12. Dorothy's Garden

Today's project is a WIP from way back: "Dorothy's Garden," by A Stitcher's Hands. I'm stitching it on a 32 count mystery fabric--I'll have to go back and look at what it is, because it feels rich and creamy [edited to add that it's 34 count Legacy linen in cafe au lait]--using the recommended AVAS. I have enoyed working on it, but I got bored because it's almost completely symmetrical, so I set it aside once I'd completed (nearly) one side. I'd actually forgotten it completely until Michelle mentioned that I had worked on a project called Dorothy's Garden, and I claimed no knowledge of it whatsoever. Sad! My apologies for the creases--it's been folded in its project bag for quite a while, and I don't iron unless really necessary.


This is slated to be a 2011 finish; it's really nice to work on, and all those roses are just beautiful close-up.


A photo of last night's salad: I got the recipe from the huge collection of Cooking Light recipes published in book form. The salad is composed of torn greens (I used Boston and romaine lettuces) and the top portion is a mixture of apples (granny smith and pink lady), an ounce of blue cheese crumbled, 2 pieces of bacon crumbled, and a dressing of lemon juice (I used myer lemons, which are a bit sweeter), honey and a tiny bit of olive oil. The lemon juice keeps the apples from discoloring, and the honey makes the dressing adhere and keeps it from being too tart. We're going to try lots of adventurous salads--I'm guilty generally of stocking a head or bag of lettuce, cucumber, tomato and carrots and putting together the same tossed salad time after time. Who wants to eat or make that over and over. So I resolved to find new things to make, which required a visit to our local Wegmans store, which has great produce. It's where I also bought the dandelion greens for the bunnies. The dandelion greens are huge--I can only imagine how large the flowers are--and I haven't seen them in a store until yesterday when I shopped in the produce section (although I've seen them on other bunny blogs), picking among the more exotic stuff. Coming up in the salad department will be a Thai steak salad and a grapefruit-avocado-seafood salad.


I need to get out and exercise. Pink is providing me with a convenient excuse not to go out by chewing my laces. For whatever reason, he chews the end caps off all my laces. He doesn't swallow the caps--just drops them on the floor. I keep my really good running/walking shoes locked away from his little teeth.


Happy snow day to those of you who got the storm (it seems to be largely missing us), and see you tomorrow!