Happy Dance

I finished my nephew's sampler last weekend. Here it is in all it's unironed glory. I'm looking for some sort of doo-dad to add to the top of it and my other nephews' samplers, like a charm or a birthstone. My mother's really keen on the birthstone idea. Anyone know where I can find smallish birthstone charms that are boyish that might work? I need something to represent August, September, and November.

This is the Acorn Garden Sampler from Patricia Ann designs. Stitched on 28 ct Platinum Cashel with the recommended threads.

February update

It's been a crazy month. With the Snowmegeddon, the girls were out of daycare for days on end, and this week, their daycare is opening 2 hours late. My souvenir from all of this is a lovely black eye from where DDA banged her head into my glasses. It's almost a week later, and the bruise is still sporting its full technicolor. (A friend of mine says that using the term "technicolor" dates me. Oh, well.)

I've completed some Olympic stitching. I'm *this close* to finishing the sampler for my nephew. I've also been working on my second April bunny. I hope to have a picture of the sampler to share this weekend.

Thanks to the weather, I've been making lots of soup. Tonight's offering is Texican Beef Stew. I think Anna first posted this recipe.

Wednesday, I made a variation of Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup. Let me tell you, it's quite yummy and very lemony. Here's my variation, which serves 4 instead of 8. I didn't have time to cook my own chicken and stock, so I bought some prepared.

4 cups of prepared chicken broth
2 carrots, cleaned and diced
1 leek, cleaned and diced
2 stalks of celery, cleaned and diced
a large palmful of orzo
2 cups (2 packets) of diced baked chicken pieces
a small palmful of dried parsley
1 lemon

Place broth and veggies in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add orzo and reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. * While waiting, zest one half of the lemon. Flip it, and make 4 slices from the unzested end of the lemon (while the lemon is still whole). Juice the rest of the lemon. Add the parsley, zest, and a Tbsp or two of water to the lemon juice and set aside. Once the veggies start to soften, add the chicken pieces to the broth. Cook 3-5 minutes. Stir in lemon mix. Serve with lemon slices and black pepper.

* At this point, I simmered for ~10 minutes before having to leave. I covered the pot and turned off the burner. A while later, Paul came home, brought the mixture to a boil, reduced to simmer and then added the chicken and lemon mix. This produced a very creamy consistency to the soup.