Lovely Halloween invitations

This year my sister and her friend have decided to host a costume party for Halloween. Everyone has ransacked their local stores in search of costume ideas. My sister has ordered hers and is impatiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I ordered a hoop skirt and Marie Antoinette wig and they have already arrive through the mail. I decided to 'recycle' a costume that I wore a couple of years ago to the first Halloween party my sister and her friend hosted.

It is a colonial dress made of pale blue satine fabric and creme-colored lace. My sister and I pestered our aunt to make our Halloween costumes that year and I chose a pattern from Simplicity's historical patterns. My sister chose Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I will have to take a picture of the dress! I wish I knew someone who owned a dress-form. It would be great to show off the dress. One year I was hoping to get my aunt one for Christmas, but they are extremely expensive. I think it would be more economical to buy an antique dress-form instead of the modern expensive ones! O_o"

My sister and her friend have been planning their Halloween party for two months now! They have bought decorations for the party and a few to adore the front yard. My sister and I have helped with the budget by helping to buy some of the candy for the trick-or-treaters that will show on Halloween :)

In addition to the decorations, they have outdone themselves on the invitations for the party. Everyone invited has a mask invitation.


This is my invitation for the party! Isn't it gorgeous? I love it.


Another interesting creation! This mask is an invitation for the anime club I belong to. Yes, I will admit that I belong to 'anime club.'

What is an anime club, you ask? Well, a friend of mine hosts an anime night every Friday and we meet and watch an anime series or a live-action series and continue every Friday until we finish a series. The girl who hosts these anime nights lived in Japan for three years while she worked for a branch of an American bank in Tokyo.

I hope everyone likes the invitation masks! I can't wait for Halloween. I'll have more pics of the decorations and the costumes!

Have a great week! Happy Stitching!

'Bienvenue' finish!!

Despite being sick with a sinus cold, most likely due to the change in the weather, I was able to finish my French bunny pattern this afternoon :)


Design: Anne Sohier-Fournel, 'Bienvenue!'
Thread: DMC B5200, 160, and 800
Fabric: 32ct Wichelt-Permin lambswool
Finished: a week! O_o"

Somehow I cut my fabric too small even though I put the count of stitches in a cross stitch calculator and got 12 x 12.....hmm....I think I forgot to add the border as part of the count!! LOL Only because this pattern was on another page of the book without a border! Yikes!! Oh, well! I like it without the border :)

What will I work on after this? I'm thinking of going back to my Elements project. Maybe I can get it finished before the year ends. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Happy Stitching!!

P.S. Yuko, the ISBN for that cross stitch book is 978-4-7661-1853-7. Maybe you can order it from your local bookseller since you have a ISBN for it :)

Fall?....yummy?

Who would have thought that Fall could be yummy? Well, for lovers of the Fall season, we definitely try to make it yummy whether it be with sweet or savory dishes that our families associate with the season!


I told you that Fall could be yummy ;)

These gooey cupcakes are called Caramel Apple cupcakes. I found the recipe a couple of years ago when I was an undergrad. I made them for our anthropology club's annual Fall bake sale. LOL My poor family; I only let them have one cupcake a person so I wouldn't run out of them for the bake sale. My sister said it was evil!! ^___^

I promised her that I would make some more later. I never got around to it until she pestered me this year to make them since we were being assaulted by all the packages of caramel squares and other Fall-related goodies! I finally got to make these beauties last Saturday after I was lucky enough to find the recipe online again!! Thanks to the suggestion of my aunt who diligently named off a half a dozen recipe websites I could search ;)

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

SERVINGS: 12

TIME: Prep: 25 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling

Yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients:
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) spice cake mix or 1 pacakge (18 ounces) carrot cake mix
2 cups chopped peeled tart apples
20 caramels
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
12 Popsicle sticks

Directions:
Prepare cake batter according to package directions; fold in apples.

Fill 12 greased or paper-lined jumbo muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In a saucepan, cook the caramels and milk over low heat until smooth. Spread over cupcakes. Sprinkle with pecans. Insert a wooden stick into the center of each cupcake.

