Edgar's 1st Finish of 2013 or ATS Has Come to an End

Gentle Friends it was a really cool, chilly, bright and sunny, cold weekend!!  For the Bay area I usually wear sweatshirts and am just fine, but over the last few days, I have on not only my regulation sweatshirt, but a t-shirt and regular shirt.... and even a light jacket over everything....  at some point I was even contemplating gloves, the fingerless kind, but gloves all the same.  

We not only got our regular weekend things done - but we also tackled cleaning out two completely full closets and finally put up the remaining Christmas things.... the tree, and my nativity - it was nice to get the house back in order and everything all packed up and put away for another year.  But, with the cleaning and tossing of "Closet Crap" there is a lot less "junque" around or stuffed out of sight!

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Even with all the other things going on I found the time to stitch and finish up ..."And They Sinned."  This bugger - boo of a piece has finally come to an end, not that I didn't enjoy the stitching journey, there are sections/parts of this piece that just seemed to never end - I can understand now why so many of these ATS' languish at the bottom of WIP baskets.  

I have often thought of this monster stitch as a piece in 5 sections.  

So I will break it down that way in the photos..... from top to bottom.......

.............  and those are the 5 separate pieces.... here's a complete shot of the entire piece...

"And They Sinned" - by Examplar Dames Design Co.

5/1/2011 - 1/14/2013

Stitched on 36ct Vintage Sand

Using mostly the recommended GAST Floss

Thinking back, I really think this was a piece I stitched mostly over 2012 - although I started it in 2011 - I did next to no real stitching on it for months and months.......and these last two weeks were just silly fill stitching - green, green and more green - so this was really a piece of last year.  

At some point the plan is to get it framed.

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That’s about it for today sports fans, Thanks for stopping by, for your continued kindnesses and sweet comments!!

Take Care,

edgar

".... and They Sinned" A Quick Update

Gentle Friends thanks so much for stopping by this morning.  Not much going on here, it's pretty chilly (for SF) and we are expecting the rain to swoop in this afternoon/early evening ... leading us into a very wet weekend - or that's what we've been told to expect.  Nothing at all on the agenda for the next few days except a New Years Day party - an annual event given by some very close friends - I missed their Christmas Party, I just was not in the mood - but I really am looking forward to Tuesday.

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I said I would get a recent shot of ATS up today, and although I have been plugging away at the grass, there seems to be miles yet to go -  there is just so much green to fill!!!  Here's the snaperoo.....

As you can see I am doing the darker "Shutter Green" stripes first, then the lighter "Green Apple" will go ( should go) pretty fast, all the counting through the different bits really slows me down for some reason.  I am happy I chose to stitch the grass, as I like the visual weight it gives the piece - and no matter that it is taking so long to get stitched, and even if I go a little in January, I am still enjoying this stitch very much -  and will miss this "monster" after when it's completed.

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On Wednesday we lost a super voice of the "60's."  

 Fontella Bass - 1940-2012

Fontella Bass passed away from complications caused by a heart attack she suffered at the beginning of December.  Her signature song that she is best know for is "Rescue Me" - 1965 - I found this great clip on You Tube.....

The biggest hit of her career, and one she will long be remembered for - RIP sweet songstress!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, have a super weekend and wonderful New Years eve!!!

Take care,

edgar

Eatin' Out With Friends and ATS

Gentle Readers it was a chilly wet weekend here in the City by the Bay - and for the most part I was a numb butted stitching fool!! 

We did venture out to forage for food  - and on both occasions it was to savour not only fun food but fun folks also!!

On Saturday evening we went out to dinner with our "cat" friends from upstairs.  We watch their kitties whenever they travel - an they are going away again over the Holidays for a quick visit to London.  So we had to get together and talk about that - since it is one of my most favorite cities there is!!  We went to a new place, for us at least, called Starbelly.  it was totally tasty and we had a great time.  The menus changes often - and keeping with the talk around the table I had the "Starbelly bangers and Mash"  with roasted Brussel Sprouts, finishing off the dinner with a warm toffee cake!

Then Sunday morning after Mass, we met up with Shirlee and John for breakfast, they were in town over the weekend visiting and soaking in some of the SF Christmas Spirit!!  it was a super time and we had a great time just eating and talking.  Or, at least John and I did talking movie stuff.  When I get with another film person I love talking about movies.  I think that Both sweet Shirlee and Rico were very tolerant of all the movie blather going on at the table and then spilling over onto the sidewalk.

