Kate + Ice Cream

Hallelujah

2011-07-06T13:48:00.003-04:00

I thought the iMac had died... but it didn't!!!!

When we got back from our Fourth of July weekend in PA, the Mac wouldn't turn on. It tried and tried. It would make the lovely little start-up noise but the screen would stay black. I thought it was kaput. I figured Jeremy would be on the phone with tech support all night long. I guess it just took a little persistence because after attempting to turn it on again a few more times yesterday it finally kicked on! I don't know how it happened but my bank account thanks you, Mac.

Now that I'm back up and fully operational I get to post my seventh TUSAL! Thanks to Daffycat, my ORT jar is filling up nicely.

You also get a little sneak peak at my progress on Mermaid's Folly. Her tail is growing... and so is my love of stitching this piece! Corny, I know, but it's true. I think what makes it so fun is that what you're stitching is actually the background. The foreground is the fabric. So you're stitching along, filling in a big block of black and then all of the sudden a flower begins to appear. Yep - I love it.

I hope your 4th was wonderful and filled with fireworks!

Number Sixxxxxx

2011-06-01T22:03:00.003-04:00

Here is the sixth installment of Daffy Cat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. Please don't mind the green growing on my porch :) The green is also growing in my ORT jar.

And I have some progress to report on Mermaid's Folly...

I can't stand how much I love stitching this chart! Whoop whoop!

I Heart Pinterest and More Progress

2011-05-26T15:53:00.007-04:00

Pinterest is my new favorite website. It's like a virtual scrapbook. Remember my Idea Book I posted back in 2009? I paged through all of my old magazines and clipped my favorite things - clothes, interiors, gifts, ideas, projects, recipes... Well Pinterest is just the same except everything is housed online as "pins" on your very own organized page. You can search, browse, or repin other peoples pins and even make friends and network. It's pretty fantastic. Take a look at my Pinterest page and see for yourself. If you'd like an invitation just leave me a comment with your email :)

Oh yeah, and check out the progress that I've made on Mermaid's Folly. I am just LOVING this project!

My dad is in the States for work this week and next so he'll be at our house over the Memorial Day holiday!! Hopefully there will be some warm weather activities, cookouts, and lots of cocktails :) What are your plans?

Trade-o-rama!

2011-05-20T15:05:00.003-04:00

I completed my first trade this morning! I was able to trade 2 charts from my stash for Raise the Roof's "Hang Ten" button pack. I had ordered the Hang Ten chart and forgot to get the buttons to go along with it. This way I got them for free and someone else has 2 new charts to add to their stash. Thanks for the trade, Jacki!

If you're interested in trading, take a look at what else I've got in my For Trade set over on Flickr!

New Stash, Some Progress, and Another New Start

2011-05-19T13:08:00.002-04:00

Oh man, did I get some awesome mail yesterday or what?? Look at all these goodies. Starting from the top is "May I" (All Through The Night), "Gnomes in the Garden Row" (Bent Creek), "Fiesta Nicola Sabiel 1818" (Samplers Remembered), "Ruby Notes" (Kathy Schmitz), "Welcome Y'all" (Annalee Waite Designs), and "Hang Ten" (Raise the Roof). I bought them all from ABC Stitch Therapy during their 10 year anniversary sale. 20% off, baby! I can't wait to get crackin'.

There is also a little progress to report on Kitchen Blessings. As you can see, I finished the dark emerald portion of the border and am moving on to the lighter color. I plan on making this into a door hanger so I need to start planning that out. What you think - backing or no backing?

And I think you can recognize these...

They're boobs! Side note: boobs are fun to stitch :)

I just couldn't wait to finish up Kitchen Blessings before starting on this big ol' project. It's called Mermaid's Folly and comes from the Courtney Collection. It is a massive undertaking. The stitch count is 565 x 225. I decided to stitch it over 1 on 28ct linen. This brings the finished size down to something reasonable. The fabric is hand-dyed and so is the floss. I'm using the Week's Dye Works lovely color Kohl. It's basically black with some grey variation in it. It's really beautiful. I can't wait to show you some more progress!

Wanna Trade?

2011-05-10T08:31:00.008-04:00

Last night I took the time to photograph all of my cross stitch and needlework stash that I'm ready to part with. I'm trying to keep my collection to one relatively small Rubbermaid container. Once that container is full it's time to weed. Now that's not to say I'm not open to a trade :) Take a look at my "For Trade" set on Flickr and let me know if you see anything that you like. If you see something, either send me an email through Flickr or kateandicecream at gmail dot com. Maybe we can arrange a little swap-eroo!

Here is quick peek at what I have to offer:

Happy searching!

TUSAL #5 and some progress

2011-05-03T21:17:00.003-04:00

Whoop whoop! Progress all around. I got some good strangs in my TUSAL jar this month. Just ask Daffycat what it's all about.

And I made more progress on my kitchen blessings project. It's been a little while so I'm posting 2 progress pictures.

Dig it!

TUSAL #4 and a New Start

2011-04-04T09:18:00.002-04:00

Behold the fourth Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long photo! Check out Daffycat's blog for more info.

You'll notice all of the yellow threads on top. I started a new project last week. It's called Kitchen Blessings by Enchanting Lair. I changed the colors a bit. I'm using this lovely mustard color for the lettering and two different shades of emerald green for the border. I'm stitching on an 18ct oatmeal aida. Since I'm making this into a door hanger I went with a more hearty, rigid fabric. So far I am loving stitching this project.

Stay tuned for updates!

This is where it's at!

2011-03-24T11:51:00.004-04:00

No, really. See that little red house? Under the goose on the left and above the little pine trees? Ta-daaa! My house!

I finished Greeneframe's map of the Delmarva Peninsula a few days ago and am in love with it. I think I'll make it into a pillow for our teardrop. I just have to have to find a stash spot for it so my pup doesn't tear it to shreds when I'm not looking.

Hmmm, what fabric should I use...

Decisions. Decisions.

It's Been a While

2011-03-07T13:50:00.003-05:00

... so here's a stitching update!

Last week I finished up a bookmark. I made this because I needed it and bought the pattern ages ago. Don't like it very much but it does the job :)

Pictured above is Whiter Shades of Pale, the new book from Stuff White People Like author Christian Lander. I bet I know who's going to be in the new new book... Charlie Sheen. Come on, what white person isn't completely obsessed with CS right now? Winning!

I also have a long awaited progress picture from my Delmarva Peninsula WIP. I've finished Delaware, the upper Shore, and most of the mid-Shore.

I am really loving stitching almost entirely in backstitch.

Well, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and aren't too soaking wet with all of the rain we got yesterday. Take care!

TUSAL #3

2011-03-04T20:13:00.002-05:00

Here's the 3rd in the series. I just finished up a very colorful bookmark so my ORT jar is bright and shiny. Check out Daffycat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-long to find out more about the TUSAL!

March Calendar

2011-03-03T12:38:00.003-05:00

Celebrate National Craft Month with my monthly calendar, dressed up with a crafty theme. As always, feel free to use it. It's on my Flickr.

