Wow, it's been a while.

Unfortunately, I haven't been doing any stitching. I've been focusing on Son #1's Arrow of Light ceremony, his school report, his upcoming band contest, and his Science Fair Part 2, and Son #2's been feeling neglected, so I've been giving him lots of attention, too.

It's finally nice and sunny here, for a few days, anyway, but this was the scene after a recent windstorm:

That's my next-door neighbor's house. The amazing thing is that before this storm, we had had an even stronger windstorm, supposedly with gusts up to 100 mph. Definitely up to 75 mph. Anyway, this siding had survived that, but I guess it was weakened. Our house didn't have any damage like that, although the previous storm did slightly detach our raingutter downspout, which we do need to fix that. But most of our neighbors are having siding and roofs replaced, so we were lucky.

I finally got my earring hanger hung up:

And a longer view:

I've determined that I need a second one. I've found that this will hold dangly earrings with posts, but I need something else to hold my studs. I'm thinking of tacking some needlepoint canvas to a smaller frame that I can set on a shelf. Hanging it on the wall would be a pain. You may also be able to see that there are no necklaces dangling from the center of this frame. That is because the hook never "grabbed" the hole. I will apply some wood glue and see if that works.

My next project of this type will be to put alligator clips on some flowers for my hair. These flowers came on rubber bands, and I'm thinking that that's pretty un-flexible. The way I'm least likely to wear my hair is in a ponytail, and it isn't long enough anyway. I already went shopping for some alligator clips. Wal-Mart didn't have any, so I looked at Home Depot. I had to ask one of their employees, which is always an adventure, and he seemed to know that I was planning to use them for some craft project, because he warned me that they came with plastic ends because they were intended for electrical use. Well, those plastic ends come off, so there, lol. If I get a chance, I may try to look in an actual craft store, but there aren't any near me.

Now I'm hoping to go watch some "Lovejoy Mysteries" and get some stitching done!

Chicken soup

Today I was very industrious. First, I started some chicken soup. This was Lynda's recipe, so I'll let her post it if she wants. I started it before noon, throwing all the ingredients, including 10 pounds of chicken legs into my giant stockpot. Thank goodness for 16,000 BTU burners. By the time it was done, 6 hours or so later, it was velvety and smooth tasting. I haven't done the work of picking all the meat off the bones, and measuring out the stock, but I did feed it to my boys. I put some of the chicken back in, and boiled some pasta in it. I worried that that might have been a bad idea, because of the starches it would release, but it worked out. The boys declared it "pretty good" and indicated they would eat it again. They also asked if I were "open to suggestions." We will be experimenting with spices and flavorings. I put croutons in mine and it was perfect.

I also made "fudgenellies." Alex named them, but they are based on a recipe from a lady I know. here is my version:

Fudgenellies

2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, separated

8 unbroken graham crackers

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ C (9 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Line a baking pan (size?) with foil. Preheat oven to 350’F.

2. Melt ½ stick butter in microwave; pour over foil and spread to coat. Arrange crackers over foil; break to fill in empty spaces.

3. Melt two sticks of butter in microwave. Pour into saucepan and stir in sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in milk. Pour mixture over crackers.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, until bubbly and slightly darkened. Remove from oven; let cool for 1 minute.

5. Sprinkle top with chips. Let stand 5 minutes; spread chocolate to cover top.

6. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Let sit outside of fridge for 30 minutes. Peel foil off and cut into pieces.

Update: Definitely make sure you use dark brown sugar. I substituted light and the graham cracker crust floated up! It was really odd. Second, rather than melt the two sticks of butter in the microwave (step 3) then adding sugar, melt the butter and sugar together--slowly!--in the saucepan. This will help prevent separation.

And here are a couple of pictures:

These are very yummy, but not low calorie. The recipe makes 24, and each is 236 calories.

Between doing all that, I finished up my earring hanger. First, I added the picture wire:


Then, I added the hooks:

I did not get to hang it up, though, because I wanted to use brads and we didn't have any. If I were to do it over again, I'd have all the hooks be the same, and I'd have the hooks and picture wire be of the same color metal. But no one will see it (except of course, everyone who reads this, lol), so it's OK.

Snow Day

Some in my family have heard me scoff about their wimpy states who shut down if they get an inch of snow. Where I live, if we get 3 feet, we're expected to dig out and go about our business, I said. So Wednesday night it snowed and Dan went out to shovel When he opened the garage, he was greeted with a 4-foot snow drift up against the garage door. So the kids got a snow day. Here was the scene in our neighborhood:

And here:



Yes, there's a street somewhere under there. I suspected there might be a snow day when I saw my neighbor's car axles buried. Here is our big snowdrift in our yard:


That's my neighbor's house that you see, and our fence. You can see grass in their yard and suddenly there's a 3 1/2-4 foot drift. And looking into our back yard:

I know it's not that great a picture, but imagine sand dunes made of snow.

