Tour de Bookshelf

Although I did quite a bit of stitching this past week, I don't have much exciting to show for it. Just a bit here and a bit more there. So I thought I'd do something a little different today.

LHN's The Bookshelf is one of my Challenge pieces, and I chose it mostly because I love reading. Books are as big of a part of my life as stitching is, if not more so, and most of my life thus far has revolved around literature. So I thought I'd give you a tour of my bookshelves! SO...here we go! You might have to click on the pictures to enlarge them to see which books are which...

This bookshelf is kind of a mish-mash of different things. On the second shelf, middle stack, we have my celebrity memoir collection. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Kate Gosselin, Maureen McCormick, Jodie Sweetin. It's a guilty pleasure, and I'm trying to stop, I swear!! To the right of that stack are my Jodi Picoult books. I love her....everything I've read by her has been superb! My all-time favourite book also lives on this bookcase: Eat, Pray, Love. Also notable here is Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, which I haven't read because it scares me!  Other notable appearances here- The Kite Runner, Water For Elephants, The Glass Castle, Anne of Green Gables, and Of Mice and Men....and last, but not least, my all-time favourite book of childhood...Pippi Longstocking.

 

Another random assortment. A couple of anthologies from school- The Restoration Period and The Romantic Period literature, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a few Jane Austens, and Twilight!

This shelf houses my Emily Giffin books, another favourite author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard, Bright Shiny Morning), and many reference books, mostly to do with gardening.

This shelf is my favourite. It was my first, and holds all of the books I had to read while I was working on my english degree. All of the great authors live on this shelf- Dickens, Eliot, James, Shakespeare, Johnson, Hemingway...along with a spattering of poetry anthologies and history and psych textbooks. And, just as importantly, all of my Rachael Ray cookbooks live on this shelf as well. She's up there with those authors, in my opinion LOL!

And finally, this is the pile of books I'm reading now- The Happiness Project, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I'm not very far into either though because most of my time this past week has been devoted to drooling over McDreamy and McSteamy...yep...Holly lent me the 5th and 6th seasons of Grey's Anatomy......YUMMY!!!!!



Crazy January Challenge Wrap-Up: Days 14 and 15!

Project #14: Zippity Do Da- La Da Da

Cute, right? I love this one, it's just so FUN!

Project #15: Noel 2009- A Mon Ami Pierre

I fell in love with this one a couple of months ago when I saw it on a blog somewhere...I finally found it again and when I went to pick up my floss they were out of the called-for colour. So I decided to switch it to a beautiful blue satin floss. I've never worked with satin before and it's quite challenging! But I love love LOVE how nice it looks! I did learn the hard way though that there's no mistake fixing...the entire thread was destroyed. So this will have to be flawless...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can......

A wise friend casually pointed out the other day that I'd have to complete at least one project per month to get this done. I suppose on some level I knew that (logical math...15 projects, 12 months...you know) but I didn't actually connect that in my head haha...so I'm working on getting 2 small ones done this month. Perhaps my Quaker pincushion and my red Christmas tree. Just some thoughts.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great night :-)

ABCs Of Me!

My final two patterns came in the mail today!! YAY! I'm so in love with one of them, Noel 2009...I almost cried when I opened it up and saw how lovely it was! Since I don't have all the right materials to start either of them, I'll have to do a little stitchy shopping tomorrow and update my final two days tomorrow night!

In the meantime, I borrowed this ABCs of Me from several of you...isn't it a quick and fun way to get to know each other?

A - Age: 24



B - Bed size: Double

C - Chore you hate: Taking out the garbage and recycling

D - Dog's name: Cooper

E - Essential start of the day item: Coffee and my toothbrush

F - Favorite color: Blue
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'4


I - Instruments you play: I'm terribly non-musical. I played the recorder in grade 3?
J - Job: In a salad bar
K - Kids: Hopefully one day!
L - Living arrangements: In a basement apartment with two roommates, MJ and Erin #3
M - Music you love: Anything by Johnny Reid
N - Nicknames: Jode, Jodes, Jodster, Little Bear (and Cooper is Big Bear), Moonlight Graham, Lovebug, Chainsaw
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: I had a lump removed from my neck when I was 4.

P - Pet Peeve: Snoring- it drives me crazy.
Q - Quote from a movie: Huh...my mind is totally blank...
R - Right handed or left: Right


S - Siblings: one younger brother


T - Time you wake up: Usually 5:15am
U - Underwear: Umm...I wear it
V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussels sprouts
W - Workout Style: Running and yoga
Y - Yummy food you make: Ted Squares
Z - The best place to visit: My Grandpa in Southampton.

Crazy January Challenge- Day 13!

...finally catching up....

Project #13: A Sheltering Tree- Folk Art Designs

We're supposed to get lots and lots of snow tomorrow...yay!!! I'm crossing my fingers that my remaining two patterns come with it :-)

Crazy January Challenge- Day 12

One of my patterns finally came!

Project #11: Plants of the Southwest- Art Ventures

My friend Erin and I call ourselves "Arizona enthusiasts." For some reason we both love everything to do with it and love love love to visit it. She's a landscaper and I come from a very garden-y family, so we were both really into the plants that grew there, especially since they're so different from what we have here, so when I came across this, I knew I had to stitch it for her.

I decided to start stitching the Yucca first. A lot of my patterns that I chose for this challenge have a lot of greens in them so I wanted to work on something a little lighter...and the Yucca has some light tan and white...just a little change of pace I guess, though it's quite hard to see in this picture!

WOW.....

I thought I'd share a recipe I tried today...it's absolutely amazing! Don't you just love Paula Deen? I mean seriously, how can you not? Anyone who tells me that a little more butter will solve all of my life's problems is a friend of mine :-)

Erin and I used to watch her show and laugh our butts off at her. I can still hear her echoing through our little apartment.... "let's add another stick a butter ya'll...cause really, why not?"

For some reason I can never find her show anymore, so I asked for one of her cookbooks for Christmas. My parents bought me her "Just Desserts," and I finally decided to make something today. And it was....sooooo delicious!

I have to admit, as I was dipping little pieces of uncooked Pillsbury Country Biscuits into melted butter, then rolling them around in brown sugar and cinnamon I was thinking "oh my gosh, I'm soaking these in melted butter...I can't eat these!" while simultaneously almost laughing with excitement at the prospect of eating them.

So, here it is!

Granite Steps Country Blueberry Coffee Cake

 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted



1 12-ounce can buttermilk biscuits


1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Generously grease a 9-inch square baking dish.  In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well with a fork.  Separate biscuit dough into 10 biscuits.  Cut each biscuit into quarters, and dip each piece in melted butter and coat with brown sugar mixture.  Arrange in a single layer in baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the oats.  Combine blueberries and granulated sugar in a bowl and toss to coat.  Spoon over oats and biscuits and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup oats.  Drizzle melted butter on top.  Bake for 20 minutes or until cake is golden brown and center is done.  Cool for 20 minutes.  Serve warm.

*please note, I borrowed this picture from foodtv.ca A new roommate just moved into my house and I didn't want her to think I was completely nuts, taking pics of my desserts. There's plenty of time for her to discover my craziness after she gets settled in LOL!

enjoy

Catch The Wind Progress!

I've made the most notable progress on Catch The Wind so far, of all my Challenge pieces, so I thought I'd share a little update of it!

So Blogger has decided to load my picture the wrong way even though it's saved on my computer the right way....so just tilt your heads to the right...wayyyy to the right, and you'll see it! Hahaha...

Have a great night everyone!