Spring

Spring is here. Since I don't have much in the way of stitching news, I thought I'd share some photos of Spring here in DC. This is the cherry tree in our back yard (if you can call something entirely covered in flagstone a yard).

Here are the daffodils in our front yard. Our house faces north, and these are in the shade most of the day, so our daffodils are always the last ones to bloom in our area.

Finally, what would Spring in DC be without the White House Easter Egg Roll? Yes, that's me in the yellow hat. The girls wanted to carry their eggs on the spoon rather than roll them, but it was a fun minute and a half anyway. We did get to see the First Family speak.

My stitching is also Spring related. I've been stitching the tree sampler from Spring Medley by Elizabeth's Designs. This was one of the charts I bought last year on our not-a-vacation. It's a quick band sampler. Too bad I don't have more time to work on it.

I probably won't have much else to update for a while. I'm on the planning committee for my college reunion next month, and that's taking a lot of my free time. Plus, after all the home renovations, we've finally started cleaning out our storage unit. I have boxes of junk everywhere in my basement right now -- as if our house hadn't looked like a tornado had hit it before! As we're unpacking about 1/3 is trash and packing materials, 1/3 is going straight to the thrift store, and the other 1/3 I'm having to find places to put it. My goal is to disposition one box a day on average. I hope your Spring cleaning is less of a challenge for you.

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.

Year in Review and Looking Ahead

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. The girls have been sick since mid-December. It's not been fun, but they seem to be on the mend finally.

I thought I'd give you a brief recap of what I did manage to work on this year, along with an idea of what's in my stash bag for next year.

I finished two teapots in March, a rose in August, the swirlygig challenge in September, and the pumpkin for October. In November, I worked on my nephew's birth sampler. I've been working on it some more this month and am nearly finished now. Picture soon.

In December, I stitched Casey Buonaugurio's Hot Cocoa sampler for a dear, dear friend. I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her, but I'll post it when I get one.

For 2010, I would really like to finish my three remaining Bride's Tree SAL ornaments: pinecones, angel, and Santa. I've started all three. The first two are very intricate and require a lot of concentration, something I don't have much of these days. The Santa is a Mill Hill kit of a cat in a Santa hat, and I'm not eager to work on the beads. So, I will need to push myself on these.

I also have the idea that I want to stitch second versions of my BTSAL bunny and cardinal in different colors. I've started the bunny, so there's a good chance I'll finish that. Maybe I'll try to get that done before Easter!

I will soon finish the sampler I'm currently working on for my oldest nephew. I also hope to work on samplers for my middle nephew (the last of the niephlets for whom I need to do one) and for my daughters.

We'll see how much time I have to work on any of this. Now that my girls are two very active toddlers, my stitching time is nearly non-existent.

Book Quiz II

Another book quiz. While this is one of my favorite books, I'm not sure how I feel about what it says about me, according to the quiz.

You're The Count of Monte Cristo!
by Alexandre Dumas

Though many are unsure of your identity, no one can deny that you show them a good time. You're a joker, a smoker, and a midnight ..., but you might want to hurt someone from time to time. While your life is hopelessly intricate and filled with tremendous intrigue, it seems that you see it all as a game. Not that you don't want to see justice done and people spared, but you ultimately think it's all about the adventure along the way. While you've always wanted a Mercedes, it's pretty clear that you'll never really own one.

Take the Book Quiz II at the Blue Pyramid.

5 Random Questions

1. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
I'd much rather take the pictures. I have to be in the right mood to have my photo taken. I particularly hate being videotaped.

2. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Yes. Well, not exactly a secret, but something they weren't supposed to talk about. It has to do with office politics, a topic that's driving me nuts at the moment.

3. Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex?
In high school, I would have said the opposite sex. I didn't date, but I had several close male friends. Then I went to a women's college. Today my friends are about equally divided, but I would say I get along with women slightly better.

4. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?
The last time I had a job interview, but I don't really get nervous until afterwards when I start to deconstruct how it went. The last time I had my heart in my throat was when DDL rolled off the bed and fell onto the floor. It was shortly after she had started being able to roll at all. I had walked out of the room and DH turned his back for 2 seconds. I walked back in and couldn't see DDL where she was supposed to be. We still don't know how she managed not to hit her head on the nightstand or in any other way hurt herself.

5. What one thing do you wish you had?
More inner peace. I can get very anxious about things. Strangely, becoming a parent has actually helped. I've been practicing staying in the moment a lot more.

Ladybugs

Here we are, all dressed up for Halloween. The girls had a great time at the daycare party. They weren't really into trick-or-treating, but they enjoyed standing on our stoop watching everyone come by. They were, of course, most excited by the dogs that came by.

Hope you had a great night.