Re-do

Can we go back and do yesterday all over again? Please?

Warm sunshine, a lovely service with my church family, a day trip that I didn't have to plan (although that also meant a quick stop at Bi-Mart for things like sunscreen, sunglasses, and road food), and best of all, quality time relaxing with my kids and my sweetheart.

The Kindergartener said in the car, "Mama, you are going to get two of the best presents ever!" To which I responded, "What do you mean? I already did! I got my two kids!" And I meant every syllable.

I am blessed beyond words to have these most amazing little people in my life.

Compassionate, silly, clever, affectionate, intelligent, industrious, precocious, mini negotiating entrepreneurs with artistic creativity in their blood.

They are my kids and I couldn't be prouder and more excited to see what they become.

The first few Mother's Days of my parenting journey weren't so special. I was so busy wiping bottoms and noses and soothing and feeding and herding that it really just felt like more work to do anything celebratory.

And I admit I didn't have the best attitude about it. I mean come on! Can't these little tyrants give me a break for just one day!?

I know you know what I mean... I can't possibly be the only Mother that has selfishly and childishly pouted (internally or externally) on Mother's Day.

But this year... all aspects of the day co-operated to be just about perfect.

I got lots of hugs and kisses and extra-special-squeezy-hugs and extra-special-juicy-kisses, and we had an adventure together without diaper bags and sippy cups and grumpy kids who missed a nap.

And I got to hold my Farmboy's hand. At one point I said to him (not too loudly for fear of upsetting the balance), "Hey, there isn't anyone in between us!"

It was great.

And so were the gigantic ice cream cones.

And the lilacs bloomed.

And the garden got started.

And it was warm enough for some splashing in the pool.

Really... does anyone know how to turn back the clock?

Make

No matter how small, calloused, or un-practiced your hands may be,
go out and use them to make something Beautiful today.

For wherever our hearts pour out through our hands, beauty can be found.

Blooming

With some good doses of sunshine lately, the entire landscape is bursting into bloom.

A banner year for our native Dogwood trees, which only seem to have a bloom like this every several years; some Spring seasons there are literally only a handful of blooms on an entire tree.

The Oregon Grape bushes are loaded too. I just might have to try my hand at making a little native jelly this Summer.

Our Crabapple tree is always a favorite. That deep cherry color in the blooms is stunning in person.

Even our mystery bush is getting into the action with a few restrained bursts of petal.

But none outshines our double-blooming Flowering Plum trees, which look so fluffy I could eat them right up. And I don't even like cotton candy.

On tap for the weekend... planting the vegetable garden. Hooray!

Puddle Jumping

Its what rubber boots were made for.

Blueberry Dutch Baby

Its whats for dinner. Mmm hm.

These photos are from last week, but it was such a hit with the kids AND the Daddy that I'll be pulling it out again tonight.

We have had a blitz family weekend, and I am wiped out this morning. Can't imagine cooking anything for dinner any more involved than a few eggs, whisked together with milk and flour, and cooked in a generous amount of butter to make a plate of perfection. Add some blueberries, and it transcends good to become something truly stunning.

blitz  n.  \blits\
   1. a heavy aerial bombardment
   2. an intense campaign
   3. in football, a sudden charge upon the quarterback

Starting around 10 am Friday morning and not letting up until last night around 9 pm, we had gathering after gathering of Twist family members. Our celebration was in honor of the Farmboy's Aunt and Uncle, who were in town visiting for the first time since our 4 year old was about 3 months old.

I think I probably took about three thousand pictures over the course of the last few days, aided by a new lens that I am pretty excited about. But that's a story for another day. And the photos of the family weekend will have to wait until at least tomorrow (can you stand the suspense???).

Blueberry Dutch Baby

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups white flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
8 eggs
blueberries, frozen or fresh

Put the big ol' piece of butter in the pan of your choice (I use my 12 inch cast iron skillet, but you could use a baking dish too). Place the dish in your oven and preheat to 425.

Whisk together the milk, flour, salt and nutmeg until it is as smooth as you can get it. Don't worry about a smattering of small lumps. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined.

Once the oven is hot and the butter in the pan is completely melted, remove the pan, swirl the butter around to coat all surfaces. there will still be a generous amount of liquid gold in your pan. I suppose you could pour the extra out, but what would Julia say?

Add your blueberries to the bottom of the pan. I can't tell you how many berries I used. I have a ton of them frozen from last summer, and I dumped in enough to nearly cover the bottom of the pan.

Drizzle your egg batter over the blueberries. If you dump it all in the middle, it will push the berries to the outside edges and you'll have a giant berry-less void in the middle of your pan. But drizzle it carefully and methodically until you are finished and every single bite will burst with antioxidants flavor.

Pop your pan back in the oven and wait for 20-30 minutes, or until the center is cooked through. Serve with a drizzle of local honey or some powdered sugar and lemon juice. Oh yes!

P.S. Did anyone see the smile? I know. I just can't seem to escape them. Please tell me I'm not alone.

*NEW* Sweet Summer Pin Square

This design was inspired by a picture of an old pin square with a bird on it... I had previously seen images of round pin keeps or pin wheels, in which the pins were inserted into the sides. But this pin square completely captured my imagination. How was it made? Why a square instead of a circle? Equipped with an idea, and with dreams of Summer fruit in my head, I got busy designing and figuring out a way to create something similar.

