Pennsylvania Merchant

Stacy Nash

Whaling Ship

35 count Dove linen by Weeks Dye Works

With every needlework market there is always that one piece which catches my eye.   Regardless of what I am stitching at the time, I want to start that piece.  This year it is Stacy Nash's Whaling Ship.  I love the ship and the whale and the color of the linen and the sweet simple border.  This piece also gives me an opportunity to stitch another element of my family history.  Pennsylvania Merchant is the name of the ship which brought Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather Valentine Shultz from the old country (Germany) to the new country (America). 

Valentine and Elizabeth, his wife arrived in Philadelphia on September 10, 1731.  Once off the ship, they took the oath of allegiance to the province of Pennsylvania and became naturalized citizens.  Shortly after their arrival, Valentine and Elizabeth traveled to the "frontier" and made their home on the west bank of the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County.  Sadly, Elizabeth died and Valentine remarried Maria Eva Stocker.  Valentine and Maria were members of Christ Lutheran Church in York County. 







Chicken Pie

Recipes at Thistle Manor must meet two tests:  they must be tasty and they must be easy to make.  Being a big fan of Saturday morning cooking shows, I tune in and watch Trisha Yearwood.  Trisha's Chicken Pie passed both tests.

Chicken Pie

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups chicken broth
One 10-ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk, well shaken

Preheat the over to 425 degrees

Put the chicken in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Combine the broth and the soup in a medium saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.  Pour the broth mixture over the chicken.

In a separate medium bowl, mix the flour with the pepper.  Stir in the melted butter and the buttermilk.  Pour the mixture over the casserole and smooth the top, do not stir.  Bake the casserole until the crust is brown and the filling beneath is hot and bubbly approx. 45 minutes.

Yum Yum--easy and tasty


Sunday is Market Day at my LNS!  I have a long list.  AppleJack has a grip on his wallet!

Hit or Miss

It's hot!  This week Music City has had some of the highest, hottest temps for the summer.  Today it is 93 degrees, tomorrow's forecast is a high of 97 degrees and Saturday and Sunday the temps are forecast to be 99 degrees!  That's hot!  With these high temps Grandmother Bessie might ask if I had lost my good sense, working with wools during the hottest week of the summer.  I think her question would be appropriate. 

When I attended the Beat the Heat rug hooking event in Clarksville in July, I purchased a pattern called Hit or Miss.  It was designed to use up left over worms/noodles.  Waste Not, Want Not and use it up, wear it out, make do or do without are two familiar sayings in my family.  The Hit or Miss design was a great way to use up the left overs and not be wasteful!   

The rug measures 12" x 12" and will make a fun table topper for the cold winter months. Looking at my worm stash, I might have enough left overs for another Hit or Miss.

Birdy Stitching Roll

La D Da 

Birdy Stitching Roll

30 count  Weeks Dye Works Cocoa

NPI Silks

Between canning green beans, tomato juice, downpours, cutting the grass, deadheading flowers, pulling weeds, nursing a kitty with an upset tummy, cleaning out kitchen drawers and just the everyday run of the mill things, I have been stitching on the Birdy Stitching Roll by La D Da. Yes, I also spent a fair amount of time searching for sneak peeks of new designs coming from the St. Charles needlework market.

The stitching roll is a fun stitch and is working up nicely--30 ct linen and NPI silks--two of my favorite things.  Fingers crossed to get it completed before the next Colonial Gathering shipment. I am stitching my Great Aunt Maggie's name into this piece. (Maggie was Grandmother Bessie's oldest sister--the oldest sister of the five Shults sisters.)  Grandmother Bessie and Aunt Maggie shared many things including the death of their Mother and two sisters, Kittie and Bonnie at early ages. During the challenging times in their lives, Maggie and Bessie learned to rely on each other.

When I am in the homestretch of completing a project, I start thinking ahead to the next piece/project.  Grandmother Bessie had blue eyes and while I was digging through my linen stash I found some R & R overdyed linen called Hog Wild Blue.  Also in my stash was some great backing fabric which complimented both the linen color and fiber colors.  (The backing fabric is by Andover and I think it is from one of Jo Morton's line of fabrics).  Fingers crossed I can complete Grandmother Bessie's needleroll before the next shipment of Colonial Gatherings arrives.