* * *

The title is linked to the website where I found the recipe for these delicious cupcakes. I used spice cake, but you can use carrot cake if you prefer. I like both, but I went with the spice cake again because I used it before :)

No, I haven't tried the stick method....I thought it might be too messy! I was already getting sticky with spreading the caramel sauce! O_o" It was worth it in the end though!

LOL One thing I learned while making these cupcakes, I really need an apple peeler....I have to be the worst peeler in the world. Believe me when I say that it isn't a pretty sight. I'm a danger to myself and anyone within the vicinity of the kitchen when I try to peel apples or anything other vegetable/fruit. Sad, but true!

Have a great Friday :) Happy Stitching!!

French bunnies

Hi, everyone! I apologize for not writing on my blog as often as I should! I have so much to talk about, but haven't had the time to sit down and blog :(

Just a quick post for tonight to show you my progress on a new design I picked out from one of the Japanese cross stitch books that I purchased earlier!


The design I chose comes from this book entitled Mots doux au point de croix. I didn't realize when I purchased the book that it was originally in French to begin with before being translated into Japanese! Silly me :)


Design: Anne Sohier-Fournel, 'Bienvenue!'
Thread: DMC B5200, 160, and 800
Fabric: 32ct Wichelt-Permin lambswool
Finished: nearly :)

As a first time user of Wichelt linen, I must say that I'm not a fan. I realize that it is considered a good quality brand, but I think I've been spoiled by using Zweigart....especially the 32ct linen olive green linen I've been stitching my Elements pattern on.....which I absolutely love :)

Perhaps, I shouldn't judge to harshly. I've noticed a difference in the linen I buy from my local craft store and my LNS. Even the Zweigart I buy pre-packaged from Hobby Lobby seems to be of a different quality compared to the fabric I've bought at my LNS. LOL Maybe I'm hallucinating!

What do you think of the design? Two bunnies playing jump rope with a lamb! I thought it would be cute to hang in the foyer of our house! Which reminds me, I must take a photo of a cross stitch 'Welcome' design that my aunt stitched years ago. I love it! It definitely adds a nice touch when you walk into our foyer.

I still have some more to finish on this design. The border around the edge and the words 'bienvenue' above the bunnies and lamb. Hopefully, I can get to it this weekend and have a finishing photo for you.

I quite like the designs featured in this French cross stitch book. Once I get finished with this design, I hope to work some more on my Elements pattern. I've neglected my cross stitch for a couple of weeks now except for occasionally stitching on the bunnies design. I promise to do better in the future :)

Happy Stitching!!

P.S. Today is my uncle's b-day!! Happy B-day!!! Love ya!

Election soapbox

A Message from a member of the so-called non-voting age group in the United States

(sigh) Ok, so I'm driving down Airport Blvd this morning after dropping off brochures for some exhibitions that are opening soon at one of my local museums when suddenly I see 10 or 12 people standing around on the medians waving "Vote McCain" signs!

I usually wouldn't rant about something like this, but here I go! First of all, it's dangerous to have people waving signs anywhere on Airport Blvd. Natives of Mobile know how crazy drivers can get on Airport Blvd. With drivers going over or under the speed limit and the millions of stoplights on the street, people waving signs in the middle of the street aren't the best idea....talk about a distraction in the worse way because even I kept glancing over to read the signs.

Second, why McCain?! I'm not going to rant against either party in this post, but I would have rather seen signs telling people to register to vote than one party promoting itself.

So my soapbox message of the day is: Keep your party signs away from the main streets of Mobile just for the sheer fact that they are a bad distraction. I'd rather not get in an accident because the person in front of me is slowing down to read the signs and I wasn't paying attention either!!!

Secondly, please, please register to vote. I don't care who you vote for in this election or any of your state/city elections. Just get out there and register. It doesn't cost a thing to register!! There are plenty of places to register to vote in Mobile such as the local library branches, the Democratic headquarters on Dauphin Street and the Republican headquarters on Airport Blvd.

If you need more information about requirements to vote:
http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/VoterRegistrationInfo.aspx

Deadlines and applications are available through Rock the Vote :)
http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html

And to disprove one myth about registering to vote: Registering to vote DOES NOT mean that you are automatically in your state's system as eligible to serve on jury duty. That is determined by your state driver's license or any other state identification card. They told me that at jury duty on the first day!!!

