Stuff...sweets, a finish or two!! Some progress & other new stuff!

Hey everyone!

Boy - I just put a new picture for my banner and it is HUGE, I tried and tried to make it smaller but I can't figure out how to do that particular thing, so it will remain HUGE. Don't you just love these pin cushions though - I have drooled over this fabric long before the pin cushions came to live with me; not just drooled, but coveted and lusted over this luscious fabric. It's by French General - Rouenniers (Moda) and I am now the proud owner of several 1/2 yard pieces - thanks to my friend, Peg (who also made the pin cushions for me for Christmas)!! She and a bunch of my other buddies were on a shop hop and she was kind enough to pick some up for me... What am I going to do with this glorious fabric, you may ask; I have no idea yet, but something that is absolutely stunning, I am certain.


I was fortunate enough to be able to get together with my pals this past week - Mary hosted...I took some cookies I wanted to try. I lost quite a bit of weight while sick/surgery/recovery and am determined to keep it (and more) off so that I can live to be 100, healthy and happy. Normally if I make these kinds of things and they are around, I will eat them all. So I decided to leave a couple at home for my boys and take them to share with my friends. I saw the recipe on a link I stumbled upon through Edgar's blog. It's for Rhondi at Big Mama's Home Kitchen. I thought how can you go wrong with two cookies in one - an oreo encased in a chocolate chip cookie...yum. And they are delicious!!

Well let me tell you - even as tasty as they were, they were a pain in the rear to make. I didn't open the oven door all the way to switch trays at one point - dumped four cookies on the oven door and the bottom of the oven...even without that minor blip in my baking skills, they were not as easy to make as I thought they would be and my chocolate chip dough really spread out past the oreo quite a bit. Who needs a pretty cookie anyway? Especially when it contains chocolate!

Since the oven was hot again; after I let it cool down and cleaned the door, floor below where it fell between and the bottom of the oven, I did a chocolate chip bundt cake. I am not a huge cake fan, I usually like the frosting - but I do love bundt cakes, they are so moist and simple. I took this with me to Mary's too. I mixed it up while the cookies were baking since I wasn't sure they would turn out okay.

On to a finish - remember the cute little kit (La-D-Da) In The Sweet I was working on last post or two ago? Well it is finished; and I mean it is finish-finished! Whoo Hoo for me - that is a record from the time stitched to being done. I am going to attach the ribbon (which tied together the top of the kit) with a couple little, cute mother-of-pearl type buttons on the back so that I can hang it on a door. And with no pun intended - isn't she sweet!!

I had another finish that should have been a finish before I started this blogging business (I think I started in at least 2009). It is another La-D-Da (must be in that kind of mood, I guess). I was searching for something else and came across this little ditty, Blooming Alphabet. I bought this kit a couple years ago. I changed the colors (it was mostly blues) and had all but the eleven done after the 2-0. What's up with that? It took me just about 15 minutes or less to put in the 1 - 1 (which probably would have been 0-9). Finish! Another sweet sampler!

Remember my progress as this:

Well look at my progress now: This is the mystery sampler by With My Needle & Thread Birds of a Feather. It wasn't much of a mystery to me since I had parts one and two when I began. I am doing it in silks and really enjoying this. It's actually further, but I don't have a photo of the progress from stitching with my friends earlier this week.

Welcome & hello to my new followers, hi to my regulars! I never thought I would like this blogging, but it is fun to see what everyone else out there in blogworld is working on and boy has my "check it out" list grown by leaps and bounds! It never ceases to amaze me at the talent of the designers and then the interpretation of the stitchers.

Health wise, I continue to improve each day with my ability to do just a little more, some days are better than others but I think when I return to work next month, I will be ready. It will be a little over four months since my surgery...and more than than for absence. I will miss the stitching time, but I will again have to prioritize the things that have to be done, want to get done and let go of the rest (something I am working on) so I can fit in my fun stuff. If I have learned one thing through my illness and surgery (or maybe I already knew but it's been reinforced) it is the need to have less control over so many things and not worry about the things I can't change. Do you ever wonder if that's why God has things happen? Sometimes I have to be reminded over and over; like letting go of trying to control homework, worrying about work when I can't be there due to illness, making people agree with me and making sure everyone is happy. I have to make sure I am doing what is right for me. Until just a few years ago, I think I was really a "pleaser" with so many things and people. Blah, Blah, Blah...enough of this deep subject?!

Well that's about all the news I have for now...do you like the new background, font, etc.? I always wonder if people find it easy/hard to read, like the colors, backgrounds and all the rest...
We are finally without high heat and humidity here in Michigan - it's the kind of summer days I like and summer nights to sleep well.

Hope you take some time to make you happy - stitch often and with much enjoyment,

Sherry :o)