Three Stitchers in the House

When he learned that he had missed out on an opportunity to learn to stitch, my oldest began an immediate campaign for his own turn. It was a mere day later, but apparently felt like an eternity to him.

Finally, on the appointed day, we were outside enjoying a little sunshine, when he said to me, "I want to hurry up and go inside because I want to learn to stitch. Its one of my dreams and its coming true!" "One of your dreams?" I asked. "Yes!" he replied. "If it is one of your dreams, why have you never told me?" I asked. "Because I thought you would say no, and not to touch your stitching stuff" he replied.

Oh, how quickly they grow from the toddler (who gets in trouble for cutting up my beautiful overdyed flosses into tiny bits and then pulling all of my pins out of the pincushion, dropping them on the floor one at a time to hear the sound it makes) into the almost-big boy.

Since the first stitching session, I have advanced both children to a hoop with scraps of an old cotton sheet for stitching on, and drew shapes per their request for them to stitch over.

The little one chose to connect her shapes, then proclaimed that she was "All done!".

The oldest spent a few hours, spread over a couple of days, very carefully stitching on the line, proclaiming to anyone who would listen, "I love to stitch!". He is now finished with the first shape and anxiously awaiting a change of thread color for the next shape.

Seasonal Goodies for Sale

I have a few pretties for sale... first come first served... click on the photos to see a larger image for more detail... email me (beth@heartstringsamplery.com) if you want to buy one of the following (I'll do my best to keep this post updated, showing when something has sold):

Thankful Pinkeep... completely hand-stitched, an adaptation of my newest release. Filled with crushed walnut shells and trimmed with a wide rickrack, the entire piece is coffee stained, and includes the assortment of pins and a needle as shown. Measures 4 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches. To be honest, I won't be completely disappointed if this one doesn't sell, but if it does, you can be sure I'll be making another for myself... $30 plus shipping (by the method of your choice).

Pair of Pumpkins... One made from a vintage brown and pink upholstery-weight fabric, filled with crushed walnut shells and topped with a dried tomato stem. The other made from vintage brown velvet, filled with clean sand and topped with a real dried pumpkin stem. Both measure about 4 inches in diameter... $20 plus shipping (by the method of your choice).

Oregon Hemlock Ornaments Batch One... A heart-shaped paper mache box painted and distressed (white) on the outside, lined with paper on the inside. Filled with little ornaments that I made from Hemlock cones harvested on our property. Each ornament has a red or green satin ribbon loop and is lightly flocked. They range in size from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. There are 17 ornaments in this batch, and I threw in a handful of cloves to make them smell good... $20 plus shipping (by the method of your choice).

Oregon Hemlock Ornaments Batch Two... A heart-shaped paper mache box painted and distressed (red) on the outside, lined with paper on the inside. Filled with little ornaments that I made from Hemlock cones harvested on our property. Each ornament has a red or green satin ribbon loop and is lightly flocked. They range in size from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. There are 20 ornaments in this batch, and I threw in a handful of cloves to make them smell good... $23 plus shipping (by the method of your choice).

Joy Scherenschnitte (SOLD... thank you!)... Teensy, weensy papercutting designed and created by me, the cutting itself measures just 2 inches square. The frame is resin with a gold painted finish, just right for a little holiday festivity. Total measurement is 3 7/8 inches square. There is glass in front to protect the papercutting, and the frame is sealed with brown paper, has a sawtooth hanger attached, and it is signed and dated... $25 plus shipping (by the method of your choice).

Just Some Random Observations

I did not brighten the colors on either of the next two pictures one iota.

Apparently, Chartreuse and Raspberry are this season's IT color combination.

We had a Pretzel-and-Peanut Butter Picnic outside on November 4th.

Not only was it dry enough for a blanket on the grass, it was also warm enough to take our boots off.

We got a package in the mail from Chicagoland recently. My kids now think that Suckers-made-from-Chocolate are the best invention EVER.

And although I will never make it to an actual Oprah Show taping, I now have a pen that was in the same building, which is at least a pretty cool consolation prize.

I am working on a new (non-stitching) project that I hope to unveil by the end of the week, and I am having a hard time keeping my big mouth shut, I am so excited about it!

Capturing Light

I think that the light in Heaven will always come in at an angle, just like the light in the Northern Hemisphere in November.

I find myself in an almost constant state of shock from the sheer beauty of the light this time of year.

I want to capture its elusive presence and hold it in my pocket.

Then it would always be there for me to play with during the dark days of winter.

New Release... Let Us Be Truly Thankful

Never too late for a little bit of Thankfulness, eh? Its a quick stitch, taking me just 3 evenings to finish it up, so you could conceivably have this ready to give as a hostess gift by Thanksgiving, or to hang on your own wall.

Every year, I am both annoyed and grateful that my most favorite holiday seems to be skipped over by the machinery of commercialism. Grateful because I’m glad it remains simple and unadorned. Annoyed because it seems to mean that the masses aren’t interested in the celebration. Perhaps I am completely wrong. I hope I am wrong. But in the meantime, I satisfy myself by creating my own little tokens to make my home festive.

Knowing that there isn’t a whole lot available in the way of patterns to stitch for Thanksgiving, I thought I would make a yearly tradition of offering one to you (you can find last year's free chart here).

Stitch Count: 101 x 61
Model stitched on Weeks Dye Works 35ct. Cappuccino linen
Using DMC flosses:420, 676, 839, 976, 3011

As usual, this pattern is available for purchase in my etsy shop for $10 (shipping is free to the USA), but you can also order it directly through me via email (beth@heartstringsamplery.com) or you can wait until your local needlework shop has it in stock (if they don't carry my designs, ask!)