How-To: Fabric Hearts Bookmark

2011-02-10T15:41:00.019-05:00

I made this little fabric bookmark for Jeremy's Valentine's Day gift. (We're going very low tech this year.) It only took about 2 hours so it's totally do-able for quick after-work or afternoon project. Plus it's super cute so just make one, ok? :)

Materials: fabric (any colors), contrasting (or coordinating) thread, scissors, pinking shears, paper for your templates, stick pins, a needle, an iron, and a sewing machine.

First, cut six squares out of the fabric that you chose for your hearts. Stack three squares, all right side up.

Next, cut out a heart template. Take a small piece of paper approximately the size of the heart you'd like to make. Fold the paper in half. Draw half a heart shape on one side of the folded paper. Make sure that when you unfold the paper you'll have a whole heart not two halves! Cut out the heart template. Place it on top of the three squares and secure it with a stick pin.

Using your pinking shears to cut down on fray, cut around your heart template to make three identical fabric hearts.

Next, take your heart template and cut an even smaller heart out of the center. This will be the template for the small heart. Repeat the above steps for the small heart.

Now, find the fabric you'd like as the base of your bookmark. Fold the fabric right side to right side. Lay out your hearts on the fabric so you get an idea of how large you'd like your bookmark to be. There should be enough fabric all the way around your hearts (at least a 1/4 inch) for seams. (FYI: I left a 1/2 inch all the way around so, in addition to the seam allowance, my hearts had a little 1/4 inch border.) Cut out your bookmark panels.

Separate your two bookmark panels. Arrange your hearts on one fabric panel (the bookmark front) to your liking. Pin your hearts and, using your sewing machine, sew a straight line from the top of the panel to the bottom, vertically down the center of each heart, anchoring everything in place. (I'm sorry there is no picture of this step. To get an idea of what this looks like, jump two pictures ahead.)

Next, place the other fabric rectangle right side down on top of your bookmark front. Line up your edges and pin down the left, right and top sides. Sew, leaving the bottom open for turning.

Once the three sides are sewn, turn your bookmark inside out and press with a hot iron. Make sure to poke the corners out to get your bookmark as square as possible.

Turn the bottom of the bookmark inside a 1/4 inch and press, leaving a nice straight edge.

Blind stitch the bottom edges together. Click here for a blind stitch tutorial.

For added detail I zig-zag stitched around my completed bookmark in the same thread color as my center seam.

Enjoy endless (cute!) hours of reading!

February Calendar

2011-02-04T12:34:00.002-05:00

Here is my February 2011 calendar. You can find it on my Flickr. Feel free to use it!

Número Dos

2011-02-03T19:10:00.003-05:00

Here is the second picture for Daffycat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. As you can see I've collected a few more threads since last time. It's still teeny tiny compared to others but, oh, how I love it.

A Fresh Start

2011-01-31T14:10:00.003-05:00

So I'm tired of Mary Wigham already :) Plus I just had an itching to work on something new.

I started something that I've been holding on to for a while now. It's a design by a local woman named Renee Greene. She's the in-house designer extraordinaire at Salty Yarns in Ocean City, my closest LNS. When finished, it will be a map of the Delmarva Peninsula. For those of you who aren't familiar, Delmarva is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the US. It is made up of the entire state of Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Because it's separated from the rest of the US by the Chesapeake Bay it remains, for the most part, an environmentally protected and rural area - a fact Delmarva-ians are very proud of.

Believe it or not, I actually started this chart on Saturday night. I got a bunch of good stitching time on Sunday too and ended up finishing the outline of the map. It's worked in backstitch so it comes together pretty quickly. Place names, symbols, a map title, and a North arrow remain.

Stay tuned to see Delmarva come to life!

What a Nice Weekend

2011-01-24T16:17:00.003-05:00

I've been a busy knitter. And I think I'm finally speeding up! I have 16 inches of scarf knitted so far. It's so soft and lovely - I can't wait to be finished. I'm going to make this scarf nice and long so I can wrap it around my head about a thousand times, right up to my eyeballs! Side note: it's been so cold out that my dog doesn't even want to go for a walk in the mornings. Brrrrrrr...

And, drum roll please...

I pulled out the ol' Mary Wigham Quaker sampler last night! After months and months of neglect (it may have even been a year+) I finished the white motif. I even stitched the initials and got started on the pink section. It's still not my favorite thing but I'll keep working on it.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Yay for Monday being over!

This may be totally useless...

2011-01-18T15:22:00.002-05:00

... but I'm doing it anyway! And, of course, I'm late jumping on the bandwagon.

Daffycat has created this totally useless stitch-a-long - her words, not mine! Every New Moon of the year (dates of which can be found here) you're supposed to take a picture of that glass jar you throw all your leftover thread, floss, and yarn scraps into. The problem is I don't have one of these jars.

I finished up my delicious Claussen pickles this weekend and now I have a jar! It even has scraps in it!

The ORT (old ragged threads) jar

Getting Started on Those Goals

2011-01-17T17:28:00.003-05:00

I have about 5 inches complete on my very first scarf! I'm using a blended grey and white wool. I'm knitting the whole thing. I figure I'll start easy. Maybe next time I'll throw in some fancy stitches :) And to tell you the truth, I though knitting would go a lot faster. Maybe it's just because I'm still getting used to it. I have to concentrate pretty hard to make sure I don't lose stitches.

On Saturday I also got a big load of stuff together to go to Good Will. It's still sitting in the back of my car because I couldn't find anywhere to drop it off this weekend. It will happen though! It feels good to get rid of unused things and give them to people who actually need them.

LEGOS!

2011-01-17T17:16:00.003-05:00

We drove over to BWI Airport last week to pick up my car in long term parking (my momma was using it when she was home from New Zealand). We don't get over to that side of the world much - Baltimore, not NZ :) - so we made a pit stop at Arundel Mills Mall. We went to Books-a-Million and the Lego Store. I finally bought a kit!! I put it together a few nights ago...

Look! It's me and Jeremy!

30 Things to Do Before I'm 31

2011-01-13T09:49:00.008-05:00

Since it's now a week before my 30th birthday, I think it's a really good time for me to set some goals for the upcoming year. I've seen this on a few different blogs and think it's a great idea.

So here it goes... my 30 before 31:

Exercise 4 times a day (*edit - a WEEK :) ... I'm not that hardcore*) - I got EA Sports Active for Christmas, hopefully I can keep it up!
Find a job in Baltimore
Make all homemade Christmas presents
Get an iPhone
Finish the teardrop
Attend an out-of-state Tear Jerkers rally
Buy more local produce
Have a party at the house
Knit my first scarf - in the works!
Go to New Zealand
Design a cross stitch chart
Take a personal day off of work for myself and RELAX
Complete my footware photo project
Spend less time on the internet at work
Install new AC in the house
Insulate under the house
Make an article of clothing for myself
Buy a new "fancy" camera
Make a rug
Transfer childhood recordings to digital - I've been wanting to do this for years
Learn 1 new craft
Yarn bomb something
Take a class at the Arts Center
Learn to play the mandolin
Learn to surf
Rearrange the living room
Simplify the house - downsize!
Donate unused clothing and shoes to a charity - downsize!
Grow a beautiful garden
Don't stress over little things - focus on the positive and live a happier life

I think most of these goals are attainable. I can't wait to cross things off the list!

What are your goals for the new year?

A Finish!

2011-01-06T15:13:00.003-05:00

It's finished! It's finished! All You Can Eat is finished! Yaaaaaaaay!

