MIA...

I've been somewhat missing in action as a blogger as of late...

Sorry.

 Life has been busy.

(we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of grand baby #2 in early April, ultrasound shows little girl parts!)

Work has been busy,

 and,

 well,

blogging

 has had to take a back seat.

It's a priority thing...

You may remember

 last fall I blogged about

a new pattern series

 that would be releasing in 2012.

Here is a little sneaky peeky... 

Teensy tiny little cross stitched purse necklaces...

only big enough

 to hold 

a thimble,

or 

whatever

 tiny little treasure 

you may have...

Or it doesn't really need to hold anything,

just wear it as a fun piece of jewelry

to your next stitching class or retreat!

Don't cross stitch?  Don't cry...

there are plans for wool applique and punch needle

in this series as well.

I'm thinking these will be sold as little kits

that will include the purse frame,

necklace chain,

linen and flosses.

More details on this series to follow...

Have a good week everyone,

Brenda

29 Candles!!

Happy Birthday
 wishes go out today
 to Matthew!
 Today Matthew reaches
 the # 29 milestone,
still clinging onto his twenties!

Happy Birthday Sonny Boy!

We Love You,

Mom and Dad

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!!

 We have a winner!

No one guessed all three correct, but 13 of you got 2 correct! Those thirteen participants got their names listed two times. I used Random Organizer, listing all of those who had correct guess. I then, with a click of a button, randomized the list.   Since May is our fifth month, it was predetermined, that the fifth name listed after being randomized would be the winner. 

The name that was listed as number 5 was Charlene (heart) SC.  Congratulations Charlene!  Please email me Charlene at order@countrystitchesonline.com with your mailing address.

The peacock blue floss...

a little woman in her large-brimmed gardening hat.

No one guessed this correctly.

 

The red floss...

an old-fashioned wheel barrow.

No one guessed this one correctly either.

 

The red and peacock blue floss is also used in the American flag. There were a lot of correct guesses for flag.

The mellow golden yellow floss...

a busy little bumble bee.

No one guessed this correctly.

Thanks everyone who participated in the give-away.  It was fun reading your guesses!

Watch for the release of May Word Play on April 1st.

Have a good evening,

Brenda

Midweek Musings...

The Spring Sampler of the Season is done!

 After a linen dilemma, and then a change of heart, it is done! Well almost done, just needs her frame. This pattern will release along with May's Word Play, and with some Spring-themed punch needle patterns around the 1st of April.

 

And a little sneaky peeky

at 

May's Word Play

floss selection...

Stitching of May's Word Play will begin this evening as I'm in front of the TV watching/listening to American Idol.   I'm enjoying some TV as of late.   The Voice on Monday evenings, followed by Smash, and then two evenings of Idol, and throw in a little Anderson Cooper too...the most prime time TV that I've watched in a very very long time. 

On a side note...

We received another bolt of potting soil brown ticking yesterday...yayyyyyy!  While I was hoping for more then the 1 bolt, I'll take what I can get!  Hoping to get more bolts directly from the manufacturer today or tomorrow.   I didn't get this pulled from the website before some orders came in, so we over-sold.    Once I have all the pre-sold orders filled, and I feel I have remaining inventory, I will mark the House of Blues & Browns Sampler supply kit and ticking available for purchase once again.  

 It's such guesswork...guessing what the demand for an item will be.  I make my best guess, and hope for the best.  My guess was a bit on the conservative side, when it came to what the response to the pattern "House of Blues & Browns Sampler" would be.  In other words, I will not have yards and yards of brown ticking, and wondering what I'm going to do with it all!  Nope, the dh will not be wearing any ticking shirts or undies!!

   The funny thing is, this design had been in my cross stitch library for 3 years.  Each design cycle I scroll through unpublished work and I would always opened this design, always.    I'd change the colors to brights, then to not-so-brights,  then I'd changed it to red-work, then to blue-work, then I  changed it to blues and browns...that was my a-ha moment, and the rest is history.  I do though, have that design saved 4 different ways...sometimes it just takes you a while before you really fall in love with a design. So I guess you could say, this pattern had been in the making for 3 years!

We lost more of our snow yesterday, heard robins in the yard this morning...

love this time of year!

And I almost forgot...let's have a little fun, shall we?

Let's have a little blog contest!  

Enlarge that picture of those flosses above.

