Ahead or behind?

I have been working on the satin stitch of An All Was For An Appil.  I was so excited to reach this point because I am nearing the finish line.  Well . . .who wants to say compensation stitch?  It is driving me crazy.  If anyone who has stitched this sampler has any helpful hints on stitching the satin stitch letters, please share.

In the meantime, I needed a break from this sampler and I picked up the easiest quickest stitch I could find in my stash.  Has anyone ever heard the phrase "I'm so far behind, I think I am ahead?"  I am either three months behind or nine months ahead.

Each year I say to myself "I am going to stitch one Christmas ornament a month."  I don't think I have ever reached this goal.  This Merry Christmas is a freebie, it has been in my stash so long I have forgotten who designed.  The year 1885--that was the year Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda moved from Spring Creek North Carolina to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Am going to finish this ornament using the French General Rouenneries by Moda.  I had several skeins of Gentle Arts Lambswool in my stash and it seemed to work well with the fabric.

Decision time.  Am I going to tackle the satin stitch letters of the sampler or get more instant gratification on another simple design?

Spring

Bradford Pear--the unofficial tree of Music City.  They are in full bloom!

Forsythia!  Brilliant yellow

Daffodils!  Some are carefully planted others can be seen along old fence rows or home sites

The Fairy, an old fashion rose

A sweet little blue ground cover (I have forgotten its name)

Clematis, Nellie Moser.  Looked so dead a week ago, now back to life.


A garden is like cherished friends coming for a visit after the winter.  Mother Nature, I hope you do not have a late surprise waiting.

Nashville Market 2012

For me the Nashville Needlework Market is better than my birthday, Christmas or Fourth of July.  For the designers and shop owners I know the Market is tons of work!  I say thank you to both designers and shop owners. 

Weeks before the market I find myself searching the web for sneak peeks, reading shop reports and making my shopping list.  On Market Day/Night at the LNS, the shop is filled with stitchers like me and full of activity.  One of the favorite things I hear over and over at Market Day/Night is--Did you see. . .?  One stitcher saying to another stitcher about a design, designer, linen, fiber, or accessory.  It is equally fun when stitchers start showing each other the contents of their shopping basket. 

Here is a list of some of my Nashville Needlework Market Stash 2012 (in no particular order---it's all good)

Blackbird Designs--For My Friend (delicious recipes, wool applique, stockings, etc)
Chessie and Me--of course, I bought the Cat Needlebook, I'm a cat lover
La D Da--Spot the Cat (will become Callie Mae the cat)
Needlemade Designs--Cat and Mouse Game (scissor fob is awesome)
Nikyscreations--Letter Bag and Needlekeeper (primitive)
Stacy Nash  Pinkeep Drum, slipper and Strawberry--all her designs are good
Plum Street Sampler--Brother's Keeper (Cain and Abel)  this design is awesome, cannot wait to start and Maxim and Zoya  (colors are beautiful)
Shakespears Peddler--Jane Pattison and Ann Dale (cannot wait to start these either)

I also bought some drop dead gorgeous 40 ct Havana by Weeks Dye Works and I finally lucked found some of the R & R overdyed trims:  Norfolk Pine, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Kelp.  There are more items on my shopping list but AppleJack reminded me of "the budget."

Tank top or Long Johns???

I think everyone can safely say "we have been having some crazy weather."  Music City has had both floods and tornado's.  My prayers are with all those who have been affected.

On Saturday, the temps were in the 80's.  Bradford pears, redbud daffodils, phlox, and forsythia are in full bloom.  Today the wind is howling and the temps are in the 30's.  Mother Nature, she is a hard one to figure.

Am going to find my long johns, heat up a cup of hot apple cider and settle down to stitch.  Those weeds will still be waiting on me when the temps are warmer and the wind is not howling.

Jo Morton Bridgeport and the reel deal

While browsing the magazine section in Barnes and Noble Bookstore I found the April issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  Featured in this issue are Kaari Meng of French General and Jo Morton.  Don't you just love it when one of your favorite magazines features two of your favorite quilt designers?

Bridgeport is Jo Morton's latest quilt line and the fabric is beautiful.  Featured in the April issue is Jo's applique quilt which she calls reel deal.  Jo prefers a back basting method of needle turn hand applique.  I will give the back basting method a try but think I will be using the freezer paper method.  Will give you the results later.

Jo has used fussy cuts for the outside border.  WOW!  I am hoping fussy cuts is a technique we learn in the Little Women class.

Grape Salad and the nearly empty dish

Being a member of a large family, being a member of a large church, and being lucky enough to have many stitching, quilting, hooking, and gardening friends, means I attend many pot luck dinners.  Pot luck dinners are great--great fun, lots of laughter and especially great food.  One of the things I have learned over the years is some of the best food I have eaten has been prepared by someone at a pot luck supper.  Another thing I have learned is to watch for nearly empty dishes.  Nearly empty dishes you say.  Yes, nearly empty dishes, because if the dish is almost empty it means someone has prepared a tasty, delicious recipe which eveyone has enjoyed.

A couple of years ago I was at a picnic and spotted "the nearly empty dish."  This is my clue to spoon some of the tasty remains onto my plate before it is all gone.  This time the nearly empty dish was Grape Salad!    WOWZERS!!!  EUREKA!!!  And slap my mama!  To say the grape salad was good does the recipe and Debbie, my friend who prepared the dish a huge injustice!  Grape Salad is a simple, super easy and delicious!

Grape Salad

2 pounds green grapes
2 pounds red grapes
4 ounces softened cream cheese
4 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Take grapes off the stem, wash, and place in a large bowl.
Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and vanilla in a small bowl
Stir in the grapes, coating thoroughly
In another small bowl, mix brown sugar, and pecans.
Sprinkle over the top of grapes.  DO NOT STIR IN.
Refrigerate overnight and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Hint:  When serving this dish, stand back and avoid the stampede!  Your lovely bowl of Grape Salad will soon be an empty dish.

Meow, The Cat Motif

There are so many reasons I love the Scarlet Letter sampler, An All Was For An Appil.  Another one of the reasons:  it has a cat!  Like many of the motifs, the cat has "the look" on her face.  The busted look.

When Miss Callie Mae is startled, she gets a case of the big hair.  The Eden cat has that startled, big hair look.

See that blank space between the moon and the cat?  That blank space is the satin stitch verse, An All Was For An Appil.  I'm getting close!  Can I hear a big Whoo Hoo?