A Little Framing

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I picked up a couple of pieces I had being framed.  

Here are some snaps... first up...

... I chose a black old-fashioned looking frame for the piece, I liked the way it makes the crows sort of "pop."  This was a fun stitch, as are all the BBD pieces I've ever worked on...  some info I found on an older post about the piece... "Winter Wonderland" by BBD, stitched on a mystery piece of 36ct linen using mostly the called for floss - and between August and October 20014...  the second piece.....

...  this great Christmas alphabet is still one of my favorite pieces I've ever stitched.  I chose a very plain, dark blue frame.  Here is some info about the piece...  "ABC Noel" by Les Ambrodales, stitched on a piece of 36ct LL Vintage Meadow Rue using the recommended DMC, stitched between October and December 2011.  The one major thing I left off is a snowflake charm that came with the chart.  It should be in the space between the L and the J.  The charm is silver and I didn't really care for it, I tried it, and like it better off.

__________________________

There you go sports fans... thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Wrapping Up My Trip, Some Gifts a WIP and a Finish - Lots of Snaps

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends, well, today will be the last post of the year.  It is really nice to end on a high note.  I have so enjoyed the past year and look forward to another year of fun stitching and posting!!

_________

I am going to wrap up my trip with Christmas day - not only was it the hottest of all the days I was home, but I left late in the afternoon so it was my last day there.  We did our usual breakfast buffet of "Tortilla Breakfast Casserole," "Sausage Pinwheels" and assorted pastries, egg nog, juice and coffee.  We opened up gifts and it was so very nice and quiet with just the family and Christmas music playing.  It was also getting very warm... I said hot....  so we took off for the beach and a few hours of lovely breezy sunshine and sand.  I had my camera and got some nice snaps..

This is a shot looking south.  We stopped a little north of the Granada approach, where no cars are on the beach. I know the snap is a bit hot but I really liked the reflection on the water and the sky.

There were a ton of birds just hanging out, I guess since the tide was going out they where looking for snacks.

This is one of the smaller older beach house left along this stretch  - most of the older homes have been pulled down and replaced with mini-mac-mansions - a real pity, but I guess progress is progress...

This last shot is looking north - I just liked the way it looks.

___________

When I got back home (SF) I had a couple of presents waiting for me....

from Faye - Carolina Stitcher - stitched me this wonderful pyn keeper....

....  I saw a lovely ornament ( I attached a tiny eye-screw to the back et voila) on my stitching tree!!

and Marie - Creative Thread -  sent me a gorgeous skein of forest green floss.

 - and - a friend of Rico's had this wonderful ornament made for us.  

___________

I have also been working a bit on the "A la Belle Etoile" Sal and here is an updated snaperoo - 

On this piece I did change all the recommended DMC floss over to silks and am really enjoying them!!  I even went back and changed my conversion of the Gloriana "Elizabethan Green" I had originally chosen - I changed it to Belle Soie "Attic Tea" and am really happy about that!!  This is working up nicely and I should have it "off the snap" soon.

While I was home I finished up the ABC Noel - and here is the completed piece....

"ABC Noel" - Les Ambrosales

36 ct LL Vintage Meadow Rue

Recommended DMC

October 11 - December 24, 2011

I did drag out the stitching a bit to make a Christmas Eve finish, but it was worth it.  It was a fun stitch and although all the DMC I used were the recommended colours I did change up some of the colour placements to fit what I though looked best -  I am stubborn that way.

___________

That's about it for today - I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New year......

Isn't this a great older Dutch card!! - Have a safe weekend!!!! 

I'll be back on next Tuesday - woo hoo for the three day weekend!!!!!!!

Take care,

edgar

Christmas Snaps

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you all so much for your kind comments and emails - I do love reading them in the morning and they do brighten up an otherwise dreary cold Monday!!