Now it has to be framed and a spot has to be saved for it in the teardrop galley :) And the peasants rejoice.

It's on to knitting!

How-To: Postcard Calendar Journal

2011-01-05T14:24:00.005-05:00

In the beginning of December I was looking at Design*Sponge and was smitten with this lovely calendar. Each day you write a little blurb about what you did - like a mini journal entry. This continues through the years and the life of the calendar. It seems like a real keepsake :)

On New Years Eve we were invited to a party and thought that this would make a perfect host/Christmas gift. It was pretty easy to make. You can make it too if you follow the tutorial here.

We bought most of the paper supplies at Walmart so we saved money there. We picked up the mega-index cards there - 2 packs of 100 - and the paper cutter. The date stamper and ink pad came from an office supply store (Walmart only had the self inking). The postcards (50 cents each) and enamel container ($6) came from a local antique store.

Jeremy cut all of the index cards in half with the paper cutter. He cut about 5 at a time, running the blade back and forth over the cards 2 or 3 times. The postcards didn't need to be cut. They were actually about a half inch smaller than the halved index cards.

When it was time to start stamping dates (remember, no year!), I began at Dec 31. That way I didn't have to reverse-sort every card in the set when I finished. That saved some time.

Also after I inked the stamp with the date, I put the index card on top of some scrap paper. Since I couldn't avoid inking the year on the stamp I just let that portion of the stamp hang over the right edge of the card. The scrap paper worked perfect for catching all of those "2011"s :)

The cards fit perfectly into the enamel container and were finished off with a little holiday ribbon.

See Ashley's full calendar tutorial on Design*Sponge.

January Calendar

2011-01-04T12:53:00.003-05:00

Here is the new January 2011 calendar. You can find it on my Flickr. Feel free to use it!

Those Fish Have Teeth!

2010-12-20T08:40:00.004-05:00

I did some good work on All You Can Eat this week. All that's left is the border then on to framing. My plan is to put this in the galley of the teardrop permanently. I'd like to shrink wrap it before I frame it. You know, like a piece of meat? Nice and tight. I think that might be better than contact paper. I think the glue in the contact paper might eat the piece over time.

Any ideas?

Also, I just wanted to give an update on the magnet menu that I posted two weeks ago. In the time we've been using the menu to plan out our weekly dinners, we've saved about $40-50 a week on groceries!! I can't believe how much overspending we were doing before. You just buy what you plan to eat. No impulse spending, no wasted food at the end of the week! Tough Economic Times, I think I just kicked your butt :)

Monthly Calendar

2010-12-09T15:01:00.004-05:00

Ooooo, look what I made! It's a nifty calendar for the month of December. I used Big Huge Labs mosaic maker. I wanted to have a header row with the days of the week but the maximum number of photos you can use is 36 - I needed 42. So I decided to go with just the numbers, in a 7x5 grid. I used "white" images for the blanks. Most of the images just came from Flickr searches like "letter M" or "number 8".

You can find my calendar here.

How-To: Magnetic Menu

2010-12-09T14:32:00.005-05:00

Jeremy and I have been talking about planning out weekly menus for a few weeks now. Taking pencil to paper just never seemed to work out - either we'd forget to make the list before the grocery store or we'd sit at the kitchen table thinking about what we knew how to make over and over every week. I decided it was time to simplify and here you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen - the Magnetic Menu!

Materials: printer, contact paper, scissors, and magnetic tape.

First, pick a font for your menu items. DaFont is a great place to go for free ones. I chose Stinky Kitty and Lullaby. Type a list of all of the meals you make - fancy, basic, for special occasions, whatever! Don't forget to also type out the days of the week.

Next, cut out all of the meals.

Cut a piece of contact paper large enough to fit all of your items. Peel the backing off the contact paper, lay it sticky side up on the table, and stick your menu to it, either face up or down. I arranged the items in rows so they are easy to cut out.

Next, cut another piece of contact paper the same size as the first, pull off the backing, and stick it - sticky side down - to the first piece so that the menu is now between the two sheets of contact paper.

After running your finger over and around all items to make sure that the contact paper is good and stuck, cut everything out.

Lastly, cut strips of magnetic tape wide enough to cover the back of each item but not wide enough to be seen around the edges. For longer items I used two magnets, for shorter ones I cut the strips in half. Remove the tape from the magnet and stick it to the back side of each item.

Now you have a magnetic menu that helps you plan out your meals for the week! Don't buy excess at the grocery store - don't get in a food rut - eat healthier - save time - save money. What's not to love??

O, Christmas Tree

2010-12-08T15:16:00.007-05:00

Our tree is a little different this year. We used to have a beach theme, living in Myrtle Beach. Most of our decorations were ocean or tropical looking. Jeremy used to hang seashells all over instead of Christmas balls. We've tamed it down this year and really LOVE how the tree looks.

Jeremy even got crafty this Christmas and made us a new garland. He took a big, circular hole punch and punched a boatload of circles. He took the circles and put two back to back (white side to white side) and fed them through the sewing machine, pair after pair. It only took him an evening to make and it looks great on the tree. It's so low-cost that if you don't like it when next Christmas rolls around you can ditch it and start again!

Here are a few close-ups. I love my sock monkey and clip-on birds!

A snowboarding dog and Scuba Santa!

Did you know he can also do the hula?

Stay tuned for more Christmas fun!

Taking the needles out for a spin...

2010-12-07T16:25:00.003-05:00

Here is what I've been working on. She's bound off and everything. It's a bit messy but it's just my "test strip" :)

Here are a few up-close shots - a knit, a purl, and rib.

I think I'm making pretty good progress. I even bought some yarn and hope to get started on a scarf. Oooo, my first knitted creation. I can hardly wait!

Fishing and Knitting

2010-12-01T12:24:00.003-05:00

I worked on All You Can Eat a little bit more this weekend.

For some reason my camera isn't taking the greatest pictures lately. Maybe I should ask Santa for a new one :)

I also learned some knitting basics this weekend - my aunt and cousin taught me. Right now I'm just fooling around a little. I'm figuring out how to purl. Cyberseams on YouTube has helped me get through some problems. When most instructions are geared towards right-handed people its hard to be left-handed and follow along. Cyberseams has a ton of tutorials for lefties.

Learn to knit with me!

A Night of Awesome x3

2010-11-17T20:36:00.009-05:00

First, here is the progress on "All You Can Eat". Whoop whoop! A fish and a half to go :)

Second, I'm going to make a door mat for the teardrop. Possibly out of climbing rope, possibly awesome. I searched the internet for rope rugs and found this plait knot rug on About.com.

I found a big piece of "shoelace" rope leftover from some drawstring bags I made. I followed the how-to on About.com and came up with this mini-rug. I didn't have enough rope to do another run around the rug so I left it like this (I still think its pretty darn awesome) :

Yeah, it has some gaps in it but after looking at the same rug on Martha Stewart I have an idea of how to set up the "bones" of the rug so the shape works out better in the end. (*Hint: make the loops at each end large.)

And may I present the third wonderful of the evening...

Homemade Reese's Pieces sundaes!!!

We had the vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, the store across the street had the Reese's Pieces, and I found an awesome recipe for Friendly's peanut butter sauce on Chow.com. Drool....

