Knotgarden and a Finish!

Hello my lovelies!

First I would like to thank all of you who joined my tea party and cheered me up.  Your comments really helped me, along with stitching all day on Knotgarden.  I was mainly missing my husband but there were other reasons as well.  So thank you again for your support! HUGS!!

On Saturday, I worked on my Knotgarden as I promised Joyce I would. I also stitched a bit on Sunday  while watching Battlestar Galactica.  I love that show!! Here's my progress so far.  I think it's starting to look really good!

The colours are so much prettier in real life.  I can hardly wait till I get my sister's camera soon.  Then I'll be able to take nicer, clearer photos!!

I thought I'd also include some pics of Jane, with 1 over 1 stitching, the By the Bay freebie, which is finished but not completely, and my Summer Quaker progress.  I had to do loads of frogging on that one which made me mad because I didn't notice that I had started the bottom motif too close to the border which would have made the whole thing off!! No way I could've fudged it!!

Just this morning, I set about finishing the PS Summer design into a little pillow.  That's something I'm good at doing.  Took me an hour to do though.  I was going to finish some other little sewing projects but I had a big fight with a zipper and ended up sewing the damn thing the wrong way.  I'm done with sewing today since I can't seem to do things right the first time.  What's more annoying is that I actually thought I was sewing it on with the zipper facing the front.  Guess I can't tell what's the back and the front of zippers! LOL!

I added a cute little gingham bow on the corner and I think the stars on the other corners are adorable.  At least one thing went well today!!

Another irritating thing for me has been google reader and my internet.  For over four days google reader wouldn't load so I'm slowly working through commenting now that it's working for me.  I updated firefox in order to be able to use the internet without it freezing and flashing me a "stop the script" message.  So far it's been okay, slow, but manageable.  I think I'm going to save up for an 1pad 4 for Christmas.  That's it.  I'm switching to Macs!!!

Here's a funny photo of how flat Titus can get.  He's been good company for me while my husband has been away.  He'll be back on Wednesday which is in two days!! So excited to see him!!

So there you have it! Some frogging, some sewing, some ripping, some swearing (Frak!!), and a finish.  I hope to get back to Jane this week though before we take off on our cycling trip.  When I pulled her out and ironed her, I noticed how VERY close she is to being done!!

Big hugs to you all and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you all who have sent me a kind word and email to cheer me up.  What also gave me a big cheery lift was I found out that I won a little something special from Nia! She is the sweetest and it gave me a boost at the right time.  Thank you darlin'!!

Love and hugs from

Titus and Me!


 

Tea Party

“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.”
  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

It's a Tea Party, hosted by Parsley and her daughter! I figured since the sun came out and I am a little blue today, it's a perfect time to have my spirits uplifted with a spot of tea.  I picked Cream of Early Grey tea from David's Teas, pulled out my grandmother's Royal Albert tea cup that has the sweetest little cross stitched rose design.  I didn't bake anything because I'm all by my lonesome and I'm not about to eat a dozen scones, biscuits or cookies on my own! I will share with you my recipe for those vegan chocolate chip cookies that are delish!!

Titus joined my tea time too!

I wore my laced Victorian gloves while sipping my tea.  Mmmmmm!!!

The Recipe:

Anne’s Vegan Chocolate Cookies

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I'm guessing you can use oil too, but maybe 1/3cup instead)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar (or white)
~this bit I changed~ it says 1/2 Tbsp egg replacer + 3 Tbsp warm water mixed...I just followed my egg replacer recipe and added 1 Tbsp egg replacer with 3 Tbsps warm water and mixed before I added it to the wet ingredients...it worked so I'm not going to mess with my methods~~If you have flax egg, that works too, just add 1 flax egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (didn't have this so I just used my unbleached white flour--worked fine)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (use whatever you have on hand, I used the chocolate bar, coconut and pecans--eyeballed it too)

Oven at 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
In a small bowl, make the egg replacer mix, set aside.
With a mixer, beat the margarine until fluffy, add the brown and white sugar and beat for 1-2 mins until creamy. 
Beat in the egg replacer mix. 
Beat the remaining ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips, nuts, coconut.
Shape balls of dough and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 mins or up to 14 mins.  Allow to cool for 5 mins on the sheet and then transfer to cooling rack.

It says for crisper cookies, use the 1/2 margarine and 1 tbsp olive oil. I guess they spread out more with the oil.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy your tea!!!

Hugs

Anne and Titus

IHSW Results

Hello all!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend stitching.  Of course I ended up being fairly busy and only managed to stitch on Saturday.  Both Joyce and I planned a SAL with our Chatelaine's.  I actually managed to pull her off Diablo 3!!!It's a miracle!! Yay Joyce!!! She of course did way more than me with her speedy little fingers, yet I did manage to get some stitching/frogging time with Knotgarden.  Good thing I stitched on it cause I would've been in trouble! LOL

Sorry for the dull photo.  It's dull and rainy here today...blech.

I also worked hard trying to finish my Quaker Summer design and the By the Bay freebie and almost got one of them done.  

I think Nina's Thread colour "Old Berry" is the prettiest colour I have used ever.  The photo doesn't do this rich, luscious, make me think of a real berry colour justice at all.  Too lazy to iron today....it's raining what can I say!