__________

Over the weekend there was lots of Christmas cheer in our lives.....  on Saturday evening we had quite a few parties to attend.  I carried my camera, it is small and fits in my pocket.  I think the prettiest party we got to was one I look forward to every year - giving by our friends Chris and Mo.  They have a great old San Francisco painted lady and so the Christmas party is always has such an old fashioned feeling and is really just beautiful...  here are some snaps

There was a lovely tree in the front parlor.  It has both electric light and candles - which they lit later in the evening, and no matter how many pictures I take I just can not get a good candlelit one - but trust me it is a sight to warm the coldest heart!!

There were banks of poinsettias all over the house.

and of course there was Humphrey the Christmas camel.  Chris has him out every year. 

After leaving Chris and Mo's we had one more party to get to, but stayed only a little while.  The city was busy all over and traffic was terrible - and parking was worse!

___________

We put our tree yesterday - I'll get some snaps of that tomorrow - and of course there was the Christmas cheer to have while decorating....

.....  a big old glass of the PA Dutch Egg Nog (at almost 30 proof, which is a bit on the strong side) I will cut it with some Bud's.  Now I like a good kick to my Egg Nog and the blend of these two is almost perfect!!  Here in the Bay area Bud's is about the best there is to be had, IMHO - simply delicious!!!!!!

___________

I finished up my last Exchange for the year and will have that in the mail today - so I got to work a bit on my ABC Noel - I bet you forgot about that didn't you!!!  Here is a snap..

I finally finished up  the little Santa type elf on "V" and am now on to "W."  As you can see each of the letters are sort of striped with the shades of red, here I have stitched in the brighter of the two and will fill with the darker.  It is hard to tell in my craptastic snaps but the two reds together look rather nice.

I think that about wraps it up for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by, do come again!!!

Take care,

edgar

Two Stitches, Some Books and a Cake

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends welcome back to Monday morning - another week closer to Turkey Day!!  I think our menu is set and the tables are full!!  We have both family and friends coming over so our house will be full!

__________

Over the weekend I caught up on some stitching - some I can show and some I can't.  I can show my progress on the ABC Noel piece...

As you can see I finished up the lettres "T" and "U."  The stocking on "T" had about all the colours that this piece uses - not that you can see them, but they are there.  Then the Goose/Duck on "U" uses only about three colours - loved that one!!  The letter "V" has a little Santa like figure so he will get done in the next day or so.

I finished up the first part of the "A La Belle Etoile" SAL - and - I changed the linen....  The piece I had intended to use had a slight, but noticeable line through the middle - it looked like it was a fade line I had not noticed earlier.  So that piece was out and I will use it for small ornaments.  I pulled piece of 32ct "Smokey Pearl" from the stash box and it works a dream.  Here is a snap of it as it stands...

It looks kind of lopsided, but there you go.  I am now waiting for the second part to move on.   The stitching piece I can't show is and exchange piece I am working on - but you will see it eventually.

__________

We got to a couple of estate sales on Saturday and I pick up some great older books...

From l to r - "The Verney's" and newish book about an aristocratic English family. The older books are..."Treasures from Fairyland," inscribed to Leila Christmas 1893, a leather bound "Poems of Tennyson" and a great copy of "Wuthering Heights" by Bronte. - so for less that $5 I think I did pretty well!!

__________

Yesterday I was in the mood for an old fashioned pound cake - so I looked through a few cookbooks and found a nice recipe in a Southern Living 1983 Annual Recipes book for this...

... "Rum Glazed Lemon Pound Cake" - pretty tasty I must say!!  I'll  get that recipe up tomorrow.

__________

There you go sports fans - another nice weekend doing fun stuff!!  

Thanks for stopping by, do come again!!

Take care,

edgar

Some Weekend Things

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends didn't you love having the extra hour to sleep yesterday - but the down side it was pitch dark by 6:15 last night.  As with everything else in life we will adjust to the time change once again.