I am thoroughly satisfied. I also apologize for my excessive use of the word "awesome".

Eat More Fish

2010-11-09T08:38:00.002-05:00

I worked on All You Can Eat a bit this weekend. This is my progress as of Sunday night. We almost have a fish, ladies and gentlemen!

Delicious!

2010-10-18T10:47:00.007-04:00

Triple chocolate cupcakes...

Now, I'm not the hugest chocolate cake fan but when I saw these Itsy Bitsy Spiderweb Cupcakes online I had to attempt making them. Plus, I needed something to take to book club - we were reading ghost stories... spooooky.

I got the recipe on Delish.com and did one of the modifications mentioned in the recipe. Instead of using the 1/2 cup oil, as called for, I used 1/2 cup pumpkin pie filling. OH MY GOODNESS - so good (I figured the maple syrup would be overkill).

When I tried to make the spider web cake toppers there was a major disaster, not to mention a major mess :) I put the melted chocolate in a zip-loc and cut a tiny little tip off to make a pastry bag... yeah, not so much. I couldn't get a consistent rope of chocolate to come out so I squeezed harder. Eventually chocolate just began oozing out all over the bag. I gave up on the spider webs and just squirted strings of chocolate all over my parchment paper. I put that in the fridge to harden up and when the cupcakes we done just crumbled up the crunchies all over the top. I couldn't let all that beautiful white chocolate go to waste.

So, in the end it worked out. Maybe next time I'll invest in a frosting bag - yikes!

I also got some more stitching done on All You Can Eat - it's not just a phantom mouth anymore :) It's been a long time since I've worked on Aida so it's a nice change not having to count 2 every time I lay down a stitch.

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend. Talk soon!

Nom nom nom nom...

2010-10-11T13:54:00.004-04:00

...chomp!

Here is the weekend's progress on Prairie Schooler's All You Can Eat. I'm already getting tired of of stitching long interrupted lines of color :) After the big fish is finished the rest should move smoothly.

Progress on the Cigar Box

2010-10-05T08:42:00.006-04:00

See, I told you I was working on it!

This has just been the never ending project (2 years and counting). I keep getting distracted by other new and shiny projects. But I sat down this weekend and got a good bit done - the Habana label and the crest above it. It really is slow going with all of those 1/4 stiches. Phew!

We'll see how much more I get done because I've already got the next project layed out... it was only a matter of time :) And I can validate doing it because we need it for the teardrop. I'm going to stitch the Prairie Schooler's All You Can Eat for the galley. Which means I need to get cracking so we actually have a place for it to go. We're getting to the stage where we need to start working on the design and space is limited. I'm thinking right above the roll top bread box :)

Have a great week!

Gift Giving

2010-10-01T09:30:00.004-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a while but I've been working my butt off on a special project. A secret special project.

... but now I'm finished so I'll show off!

Last weekend we went camping with our teardrop club and, since we're not finished with our trailer yet, our fellow Tear Jerkers, Ken an Susan, lent us their extra trailer for the weekend. I wanted to do something nice for them to show how appreciative we were so I made them a tiny, cross stitched replica of their Scotty Highlander.

Here is their trailer (hi, Ken!):

And here is their mini!

They loved it and hung it outside of their trailer for all to see.

The process of making this little door hanger was fairly easy but VERY time consuming. It was also my first time using metallic thread so that was an adventure in and of itself.

First, I looked at pictures of their trailer. Then I created a cross stitch chart - well actually two. One of the left side and one of the right side. After I stitched both sides of the trailer, I back-stitched around each. To attach the two sides I simply stitched the back stitching together - similar to biscornu construction. Before completely sealing the piece, I stuffed in a little poly-fill and some dried lavender flowers from the garden. Then I stitched the piece closed.

Now that that project is finished I think I'll go back to the cigar box. Stay tuned for more stitching updates!

Our Roaming Home

2010-08-13T12:23:00.003-04:00

...is finished! Not to mention it's the first thing I have made for the teardrop :)

Now I know that an RV is not a tear but it's travel related - and close enough for me! The lighting in this photo isn't the greatest because I took the picture last night under a ceiling light. I'll get a better one up soon... if these clouds ever go away.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great day. I'll be day dreaming my afternoon away - campfires and chilly nights.........

B is for Backstitch

2010-08-11T11:05:00.003-04:00

Last night I finished all of the back stitching on Our Roaming Home. Whoop whoop! I love how back stitching just snaps everything into focus. All that's left to do is stitch the saying over there on the left. Then it's ready to go up in the teardrop... whenever that gets finished :)

Let the Journey Begin!

2010-08-02T08:46:00.008-04:00

I got sidetracked again. Instead of going back to my cigar box WIP I decided to start on a whole new something.

Since the end of June I've had a one track mind - and for once it's hasn't been cross stitch! I have discovered the wonderful world of vintage travel trailers - tiny travel trailers to be exact. This includes the old canned-ham-type trailers from the 50s and 60s as well as the older teardrop trailers that are just large enough to sleep two people comfortably. I love them so much that my boyfriend, Jeremy, and I have decided to build one! We've started a blog dedicated to documenting the construction from start to finish as well as all the fun decorating bits in between. Once the thing is built, we'll also use the blog as a travel log for all those fun tiny trailer gatherings and cross-country trips! So come on over to Tracks of my Tear and read all about it!

I'll be posting the progress of a lot of the things I'm making for the trailer here - curtains, pillows, bedspreads. All that good stuff. I started something already, even though we're only in the planning stages of our build. Back when I first started cross stitching I found a Jiffy kit of an RV driving off into the sunset. I held on to it for a long time not really knowing when or if I even wanted to stitch it anymore. The disign is really simple and not completely my aesthetic anymore. But this last time, looking through my stash, I decided it would be perfect for inside the Tear. This is what I've stitched so far. I have a lot of backstitching left to do. And there is a saying that I still need to write in - "Home is wherever you roam". But I'm rolling right along.

I'm going to keep working on it this week and maybe have it finished up by the weekend. We shall see. Until then don't forget to stop over at Tracks of my Tear and tell me what you think of the project so far!

Happy trails!

I Wanna Go Back to my Little Grass Shack

2010-07-11T18:15:00.002-04:00

Woohoo! I finished Jeremy's Sailor Jerry hula girl bookmark this afternoon! Ain't she grand? I backed her with a black and white geometric fabric. When you hold her up to the light she looks like she's playing ukulele at a swingin', mod Hawaiian luau. Her current residence is "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy.

Now I'm going to head back over to Cuba and work some more on my cigar box top. Stay tuned!

Making up for Lost Time

2010-07-08T10:57:00.030-04:00

Since I've been a negligent mother to this blog for so long I thought it might be time to shower it with affection! Here is a quick wrap-up of what I've been working on - and finished! - over the past year. Yeah, year... Crazy.

I had started working on Mary Wigham many moons ago but it's been hiding in a drawer for almost a year now. Here's the progress...

I made these bookmarks as little going away presents for my parents...

My Dad has been in New Zealand now for over a year. My Mom left this past March.

I stitched these tiny quilts as a gift for my Aunt...

Then they were incorporated into this! Oooooh. Ahhhhh.

