My Favorite

This stitchery is my favorite one I have ever done, for SO many reasons. My husband's parents served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Atlanta, Georgia. While they were gone my husband was working for an airline, so we had the opportunity to fly down to Georgia and spend a few days with them. We had lots of fun, and I LOVED seeing all the old beautiful homes in the south. They were scheduled to come home right around Christmas, and I had found the pattern for this stitchery and new it just had to be their Christmas present that year. This one was so much fun to do! It was nice and big, which I love to do a BIG stitchery. It had such a mix of detail, background, simple stitches, blended colors, and intricate back-stitching. It had a little bit of everything, which is why I loved doing it so much! Now, everytime I walk by it hanging in their home, I remember how much fun I had doing it, and how much fun we had together in Atlanta.

A Labor of Love

27 years ago my mother made a quilt for the baby in her belly, me. It was a bright orange with 12 gingham animals on it. I loved it, and used it, and left it in the wagon one spring and it is now covered in rust stains. I still have it. Well, when my best friend (who has been my best friend since my mother made that quilt) got pregnant, I decided to make her a replica of my blanket, one that she remembers as well as I do.

I, obviously, decided not to do it in orange, but picked a beautiful baby blue flannel, which I love!

I tackled MANY firsts in this quilt, which is why I have titled it a labor of love. I had never done hand-quilting before, or applique work, or embroidery. The edge work of triangles was also a first for me, and a very scary task which is now my favorite part of the quilt.
I had presented the un-finished top of the quilt to my friend at her baby shower, with the promise that I would take it home and finish it in the months to come. I had been planning on edging it with the triangles, but hadn't told her, and while I was visiting her during her shower, we happened to be wrapped in a quilt that was finished this same way. She made a big deal in pointing out what a cute finish it was, and I smiled knowing that I was already planning on finishing hers that way. I intended on keeping it a surprise until she opened it, but knowing that I wouldn't be there to get the reactions, I sent her a photograph of the quilt in a text message, and was thrilled her response! She was in fact surprised by the adorable gingham triangles, and pleasantly surprised if I might add.

There is a lot of hours in this quilt, and even more love. Amanda, I hope you love it as much as I loved making it, and call me when you get the package in about 3 days....

Halloween Costumes

Now, of course Miss Marie Homemaker has to make her kids' costumes, right? I wouldn't have it any other way! Even though most of the costumes were easily put together from stuff we already had, and some things bought, I did have to make their hats. The older boys were Mario and Luigi,

and Luke was a toadstool.

I created their hats from scratch, no patterns or anything. This was a very hard thing for me to do, as I can do just about anything, as long as I have DIRECTIONS! To come up with them on my own, was a challenge, but it turned out to be easier than I thought.

Possibly the best cookie in the world!

If you're like me, there is nothing better than a chewy cookie! Bleh to those crunchy crumbly ones, right? It's pretty sad, then, that one of the best tasting cookies is a gingerSNAP. We all know that the snap definately means crunchy, not-so-chewy. What is a girl to do.......make THESE cookies!

Now, these cookies look like a gingersnap, taste like a gingersnap, but they do not snap like a gingersnap! So, here's to all you chewy cookie lovers, enjoy the cookie of the season!

CHEWY MOLASSES COOKIES

3/4 C shortening
1 C sugar
1/4 C molasses
1 egg
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Blend the shortening and sugar. Then add molasses and egg, and beat well. Add in the flour and remaining ingredients, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll chilled dough into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar, and place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet immediately and cool on a cooling rack.

One of my biggest projects....

So, about two years ago, Jeannie and I were chatting on the computer, and she 'hinted' to me that she wanted a stitchery from me. They already had one from Heidi, and one from my mom, and thought it only fair that they had one from me as well. I actually had been planning on doing one for them for a while. When they got married, I was only 16, and to be honest, to this day I am ashamed of the pathetic little gift I gave them. So, when they had decided to get sealed in the temple I knew this was my chance to make up for it. We browsed through photographs of the temple online together, and she gave me a few of her favorites. I picked one without her knowing, and had it sent into a company that turned your photograph into a counted cross-stitch pattern. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into until I actually started on the stitchery. There were 48 colors, and at least 12 of them were green! Yikes!

Not that I actually counted, but there are approximately 61,600 little tiny X's on the entire 16x20 inch final product. I received the pattern in the mail and started it on April 1st, naively believing that I would have it done by June 21st. Yeah Right! I worked on it day and night until the sealing, and revealed it to Casey and Jeannie, even though it wasn't finished. I then set a new goal for Christmas, but it soon came and went as well. My goal then was to have it complete by the first anniversary of their sealing, and I was SO CLOSE! My entire pregnancy I spent working on it, but when Luke was born on May 9th, my huge leaps of progress turned into baby steps. Thankfully, I had a trip planned to UT for the beginning of September,and KNEW that this was my chance. If I had it finished when I went down, then I could have it framed right there, and that way Jeannie could pick the frame, and I wouldn't have to worry about how to get it to her. I wouldn't call me a procrastinator, but I was working on that thing sitting on her couch. I'm kind of glad that it wasn't complete, because Jordan got to watch me do the last few stitches, and it was a special moment for she and I. Anyway, to add to my long story, I finished it on Saturday, September 6th. One year and five months after I started!

Experiment

Everytime I complete one of my projects, my mother in law gives me a lecture about not keeping some kind of evidence of what I've completed. According to her I am supposed to take a picture of all of them, and file them away. I used to just brush her off, but I realized she was SO RIGHT! Everything I make I seem to give away, and it wouldn't be such a bad idea to keep a record of them. I decided that I would blog them. I'm going to post pictures of stories of the projects I complete, as well as dig up the ones I've already completed. Jeannie pointed out that it could be weeks and weeks between posts, and that I should post other things as well, like recipes I love, things I can't live without, or special tips I may have. So, here goes. It'll be a bumpy ride at first, as I figure out how I want to do this, but I'm excited to get all my projects in one place!