______________

We eventually got some rain on Saturday evening - not the horrendous storms that were predicted (those never materialize) but a nice wet evening.  It has stayed pretty cold the last few days so we all know that winter is upon us.  With the weather so chilly we stayed pretty close to home - only venturing out to run to the Safeway Saturday morning - and our weekly stop at Noah's Bagels - gotta have my fix of challah and bacon!!  Saturday evening we had some friends over and I fixed Chicken Marsala with some sides, but the highlight of the meal was of course desert....  I made some....

.....pretty tasty Brownies - and although only a box mix, they really hit the spot, with some vanilla bean ice cream.
____________

Sunday morning we headed out to Mass - we get there early and so we get the practice with the new Mass responses and bits of music that are changing.  You can read HERE all about that.  After Mass we headed over to Eddie's for some breakfast - and then on to our little Farmers market.  I had my camera and took some snaps..

There were some great grapes and lovely Asian pears...

.....tons of beautiful Fuyu persimmons

....there were lovely sweet potatoes

....and we are still bale to get heirloom tomatoes

 and the flower lady always has beautiful bunches of flowers.  Unlike last year when this little market closed down for a few months during the winter, they are staying open the whole year -  so we will continue to support our little market through the cold wet months ahead....

_____________

I did some stitching on "ABC Noel" and here is a wrinkled snap of it so far....

It is just zooming along - but, I must have missed the story of the "Christmas Badger/Beaver" - or whatever animal that might be at the letter "S."  Any suggestions???

____________

Yesterday I baked up a gingerbread - I sort of worked out the recipe from a couple of sources and made my own.

I covered it in a lemony cream cheese frosting.  I'll post the recipe tomorrow.  It turned out pretty tasty I must say!!  I do love gingerbread and things like it for the Holidays.  I am even getting the itch to construct a Gingerbread house  -  how fun would that be!!

_________

There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do come again!!

Take care,

edgar

Seasonal Things....

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends no big quakes over the weekend - lots of little ones - but nothing that you could really feel. I guess here in the Bay area we become immune to any quake that doesn't shake the buildings.  You hear all the time about "the big one" that's coming - and not that I doubt it for a moment, I just hope it comes after my time here.  

__________

On to nicer things....  I heard from Roberta that the ornament I made her for the HOE "Words of Christmas" Ornament Exchange arrived safe and sound. Here is a snap...

"Christmas Angel" by Midsummer Night Designs

from the 2007 JCS Ornament Issue

Although I got off to a rocky start with this exchange  - I am really pleased with the way she turned out.  I have stitched her before and just love the whole design!!  It was a super Exchange and now with the HOE Ornament exchanges wrapping up with a "Stitchers Choice" it has been a great year of stitching ornaments!!

I also worked some on my "ABC Noel" - here is a snap, ignore the wrinkles!!

It is coming along nicely - I am finding small missing stitches in the chart that I am adding as I go - either they didn't make it to the chart, but appear in the picture or I like it better with my additions, whatever, it is still a great piece to work on!!

__________

On Saturday we ran around to some Estate sales, I picked up a framed Victorian print, I bought it for the frame and not the print.  I forgot to get a snap, I'll get one up in the morning.  While out and about we ran by the Mall.  Now why would we go the Mall you might ask...  for a couple of reasons - to stop off a Trader Joe's, to stop off a Macy's for a Birthday Present for my Nephew and to make a stop off at William Sanoma's.  I make a trip to WS every Fall to pick up this stuff.......

I buy this every Fall and have for years - they only carry it during the Fall and usually run out by Thanksgiving.  I keep this soap in my refillable soap thing on the kitchen sink and every time I wash my hands during the year I get a flash of Christmas and the woods -  Call me odd, call my weird but when I start to run low come August I start to get very nervous to see whether my last dribble of soap will last until I can get more!!  We also stopped to get lunch at Micky D's as they have for a limited time the.......

McRib - they hardly ever get these here in SF and when they do I must have one!!  All BBQ sauced and delicious!!