And our Element:


Dan shoveled snow for an hour before he had to leave for an appointment and I shoveled for another 2 hours--normally a 20 minute job. Obviously Dan was faster than I am, but to be fair, I had to shovel the "cement" snow that the snow plows left blocking our driveway.

After the shoveling, we had a nice relaxing Valentine's Day. Dan made me Bacon, Avocado and Tomato sandwiches and Molten Chocolate cakes for lunch and I made him Steak Frites and Deep-Fried Nutella Won-Tons with Orange Creme Anglaise for dinner. Dan's recipes were from Foodnetwork.com:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_37083,00.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_34203,00.html

Mine were from Martha Stewart and Fine Cooking and I don't have links. But for the won-tons, you put Nutella in won-tons and deep fry them. And for the frites (fries), you cut potatoes, put them in salted water, remove them, drain and dry, and deep fry. Of course, for the steak, you get a skillet nice and hot, season the steak with salt and pepper, put a dab of butter in the skillet and slap the steak in. 2-3 minutes per side, and yummy! But beware the smoke detectors--ours went off several times.

And here's our Science Fair 2nd place winner--I braved the beginning of the storm to get this picture:

I took pictures of our public speaker giving his oral report, but they turned out blurry (surprise, surprise--maybe Danielle can explain to me what I'm doing wrong), so I'll get one of the poster that he made as a visual aid and post it.

Feng Shui My Way

Okay, husband is bothered with current path of career. So, Happy Valentine's Day -- I will try to fix the main areas of our home.

The career area of the home is the front hall and entry way, which is recessed (missing or shrunken). Upper story is empty balcony hallway which is almost decluttered.

Step 1: Remove all clutter. There is not that much, but there are 2 large winter squashes just sitting there. I haven't gotten around to cooking them, or even lifting them. Some books, a yarn ball... Remove snowflake wreath from door - let it be bare for awhile, unless I find Valentine's wreath in garage. Or St. Patrick's Day wreath.

Step 2: Put mirror over piano, which will expand career area. Remove toolbox from area - implies things need fixin.'

Step 3: Hand something on wall which will look good, be positive, and inspiring. Hmmm.

But also the "Fame" or "Future" area of the home needs work. Two of our fireplaces are in the fame or future area.

Step 1: Clean off fireplace mantles so they can breath.

Step 2: Declutter and vacuum hearths.

Step 3: Put 2 oil lamps (pretty yet prepared) on mantle of upstairs family room, representing fire (or is it too much fire near a fireplace?).

Step 4: Put inspirational sayings or poster or picture over fireplace. We only have elephants. Pictures of elephants, statues of elephants. I wonder what the elephant represents. I guess to me, the trudging along of a big awkward cumbersome beast. Hmmmmm.

I'll let you know if this "cures" anything.

World's Best Bread (yes, it exists)

I have been on a quest to bake good bread. Really good bread. First, I was just interested in using my stored wheat and being frugal. So I tried some other recipes, and although edible and enjoyable, they were a bit crumbly and didn't rise that high. Or rose high and popped while baking. So I added more gluten, and bought some lecithin to use as a dough conditioner. I did learn that I have to hand-knead much longer then recipes say.



Anyway, back to THIS bread. This is from Ann Hodgman's book "One Bite Won't Kill You" (and I recommend "Beat This" and "Beat That" -- they are books I would replace in the event that I ever had to rebuild my library. I had never used "One Bite" because I don't often make recipes just for my children, and that seemed to be the focus of that book.



Okay, this Bread! I had to try it it because it is the "World's Best Bread." It takes 24 hours to make, and you can use a bread machine to make it up to a point (or leave it in a mixer with a dough hook). This bread is both beautiful, bouncy, delicious, no air holes, tender and is a perfect sandwich texture. The author recommends I take it to potlucks and parties, and...yes, it would be wonderful AND super easy if I could remember to start it the day before.



