Happy Valentine's Day

I'm sorry for not blogging much recently. Been busy in my cocoon again. We're having another bad weather again therefore DH had to leave early for work... way early actually!

On the positive note, we had a small gathering today (minus DH) and played domino for hours at a friend's house in town. Me and the in-laws has been enjoying our ladies day/night out since January and play domino. We try to do it over the weekends though so everybody is off from work. Before we play, we usually eat first as almost everybody is bringing food. Domino is ADDICTING... period! LOL

I hope you all had a fabulous Heart's Day!

Lion King Musical

We (me and in-laws) had a girls day out last Saturday and watched Lion King at the Civic Center in Des Moines... SIL gave us tickets last christmas. It's the first time for me and Aunt R, but 5th time for SIL & Katie, while 2nd time for MIL. We all enjoyed the show as the production is really amazing. I love all the costumes, backgrounds, etc... lots of colors!

Though the show starts at 2PM, we left home around 9AM due to weather plus the fact that we planned to have lunch in Des Moines.

If you haven't seen Lion King Musical, you must! I highly recommend it. I've seen all the LK movies but seeing the show is wayyyyyyy better.

Our next girls day out will be on May to see South Pacific... at the Civic Center in Des Moines as well.

Christmas And Crafts

This post has been long overdue so be warned - it's a long post!

Part of our christmas gifts for MIL and Aunt R are books so I made coordinating bookmarks for them, finished them on the 24th. DH was the one who picked all the books and though I'm not a novels enthusiast (used to be back in college), these 2 books caught my attention: The Memory Quilt and A Thread of Hope. I kinda gave MIL and Aunt R that I'm interested to read these books when they're done. LOL

I waited till 24th to finish wrapping gifts coz we're expecting more DVDs in the mail. Unfortunately, they didn't made it in time for christmas. Most of the DVDs below are in the christmas gift lists of my dear in-laws. Did I mentioned before that months before christmas, we exchange lists of what we want to recieve for christmas? I think I did! LOL Anyway, these DVDs are the last gifts I wrapped.

We finished off our gift shopping with a bunch of giftcards... yeah, they're on the list too! Ranges from $25 to $100. I love recieving GC as well, specially from my fave craftstores. They're great for after christmas sale as discounts are hugeeeeeeee! And of course, I recieved some GC as gifts myself. Here I come Hobby Lobby! LOLHere are the gifts, all wrapped up before me and DH hauled them to SIL's house on christmas morning - where we had our gathering. We had a brunch instead of the usual lunch in the past years. I made bacon-wrapped lil' smokies and apple pie. The gathering is a potluck-style so we had a bunch of food.
These beads were from DH and in-laws. Mom got me Bead & Button mag (sub to follow) and Cube Bead Stitching book... plus other stuffs. DH surprised me with a box full of beads (mostly seed and E beads) and other beading supplies. He knew I need to expand my beading stash so he went to Hobby Lobby while I was back home and got me a bunch of supplies. I actually opened the box 2 days before christmas coz I've been bugging him. LOL Talking about excitement ha! He also included bead organizers, and they're already filled. I had been busy reorganizing my craft stash again since before christmas as it's getting hard to find things I'm looking for. SIL also gave me about 10 packs of seed beads (4 oz bags) plus a big organizer. My in-laws really know how to pamper me with craft supplies. LOL SIL gave me, MIL & Aunt R Lion King tickets which we will all use on January 23rd. We'll gonna have a girls day out on that day coz she also got a ticket for Katie and her. This will be the first time I'll see the show but I know it's really good. SIL and Katie watched it whenever the show is available in Des Moines, IA. This might be the 5th time Katie will see it, yet she's always excited. She loves musical shows and always go on some every year.

The first time I saw this bowmaker, I knew right away I had to have one. So I grabbed one this month and told DH to include it in my christmas or birthday gifts. LOL Needless to say, I had to doodle over it, before wrapping it. I'll just act surprise when I opened it this weekend for everybody to see. LOL SShhhsss, just kiddin'.

