She's Making A List

A little late to the party perhaps, but I've decided to join the Crazy January Challenge 2011. It didn't take me long to find fifteen projects to work on. I stuck with smallish projects that I know I can finish during the year, and since this is so last minute, I chose ones that were already kitted up or I knew I had thread and fabric for. So, without further ado, here is my list:

1. A Winter's Tale (Shepherd's Bush)
2. Better Not Pout (Shepherd's Bush)
3. Green Snowman (Shepherd's Bush)
4. The Big Blizzard (Heart in Hand)
5. Christmas is Forever (Lizzie Kate)
6. Woodland Sampling (Little House Needleworks)
7. Season of Growth (Little House Needleworks)
8. Happy Bunny Bunny Day (The Trilogy)
9. Joyful Summer (Country Cottage Needleworks)
10. Sweet Treats (Country Cottage Needleworks)
11. Cupcake (Country Cottage Needleworks)
12. Tart (Country Cottage Needleworks)
13. Ice Cream (Country Cottage Needleworks)
14. Pie (Country Cottage Needleworks)
15. Cake (Country Cottage Needleworks)

These have all been in my To Do basket for a couple of years, so I'm really looking forward to finally getting them done. I am commited! Or is that I should be commited??

Everyone be safe this New Year's Eve!

Merry Christmas!

However you are spending the holidays, I hope it is with those you love!

Birthdays are good for you...

Statistics show that people who have the most live the longest!



Have a cupcake!

Today is my 50th birthday!

(But remember, that's only 10 Celsius!)

Woohoo!

Congratulations to all the NaBloPoMo survivors out there!

Acorn Hill Cont.

Here's a quick pic to show my progress on Acorn Hill. As you can see, I've been working on the house. The roof was done by blending two different colors and I think it turned out pretty nifty.

Discombobulated

That about sums up how I'm feeling right now. I've been going through my various boxes of stash and I can't find a single thing I'm looking for. I know I have a bunch of charts from Homespun Elegance somewhere, including the annual Christmas ornaments Sandra does every year. I had the charms and fabric and even the fuzzy stuff for Santa's beard and now it's nowhere to be found. And what about the All Dolled Up series of ornaments from Little House Needleworks? Nope. Those are missing too.

I've also managed to misplace a 7.5 foot prelit Christmas tree. Either that or we gave it away because we didn't want to move it which makes me want to cry because have you seen the prices of these things?!?!?

I know 'tis the season to be stressed out, but I think some serious re-combobulating needs to be done around this house!

Acorn Hill Progress

Finally had a chance to sit down and work on Acorn Hill a little tonight, but all I kept thinking about was how I need to start working on some Christmas projects. It's been pretty cold here lately so it may just be time to pack up the fall stitching and pull out my winter projects.

Crazy January Challenge

Have you heard about the Crazy January Challenge 2011?? The idea is to start stitching a new project every day from January 1st to January 15th, and then finish each of those 15 new projects before the end of the year. I'll need to go through my stash and see what I can come up with before committing, but it does sound like my kind of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The First Thanksgiving
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

P is for...

Pizza, Puzzles, Pictionary and Plenty of laughter with People I love.

Hope everyone is staying warm on this Thanksgiving Eve.

I Found My Thrill...

...on Acorn Hill!

Good to Go!

Hooray! My thread and fabric arrived for Acorn Hill! I can't wait to get started!

The Village

Thought I should share a picture of my VoHRH since I mentioned yesterday that I'd be working on it while I oh so patiently (not!) await the thread and fabric for my next project. It's not much of a village yet with only a church (missing it's windows!) and a city hall, but I have plans for a blacksmith's shop and a gristmill, and I hope to start on a boarding house soon.

We have beef and barley soup simmering in the crock pot (I finally found it!) and Chex Mix toasting in the oven so it's smelling very fall-y here in our little home. Nice to have such a cozy feeling on an overcast day. We've been working on our menu and grocery list for Thanksgiving, and I can't wait for the turkey and stuffing!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday as much as I am! Thanks for stopping by!

Next Up

I've decided my next project will be another from Little House Needleworks. This time it's Acorn Hill. I've ordered the thread and fabric I need and with any luck they'll be here before Thanksgiving. In the meantime I think I'll resurrect my Village of Hawk Run Hollow and see if I can't finish up the block I started so long ago.

A Friday Night Finish

Season of Plenty

Little House Needleworks

stitched on 28 count Antique Ivory linen with DMC

And here is a group shot of the three seasons I have completed so far.

One House Short of a Finish

Still plugging away on Season of Plenty. It'll almost be a shame to finish this one, I'm enjoying it so much. I'll have to go through my stash and see what other Little House Needleworks fall-ish patterns I might have.