World's Best Bread



Sponge

1 1/4 cups bread flour (NOT all-purpose)

1 T whole wheat flour

1 T rye flour (I subbed more whole wheat flour)

1 T semolina flour (I subbed more whole wheat flour

1 T rolled oats

1 T cornmeal

1 T wheat germ

1/8 t active dry yeast

1 cup chlorine-free water (bottled, not tap)



Bread Dough

3 1/2 c bread flour

1 T coarse or kosher salt

1/4 t active dry yeast

1 1/4 c chlorine-free water

1 T honey



2-3 cups cornmeal for the cookie sheet

---------------------------



Night before: make Sponge (that you will let rest 16 hours at room temperature): Put all sponge ingredients into bowl of bread machine, or mixer bowl. Mix for at least 5 minutes until a smooth liquid. Unplug bread machine if using, or just cover the bowl of the mixer.



The next day, stir sponge down completely. Add Bread ingredients to mixer or bread machine. Set machine to "Knead" or "Dough" for 15 minutes, or mix with dough hook or by hand for 15 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 1/2 hour in a warm place. You can do the warm oven trick (preheat oven to lowest setting, turn off oven, put in bread to rise, set timer so you don't forget about it).



While it sits, take a rimmed cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Put about 2-3 cups of cornmeal (I used barely 2 cups) on the pan and shimmy it to make sure it covers the pan evenly. You are making an edible non-stick bread surface.



After 1/2 hour, punch down the dough. Shape it into a ball and put it on the cornmeal, seam side down (of course, I just dumped the dough ball from the bread machine onto the cornmeal, and it looked really good). Let rise for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours until it has doubled in bulk (on a cold day this could be even longer).



Set a baking rack in the lower third of oven. Put a pan in the bottom of the oven, and fill with boiling water (wrestling a pan of boiling water into the oven can slosh). Set oven to 400 degrees F.



Make an interesting slash pattern on the top of the bread, about 1/4 " deep. The sharper the knife, the better. I did a stylish X that looked more like two scratches.



Bake bread for 30-35 minutes or until the center reads 190 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. If you want the crust to be especially crisp, turn off the oven when the bread is done and prop open the oven with a wooden spoon, and let the bread cool with the oven. I just put mine on a rack..



Makes enough bread to serve 16 people at once, or a family for several days. Ann Hodgman cuts it up in chunks and freezes it to take out and slice as needed.





Next time, I offer will a fabulous bread pudding recipe that helps use up all the crumbly bread leftovers. There will be no leftovers from "World's Best Bread."

Ritz-Parmesan Chicken

I haven't been able to stitch the past few days, except for putting the numbers on son#1's Scout uniform. Between illness and organ lessons and a science fair project and one son's oral report due tomorrow and the other's due in a couple of weeks, I've been pulled in all directions. In the middle of that, his Scout leader tells me that the numbers must be on his shirt by today's meeting. So this is the only needlework I've done:

Unlike decorative needlework, I can't sew at all. This looks like two different people did it. Toward the end, I finally started to get it, and you can (maybe) see that the stitches even out. I didn't even bother to sew between the letters. As for the giant knot, I don't even know where that came from. But it's done.

However, I did make a nice dinner of Ritz-Parmesan Chicken and brown rice salad.

1 tube Ritz crackers

½ C parmesan cheese

½ Tbsp garlic salt

1 pint sour cream

4 chicken breasts (actually, I used a pound of chicken tenders)

1 stick melted butter

Combine crackers (crushed), cheese and garlic salt. Dip chicken breasts in sour cream and coat with the cracker mix. Place the chicken on a baking sheet and drizzle the melted butter over the top. Bake at 350’F for 35 minutes, or until chicken is done. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

The recipe came from a neighbor. It's very yummy, and the rice salad came from Fanny Farmer, although I did add bacon to that. I'm trying to find more fun and somewhat healthy foods for the family to eat. In fact, that's another project that's been keeping me busy: I finally got my recipes organized. I just got so tired of looking at that pile of papers.

Tomorrow is the science fair and my needlework group meeting, and I hope to get to more stitching after that.

Pizza and Brownies

Tonight is movie and pizza night, and so I am making pizza, from scratch. I am doing this both to save money (to get out from under the evil debt monster!) and because I figure the more things I learn, the more I will know. And the more I know, the more options I will have.

So I am using Alton Brown's Pizza Pizza recipe, found here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13823,00.html

I have tried this one before unsuccessfully, but discovered shortly after that that my yeast was dead. I always like Alton's recipes and decided to give it another go. I actually started it last night, per the recipe, and left it in the fridge. I was dismayed, after 18 hours in the fridge, it hadn't risen at all, and I thought it would at least rise a little. This is where the 27 DVD set of Alton's shows would come in really handy (that's a hint to Dan). Then I could look at the show that the recipe came from and see what it's supposed to look like.

