It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Snow is lightly falling and I need to put some Christmas music on.  I am using a Christmas mug for the first time today.  

So, outside is not the only place where it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  My sewing room has taken on a life of its own and I'm not certain if it's ever been such a mess.  

I think every surface is covered.

Thread, stabilizer, fabric, patterns, and other things (including a coffee cup from several days ago!) are everywhere!  There are projects in various states of completion including this one:

I go to a ladies bible study on Tuesday mornings at 9:30, and since a morning person I am not, even that time seems early to me.  When I get there, I always realize I haven't taken time to put on hand lotion, so I get out the tube in my purse.  It seems rude not to offer it to the others, so I always do. My tube was almost empty last time, so I thought it would be fun to give each of the ladies a little stocking with a small tube of the same lotion.  Couldn't find a small tube, but found the cute little bottle shown in the picture and it fits perfectly in the stocking.  

Another project has been some in-the-hoop felt ornaments to add to packages and gifts for family friends.  These are Nordic inspired ones from Embroidery Library (as are the stockings) and are fun and quick to stitch out.

And I've become enamored of simple tea towels and stitched these out.  

The Jingle is for my kitchen, and the Peppermint one will be part of our friend Tina's family gift--I'm going with a peppermint, red/white theme for the items.  

Ann and Daniel stopped by yesterday late afternoon to pick out a Christmas tree.  Did you know we have a small Christmas tree "farm" here at the Resort?  Just for us and family, and several years ago they were big enough to start using.  When Ann left I gave her a Jingle towel for her kitchen and she loved it.  (Both towel designs are also from Embroidery Library.) So fun to give simple little gifts!!

Another Little Book Review

I always seem to be a little (or in this case a lot) late to the party on best-selling books.  And I don't even remember where I heard about this one back in October, but I decided to give it a whirl and requested it from the library.  

Well.  I fell for it.  All.The.Way.  I finished it and immediately began to read it all over again.  Then I ordered my very own copy.  When that came, I read it again.  

What is this book you ask?  

Isn't that just the quirkiest title ever?  It took me forever to remember it; I just kept calling it the Potato Peel book.  For those readers unfamiliar with it (and maybe I'm the only one left in the world who was?), the story takes place in 1946 in London and on the channel island of Guernsey and consists entirely of letters between the main characters. I laughed and cried my way through each and every time I read it (remember those three times!).  

I am a lover of historical novels (and this definitely qualifies), and I believe it was meticulously researched. The characters are unique and you come to care about each of them as they are revealed. Needless to say, I give this book my highest recommendation.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey is thawed, the big day is almost upon us, and we here at the Resort wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for!

Gadget Girl Expands Her Repertoire

So I decided to make pizza for our supper the other night.  Yes, I know, I've blogged about making pizza before and shared my crust recipe.  But!  

You know I love my gadgets.  My food processor, my Kitchenaid mixer, my Vitamix blender.  (Wow, I really am spoiled!) And I do use them all.  So, you ask, how have I expanded?  Well, I'll tell you.  

Ingredients.  Yup, the stuff that the gadgets use to make a meal.  Many years ago, a new catalog showed up in the mail.  It was from King Arthur Flour and I loved it!  I took it to bed and poured over it night after night (and yeah, I also take cookbooks to bed for late night reading, especially when Dan is out of town--no scary stuff in them!).  I've ordered from them over time, things like the bread bags that fit my big loaves from the bread machine, nifty bag clips, and even my beloved Staub cast iron pumpkin colored pot.  But nothing that would classify as ingredients.  

Last Christmas one of my packages from daughter Ann and family was rather heavy.  And when I opened it I was excited!  A King Arthur extravaganza!  Specialty flours! Pizza dough flavoring, special bread salt, and a huge spatula!  My box of goodies even contained a British cookbook on pizza and focaccia.  Oh that girl knows what I love!  

So back to the other night.  I haven't been in a cooking mood lately (after forty-seven years of cooking, it does get old at times), but I finally decided that I would make pizza.  I had some turkey breast pieces from Costco in the freezer and a jar of Alfredo sauce in the cupboard, so I thought I would make my version of a Papa Murphy family favorite we call "chick pizza" (we named it that as a play on words because we thought only the girls in the family would like it rather than the traditional red sauce, super meaty pizza favored by the boys.  We were wrong.  They all, even my dad, ate all our pizza!)

Somehow, making my own pizza dough, chopping all the peppers and olives, grating the cheese, seems relaxing and fun.  And all those new helpers?  They make it super yummy!

The container for the yeast is also from King Arthur flour and I love the special measuring spoon that equals the amount a small packet of yeast contains.  And that huge spatula?  Makes it so easy to take the baked pizza off the stone in the oven and onto a pizza pan for serving.  

