I'm gonna kill me a dog!!!!....

Well ok, I'm not really going to but man when we awoke at a quarter after 2:00 this morning to hearing our son telling her to be quite because of her barking, I wanted to! It was really cold last night so we brought the dogs in ,which we almost never do. Our dog Daisy had started barking in the kitchen extremely loud. We ran into the kitchen and she was barking at the dishwasher.She had managed to turn the dishwasher on and I guess it must have scared her, and she was going ape! Our son already had the camera and was taking pictures of the mess she had been making. Some time back I had posted a picture ( and thank God I took one!) of a basket from Bent Creek that I had stitched. Here is what it looked like.

This is what is left of it after Daisy got a hold of it last night while we were sleeping!

I'm not likely to find another little basket to re-stitch it as Michael's doesn't sell them anymore. At least the local one here doesn't.

Before we went to bed , she had already broken one of my favorite mugs when she whacked it off of the china hutch with her tail! That thing is like a whip I tell ya! She had smacked me with it several times last night and left welts that are still sore this morning!

...and here is the culprit!

We had put up a wooden palet last night to keep the dogs contained from the living room.Good thing we did .Can you imagine what she would have done to the tree?! Everyone would have known what they got for Christmas too no doubt. She'd be packing her bags if she had done that! Well, probably not, but I would have strongly considered it! By the way... she spent the rest of the night outside! It's funny because what little sleep I got after all that, I had a dream that I went to a support meeting for damage dogs do. I met another stitcher there. Can you can who that was Carolyn? Isn't it crazy what we dream?

Well dear blogging buddies, I hope your day goes well. At least may it be better than mine!

'til next time,

happy stitching!

Sharlotte

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

Greetings everyone! So have you worn yourselves out with all the Christmas hustle and bustle yet? It's such a busy time , but thank goodness it can be very delightful. I went to my sister's annual Christmas Tea and forgot to take the camera! Shame on me! Anyway we had a delightful time. I seen people I knew and met some new ones. The food was wonderful as always. My sister read 'A Cup of Christmas Tea' that she reads every year after everyone has finished eating. If you haven't read that yet, it's a little poem that was turned into a short book.It's a great read and reminds of the importance of the elderly in our lives. We then shared our favorite Christmas memories and traditions and let me tell you, there was barely a dry eye in the house when we were done!

We were at Walgreens not long ago and found the Charlie Brown tree from the Christmas special. We love Charlie Brown and the tree came home to live with us. You can't see it in the picture very well but my husband took some 'pine needles' that had come off of our official tree and sprinkled them along the bottom of the Charlie Brown one to give the same illusion of the one from the show that keeps loosing it's needles. I thought that was cute.Here's our little tree.

I bet I haven't picked up a stitching needle in over a week! I have been busy doing other things to get ready for Christmas . One thing I have been working on is socks for my mother -in-law. I got the first pair done. I get frustrated when the striping doesn't come out the same on both socks. Seems like in order to do that you almost have to unwind the second ball down a long way and start there. Too much of a waste. I wish they could start and end a skein in the same colorway spot! I guess it will be okay though, I know she won't mind. I at least know she likes the colors in them as I had made myself a pair from the same colors and she liked them a lot .

I have removed the playlist from the blog for a bit. I haven't gotten much traffic on the blog lately and was thinking that maybe you all were getting burned out on the music. I may put it back on a couple of days or so before Christmas, we'll see.

Hope you all have a splendid week!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Attention quilters...

Hello everybody! I am thinking about joining a quilt block swap in 2010. I was wondering if any of you quilters knew of one that involved patterns and fabric from Kansas Troubles . If I can't find one sometime within the next month , I just may create one myself. My idea is I'd like to swap blocks from KT over the next year where swapers would all would wind up with enough blocks for a lap quilt.If anyone knows of anything like this, please point me in right direction.

'til next time,
happy stitching!
Sharlotte

Just to let you know...

