I Love Your Blog

I have been very neglectful. Last week Daffycat presented me with this award as well as some sweet comments. Thank-you, thank-you Daffycat for thinking of me. I have been so busy this last week getting the kids back in school that I totally forgot, but now I am ready to nominate some of my favorite blogs. A few of you may have been nominated by others recently, but I want you to know how I feel about your blog.

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.


How easy is that?? Here goes:


1. Sherry - I love your bird photos and recipes, thanks!!
2. Julie - You are truly a card artist. I love looking at your creations. Thanks for sharing your work with us.
3. Ansca - You are a very crafty critter and I love your cats.
4. Aury - I love your patterns and I can't wait for your next post.
5. Mylene - It is always fun to read about your adventures in the Netherlands.
6. Lisa - Cause I love hedgehogs too.
7. Meari - Your blog is my absolute favorite and I look forward to reading it each and every week.


See ya!!

CJ

Baskets!!

In my profile I mention that I like to make baskets. Last weekend I went to my monthly basket weaving meeting and made two baskets with ceramic bases. I want to share with you a picture on one of the baskets I made on Saturday and a few others I made over the past year as well as several years ago.















This is one of the Friendship baskets I made on Saturday. The base is handmade by a lady in Indiana at Gift of Love Pottery. It is a very easy basket to weave and one that I have made often.






Here is the Mini Harvest basket I made two weeks ago. I plan to decorate it with small artificial fall leaves and let the kids put their "nature walk" finds in it. So it will be home to fall nuts, small pine cones and maybe a few real leaves.

















I made this Envelope Basket in the April of 2007. It is a nice size to hold my husbands stuff when he gets home from work. He drops whatever he has in it, keys, wallet, change, notepad, cell phone and flash drive. So it comes it very handy.















This is a Heart Basket I made in May. Again, a very easy basket to weave and it makes great gifts for teachers. I will be making a few more of these in the coming months.
















This is a large utility basket that I currently use to keep paper to be shredded. I made this basket in 1993 when I was living in Tokyo, Japan. In the past this basket has been used to store dog toys and newspapers. It is the biggest basket I have weaved to date.



A Wine Basket that I made in the Fall of 2006. I did not have a wine bottle with me when I made so the opening is a little narrow for a wine bottle. It was fun to make, but I don't think I would make another. Although, I do enjoy a good bottle of wine, I buy my wine on-line from Bully Hill Vineyards in New York.

















This is my very old Napkin Basket. I think I made this while I was living in Southern Japan on Kyushu Island in 1987. I ordered the kit from a craft magazine and weaved away. It is one of the first baskets that I made.
















This is an egg basket. It is the second one I made, I like the shape and I think I did a really great job on it. This basket is approximately 16 years old. The kids use it at Easter to collect eggs.



I am a self taught weaver and I did teach a few classes when I was stationed in Japan. I lost interest in weaving for about 10 years and picked it back up in 2006 when I found out the base had classes. Turns out the instructor lives on my street and is retired from the Air Force just like me. Now days I am happy to be a student of basket weaving.


See ya!!

CJ

Happy Friday Update!!

Stitching:

Finally, I have a few pictures to post of projects that I have completed, well at least the stitching is finished. It has been a productive week I am pretty happy with the results. Hopefully, this stitching trend continues since I have a few exchanges that need to finish as well.

This "Welcome" designed by Aury. It is stitched on 16ct hand-dyed aida from Enchanted Fabrics called Fairy Blush. The floss I used The Gentle Art "Old Red Paint". I really enjoyed stitching this pattern and I plan to make it into a flatfold -- thank-you to Meari for the great instructions.

Here is Just Another Button Company's ABC Apple. This will be a needle book for my oldest daughter. She picked the inside fabric of red, white and blue stars, does not really match, but it is her needlebook. I am happy to make it exactly how she wants it. Now I just need to find the buttons, I put them away and hid them really well. This is stitched on 14ct fiddlers with DMC floss.

Lastly, this is a pattern I found in the June issue of The Gift of Stitching. It is a Debbie Draper design and it was a very quick stitch. It is on 14ct Ivory aida (picture not so good) stitched with over-dyed floss called "Ballet" from Ozark Sampler. This will be a scissor fob to be posted in the Monthly Finishing Challenge.

Stash:

I did manage to make a few stash purchases on-line this month. I have three Bent Creek Stockings and the 2008 PS Santa to add to my 2009 Christmas SAL pile. I think I will have more than enough to keep me busy in 2009

I also purchase a wedge kit from Heartland Needlework's Baker's Dozen collection. You get everything you need to complete the project for a very reasonable price and free shipping. This will be my first time working on linen--I am a little nervous about that one.


As for Me:

Just a little to let you know what is going on with me. The kids are ready to go back to school and I have been hired as a substitute teacher in the school district. Call me crazy, for me it is the perfect job. I set my own schedule and pick the schools I where I want to work as well as grade level. I will be at my kids school so life should be fairly easy. I also took on an extra position with the PTA. Wish me luck.


See ya!!

CJ

Yes, I Really Do Like Tea.

When I set up this blog I decided to call it Tea and Stitches for obvious reasons I enjoy stitching and I really enjoy tea. Until today I have never addressed my love of tea, all previous posts have been dedicated to my cross stitch, but now it is time to talk tea.

As a child I recall not liking tea in any form hot, cold or room temperature. I drank coffee and then I only drank coffee in France when visiting my grandparents. The coffee was brewed strong with chicory, poured into a large bowl, the bowl was then filled with milk and cubes of sugar were added. I usually had three sugars--it was a very large bowl. Then I would proceed to have my croissant and coffee, very nice, very delicious and very French. So why coffee in France? Well, that is another story.

After graduating High School in a small Delaware town I joined the Air Force, completed my training and was subsequently posted in the UK at a small base called RAF Croughton. This is where I developed a love for tea, hot tea. People in the UK love tea and it is readily available. I believe in trying to do as the natives do when in their country so I tried hot tea with milk and sugar. Almost immediately I was hooked. Over time I became addicted to black tea a good dollop of milk and a teaspoon of sugar--it must be the really thing, no artificial sweetener for this chick.

Later in my AF career--yes, it was a career 24.5 years to be exact--I had the opportunity to visit Japan. Actually it was more like an 8 year visit, went for one year and stayed for eight. In Asia, green tea is the thing. Back in the 80's we Americans (at least this American) did not know much about Japanese cuisine so this was a great adventure for me. Green tea is the big deal in Japan, you drink it hot and straight no milk, no sugar. It took me a long time to develop a taste for green tea. I would usually have green tea as part of a meal at a restaurant, most times I could not get past the pungent aroma (another term for smell). It was the aroma of green tea that at times reminded me so much of stinky socks that I was unable to drink it. As time passed I developed a respect and liking for green tea, although not my favorite, occasionally I will have cup for a pick me up in the afternoon. But I like it plain, so extra flavor like peach or whatever is popular today is just not my thing when it comes to green tea.

On the three occasions that I visited China, I had tea that was delicious and very delicate. The Chinese drink hot tea in a glass with the tea leaves floating happily around. At first it was a challenge for me not to swallow the leaves, the key is to sip the tea. Since I was in China for such a short time I really did not bother with learning more about their tea, I had other thinks occupying me and tea was not a priority.

Now days when I get up in the morning the first thing I do is fill the hot pot with water, turn it on and select my tea. It is always a black tea, sometimes in a teabag, sometimes loose tea, with milk and sugar. In winter I love to add fresh ginger to my tea. I just slice off a portion, put in the garlic press and squeeze it into the tea after I have added my milk and sugar, it is very good. I had heard about this tea recipe while listening to the BBC during my last assignment in the UK. It sounded pretty good and I love ginger to I gave it a try and I was hooked. There have been times when I have tea with only milk which is just as good but I usually prefer a little sweetness.