I sent this little piece to my Dad in NZ for his birthday last year. It sits on his desk at work :)

Towards the end of the Summer last year there was a "chain" post being sent around Facebook - make 5 things for 5 people and those 5, in turn, would make 5 things for 5 more people and they would make 5 things, and they would make 5 things, and so on into infinity. A GREAT idea in theory however too easy to back out on. I never got my "thing" in the mail but I did make 5 things for 5 people :)

I made this King Kamehameha cross stitch for George, who was born in Hawaii and goes back every year for his birthday...

This was for Rebekah, a friend from high school...

This was sent to Dave, a Halloween-a-holic...

I made this photo holder for baby William...

This was for Maggie, Jeremy's cousin...

And this went to cooking enthusiasts - and newlyweds - John and Melissa. So that technically makes 6 things. So sue me! :)

This saucy bookmark I gave to my brother for Christmas. He uses it to mark his place in school books. Hehe...

I tried my hand at making oilcloth tote bags this Spring. It was definitely a first attempt. I wasn't super thrilled with how they turned out - so "not-thrilled" that apparently I didn't take any pictures of them. I guess I'll have to do that now. Buuuuut, I did use the bags as an opportunity to make K+IC fabric tags!! Just fold them in half and sew them into a seam. I love them.

And, in 2010, I am proud to say I finally put some more stitches into my Cigar Box Art WIP. There's even been more progress since I took the picture below...

I did take a break from that to make a wedding card for my childhood friend, Val. She and her husband met in Baltimore. Awwwww...

And last but not least - drum roll please - I present to you my CURRENT WIP... a sweet little Sailor Jerry hula girl bookmark for my BFF, Jeremy. Don't mind her tiny arm, it's much larger now. She even has the makings of a head. I am stitching it over one on black 32 count. I know I'm crazy. But it's almost finished. There's no turning back now.

So I hope you've enjoyed my sprint through the past year and don't feel too abandoned. I am alive and well and hope to take much better care of my blog from now on...

... fingers crossed.

I Know, I Know

2009-04-20T19:08:00.005-04:00

Like I said before, I haven't posted anything in a long time. And for good reason. Blogger is blocked at work!! How dare they! So, of course, I can't get to my Dashboard to post any new entries. But worst of all... I can't keep up with your blogs! Anytime I try to view a Blogger blog I get prompted for a system password about 20 times. Click, click, click, click, etc. It's endless. Eventually the page loads but I know that a million little warning lights are going off up in IT. I'm just going to have to move all of my internet aspirations to "home time".

DAMN THE MAN. SAVE THE EMPIRE.

So there's the rub - sad but true. I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with posting - because I'm sure you all know that I am definitely still creating. It's just hard to go from sitting at the computer all day at work to sitting at the computer in my free time. If there are lapses here at Kate + Ice Cream take a look over on my Flickr for the latest happenings.

Now on to the good stuff...

Tiny-bama is finished!!

This awesome chart by Subversive Cross Stitch is a re-working of Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" poster from Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign - just in case you've been living under a rock :) I wanted to do something a little different with it so I stitched it over one on 32ct white linen and changed the colors around a bit. The resulting awesomeness is about 1.25in wide x 2.5in tall. I framed it using a very presidential portrait-y frame I found at Michaels in their SnapShot collection. I love the clash between the intricately traditional frame and graphic poster. So you get a real idea of size...

Now that Obama is finished I plan on revisiting some things that I put to the side: (1) Hallow Sampler, (2) TIAG's The Auction, (3) a special project that I'm working on for a friend.

Stay tuned! And don't forget to check the Flickr!

Get 'em While They're Hot!

2009-03-30T14:15:00.006-04:00

Jo-Ann Fabrics is having a huge Spring sale and the black oval frames that I used to finish up my pet silhouettes are on super sale - I think 40% off. They would also look great spray painted colors other than black or maybe sanded and distressed. Anyway, they're really nice and have great vintage detailing. Thought I would share!

It's True

2009-03-30T08:42:00.002-04:00

Framing Fiasco

2009-03-17T08:48:00.018-04:00

After much deliberation I decided to use the frames that I had bought a few months ago for the pet silhouettes. Originally I wasn't quite sold - they had the look I was going for but seemed a little large. Turns out oval frames are almost non-existent anymore and anything smaller that I found was too small. Anyway with everything said and done... I love them! And good thing too because boy was it a labor of love getting these things framed up. Phew, baby.

The day starts off taking apart the frames and cutting foam board to the size of the glass. I can't cut a straight, non-jaggedy line with an Exacto to save my life so the boyfriend was recruited. We went through a few "oopsies" before getting 2 ovals cut to the right size. Then I cut my batting, 3 pieces for each (one big, one medium, one small). Next, at the ironing board, I end up burning a portion of the linen around the cat - the iron was set to "linen" and everything! No idea. I was heartbroken. Thankfully when I mocked it up the huge burn was just outside the frame. That was probably my closest call of all time - literally millimeters. With all of that out of the way I started framing the dog, had it all pinned to the foam board, even started cleaning up the back. Then I realized I hadn't signed the piece or written the dog's name on it yet. DOH! After all that was the grand idea - to created portraits of all the family members, even furry ones, that come into our lives over the years. And what's a portrait without a name to go with it? So I, extremely carefully, took everything apart and stitched in dates and names. After that everything was smooth sailing. I guess I learned that no matter how excited you are to get something finished up still take the time to make sure everything is exactly how you want it.

Confucius says, "Measure twice, cut once".

The Frenchman

The Lioness

Aside from the framing horror show I've been doing a little work here and there on Primitive Needle's Hallow Sampler. My camera died last week after 7 years of service (RIP, good buddy) so I hadn't taken any update photos. We bought a less-expensive replacement this weekend, a Nikon Coolpix, and I'm back in business! Here's the latest...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Finally, a Finish!

2009-03-09T08:32:00.011-04:00

About a year ago I had an idea to make old-fashioned silhouettes of the entire family. Instead of going the paper cut-out route I figured that cross stitch might be more interesting. I also decided that over 1 would give them that crisp, paper look I was going for. (I would sooo do over 2 now in a second! Ug. Talk about a ton of work.) At any rate I finished my Frenchie's, Louis, silhouette last year around Thanksgiving and then started up on the cat, Boh. Since you don't need a chart to stitch a silhouette once the outline is layed down it became my stitch-at-work (hence no update photos) lunch break/sanity getaway. All of those 30 minute sessions did eventually add up to something though. Feast your eyes...

Meeeoow! So now they're both finished and are looking for frames. What do you think? Matching? Mis-matched? Oval? Square? I might be leaning toward something vintage and oval. Still pondering.

So my new lunchtime project is going to be - drum roll please...

The Primitive Needle's Hallow Sampler

I already got a few stitches layed out yesterday afternoon. It's such a fun project I don't think I'll be able to contain it to just stitching at work! Plus those last 2 quilts on Told in a Garden are just wearing me out. This will be a nice break.

Chain Reaction: A Study in Hoarding

2009-02-18T08:23:00.007-05:00

It all started with the Super Bowl Sale at Salty Yarns...