Such a cute design isn't it?! I love that sailboat and red house! My hubby really likes it too.  We both dream of having a boat together so we can float off to sea!

Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post! I adore red shoes and I think other than black and grey, that's the colour I tend to buy the most for feet...that and purple!! I've yet to wear them though due to the stupid rain.  The forecast this week says sun but I think they are LYING! This morning, before my hubby had to leave for the airport to visit family in Saskatoon, I checked the forecast and Saskatoon will be at 28 degrees today!! The forecast stated it will stay hot for the week, plus the occasional thunderstorm.  I just have to show you this photo from the weather site that a person sent in.  I love the "Land of the Endless Sky" aka Saskatchewan. I wish I could have gone with him :(

Stunning isn't it?!!!

Oh, and who here wants a Titus photo?!?!?! He's such a popular fella.  So glad I have him because I would be mighty lonely here while my darling is in Saskatchewan. 

I see loads of amazing posts on my sidebar that I can't wait to check out! I am a wee bit behind but should catch up this week...hopefully! That and I plan on doing some actual finishing...hopefully....just send that finishing fairy over to me k!!!

Hugs to all from me and sweet "ladylike" Titus!!!

TUSAL and Titus

Good day everyone!

The lovely weather stretch we have been having has ended.  Today we have rain.  But it is a nice rain since it cools everything off and gives the plants a drink.  I was hoping for sunshine today so I could wear my new shoes I got from The Bay's Clearance sale yesterday.  I did really well! Three pairs of shoes for $100! It would've been over that but I found a Bay giftcard from our wedding that had a $15 balance on it.  I love money surprises!!!

Here's my "orys" from the last Tusal.  It has all sorts of threads from various projects that I have on the go.

Seems that people are coming to my blog just for Titus now. LOL!! Well, I suppose he is pretty cute isn't he?! Well, here's a photo of him and how he relaxes.  It's quite comical!!!

What a fluffball!!

I hope to have some finishes to share after this IHSW weekend.  Don't forget to sign up if you hadn't already.  I will be finishing my Summer Quaker design, the By the Bay freebie and hopefully, will work on either Jane or Knotgarden...or both if I have the time. 

Ciao!!

"ORY" Jar and A Swan

Hello my lovelies!!

I have a finish to share! A wee while ago, okay about 3 months ago...ahem....I started making a little Ort jar after viewing Rhona's Jar topper tutorial. Anywho, after searching the internet for some kind of ciruclar design, I decided to stitch a little flower from Nan's Threadworks pins freebie, and combined it with some lettering from a BBD chart I had lying around.  Using some left over Dinky Dyes Desert Sand threads, I stitched it up rather quickly.  Then I found a little Mason Jar at my local SPCA Thrift mart....and there it sat, staring at me, asking me "Finish me! Finish me!!" Today I got the guts and went for it! It was fiddly to get centered but I think it turned out swell.  Take a look at my new "Ort" jar.  Notice that it says "ORY"? My husband pointed this out to me when I had stitched it and asked "What's an Ory?" I laughed and said "Can't you read? It says ORT!" Then I looked and felt a bit sheepish as I noticed the "T" definitely looked like a "Y". So here's my ORY jar.

I had big hopes on finishing my PS summer ornament to share with you today, but that will have to wait for another day.  I worked hard on finishing it up this morning before this post as well as I worked on my Summer Quaker piece. Here's my PS Summer finish.  Isn't it darling?!!

Hmm, that start is sort of abysmal. How about you look at my fancy cracked blue vase?!! I've had it since I was 12 years old with the lavender from my Nana's garden.  That vase means a lot to me as it started my blue glass obsession.  When we had to move downstairs while our apartment was being renovated, and then back up, I couldn't find this vase for over a year! I actually was quite sad about it...usually loosing possessions isn't too big a deal for me...and I loose lots! But loosing this made me sad.  Then one day I found it in a shoe box under our bed! I have it proudly on display now and it always holds the sweetest little posies for me.

Back to stitching.  Here's my By the Bay piece pictured with a shell from the Haida Gwai islands (I've never gone but a friend brought it back for me...always wanted to go there).

Remember Knotgarden?  Well, there's a very looooong story about why I haven't started it but I'll spare you the details (it has something to do with scroll rods, lapstands and getting irritated about having a hard time finding 27 inch scroll rods anywhere and not paying exorbitant amounts to get them).  It'll get sorted out this weekend. Right, where was I.  Oh yeah, Knotgarden!!!

Some stash for two charts I've been wanting to start.  I also had some linen arrive too but I forgot to take a picture...next time!

How about a pretty picture of my Nana's hydrangeas? I adore hydrangeas and hope to have some in my dream garden some day. 

Before I take off to do errands, I would like to welcome my new followers! Thanks for joining my blog!! Also...take a look on the left there under giveaways.  Sarah from Sarah in Stitches has a lovely blog and a wonderful giveaway! Nia is having a generous giveaway too!! 

Take care and big hugs to all.

Sorry no Titus today.  I sneezed and he ran and hid under the bed.

Need I say more?