I am in Menards, I have to swipe my Big Card for a chance to win whatever vehicle they're giving away. It's become a joke between the BF and I as to WHO is going to get the vehicle when I win, LOL.


Also, the local movie theater emailed me a certificate for a free admittance to a movie for my birthday.

To end my birthday day, the BF brought over pizza. He said that since it was my birthday, I shouldn't have cook. Awww, ain't that sweet? For a gift, he hinted that he got me something I had said I wanted... Hmmm, what could that be?

A Thera-P Percussion Massager!
Indeed, I have been looking at these things for at least a year. With my neck and shoulder problems, I thought maybe one of these would help with the pain I always have. I LOVE this thing! It has a heat setting, as well as a low/high massage setting that gives a wonderful, deep tissue massage.

My birthday isn't quite over yet! The BF also plans on taking me out to eat this weekend. ☺ Ah, to be spoiled...

Until next time,

Tuesday Tidbits 1/24/2012

That's right... ME!

SCHOOL
Did you think you were done reading about my educational adventures? Guess what came in the mail last week? My diploma!! I was so happy. As my coworker said: "It makes it more real, doesn't it?" It certainly does! Tucked inside the folio, was my transcript and declarations of the degree. Ahhh, life is good!


WEATHER
On Friday, it snowed and snowed and snowed! It snowed all day and by the time Mother Nature was finished, I had about 7-8" of very fluffy white stuff on my driveway. I went out around 5pm to start shoveling and snowblowing. Bless her little teenage heart, my neighbor girl helped me with the shoveling for about an hour or so. I finished the final snowblowing at 7:30pm. I was so cold, I could barely feel my thumbs!


COOKING
After meals, I accumulate the leftover veggies in plastic container and store them in freezer until there's enough for a pot of soup. Since the cold weather set in, I made vegetable beef barley soup in the crockpot on Friday. What was in the soup, you ask? OK, maybe you didn't ask but I'm going to tell anyway ☺. Broccoli stalks (chopped up), celery, corn, carrots, onion, green beans, potato, and itty-bitty pieces of beef. I added barley toward the end of the cooking time... Yummo. It turned out wonderfully delicious!


See that cute little bowl? It's about the size of a large ramekin. I specifically went treasure hunting for ramekins, but found a 3-piece set of these for $1.49! Not $1.49 each, but for all of them. When I got home, I looked at the bottom and noticed they're from Pier One. New, these bowls would cost $6-7 each. What a deal, eh?

Why was I looking for ramekins? Because I wanted to try my hand at French Onion Soup. It was a bit time consuming to make, but well worth it. Topped with toasted french bread and melted cheese, boy-oh-boy was it tasty!

I'm not a novice cook, however sometimes I think I need a sticker like this. I carmelized the onions for the aforementioned soup in my oven. The pot lid was supposed to be cracked to release the steam, however it must've slid closed when I pushed the rack back in. When I checked the onions the next time, I wasn't thinking. I opened the pan lid and steam rushed out, burning my wrist. I have first degree burns from that lapse in judgement! Ouchie. Note to Self: Do not open hot, steamy pot with wrist in way.

Later as I was cleaning up, I separated the blades of my kitchen shears and put them in the sink to be washed. You *know* where this is going, right? While washing the dishes, I thought I poked myself with the tip of the scissors. Didn't really hurt much so I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until later in the evening, I noticed I had cut my ring finger on the blade of the scissors! Of course, it's in the right spot that gets the pressure from using the keyboard and calculator! Double ouchie. Can I call in sick at work for this? LOL Second Note to Self: It's probably best not to put the scissors in a sink full of water, especially when the BF *just* sharpened them a couple weeks ago.

STITCHY STUFF
More exciting news! Remember my Little Snowman finish from last week? I emailed Loretta at Stitching the Night Away to show her what I did with her chart. She asked if she could put it in her gallery. How awesome is that? You can see it HERE and read what she said. I also found out that my ornament was featured on Craft Gossip, HERE. I am so stoked!

Last week, I received a stitchy surprise in the mail from Sharon at Cross Stitch Obsession. She said she saw it and immediately thought of me... how sweet of her! What was it, you ask? Oh yeah...


Over the weekend, I worked on Blossom Splendor. All the flowers and confetti stitches are complete. I've stitched all the way over to the left side and down to the bottom. All that's left is filling in various areas. I think I have about another week's worth and the stitching part will be complete. Then I have some Krenik and beading to do before I can do the happy dance jiggity-jig.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.
This week, I'll be concentrating on JG. So stay tuned for next week's update ☺

Now that my first 2012 finish has reached it's destination in Belgium, I can show the mailart I created for Patricia. The theme was "Stitchers Mailart" so I created this:

Designer: Prairie Schooler Book 115
Fabric: 18ct Hand-dyed Aida
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: Pearl Snaps

FAMILY
More news about my nephew. The doctor(s) found a 4th broken vertebrae. He will have to be in a back brace for the next 16 weeks, and need a hospital bed for his home recovery. Thankfully, he landed flat on his back from the 20+ foot height, otherwise he may be paralyzed right now. Poor kid. Thanks for all your well wishes last week. They were appreciated.

Until next time,

TUSAL 1/23/2012

I just love these old canning jars. It's not often I find them with lids. When I do, I snatch them up.


I chose a pint size one for the 2012 Totally Useless SAL coordinated by Daffycat.

My jar contains threads from:
• Japanese Garden... pretty pastels and sparkly #4 Krenik braid
• Little Snowman... whites, blues, and orange
• Blossom Splendor... blues, purples, and greens
• Oh, and a mailart... reds, browns, and other muted colors

Wow, I've done a lot of stitching so far this month!