Sampler-Ready

Do you like my new banner photo? It's a picture I shot today while I was out and about in Fredericksburg, of Kenmore Plantation, which was George Washington's sister's home. I like it far better than Mount Vernon, where George lived. Talk about Sampler-Ready. I have to confess that I have never been inside, which I'll have to do in March when it re-opens. And I badly want to see the gardens; the local garden club has restored them, and they're supposed to be wonderful. Here's a link to the website, if you're interested--it takes you on a nice room-by-room tour of the renovation. When I'm retired (yeah, sure), I'd like to do the degree in historic preservation offered by the University of Mary Washington.

I'm a little sad that this is the last day of my mini vacation. I went find a shirt or two for work at the mall, promising myself two things (I hate malls). Wait. That's a misplaced modifier; I don't work at the mall. See? I'm all tangled up. Anyway, I went to the mall to buy a shirt. For work. And the first reward? An Auntie Ann's pretzel with a diet coke. And then I thought, well, if I didn't find anything much, or it isn't expensive, I'd then go to Everything Cross Stitch and kit up a couple of things. Which, when you think of it, is a conflict of interest, because of course I won't find any shirts or spend any money if the reward for not finding or spending is going to the needlework store. But I bought a nice shirt and a pink sweater and then, having spent way less than my allotted clothing budget, I hightailed it to Fredericksburg to buy something far more interesting.

First things, first: some progress on Peaceful Paradise.

Here's what I got: Rosewood Manor "And a Garden Grew." AGAIN. I have completely lost the original copy--probably threw it out with some magazines. I have thoroughly combed my needlework areas several times, and it's just not here. I already own the fabric and the majority of the DMC (there are 120 colors of DMC in this, so I'm not even contemplating substituting it out).

I kitted this up because when I was at the shop last, I spied the nicest, minty-green Lakeside linen for this project. Edited to add: this is The Skating Party, by Praiseworthy Stitches. I'm doing it on 32 count linen (in Patina) using the called-for GAST and WDW threads.

Other than my little journey to the mall and the needlework shop, I've been inside stitching and doing stuff in the house. Like cooking. Last night I made a recipe from one of those magazine pull-outs in one of the Sunday papers: Penne with Vodka sauce. It called for onions and carrots, diced and sauteed in olive oil, along with tomato paste, two cans of tomatoes, including the fire-roasted ones (which have black burned bits on them--shoot--I'm calling all my food "fire-roasted," since I have a bad habit of starting a meal and then wandering away distractedly to read or stitch.) And vodka, which you can't taste at all. It doesn't seem to add any tanginess/saltiness in the way that wine does, so I think you could leave out the vodka, unless you happen to want to have a cocktail with it while you cook. Anyway, you finish off the dish with some cream, which makes it smooth and silky and turns it all pink. Mmmmm. Predictably, BF said: "Where's the meat?" when I served it.

"Did someone say 'Pink?'"