"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

Monday Musings

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends the weekend once again flew by.....  and although it seemed relaxing we got quite a bit done.

Let me start off with a snap of Part 6 of the Mystery SAL from Carol

I really love the scissors in this square.  This is a really fun piece to do and I am so happy that I jumped right in!!  Thanks again Carol!!!

_________

One thing we did do that was sort of out of the ordinary was a quickie visit to the Flower Market..

You can really tell that Autumn/Fall was winding down and Christmas was winding up...  here are some snaps from our visit....

There were a few chrysanthemums  - and these where really pretty.

Unlike Madonna - I love Hydrangeas!!  and this colour is great!!

These orchids look almost like silk in their perfection.

I do love a bromeliad - and these where really pretty

at Fantastico's (yes that is the name of the store)  They have lots of Christmas out already...

and they even have this very pretty Fall Tree in the middle of all the Christmas ones!.

__________

Speaking of Christmas - one of my favorite things to get are these - 

Lebkuchen- a totally seasonal thing that our little German Store only gets during the Holidays - we stopped in not thinking they would have any and she had gotten some in!!  Woo-Hoo!!!  I was introduced to them when I travelled in Germany  - this cookie originated in Nuremberg=- and you can get the there all the year.

__________

Keeping with the foodie theme...  we had a great end of weekend dinner last night -  I fixed us some onion rings and Rico grilled us a steak....

__________

Yesterday afternoon I baked up a Pumpkin Bread with a brown Sugar glaze....

This recipe was posted last week over at The Country Cook - and it is simply delicious!!!!!  I'll re post it over a Blacksheep Bakes with my changes.  I did finally post the Taco Won Tons - let me know if you have any questions!!
__________

I think I'll leave off today with a snap of Smokie - he has really taken to the Big Girls bed....

There you go sports fans - thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment!!

Take care,

edgar

Bang, Bang, Bang went the Bats

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends here in the Bay area we are going to have two super nice days off - the weather is supposed to be perfect - no rain, no cold, just right.....  or at least that is the word form the weather magicians.  For the last couple of days it has rained and yesterday we had a super downpour mixed with hail.  So, two nice days - I'll take 'em!

__________

I forgot the recipes at home so that will have to wait until Monday - whoops.

__________

On the right side of the Blog I added a flicker account of some of my stitching.  Over the last few years I have gotten quite a few emails about "why I didn't have an album of my work" and getting that together came down to two things - ignorance and laziness.  A very bad combination for me!  So I got some help, thanks Sweet Coni!! - and got my rear in gear and got some snaps taken -  et voila - pictures of my stitching in one place.  As time goes along I will get info about each piece with each piece but for now I think I'm doing good to get this much done.  I love looking at all the stitching on the Blogs and think it only fair you should see mine in one place, so enjoy!

_________

 Yesterday I got another little prezzie in the mail -  that is where the title of this post comes from 

- my friend in NC sent me these...

I immediately blew them up and was not too sure what they where for exactly until Rico told me you are to hit them together at sporting events to throw the opponents off - they do make an odd sound when hit and I guess if enough people have them and are hitting then in unison they would make a sound that could be construed as a distraction - the best part is the ECU logo - GO PIRATES!!!!  As you might remember it's my Alma mater!!  So when I next find myself at a sporting event I will be prepared (insert chuckle HERE).  Thanks Dale!!

___________

There you go sports fans - another week gone!!  Thanks for stopping by, do come again!!  

Have a great weekend!

Take care,

edgar

Some Super Mail

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends   - Happy almost weekend dancing.... 

..........woo hoo!!!

_______________

The last couple of days have brought some great mail - Birthdays are great and prezzies make it that much more special....  from my sister and her family.....

some gigantic Shari's Berries - so delectable!!!

......the mail also brought some great Birthday cards, and great PS pyn pillow from Vera - I just love this chart from PS, I have stitched it a few times for others but never got around to doing one for myself, now I have this great piece!!! and a GC to NIAH from Dale!!  Thank you guys so much!!!