And because of the lateness of this release, I will offer this pattern as a pdf for a very limited time, just until November 24th, for a lower price of $7... simply email your request, and I will respond with the emailed file within 24 hours of payment (in most cases you will receive it in less than an hour, since I check my email almost constantly when I'm home).

Ouch!

When I first saw that egg (see it?) I felt sorry for the hen that laid it.

I wondered if laying an egg that enormous hurt her as badly as natural childbirth hurt me.

Then I figured, nah... because if it hurt that bad, there would be screaming chickens all day out in the hen house.

Never Too Young to Stitch

I was sitting and stitching yesterday afternoon, grabbing a few minutes to watch the news before making dinner. Little miss cutie pie snuggled up next to me with a toy, and I decided on the spot that it was about time I gave her a chance to do a little stitching for herself.

When I asked if she wanted to stitch too, her eyes brightened right up... "Yes!"

So I got out a circle of wool, a plastic needle, and red thread. I got the thread started for her and held onto the wool while she learned how to "Poke it, den powe it froo".

After only 2 or 3 pokes and pulls, she looked at me and said, "Mama, I hod it peez?"

And off she went. I can't tell you how cozy it felt to sit and stitch with my daughter.

And yes, you can be sure that I will be keeping her first masterpiece for posterity!

Anniversary Tree 2010

Usually, we try to get this yearly photo as close to October 10th as possible, that being the day we planted this tree (to commemorate our first date!). But this year, the weather has been so different from most years, that it took an extra few weeks before the leaves started to turn.

If you are new to this blog, or are curious about our Anniversary Tree, click here to read through a collection of posts.

What We Ate

Oh boy, was it ever yummy! I spent yesterday afternoon in the kitchen, baking and simmering.

I made this cake, adapting it slightly by leaving out all of the white sugar, upping the spice quantities a little, adding a 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, and baking it in a bundt pan. Oh, my, was it ever good! Often I am disappointed by from-scratch cakes, but this recipe is moist, and fluffy, just how a cake should be. And judging by how quickly it disappeared, I think everyone else liked it too.

I left out half of the sugar, because I planned to make my Penuche Icing, which is super-duper sweet.

Here's my recipe for the icing: put 1 cup (packed) of brown sugar, and 1 stick of butter in a small saucepan. Over medium-high heat, whisk the sugar and butter until completely melted together. Carefully pour in 1/4 cup heavy cream, and bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Remove from heat. Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl (otherwise you will have lumpy icing). Pour the hot mixture into the bowl of powdered sugar and whisk briskly until well combined, but still liquid and hot. Pour immediately over still warm cake.

Once the cake was iced and cooling on my bin table, I got busy making chili. I have been using the same recipe as my go-to for almost 4 years now. It is so good, and unique because of the Indian spices used. If you decide to make it, please do go to the extra effort of making up a batch of garam masala- it gives the chili such a nice flavor, and people always comment (positively) when they try it for the first time. I often substitute dried beans for the canned, and almost always forget to put the vinegar and parsley in, and don't reserve any beans for topping. Otherwise, I follow the recipe pretty closely.

Finally, I baked a double batch of corn bread in my 12" cast iron skillet.

Both recipes, quite conveniently, come from the same issue of Cooking Light magazine (March 2007) and are on the same page. I would have given you links to their site, but they don't have the cornbread posted anymore, and I thought you might like to have them together too. So, hopefully I'm not breaking any laws by doing this, but here is a scan of my copy (which would be completely disentegrated by now if it weren't for top-loading sheet protectors!). Click on the image to see a larger version...

Don't leave out the Molasses Bourbon Butter... Oh, it is heavenly. I have always skipped it, being content with butter and honey, but with company coming, I decided to give it a try. I don't think I'll ever eat cornbread without it again.

Add a salad of mixed greens and you have a perfect meal.

Look at all of the happy people...

Keeping Up With the Joneses... or Not

It seems that every year around this time, every family we know with little kids are taking and posting pictures from their trip to the pumpkin patch.

My kids looked at me really funny when I said that we should get some pictures out in our own pumpkin patch.

Like, "huh? why would you want pictures of us with the old rotten leaves, mud, and dirty pumpkins?"

My kids who have grown up with me sticking a camera in their face at every possible moment, and they are puzzled by my request?

They obviously aren't under the influence of peer pressure just yet.

They also have no clue yet that they are missing out on tons of candy tomorrow evening. All they know is that the decorations in the stores are scary and creepy and they don't like Halloween. My funny oldest child a few days ago commented in the store, "Mama, its like it isn't even a grocery store anymore, its a Halloween store", and he wasn't excited about it. At all.

I, being the terrible Mama that I am, have not tried to convince them otherwise. Living waaaaaay off of the road is pretty convenient, in my opinion. No being stuck by the door all evening handing out candy or traipsing around someone else's neighborhood, knocking on strangers' doors, when I would rather be home where its warm.

I'll be glad when the commercialism of this holiday is over for the year, and I no longer have to soothe the nervousness of my kids whenever we go to town and see the decorations and displays.

Instead, we will be spending the evening with a few family members who also want to escape being taken hostage by a bunch of kids in costume. We will be warm and cozy, laughing by the fire with a pot of chili and pumpkin cake.

Because that's how we roll.

Please don't be offended by my attitude about Halloween. I have no problem with you and your kids getting out there and enjoying yourselves; I can totally understand why most people get excited about the festivity. Dressing up, eating candy; I get it... Its just that for us homebodies, living on the outskirts, and with the kids being so young, it would be way more trouble and hassle to take part in the traditions than this Mama wants to undertake.