Anyway, I took it out of the fridge in hopes it would rise, but it didn't, or at least not much in the two hours it sat on the counter. Undaunted, I formed it into balls and let it sit, per the recipe. After 30 minutes, I rolled it out. I used to work at a pizza place (actually 2), and I have tossed the pizza dough, but I couldn't bring myself to do it this time. I guess I was too afraid I'd punch my hand through the dough. As it was, I kept getting holes in the pizza. And the pizza didn't seem to roll out as big as I thought it should be (here again, the DVD would have been helpful, as well as the tossing skill). I laughed when I read that I was supposed to make a "rim" on the pizza; I used to work at a "make your own" pizza place and people used to do that--and then the crust would get stuck to the mesh plate that that pizza was on and we'd totally destroy it when we tried to take it off. So I didn't do that.

I used a supposed Pizza Hut "clone" recipe for the sauce:

http://www.budget101.com/recipes/id501.htm

I topped one right away with pepperoni and put it in the oven, and let the other sit for half an hour, to see which way I prefer the crust. Here, a peel would have been handy, as I made a little mess getting it onto the baking sheet. As soon as the spring gardening merchandise is available, I'm getting a bottom for a large clay pot to use as a pizza stone. As well as a medium pot, to use for baking bread in (unglazed terra cotta).

So here are the results: Well, pizza #1 was a little underdone. About two more minutes would have done it. Son #1 agrees. And the sauce could use some tweaking. Pizza #2 (the one that rested) got the extra two minutes and was better, but the crust in the center could have used just a little more time. Still, the boys didn't hate it, so I say it was a success.

After all that, the winner of the day were the brownies I made from this recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/fudgy-chocolate-brownies?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=cf_link

Very easy and very very delicious.

Oh, and we're watching "The Emperor's New Groove."

Jane Austen and the Summer Queen

I didn't have much time to stitch today, but I did manage to get started on Summer Queen's face. And it turned out that I had previously solved the thread problem. The pattern calls for, from darkest to lightest, DMC 758, 754, 948 and 948 + white. Of course, the problem was that I can't blend two threads in a needle if I'm only using one thread. So, I kept the three DMC colors and added 3771, which is just darker than 948. So the skin may be the slightest bit darker than the original but I think it will work well.

I generally watch TV while I stitch, usually something on the DVR. Today I started with the Waltons, but realized that the constant commercial skipping was breaking my focus. That is, I'd be concentrating on these tiny little stitches and then have to look up and then look down again and try to figure out where I was. So instead, I'm finally getting around to watching The Complete Jane Austen from PBS--no commercials, yay! I started with "Jane Austen Regrets."

Son #1's science project is finally winding down, so I'm hoping things will slow down and I'll get more stitching done and have more things to report soon.

What We Ate Today...

This recipe is altered from the original, subbing some dried ingredients for fresh (hey, I could make some make-ahead mix!)

Washday Red Beans and Rice

Pick over and put in your biggest soup pot (5 qt?):
2 lbs of dried red kidney beans
Add water up to 1 inch of the top.

Put on medium-high flame until it boils; let boil for 2 minutes then turn off heat and let set for 1 hour. Drain beans in a colander set in a sink (discard gassy-water).

Put in biggest soup pot:
1/2 cup of dehydrated onion (or use 2 fresh onions, chopped)
1/2 cup of dehydrated green bell pepper (or use one fresh, chopped)
2 T dried parsley (or use a handful, chopped fine)
1 t dried garlic (or use 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped or pressed)
1 T salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 black pepper
1 T thyme
2 bay leaves
1 can of Spam, diced (or used 1/2 pound of diced, cooked ham)
2 T Worcestershire sauce (my own idea)

Add the hydrated kidney beans, and 3 quarts of water.

Simmer, covered, on the back burner all day (or use a crock pot). You can mash some beans if you want to.

About 30-40 minutes before you want to eat....

Make a pot of rice (I use a Japanese rice pot that keeps the rice perfect until I'm ready).

Slice or dice a package of Polska Kielbasa sausage, then brown it in a skillet.

Stir some of the browned sausage into the beans. If you have fussy kids, they might like some buttered rice served near (but not touching) the sausage, with a side of plain green beans (not touching rice or sausage).

Makes a ton of red beans. Often served with hot sauce. Serves 16? 20? At least.


-- Lynda

Jewelry and angels

I didn't get any stitching done today, but I do have more pictures to post.

First, I have such trouble organizing my jewelry. Especially earrings. So I saw this idea in a magazine, but I don't remember which one. Basically, you put picture wire across a frame and hang your dangly earrings from it. So I went to the local thrift store and found a cute, handpainted frame for $1, and then I attached screw-eyes to it:

Next, I will string the picture wire. And I also plan to add some hooks that I can hang bracelets, anklets and necklaces from. Now, if only I could figure out what to do with my stud earrings.