Stitch Count (each side): 50 x 50
Model stitched on Weeks Dye Works 40ct Confederate Gray

Using thread from Weeks Dye Works: 1219 Oak, 1230 Havana, 1330 Baked Apple, 2199 Tarragon, 2253 Sanguine

Additional Materials Needed:
Lightweight cardboard, such as a cereal or pasta box
Felted wool, approximately one fat quarter
Fabric or ribbon for edge, about 10” by 1 1/2”
Scissors, needle, and thread
Ruler or tape measure
Acid-free glue stick

I used a strip of fabric for the trim from a line that has unfortunately been discontinued. Made by Windham Fabrics and part of their Williamsburg Sampler collection, I have just enough left for about 30 of you to be able to have the same sweet edging. I will make the strips available in my etsy shop for as long as I have it on hand.

This pattern will come with charts for front and back of the pin square, an alphabet and number set for customization, basic typed instructions for making the pin square, and my recommendations for floss and fabric. It will arrive in a plastic zip-close envelope for safe keeping.

I will also make available to anyone purchasing this pattern a free downloadable .pdf tutorial for finishing the pin square; in the tutorial there are step-by-step instructions with color photographs.

This design is now available in my etsy shop, and will be going out to my distributors and the shops on my automatic shipments list soon. If you prefer to bypass etsy and order directly through me, you can send me an email: beth@heartstringsamplery.com

IKEA Pillow Re-do

Last weekend, after my first-ever adventure to the phenomenon that is IKEA, I found myself with two too-light and too-bright couch pillows. I loved the Jacobean-like embroidery covering the front, but the colors were just as bad in my living room as I expected them to be.

But that's okay, because I had a plan.

First, take the covers off of the down pillow forms, then soak them in some RIT color remover.

Finally, give them a bath in RIT tan dye, which mellowed them quite nicely.

Before:

After:

Now lets pretend they were made from old hand-embroidered bed curtains, shall we?

For anyone who wants to try the same trick, here's a link to the same cushion on IKEA's website.

Rainy Day Fun

Inspired by a friend who made a rice bin for her girls, based on this post, found by way of Pinterest (evil, evil, web site!), I made a little rainy-day fun for my kids.

One large, shallow tote with lid + 20 pounds of rice + food coloring + rubbing alcohol = hours of creative play.

Which also = one Mama that gets a little peace and quiet while she works.

Here to Stay

One of the guys in my Fred Meyer photo/electronics department yesterday commented, as he handed me my packet of photos, "I picture the walls of your house just covered in counted cross stitch". True dat. Those boys in that department all know me on sight, and most likely have left their fingerprints on more than a few of your chart cover photos. I was really, really happy when they dropped their prices down to .13 cents a photo (from .19 cents!), because it sure is nice being able to get all of my pattern assembly parts in my little town... Where everybody knows my name... and they're always glad I came... (are you singing now?) Before their price adjustment, I was driving 45 minutes away to get my prints done at Costco.

I bet you thought that I had a fancy photo printer and a fancy copier just sitting here at home, always at my convenience, didn't you? Nosirree, chickadee! I keep a small stock on hand of the cover photos for my patterns, just enough for individual sales through my etsy shop, and do those individual copies on my little desktop printer, which eats through ink like nobodies' business. But when one of my distributors places an order, I have to pack everything up and drive ten miles to the UPS Store, where I make my copies. There, my kids are on a first-name basis with the owners and other workers. Those kids have it down to a fine science. If there are no other customers, they can race back and forth across the lobby, or have conversations with one of the employees, but as soon as a customer comes in, they plant their little hineys beside me and my favorite copier. Sometimes we are there for an hour. In which case, we often hop over to Sparky's for a breadstick while the copier is running.

Copies done, photos picked up at Fred's, I then drive home and sit myself down at my kitchen counter and fold, paste, stuff, fold, paste, stuff, fold, paste, stuff, for... forever. Usually accompanied by my laptop and a movie. Each one of your patterns is handled by me at least 4 times before heading out in the mail, and probably takes 5-10 minutes of my time, if you count travel and logistics.

There. Now you know. When you order a pattern from me, not only are you buying a design that spent hours being transferred from my brain to my charting software, and then another double-digit amount of hours being stitched, framed and photographed, you also bought a pattern cover that was another several hours being put together with all of the extra little tidbits I like to add (stories, research, inspiration, instructions). Its not an easy job, I tell you. But, the great part is that I actually LIKE each and every aspect of this work. I LIKE designing the patterns and covers and researching and telling and building relationships with local store workers and training my kids how to behave in public and sitting at my counter watching movies, folding, folding, folding. Okay, so maybe I don't like the fold, paste, stuff part, but that is a pretty small part of the whole, and I can handle it for now. Until the day comes when this job actually pays enough to get a big fancy printer that can do all the work for me. But I'm not holding my breathe. I'm just happy to be able to stay home with my kids and also do something that uses my creative side.

That's also why it hurts to find out about all of the pattern piracy going on these days online. I don't want to know that all of my hard work is being traded for invisible gold coins, or being illegally copied and sold as if it was the real thing. Know who you are buying from! Make sure they are legitimate! And if you get a bad feeling about a seller, or have reason to believe they are participating in pattern piracy, let us designers know! Read more here.

I had absolutely no intention of telling you all of that this morning. What I really logged on to comment about is that not only did the geekiest of the tech nerds at Fred Meyer recognize Counted Cross Stitch from my photos, but I also spotted Counted Cross Stitch at Chevy's this weekend.

You know that when a Tex-Mex restaurant chain uses Cross Stitch on their menu... what? We are mainstream? Current? Trendy? Ha! Well, maybe not, but at least we are such a part of pop culture we get a nod from the graphic designers who drive the ad campaigns. And I'm okay with that.

Cross Stitchers Never Say Die!

May Already?

It most of the time still looks like this around here...

Hard to believe we haven't had a decent stretch of weather in which to till the garden yet, much less get it planted.

I'm thinking it might be another tomato-less growing season.

I need a bigger green house.

Something like this would do...