___________

I was the winner of Kathy's Feel Good Drawing" over at Kathy's Sit and Stitch - and this wonderful package arrived - 

"Snowflake Serenade" from CHN, and great cut of linen, some floss - and  - a really cute scissor fob with a little de-frog froggie charm on the end - I attached it to some scissors I had it it looks great!!!  And, if that was a great package Kathy also included a really cute Birthday card!!  Thanks so much Kathy!!

__________

That about wraps it up for today sports fans - thanks for stopping by, do stop by again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Food Post.....

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - I wanted to thank everyone for their kind Birthday wishes - I opened up the Blog and comments this morning and was so moved by them all - thank you, thank you!!!  It was just raining a bit too much so we stayed in last night and order Chinese Take out for dinner from Alice's - we really enjoy this place and they are super quick with getting an order together.  You can click HERE to go to their website.  There was enough leftovers so that we got lunch out of it for today!!  Woo - Hoo I love it when a dinner can do double duty!!

____________

Over the weekend we did run some errands and one of them was to Trader Joe's .....

.....  and they had a gigantic display of canned pumpkin - there had to be 200 + cans of the stuff, so I picked up a couple of cans.  If you live near a TJ's check them out as I think this stuff will go pretty fast.  The supermarkets in the city are still bare shelved when it comes to canned pumpkin.  I also picked up a Dark chocolate bar with caramel and black sea salt - how tasty!!  And, we stopped at a Walgreen's and what else would I be getting but some candy corn - love this stuff!!

_________

We often go out either Saturday or Sunday or both nights for dinner - but not feeling like going out we made a nice little dinner - 

....  I made some biscuits and mashed "taters and Rico fried some chicken and made some almond string beans.  I made enough biscuits that the lasted for a few meals - and we had enough chicken for lunch the next day.
__________

Also in the kitchen......I found a few years ago on the Internet a recipe I have wanted to try and this past weekend I whipped up some.....

.....  Taco Won-tons - they turned out really tasty and the recipe made enough that I froze a bunch of them to have later.  Rico made some Spanish rice et voila, dinner!!

__________

I also baked up this....

.... cranberry coffee cake - I made this before, but might not have posted the recipe.  I'll get the recipe for everything up on Blacksheep Bakes in the morning - everything is pretty easy to make!!  And, I found them all just surfing around and from others sharing!!!  I love the Internet!!!!!

_________

 I will post a birthday snap tomorrow as I left my camera at home this morning

- something I just never do!!

__________

There you go sports fans.  

Thanks again for you kindnesses and for stopping by.  

Do come again!!!

Take care,

edgar

48 and Not 49

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - OMGoodness when I opened up my gmails I was astounded at your kind thoughts for me and my "under the weather day."  I was feeling "puny" (as my granny would say) all weekend and we pretty much stayed close to home. Now on to today - I turned 48....

What's so odd is that for the past few days I had really thought I was turning 49 - I am such a ding sometimes....  walking around in a total haze.  Then this morning I thought I can't be 49 I have to be 48 and so I hauled out all my fingers and toes for the recount..... darned if the numbers and years (year?) just fell away like last years ratty hairpiece!!!  So, now I have two more years in my 40's until I click over to my 50's.  In fact I never think of how old I am or am I getting old as it is so irrelevant to my life - its a number that will not stop going up so who cares!!   I have never understood those folks that are so completely obsessed with the year and time moving forward that they forget that this little bit of time we are given is for living and not brooding!!

__________

 I am going to keep it shortish today - and only show the stitching I got done on "Harvest Blessing" -

I am really enjoying this piece but the 28 ct linen is so "open" woven and using two strand of floss feels very clunky.  But, this will look great in the frame I have for it, so 28 ct it is to be the size I need!  Notice that cow? Lower left -  kind of an odd little fellow.  At first I thought it might be a dog, but he has some horns - so cow it is.

__________

There you sports fans - thanks again for your kind comments.  Look for my Birthday/Hallowe'en Gift-a-way in the next week or so!!

Take care,

edgar

Feeling Poorly...

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - I am feeling very craptastic this morning so I am packing it in - and - going home so I can get to feeling better.  

Why I came in is beyond me at the moment!!!

Take care, 

edgar