Yesterday I posted the raw materials for my "small," that is, portable, project. I actually have three that I'm rotating. Here is one, the Told in a Garden 1994 angel/madonna:
You can see, a little on the side, that I have tacked this to a frame. In one of these posts, someday, I should show pictures of all the ways I frame my stitching to work on it. And here is the reason that I'm alternating, rather than working on one at a time:



Thats the 1995 TIAG angel, and as you can see (even though it's blurry), the wings and clothes are all beads. I ran into two problems with these: One is the obvious--time. To do the cream beads took 12 hours per wing. In fact, I think the wings took 36 hours total. And second, although I think I used the correct fabric size and bead size, the beads are too big and when I put the last color in, it knocks all the other beads out of line. Because this project is so frustrating for me, I just do one thread's worth of beads at a time and rotate it with the more pleasant ones.

The next part of Danielle's project is the skin tones. I always do those "over one," that is, using one thread over one fabric intersection. This makes smaller "pixels," which lets the overall effect be more realistic. The problem here is that the designer used four skin tones, one of which is white blended with another of the colors. And I just can't do a blended needle with two colors (if someone does know how to do this, I'd be happy to learn). So I have to select another color and hope it works. I seem to recall thinking about this problem when I put the project away before Christmas, and solving it. So I'm hoping that when I open up the project bag, all the thread colors I need will be there.

Finished one, starting another

I finished knitting Dan's hat last night. Except for the weaving in of ends; I was too tired for that chore and did it today. It's a pattern from Knit Simple Holiday 2006. I used the Zara Plus, as recommended and found it nice to work with. I actually made two of these hats last year, for my sons and found that they came out too small, even after measuring heads and swatching. So when I made them again this year I made them the next size up and also used a size larger of needles. I'm so worried about loose stitches that I knit way too tight. Son #2's hat was yellow with black (he wanted to look like a bee), and son #1's hat is grey with black--the opposite of Dan's. He wanted silver and black, but this was the best I could do. And Dan's was made up with the leftovers. Which reminds me that the pattern called for 1 ball of each color, but you really need two balls of the main color if you make the larger sizes.

I actually wish I had taken a picture while it was still on the needles. I really love, in knitting and needlework, to see the work in progress. My favorite part of any needlework project is the first few stitches, when you can't see what it's going to be, but it looks like the stitches are growing out of the fabric. This could explain why I've started so many projects and finished so few.

In fact, I have 35 projects started, and I'm working on those rather than starting new ones. Danielle will be happy to see the next one I'm working on:



Sorry it's sideways; I'll learn how to fix that. Anyway, it's Summer Queen by Mirabilia and you can see a finished one here:

http://www.mirabilia.com/crossIndex2.html

You'll probably have to click on to a specific page, it's #22. I love Mirabilia and have several of her patterns. Titania is one of my 35 UFOs that I intend to finish. You can see it at the same site and it's #38. I hope that she designs the October fairy soon.

And since I cannot carry that project around, I'm working on my Christmas angels from the last three years, starting with last year's. Here are my raw materials:


Gosh, I hope that's not too blurry. Things to learn: How to link directly to a website's picture, how to take a decent picture. Anyway, I don't have a finished picture to link to; this is one of the free patterns from Told in A Garden (http://www.tiag.com/). She's another of my favorite designers and this angel is the one from 1996.

Tomorrow (or soon) I will put up pictures of a craft project I'm working on, as well as the projects I am alternating with this angel.

Welcome to LiLyWork!

Welcome to LiLyWork

Lynda and Lisa are stay at home moms who love all kinds of needlework (including knitting, sewing, tatting and whatever else we take up), baking, organizing, and learning as much as we can. We are looking forward to showing our projects to our friends and family and reading their comments.

Lisa (that's me) does various kinds of embroidery (but mostly cross stitch), knitting, crocheting and tatting. I'm trying to learn sewing but cannot seem to sew a straight line with a machine. I'm interested in all fiber arts, including basketry and paper arts (love origami!).

Lynda sews beautifully (she can make bridal gowns!) and knits. She's also super-organized and always on the lookout to find a better way to do a thing.

So for all my sisters who keep asking me what I'm working on, here's your answer. Tomorrow (I hope) I will post pictures of the hat I just finished for my husband, and Danielle's project that I'll be working on again. And I look forward to seeing Lynda's work as well.

Lisa