Marvelous Monday Update 2/25/13

WEATHER
Aye-Aye-Aye!!  All across the midwest has been hammered with snow in the past couple of weeks.  So far in February, we here in northwest Illinois have gotten 15" which is 9" above average for the month.  Yet we're still 8" below average for meteorological winter.  Last week, I headed to work and got about 12 miles from home before deciding turn around and go back home.  It took me an hour round trip!  Heavy winds caused white out conditions.  The rain from the afternoon before had created an inch (or more) of ice on the highway and then it snowed on top of it.  Two days later, I woke up to 4.5" of snow on my driveway.  Starting at 4am, I cleared snow... and more snow... and more snow.  Two and a half hours later, I went to work.  By the time I got home from work, there was another inch or so that had to be cleared off.  Now forecasters are saying another snow storm is headed our way.  Snow shoveling counts as strength training, right?

STITCHY NEWS
Even though I've been working on Welcome to My Home, it doesn't seem (to me) to be much progress so I'm holding off on a photo for another week or so.  Since I had a "snow day" on Tuesday, I took advantage of my day off by stitching on Japanese Garden.  I've made quite a bit of progess.  Thirty more minutes of backstitching and I'll have the entire top section of JG finished except for the beadwork.  Here's what it looked like when I left off last November:

And here's what it looks like now:

I started a Hardanger SAL over the weekend.  I'm blaming it on Pam, lol.  I've only done a little bit of Hardanger so I thought this might be a good way to become more familiar with it.  The frogs hit full force. I had originally stitched the center parts in a dark and medium purple, but after seeing it I didn't like how it looked.  Throughout stitching the project, I kept having to rip out and redo stitches.  It was not fun :(  I only have a lazy daisy flower left to do in the upper right corner.

Not sure why the photo looks pinkish.  The thread is actually DMC 211, which is lavender.  The fabric is white.  Not bad for my foray into hardanger.

That's all this week.

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 2/18/13

Happy Monday!!  It's been a couple weeks since my last update.  How've you been?

WORK
It's been 60 days since I started my new job.  It's gone by so fast and it feels so comfortable... that I've been there many years.  We had another birthday potluck/treat day last week to celebrate the February birthdays.  I tried out a new recipe.  Fudge Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting.  Work starts at 8am.  By 8:15, there were only 3 left.  By 10am, they were all gone!  Since I had lots of frosting left over, I made more cupcakes over the weekend.

A tidbit of infomation: Walmart sells Wilton decorating supplies. JoAnn Fabric sells Wilton decorating supplies. Walmart sells the large decorating tips, but not the couplers to go with them. JoAnn Fabrics sells the large coupler, but not the tips. Go figure! I imagine the JoAnn Fabrics Superstores probably have the tips, but the smaller stores do not.



MORE COOKING
Last week, Valerie at FogCity Dweller mentioned on her blog that she made Curried Shrimp Chowder. Like Valerie, I felt that some changes were needed. I added a little over 2 times more curry, extra basil, canned roasted tomatoes, extra garlic, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch as a thickener. I also used a 12oz package of shrimp.  I also left out the celery because I didn't feel like buying an entire bunch of celery and use one stalk for the soup.  I added celery seed as a substitute.  If I were to make this again, I think I'd leave out the coconut milk and use cream of chicken soup instead and would add more bacon - maybe just another strip. All that aside, it tasted pretty good and made a huge batch.

RANT
Remember at the end of December, I was privvy to that huge snowstorm? I had someone with a plow truck come and clean my driveway. He pushed the snow onto part of the sidewalk. Then, I was sick for 3 weeks and didn't get the snow cleaned off. I came home from work one day with a notice taped to my front door saying that I could pay the $20 fine or appear in court for violation of the snow ordinance. I paid the fine. The court date was 2/14.

When I went to the post office last Saturday, there was a notice for a fine of $75 for a "failure to appear" in city court! Argh!!! So, now I'm going to have call and chew some butt and get that thing revoked. Can you say one hand not talking to the other? (i.e. City Finance Dept vs. City Attorney... who's a putz to begin with)

STITCHY STUFF
Once again, I've been procrastinating over working on Japanese Garden.  I don't know why I do this because once I get started, I enjoy working on it.  Last week, I started a new project called Stars Over Pines.  I finished it last night -- my third finish of this year.  Since I stitched it over-one, it ended up being about 2 1/2 x 3" in size.

 

Stars Over Pines

Designer: Blue Ribbon Designs

Fabric: 28ct Silkweaver Opalescent Lugana - Ivory Shimmer

Fibers: GAST, WDW, DMC

Stitched One-Over-One

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 2/4/13

WEATHER
I think Mother Nature and Father Winter have been at each other lately! It's the only explanation of why we've had a 67F temperature swing in two days. Last Monday and Tuesday, it rained like cats and dogs. The temp was 60F on Tuesday. When I got up on Wed, it was -7F! We've gotten at least 10" of accumulated snow over the past week. That includes the 4" of snow I had to shovel off my driveway at 4am this morning!

STITCHY STUFF
It's been two weeks since I showed progress on my work project, Welcome Banner. This is one of those kits that uses full stitches and then uses backstitching over part of the full stitches to outline. I really don't care for the look of those kinds of charts so I've been creating fractional stitches... a lot of them. I think it makes all the difference.

Other WIP photos can be seen HERE.
I pulled out Eight Immortals and spent a week working on it. I've made quite a bit of progress. Here's what it looked like last November when I last worked on it:

and here's what it looks like now:

Isn't she beautiful?

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 1/27/13

Woo Hoo!  Another marvelous Monday, isn't it? 

Not much happened last week, except... it was my birthday!!  My parents took me out to eat, the BF got me my favorite perfume, and I received lots of awesome birthday emails/ecards from friends around the world.

I participated in two birthday exchanges this year.  Look at all the flossy goodness!

From the i-love-cross-stitch group:

From the i-love-cross-stitching group:

I even received cards from Menards and the Literacy Council (where I teach ESL students), and my new employer.  Menards sent me a coupon for a 15-piece craft knife set.

My friend Faith sent me a huge hank of Victorian Sampler floss along with a card.  She is so sweet!

Once a month, my employer has a day where we celebrate the birthdays for the month.  On that day, everyone except for the birthday people brings in food and it ends up being a large potluck.  We celebrated the January birthdays last Friday.  There was soooo much food... and it was so good!

STITCHY STUFF
Did you hear it?  The cheers of accomplishment... The happy dancing?  I finished Part III of Sampler aux Bouquets!  The entire piece is now finished.  Yay!!

 

To see photos of this journey, click HERE.

 

Sampler aux Bouquets I, II, and III

Designer: Jardrin Prive
Fabric: 32ct White Evenweave
Fibers: DMC
It ended up being 29" long and about 10" tall.  Since it's finished, I'll set out on my journey to find the perfect frame.  Wish me luck!

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 1/21/13

WORK
A few have asked about the new job. It is going well! Just the other day, I was thinking to myself, "It's nice to work for a company where morale is good and coworkers seem happy." Going home at the end of each day knowing I had a productive one is also a plus! (As opposed to sitting around twiddling my thumbs wondering when my job will be eliminated.) Recently, we received an email that my new employer was giving everyone a Happy New Year gift:

Since the dress code is very casual, I'll be able to wear it to work... almost anything goes as long as it's not offensive and body parts aren't hanging out.

FRUGAL MAKEUP TIPS
Have you ever bought lipstick and it turned out being one of your favorite colors? Then the cosmetic company doesn't make it anymore?! Why?!! When you get to the bottom of your favorite tube, you can make it go a bit farther. One way is to use a lipstick brush and swipe it out. Another way is to make lip gloss with it. Yep, that's right! Take a small bit of petroleum jelly (and I mean small... like 1/2 tsp or less) and put it in a small plastic sandwich bag -- push it down into a corner. Then take your almost gone lipstick and scoop out the remainder from the tube. Put it into the plastic bag with the petroleum jelly and twist the bag so that it all stays in the corner. Smoosh it up until the color is distributed evenly in the jelly. Once mixed, snip the corner and squeeze it into a small container with a lid. I used a contact lens case. Petroleum jelly makes for soft lips and you still have your favorite lip color! Cool, huh?

I don't know about you, but it seems like my mascara thickens up way before it should. Is there a fix? Multi-purpose contact lens solution! A few drops in the tube will make the mascara less thick and extend tube usage a bit longer. (You should replace your mascara every 6 months, though, to reduce chances of eye infection.)

STITCHY STUFF
Last week, I think I spent just as must time frogging as I did stitching. Whoever sent the frogs... thanks. Could you please take them back now? Because I am sooooo close to finishing Sampler aux Bouquets! Here's the progress:

Other progress pics can be seen HERE.
I brought my lunch hour work project home so I could take a photo and show you its progress. Doesn't look like much progress after 2.5 hours of stitching, does it?

I received word that my first finish of 2012 arrived at its new home so now I can show it off:

For Sue in VA
Design: Christmas Cardinal
Designer: Stoney Creek
Fabric: 14ct Zweigert White with Silver Metallic Aida
Fibers: DMC, Kreinik
Embellishments: Handmade Cording, Snowflake buttons
Yep, just like the one I made Glenda at Christmas. Now, I just have to make one for myself. I really like this design!

Until next time,