Six Down, Six To Go!

With Phil's encouragement I finished Block 6 last night! I am now officially at the halfway point! Woohoo!

Here is a shot of the entire Village so far...

It's nice to have it out of the Q-Snaps so it can "stretch it's legs"! I'm taking my Village with me to Florida so hopefully we'll see some more progress soon!

Back to packing! We leave bright and early tomorrow morning!

 

Gangnam Style

The blacksmith shop has only been open for a short while but Mr. Huffer already has his first customer! There are three more cowboys approaching on invisible horses. I think they've been watching too many Psy videos! Either that or they're members of Monty Python's Flying Circus and will be followed by porters tapping coconuts together as they "ride"!

Grand Opening

The sign is up at the blacksmith shop and we're expecting customers to start arriving soon! Hopefully they can overlook a few gaps in the woodwork!

Old Dog, New Trick

 

Many of you may recognize these. For those of you who don't, they are curling stones. Phil and I enjoyed watching the Olympic curling so much that we decided to attend a "Learn To Curl" event held by a local curling club. We learned all the basics and got to play two ends against another group of beginners. I had an absolute blast despite taking one unfortunate "spill" while delivering my first stone. (My daughter was there and managed to capture the moment on her phone so I fully expect the video of me sliding down the ice on my belly while hanging onto a chunk of granite to go viral on YouTube.) 

Here we are getting ready to sweep the path of a stone. It is so much harder than it looks on TV! I used muscles I forgot I had! 

A happy curler! 

I hope everyone had a fun weekend! I plan to work on my VoHRH today so stay tuned for another progress picture!

 

Kale Chips: A Guest Post

I am Paisley's daughter, Sarah. I am super smart. I am going to be a med tech and cure you of your ailments from behind the scenes. You will never see me but you will know I'm there. Like Batman.

Let's make some kale chips.

Make sure your kale is really leafy and green. Inspect your leaves for debris such as bugs and bird droppings. Wash it thoroughly and use a salad spinner to spin them dry. Remove the stems. Like, all of them. Not just the part below the leaves but the part between the leaves as well. Cut or tear the leaves into bite sized pieces. I usually use about 5-6 large leaves. Throw them in a large mixing bowl and drizzle on about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Olive oil is okay if you like the flavor. Mix thoroughly to coat the leaves. Season as you like. I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder. I also like turmeric because it makes the kale chips taste like roasted pumpkin seeds. Mix again. Spread them onto a baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for about ten minutes. Keep an eye on them. They'll shrink a bunch and look crispy. That's how you'll know they're done. Remove from oven and serve in a bowl.

Enjoy!

Make faces!

I eat these almost every day. Recently when I went to donate blood they told me my iron level was very good.

Eat kale chips. Donate blood. Save lives. Be like Batman.

Block 6 Continued

The fire has been built and a curl of smoke can be seen rising from the chimney! It's time for Mr. Huffer to hang out his shingle!

 

Harry has been keeping me company while I stitch. He found himself a nice patch of sunshine to take a bath in. If you look close you can see a tiny bit of his tongue sticking out. 


 I'm exhausted!

Thursday's Progress

And now for the big reveal! Just how much did I get done yesterday?

 

The horse has his mane and looks a little less awkward! And the chimney and fireplace are almost completely bricked! Once I get the final four in place I will move on to the fire itself! Realllllly looking forward to getting this block finished since it will mark the halfway point in my Village!

Maybe this will be the year I can finally call it done!

On a Wednesday

I have fallen woefully behind in my stitching and blogging so I have decided to dedicate the remainder of today to at least the stitching part!

I give you my Village of Hawk Run Hollow, Block 6, as it stands this morning...

 

The walls and roof are up on the blacksmith's shop but Mr. Huffer can hardly be expected to ply his trade without a fireplace and chimney. I will get to work building it brick by brick ASAP but first I think that poor horse could use some attention. Without his mane he just looks... well... odd.

We are back in MI for the rest of the month and then will be returning to Florida until spring officially creeps over our window sill! This has been one cold winter and I'm so grateful we could abandon ship and head south!

I will be back tomorrow with a progress picture!

Paisley Meets Paisley

(Well, almost...)

We are in Florida enjoying the sunshine and took advantage of the opportunity to see Brad Paisley in concert last night. I hadn't been to a country music concert since the early 80s when I saw Ronnie Milsap perform at Texas A&M. (I should probably get out more!)

Anyhoosie, Mr. Paisley passed within inches of this particular Paisley so we took advantage of a once in a lifetime photo op...

That's a blurry Brad in the white hat. Surrounded by several blurry burly security guards. One of the other blurs could be me. It all happened so fast.

So yeah. We made it safely to Florida. It's been a little on the chilly side here but nothing like up north where I don't think they've been above freezing in over a week. (And I know, I should be smacked on the head with a rolled up newspaper for calling the 60s chilly.) Luckily I brought some stitching with me so the time I can't spend laying out soaking up the sun I've been spending with my Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I am still determined to finish that project before I draw my last breath!

Here's hoping you all are staying warm wherever you are spending the winter!

Baby It's Frigid Outside!

  

I can't give you the exact statistics... how cold it got (-9? -10?), how much snow fell (18 inches? 24 inches?), or what the wind chill may have been (-45?). I can tell you, however, that it was as cold as I've ever experienced and the snow was blowing every which way. Our Christmas wreath was plastered with snow even though it hangs on our front door under a good six feet of porch.

It is still crazy cold outside but it's back to business as usual around here. We leave for Florida in three days and there is much to be done before we hit the road. Hopefully we won't be bringing the snow with us!

