August WIPocalypse!

Well, August hasn't been my most productive cross stitch month, but what I HAVE done makes me very happy. And I enjoyed stitching it!

I got back into my rotation (initially), and found myself back in my Stitchmaynia projects. I started with "No Bees No Honey" by Birds of a Feather.

I'm stitching this on 20 count fabric so it's pretty tiny which I like. A little more of the beehive was accomplished before I moved on to a different project.

Then I moved on to "Quaker Diamonds" by Rosewood Manor. Let's face it - this is a big project for me and for some reason takes a LOT more concentration to keep myself in the right place when stitching.

This is one of those "I hope it matches up" projects with all of the borders. Pretty though, don't you think?

Next came Little House Needlework's "Farmhouse Christmas" series. Yes, I'm still stitching the first one, but am enjoying it immensely!

At this point in the stitching month, I had the sudden urge to attempt to actually finish something. And what could be more appropriate for the upcoming fall than "Scaredy Cats" from Mill Hill.

This tiny project has a LOT of beading. I know, I know. That's the idea of a Mill Hill kit. I'm talking a ton of beading though. The half stitch-attached beads go pretty quickly, but the tiny petite beads are attached with a full cross stitch and they take me much longer to do.

For example, the green beads on the cart are attached with a half cross stitch and they lay at an angle. The beads that make up the cart wheels are attached with a full cross stitch and lay horizontally. But just look at those cats! So cute! I think I'm about 2/3 of the way done with the beading. I just might have a real finish in time for fall!

I think I'm going to complete this project before moving on. August was full of travel, being sick, and just general busy-ness. But now I'm ready to go and get back into the stitching mode.

Question of the month: Which is more satisfying to you and why - the process of stitching a piece, or the finish?   Although I like having a finish, I like the process of stitching a piece a lot more. Just seeing the pattern form with thread and needle makes me happy. Adding a new color and seeing how it looks with the others is a really satisfying part of the process.

Please go to Measi's Musings for more info about the WIPocalypse.

Some good news! Some of you may know that I've been having trouble with commenting on my blog, both commenting on other peoples' blogs and replying to comments on my own blog. The issue seems to have corrected itself and I was able to comment on a couple of blogs that I haven't been able to in a long time! Yay!

Garden Art

We like to attempt a garden every year. When I say "attempt", I mean we never know what the garden is going to do from year to year. Weather, chipmunks, bugs, etc. all have an impact on our garden success.

Last year's garden was pretty sad. Bitter cucumbers, buggy and split tomatoes made us question if the cost of the plants and all of the watering was worth it.

A past year's garden.

The above picture is from 2014, I think. We have two of these and usually plant tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and maybe some herbs. Not wanting to give up on the idea of growing some veggies, we decided to plant less this year. So of course, everything is delicious! This year, we've grown some of the tastiest tomatoes and cucumbers we've ever had!

So fewer plants means less deliciousness. No bumper crop, but enough to enjoy fresh and try something new.

If you are a follower of the blog Priscillas 2000, or if you watch Priscilla & Chelsea on Flosstube, you may be familiar with Yard Sauce, Priscilla's recipe for roasted tomato sauce. I decided to try it for myself.

Basically you roast your tomatoes on a baking sheet along with some onion, basil, and salt. Other veggies like zucchini can be added if you want. Roast it for about an hour. The photo above shows the results of the roasted veggies already in the blender. I did not get a photo of the roasted tomatoes. I regret that because it was beautiful.

You then blend all of that goodness up and instantly you have something resembling a sauce.

I managed to get three cups of sauce from this pan of tomatoes. Now remember, I didn't have a lot of tomatoes. It was pretty much a single layer of tomatoes and the other ingredients.

And when I tasted it, it was good!  Right into the freezer it went, to be enjoyed in the future. Do I wish we had planted more tomatoes? Yes! Mark went out and bought some "late in the season" tomato plants and they're doing well. So maybe I'll be able to create more of this lovely sauce before growing season ends.

What about the cucumbers? They are absolutely yummy, and we did have a few extras so I used a tried and true recipe for spicy refrigerator pickles.

These are so good and easy to make. A mixture of seasonings, some pickling liquid, and sliced cucumbers go right into your clean jar. Take that jar and shake it up every day, and in a week the pickles are ready to eat. I like this recipe because it contains no sugar, but I guess you could put some in if you want to. The best thing is that these can keep in your fridge for 6 months. That is, if you don't eat them before that!

That sums up my garden arts and crafts for this post. I was hoping to get enough jalapenos for pickled jalapenos, and I still might. I hope you liked this slightly different post. I figure that being crafty with food is crafting nonetheless. And these are super-easy recipes that you can use if you have a bumper crop of veggies, or even if you just have a few extra. Let me know if you try it!

WIPocalypse, Late Edition

I've been making an effort to become more organized. Last week I went through my cross stitch fabric, sorting it according to count. The plan is to make me think before I go to buy fabric because I might, just might, have it "in stock". The result is oddly satisfying, knowing what I have and where I can find it when needed. So going beyond that, last Friday I went through my jewelry. Now before you start thinking that I have a collection of Tiffany baubles, let me set you straight. Most of my jewelry (about 99% of it) is of the costume variety. You know, fun stuff and things I made myself. Again, I now know just what I have and I know that it's stuff I'll wear. I'm even keeping this blog more organized, with my goal to be a better, more consistent blogger!

That brings me to organizing my WIPs, and keeping a record of my rotation. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while. I even have a nice journal-y type of book that I can write in. But so far I haven't gotten around to actually doing any kind of record-keeping, relying on my memory to keep me organized. So this will be my next organizing project! For now, let's see what I've worked on, willy-nilly style!

I had a fun stitch day with my friend, Dena last month. I stitched on "Tulip's Praise" by Gracewood Stitches. Whenever I stitch this one, I don't want to put it down. The design is so pretty, and just look at those colors.

Never mind the wonkiness of the photo. It's a fairly large chart, so I'm not even halfway through. I'm stitching it on 18-count off white Jobelan.

Little House Needleworks' "Farmhouse Christmas" was up next. I'm still working on the first one, but am making progress.

These little designs are so cute, and I'll be stitching each one separately.

I spent quite a bit of time on "Scaredy Cats" by Mill Hill. My goal is to get this one done in time for fall. I'm about a third of the way through the beading.

Yesterday, I picked up "No Bees" by Birds of a Feather. This is one of my Stitchmaynia starts. I'm stitching it one over one on 20 count Jobelan.

As you can see, I made just a tiny bit of progress. But I'll stick with this one for a few days.

Question of the month: Half year recap: How are you doing with your goals so far this year?  I guess pretty well. I've stitched on all of my WIPs, finished a few, and even brought one back from UFO-dom.

WIPocalypse is a SAL designed to keep us rotating those WIPs. It's hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings. We post once a month, or in my case, a little less. For more info, click HERE.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I continue to have commenting issues and don't know if I'll ever figure out what the exact issue is. If you have any questions for me, just put them in the comment box and I'll answer them right here on my blog. Please come back often! I appreciate all of my subscribers and commenters!