__________

I baked up a really great cake that Coni over at Spinster Stitcher posted about.  Called "Claudia's Root Beer Bundt Cake" you can click HERE to go to the recipe.  Here is a snap of mine...

The changes I made were...  to replace the allspice with some nutmeg and clove and instead of using a Bundt pan I used a tube pan and instead of butter and flour in the pan I used butter and cocoa powder, I think that turns out a nicer finish on the outside of a chocolate cake than flour.  The actual cake is a nicely dense, chocolaty, brownie type of cake that goes super with a cup of coffee!!

Thanks so much Coni for sharing this great recipe!!

__________

There you go sports fans - thanks for stopping by and for your great comments - I do love reading them!!

Take care,

edgar

Mistletoe and Mail

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you so much for your input on the "ABC Noel" Sampler - I agree with the consensus that the letters and pictures do not correspond and are just red letters with seasonal images.  One super thing about this sampler is that I can finish up a letter in an evening stitching - it is like a little mini finish!!  That is a real jolt to the ego!  Last night was the lettre "C" -  here is a snap of the the entire piece as it stands...

That looks like mistletoe to me - later on there is a bunch of what I presume to be holly - and not on  the "H". The start of the lettre "D" is a dark green fir tree. .  It is a great sampler so far - and you know me - I do love stitching the alphabet!!  I will have to put this down for a day or so as I need to finish up an exchange piece I am working on so that I can get it in the mail on Monday.

__________

Yesterday the mail brought a really lovely Birthday prezzie from Berit.  When I opened up the box I found....

....everything all beautifully wrapped with a gorgeous card!! And, here are all the treats....

...starting in the lower left corner some really delightful incense, a micro-planer for ginger and citrus rind, and some tasty cookies!! Thank you so much Berit!!

__________

That about wraps it up for today sports fans - thanks again for stopping by and for your comments!!

Take care,

edgar

"B" is for Stag? or What a Big Rack You've Got!

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you so much for all the kind comments about my post yesterday.   "Harvest Blessing"  was a fun sampler to stitch - and I have a few more Pocketbook Needlebook newsletters so there will be more of these little samplers in the future. 

__________

I got the letter "B" stitched up and started on "C" - these letters really do stitch up very fast.  

Here is a snap..

 "ABC Noel" by Les Ambrosales 

36 LL Vintage Meadow Rue 

Recommended DMC Floss

Here's a thought about this sampler that has been working in my brain......usually when an alphabet sampler has images along with the letters - typically the image begins with the corresponding letter, but with this sampler I think that the images are just Christmas/Holiday/Winter things that have nothing to do with the letter.  I realize this is a French chart and the french words are different than the English words - but my French is good enough to sort out what the translation could be and I don't see any correlation.  Not that it matters - just a thought.    Any other thoughts out there readers????

I am really not liking the way the flash makes the stitching look so sparse - I am doing this 1 over 2 on 36ct and the coverage looks fine to me - except when I see a snap  - then the linen seems to just shine through - oh well, IRL it doesn't look so sparse.

There you go sports fans. Thanks again for stopping by and leaving a comment!!  Until tomorrow....

Take care,

edgar

"A" New Start and a Finish...

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks for stopping by and for sharing a minute with me and my Blog.  I only have a couple of little things today.  I started one of my Christmas Stitches -  here is a snap...

"ABC Noel" - from AMBR

stitched on 36 ct LL using the recommended DMC Floss

The letter "A" worked up pretty quickly and so I am imagining that the rest of the Alphabet will also.

__________

I also framed up the finish I had over the weekend - 

"Harvest Blessing" by Mary Beale

from Pocketbook Needlework No. 8 Fall 1990

Stitched on 28ct "Fresco" using the recommended DMC Floss

This is framed in one of the old frames I picked up at an estate sale - and fits it like a glove.  I really enjoyed this stitch - I have other Mary Beale charts that I will have to get to stitching.

__________

There you go sports fans - short and sweet!!  Do stop back again!

Take care,

edgar