Too Hot to Stitch??

Hey blogging buddies,
Is everyone staying nice and toasty?? tee hee
It is BEASTLY here in our neck of the woods and the humidity is really something the last few days! Wow! we can tell it's SUMMER! But I am thankful for all the beautiful sunshine He has sent our way, so I can't complain too much.
Did everyone have a nice 4th of July holiday? Ours went by fast and we did enjoy seeing the fireworks, except for a bunch of noisy teenagers that were standing a bit too close to us, while we were trying our best to watch, LOL.
I just finished up another cr. st. exchange that I was in, so decided it was time to jump ahead and stitch something more fallish, perhaps hoping to keep myself feeling cooler? Anyway, here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on right now.
Now I realize I have been telling you all how great it is to only work on one project at a time, but I couldn't help myself and started a second project, shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, ok?
It's stitched on 25ct. Floba. If you've never used this fabric, I highly recommend it! Love the look and feel of it.
This is a little better view of the floss I'm using ~ it's Valdani ~Golden Autumn, I just thought it spelled out 'Fall' to me. (The thread color, that is), ha.

This hanging pillow is what I received from a gal in my exchange group. She altered the LHN design just a bit for a more summery feel. I think she did a very nice job stitching it for me. Thanks again, Marjorie!

I apologize that the pic isn't more clear.

Here's my very first floss tag I made recently. I made a huge mistake at first by using FOAM board instead of MAT board, which is much thinner. It was really THICK the first time I tried it, but soon realized I'd used the wrong thing to mount it. So then I had to completely re-do it and liked the way it turned out, but not so sure I'll be making any more any time soon! :))

The fabric is much more yellow in person(I'm not the greatest photographer, for sure)!

I wanted to experiment w/tea~dying my own cr. st. fabric, so this is how my 32ct. cream Belfast linen turned out. This first pic I placed it in a pan w/tea and let it soak for several hrs. It is actually a bit darker than it shows here.

The second pic is a piece I sprayed on the tea from a bottle. A little more mottled look.

Here's some fabric I bought not too long ago to make some more pillows and whatever with. I thought they all looked like 'summer'.

Thought I'd share a new recipe I made recently for a family reunion. It's called, "Ale-8-One Pound Cake". Not sure if you can find Ale 8 in your neck of the woods, however, it tastes a lot like Ginger Ale, so I'm pretty sure you can substitute that or 7-Up.

For decades the Ale 8 drink was only sold in Winchester, Ky, where it was bottled, beginning in 1902, but today it is found all over the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Recipe down below.

W/out glaze......... had to sneak a piece just to try it out, lol.

W/glaze..........

Here's the recipe:

Ale-8-One pound cake

2 sticks butter

1/2 c. veg. shortening

3 c. sugar(I used half sugar substitute)

5 eggs

1 t. lemon extract

3 c. flour

7 ounces Ale-8-One

Cream butter, shortening and sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon extract. Add the flour and Ale-8-One, alternately, beating after each addition. Pour the batter into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs. or until cake is done. Let cool in pan 10 mins. befor turning onto a cake plate.

Let me know if you try it or you can find Ale-8-One in your area.

One month from today is my b'day and we hope to be on our way to the beach, which we haven't had the pleasure of vacationing there in several yrs.

When I had my cr. st. shop we always stopped in Charlotte, N.C. for 'market', for a few days of non-stop shopping(mostly placing orders), seeing all the lastest cr. st. designs and meeting all the designers! They were like meeting/seeing celebrities in real life and they'd all have their booths decorated so cute!

Oh, how I miss going to market every summer, it was always so much fun! Then as soon as market was over, we'd head on down to the beach, which was a few hrs. further south.

So this yr. we're hoping to do the same, except the market part, which I'm really looking forward to.


Anyway, I hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying your summer. It'll be over before ya know it. It always goes by way too fast for us!

I've also been enjoying reading Joyce Meyer's new book, "Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes". (Actually I just wanted an excuse to eat that cookie)!!! LOL

It talks about how God wants us to enjoy and celebrate different things in our lives. She asks, "Do you take time to celebrate when you finish a project, or do you merely begin the next one?" Good question! I think one of the ways we celebrate is by posting pics of our projects on our blogs to share w/others, or even better yet, if we can show it in person. It makes us feel so good when we share something we've accomplished, however large or small, and to know that it encourages others, is icing on the cake.

So take care and let me hear about what you're working on, or better yet, share a pic of it w/us so we can help you celebrate too.

Tanya