Currently, I am drinking Yunan Gold from Archer Farms (Target organic food line) it is a Chinese black tea that is very flavorful and smooth. I recently ordered English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Yunan Jig, Dragonwell, and Sencha Sampler from Adiago Teas. I found this tea company on a fellow stitcher's blog so I have added it to my blog as well. If you are like tea and want to give their brand a try click on the banner for a $5 coupon. This should be enough about tea as a matter of fact I need to fix my second cup. Remember the water needs to be boiling hot (that is why I never drink hot tea in a restaurant), steep for 3-4 minutes and then add milk and sugar if you desire. Enjoy!!

See ya!!

CJ

Sunday Stitching Update

Where to begin? Friday night was only the second time since returning home from Cincinnati that I had a chance to stitch anything. It always takes me a awhile to get back in the groove at home after returning from a long trip. I spent the week unpacking, cleaning house, grocery shopping, washing the dog, doing laundry, watering plants, visiting with neighbors, and you know it just goes on and on. You know what? I still have loads of laundry, my bedroom and the dining room to sort out. It is still a mess and I have trouble functioning when things are a mess. But that is not what I am here about so let's get on with this update.

PS Fans

In June I participated in a pinkeep exchange. This was the first pinkeep I had ever made. I did post a picture of my stitching but not of the completed project. I wanted to post a picture of it once I knew it was in the hands of its new owner. So here it is for all of you to enjoy. I posted a picture of the pinkeep that I received from Janet in June.

PS - Prairie Birds, Hummingbird
16ct Oatmeal Aida with DMC

CSF

When I returned home from Cincinnati, I found a nice package waiting for me from Kim. It was the June color exchange. She sent me a box full of pink goodies, 3 skeins of floss, bread cover, 2 packs of Mill Hill Beads, mini memo pad with pen, note cards, and a magnetic list pad. Very thoughtful exchange from her. I have signed up for the next group of exchanges with CSF and I can't wait to get started putting my packages together.

More Stuff

I have been making a few changes to the blog and added a playlist with some of my all time favorite tunes, majority from the 70's. If you get the chance checkout Heartland Needleworks, it is a new stitching shop I found that is in Oklahoma City. You can shop on-line and shipping is free in the US. The owner is doing great things to promote the craft in her area and I look forward to visiting her shop someday.

See ya!!

CJ

I Have An Award!!

Early last week Lynda, nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. This is my first ever blog award and I was so thrilled to get it. It was really, really sweet of her to think of me. I am a little tardy sending out my list of names for lots of reason, but I have searched high and low, long and hard to come up with my list.



Here are the rules for this award:

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

I nominate the following crafty critters:

Barb - Thanks for all you do for the CSF

CJ in OK - Thanks for keeping the craft alive in OKC

Kim - Thanks for all you do as a nurse, mom and Army wife.

Stacey - You inspire me, keep on stampin!!

Meari - You inspire, inform and entertain us all. Thanks for all you do.


See ya!!

CJ

We are home from Cincinnati.

We got home yesterday afternoon from Cincinnati. We actually left Cincinnati on Saturday, stopped in St Louis for a Cardinals game and then made it back to Wichita Falls Sunday afternoon in 10 hours. In my mail today I had a package from 123Stitch with my order of WWD Thread to complete my "Welcome" project and four new patterns from Bent Creek--I am bad. I also had a package from Melissa for the CSF June Color Exchange, it was all pink and wonderful. Thanks Melissa for all the nice goodies. I will try to get a photo posted later of everything.

I am glad to be home, need to unpack, clean and catch up on the mail before I start stitching again. Looking forward to the next batch of exchanges I have signed up for on CSF and PS Fans, I think it will be an exciting month of stitching considering it is too hot to be outside.


See ya!!

CJ