Of Cabbages and Kale

Has anyone else ever gone on a diet and ended up gaining weight?

Phil and I are heading down to Florida for a month or so because, well, Michigan in the winter sucks. When the morning radio hosts are laughing about the fact that it's not supposed to get above 18 degrees for the next 96 hours it's time to fly south.

We've been planning this trip since, like, forever, so I've had plenty of time to shed a few pounds before being fast forwarded into swimsuit season. Even with all the usual holiday gluttony I thought I'd be fine. What's a couple of pounds when I've already lost ten! Right?

Wrong! I never really lost more than a pound and apparently enjoyed a few too many sugar cookies with my coffee. With a week to go I'm hoping to at least get back to where I started.

Of course we're also trying to clean out the fridge and freezer before we leave.

At this rate I'll be wearing sweat pants to the beach!

Happy New Year

I May Have a Problem

Egg has been lending a paw while I've been sorting my thread the last couple of days. If I try to move her she gives me the low growl. But that's not the problem. 

The problem is... 

THAT'S A LOT OF DMC FOR ONE PERSON!

Help?

The Latest from the Lake

The seasons are a-changin' and so is the wildlife here. I haven't seen our swans in at least a week but these American Coots have been coming around every morning.

I've seen hundreds of them paddling around, having their breakfast about the same time I'm rolling out of bed. (Okay, so maybe it's more brunch than breakfast considering I'm not exactly up at the crack of dawn!) I don't remember seeing them last year so it will be interesting to see if they end up staying the winter here.

I'm hoping to get back into blogging after taking the summer off. I've been busy with a little stitching, a little crafting, and a lot of cooking! Fall tends to be my season for "rebirth" more than spring, so stay tuned for more from the lake!

Happy May!

Some views from my spot on the deck...

 Bella refusing to look at the camera. She's guarding last weekends plant selections. We are planning to have a little garden out on the deck. Flowers and few pepper plants mostly. And broccoli! Wish us luck!

 The sun tea jar makes it's season debut!

 Looking out at the lake and a beautiful blue sky.

 Phil hung (hanged?) our bird feeder last weekend. It took the birds a few days to find it but we've had a steady stream of visitors today. Mostly sparrows and finches. All camera and people shy. As soon as I came inside there was a whole flock of them out there.

Where I plan to be spending a lot of sunny days!

Hope your May is off to a great start!

Oh Fuuuuuuudge!

Long story short, I messed up! The bottom part of the border should be one row lower. So now I'm faced with a few options. Number 1: I can rip it all out and restitch it in the correct place. Number 2: I can figure out how to compensate by taking a row out of the house or hill plus the bottom row of the trees. Number 3: I can have the bottom row of the hill and trees be a part of the inside border.

In another place, in another time I would have already been ripping and re-stitching. But today I would rather figure out another way to make it work. I'm leaning towards making the bottom part of the hill and trees just run into the border. I'm just worried I'll get it done and it will look silly.

Any suggestions? (Other than to change the name of my blog to Stitchin' Nightmares!)

Wherefore Art Thou Mojo?

Can you believe I still haven't finished the border? I was hoping to get it done last weekend but ended up with an annoying headache that refused to go away. This week I seem to have lost my stitching mojo completely. Something tells me I'll find it again once I get that darn border finished!

The closer I get to where the border is going to meet up, the less in a hurry I am to find out that I've made a mistake somewhere and some serious fudging will be necessary!

Music and Passion

We had a great time at the concert last night! Barry put on a spectacular show even though he was sick with bronchitis. We Fanilows were more than happy to lend him our lungs whenever his voice started to falter, singing the choruses along with him (some of us louder than others!). I seriously wanted to bring him home with us so I could nurse him back to health with chicken soup and herbal tea.

Anyhoosie, I wanted to share a few pictures from our evening with Barry...

"It's a Miracle"

"Even Now"

"We've been friends for a long time, haven't we?"

"The Justin Bieber of the 70s!"

"At the Copa... Copacabana!"

"The miracle is YOU!"

A Bit of Border Progress

I don't seem to be making much headway with the border this week but I still wanted to share a progress picture so you could see the whole sampler thus far. I even ironed out the wrinkles for you! And I have to say, it's so darn pretty! I can't wait to see it finished and framed and hung on the wall!

Tomorrow night we are going to see Barry Manilow in concert in Ft. Wayne, IN. It's his Manilow on Broadway show so I'm really looking forward to it! Do I need to admit to having a bit of a crush on him when I was a teenager? (Yes, I'm old!)

Saturday I'm hoping to make a trip down to House of Stitches in La Porte, IN to check out their La-D-Da trunk show. If anyone else in the area would like to make it a get-together just let me know and we can coordinate a time!

Waiting for storms to roll in right now and wondering if tonight's Rangers game against the Chicago Cubs is going to be rain delayed. We could only listen to the first game on the radio last night but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Just like the olden days!

I think Minnie has the right idea this afternoon!

Friday's Check In

Not the best progress pic but I just moved the Q-snaps yesterday and for once I got them on fairly straight. So all you get to see is kinda sorta the border that I'm continuing to work on. The alphabet is finished and I think I'm down to five or six leaves left on the tree. One of these days I'll get around to stitching the legs and beaks on the birds. It's over one thread so, yeah, it can wait!

That's B.H. Moose lending a hoof to help prop up my Q-snaps. (The B.H. is for Bobble Head.) Any time I ask him if I should take a stitching break he always nods his head "yes". You gotta love a moose like that!

Thanks for stopping by for this edition of Paisley's Friday Update! I promise next week I won't be so lazy and will take the Q-snaps off so you can see the whole piece!

Have a great stitchy weekend!