Lots of choices and Prep Work

 Whew!  I'm tired.  Today was a day to dig through my fabric stash and look for fabrics for a couple of projects.  One is the December block swap.  I have it fused down but not stitched yet.

Then I have newest Christmas wall hanging.  It is called Be Merry and Bright

I have the tree all stitched down. 

Next up is the penguins.  This is roughly how it will look.  

I haven't finished fusing the penguins down so it might change up a little bit.  We'll see.  After that it will be time to figure out the fabrics for the lettering.  I've seen pictures of people who have finished up the wall hanging and there was a wide variety of options.  Some made the letters in two different colors, some changed up the colors for every letter, and some just did it with all one color.  I'm not sure which option I will use.

I know that some of you have asked me about my Blackwork.  I haven't finished this weeks but here is an updated pix for you.  Sorry it is not that great of a pix but you will get the idea.

Are you ready for some cute pictures?  I've been on an otter kick lately and these pictures are so cute.  At least I think they are.  Have fun and I hope it puts a smile on your face.

Have to love hugs, right?

I'm tired now and as I look over at the clock I see it is about 2 p.m.  That seems to be around the time each day that I end up running out of steam.  

Oops!

Before I go, I found some other things that I wanted to share.  Isn't this a cute pattern?  I might have enough materials on hand to do it.  Not sure yet.

This is such a great idea for kids or for a holiday breakfast!

Remember:

 

Cooking at 11 p.m.

 Yep.  You read that right.  It is 11 p.m. and I'm in the kitchen cooking up some things.  Well not exactly cooking right now since I'm typing this post.  LOL.

So what am I cooking?  I wanted to make a new recipe tomorrow which called for enchilada sauce and I was out.  So I decided to whip up some before going to bed.  If you need the recipe again, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Then I read the recipe and it also calls for taco seasoning.  I think I have enough of that, but I bookmarked my recipe so I can make more tomorrow.  I will let you know the results.  

Now that I have my plans for tomorrow figured out, perhaps my brain will decide that I can go to bed.  I have to call Dan at 8 a.m. tomorrow so that HE can get started on stuff HE needs to do.  I will probably work on stitching down the tree for my Be Merry and Bright wall hanging.  I'll show that to you in my next post.  I am doing it a little bit different but we'll see how it turns out.

So for now, I'll say good night and leave you to get your sleep as well.

Talk to you later.

Words to think on...

 As I was running across some crafting websites, one of them said something that struck a cord with me.

The line was:  "Choosing embroidery is choosing a certain way of life."  This was said at the end of a video on Chinese embroidery.  Here is the link in case you wish to watch it.

https://youtu.be/fSv0bXxoty0?si=iXioFcP0r4LWBpNg

"This week I went to Zhenhu, a small town 26km away from Suzhou. This is the origin place for Suzhou embroidery. For over 2000 years, from replacing the function of tattoo for our ancestor to decorating the Chinese home and clothes, this handcraft has been passed down by countless generations."  It is great to think that there was a part of the area for those that were doing craft work.  I can't believe how many hours those women put into doing stitchery and then went home to still do their housework and family obligations.  They were certainly doing it as a labor of love (and that they sell them to get money doesn't hurt either).

While this was a video about someone's journey about embroidery, that quote stuck with me because it is true, in my opinion, for most of our crafts.  Quilting has been with us for a long time and will be, I know, but how many other crafts are out there where the craft is being held up by a few people.  As stated in the video, many young people might still be involved in crafts but not the actual making of things.  It seems a lot of people are more interested in the behind the scenes part of the craft.  The picture taking, the budgetary part, the mailing part, or perhaps the video taking parts.  Don't get me wrong, those are very important parts too.  I do not want anybody to think that I am putting down those aspects of the craft.  Without that the word of the crafts wouldn't be spread around the world as easily.

Just something that was on my mind.  As we move forward, let us not forget about those who came before us and what they did without the modern conveniences that most of us have.

What? Another post so soon? Yeppers!

     I had to go into the craft room the other day to try and find something that I needed.  I posted about that the other day.  The good news was that I found the needles that I was looking for.  The bad news was that I had to semi clean up the room because I made a worse mess, if that was possible, than it was before!  So what did I decide to do?  Display some of the old/early crafting things I uncovered again, and time to put away the DMC floss that I had pulled out for various projects.  What did I discover?

     This little project was to test out using old t-shirts.    I am now using it as a candle mat or to put it in the middle of my table.  I forgot that I had done it.

     This next project was my first quilt as you go attempt and is actually a small table runner.  I didn't like the big yellow spaces on each end of it so I appliqued some small hearts in the middle of it.  So when I found it again, I decided to throw it over the back cushion on my rocking chair.  I think it blended in with the cushion pretty good.  What do you think?

     Having made those discoveries, I decided it was time to pick up on my dragon,.  Before I could do that though, I had to match up the DMC colors.  Before I could do THAT, I need to refile the DMC that I had pulled out up to this time.

     I guess putting the floss back in the containers is my first step.  Then I'll bring over the dragon and try to match up some of the color and start to stitch her on the background.   I guess I had better stop eating my Salmon Chowder and typing at the computer and get back to the DMC.

    I hope you have a great day!