SO GO OUT AND REGISTER!!!! Every vote counts whether it is Democratic, Republican, or Independent!!

Ah, the coming of Fall and antiquing :)

Hi, everyone!! Fall, as I've said before, is my favorite time of year. LOL I think it has something to do with my nerd-ish heart and the notion of going off to school! (Sigh) I miss school!! ^__^ The mornings have started to get just a tiny bit of nip to them so I was inspired to stitch something fall-ish in honor of the season!!


I started on Thursday to stitch the JBW design Pumpkin! You notice I have one of my fobs from Yuko already in use!! I just want to thank Yuko again because it is sooo much easier to keep up with my scissors when they are attached to this fob :)


Design: JBW Designs, 'French Country IV - Pumpkin'
Thread: DMC 4124, variegated
Fabric: 28 ct Cashel antique white Zweigart
Finished: 9/18 and 9/19/08

The design called for DMC #3826, but I used #4124 partly because I was lazy and didn't want to run to Hobby Lobby and buy the recommended thread color and I had picked up the #3826 color earlier when I first got my JBW designs in the mail. I thought it would look nice for a pumpkin since it reminds me of Halloween :)

Since I finished stitching this design last night, I had time to do something else fun today! My sister and I went to our local Abba Temple to antique. My sister rarely gets to antique with my mother and I because she usually works on the weekends. Today was a fun experience for her, LOL, though she seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the different things to look at.

While at the antique show, I bought several new brooches! LOL You knew I would!! I can't resist brooches....they are becoming my second downfall next to my obsession with books ^_^"

Isn't it pretty and petite? Filagree leaves, a stem, and a lovely flower with white rhinestones surrounding a purple stone at the top :) LOL The stem reminds me of pumpkins for some reason!

A unique brooch containing dried flowers and leaves! I love the border around the edge with the four leaves. While I was picking this brooch out along with the others, the vendor was talking to a friend of hers about brooches. She called them, little 'pieces of art' that you can wear. I quite agree!! I love wearing them to work ^___^

A neat sword brooch!!! It is adorned with five faux pearls. LOL When my mother saw this brooch she said, "But you don't like pearls!" Pearls aren't my favorite despite the fact that they are my 'birthstone.' For June, the birthstone can either be pearls or alexandrite. I love alexandrite, but you hardly ever see it....and if you do find a jeweler who sells it....you're paying practically a car payment to get one!!!

So Glittery with all those red rhinestones!! Next to my cameos, this one might be my second favorite in my growing collection of brooches. The little 'petals' around the center remind me of tiny royal crowns :) (Sigh) This brooch would look lovely with a cream-colored scarf!! LOL I never thought I would say (or write) this, but I can't wait for Monday so I can wear these new brooches. I think I'm going to wear this one first :)

In addition to antiquing, I took a pic of this nice stitched piece by my friend Kristina. She and I used to work at the same bookstore.


She stitched this Asian cross stitch design for me as a gift for starting my new job :) I don't remember what the characters on this design mean....I think she said it was for good luck....but I will have to ask her and let you know :)

Before I forget, I promised everyone that I would scan the mini-article out of the 1899 Ladies' Home Journal about the pincushions/emeries!!


Bachelor pincushion?!

Apparently, men were neater with their possessions then nowadays!! This is a neat article. Who would have thought that strawberry pincushions would have been used by men to keep their pins? (sigh) Makes you long for the past and all the fashionable clothing that was commonplace. It seems to me that our time period has no defining style like other eras.....it makes me sad in a way. LOL That's the historian in me talking :) Darn history degree!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! Happy stitching!!

Lovely scissor fobs!!

After a crazy day at jury duty, I came home to a package from Yuko!! The scissor fobs that I purchased from her Etsy store arrived!! ^___^


A pic of my shortcake fob! (sigh) The photo isn't as beautiful as Yuko's pics, but it was the best I could do!! LOL I need to take a photography class in the future ^_^"


A pic I took of my pink cameo fob!! Isn't it beautiful? I love it!!

I showed both of the fobs to my aunt and she loved them too ^___^

Well, I've got some cross stitching to do! I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. I have jury duty in the morning and then I'll be done!!! And then I get to go back to my job and see what state my desk is in O_o"

Keep making such lovely crafts, Yuko! Happy Stitching!