Strawberries

Life is a bowl full of strawberries

Just the mention of the word strawberry and my mouth begins to water thinking about that juicy sweet seasonal fruit.  Strawberries can be eaten and enjoyed in so many ways:  cakes, cupcakes, salads, and plain.  I saw a new way to enjoy strawberries on Pinterest:  strawberries with yogurt served in a waffle cone.  Yum Yum, all of the goodness none of the guilt!

Before I go too far down the bunny trail, this post is about another kind of strawberry--emery strawberry's.  We stitchers do love strawberry's, both the edible kind and the emery variety.  The strawberry's range from very plain and utilitarian to the very fancy made with beads and lace or hardanger.  The Shakers are given much of the credit for the tomato pincushion with a strawberry emery.  The purpose of the strawberry was to "polish and sharpen the needles."

Since finishing the second kit in the Colonial Gathering Club called Strawberry House, I have been considering making a strawberry and adding it to the inside of my box.

Blackberry Primitives has some lovely hand dyed velvet on their web site and one of the vendors at the Beat the Heat event had some of their velvet for sale.  When it comes to fabrics: cotton, wool, linen, flannel or velvet I have no resistance.  Of course, some of those lovely hand dyed velvets came home with me.



Maggie Bonanomi is one of my favorite authors and designers.  I love Maggie's style!  Do you see what I see on the front of the cover?  Yes, a strawberry.  Recipe for a strawberry emery:  cut some overdyed velvet for the body and wool for the berry cap.  Stitch some seeds using DMC 733, stuff with fiber, add a twisted cord or ribbon. 

More goodness to add to my year of Colonial Gatherings

Colonial America meet the 21st Century

Colonial Gathering Club Kit #3

Plum Street Samplers

Cotton Bird

35 count Old Mill Java by R & R 

Fibers by Classic Colorworks

I finally put the final stitches into Cotton Bird in the wee hours of the morning--it's the time of day Miss Callie Mae and I enjoy the most.  One of my goals for 2014 is to stay current with the club projects--this one required much discipline and iron will determination to finish.  

As I was stitching Cotton Bird, I kept thinking about how I wanted to finish this project--my cupboard is running over with pillows and I wanted something different than a pillow.

I have decided to finish Cotton Bird as a purse.

Cotton Bird, the design will be featured on one side of the purse.

 Colonial America meet the 21st Century.  The purse is for my Kindle--the finished size of the design is a perfect fit!

The fabric was inspired by a quilt from the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln designed by Kathy Hall with Jo Morton for Andover Fabric.  Since Paulette, the designer lives in Nebraska seems only right to choose some coordinating fabric from Nebraska.  The cording which goes around the purse is DMC 3768--it's the same color as the small blue flowers in the fabric.  

I'm glad I didn't wimp out and finished the kit.  I'm also pretty pleased with myself for finally finding the perfect purse for my kindle.  Two of my favorite things joined together:  reading and stitching.  Life is Good!

Of course, I have my next project selected.  I'm hoping with the St. Charles Needlework Market coming up August 15-16 the girls at R & R and the fourth kit from the Colonial Gathering Club will be shipping later in August or maybe even September.  

I had hoped to stitch a small project in between kits.  This design is by La D Da and is called Birdy Stitching Roll.  Lori Markovic released this design at the 2014 Nashville Needlework Market.  Am planning to stitch Grandmother Bessie's name inside this stitching roll.  There is another stitching roll by La D Da called Stitcher's Roll--thought it might be fun to stitch and include the name of Bessie's sister Maggie.  Oh the plans of mice and men.

Lori stitched Birdy Stitching Roll with 30 count "Straw" linen by Weeks.  I didn't have any of this linen in my stash so I am using 30 count Cocoa and NPI silks instead of the overdyes.  

It's hot, there is a Tom Hanks movie marathon on the tube and I have my tumbler of Diet Pepsi poured, the makings of a great Sunday afternoon stitch-a-thon.