Changing the Wall Hangings...

     It's that time of year to start to change from summer wall hangings into fall and winter wall hangings.  In my previous post, you saw the wall hanging that was being changed with adding pumpkins on it.  I decided to just leave it pinned up (Thanks for the suggestion Connie) since I was going to take them off anyway when I took down the wall hanging.  With the pumpkins on it, I can leave it up through Thanksgiving if I want.  While writing this I saw I needed anchor down a couple of pumpkins and then had the pseudo brainy idea to use masking tape to anchor down the lose pieces.  It worked surprisingly well and I might go back and take out more pins and use the masking tape.  Masking tape easily comes off of the fabric since I'm not adding heat to it or putting a lot of weight on it.  I'll let you know if I do that.  I might try with a couple of blocks first to see how well it stays up. 

     Then I covered up my ironing board with the leftover pumpkin fabric so it is all set for Thanksgiving.  That too is just pinned on so it can be removed after the holiday and thrown into the washer to get cleaned up and put away for another time.

     Then I decided to change out the wall hanging above my dresser.  I put up the wall hanging that the Our Time To Quilt girls surprised me with when I moved and retired.  That is done in blues so I thought it would be a good time to put that blue table runner on my dresser and I have to say it looks pretty good there.  

     What is nice is that my wall hanging I usually put up there for Christmas is also blue so the table runner should fit in nicely.  You guard it well George (the dragon)! 

     Now to update you on the case of the case of the missing needles.  I FOUND THEM!  They were stuck to the pumpkins on the wall hanging.  Sigh.  Thanks Connie, again, for asking if I had looked there.  I had looked at the back of the pumpkin patch wall hanging but evidentially I only looked on the back on ONE side.  This time I looked at both sides and there it was.  The lost was found.  

     That started a couple of other discoveries.  I received a phone call from Shalom who said he was running out to get coffee and donuts and he could drop me off at Walmart if I wanted him too.  Since I had run out of caffeine I took him up on his offer.  There was one catch.  I couldn't find my keys to lock up the house.  Finally I just gave up and got into the car with Shalom.  I knew it wouldn't take THAT long.  When I got back to the house, it took me 4 hours before I found my keys.  You might ask where were they?  They were on my tote bag and I looked through for 10 minutes while waiting for Shalom.  Yeah, go ahead.  You can shake your head and laugh.  They had fallen down to the back side of the shoulder sling and I didn't see them.  At least I finally found them.  Progress, right?

     Well that started my day of discoveries.  As I was tearing apart the sewing room looking for the needles and keys, I found at least a dozen other projects I had forgotten about.  LOL.  I can see I need to work on getting more projects finished next year.  That's ok.  my method this year has proven to work and I did get some UFO's finished.  That's a win!

     Did I mention that I signed up for next years Blackwork  Stitch a Long?  I will have the 2023 one stitched on time so I will be ready for the new one when it gets here.  Here is my latest progress pix.  I got a lot of the border done since I was frustrated with not finding everything for a bit.  Nothing like stitching until 2 a.m. to calm the mind and body.  It is also a way for me to make progress on something.  The border is pretty easy to do since it is repetitive and that was just what I needed.

     It's time for me to sign off now.  I hope you all have a great day!  Until next time, stay safe and keep on crafting and cooking.  Love ya all!

I am loving this Chowder!

       I had to post this right away since I made something off of Facebook and loved it. Even better was the fact that it heated up well and tasted good.  I'm going to share the original recipe from Facebook as well as my revisions.  I revised it since I wanted to use up some things from my pantry.

From Lillian Pike's post on Facebook Soup Lovers

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- Saute in 3 TBSP butter:

   1 diced shallot

    1 cup diced carrots

     3 chopped leeks

     1 cup chopped celery

- Add to taste:

     black pepper

     garlic salt

     Italian seasoning

     2 bay leaves

     2 teas. Tony's seasoning

     paprika

     salt

- Add 6-8 cups chicken broth.

        6 small diced golden potatoes

- Boil 10 minutes

- Add bag of frozen corn and diced salmon (1 full fillet)

- Simmer 10 minutes

- Add 1 cup heavy cream and 1 tbsp fresh dill

-------------- 

This is how I made it:

- sauteed in 3 Tbsp of butter

      1 diced onion

      1 can diced carrots -  (drained)

- Add to taste:

   black pepper

   Garlic salt (forgot)

    Italian Seasoning

    2 bay leaves

    2 teas Tony's seasoning (didn't use)

     Paprika - forgot

     Salt

     Ground red pepper for a bit of kick

     

- Add 

     6-8 cups chicken broth

     1 can diced potatoes drained

- boil for 10 minutes

- Add 2 cans of salmon I didn't drain them but did pick out the larger bones and skin

- simmer for 10 minutes

- Add 1 cup heavy cream (I used a 1/2 - 3/4 can of Evaporated Milk)

- top of 1 TBSP of fresh dill (I put dill weed in earlier).

- Taste to see what else it needs.  I added a little ground red pepper in it to spice it up a bit.  If I had Tony's seasoning I might not have needed the red pepper.  I also put in a little bit of Instant Potato Flakes to help thicken it a little bit because I was impatient to eat it.  :) 

     If you make it, let me know how you like it.