Monday, April 15, 2013

What's Cooking Apr 15 - 21 and a Theme-a-licious Progress Report

I am not sure we followed last week's meal plan at all this week - between scheduling issues and silly stuff like forgetting to take down meat to thaw, along with a dash of just not feeling like it, most of what we ate was more spontaneous than planned.

Here's what we actually ate:

Monday, Apr 8
Main Dish Veggie Salad with Leftover Chicken

Tuesday, Apr 9
 Gulaschsuppe (German Beef Paprika Stew)
Grain-Free Coconut Flour Biscuits

Wednesday, Apr 10
Ground Beef and Veggie Stir-Fry
Cauliflower "Rice"

Thursday, Apr 11
 Homemade Pork Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash
Fried Eggs

Friday, Apr 12
Main Dish Salad with Sauteed Shrimp

Saturday, Apr 13
Salad
(we weren't hungry otherwise)

Sunday, Apr 14
in Baltimore all day
Ate Out

Our plan for this week is very short - we will be out of town during  the latter half of the week, attending Trillium Spring Gathering. (yay!)

Monday, Apr 15
Fend for Selves 

Tuesday, Apr 16
Roast Chicken
Veggies

Wednesday, Apr 17
Leftovers

Thursday-Sunday
Apr 18-21
Trillium Camp food!

Meanwhile, it's also time for a Theme-a-licious status report.  For "Amazon April" we were challenged to "Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!"

I did pull out 3 or 4 large projects to work on this month, but I have actually only stitched on one - a Quaker freebie graph I can no longer find the original designer of.  This is where it was at the start of the month: 


... and here is where it is now - I'm almost finished! Just that last medallion in the lower right corner left to go.


Since this is so close to finish, I'll be getting the last of the stitches put in before I switch to something else.

Most of my time this past week was occupied with getting these two pieces framed, in preparation for our UU church's annual auction:

Spring Sampler
Gentle Arts
DMC threads
54x58
This was an unfinished frame Michael painted for me - I think it really sets off this little piece and makes the stitchery 'pop'.

The second piece had a near disaster - this is one I actually stitched over a year ago and then tucked aside.  When I rinsed it before ironing, I was horrified to see that the threads bled!

This was a mere day before it was due to be handed over for the auction, so I was in a place of having nothing to lose - if I couldn't fix this, it was too late to find a Plan B.  I decided it couldn't make it worse if I tried to tea-dye the linen, thinking maybe it'd cover up the blotches and hoping it wouldn't just suck the rest of the color out of the non-colorfast threads.  

I brewed up a very strong cup of tea, poured it into a bowl and let it cool, and then wadded up the offending bit of stitcher and shoved it into the tea for about an hour.  Holding my breath, I pulled it out - and don't ask me why this worked, but the dye stains were gone,  the cloth was a slightly deeper shade of tan that was prettier than the original light brown, and the threads were still vibrant and, if anything, brighter  than they were before.

I don't get it - I can't even recommend it because I don't understand why it worked.  But.... it did, so I was able to get it into a frame and delivered for auction:

Joys and Sorrows 
(part of the Valentine Booklet)
The Stitcher Girl
Threadworx floss

This month's Theme-a-licious ornament challenge is Santa or Elves - I haven't made any start on that yet, but I will once I get back after Trillium.

Shared with:
and
as well as
Creative Spark, Down Home Blog Hop, Fluster's Creative MusterParty Wave Wednesday, Show and Tell Wednesday, Two Girls & A Party, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wicked Awesome WednesdayWorks For Me Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday
Creative Juice, DIY Accomplished, Eat-Pray-Love Linky Party, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, HomeAcre Hop, Hookin' Up With HoH, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Transformation Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Thursday Treasures.         



12 comments:

  1. Whew!! I am glad the tea-dyeing worked. I bet it was because of the acid in tea...but what do I know!! Both pieces are lovely. And your Quaker Sampler is amazing...I look forward to a Happy Dance soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think your menu sounds really good! I love your cross stitch! It is really beautiful! I have not worked with this art form in a long time. You are inspiring!

    I would love it if you would link this to my party, In and Out of the Kitchen! It is live right now!

    Cynthia at http://FeedingBig.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want some of the leftover, yum! And I also want to tell you that you've won the Cedar Wand from Familiar Creations by Mina.

    Congrats! Please send me your mailing info to magalyguerrero @ live dot com, and I'll forward it to Mina ;-)

    http://pagan-culture.blogspot.com/2013/04/earth-bones-and-my-wicked-darling.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a lovely way to start the day, Magaly! Thank you so much - I'm really happy to have won something that was created with such obvious care and personal energy!

      Delete
  4. Yummy foods. I'm glad the tea dye worked. I have an ornament piece that bled badly maybe I can try that!
    Love the Quaker piece too, lots of pretty colors you're doing on it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your menu sounds yummy and I love your samplers. So pretty and I'm glad you were able to get the stains out just in time. Yay! ;)

    Thanks so much for linking up to the "Making Your Home Sing Monday" linky party today! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, nice save! And nice embroidery. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so glad you stopped by and linked this post to the IN and Out of the Kitchen link party!

    I look forward to seeing what you bring next week!

    Cynthia at http://FeedingBig.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things hop xo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your tea dying turned out beautifully. Isn't it great when improvising works out so well?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Both projects look lovely, and I love how you changed the frame to fit the piece, and found a way to rescue another piece. So clever!

    Thanks for linking up to Fabulously Frugal Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your work is beautiful! I have several pieces that I need to frame. I’m good about getting them done, but getting them framed and up on the wall: not so much. Thank you for sharing this at the HomeAcre Hop! Look forward to seeing you again tomorrow; http://blackfoxhomestead.com/the-homeacre-hop/

    ~Jenny

    ReplyDelete