It is always so fun to meet another Blogger -  and make that final personal connection!! 

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I have been working on ATS a bit and am now into the "field of grass."  here's a snap...

As you can also see I am tempting fate by pre-dating the piece before I really finish it...  I am still going to try and get it done before the end of the year.

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

Take care,

edgar

Some Recent Stuff

Gentle Friends I wanted to say again how much all the kind words you have sent via Commenting, Emailing or the lovely cards in the mail really have made a great deal of difference - and I do thank you all so much!!

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With everything going on in the last few weeks - one of the things we didn't do is take our annual  snap of our "little family" at Thanksgiving.  I guess we'll try and get one this Spring.   By the way our family has grown by one "who hound" -   a little black and tan Chihuahua rescue named Wahumpa that I call Hunka-munka.  I'll get a snap up at some point.  He is super feisty and really gives Smokie a workout.  We did put up our tree, but not much else, just not feeling it this year.  My Christmas Cards are going out really late also.....

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On the stitching front I have been working on ATS a bit....  here's a snap...

Not sure if I'll get it finished by the end of the year like I planned, but I'll give it the old college try!!

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We made it out to the Mall for some Christmas Shopping....

I got a snap of Santa and he and the elves were doing a super job with the all the children.  We got a lot done and most of it will go into the mail in the next couple of days.

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Yesterday I baked a Pineapple upside-down cake for Rico and his work buddies 

- it was a request from Jose - he helped us with a flat tire we had last week - so the least I could do was whip up a cake!!  Thanks Jose!!

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

Take care,

edgar

"and they Sinned" and CCN December Cottage

Gentle Friends thanks for stopping by and for the great comments on Monday's post!!  Sorry to miss a post yesterday but I was catching up on emails and they just took a bit more time to answer than I had expected.

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This morning I wanted to show the two most recent things (excluding my exchange piece) that I have been stitching on.... first up has to be ATS...  still working on the different bits in the sixth section....

If you look closely you can see the I have run a single thread along the sides so that I can make sure I stay within the narrow confines of the stitch.  For some reason it has worried me, so to put my mind at rest I got some orange thread and just put them in.  I'll pull them out later.

The other piece is the last Cottage on the year long SAL - I got my December chart a few days ago and thought about any changes I wanted to make.  The only Major change was to switch "Swiss Chocolate" for "Brandied Pears"... and why you may ask did I do that...  basically I had no "Swiss Chocolate" floss in my stash - and BP is very close to the DMC conversion so I just went with it.  I was also going to change "Spinach" for "English Ivy" but after stitching some with EI I found that floss to be just too dark so I frogged it out and went back to the recommended "Spinach"....  here is the little bit I have done...

I love the "Ribbon Red" and will probable stick to the hand full of DMC "browns" - This last part should be finished up in a day or two.

That's about it for today.  I'll not be posting tomorrow as I am taking a 1/2 day - but I'll be back on Monday.  Thanks again for stopping by and for your comments!!  Do stop again!

Take care,

edgar

Some Weekend Stitching

Gentle Friends in addition to the usual weekend stuff - I got some stitching in....  here is a snap of the little bits I got done on ATS....

Since this last section is all over little bits and pieces I am just working my way to the bottom.

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I also jumped in with a small start on "Merry and Bright" from Erynne.  I had the hardest time settling on a piece of linen - In fact I frogged quite a few stitches from other linen choices before going with Silkweavers "Sudden Storm"......  here's a pretty sad snap, the light was very bad and I just couldn't get it corrected...

I also changed up the floss' - I had all the recommended choices but as I started to stitch I felt I really needed to change some of them - I have dropped WDW Aqua completely as my skein looks "off" on this linen and will use only CC Tyler Boy Blue - My other changes are:

For CC Vintage Violet I'm using GAST Hyacinth
For DMC Ecru I'm using DMC B5200 White
I am using CC Jolly Holly and adding another shade of green, WDW Lucky
Keeping CC Cocoa Bean
For DMC 648 I'm using GAST Aged Pewter
Keeping DMC 543
For DMC 310 I'm using WDW Mascara
For CC Golden Star I'm using WDW Marigold
For Dmc 754 I'm using CC Pumpkin Harvest
and for DMC 301 I'm using GAST Gingersnap

That's how the floss is working for now, but as I go along I may just change and substitute other colours.
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That's the stitching front fro now, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Back From Florida.... ATS Update

Gentle readers and Dear Friends I got back to SF early Sunday morning and was back to work yesterday, hitting the ground running!!  I had 100's of emails it seems and I am still going through them. I also had lots of great mail (more about that tomorrow).

Today I wanted to catch you up on that ongoing monster stitch .....  "And They Sinned."   I finished up the 5th Section, I was very surprised at getting that done.  Here's a sectional snap...

I was able to get lots of the grass done on the layover and flights back to SF.  Here's an overall shot...

Now, it is on to the 6th - and last - section, but probably the most grueling since it is a solid stitched area.  I will have to put this down for a bit as I have three smaller pieces I need to work on and finish up for some exchanges I am in, but I'll get back to ATS as soon as I can.

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I want to leave you with a snap of the Daytona Beach just north of the Ormond approach and looking north towards Flagler beach.  I spent a few hours with a book just enjoying the quiet, breezy day....

 I'm not really a "beachy" person, but this quiet time alone was a real high point of the week!!

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

Take care,

edgar

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

Some Thrifty Finds, ATS and the Lottery Win!!!

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends these last few days off were really nice.  Doing just about nothing and sort of turning into a major lump.  I did get the regular stuff done -  like laundry, and the usual house cleaning things, but other than that I did just what I wanted to ....  like not shaving for three days straight.  I still took my usual showers, lets not get too crazy here... but, I skipped the shaving part.  My beard is not very heavy but, heavy enough that by the time I got around to shaving it took more than the usually few minutes to scrape off the bristles!

Rico also took off Friday and we ran around to the thrift and consignment shops a day early.  I found a few things....

We had a great Christmas cookie jar for quite a few years but it got broken and I have been on the look out for another - when I saw this cookie jar with "snowmen cookies" I knew this was the jar for us.  I also found a few books, a couple of icons and a great incense holder.

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I finished up a couple of Exchange pieces - one of them will leave in tomorrows outgoing mail - the other will have to wait a couple of weeks to leave.

I also stitched some on ATS, finishing up another section and have now moved on to the 5th section.  Here is a snap of the completed 4th section...

and here is an overall shot of the piece as it stands at the moment...

Sorry about how crooked it is - but at this point, taking a snap of the entire piece involves me standing on a chair, but you get the idea.  

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A pretty nice thing happened over the weekend....  a little back story...I don't play the Lottery often, as I live by the words of my dad - money down a rat hole!! - I also have a voice in my head saying - you gotta play to win - so every so often I will plunk down a couple of bucks on quick picks and let it go at that.  Well, my quick picks last week turned into a win!!!  I won back my $2!!  I refrained from plowing those dollars back into the lottery, but will probably break down this week and get a couple of quick picks.  That voice in my head...  gotta play to win, is a'callin!!!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Cake and More ATS

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you all for your kind comments about ATS and my less than stellar snaps.  I had an email request for an overall shot of ATS - which is getting harder and harder to take, the longer and longer it grows!!  So here is the effort from last night.....

I am not sure when I'll get back to ATS....  I finished up an Exchange last night  - and out it'll go this morning, but I have a couple more in the works and I want to get September Cottage done, boy there is lots to do!!

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On the baking front, Sunday I made up a great little recipe for Apple Cake - which was perfectly delicious!!!  I am thinking of adding it to my already groaning Thanksgiving Day menu!  I found the recipe over at Jolts & Jollies - "Apple Cake with Maple Frosting."  It's a perfect cake for Fall and so easy!!  Basic ingredients....

The only changes I made was to add quite a bit of Nutmeg to both the batter and the frosting - and - I baked it in a greased and floured 10 in spring form pan, lowered the temp to about 325 and baked it for about 43 minutes.  Other than that I followed the directions and came out with this....

The frosting changes I made other than the nutmeg was to use the whole 8oz block of cream cheese - I figured what was an extra 2 oz gonna do !

And - here is is in its final form....

I served it up on a platter and sent it off to work with Rico - and I heard that they really enjoyed it!

 

The apples and spices are very complimentary and with that little crunch of walnut - it makes a super cake!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Bit of ATS

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends our weekend here in the City by the Bay had some really great weather...  mid to upper 50's and bright and sunny.  I finished up an Exchange and rewarded my efforts with some stitching on ATS.

Here is a shot of the little bit I got done...

I am not sure why this is coming out so "green" , trust me the linen is not green...  but a vintage Sand Dune colour piece of linen.  I got the vines down to where they hit some trees so at least all the vine/leaf/vine/leaf stitching is behind me!!  

I think that's about it for today, it is running late and its gonna be a busy Monday morning!!  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

The Rest of the Post....

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends so sorry for the abrupt break yesterday, but Blogger was totally acting up in the oddest ways!!  Oh well, now to continue where I left off ....

Here is an overall shot of "And They Sinned".....

The snap is a bit crooked, but you get the idea.  It is really coming along, but now it must be put away while I finish up a couple of Exchange pieces I have going.

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Sunday being baking day, I baked up a "Bourbon, Pecan Pound Cake" - 

I found the recipe over on "Jolts and Jollies" it is a basic pound cake with the twist of Bourbon!!  I truly delicious cake!!!  The only change I will make when i make it again (and I will make it again!!) is to pull back on the glaze - and bit heavy with the Bourbon, but other than that, an excellent cake!!!  Thanks so much Maranda!!!!

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Last night I popped open the Hallowe'en candies, and found.....

 

.......  in the M&M Candy Corn, no "corn."  I guess that they are the colour of candy corn and made with white chocolate.  I really liked them, but I like smooth white chocolate.  They are bigger than regular M&M's and melt really well on the tongue!  I did a little digging on the Internet and find these are the "rare" white chocolate "exclusively at Walmart" type of seasonal M&M's - remember I picked mine up at Walgreen's, not very exclusive!!!  The white chocolate is supposed to be flavoured with candy corn flavour....  whatever, they are tasty and if you find some and like white chocolate, try'em.

The chocolate covered "pumpkin" Peep, was not as good as regular Peeps,  The chocolate was a bland milk chocolate and the marshmallow was orange coloured and pretty flavourless, cute idea, but not much taste....  

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I think that about wraps it up for today sports fans!  Thanks for stopping by, and for you continued kind comments and emails!!!  Do stop by again!

Take care,

edgar

Thrifting, Candy and ATS

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends it seems like the weekend just flew by and I didn't accomplish much except for the usual, laundry, vacuuming, and other household things....

We did make it to some of the thrift/consignment shops on Saturday Morning...  and I picked up a few goodies.....

From l to r...  a silicon mold to make ice shot "glasses."   Frozen shots are pretty tasty!!  I found this great Christmas Book, put out by the Minnesota Historical Society, a medium sized rolling pin, a small English creamer (matches a tea pot I have) and two copper over sized cookie cutters...  for $5 it was quite a haul!!

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I stopped off at a Walgreen's yesterday and although not "officially" out on the shelves, looking up a t the overstock area, they are already getting in Hallowe'en candy!!!!  I found these treats....

I have seen the chocolate covered Peeps before, but never the M&M's - I do love me some Candy Corn!!!  So I got them to try and I'll let you know.

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I worked some on ATS.....

 

Finishing up the Alphabet Band - I kept the odd lettering in places.  Now moving on the next section.

Well, Blogger is acting up and will not let me post any other snaps, so I'll sign off now.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Monday with ATS and Some Muffins

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends we had a very low key weekend.  Rico stayed in an just sort of rested!!  He wanted me to pas on his thanks for all the kind well wishes from you all!!!  With all the pills he has been taking over the last couple of days "dizzy and "loopy" are our two new favorite words.  We did get down to the pool yesterday as there was a break in the fog for an hour so although cool and breezy the sun was shining bright.  Saturday I left hi home and ran around Thrift/Estate Shopping and although I hit quite a few places it was another bust.  

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I did get some stitched on ATS - working on the "Peacock Band" - and here is an update shot...

I am off a stitch or so up and down, but at this point I am not going to worry and "adjust" as I stitch down.

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I made some "Donut Muffins" yesterday.  I am sure I have made them before, but can not find the post.....

They are super easy and tasty!!  I'll post the recipe in the morning.

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We made a trip to Trader Joe's and I found a "new" favorite candy.....

These are really delicious!!!  If you like dark chocolate and really creamy minty middles then this is a "must try."

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks again fro you well wishes and for stopping by.  Do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar