Stitching Time

My hope is that if I could get this far with the charity auction stocking, I could finish the lower portion by the end of September and then assemble it during October.  In reality, I reached this point Sunday evening.  It was a little difficult for me to organize myself to take the picture until yesterday. 

Monday was a no stitching day.  I probably should have stitched and still had to force myself to stitch on Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon I picked up my needle and began on the wedding sampler. 

Today I will continue stitching the wedding sampler.  Tomorrow I will resume stitching the stocking.  My current plan is to stitch the wedding sampler one day per week.  It depends upon how quickly the stocking stitches; potentially it could go much more quickly than the upper portion because what remains is not nearly as detailed.  If the stocking works up more quickly, I will have more time to give to the wedding sampler.  Because of the length of time it will take to have the mats cut and frame made, I think it will not be feasible to expect to have it ready by the wedding.  There is, though, a very high probability that the stitching will be done.  When I get to that point, we will see how the mom and bride want to handle it.  If they would like to display it, I can stretch it for them. 

As you look at the sampler, please keep in mind that the bridesmaids' dresses are a very deep teal.  The bride will be using peacock feathers in the floral arrangements.  

Thoughts on Baking

They look good don't they?  That is, if you like marshmallows.  Unfortunately they look a lot better than they really are.  They are Triple Layer Mint Brownie S'mores. 

The mint comes from mint patty candies placed on a layer of brownie batter and then covered with more batter.  You really have to be careful that the mint patties are not physically too close to the sides and bottom of the pan.  If they are too close, when they melt during the baking process, they reach a higher than intended temperature.  As the hotter than planned candies cool, they become very hard lumps. 

All in all, it seems a little too fussy to me, especially when I can have a wonderful, marvelous chocolate mint combination with Grasshopper Brownies.  Grasshoppers begin with a rather ordinary brownie.  After it cools, it gets a buttercream frosting flavored with mint and colored with a little pink or a little green food coloring.  After the buttercream sets a little, it is finished off with a dark chocolate glaze.  I can skip the melted marshmallows on the grasshoppers. 

But. . . if I need some marshmallow with my chocolate, I can always make a Mississippi Mud cake which has a layer of marshmallows on top of the chocolate cake and is then covered with a thin chocolate icing. 
Or. . .I can opt for a Texas sheet cake which omits the marshmallows and includes chopped nuts in the cake batter. 
One could always add chopped nuts to the Mississippi Mud cake or marshmallows to the Texas sheet cake and have the best of both in one cake. 

Lots to Tell You But Where to Begin

Last Friday we did go to the Minnesota State Fair.  It was sunny and hot but not as hot as it will be tomorrow, Friday, and maybe today.  It was crowded.

We are at the corner of Nelson and Judson Avenues.  I can only wish that the street is named for us but all the streets on the fair grounds are named for the people who helped make the fair a reality many, many years ago.

I can see the backs of our sons but I cannot see myself. 

Here are the turkeys. 

This is the Minnesota Mosaic. 







We did see the rabbits and I did find some ideas for things to make to enter in the fair.  Perhaps it will happen next year.  Just don't count on it because anything can happen.

I have lots to tell you and show you.  It is not going to be in any particular order, not even chronological. 

Drawing for a Prize

If I do not do this first, I think I will get everyone confused.
Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler has a new drawing.
She is giving away this gift collection of treasures.

As you can see, she is being extremely generous with this Fall Collection.

Click here to go over to her blog, Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to see for yourself and to register for the drawing.  All the requirements are clearly stated.

I recommend this to you because Nancy is very generous and true to her word.  You just might be the one selected to give this collection a good home.


Now on to the real reason I am writing this post.  Nancy selected my entry for one of her recent prize drawings on 14 August 2012.  She told me to select four thread colors from her shop.  When I saw the Peony Collection, I told Nancy I had fallen in love with it for two reasons.
1.  The color combination is beautiful.
2.  I love and grow peonies and the colors look like my peonies.
Nancy said that one of the collections would be mine and promptly posted it to me.  The following week, it arrived and I am delighted to give it a good home.

I want to show the threads to you together with the pattern that I think I will stitch with them.  They are wonderful together, aren't they? 

I am going to let Nancy know that I have let you in on her offer and encouraged you to register for her newest drawing.  I think it is a wonderful prize and I know that any one of you would love to have it and that Nancy would love to give it to you. 

A Little Bit of Everything

First off, a little bragging to show you my progress on the Christmas stocking. 

There is a monumental amount of backstitching.  My timeline says that if I can finish the upper portion of the stocking by the end of August and the lower portion by the end of September, I can assemble the stocking in October.  Right now I am running painfully close to the timeline. 

Last weekend I did very little stitching.  We joined extended family at the lake cottage for Saturday.  That meant I devoted much time to food preparations. 

I did do a little knitting while we were at the lake.  I have begun the second mitten.  

S'more bars.  I got in a little too close for you to get a good idea.  Suffice it to say that is marshmallow cream oozing out because I cut it before it had time enough to cool.  Of course, you can see the chocolate on the bottom of the pan.  Marshmallow and chocolate have to be one of the basic food groups. 

Olive herb bread just because I had a craving for it.  Only half of our family eats olives so two loaves could be a bit much.  We liked the recipe and brought the second loaf to the cottage.  Other olive eaters liked the recipe too.  After I a couple adjustments in the recipe I know that it will become a favorite.  Because the recipe will not divide in half very well, I will be making the whole recipe and hope that the bread freezes well. 

A family favorite:  bundt pound cake.  What more can I say?  We all like it and always hope to bring home a couple pieces. 

I also made Oriental Chicken Slaw.  Of course, we had plenty of leftovers.  My formula is to determine how much I need, double it and then make a little more.  The worst possible thing would be to run out of food. 

Speaking of running out of food, the hummingbirds are at the feeders getting ready for their southern migration.  It seems that we have one regular who is very territorial.  It is even trying to chase the wasps away. 

Sundae Funday on a Sunday

 

Can't you just taste the chocolate and cherry?  It looks too good for words to me.  I wouldn't know though because when I finished the pictures, I gave it to my husband to eat.  Yes, it is a magic shell sauce; you can tell it has begun to harden because most of it has a matte finish.  I made the sauce and it is very simple to make.  It has a more intense chocolate flavor than commercial sauce.  The directions are from Cook's Illustrated magazine.  

You do use coconut oil and contrary to the information on its label, it is a cholesterol and fat nightmare.  But coconut oil is what makes the commercial magic shell sauce harden and it is what makes this sauce harden.  Coconut oil solidifies at a very low temperature.  The coconut oil I purchased was solidified.  My sauce was liquid in the house until the temperature dropped to the 70's F; then it too solidified in its jar.  I zapped it in the microwave for a couple seconds to be able to drizzle it on the ice cream. 

Using 2 parts coconut oil and 3 parts baking chocolate, melt them together in a microwave proof dish at 50% power.  Stop the microwave and stir the melting chocolate and coconut oil together several times during the melting process.  Add a pinch of salt to the melted mixture and continue to stir it in.  

I used bittersweet baking chocolate; you could use any other type of baking chocolate or chocolate chips.  You could probably use butterscotch chips.  The flavor with bittersweet chocolate is divine, truly one of the basic food groups.  

Because 2 tablespoons equal 1 ounce, I used 4 tablespoons of solid coconut oil and 3 ounces of baking chocolate.  

I encourage you to try it.  It is a lot of fun and tastes good too. 

Wedding Sampler

For the wedding sampler, I will be selecting from the displayed materials.  I am not yet certain how many of them I will use.  The fabric swatch above the spools of Trebizond is the color of the bridesmaids' dresses.  The bride will be using accents of peacock feathers.  The materials are on top of the fabric that I will use for the sampler.  It is ivory and so is the bride's dress.  The bride's mother and I are extremely excited about the colors. 

We have not seen the buck lately.  Some of the neighbors and I are wondering about him and hope that he has not been killed or even injured or harmed. 

The hummingbirds are back.  We think that we are seeing the grown up young of this year.  A couple weeks ago, a female oriole was eating out of one of the hummingbird feeders while a hummingbird was eating out of the opposite side of it.  Since the hummingbirds are very territorial, I wonder if the hummingbird was trying to tell the oriole this was not the place for her. 

Wasps are attracted to the hummingbird feeders.  One day a hummingbird swooped in.  I wanted to tell it that the wasp was probably too big to eat but I think the hummingbird was trying to chase the wasp away from the feeder.  The cardinal vines were so successful attracting hummingbirds last summer that I planted more seeds this summer.  The vines are growing very vigorously; I hope they produce flowers soon. 

Speaking of vines, our vine crops, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons, are producing very vigorous vines.  When we stand outside, it seems like we can see them growing.  The melon vines are growing up on one of the hummingbird feeders.  Even the tomato vines are growing all over; we are cutting them back to try to encourage the plants to produce tomatoes.  We are now beginning to harvest tomatoes but they are a little small.  I think that we no longer have to buy tomatoes.  We have even had BLT's for lunch. 

Charity Stocking Update

Yes, I have been working on the charity stocking. 

Yes, I am currently working on the horse's patoot.  I had hoped to have it a little further along just for propriety sake.  There is a monumental amount of backstitching in this section and I seriously wonder if I will have the stocking done in time. 

As I work on the stocking, I will also be working on a wedding sampler for the daughter of friends.  I honestly do not know how I will manage both together but I have to do it. 

Tomorrow, I think I will post a picture of the materials I will be using for the wedding sampler. 

Tuesday I took a bulk mailing for our church to the post office.  Significant amounts of our information did not agree with what the post office thought.  It was an extremely hot, humid day.  I really did not need to deal with that kind of problem at the same time.  The post office could not find where the problem was but said that I could send it for their calculated amount which is 6 pounds heavier than ours.  I said that I would bring it back and we would then decide what to do with it.  The good thing about that day was that on the way home I passed the shop where I could get the remainder of supplies I need for the sampler.  I had rounded up a lot in my stash but still need some specific items.  Now that I have them, I think they round out the threads very well.