Happy Birthday Mr. Dickens!!!

Today celebrates the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. The literary world would be a sad place without his works. My favorite is A Christmas Carol.....what's yours?

Stitch in Public and Crewel

I wanted to show you what I accomplished at out Stitch in Public day. I finished the stitching on the Christmas tag and just need to find the beads and finish it....

 

And I started a new Valentine's Day ornament. It is a freebie from luli that I found here.

And about the crewel...I have always admired people that are able to do crewel or surface embroidery. One of the ladies in my local EGA group has decided that she would like to be my crewel coach and tonight we had our first session. I love it. I am learning lots and I can actually see myself doing this in addition to cross stitch. And I learned that crewel and surface embroidery are actually two different types of work. Crewel is always done with wool and surface embroidery is done with any other type of fiber. My teacher just received her Master Craftsman designation in Crewel Embroidery from the EGA, and believe me, her work is just exquisite.

Stitch in Public day

Tomorrow is National Stitch in Public day...so do it! I have found that the bookstores and libraries here in Tallahassee have no problem with people doing handwork of any type on the premises. And by handwork I am including needlework, knitting, crocheting, tatting, and sewing. If I have anything out, Sorry!! I will be at our downtown branch with other members of my EGA group. We are the Canopy Oaks chapter. We will be at the library from 10am - 4pm. If you are in or around town, please drop by and see us.

IHSW check-in

I didn't stitch a lot, but I put thread and needle to two wip's. I had a lot more errands planned this weekend then I thought, but stitching was accomplished.

 BBD's petite lettres rouges (a freebie)

stitched on unknown white linen

DMC 930, 931, and 932 (my favorite colors)

Christmas Joy gift tag from GOSM newsletter

14 count off white Aida

DMC 936 and 600

another mistake????

I realized when there was a comment on the blog about my favorite soup that I had left out an ingredient. So, here is the corrected recipe.

Sausage Corn Potato Chowder

Soup from Heather's mom. A family recipe--my favorite kind! Yields: 6 Servings 1 pound ground breakfast sausage or smoked sausage (I use Register's sausage; it is a type of smoked sausage that I can buy in Tallahassee) 3 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 1 can (16 oz) Corn (I usually use Birds Eye Steamfresh Asparagus, Gold & White Corn, and Baby Carrots) 1 can (16 oz) creamed corn 1 can (12 oz) fat-free Evaporated milk 2 cups Water 1 t. Basil 1 t. Salt (I use very little salt) ½ t Ground black pepper

Brown sausage and remove from pan; saute the onion in the sausage drippings. Add all other ingredients; bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Notes: You can substitute chicken broth for the water . You can also use frozen corn, thawed, instead of the canned corn.

still cleaning up...

I am still cleaning up, and may I say, that I found some things that have been "lost" (read as misplaced) for over a year!! I have a 3-day weekend this weekend, so hope to finish it off. If I do, will post pictures on Tuesday. I will also try and post pictures of some recent "stashing". I bought a few things on sale and now intend to go on a stash "diet". I might have to buy a few threads, but don't plan on buying any more patterns.

Confession is good for the soul????

Well, since Anna is and Donna did, I am going to show you mine in hopes of shaming myself into a clean-up/purge this weekend. This is why I have not done any finishing on my completed stitching. My office/sewing/craft room:

This is my cutting table that opens up to 6 feet.

This is my sewing table.

Fabric that surrounds and is underneath sewing table that needs to be stored.

This is the stuff in front of the cutting table. The boxes contain stuff that I have sorted, but never put in its proper place.

This is my desk (don't you just love my keyboard tray!!), and to the right, more stuff to sort and put away.

I think the reason I don't stitch or sew is the mess in this room just paralyzes me at times---but it's time to get over myself and just do it. Wish me luck----please!!!