This is one happy gadget girl! ♥

I'm Gambling!!

Well, not in the traditional sense, with money and a bookie.  With yarn!  I bought a knitting magazine a few months ago, the holiday issue of Knit Simple, and there was a pattern for a scarf in it that I liked.  The crazy thing about the pattern was that each row was exactly the same, over and over again.   

I finished my oyster tweed socks and, ready to make something besides socks, remembered that pattern. I had a skein of rusty red yarn.  Would it be enough?  I decided to gamble!  I started a few days ago and pick it up several times a day.  The pattern is called mistake stitch rib and it creates a lovely, dense knitted fabric that almost feels like a super waffle knit.  I really like how it's turning out, but I still have no idea if I'll have enough yarn to make a usable sized scarf.  

Care to place a bet?  ♥

Machine Embroidery and Me

I'm not certain how I first became aware of embroidery machines for home sewers.  Maybe ads in quilting magazines?  As I recall, the ads I saw featured Bernina machines and designs by designers such as Precious Moments and Debbie Mumm.  Then a quilt shop in a nearby town became a Bernina dealer and I decided to make a trip to check out what they had to offer.

Well of course you know I bought.  My first machine was a Deco 600, a stand-alone embroidery machine with a 4" x 4" embroidery field.  And it cost me $1800!!  And the year?  1998. The quilt shop had a monthly embroidery club and I began driving the 45-minute each way trip on Thursday evenings (a good night for me because there was only one day of teaching left in the week).  It was three hours of learning and sheer fun each time.  Of course, I always seemed to come away with a new card of designs and more and more thread. An inexpensive hobby this wasn't! But sooo fun!

As time went on, I began to hanker for a larger embroidery field.  Four by four isn't very big.  And bigger designs were coming out.  Meanwhile, we had become grandparents for the first time and daughter-in-law Amy had chosen Winnie the Pooh as the theme for Ryan's nursery.  Well, it just so happened that the Brother company had acquired the rights to Winnie and Disney characters and had built them into several of their machines, including their top-of-the line ULT 2002.  The designs, along with additional 5x7" and 6x10" hoops were irresistible.   I bit.  

And so it went.  Later I upgraded again to a Bernina 730 and then again to their 8-series 830.  Oh the huge designs I could now stitch out!  Ten by sixteen!!  

But backing up, there was more to my stitching than just the fun.  I loved teaching but it is a stressful job and takes a lot of energy.  Machine embroidery allowed me to continue to be creative by stitching beautiful designs on premade items such as tea towels or make simple projects such as pillows or wall hangings without too much effort.  That part of me that needs to be creative was allowed to continue to flourish.  And let's not discount the soothing sound of the machine as it stitched.  We didn't call it Deco therapy for nothing!  

And now fast forward to last year.  My Dad had died in November of '16 and then suddenly in the  late spring of '17 my mom discovered she had cancer that had rapidly spread.  She died June 25th.  And then our cat, Buddy, died in August.  I was in serious need of some therapy. While I love my huge 830, it needs to be set up to embroider and then babysitting while it stitches.  I longed for the simplicity of my old Deco which I had long since worn out.  I mentioned this to my long-time (sixty-four years and counting!) pal Kathy and true friend that she is, she did some research and found a machine she thought might work.  

She was right!  My old Deco, while sporting the Bernina name, had been made by the Brother company and the machine Kathy found, another stand-alone machine, was a Brother PE-770.  With Dan's encouragement I ordered one through Amazon and it showed up two days later.  It's price?  A mere $540!!  It can stitch 5x7" designs and I've discovered over the years that most of the designs I use are no larger than that.  I was thrilled to thread it up and sit and silently hum along with its stitching.  I can walk away and come back--no babysitting needed.  It truly got me through the end of last year.  Deco therapy at its best.  

(And Kathy?  Well, she ordered one, too!)  ♥

Taking a Little Pause. . .

. . . from cleaning sinks.  Such a rewarding job when done, but not so much fun when doing.  I am grateful for nice scrubby sponges and good cleaning supplies!

I didn't mean to be gone for this many days, but last week was busy, and coupled with the remains of my cold, I just didn't get back here.  This week looks to be much quieter and that's good.  Cleaning needs to continue!!

I took the Thanks banner to our pastor's wife yesterday and she loved it.  Just was so excited and actually jumped up and down clutching it and hugging me.  So glad I did it.  I also made another kitchen towel for the friends who have a Christmas tree farm using a design from Embroidery Library.  It seemed appropriate and a nice thank you for the pumpkins they gave us. These towels are kind of addictive!

Well, I think I hear the kitchen sink calling my name so I'd better get back to work! ♥