My Title is in Question

I might lose my title of The Queen of Slow Stitching if I keep this up. Look at my weekend progress on Count Your Blessings:

This design is such a pleasure to stitch, you wouldn't believe. The colors are fun, the fabric is lovely and the frogs...well, it must be too cold for frogs. I am in need of a bit of advice. The windows are stitched as charted. Do they look odd to you? Kind of blank? Do you think I should fill them in like the door window is filled? Hummm...

Here is a little peek at a Totally Useless prize that has come from Loredana in Croatia. Loredana blogs at Villa Loredana.

Isn't the mesh bag pretty? It's filled with lovely threads and a sweet sachet kit with Pansies to stitch. Thank you, Loredana!

And there are even more TUSAL giveaway prizes awaiting showing off! I will get to them as soon as I have time.

A major snowstorm is expected overnight. They are calling it snowmagedden. *blank stare* While I enjoy the excitement of getting a snowfall I can do without snowmagedden. Thankyouverymuch. Actually, Oklahoma has really had it easy this Winter with some very cold weather but only one ice/snow event. So I shouldn't complain. But I am a wimp and I hate driving in snow and ice and I can't miss work. *cries* Pity me, if only a little bit.

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

New Start

It has been a good stitching week! (Not such a good blog week ~ my reader is full and I'm way behind!) I finished the stitching on my second blogoversary giveaway prize, finished it and mailed it out today. I can't wait to show you. It turned out very nice! So, I've kitted up a new project...

Aren't the colors luscious? This is Count Your Blessings by Shakespeare's Peddler. A nice, simple design that looks fun to stitch. I've changed the red from a purpley one ~ 3685 to a darker red ~ 221. And I changed the tan ~ 612 to a gold ~ 729. These are the colors used for the house & door so I thought it right to pick colors to suit. I'm thinking of beginning construction this afternoon!

I received a mysterious package from Down Sunshine Lane yesterday. It contained Little House Needlework's Cardinal Winter...their first Ornament of the Month for 2011. I didn't order this so who sent it? Fess up! Is this an RAK? Or is it for the TUSAL giveaway? I do remember one of you having a giveaway for these but I cannot remember which of the 630 blogs in my reader you could be! I am blond and easily confused.

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Edit: Danielle from Peace, Love and Stitching sent the LHN ornament to me. I won her giveaway and I'm so far behind in my reader I never knew!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Chill Out!

It's January...so that means the start of this years Ornament Swap. We are a small group of friends swapping Christmas ornaments every two months. Long-time readers may remember my swap posts from last year...

January means it's Lori's turn. Lori's blog is Stitchin' Times Five. Everyone in our group stitches an ornament and sends it to Lori this month. I can't begin to explain how much fun it is to receive your ornaments. (My turn is in March. I can't wait!) There were PROBLEMS this go-round. First, I sealed up the box all nice and tight. Then...realized I hadn't taken a photo of my exchange. Sigh. I open the box back up. Arrrgh! Next, I'm taking the photograph when I see I have completely forgotten to Stitch "Daffycat" at the bottom like I've been doing for this exchange. *smacks forehead with palm* Arrrgh ~ again! Sorry, Lori...I was NOT going to risk frogging my careful sewing (I'm still not sewing-machine-confident) for the sake of having my name on it!

Design ~ Chill Out

Designer ~ Lizzie*Kate

Fabric ~ 32 count Daffycat Dyed Belfast Linen

Fiber ~ DMC as charted

Finish ~ Pillow Ornament

There were more TUSAL prizes that have arrived in the last week. I'm only going to tease you for now by letting you know there are more! But...I'm not going to show you pictures yet as I'm behind on my blogs, stitching and housework. Chill out! I'll get to it soon. Besides, I will need something new to blog about. I still can't show you my current stitching!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Some Like It Hot

I have no stitching to share. It's all been exchange stitching or very long-over-due blogoversary giveaway stitching. It drives me crazy not to be able to share stitching photos. It also makes me crazy to be behind on my blog reading...and I'm waaaay behind! I do believe the Crazy 15 Day Challenge posts are going to be the end of me. I'm getting caught up ~ I think!

Since I can't show stitching pictures I thought you might like a recipe instead. I like it hot, do you? I love foods with some bite. Mexican food is my favorite ~ bring on the jalapenos! My favorite place to eat serves fried jalapenos that are out. Of. This. World. Granted, my rosacea does NOT like spicy foods but I am unable to resist. My sister brought these treats to our holiday dinners last year and I was hooked...

Take saltine crackers. Yes, plain ol' everyday saltines...the kind you crumble in your chili or nibble when your tummy is urky...

Introduce those boring crackers to this small cast of characters...

And you come up with the most decadent, sinful, just call-me-a-glutton snack ever...

Now, my idea of "food with a bite" might be ~ to me, "Oh wow, that's really hot! Gimme another!" While yours might be ~ running in circles, head shooting flames, shrieking, "Put me out! Put me out!" I'd advise you to consider your spice tolerance and adjust the red pepper accordingly.

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I will not be held responsible for any weight gained as a result of reading this post. If you make these...please, do let me know ~ I'll be over in ten minutes.

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3 sleeves Whole Wheat Saltine Crackers

1 cup Smart Balance Oil

1 envelope Ranch Dressing mix (not the dip mix)

3 tablespoons Crushed Red Chili Peppers

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Mix oil, dressing mix and peppers in a large 2-gallon zipper bag.

Add 3 sleeves of crackers and mix around until coated.

Remove crackers to a cookie sheet and put in warm oven until set.

