A Super RAK and ATS Update

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends it's Friday and we have made it through another week....  today we are looking October in the face, so Fall has really arrived!!  Also, we are quickly coming up to the big 3 Holidays....  only 33 more days until Hallowe'en.... only 55 days until Thanksgiving... and only 88 until Christmas... time is ticking away quickly!!

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Yesterday the mail brought a wonderful RAK from Beth, from over at Beth's Crafts.  She wrote me a while back that she was de-stashing and would I like to have the "bunches and bunches" of DMC she acquired during a sale.  I thought that was so kind and such a sweet gesture and excepted.  Well, she sent me a box jammed packed to busting full of skeins of DMC floss.......  here's a snap...

..... there are 100's of skeins of floss!!!  What a kind generous thing to do, and I thank you so very much.  I have started to sort through them, and now need to figure out a good way to store and keep up with what is here.  Stitchers are just the nicest people!!!

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I also wanted to get a couple of snaps of ATS posted to show you where it stands at the moment....  an over all shot...

As you can see I shifted some of the verse to make it a bit less wonky, but not too even.  I am not very happy with the way Mr Lion is so looking very two-toned, I am thinking I need to frog out the light shade and make him more even coloured.  it amazes me how the variation in skeins is so great - these are both labeled "Tarnished Gold" - I guess one is more tarnished than the other.   And, here's a close up shot of the section 5 ...

I am just dreading the grass in the final section, but like everything else it is just in the doing and it will get done!

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, and for your super comments, I do appreciate them.  Just a quick note about next week, I will be away from the Blog and in Florida - without computer access - so no posting/emails until October 8th or 9th. I am visiting my Mom and will be there for my Birthday next week.

Take care,

edgar

Hallowe'en Mail

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks for stopping by again this morning.. afternoon... or evening - whatever it is wherever you are - welcome to my little Blog!!  I also wanted to welcome all the new and old Followers!!!

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Well, yesterday the mail brought me my 1/2 of the HOE Hallowe'en Exchange.  I have already sent mine and it was received.  My partner Rosa, also mailed early so I get to enjoy her wonderfully stitched piece the whole Season!!!   My package contained a really cute Pyn Keepe.......

... with a stitched "E" Witch and a kitty!  Rosa also included with the Pyn keepe some extra treats...

..... a great little Ort bag (with a bat in the bottom!), a super piece of Hallowe'en fabric, some DMC floss in seasonal colours and some herbal tea!  What a super Exchange!!  Thank you so much Rosa!!  You can click on over to her sweet Blog and also meet her darling chihuahua Bella!!

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In addition to my Exchange stitching I have been working on ATS, but not very much. For some reason I have not been very enthused about my own stitching lately....  but, I do stitch a little every evening...  I would guess it is just a lull in the old mojo, and hopefully won't last long.  I may show a snaperoo tomorrow, but who knows, I might not.  I'll see how I feel tonight about what I have completed.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Two Easy Baked Treats

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends I so enjoyed the comments this morning about the Hallowe'en Exchange, and I thank you!!  It was a fun project from the start to finish.  Probably the hardest part of the whole process was making a decision on what colour purple to paint the box.

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I thought today I would catch up the last couple of baked things  -   The first was from two weeks ago.  I was in the mood (and still am) for  Fall things, so I turned an old stand by "All Recipes" and found a recipe called "Easy Apple Crisp" - and it was so super easy!!!  After getting all the stuff together...

... Instead of a large single crisp, I chose to make two of them, I didn't double the recipe I just broke it up into to dishes.

I sent the larger of the two to work with Rico and kept back the smaller one for us to enjoy.  You can go HERE to get the recipe.  I did change the topping a bit with the addition of pecans and oats, and of course added some nutmeg, but other than that I followed the recipe.

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The second treat I made was from a great Blog called Six Sisters' Stuff.  I stumbled on their recipe called "Samoa Brownies," a  great twist on the Girl Scout Cookie (which is a favorite of mine BTW).

Once again I got the stuff together to make them....

I toasted the coconut...

... which made the house smell really good!!  .....and after following the few easy steps they came together really fast.  These went over really well with both Rico's and my co-workers.  The recipe can be found HERE.

So there you go - two easy treats for Fall.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!

Take care,

edgar

Some Weekend Fun

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends I wanted to thank you all so much for your super comments on the Hallowe'en Box I made for the HOE Exchange.  It was a fun piece to make!  I wanted to mention how much I have been enjoying coasting around the Blog-o-sphere an seeing all the great things being stitched up for the Fall and especially the Hallowe'en Season.  There are some super projects out there and so many that I want to get for the old stash heap!!!

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Over the weekend I made it to a few Thrift and consignment shops and found a few goodies......

The things I picked up, because as you know I don't have enough stuff and just couldn't live without more "stuff."  :)

From l to r  I found this really well made basket that I knew would work out for storing my pile of smaller charts, in fact they fill the basket to almost over flowing (no surprise there), but it does gather then into a single space.  I also picked up a three ring pencil case, since I keep the majority of my charts kind of sorted into three ring binders, I often have trouble keeping the Prairie Schooler "cards" in the front pocket.  This case does the job really well and I can just snap in into the front of the PS Binder.  I just couldn't resist a 60th Anniversary copy of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  One of my all time favorite Christmas specials and this super copy in pristine condition, I just couldn't pass up.

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The City we live in has about a bazillion restaurants and eatin' places - but we tend to go back to the same places over and over again.  I made up my mind that I wanted to start to try other places.....  but where to start you might ask??  

On Public TV there is a show that comes on Saturday evenings called "Check, Please!"  It's a great show with host Leslie Sbrocco, where she sits down with three regular people and talks about 3 different restaurants or eateries here in the Bay area.  The 3 regular people change weekly.  What happens is that each person picks a different restaurant and then, on there own, they each visit the restaurant and then come on the show to talk about them.  

I really enjoy this show and this past Sunday we visited a place that had been reviewed.  It is a restaurant over in the Civic Center area called Brenda's.  I had seen it on the show a few weeks back and so we headed out to get there early as it is on the small side and quite popular, I found that out doing a bit more research on the Internet.  We got there at 7:45 am and found a line ready for when they open at 8. 

The restaurant is owned and run by Chef Brenda Buenviaje, a native of New Orleans.  

The food is southern inspired and really delicious!!!!

Rico got....

... eggs over medium, hash, wonderful bacon and biscuit......and I got...

..... a dish I love, eggs Benedict, their version starts with one of their great cream biscuits topped with maple cured ham, poached eggs (not leaking, I hate that) with Creole Hollandaise sauce, and a side of some terrific grits!!  This is a super eatery and now on our short list of places to eat breakfast at on the weekends, we just have to remember to get there early.... by 8:30 the place was filling up fast.

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That's the skinny for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!

Take care,

edgar

Hallowe'en Exchange Arrives

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends we had a lovely cool weekend here in the City by the Bay.  Especially yesterday... the fog sort of rolled in over the city and through the Golden Gate to envelop us in grey loveliness!!!  Not too much going on and the few things we did get accomplished I will hold off writing about until tomorrows post.  Today I wanted to focus on a Hallowe'en Exchange that arrived.

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I took part in the HOE Hallowe'en Exchange and it arrived over the weekend to my Partner Kayona, from over at "My Sometime Cross Stitching Obsession."  Here's a snap of what I made and sent....

Since this was for Hallwoe'en I thought that finding some of the specialty treats for the season would be nice I also included some Holiday fabric and trim.  Here is a close up of the piece I stitched...

I stitched a Lizzie Kate chart called "Sampling Hallowe'en."  I used a piece of 32ct linen I hand dyed and the recommended floss'.  I took the stitched piece and made a great box finish.  Here's a snap of the piece and the inside of the box...

I painted the box using a pearlized purple paint that matched the letters, the inside is also painted and lined with a contrasting pumpkin fabric.  This was a fun piece to make, and Kayona has let me know that she enjoyed what I sent.

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That's it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

An Autumnal Package Arrived

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends as you might remember I am part of a small exchange group, Friends Stitching Through the Seasons.  We are just wrapping up our Fall Exchanges and mine arrived yesterday.  The mail has been coming later and later and yesterday was no exception, it arrived after I left... so I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me that just made my Friday Morning!!  I usually have my camera with me and today is no exception..... so I have snaperoos.....

Karen is my year long partner and she stitched and finished a wonderful decorative cube!!  The chart is called "Falling Leavers" and is by Threadwork Primitives.  It is finished up just lovely with gold and orange organza ribbon.  Here's a close up......

The goodies included with in the package include a lovely piece of cream linen, a gorgeous hank of Limited Edition of Belle Soie silk, in the most rich shades of brown!!  There are some of my favorite petite gold 28 sized JJ needles, a magnet note pads, a cute pumpkin photo holder, a great piece of cast iron, some fun Fall Bells and a package of Whoopee Pie mix!!  An overall super Fall Package!!!!  Thank you so much Karen!  

What a wonderful way to wrap up the week!!!

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  That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Short Hump Day Posting

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thanks again for stopping by - I'm so glad you did!!

There's not been too much going on around the old hacienda lately.  I have been stitching a bit on ATS, nothing really big just a bit here and there.  I am getting the itch to start something new and really Hallowe'en and I've got it narrowed down to a few things....  just not sure which one to start, yet!!

If you've not seen the November Cottage over at CCN here's look....

(Picture of November Cottage from the CCN Website)

It is really charming and so Fallish - I'm salivating to get my greedy mits on it!!!  I am loving that turkey and all those acorns!!!  Bravo Nikki!!!!!!

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My crazy Christmas Cactus is at it again...  all blooming and budding and it will be lovely for Hallowe'en, but probably not a bloom in sight at Christmas.....  here's a snap...

  

I guess it's the change in light that triggers this monster... my little red one is also blooming away.

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My HOE Hallowe'en Exchange got into the outgoing mail this morning so I'll be able to show a few snaps of that as soon as it arrives.  

That's about it for today sports fans.  Do drop by again!!

Take care,

edgar