Look familiar - our driveway! I took the same photo last year... this one was taken yesterday morning as we had snowstorm the other night. DH didn't make it home due to bad road condition. He had to stay at the hotel where he works.
And what could be better during those snow cold days but yummy soup! DH went home few days before christmas with a whole big ham, he said he won it at work. So I immediately cut one fourth of it into cubes and made my own version of Bean and Ham Soup - with celery, carrots, laurel leaves, sweet basil, etc. It was soooooo yummy that I'll gonna make again this week.
I've been in the beadland since christmastime and stitching had to take a back seat. I've been busy beading away... mostly strining and beadweaving! In the last few days, I made more than 10 pairs of simple earrings, which I haven't took a picture yet. Moreso, I made a whole bunch of beaded stitching/sewing accessories like stitch markers, counters, etc. I think I have over 50 packs made already. I also enjoyed making the cases, using scrapbook cardstocks, hence the bright colors... and felt to hold the pins. It closes very well and ready for gift-giving to fellow stitchers. I will list most of them at my store.
And lastly, I'm glad that my partner for the TGOSM Ornament Exchange recieved her package before christmas. She sent me an email on the weekend before christmas that she didn't get them yet despite the fact I mailed it on December 8th. So I told her I'll stitch another one if she won't get them in 2 days, though I stitched a repalcement immeditely for the just in case scenario... and voila, the package arrived on the 22nd. BTW, I restitched another pagoda and will just give it as gift to my great aunt.

Well everybody, I think I've said to much so I better quit. From our house to yours, we wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

All My Bags Are Packed...

... or so I think! After a few packing and re-packing, I finally settled as to what to put in my luggages. I can't remember how many times I had to dig and compress the stuffs as I wanna maximize the space. Below are the luggages I'll take with me, 2 check-in and a carry-on plus of course a purse for my gadgets and stitching books. Unfortunately, my notebook quit on me recently so I decided to just have it repaired when I get back.

DH was craving for steak yesterday... while he was grilling, I was busy in the garden picking as much veggies as I can to preserve one last time. I'm sure they'll be all gone when I get back. My asparagus beans or string beans (sitaw in tagalog) just started to bloom a couple weeks back and yesterday was my first harvest. My eggplants and okra are still blooming really good as well, not to mention our peppers are overflowing again. I picked more than 20 eggplants, mostly japanese kinds, but the lavender touch and satin beauty are all huge. I took a photo while holding a satin beauty to show how big they are. We didn't get tomatoes this years as much as the previous years but we have more than enough to eat. DH friend drop by today so we gave some to him earlier.

I wish I have "ampalaya" so I can cook "pinakbet", but I can't find one here unless I'll go in Des Moines. The daredevil peppers or "siling labuyo" went right away on my datu puti "suka" or vinegar that's why they're not in the picture below. I have way too much habanero this year so I told DH we may not need to plant them next year, same goes for jalapeno. These were preserved yesterday and are now frozen.Look at these eggplants! I got them from one plant only... I think the said plant alone gave me more than 50 eggplants already... seriously, they stemmed and bloomed a lot. As I mentioned before, DH polinated them as we don't have much bees. Oh and notice the leaves on the background, can't deny it's fall already!

Here's what we had for lunch yesterday... this is DH's plate. We still have some left-over potatoes from MIL so I fried the biggest piece with olive oil, white onion and herbs.

After DH got done grilling, I grilled my eggplants and preserved most of them. Saved a couple and made eggplant omelet for supper... just for me as DH doesn't eat eggplants. Just in case some of you are curious, I peeled each eggplant after grilling. These are also yummy in "ensalada" (with "bagoong isda" as sauce or dressing), and was supposed to make some but I was too full yesterday that I neglected the idea... not to mention I want my "ensalada" to have yums young leaves ("talbos ng kamote"). MIL used to plant yums in her garden but was unlucky in the last couple of years so she decided not to plant this year.

I hope it's not yet too cold when I get back and can still have some fresh veggies from our garden, though I have to cross my fingers on that.

Have a great first Fall Sunday everybody!

Heirloom Sewing And What Nots

Here's the pillow I made on the "Heirloom Sewing Class" I attended on the first day of the State Fair, August 13th afternoon. It is made of dupioni silk, in green and ecru... and as the teacher said, it has to be filled lightly. I'm thinking of embellishing the edge but I'm not sure yet what medie to use, i.e. beads, trimmings, etc. It was a fun class and I can't wait to enroll on another class on Friday or Sunday.

Heirloom Sewing Project - August 13, 2009

Unfortunately, the "Shuttle Tatting Class" I wanna enroll is offered on the day I wasn't on the Fair so I'll gonna miss it this year. As I was browsing my Fair photos earlier, I realized I didn't share some of the tatted pieces so here they are. I think "Tatting Category" has the least entries this year, as per Dorothy.

The top 3 fabbies in the photo below were the ones I bought the other week, while the other 3 on the bottom were purchased this weekend. I so love the Fall and Halloween fabbies! The floral blue on the bottom left is kinda like a thick canvas-feel (cotton) fabric, and I'm thinking of making tote bags out of it.

Yardages of Cotton Fabbies

I finally decided to do some canning last Friday after all those rain we had early last week. Me and DH picked a bucketful of cucumber on Friday morning, both the regulars and skinny ones. As I gather my canning supplies, I realized I don't have much "small mouth" jars so DH had to get some at MIL's. I made 7 big jars of sweet pickles and 5 big jars of dill.

Sweet Pickles and Dills - August 14, 2009

All those rain early last week refrain us from picking veggies in the garden. Our garden is in the lower part of our lawn and it's kinda muddy after so much rain. As a result, some of our cucmbers got really old, which are actually perfect for MIL's relish. So I separated the big ones and we deliver these at MIL's on Saturday, along with some fresh corn, a muscatine cantaloup, and grilled chicken breasts. DH was in the mood to grill after we went in town, so I prepared mashed potato and gravy with our grilled chicken and corn. We've been enjoying MIL's fresh potatoes in weeks now. Needless to say, I'm sure I'm gaining extra pounds again. LOL

Cucumbers for MIL's Relish

Are you familiar with parslane? Well, it's called "maligoso" in my hometown in Pampanga, Philippines... an edible weed that has a lil' bit bittery (like ampalaya leaves) and slimy feel taste (like spinach). I already blog about parslane last year when I found them being sold at our local flea market. moreso, we gets lots of these in our backyard every summer so I told DH not to remove them when he's weeding in the garden. I picked some on Friday as they're starting to conquer our other veggies. I only picked 4 roots yet the big bucket got full. Unfortunately, I only managed to "himay" half, and the other half went into waste. It was just too much, and I have more to pick at the garden next few times!

Edible Weed: Parslane or Maligoso in Tagalog

I watched Tyra Banks Show, Dr. Phil Show, Who Want To Be A Millionaire and Jeopardy on Friday the entire time I was seggregating the leaves. But all the time I spent doing that was well worth it as I enjoyed eating my supper. After washing the leaves reallhy good, I sauteed them with a clove (minced) fresh garlic, medium size onion, olive oil, and a can of sardines. It was sure good with steam rice. I can't wait to do it again this week.

Parslane Leaves ready to cook!

Our eggplants this year are doing good too! I planted 3 kinds - lavender touch, satin beauty, and japanese eggplant (the skinny ones, similar to what we plant back home). I've been enjoying them for almost a month already. I usually eat them with fried fish and "burung isda", but since I got so much last week, I decided to start preserving - frozen method. I cut them into quarters then blanched (boiling water with lemon juice to preserve color) them for a few minutes... once they're strained and cold, I put them in zip lock baggies then freeze.

2009 Eggplants: Lavender Touch, Satin Beauty & Japanese

I took a lot of photos of our veggies garden last Wednesday, August 12, so I can show them to my family back home. I'll share some of them in my next post so you can see our "Christmas Tree Eggplants" and "Christmas Tree Tomatoes"... as in we had to put rods and sticks on them so they won't fall on the ground.

I have some stitching works to do so I better go back to work now. Have a great week everybody!

An Award And Other Stuffs

Astrid emailed me over a week ago about this award -Have a Wonderful Day Award. Unfortunately, I was extremely busy finishing some models that I didn't able to post about it right away. Thank you so much for the award Astrid. I am honor that you included me in the list.

There's a lot of blogs from all sorts of crafts that I admire therefore picking only 8 is extremely hard. Therefore, I'm giving this award to everybody who wanna grab it and please post it on your blog.

I ordered another batch of books from CVCEGA and I got them all in the mail few days ago. They range from needlepoint, hardanger, cross stitch and reference books. I enjoyed browsing them but one of my fave from this batch is the "Free Embroidery Stitches by Mary Hickmott". The pocketbook size is perfect to carry in purse.

Needlework Books from CVCEGA

My fingers has been busy stabbing linen the last two weeks as I had to finish some models for magazine publication, and some exchanges. My models went in the mail by mid-week, and now I'll be able to work on the next batch. I'm currently finishing some models for Embroidery & Cross Stitch magazine, which has been long overdue. The finishing technique I'm trying on is kinda new to me, and that slows my production. As I've mentioned before, I wanna perfect my technique so I can answer any queries from cutomers. It's the main reason why I prefer to do my models, though there were times that I'm considering hiring stitchers to increase my finishing time. Maybe in the future...:)

July Packages

We have lots of mulberry trees in our yard and there's this particular tree that gives us lots of them each year. Last week, me and DH picked a lot as majority are already ripe. By the time we stopped picking, our fingers are kinda purple already as they stain.

2009 Mulberries

That's all for now everybody! A wonderful stitching day to all!

New Fabric Stash

Here's another batch of fabrics I got yesterday. I wanted more but limit myself on 4 kinds only. The last 3 are 100% cotton, while the first one in the photo is poly-cotton with a linen look. I might try to stitch a counted thread design on it or simply use it as lining material.

May 2009 fabric stash

DH sprayed weeds on the ditches yesterday morning then spotted some asparagus, so we went asparagus hunting in the afternoon. This is the first year I got some asparagus from the ditches in our area... and they sure taste good!

Asparagus from the ditches

Have a great stitching weekend everybody!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

We went at MIL's house yesterday to drop off her presents. In the past, I just usually make bracelets for MIL so I decided to give her a complete set this time. The set is made of silver seed beads, pearls, and pewter charms. I stitched her initial and mounted it on a tin box which served as the gift box for the jewellery set. The box is lined and padded with ribbon to hold scissors or box of needle so she can use it for her sewing knick-knacks.

Jewellery Set for MIL

Techniques: Off-loom beadweaving, Peyote, & Stringing

Aside from the above, we also got her bunches gardeing stuffs like flower bulbs, potting soil, and a big wine barrel pot. One of her quilting friend from out-of-town was visiting that weekend so I made her a bracelet (left) using gold seed beads, pearls and antique gold metal charms. I enjoyed making these kind of bracelets so I made one for me myself (right). I accented mine with carrot freshwater pearls though.

Bracelets for me and Nona

Less than 30 minutes when we get home, DH's bestfriend called. He wanted to make sure somebody's home when he drop by to give us a bag of wild mushrooms. He loves going in the field to hunt for wild mushrooms and usually gives me and MIL a bag each when he gets a lot. Fortunately, he's always gets lucky.:) Anyway, these mushrooms didn't stay long in the fridge as I had to cook them right away. LOL I usually season and coat them with flour, eggs, salt & pepper then fry them with EVOO. The photo may not look good but they sure were yummy.

Wild Mushrooms from DH's Bestfriend

We went in Ames on May 7th to get some veggies/plants for our garden. I think we're the first customers in Holubs that day as we left home early. I planted 3 kinds of eggplants (satin beauty, purple touch and japanese eggplant) , 6 kinds of peppers (mostly bellpeppers for my salsa canning), lots of asparagus beans ("sitaw"), okra, plus of course the other regulars like cucumber, green beans, tomatoes (DH was in charge of them), and lots of greens (mustard, spinach, and radish).

Our strawberries our doing better this year so I hope to harvest more... I only got few last year. MIL has a good patch of asparagus in her yard but has to harvest them everyday otherwise "asparagus hunters" will get them. This is the time of year that I eat lots of asparagus as MIL is overflowing with them.

Well, I hope you're all having a great stitching day!

backdated post: 25th May 2009

An Easter Tradition

I remember blogging last year how we celebrate Easter back home, and that we actually call it Holy Week. Moreso, in my hometown, we still celebrate it the old ways. Holy Week is a big part of the Filipino tradition as majority of our population is Roman Catholic. Part of the tradition in our neighborhood is baking & eating "bibingka" or rice cake, so I decided to bake some since I purchased another batch of pinoy foods recently. Traditionally, bibingka back home is baked in ~8"x2" round clay molds (with banana leaves as lining) using coal (on top & bottom). To cut the story short, mine is of course baked in the oven, using rice flour mix and added cream cheese in the batter. Yummy!

Bibingka with Cream Cheese

I've been missing "puto" as well and I can't resist not to steam some. Yes, our puto back home is also made from rice and it's kinda like the counter part of muffins here in the US, only we steam them in small molds similar to muffin size. Any mold size and shape will actually works as long as it will fit in the steamer. Since I don't need a fancy product, I decided to use my "leche flan" or custard molds instead.

Puto topped with mild cheddar cheese

And finally, this week's visit at the pinoy store is the first time I saw "dugo ng baboy" or pork blood which is the main ingredient in dinuguan (dugo means blood). It is one of my fave food ever and is usually eaten with either puto or rice. I think I cooked about 7~8 pounds of pork dinuguan. I had to freeze some in small zip locks for later.

Dinuguan and puto

I hope everybody's having a wonderful family time. Happy Easter to all!

backdated post: 04-17-09

Food Food Food

Can you tell I'm busy cooking? DH might say no though... he'll definitely say I'm busy crafting! LOL We had another family gathering on March 15 at SIL's house. There was a lot of food as each of us brought something. I baked cherry-topped cheesecake, turtle brownies, and maple syrup glazed baby carrots. I can't remember who brought what but everything was surely delicious. Aside from above mentioned, we also had turkey, ham, deviled eggs, broccoli casserole, sweet corn casserole, three beans salad, rolls, chili beans, mashed potato, and gravy, apple crisp, orange-pineapple dessert, home-made ice cream (by MIL), etc... so much food I can hardly recall what else we had. LOL Everybody went home with bags of left-over food.

Since February (up to present), I eat sauteed baby spinach and salmon at least once a week. It's sooooooo yummy, specially with fried rice! We've been stocking up bags and bags of spinach just so I can have some whenever I want to. DH doesn't like spinach & salmon much but he's doing good on his diet. We try to have a guilt-free eating on his day-offs, and I usually prepare heeavy meals on those days... i.e. green bean casserole, cheesy potato casserole, pork chops, etc.

Food Food Food

I finally had the chance to steam my Siopao a couple weeks back. I'm sure I'll get more soon...

Siopao

Happy eating all!

backdated post: 2009-0322

Happy Birthday Mom

Me and DH had to finalize our shopping for MIL's gifts on Thursday. We decided to go at Hobby Lobby in Ames first thing in the morning. But first, we dropped by at Walmart-Ames to check out MASH Season 1 & 2 DVD set. We're supposed to include both sets at MIL's gifts but Walmart in town & in Ames both run out of them. So we agreed to just get MIL a HB gift card and some knick-knacks. I also made some bracelets for her aside from the DVD's, CD's, Fons & Porters Triangle, rotary cutter blades, Fons and Porters Quilting Magazine Subscription, Sensor, Ped-egg, books, coat, etc. Aunt R hosted Mom's party and I was in-charge on the dessert. MIL requested a strawberry shortcake. MIL and Aunt R prepared the main course. It was another very simple gathering but everybody had a great time!

Anyway, I didn't get any cross stitch item at Hobby Lobby this time. I just focused on the jewelry supplies isle and got me a bunch of beads (seed 11/0 and E 6/0). The photo below is just some of them! As always, while I was busy at HB, DH was at the moviestore (I think bought 2 or 3 DVD's). Around 10:30AM, we're already on our way to my favorite Asian Resto in Ames but they're still close when we got there so we spend some time first at K-Mart (it's just next to the resto) first and I ended up buying a pair of slippers. By the time we headed home, it's almost noon already...

Various Beads and Beading Thread (Nymo) from Hobby Lobby

It's been a while since the last time I visited JoAnn's despite the fact that it's just few stalls away from HB. Often than not, by the time I'm done browsing at HB, I'm broke already coz I always ended up buying "this and that". I'm sure you know what I mean.:)

Hope everybody's having a great stitching day!

backdated post: 2009-0322

Just Another Day of Blogging

Can you tell I'm a fish lover? DH knows how much I love ANY kind of fish and GREEN veggies so early last week (Tuesday), he went straight at the supermarket after work. Despite the fact that our fridge & frezzer is overflowing with various veggies and philippine kind fishes like tilapia (both whole and fillet kinds), milkfish (bangus), red snapper, etc. It's his another way of small surprises!

To cut the story short, the salmon he bought was our lunch that day. I baked it then served it with baby spinach salad drizzled with pistachio nuts. My dressing is made of EVOO and cajun mustard... sooooo yummy! Thanks to DH for buying a huge salmon that there's enough left-over for my the next day's lunch. This time though, I sauteed the spinach with a clove of garlic, sweet onion, seeded dice tomato and pistachio nuts on EVOO plus a pinch of salt & pepper. And had to eat it with plain rice & dipping sauce made of Asian soy sauce-lemon-ground red pepper... yummy!

Baked Salmon & Baby Spinach Salad

Here's the other thing that's filling my hands lately... repacking stuffs - particularly stitching & sewing accessories. I've been busy making STITCHING HELPERS too, i.e. linen markers, stitch counters, tail catchers, beaded fobs, etc. When I mailed some "smalls" models to Kirsten (The Gift of Stitching Magazine) last year, one of which is the Neck Purse set accompanied by a STITCHING HELPER detachable on a mini-biscornu. The said neck purse set was/will be published in 3 parts, from January 2009 up to March 2009. Subscribe on the magazine today to see how the set is assembled.

Stitching Helpers & Embellishments for TCN & Lody's Creations

Me and DH went at a booksale yesterday and got myself 24 various books... one of which is Poems of a Russian poet wile the rest are all about crafts, of course. I was hoping I could find more specific books about assissi, open-work, and pulled-work but I was still lucky to get about 4 needlework books with topics of the mentioned. I'm even surprise to be able to purchase a beadbook.

My New "OLD" Various Needlework Books

from Febuary 21, 2009 Booksale

I couldn't resist the "Grandma Moses" book too so I had to grab it for myself... and I had to indulge myself with it this morning, it's full of inspiration, I love it! DH bought a couple of sports books & a Dr. Phil (about losing weight) for him and we also managed to get 3 novels for MIL.

More books for me, DH and MIL

And lastly, I've been corresponding last week with Ms. Dorothy (in-charge on the Fabric & Threads Division of Iowa State Fair) and we already finalized my teaching schedule at this year's Fair. After 2 emails or so, she increased my slots from from 2 classes to 4 classes. I'm sooooooooo excited! Anyway, here's the further details of my teaching schedule:

• Class: 3D NEEDLEWORK HAND-FINISHING
• Dates: August 13, 2009 (Thursday, first day of the Fair) & August 21, 2009 (Friday)
• Time : 10:00AM - 12 noon & 1:30PM- 3:30PM on both dates above

I already finalized the "simple, quick to stitch designs" the other day. I just need to stitch and finish them this week so I can start to present them to Ms. Dorothy soon.

That's all for now folks. I will post a photo of the models once I get them done. Happy stitching!

A Knitting Lesson, A Girls Day-Out, And A Tag

A KNITTING LESSON with Mom finally took place yesterday morning as weather has been coorperating this last few days. Once DH got home from work in the morning, we headed straight at Mom's house. After a quick hello and short chat, DH went home to sleep. We knit for about 30-45 minutes... Thanks a bunch for MIL's patience!

After the knitting lesson was MIL's de-stashing. I checked out her fabrics at the basement and pick as much as I can. I only focus on the small cuts though despite the fact that MIL tells me to get everything I want, or everything I'll need. All are 100% cotton aside from 4 satins and 1 printed linen.

Fabrics from MIL

A GIRLS DAY-OUT: Around 9:45AM, we're already done with our thing so MIL called-up her sister to ask if she wanna have a lunch out with us. They had their hair done after lunch then our final destination was the grocery store. Needless to say, we all had a great time. I think I got home past 2PM.

A TAG: I have been tagged by Kathy http://dragonxser.wordpress.com/. The idea here is to go to your 6th picture file and choose the 6th picture, and then tag 6 blogging friends. I have thousands and thousands of photos in my computer, seggregated by year, month, etc. Here's what I did though, I opened my main photo folder, then clicked on the first sub-folder which happens to be 2007. Prior to mid-2007, I categorized my sub-folders via name or occasion, now it's by year, then sub-sub-folders via months, etc. Anyway, here's what I found:

2007 Harvest

Japanese Eggplants, Daredevil Peppers, and Cucumbers

I remember that above veggies are my first harvest on 2007. You do know that me and DH do gardening every year, right?:) Since I came here, 2007 was our luckiest year on cucumber coz we harvested so much, that we decided to plant few only last year. Up to now, we still have a bunch of canned DILL and SWEET PICKLES.

And finally, to tag 6 friends:
Emily - http://emilys-stitch-in-waiting.blogspot.com/
Wendy - http://www.biblo1.blogspot.com/
Paul - http://theheartofpaul.blogspot.com/
Lillie - http://sonillie.blogspot.com/
Nik - http://nikainunza.blogspot.com/
Tini - http://www.snazzynsuch.com/

On the flip-side, I had been busy this last few days researching and gathering info about a new craft I wanna try my hands on, something with INGEO FIBER. I can not guarantee I'll be good at it but I really would love to give it a GO. I know DH would roll his eyes on me about this coz it means I will need NEW STASH! LOL

Have a great stitching weekend everybody!