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Enjoy!
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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Stash Bonanza

More stash for the Totally Useless giveaway! These goodies came from Ma over at The Teakettle Corner. I was astounded when I received the package ~ it was huge! Look at all the wonderful fabrics & threads! And four Little House Needleworks designs! How awesome is this? Thank you ever so much, Ma! *hugs*

More hugs for Carol over at iStitch! She has pledged two (two!!!) of her designs for the winner of the giveaway ~ yahoo! These will be emailed to the winner when the time comes. Thank you so much, Carol!

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If you would like to donate stash for the giveaway please email me for my mailing address at daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT COM. Many thanks to those who have given so generously. This Stitch-a-long has been such grand fun to plan & take care of. I'm still in shock at how many of you decided to join in. *hugs* all around.

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

First Prize Has Arrived

The first giveaway prize was finally mailed this week. Giveaway? You don't remember my blogoversary giveaway waaaaaay back in November? I warned y'all I was The Queen of Slow Stitching, after all.

This one arrived with Lizy in Texas today. I stitched her two little Lizzy*Kate sheepies from the January Flip-it Blocks. One was made into a scissor fob and the other into one of my magnetic needleminders. Of course, this needed scissors and a packet of my favorite needles to go with! I hope Lizy likes this as much as I liked making it for her!

The second giveaway prize is still being created. Don't forget...I'm The Queen...yada yada!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Totally Useless Welcome!

It's that time, Stitchers! Today kicks off the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! January 4th is the first New Moon of 2011 so it's time for everyone to start making those Totally Useless Posts!

Here is mine, pictured on the kitchen counter because the sunlight is so pretty today.

The jar to the right is my regular ORT jar. The left-hand frog jar is what I put all those curly bits that get frogged. Thankfully, that one doesn't get used often!

After my Totally Useless photo has been taken my ORT jar gets dumped into the big jar on the left. The right-hand jar is just for DMC bands...I keep the numbered bands to make shopping lists with, then...those just get thrown out.

Some might wonder if they can keep the same jar and just keep adding to it or do they have to do it my way and dump it? You do it however you want to...as long as there is a photo near the New Moon, it's all good!

Do you have to comment on my blog when you have made your TUSAL post? No...but if you do comment on any TU updates you see ~saying you have posted yours, you will get more visitors! Believe me, comments = visitors!

I am keeping the SAL open to new stitchers for a couple of days. When I do decide to close it I will edit that post to say so. If you would like to join the stitch-a-long you must make a comment on the TUSAL post! There is also a link in my side bar.

A reminder to label your TUSAL posts! I must be able to easily find your 13 posts if you get drawn in the giveaway! What if I miss seeing one and someone else gets drawn instead?

A link to my blog when you update would be very nice!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!
xox

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

I shamelessly stole this photo from Bec's blog, Bec's Cross Stitch Creations, to introduce you to a new-to-me blogger! Everybody knows the Muffin Man but Bec is still kinda new around here. I met Bec when her photo appeared in my followers gadget. Of course, seeing someone new I had to go investigate. She had a lovely blog and even a couple of followers but no one had left any comments! How very sad. I went to fix that right quick! I clicked her comment link and tried to comment but nothing. No worky at all. A common Blogger bug and easily fixable...if you can contact the owner! Thankfully, Bec had an email available for me to use. I told her of the problem and how to fix it and fired that off. A few minutes later I got a reply saying she fixed it and a nice post appeared later, thanking me publicly. I've since enjoyed getting to know this sweet girl who stitches amazingly huge pictures and she's even started designing! The silly cow picture I stole is actually a freebie she has shared! Go meet her!

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Now this story does have another motive as well...

more Blog Stuff You Should Do:

#1 add an email to your blog! Now, some of you are really nervous about doing that, I know. You are thinking, " What if I get weirdos contacting me? I don't want everyone to see my email address!" Which brings me to a warning: add an email address but don't use the address you use to sign in to your blogger account! Keep that one a secret, please. Create an email account just for use on your blog and one you won't mind "throwing away" if you do indeed get weirdos emailing you. There are many free email hosts out there ~ find one and use it! Don't want to have to check yet another account every day? Don't bother, just check it whenever you update your blog or go check on your blog. Trust me, this is a good thing! If Bec hadn't had her email visible she would still be wondering why nobody liked her!

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How do you add an email? at the top of your dashboard (or your design page) there is a link that's called "My Account" click that...find "Blogger Settings" click that word "Settings" and scroll to the Identity section, there you will find a place to add an email. You will see that it says "Changing this does not change the e-mail address you use to sign-in." Now scroll back up and check the "Show my email address" box. Save your settings and you should be all set!

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And yet one more tip!

#2 Change your comment form to the pop out type!

Why? There are several reasons! It does fix the bug that prevents people from commenting such as in Bec's case. Plus, it's much easier for people to leave a comment on your blog. You like comments, right? I know I do! I like leaving comments too, and I leave a lot of them! You want to streamline the process as much as possible so people can leave their comment quickly with as little fuss as possible. There are lots of blogs I visit that require several clicks to leave a comment and the entire freakin' blog page has to load every time! If it's too much hassle people are more apt to go on to read the next blog instead of waiting for your blog page to load over and over.

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Another benefit to the pop-out form is people don't leave your main page. So they might read yet another post and comment on that one as well.

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It's easy to change your comment form: Settings ~ Comments ~ Comment form placement ~ and choose "pop-up window" ~ save.

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I hope no one is offended by my amateur Blogger tips. I'm not trying to be a know-it-all! My only desire is to be helpful!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox