Bathing, Stitching, Punching and Cooking On A Birthday...

Hi there Sweet Friends!  How's everybody doing?  Staying warm?  Stitchin?  Thanks for stopping by, I've quite a few sweet things to share with you.  This is a longish post, so if you've no time now, you're welcome to stop back when you can.

STITCHY BATH...  There's this older EMS SAL flower chart that's been nagging me, but I hesitated on kitting it up because the colors were really quite bright, not really to my prim liking.  Rather than do a conversion, I used the DMC colors as charted and bathed them in a very strong tea bath and rinsed, several times actually.  Well... truth be known, OCD rinsing happened ~ it's ok, go ahead, laugh:)  There might be a naysayer or two who'll say I've broken some rule and advise against this, but it's just DMC floss, and I'm accustomed to breaking rules.  The end result was quite acceptable, drabber and muted, a simple and fun experiment.  Heck, I might even trickle some drops of ~ Distress It ~ on these to stain them even more.

 One cup hot water w/six or seven tea bags...

 

before ~ yes, these colors are true, yikes...

 after ~ there now, that's better...

STITCHY TIP...  This WIP has been in my basket prob 4 or 5 years, I've just now picked it up again and am making good progress.  But, I decided I needed a few extra inches on each edge to fit more comfortably in my hoop.  I like to hoop, it fits my comfort level.  If you don't use a hoop, this tip's probably not for you.  So... I machine stitched a 4 inch wide strip of muslin along each edge to add some hoop comfort!  Of course any scrap fabric on hand will do.  This is also a very thrifty way to stitch a wee motif on those smaller linen/aida scraps that you think are a bit too small to use for anything.

See the seam?

Just sew a scrap piece along one edge or all four!

OH NOOOO ~ NOT AGAIN...  Like many of you, try as I might, I just can't seem to avoid those really annoying and pesky birthdays, you know... the ones ~ shhhhhh ~ after 50.  Mine is due to arrive unwelcome and uninvited a.g.a.i.n. on the 26th, yep me and Paul Newman.  I really and truly DO NOT KNOW how and when and why all these birthdays happened!  Not that I mind them that much, just wish they'd not come so often, every other year would be divine.

As a little present to myself, I signed up for a punch needle class this coming weekend at Liberty Cottage in Canandaigua, one of my most favorite shops.  I guess there's only myself and one other student.  I'm really looking forward to learning punch needle as an alternative to stitching, as I'm told it's much quicker from start to finish!  Wish you could join me!

Liberty Cottage, Canandaigua, NY

Sweet Patti (no blog) sent along this birthday gift that she knows I'll put to good use.  Patti's birthday is the 27th, which makes us birthday buddies, so we exchange a 'lil something and enjoy wallowing together, what are friends for anyway!

Thanks Patti, you're very thoughtful:)

COOKING...  Here's a ~Sweet Potato Pie Casserole~ I've been wanting to try, this was pantry-friendly and easy peasy to prepare.  The result was a sweet-salty-creamy-crunchy bite of heavenly yum!  Recipe courtesy of sweet Marly over at Santas and Samplers ~RECIPE.  This recipe now holds its' place of honor in my special recipe box.

  Thanks ever so much Marly,

this dish is simply too good to serve only on holidays!

MY BLOG...  Spent some time Spring cleaning, tidying up and rearranging things here, threw some tabs up top to store stuff.  I'm not yet done, and still haven't figured out how to make my top tabs look nicer.  Does anyone know if this is an easy fix?

   

Before you go, please have yourself a peek at my ~ Sweet Giveaways ~ tab!

Thanks for sharing a few moments of your day, see you again:) 

Tootles, Sue