Take a good look at those pretty spring-time colors...

Take a guess at what those colors of flosses will be used for in

 the May's Word Play.

See that mellow golden yellow?

See that brighter red in the center?

See that peacock blue?

Leave a comment,

 telling me what motif will be stitched using those three colors.

If you get any of them right, your name will go into a drawing for a free floss kit and pattern for May's Word Play when the pattern releases.   The contest will remain open through this Sunday. 

I'll announce the winner on Monday.  Your name will get put into the pot as many times as the amount of correct guesses you make.  One comment per person, pulease!

Enjoy the day,
Brenda

Have you ever wondered...

what it

looks like

before someone 

lets

the cat

outta the bag??

Silly kitty.

No,

I'm not traveling.

I've been home

 for quite some time,

actually.

The kitty found this spot

before

 I got things put away...

{sigh}

and he's just so cute

all curled up 

in my new

Amy Butler travel bag

that I haven't had the heart

to put it away.

This is one of those 

cats that 

owns a human...

Have a good evening,
Brenda

Just a little "b-hind"

My goal 

was to have my new Spring/Easter-time punch needle pattern designs

 ready to go

 on March 1st,

that's what my little calendar says anyway...

butt ,

but,

I'm running

 a little behind...

{sigh} 

 

Have a good day,

Brenda

P.S.

New patterns are starting to arrive,

watch for new Stacy Nash,

 Blackbird Designs, 

Scarlett Letter,

 Plum Street Samplers patterns

and others.

  New scissors from Kelmscott 

and new sheep and owl charms...

they are darling!

Thank you Frances...

I have a tiny little start on the antique reproduction piece, Frances Pool - 1832. 

I'm really liking the floss selection thus far on this sampler.  

While stitching those purple and blue berries I had a thought. 

 Don't you love it

 how your mind just goes somewhere else

when you stitch? 

Is this just me?

 While stitching those purple berries, 

I decided that they must be mulberries. 

 A bird will get stitched upon that twig of mulberries...

Those little X's of mulberry purple and blue

 reminded me of our young little family,

several years ago, 

dating back to when the dh was a student at Iowa State University. 

  Our young little family 

lived in married student housing

 that sat on the outskirts of campus, 

near a pasture 

where the horses were kept,

 just a hop and a skip from the horse barns 

on campus. 

 Yes, there are horse barns on campus..

ISU is well known for it's

 agriculture

 and vet med studies.  

On summer evenings, 

Erin would hop onto her white Huffy bicycle, 

with the purple banana seat and white wicker basket,

and 

little brother Matthew would be on his

 Big Wheel...

legs going just as fast as can be,

 to keep up, 

I must add. 

Click, click, click...

remember the sounds those Big Wheels made?

 Mom and Dad would be on foot

 and

 we'd go for a 

walk/ride to the feed the horses.

It was decided upon 

by the kids

 that horses eat carrots,

so that is what they fed them!

 After the horses were stuffed of carrots,

 (dear lord, I'm hoping those horses weren't any big part of any research study...)

 we would head east to a bike path

 that ran through a fairly heavily wooded area.

Trees hung over both sides of the path,

 it always felt 20 degrees cooler upon entering the path.

The area was brimming with birds,

 lots and lots of cardinals

 and 

mulberry trees.

  If we were lucky enough to beat the birds to the mulberries,

 we'd each pick a handful

 and

 put them in Erin's little white bicycle basket

 and

 head home to enjoy a treat of 

sugared mulberries and ice cream...

yummy!  

That was 25 plus years ago,

I had forgotten about those

 mulberry

 and

 ice cream days,

until

 I put those X's onto my linen.

 The thought of those days

 brought a smile to my face...  

Thank you 

Frances Pool.

Digging out from yesterdays blizzard,

Brenda

New Patterns!

Spring time patterns are here for your stitching pleasure! 

House of Blues & Browns Sampler Pillow

worked on 22 count Fine Ariosa over 2 threads.

Finished size - 11" x 23" 

Peter & Peep

worked on 22 count Fine Ariosa over 2 threads

Finished size - 15" x 20"

April Word Play

 worked on 35 count Abecedarian over 2 threads.

Floss kits, linens and fabrics for the above new charts are all available from us online.  Items are now posted on our website.

NEW FLOSS KEEPS!

Margaret Lucas 1832

&

Emma Triegel 1878

Have a good weekend,

Brenda

Winter Arrives...

Looks like mother nature whipped up a big batch of royal frosting  

over night... 

She frosted everything

 

 with a 

beautiful

white

coating,

making

the red boy

look 

extra red

this 

beautiful

winter

morning...

 

The red boy

 was my morning coffee

 entertainment,

flitting from snow covered branch

to 

snow covered branch.

 I'm pretty sure he was thinking,

hurry up lady

 and

 drink that coffee,

and

get your boots on,

and

come out 

and feed me.

It's Friday, yayyyyy!

Off to do my bird chores,

Brenda

In a chocolate coma...

not quite,

 but,

I will be 

when I get through 

both layers of chocolates!

Come on,

 don't let me eat chocolates by myself...

go on out

 and buy yourself

 a 12 oz box of Whitman's. 

 

The Whitman's Sampler,

a collection of assorted chocolates...

 

And while your sinking your teeth

 into the chocolatey nugget,

take a look at the lid of the box... 

 

A basket of flowers, the bluebirds in the corners,

&

the wavy cross stitched border...

and yes,

they are done in tiny little cross stitches!

 

And

when you've consumed the whole box of chocolates,

DO NOT,

I repeat,

DO NOT THROW THE BOX AWAY.

Yes,

we are going to

repurpose the box

into another stitching ditty!

 Watch for a future 

cross stitch design

 using the empty box...

will keep you posted.

It's going to be special...

  The idea is in it's early stages,

 just some scribbles in the sketch pad.

X X X X X X X 

Coming soon!

 

SAMPLER CHARM BROOCHES...

These are so small & sweet!

They feature tiny little photo pendants (1/2" - less then an inch)

 of antique samplers.

Tiny little charms and natural beads

are carefully attached 

and all hang

from a brooch

 that measures less then 2" across. 

  They make such a cute clanging noise 

when you wear them...

reminds me of my charm bracelet days! 

 I'm in the process of working on this collection. 

 Hoping to have 4 or 5 brooch choices to start with.

  More info on these to follow.  

Also,

 I now have stork charms,

which means,

more floss keeps will be coming!

Happy Thursday Everyone...

we are having a mix of rain/wet heavy snow today,

Brenda

Growing Old Gracefully...

I spent the weekend

 with my eyes closely fixated,

 a few inches away,

 from Frances Pool - 1832.

 Counting

 &

 re-counting

&

color planning.

 Frances Pool has

 grown old gracefully,

 indeed.

  However,

 I cannot seem

 to get her musty smell

 out of my nose...

 Frances has spent

 some time in a

 dark

 and

damp

basement.

 I'm just guessing,

 but

 that is what her

 "perfume"

 indicates to me... 

Sharing little

 bits and pieces

 of 

the work of 13 year old

Frances Pool - 1832. 

   I've grouped the photos

 of the front and back

 together into one photo unit,

 for easy comparison.

 The top photo is the backside,

 showing the original colors of floss.

The bottom photo of the group is the front side,

 showing how the flosses have faded

over the 180 years.

See how the flosses have changed?

Frances has grown old gracefully,

hasn't she?

 The purples have faded

 to a lovely 

federal blue.

 The fuchsia pinks

are now a wonderful

shade of muted mulberry.

The rusty brown tree branch

is now

 greenish brown.

Take note of the bird..

It's light chartreuse-colored feathers

 have faded to a subtle shade

 of soapstone grey.

 I think she has aged beautifully,

I love her faded colors.

 It seems to be

 that I always

 prefer

 the faded version

 to the original version. 

What way do you prefer to stitch a reproduction?

 Bright and bold,

 like newly purchased

 skeins of flosses,

or

faded and muted 

shades to simulate 

a piece that is 180 years old?

Frances Pool appears to be about a 15 count.  

The finished piece isn't quite square, 

with her widest width being around 14 1/2".

Just a nice size,

not too overwhelming. 

  I've selected hand dyed flosses

 by The Gentle Arts

 &

 Weeks Dye Works,

 replicating

 the front side 

of the sampler.

The reproduction will have

the same look as the antique. 

The linen selection

 hasn't been finalized.

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect shade of linen.

Wish me happy hunting!
 

Have a good week,

Brenda

TNNA Bound?

If so,

 stop by Norden Crafts 

to view models

 of my new patterns

 releasing in their room.

 You will be amongst the first

 to view

 April's Word Play,

 Peter & Peep 

&

House of Blues & Browns Sampler Pillow.

Norden Crafts will have limited stock of these patterns for purchase at the show.

ALSO...

I'm also very excited

 to be working

 with the wonderful folks

 at The Gentle Arts.

 They have chosen 

the April Word Play

 as one of their floss kits

 for the TNNA show. 

 They too will have a limited supply of these kits

for April's Word Play

 all cutely packaged

&

 ready for you to take and sell...

how easy is that?

 

 Safe travels,

Brenda

Soups On!

All week long I would come home from work and think gee, a good bowl of soup would taste good for dinner.  But it was always a little too late in the day to start a kettle of soup.  I've hardly made any soup this winter...it just hasn't felt cold enough to be a soup-kind-of day for the most part.

Today's recipe share is a recipe that I've looked at all week.  The photo of the soup looked so good

but the ingredients were a little weird.  I knew this would be one of those recipes that is going to be really really good.
 or really bad...

This taco soup was delightfully delicious.  So light, fresh and full of flavor.   So many of the recipes are a little bit too heavy and rich in the tomato for me.  This recipe definitely gets a smiley face,
a big smiley face!

Let's make some Taco Soup with Mojo Sauce, shall we?

 Brown 1 pound ground chuck; place in a strainer to drain excess fat off.

  Chop a 1/2 onion, 1/2 yellow pepper and 1/2 red bell pepper.  Place into same pan that hamburger was fried in, along with 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Cook for 5 minutes.

 Add cumin, chili powder, coriander, dried oregano and minced garlic.  

Cook 5 minutes more.

Bring hamburger back into pan; stir to mix.

Add a can diced tomatoes.

Add 1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed.

Place mixture into a large soup kettle.  Add two cans of beef broth, plus 3 teaspoons beef bouillon and 1 cup corn.  Simmer on low for 1 hour.

Now comes the weird part to this soup,

to me anyway...

Mojo sauce?

I had never heard of it.

The ingredients seemed a little weird.

Honey, cinnamon, cilantro, cumin...

But trust me,

this is what made the soup

so flavorful and fresh! 

Pack fresh cilantro into a 1/2 cup measuring cup.  Place in a food processor.  Squeeze two small limes over cilantro.  Add 2 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoon honey (yes, honey!), 1 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 tsp kosher salt and fresh black pepper to taste.  The recipe also called for a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon in the mojo sauce...I took a taste before adding the cinnamon

and decided it tasted delicious as is.  I chickened out, I didn't add the cinnamon...that sounded just a little bit too weird for me.

Place in a food processor and mince; adding 2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to sauce.

Garnish each serving of soup with 1 Tablespoon of the Mojo Sauce. 

Mmmmmm, this sauce is so good.  Do not skip this part of the recipe!

Add desired taco toppings to soup...

freshly grated cheddar jack cheese, dollop of sour cream,

avocado slices, shredded lettuce

and Mojo Sauce.

Serve with corn tortilla chips.

This recipe serves 4 people, can easily be doubled.

And as always...

a printable recipe card. 

Click on arrow.

Enjoy! Brenda

Ebay thieves...

Sorry about the quality of the below photo

 it is a scan

 of an ebay auction

 of mine back from 2007.

 So thus 

the poor quality of the photo...

This was a piece that I designed for this particular ebay auction. 

It was a one of a kind. 

There was never a pattern published for this design. 
I repeat, there was never a pattern published for this design...
hold onto that thought.

You can imagine my surprise while police-ing ebay, 

category Punch Needle

 when I came

 upon this auction...


I do allow my customers
 to use my designs
 for purposes of selling the finished items,
 on a small scale.  
This is with the understanding
 that they have purchased the pattern.
   Not stolen it
 from my ebay auction,
 blog or website.


   It is also always appreciated
 that the seller list the name of the designer,
 of the item, that they are selling on ebay. 
 Seems fair doesn't it? 
 I watch many of my designs
 fetch a pretty hefty sum
 (not trying to toot my horn, here) 
on ebay
 and that is wonderful!
I'm always happy for the seller.
  I don't ask any commission from this...
  And this posting isn't directed at those who do this fairly.
Unfortunately,
there are ebay sellers who are doing this
un-fairly.


