Monday, July 11, 2011

A Very Short Weekend

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends a chilly, damp Monday morning welcome to you all.  The weekend was grey and overcast without much sun at all - until yesterday afternoon -  late in the day when the fog broke and the city was flooded in bright warm sunshine.  After that 1/2 hour, the fog poured back in and it cooled off again.  
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We did the usual things  - ran to some Estate sales, did some errands.  Went to dinner with friends.  I worked on some stitching and baked a coffee cake.  Again we were creatures of routine.
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Let me start off with the stitching - I finished up the mystery sampler - as far as I am going to finish it until I see the third and final part.  Here is a snap of  where it stands at the moment...

 I am going to change the floss colour of the alphabet and I want to see what the rest of the piece looks like before I do.

Of course I had to stitch on something after I finished up the last little leaf - and instead of pulling out a WIP - I was feeling all Holiday and Christmassy - so I went and pulled a chart I have been wanting to do for the longest time.  BBD "Blessings be Thine."  I pulled the WDW & GA recommended floss and was not very happy with the colour choices - it might have been the dye lots or something but they just were not hitting me right.  So, I decided to convert the cotton for silks and went to the Belle Soie stash and pulled what I think are some really lovely flosses.  Here is the piece as it stands at the moment....


I am stitching it on a piece of 32 ct BoF Meadowlark - that is a bit more golden than the snap shows.  As with many of the BBD pieces this is on the smallish side and is working up very quickly.
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Saturday we went to three estate sales and found a few things.  Here are some snaps....

Although hard to tell, what you are looking are Queen sized quilts and pillow shams.  I got this snap from our balcony looking down to the lower inside atrium in our building.  For both quilts and shams I spent $10.  They are in excellent condition.  I have run them through the wash and now one is on the bed and the other folded up at the foot.  They are machine made and not very old, but for a ten spot how could I go wrong.  I also picked up these two things....


I found this early printing of "PoA" for a buck and the meat mallet was thrown in with the quilt purchase.  It always is nice when the folks running the sale like you.
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Saturday evening we went to dinner with some friends and had a great time.  We went to Puerto Alegre in the Mission district.  


It is a place that we have wanted to get to for a long time and found it lots of fun and pretty tasty!!  I had the Quesadilla Suiza with grilled shrimp and Rico had Steak Fajitas.  Mindy and Tom both had combo plates that looked pretty delicious.  With an appetizer of Guacamole and a pitcher of strawberry margaritas the dinner was just superb!!  For desert we shared a plate of churros with chocolate dipping sauce.

(not a snap I took, but it looked just like this!!)
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Yesterday I whipped up a little coffee cake for today - called "Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake" - I found the recipe on The Country Cook.  Very easy to make and right tasty!!


I changed up the recipe a little - I'll post my version in the next day or two.
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  That about wraps up the last couple of days.  Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments!! 
Do stop by again.

Take care,
edgar

30 comments:

  1. Hey Edgar! Sounds like a great weekend. Nothing wrong with having a routine! Wanted to let you know that Brenda has posted a picture of the completed Mystery Sampler on her blog. Thought you might want to take a look so you can figure out what color you want to use for those letters. I'm running behind on my sampler but I'll catch up soon! LOL!

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  2. Sounds like you had a much more exciting weekend than I did! lol. I love the mystery sampler to date! You are getting a great jump on Christmas too!

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  3. Sounds like you had a great weekend. I love my routine too!

    Nice progress on Mystery Sampler and a great start on the BBD piece.

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  4. Love your Christmas start. Can't wait to see it grow. Nice quilt find. Can't wait to try the coffee cake.
    Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches

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  5. The mystery sampler looks gorgeous so far! I also really like the new BBD start - can't wait to see it grow...

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  6. Wow, mystery sampler looks very very pretty. So does the BBD.
    The cake looks yumm. Waiting for your recipe :)

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  7. I always love hearing about your weekends. It's fun to imagine you all running about SF doing your thing. I love your mystery sampler -- it's just so pretty! Great estate finds too! And a clever way to take the pic of the quilts and shams! That BBD piece is another I'd love to stitch someday, a definite favorite for me. And all the yummies. Yum! I would love to go to some of the restaurants you go to!

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  8. The stitching looks lovely. I was wondering how you got into the mystery sampler - was it from another blog? How does it work? Do you choose your own colours or is that the mystery? Do you see the whole pattern before starting Is there a post where you've written about this? Have I missed it?? Sorry, I'll stop interrogating now.

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  9. I have that same exact meat mallet and one day I was pounding away on something and the head flew off and almost took my husband's head off. It was quite the adventure, so make sure this doesn't happen to you!

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  10. Hello Edgar, you must stitch really fast. I wonder when you do it, when I read how you are spending your weekends. I haven't finished yet the first part of the mystery sampler. It's true that I cross stitched something else in the meantime, but even so, you are quick. And it is beautiful too. I like to read your blog, it's never boring. :)

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  11. Edgar, your posts always make me hungry, want to shop and want to stitch! Love that sampler, when will the next part be started?

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  12. Hi Edgar, The mystery sampler looks great! I stitched Blackbird's "Blessings Be Thine." It was fun, I think you'll enjoy it. I changed the colors a bit but it was a few years ago and I'm not sure what threads I used. Your week-end sounds like fun. I was a yard slave!However, I do love my garden. Thank goodness for our clouds(SF and Seattle)and cool temps when so many are roasting.

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  13. ooo sampler looks lovely :) and I like you new start too not seen that one before...great finds at the estate sales and that cake looks so yummy it has made me hungry ... love mouse xxxx

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  14. I'd like to give you the stylish blogger award, please head over to my blog for the details. xxx

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  15. Sounds like a fun, low pressure weekend. Both samplers are looking great. Love the reds in the Christmasy one. Can't wait for the chocolate chip coffee cake recipe.

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  16. Mmmmmmm... Chocolate sauce and coffee cake. Looks delicious!! My mom was in San Fransisco this past weekend. She got back around seven thirty last night. She thoroughly enjoyed your fair city, except for a small attack of car sickness. She said the redwood forests were particularly impressive. She liked Golden Gate Park too, and thanks for the info you sent me. I'm not sure which she did, but she had a great time. I appreciate the info more than you know!! Your quilt find sounds great. Two queen sized quilts with shams for ten bucks is a great deal!! Glad you enjoyed your dinner too. It sounds delicious. Hope you have a good week!!

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  17. Beautiful progress on both samplers Edgar.
    I am going to have to try that coffee cake.

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  18. Both your WIPs look wonderful. Blessings Be Thine is at the top of the list of my favorite BBD designs that I've stitched. I always look forward to getting it out for the holidays.

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  19. The mystery sampler is looking good. Love your Christmas start too!

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  20. Love your Mystery sampler and curious which color you will choose to replace the lettering.
    Love also Blessings be Thine. It's such a gorgeous piece isn't it?

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  21. O.K. Edgar: the food looks great but the deals on the quilt and pillow shams is a wowzer, I love the Birds Of A Feather I am working on the same pattern and I love it, Blessings Be Thine is so beautiful I am going to have to start on that one soon.
    I pray you have better weather, I can send some heat your way if you want.
    Hugs
    Blessings
    Catherine
    diamondc

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  22. Nice progress on your mystery sampler. But you need to quit baking:) I am always wanting to baking up your goodies. Can't wait to try the Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. Have a great week Edgar.

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  23. I absolutely LOVE the mystery sampler - Perfect colors - the design flows so well & of course your stitching is beautiful !!!!

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  24. WOW Edgar I love your current WIPs...especially the colors you have chosen for the BBD piece. Just gorgeous!

    I too made Country Cook's coffee cake this past weekend and I changed the recipe up a bit as well. I used blueberries instead of chocolate chips and used brown sugar and cinnamon on the top instead of white sugar. SO tasty! I'm so glad I found Brandie's blog.

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  25. Your Mystery looks wonderful - I'm sure by now you've seen part 3, super sweet!
    Great BBD start - love your conversion.

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  26. Hi Edgar! So nice to meet you. I was introduced to your blog by Peggy. Wow, I am so impressed by your stitching! Your work is gorgeous. Maybe one of these days with some teaching and practice, I can try my hand at it. I would love to create something so beautiful!
    So glad you liked the coffee cake and I'm happy you changed it up a bit to suite your tastes. Recipes are just guidelines anyway. I definitely liked your thicker frosting - yum! Thank you again!

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  27. Reading your blog always makes me feel jealous and hungry :) LOL!
    I LOVE your Mystery Sampler...I just showed my Mama (I'm visiting at her house) and she said she wanted me to stitch mine for her for Christmas after seeing yours :) SO a big KUDOS to you!! It is gorgeous!!!

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  28. Hi Edgar! Did you like churros with chocolate? In Spain is typical to eat for breakfast .
    Hugs

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  29. Love the BBD piece! Those are some of my very favorite colors. It looks great.

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  30. Your mystery sampler to date looks fantastic! I really like the colours!

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“In every end, there is also a beginning.”

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