I went into my favorite needlecraft store with a few things in mind and of course came out with more than I was planning on. I picked up "Creepy Crawly" by Blue Ribbon Designs, fabric and floss for that, and "Hallow Sampler" from The Primitive Needle along with overdyed linen for that and some Weeks floss. The shop was out of a few of the Weeks colors I needed so when I got home I went to my online back up, ABC Stitch Therapy, for what was left. Of course I ended up buying more than just floss. Who wants to pay shipping on that? (At least that was my excuse.) To round out the order I bought a cut-thru from Bothy Threads - "Cut Thru Camper Van" - for my surfing boyfriend and "Garden Birds" from The Prairie Schooler, which I've had my eye on of a while. Needless to say I was giddy from my purchases.

A few days later I decided that I was going to make a birthday present for a friend, since I've been on a gift giving kick recently, but wanted something a little out of the ordinary. My friend LOVES Hawaii so I wanted to take a look at what was available as far as Hawaiian xstitch. Enter Quilts Hawaii. Elizabeth Root, the owner, is such a nice woman. I bought an awesome leaflet called "Scenic Oahu" from her. She wrote me an email and everything. Even checked out my blog! Thanks Elizabeth!

Do you think I have a problem yet? Wait, there's more. I picked up another Janlynn kit from Kooler Designs called "Vegetable Trio" and, of course, I had to stitch Subversive Cross Stitch's Obama design. Holy hell. I've got enough to keep me going until I'm old and grey!

In between all my shopping I put some more stitches into TIAG's "The Auction".

I even made a Valentine's Day card for my boyfriend using Little Acorn's Squirrely Valentine 2009.

Now I just need some time to stitch!

Today's Forcast: 100% Chance of Clouds

2009-02-10T12:16:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about putting a label cloud on my blog for a while now and finally decided to give it a try. Scroll down and let me know what you think!

I followed this super easy tutorial from phydeaux3. If you're completely lost as to where the "/b:skin" tag is just keep scrolling down, down, down under your Edit HTML tab. You'll pass section headings like Posts, Comments, Sidebar Content, Profile, Footer and then - bam - there it is. Just follow the directions in the how-to. If everything works smoothly you'll see the label cloud when you preview your blog. If you're unhappy with the black-and-blue color scheme you can change it buuuuuut, the link to the "RGB Color Code Chart" in the tutorial is broken. Follow this link instead where you can see RGB codes for 216 colors and even how the color will display. Perfection!

Happy clouding!

Oh, oh, oh

2009-01-28T08:50:00.003-05:00

To all my single ladies:

As you can tell, I've made a little progress on my Told in a Garden project. I've officially reached the "tricky part". Up until now there has been nothing particularly hard about this chart but I've got a little alteration planned. Stay tuned...

How-To: Idea Book

2009-01-19T15:30:00.014-05:00

There are so many ideas that I have for the new house. I've been holding on to years-worth of magazines (Domino, Dwell, This Old House, etc) planning to look back at them when it comes time to work on the house. The problem is now I'm running out of space for all of the magazines. As I was attempting to tidy up the house yesterday I had a great idea. I decided to clip out all of my favorite photos and articles from my stash of magazines and put them all in one place - an organized Idea Book. (The full tutorial is also on my flickr in my How-To collection!)

Gather your thoughts by gathering your favorite pictures and inspiration is at your fingertips!

Materials: 3-ring binder, dividers w/ tabs, clear pocket binder sheets, glue, scissors, magazines, pictures, drawings, etc.

Decide how you want to organize your book. My book is for home design inspiration so my tabs reflect the rooms in my house. I chose to print out labels to use in my binder tabs. You could just as easily write out the tabs yourself. Some tabs are even formatted to run through a printer. Just remember to print out two of each label so both sides of the tab are labeled.

If you decided to print out your labels trim them up so they fit on the tab insets included with the binder dividers. Use glue or tape, whatever you have around, to stick the labels to the tabs - one on each side so you can see them no matter which way you flip through your book. I used a glue specifically for paper crafts (Elmer's Craft Bond).

Once finished your labels should look like this...

Insert your labeled tabs into the dividers - oh, so pretty.

This is an exercise in consolidation so gather up your favorite magazines, pictures, drawings, blog posts - anything you've been holding on to or frequently look to for ideas. Clip away!

Once you have all your favorites clipped out throw all those stacks of old magazines away! Aaah, isn't that liberating? After all everything you refer back to those stacks for is now in a neat little pile on the table.

The good thing about clear plastic binder pages is they're perfect for magazine articles - you can still see both sides! Bits and pieces that aren't full pages can be glued/taped/stickered to printer paper, even construction paper for more color. You can even scrapbook it up with text, photo corners, anything you want.

Now categorize your pages under the correct binder heading and voila! You're finished! At least for today. Add on when ever you feel the urge.

Here are a few pages that I made for my Home Idea book...

Good luck, Dad!

2009-01-15T11:14:00.003-05:00

My father is currently in New Zealand, lucky son of a gun. It's summer there. Not only that but he's there for a job interview! That means I might actually have a reason to travel half way around the world soon. And, yes, I've considered the downside. Nothing is final yet so I'm not going to go get all worked up but it's fun to think I might be able to bump into these guys on the street in the near future...

Flight of the Conchords! Watch it!

Quilted Goodness

2009-01-13T08:38:00.006-05:00

I finished my quilted blanket last night, slip-stitches and all. Pretty darn good for a first attempt if I do say so myself. Boh-boh climbed right on as soon as I layed it on the bed. Mission accomplished! Maybe I'll try making something with quilt blocks next time.

There are a few more pictures up on Flickr if you're so inclined.

My Little Pony and Friends

2009-01-12T09:14:00.017-05:00

On Saturday we went to Assateague Island National Seashore. I haven't been there since my freshman year of college - Spring Break. Jeremy and I live so close now we decided to go have an adventure. If you're not familiar with Assateague it's a barrier island just off the coast of Virginia and just south of Ocean City, MD. There are lots of trails, camp sites and birds to watch. There is also a herd of wild ponies that live on the island (ever read Misty of Chincoteague?)The local yarn is that they are the decendants of shipwreck survivors - arr, matey!

She looks like a particularly salty dog.

After getting up close and personal with the locals we ran over to Salty Yarns - after all we were in the greater Ocean City area. Any destination within 30 miles and I'm required to visit :) I've been on a gift-giving kick recently, and not just because of Christmas so I bought another chart to stitch as a gift. This one doesn't need to be finished until October so I have some time. It's the Primitive Needle's "Hallow Sampler". That's all I am at liberty to say...

The last bit of news thats fit to print is I made my first quilt yesterday! Or at least I "quilted" something. My cat, Boh, has completely covered the bottom corner of my bed in hair. I guess she has decided that this particular place is more comfortable than any other place in the entire house to sleep. I know this because the ratio of cat hair to fabric is exponentially larger than that at any other location. So I decided to make her a blanket to lay on. After all, a blanket is much easier to wash than a quilt cover.

Its pretty small, about 3ft x 3 ft - perfect size for a cat butt. I used 2 different color pieces of fabric, 2 pieces of batting, and 2 thread colors that match the fabric I chose. After I pinned everything in place I sewed a 1in border all the way around the piece. Then I just quilted the sandwich so everything stays put. The only thing I have left to do is slip stitch the 4th edge closed. I'll post pictures as soon as I'm finished.

Oh oh, I also scanned a bunch of my favorite old photos from high school on into Flickr. Still waiting to nab the old photo albums from mom and dad's house!

I love you, Cuisinart ICE-25!