Nearly finished :)

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to show my progress on my WIP Elements. I haven't had much time to stitch on this pattern over the week. I got stuck with jury duty for two weeks....fun times, really! O_o"


I've gotten almost all of the Eau block finished, which means 40% of my pattern finished!! Yeah :) The only motif to add to this part of the pattern is the woman with the pitcher of water!!

In other news, I found an interesting mini-article in the 1899 Ladies' Home Journal that I bought last weekend. I will have to share it with you later on this week when I have to chance to scan the images so I can upload them on my blog :) The article is a neat bit of history on strawberry emeries/pincushions.

In addition to getting some stitching done this week, I ordered some very cute scissor fobs from Yuko's Etsy store :) I bought two of her creations: a pink cameo-charm scissor fob and another with a super adorable felt strawberry shortcake-charm!!! I can't wait to get them in the mail ^____^

Yuko's blog is one of my favorites. She always takes gorgeous photos and has some of most beautiful finishes for her stitched pieces! She just had her birthday recently! Happy b-day Yuko :)

Hope everyone has a good work week! Happy Stitching!!

Blast from the past

(sigh) Now we just have to wait and see what Hurricane Ike is going to do. I WISH it would just disappear. Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are bad news to any area they come in contact with!!!

I got more stiching done on my WIP Elements. Not much, but at least it's progress :) Sometimes I don't have the time to sit and get some stitching done after work during the weekdays. Especially, if my mom and I take our dog Sam for a walk. He's a 8 month old brown lab!!! LOL And he is crazy. We are trying to teach him how to walk without rushing ahead of us.....I can't even hold the leash....he's 60 lbs of energy!!

Here's some pics of my progress on my French sampler.



I finished some more on the 'Eau' block ^__^ I got the words 'Eau' finished, some other motifs, and the scorpion!



In other news, I went antiquing yesterday :) I saw several beautiful brooches that I couldn't afford, but I found a blast from the past while at one of my local antique shops!!


O_o" I can't believe I found one of these!!! A Ladies' Home Journal from 1899. The vendor has several others, but I couldn't afford all of them....even though my bookish heart longed for them ^__^

The magazine doesn't have any color plates like the Lady Godey's magazines of the same period, but it is still valuable as a source of historical lifeways.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week :) Happy stitching!!!

Hurricane Gustav and stitching

I hope everyone is safely at home today along the Gulf Coast with this crazy hurricane that has come through!!

It's been a busy weekend. I've got some stitching done when I could find the time to do so! My family and I were getting our house ready for Gustav by putting things away in our backyard shed, bringing flower pots inside, and making sure that items that couldn't fit in the shed were tied down. We also made a grocery run and stocked up on foodstuffs in case we lost power. Even though we were lucky in not getting the worst of Gustav, I don't regret getting our house ready for the season! We even got our generator out and ran it for an hour since we haven't used it since Katrina.

In terms of stitching, I worked on my WIP Sampler Elements by Anagram Diffusion. I love French cross stitch patterns. They are so beautiful ;)



The fabric I'm using for this pattern is 32ct olive green Belfast linen and measures 27" x 27". I didn't think the color would work for this design. I wanted a lighter green, but a very nice lady at Patches and Stitches suggested the color when I told her what DMC thread color (498) I was using for the pattern :)


Design: Anagram Diffusions, Sampler Elements
Thread: DMC 498
Fabric: 32ct olive green Belfast linen


This is the first block I worked on from January throughout March. My aunt got the pattern for me during Christmas. I had to wait until January when I went up to visit some friends in Huntsville before visting their LNS and getting advice on fabric and thread colors.


Wow!! I actually ironed it so it would look nice ^___^ Yesterday and today, I worked on the lower left of the 'Eau' block of the pattern. I also got the ribbon by the dolphin finished and the first letter of Eau ;)

Well, I'll post later with more progress on my WIP. I'm going to get some reading done while I have the rest of the day off from work. I'm reading Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. It's quite good for a biography. The movie version called The Duchess comes out later in September. I can't wait to see it!! I love Keira Knightley when she is in historical films. I'm a sucker for historical period films!! I love the costumes ;)

Be safe! Happy stitching ^___^