It does frustrate me to the max
 when I see  my punch needle design on ebay
 and
 I am 99.99% sure that the seller doesn't physically
 have the pattern
 in their possession,
 rather "borrowed" it from my website, 
blog, etc.    
They feel that this sort of "borrowing"
 is okay,
 if they just list the name of the designer...
  This is NOT OKAY.  
OKAY???


So my point is, 
if you like a designers work,
 so much
in fact,
that you want to use it to profit from,
just simply support the designer
by purchasing the pattern.
Seems fair doesn't it?


I don't like negative posting
 and
 this post only applies
 to the .1% of my readers/followers.
I'm only posting this here
 because those few people
 obviously
shop here,
on my blog,
rather
 then their local craft shop
or website.



 Feeling slightly cheated today,

Brenda

Conversation Hearts

Each February the dear husband brings home

 his annual bag of conversation hearts

. He prefers the larger scalloped ones

 over the smaller version...

They are better.

Didn't know that?

Yep, that's what the dh says...

I'm pretty sure they are all made from the same recipe,

but 

we'll just let him believe they are better,

okay?

I'm not too fond of conversation hearts myself,

 however

I always find myself stealing a heart or two...

 

This year's stolen heart was that orange one.

See it?

The one that says honey pie.

I read it,

said, "no way"...

 stomped my feet with excitement, 

told the dh "I'm saving this one"

 and tucked it onto a special little spot

 on a shelf of my stepback cupboard.

But not before I tucked it into his fist

for him to see.

.My dearest has called me

honey pie

 since high school days.

  He would start his love notes to me,

Dear Honey Pie...

and then sign them -

 Love allways,

 Dave

yeppers, he always misspelled always ;-)

I always thought it was silly...

 but

I loved being called his honey pie.

Still do.

In fact,

 I always thought he sort of made those words up. 

 I had heard of a honey bunch

 or

 a sweetie pie.

  But honey pie? 

  I just always figured

 he got the two words switched around

 and came up with honey pie...

so for all of these years

 it was sort of an inside joke

 I had

with myself.

So this years bag of hearts

 confirms

 there really is such a thing as honey pie?  

  I even Googled it,

&

 Dr. Google confirmed it.  

 It is a term used more heavily in the south. 

  What can I say...

I was born and raised a Minnesotan,

way up nort 

where they call ya sweetie pies 

and honey bunches...

 yah, you betcha!

So today is the day of love. 

 I don't expect a big bouquet of red roses

 from my heart throb.

But

 there will be a card

 with a Russel Stover's marshmallow heart

 sitting on the piano

 this evening.

The heart will be sitting on a card

that will be addressed to

"Honey Pie"

and

 that is perfectly 

fine 

with me.

Happy Valentines Day everyone,

Brenda

"Making flour"...

This photo was in my email in box

when I got home from work.

It said...
Hi Grandma.  I'm busy making flour.

Those are Beckham's words...

Momma says he "made flour" for over an hour

Look at the tongue...

such concentration.

It's safe to assume

the flour was well sifted

after an hour of sifting...

By the looks of his shirt

 it could have 

been used as a pastry cloth

for rolling out momma's heart cut-outs...

Have a good evening,
Brenda

Time is Ticking...

Have I told you I love old pillow ticking? 

It's just one of those

simple

&

timeless

things...

My collection consists

of light blues

in narrow stripes...

 

darker indigo blues...

 

blues with reds...

&

wide blue stripes

(my personal favorite)

I've spent a few evenings surrounded by piles

of ticking that I've collected over the years.

Thumbing through it,

folding and refolding it,

even picking off some

down from their backside's

and 

for the most part

contemplating

and 

trying to

visualize...

But enough playing with the ticking,

it's time to get down to business.

Time is ticking,

and

a decision needs to be made

as market is quickly approaching

and 

I've got deadlines to meet.

I've always wanted

to incorporate 

old pillow ticking 

into a sampler design. 

The idea has gone from a sketch,

in my sketch pad,

to almost reality.

Except...

except, I'm "scaird" to death

to cut into the freshly cross stitched sampler...

It's going to give me sweaty pits.

I just know it is...

Wish me luck.

And with any luck,

in a few weeks,

you'll see the finished product

in a new cross stitch pattern.

Crossing all finger & toes that I don't screw it up,

Brenda