2009-01-08T12:44:00.011-05:00

I got a Cuisinart ice cream/frozen yogurt maker for Christmas and last night Jeremy and I made our first quart of ice cream. It was absolutely delicious. We dicided to take it easy our first time around and follow the basic vanilla recipe - no vanilla bean, no egg yolks. So here was the spread:

The recipe was just about as easy as you can get:

1 cup whole milk, chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (we used 1tsp)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl - make sure the sugar is dissolved - and pour it into the machine. Watch in awe.

Ever wonder how to make the cookie eating experience better? Two words - ice cream. We actually decided to break up some Pepperidge Farm oatmeal cookies and throw them in as well. Good choice.

This whole wonderful process only took about 30 minutes, including prep time and VOILA!

We were so excited to chow down that we didn't give the ice cream enough time to harden in the freezer. (Note to self: Restrain. 2+ hours next time.) It's soupy-goodness hit the spot though. Who can argue with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Ice Cream??

**I checked the freezer this morning before I left for work. The massive amount of leftoever ice cream is perfectly hardened. I think I'll sneak a taste when I get home!

Having 5 Days Off of Work is a Trick

2009-01-05T08:23:00.011-05:00

...because then you have to go back. Blah.

So I had a fairly eventful start to the new year - if you consider seeing the Wu Tang Clan(!!) an event. Wu Years Eve at Sonar in Baltimore. Good times even if there were 7 opening acts and the main event didn't start until 1am. I definitely want to see them again but maybe not on a get-drunk-and-pass-out holiday.

Side bar: I can't believe how many people wear the shirt to the show - I thought that was considered "Uh, not cool". Maybe I would have sported my new ODB shirt. Or would that have been overkill? Notice the gold teeth. Throw your "W"s in the air!

Thursday was entirely spent waiting to eat. Dad always makes pork and sauerkraut on New Years Day - a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. And in true Donovan fashion the meal was scheduled for 5pm and didn't actually commence until 8. We didn't get back to the house until about 11. Just in time for Jeremy to go to bed - he had to work on Friday. Sucker! :)

Me? I spent all Friday stitching - finally! Got another good chunk of my Told in a Garden project finished. Behold...

On Saturday Christmas disappeared. It's always a little sad to put away the tree and all the lights and presents and advent calendars but, finally, I have my house back! Everything got tucked away, back in the attic - hopefully staying intact for next year.

The rest of the weekend was spent organizing. We've been in our house now for about 5 months. We've done a lot of work and put a lot of personal touches here and there but some rooms still just "wear me out" when I look at them - namely the laundry room, dragonfly border and all. I bought some fabric tubs and tried to unify and tidy up as much as possible. I must say its a nice change - far from being finished but much easier on the eyes. I'll post pictures in the next few days once we do a little more - a shelf and ironing board still need to be hung and in a tiny room that can make all the difference.

I also started the Great Craft Reorganization of 2009. We'll see how that goes...

Back in the Swing

2008-12-31T08:39:00.009-05:00

This past month has been crazy. Working every day, running around buying Christmas presents, trying to get various home projects finished up... phew! Last night I finally found time to work on some things I've been holding on to since Thanksgiving. Getting back to my jewelry roots, I put together these 2 sweet little necklaces at the kitchen table. What do you think?

Sweet + Shiny

Vintage-y Goodness

Mmmm, map-flavored...

2008-12-17T08:15:00.005-05:00

http://superpoop.com/

Yippie skippy! A map-flavored comic from Drew at Superpoop. I always hated these proportional symbol maps. Apparently I'm not alone. Map geeks of the world unite!

It's getting all Christmassy

2008-12-16T13:04:00.006-05:00

Martha has some rocking gift tags to stick on presents this year - I'm partial to the x-stitch one.

Download them here.

HELP... from Italy

2008-12-16T12:23:00.008-05:00

I just want to thank my old friend Shira for helping set up my new domain kateandicecream.com! What should have been an easy-as-pie transition turned into a weeklong project - all the work on her side. Thank goodness for techie friends! Come si dice "thanks a million" in italiano?

Grazie, amica.

Curvalicious - the encore

2008-12-10T13:17:00.006-05:00

As promised, follow the link below to download K+IC's free "I Love My Curves" counted cross stitch chart!

ILoveMyCurves.PDF (then click "download file")

Pretty please drop me a line and let me know what you think. I love feedback - and knowing that people out there in cyberspace have somehow stumbled upon my little world. Send me your finished pictures or link to your Flickr and I'll post 'em!

Happy stitching!

Curvalicious

2008-12-09T09:00:00.008-05:00

Last night I made all the final tweeks on my Curves chart that I finished stitching a few nights ago. It's looking really good - a pretty quick and easy project. The ladies at Mall Day should love it. I'll get it posted as a download soon so you can stitch along!

Embloggery

2008-12-05T08:54:00.005-05:00

You have to check out this new Embloggery blog. I must admit it is the most ambitious undertaking I've seen in a long. Being a fellow needleworker I realize how much time and effort goes into these pieces. To do one every day is just, well... crazy. I salute you, Nicole!

Blogging is hard when your hands are tied up with floss

2008-12-04T08:42:00.024-05:00

Howdy all! As you can tell I started working on my Told in a Garden chart. One amish man down (he says "what up") - 3 amish ladies, 1 amish baby, 1 amish tree, an amish house, and six quilts left to go! Moving right along. HA!

I also started working on a new K+IC chart on Monday. I recently joined Curves (which is awesome by the way) and when I went in on Monday there was a flyer up announcing that Mall Day is on Dec 15. So ladies that work out at Curves, that also have home businesses, get a day to peddle their wares. Most of it is just Avon and insurance but I figured that it would be a great opportunity to get something of mine out there into the world. So I came right home and started working on a Curves-themed chart. The basics are finished, I'm picking up my floss today after my workout, and I'm going to start stitching the model as soon as I can. So on Mall Day I'll bring the finished, framed x-stitch, a bunch of charts, and some business cards (which I still have to make) and see how they go over. I'm just going to give them away - publicity for my Etsy shop. When I finish all the final tweeks I'll post the chart here and you can stitch it too. Rock!

And you'll be happy to know that amongst all this craziness I finished something!! My first over-one attempt - and my first K+IC chart - The Frenchman is done!

But, of course, if you know me you know I can't sit still and empty handed for longer than a few hours. After all, I can't frame and hang Louis Dog until his counterpart[ner in crime], Boh Kitty, is finished. May I present... the Lioness.

Then it's time to refuel...

2008-11-25T11:58:00.011-05:00

http://nataliedee.com/

My fabulous weekend with a frenchman

2008-11-24T14:08:00.020-05:00

I've got so many things running through my head it's hard to keep them all straight. That being said I decided to jump ahead of myself again. Originally when I made my Frenchman cross stitch chart I also made one for Boh Kitty - and one for Jeremy and myself. Family portraits in silhouette...

