Not Stitching but...

Ok, I admit that I'm addicted to cross stitching. Quilting is right up there as well. Crocheting keeps me off the streets. ;-)

I do have a couple of non-stitching addictions as well, one of which is the games at Pogo. Yesterday, I finished all the ranks on another of the games there - Wonderland Memories. Woohoo!

Here are the games that I have finished the ranks:

Casino Island Blackjack
Dice City Roller (similar to Yahtzee)
Harvest Mania
Keno Pop
Panda Pai Gow Poker
Texas Hold'em Poker
Wonderland Memories (like concentration with an Alice in Wonderland theme)
World Class Solitaire


The next game that I'm going to try to finish is Tri-Peaks Solitaire.

Happy Gaming!

Stacy

Mushroom soup recipe

While I am a good cook, I don't normally make soup from scratch but this is one exception (I'm a mushroom fanatic). ;-)

This is my own recipe which has come about through several trials (thankfully, no real errors).

Creamy Mushroom Soup

1 quart whipping cream
1 teaspoon chicken bullion (I use the paste type)
1/4 to 1/3 white wine (I use Snoqualmie brand Chardonnay - a Washington state wine)
16 oz. water (if reconstituting mushrooms, use that water)
2 large white mushrooms, chopped fine
1 portabello mushroom, chopped fine (may substitute 2 crimini mushrooms)
1 pkg. dryed oyster mushrooms, reconstituted (fresh are better but sometimes hard to find)
3 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil; stirring frequently to prevent scalding. Reduce heat to a simmer; stir occasionally. Simmer for 1 to 1½ hour. Serve.

Shopping

Yesterday, I was able to take a break from work and go to my LQS (Local Quilt Store).

I bought a Moda Marble, Mulberry to use as the backing on my Decadent Victorian quilt. I also picked up four 1/3 yard cuts of black fabrics to use in my next quilt. I am going to do a scrappy Triple Irish Chain.

To make it look a bit planned yet still scrappy, I am going to do 2 of the diagonals in assorted blacks while the rest of the small squares will be completely scraps. Each scrap piece of fabric is a 2" square. At the size I want to do the quilt, I need 1080 black squares (already cut!!!) and 1400+ of various scraps. I still have to cut about 600 more of the scraps.

While I'm cutting the squares for the Irish Chain quilt, I am also trying to organize the rest of my small pieces of fabric. I'm mostly following the ideas that Bonnie has laid out on her site Quiltville (thanks, Bonnie!!).

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Quilt Top Finished

I finished the quilt top for my Decadent Victorian Quilt last night! The finished quilt will measure 60" x 72".

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Fabric Arrived!

Woohoo! My fabric from Fabric Buffet arrived today. This is a really fun online shop. I ordered my fabric on Friday and it got here today (Monday) - that's phenomenal especially since the US Postal Service was involved. (It went from Indiana to Washington state)

The 2 fabrics I purchased are from the Moda Decadent Victorian line and will be used for the borders and binding on my Decadent Victorian quilt.

Stacy

Mt. St. Helen's Tournament

I got back last night from Kelso, Washington where I was bowling in the Mt. St. Helen's Tournament. The tournament was held at Highlander Lanes. The staff there is absolutely great - friendly, helpful and all-around fun.

I'm infamous among my bowling friends for leaving the 5 pin (directly behind the front pin). The 5 pin, in the bowling world, is known as the "sex pin". If you leave it on your first throw and then knock it down on your second, you supposedly will be "getting some" that evening. Since I throw a straight ball, I tend to leave it alot. This past weekend, I left it - alot. Nine times!! Every single time, I picked it up. Needless to say, I was getting quite a bit of teasing from my friends and from the staff at the lanes!

The tournament involved a singles event, doubles event and team event - three games of each. We bowled singles and double as a set on Saturday and team on Sunday. I went into the tournament with an average of 159. Here are my scores for each game:

Singles: 134, 175, 148 = 457 series
Doubles: 154, 166, 172 = 492 series (my partner bowled a 605 series!!)
Team: 179, 173, 182 = 534 series

Stacy

Cross Stitch WIPs

Finally, I've gotten around to taking photos of my current cross stitch WIPs. So without further ado, here they are.