One more week until Thanksgiving! Can you believe it? And I'm so happy I'll be able to celebrate it in my own home!

Thanks for visiting! I'll be back tomorrow with a finish!

Quick Progress Post

Whew! Cutting it close tonight to get my post in before midnight, so here's a quick pic of my progress on Season of Plenty. Shouldn't be too long before this one goes in the Fuppie Box!

Roti

I had a request from Staci for our flatbread recipe so today's blog post is brought to you by my son, Evan. Enjoy!

This is a recipe for Indian-style flat-bread called roti. roti is a lot like naan, however roti is chemically leavened and naan is leavened with yeast. This makes roti much quicker to get on the table, however some time should still be set aside and work out your schedule before starting your meal.

Ingredients:


12 & 3/4 ounces (3 cups) unbleached, all-purpose flour (if you have a kitchen scale USE IT! it's much more accurate and efficient than measuring flour by volume)

1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

6 to 8 ounces (3/4 to 1 cup) water (start at 6 ounces and work your way up to achieve a proper dough consistency)


-In a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add oil and water. mix on low using dough hook, or by hand with a wooden spoon or your bare hands to create a soft, but not sticky dough, adding water as needed (your dough will feel dry and be crumbly if you need more water.)

Crumbly:

Good:

-Let dough rest for 30 minutes, then cut into 8 equal pieces (scale helps again here too) and cover with a clean towel and let rest again for 5 minutes (don't skip this part, it allows the dough to relax so it rolls out easier)


-Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, roll the dough balls out into 6-8 inch circles (helps to have a helper do this while you cook the roti... but that's just me)


Brush or spray griddle or skillet with oil (brush dough with oil too if desired) then place roti on the griddle or skillet and cook until the top begins to blister.


Flip and cook roughly one minute more, then remove to plate. Repeat with remaining dough.


(Don't take these instructions at face value, you may need to play with the heat or cook the roti a little shorter. It doesn't take long, and may be better to just go by sight. nice dark spots and a bumpy blistered texture are what you're going for.)


I like to have my roti with curry, but they're also very good for sandwiches too. The roti will stay warm if stacked on a plate and tented with foil for about 30 minutes, but they can be kept in a warm oven too, and re-heat in the microwave nicely. You're lucky if they make it to the table at all though, I'm always catching myself tearing off bits and snacking as the remaining ones cook.

And that's lunch!


Thank you, Evan, for being my very first guest blogger! I hope you all enjoyed his recipe and give it a try sometime soon!

Dryer DIY

We haven't been working on many projects around the house since we moved in, mainly just unpacking boxes and clearing a trailer full of brush out of the yard while the weather held out. But there was one Miss Fix-It project I wanted to share with you that I'm particularly proud of.

Meet Frank (short for Frankenstein):

He is an electric dryer we bought off Craigslist because the one we had was gas, and I've done the whole clothes line thing before and didn't want to go that route again. (First gravy and chili dogs, and now this non-green behavior! Whatever are you gonna do with me!)

Frank used to be known as the Mean Green Machine, but Frank had issues. You know what it sounds like when you're drying tennis shoes? Well, that's how Frank sounded all the time. A quick examination with a flashlight revealed the problem to be a busted drum roller. Now luckily our old dryer is also a vintage Kenmore, so it has become our Donor Dryer. The part we needed was extracted from our donor (may he rest) and skillfully transplanted into Frank. I am happy to report that after a short period of recuperation Frank is back to work and operating at 100%.

Here's a photo of the offending drum roller (center). The real problem turned out to be a broken tri clip (that triangle thing) which allowed the roller to slip and wobble and eventually wear down. Bonus: I found exactly $1 in change when I cleaned out the dryer's insides, plus a guitar pick. Woohoo! The two washers and nut were what was leftover once we had the machine put back together, but we're not going to talk about that!

(Doesn't everyone have leftover parts after putting something back together??)

The Sigh Heard 'Round the World

I thought I'd made some decent progress on Season Of Plenty tonight. And then I realized I'd used the wrong color green for the top part. Siiiiigggghhh! I sat there for a good 15 minutes contemplating ripping it all out and re-stitching it, but ultimately decided no one would ever know. Until I posted it on my blog of course, but then I know you guys will never tell, right? Mum's the word!

Daughter Sarah came for dinner and a movie tonight, so son Evan whipped up a delicious chicken curry. I'm glad he has the patience to follow one of those multi-stage recipes, otherwise we'd be eating one dish casseroles every night. He even made flatbread which I had to eat hot out of pan to the point where I was burning my fingers, but I swear that's when it's best!