I started a blog that I was using as a test run for changing backgrounds and so forth for this blog as I didn't want to goof anything up.I'm getting better at navigating and so forth now. I have decided to keep that blog up and running with recipes and decorating ideas for Christmas.I did a few posts this morning and if you'd like to take a peek , you can find it here: http://wishingforchristmas.blogspot.com

'til next time,
Happy stitching!
Sharlotte

Homemade Gift Idea #6- Cake In A Cup

Greetings all! Here is gift idea #6- Cake in a cup. If you have time, this one would be great to add a cup that you have made yourself at one of those do-it-yourself pottery places.. Most of them is safe to put in a microwave ,but you'd have to ask about it first.If that's not your cup of tea, there are many many cute styles of mugs to choose from on the market. Keep in mind that the recipe makes 1 serving, not an entire cake. NOTE: you'll use chocolate chips for this recipe but I didn't have them on hand for the demo, that's why they're not in the picture.I forgot to buy them, sorry! We make this at home from time to time when we want something a little chocolate but don't really want to bake something.It's not overpowered by sweetness either. Have fun!

Supplies list:

1 very cute coffee mug

1 index card

piece of decorative ribbon

gift tissue or even wrapping paper (tissue works best)

sandwich size self sealing bag

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa

3 tablespoons chocolate chips

1.Place ingredients in the bag.

This is more presentable if you can get the ingredients to 'layer' in the bag.Because of it's size , they probably won't but that's okay.

2. You can place a to and from stitcker or tag on the front of the index card or write 'Merry Christmas' , however you want to decorate the front of the card. On the back you'll write the following instructions:

(Mix dry ingredients in cup, add 1 egg, stir well, 3 tablespoons milk,stir well, 3 tablespoons oil, stir well, vanilla to taste ,stir well. Microwave for 3 minutes ( for a 1000 watt microwave) ,you may need to adjust time if microwave is a different wattage.The cake will rise high but will not spill out of the cup.You can add butter after cooking and let it melt , eat right out of the cup or on a saucer.)

3. Punch a hole in the corner of the index card, place bag inside the tissue and tie at the top. Run one end of the ribbon through the hole in the index card and tie a bow. Place in the cup and you're done!

Hope you enjoy this one!

'til next time,

Happy stitching,

Sharlotte

A little more Christmas

Hello everybody! Just a quick little post this morning to show a wall hanging a made several years back. I can't remember the name of the pattern but it was from a Mc Call's Quick Quilts magazine. I think it was called "O Christmas Tree", but I'm not sure. Doesn't it remind you of " A Charlie Brown Christmas"? That was on ABC last night and we try to always catch it so we watched it last night.

I wanted to leave you today with a little post to visit on a blog. For a holiday chuckle visit: http://lovincomfortknits.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-decor.html

"til next time,

Happy stitching!

Sharlotte

Some mail arrives

Greetings all! I received some great mail this weekend from Amy , my partner for the HOE/ HOE II Christmas ornament exchange. She sent me , not one, but two! I've seen the tree before and have thought about stitching it , but I had never seen the santa before. It was a very different and unique finish for him I think. I like them both Amy, thank you!

Well, do you have your shopping done yet? Not me, although I have gotten a start on some socks for my mother-in-law. I am using number 2 Crystal Palace bamboo. I love using them. I had to make a quick trip to yarn store the other day though because I had laid the project down on the floor, close to the edge of the recliner where I thought they would be out of the way. I went into the kitchen to fix myself a cup of cappuccino, came back to the living room and stepped on it. Well, with the needles being bamboo, I broke one of them! I quickly called up the store and luckily she still had a couple of sets and put one back for me to pick up. Carol is always so accommodating.

The other day , I looked out of the kitchen window and there was our crazy dog,Brittney, sitting on a railroad tie that we have along the bottom of the fence. It was so funny that I had to run and get the camera. She does some goofy stuff sometimes. I thought it was cute anyway. We keep the railroad ties along the fence line because she likes to dig a lot . We don't want her crawling under the fence and getting into the neighbor's yard. Our neighbor is a botanist . She and the others she works with are trying to grow plants the are becoming exstinct in our area so that they can transplant and promote more growth. Can you imagine if our dog got over there and dug them all up! Aye-ya-yi !

Thank you all again for all of your nice and wonderful comments! I hope you all get a chance to make a few of the chocolate spoons. They are really great!

'til next time,

Sharlotte