I went to Salty Yarns, my local needlecraft store in Ocean City, and bought linen for each piece. Of course when I dug into my stash this weekend to get started outlining the cat I had already lost my $20 worth of fabric. The plan was, since Louis is almost finished, to outline Boh and then take both pieces to Michael's and look for frames. So, Jeremy and I got up bright and early and drove to OC to buy more fabric. Luckily they had something very similiar, heavier weight but same count and color. I bought a little piece to stitch the cat. But needleshops are like my candy store so I looked around and found a few more things. I got a bookmark chart to stitch, a scissor "sheath", and The Auction chart (a gift for someone who is probably reading this blog, so hush). Take a peep at the end product in my "In the Works" section - it doesn't really do the piece justice but... Whoever stitched the model at the shop was so creative. Instead of stitching the design as-is she stitched some of the quilts on seperate fabric and sewed them on to the piece so they looked like they were blowing in the breeze. This is going to be good.

So then we headed to Salisbury to grocery shop - and buy floss and fabric for my new project! Sometimes chain stores are just cheaper -thank you Michael's. Anyway, when I got back to the house I set up my new project in its home for the next few months - a very tricky velcro scroll frame (sooo much easier than the kind with split rails). I even got a few stitches layed down. I love new projects. The rest of the weekend was dedicated to cranking out as much of Louis' over-one as possible. Here are the results!

Recipe Exchange

2008-11-18T15:34:00.011-05:00

This morning I got a chain email from a friend and thought it was so clever. The instructions were prefaced by two names and their email addresses, #1 is the person who sent the email to your friend and #2 is the friend who sent it to you.

Step 1: Please send a recipe to the person whose name is listed in the #1 position above. It should be something quick and easy, without rare ingredients. Actually the best recipe is one you know by heart and can type out and send now.

Step 2: Then copy this letter into a new email and move my name to the #1 position and put your name in the #2 position. Only your name and mine should appear in this list when you send out your email. Send this out to 20 people you know.

You should receive 36 recipes. It's fun to see where these recipes come from!

I don't know the person I sent my recipe to - that's part of the fun - but give it a try and see what tasty dishes fall into your lap[top]!

Below is my recipe for the tasting...

Yummy [Americanized] Picadillo (feeds a bunch - normally 1-2 servings of leftovers for 2)

picture credit: http://www.latinastyle.com/

1 onion, garilc, + olive oil

1 lb lean ground beef

a few small tomatoes or canned, diced tomatoes + green pepper (basically anything salsa-y, or just chunky salsa!)
1 cup black beans (more or less)

1/3 cup golden raisins (more or less, I normally opt for more)

Optional: tortillas, rice, poached eggs

Find a large pan - this is a one-pan meal! Season the pan w/ onion and garlic then add the ground beef and brown. While that's going on get all your add-ins ready. I normally drain the black beans and cut up the veggies. Once the meat is browned turn down the heat to low and add the black beans and raisins. Add veggies, salsa, or a combo of both (my fav). Stir it all up. You want everything to be nice and juicy. Simmer everything, covered and stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes or so, until all the flavors are mixed. That's it!

This is really good wrapped up in a tortilla with your favorite fixin's. You can even serve it over rice. If you're feeling brunchy poach some eggs and serve that on top.

Enjoy!

Heebeegeebees

2008-08-06T16:14:00.005-04:00

n. the feeling of adrenalin rushing up your spine when scared.

Example: Get it away from me its giving me the heebeegeebees.

I was just checking out Craig's List (like I do every day around 4pm - hmm, curious) and I stumbled upon this beaut...

Adult Magazines, VHS Tapes & DVDs (Westover, MD)

Reply to: sale-783872163@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-08-05, 11:05AM EDT

I have alot of Adult Magazines, VHS Tapes & DVDs for sale. I will take any resonable offer. Will not ship, you must come and pick them up.

Come and pick them up?? I feel a case of the heebeegeebees coming on...

Yoda vs Louis

2008-08-06T12:12:00.016-04:00

I think Louis Dog wins.

Apparently there will be no haircuts given on Mondays

2008-08-05T08:54:00.002-04:00

Jeremy and I became first-time homeowners a few weeks ago. Hooray for debt! We moved from a rental home in Salisbury to a beautiful old house - late 1800's old - in the small, rural town of East New Market.

We made an offer back in early May, the offer was accepted a few days later and we were hoping to be in by the end of June. However the sellers weren't ready to move yet - with this horrible housing crisis they figured the house would be on the market at least a few months before it sold. So we set a closing date in late July which gave the sellers plenty of time to find a new place. It also gave us plenty of time to sit, twiddle our fingers, and dream about our house. Any idea how long 3 months is when you're waiting for something huge? So of course Jeremy and I dragged packing out the entire time. We were so busy getting ready for the move that I didn't find time to do much else. My hair was getting angry.

I have what most would call "wild" hair - thank you Mom. It is super thick, super frizzy, and grows like a weed. I like to keep it pretty short so that it actually looks like I have some style. Since the big move my hair has been unmanageable and every girl knows that when you don't like your hair pretty much everything else starts to suck too - from clothes, to "I'm gaining weight", to just a general bad attitude. Yesterday was the breaking point for me. I was going to find someone to cut my hair or I was going to do it myself.

So after work I drive to a little place in Cambridge that I know takes walk-ins. I park the car around the corner and walk over to the door. Locked. Hmmm, it's a week day. Why wouldn't this place be open? Maybe they're not open on Mondays? Well shit. So I get back in the car and figure out my next plan of action. I remember that I saw a hip-looking little place down the street when I was looking in town for houses. So I drive past to see if its open. But I guess the West End swallowed it and spit it back out because all the shades in the windows were drawn and all the lights in the place were turned off. There isn't even a sign anymore. So much for urban renewal. As I'm driving away I figure there has to be some place on Rt 50 to get a stinkin' haircut. I see a sign for a place called Tresses - awesome. I'll get my hair cut there. I pull in the strip mall and head towards the sign except I can't find the door. The business underneath of the "Tresses" sign is a family services office? The stars are against me today. Three places and no luck, I decide to just forget it and drive home.

As I'm driving down the road stewing I remember that there is one last place I can check but I don't want to. If you saw it you'd know why. It looks like a fancy salon that a bleached blonde California grandmother would frequent to get her toenails painted. The parking lot is circular with a large fountain in the middle. There are street lamps along the perimeter. Big, Victorian iron street lights painted white. There is a Hummer and a Cadillac parked outside at all times. And the place is called, wait for it... Sassy Scissors. Ooh la la. So fancy. It may fit in perfectly somewhere on the western shore - maybe even the western coast - but here in Dorchester County it's a little out of place. Did I mention it's completely surrounded by farm fields? To tell you the truth I'm afraid of what I would find in a place like SS - or how much "product" would be in my hair as I walked out the door. Needless to say, I stopped - I was getting desperate. I knew it was another no go as soon as I took the keys out the ignition. There was an open sign on the door, the Hummer and the Caddy were both in the lot but the salon looked like it hadn't been touched in ages. There was a wreath with a big red bow hanging on the door. The lights were out but I could still see a decorated Christmas tree set up in a corner. The place creeped me out. Obviously someone was maintaining the property but who was keeping shop? And why were those cars in the lot when not a soul could be found? I felt like I was being watched so I high-tailed it out of there, threw my hands in the air, and finally went home.

When I got home I told Jeremy all about my stupid quest to get a haircut - and asked if I looked fat (I needed a haircut bad). Jeremy told me to just suck it up and drive to Salisbury where he knew a place that would be open. So I drove to Salisbury, told them to chop it off and they did.

Thank you Supercuts.