First up, we have Flight of Freedom. This is a Dimensions Gold kit. I'm doing it 'cause hubby saw it in a catalog and asked "Do you want me to buy it so you can stitch it for me?". I told him "Yeah, right." with very heavy sarcasm. The next day, I had my mother order it so that he wouldn't see a charge on our credit card. I worked on it only after he had gone to bed. He took off on a trip with his brother at the end of June and I figured that I could finally put in some real time on it and work on it in the living room. He was planning to be gone from Wednesday morning (early) to late afternoon on Sunday. I started work on it as soon as I got up Wed. morning. That Saturday, I had to be at my mom's for a family gathering. I got home in the early evening planning to work on it before bedtime then hide it upstairs again before I left for church on Sunday. Guess who was lying on the sofa when I got home on Sat.? You guessed it. I told him, "That's the last time I try to stitch something as a surprise for you." He likes it so far and I have more time to work on it now.

Here's how the finished project will look.

Here's my progress so far. About 2/3 of this has been done since that Wednesday of his trip. All of the sky/mountain is done in half stitches which thankfully, makes it work up more quickly.

Next, is my progress on the 12 Days of Christmas by Teresa Wentzler.

I'm stitching this on a single piece of fabric which I will then frame with a multiple window mat.

Here's my progress on Heirloom Christmas Sampler from the Victoria Sampler.

For no particular reason, this one is a low priority in my rotation.

And lastly, my progress on Wild Menagerie from Cross My Heart.

What it will look like finished.

I've finished the tiger and am working on the lion. Because the fabric is so wide, it wouldn't fit on my scroll frames normally. I'm stitching it rotated 90°. The tiger is at the top of my frames and the cheetah will be at the bottom. When I stitch, I have the pattern rotated as well.

Happy Stitching!!

Stacy

Recent Quilts

Thanks to my joining a great online quilt group, I've really been quilting up a storm lately. For anyone interested, the group is StashBuilders and you can find them at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StashBuilders/

StashBuilders organizes quite a few swaps, a couple in which I have participated. The first one that I did was a Happy Block swap.

Those participating are divided into groups of 4 or 5 people. I chose some fabric, cut it into 4" squares (centers) and then mailed 6 squares to each person in my group. As each person received my centers, they kept 1 square for themselves and then sewed 2½" borders around the remaining 5 centers. The now bordered centers (Happy Blocks) were then mailed back to me for me to keep. In the mean time, I was receiving centers from the other group participants; putting borders on 5 of them and then mailing them back to their owners.

Here is a picture of my Happy Blocks quilt. It's in a hoop while I hand quilt it. I'm doing a heart stencil in the center of each block and then just quilting in the seam lines around the entire block.

The second swap that I joined was a String Block swap. I signed up to do 2 sets of 6½" blocks. Each set consists of 12 blocks. The theme for this one was purple & green. When I had my sets done, I sent them to the swap hostess along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. She kept the blocks until all the blocks from each participant had arrived. Then she mixed them up and sent each member the same number of blocks that they contributed. The blocks that I received back were not my own but done by a mix of other members.

Here is my finished String Quilt. I have it hanging at the top of the stairs in my craft room. I machine quilted it in a grid so that there is a 3x3 grid going through each square. I hate doing binding, and due to the style of the quilt, I thought a Prairie Point edging would be appropriate.

Currently, I am receiving blocks from another Happy Block swap. I've already finished and sent all the centers from other members, I'm just waiting for mine to arrive home.

While I'm waiting, I couldn't resist starting another quilt. See? I'm addicted to quilting too. I saw this pattern in these fabrics at the Quilt & Sewing Expo I attended in November 2007 in Puyallup, Washington. As soon as I saw it, I went directly to the lady running the booth, pointed and said "Where do I get the pattern?". It took me awhile to get the same fabrics but God Bless Ebay!!

The pattern is from Strip Delight - 10 Fabulous Quilts from 'Jelly Roll' 2 1/2" Strips - #5321 . The pattern is named for the fabric line called Decadent Victorian (from Moda).

Here is the main body of the top laid out on my quilt design wall in my craft room.

Kah-nee-ta

Ok, you are probably asking yourself, "What on earth is a Kah-nee-ta?". Well, it's more like a where on earth...

Kah-nee-ta (pronounced just like it looks) is a resort in the high desert of central Oregon. You can see their website at: http://www.kahneeta.com/

The first week in July, some friends "kidnapped" me and kept me there with my full cooperation. We had a lot of fun doing nothing. The pool was great and it was soooo nice to see the sun. (For those of you who don't know - I live on the coast of Washington state, gray is the official color of the sky.)

Below are a couple of photos that I took while staying there. (click on the photo to see a larger version)

View from my room overlooking the golf course (background) and the area where the salmon bakes are held (where the tepee is).

The pool area at the Lodge. The deck on the left is just off the lobby.

Me, Debbie and Mary - the friends that "kidnapped" me. Debbie's hubby, Doug took the photo.