Skip to main content

Movie Quotes, Explosions, and Aardvarks

 Happy Monday

Do you know what I really need right now? A nice rainstorm. And not just a drizzle, but honest to goodness rain. It’s been so dry here at the Castle since the start of the summer, so it’s not just me that would benefit but the plants and all the animals would benefit too. You can water your plants from a garden hose all you like, but nothing makes plants happier than a good drink of rainwater.

Nareign, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons 
I would like some of that rain here, please.

Some very happy news this week; I am the proud owner of an Instant Pot! (Disclaimer: not a sponsored post!) Look out pot roast here I come.


WIP Update

Do you know what what makes half-stitches so great? They add lovely texture and depth to a chart, while also enabling you to cover a lot of ground very quickly. E.g. :

See? Texture, depth, speedy progress. Those floss colors are gorgeous too. I think the flowers are really starting to come to life. Soon I’ll be back at the entrance to that café, where I’ll make a right turn, then proceed to the bottom of the chart again. The window of the café looks so inviting, doesn’t it? I want to trot in there, order a cup of coffee and watch Paris go by.

Now we will turn our attention to Medieval Menagerie:

No close-up’s this week; I wanted to give you the bigger picture. Look at those dragons! Aren’t they amazing? I love the way this variegated floss just makes dramatic color changes. BOOM! Here’s some deep red. BOOM! Here’s some garnet. The next band is geometric and quite stunning. Being a fan of both geometric and stunning motifs, I’m pretty excited about getting there. But first, the present band still has the rest of that third dragon, and another tree to balance out the tree on the left hand side of the band.


Odds & Ends

Last week I mentioned that I was growing San Marzano’s in the Castle garden. Who knew that there was so much debate about them? Best Canned Tomatoes: Are San Marzano Really Worth It?

We assumed that, unlike peanut butter, there wouldn't be a whole lot of variation among canned tomatoes. One tomato in a can should be like, well, a tomato in a can. But it turned out that comparing can to can was a lot more like comparing apples to, say, aardvarks.

The biggest surprise? Which brand came out on top.

People have the most amazing ideas. I’m signing up for Pride and Prejudice Weekly, and Letters from Watson looks really fun too.

On Substack
What to Read: A treasure trove of serialized classics
A surge of new publications serializing classic novels have appeared on Substack. Inspired by Matt Kirkland’s popular Dracula Daily—a serialization of Bram Stoker’s epistolary gothic novel—these newsletters deliver the story directly to your inbox, as it happens…
Read more

You want some Bach? Here’s some Bach:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Nikolai, and Eat Mississippi Pot Roast

Meet Nikolai Or at least, meet Nikolai's head.  See that dark block of stitches in the middle? Yes, that is Nikolai's head. He has one of those warm Russian hats on, so he won't catch cold riding through this winter scene.  I really like stitching in 10x10 squares, it's amazed me how much progress one can make when using this method.  Russian hunting is absolutely stunning, but maybe it's time for a change soon. Here's my tentative plan: keep stitching on Russian Hunting until the end of January, then at the beginning of February put it away and start working on one of my other wips. We'll see. Mississippi Pot Roast If you've had this dish, you know it's heavenly. If you haven't had it, you're missing out. Simple as that!  Beef, ranch dressing mix, pepperoncini peppers, and au jus. It sounds like a weird combo, but trust me- it is amazing. One of my all time favorite meals ever.  The flavors mix together beautifully. There's r...

My Current Rotation

Cross Stitch Update  Today I'd like to introduce you to my rotation.   But first, let me explain how I choose what to stitch on everyday. I use a lottery system, mostly because I have a lot of wip's right now, and partly because I'm terrible at making decisions. I used to spend so much time agonizing over which one to stitch on. It also means that I spend a good amount of time on all of my wip's, not just the ones that are calling to me. I have gotten two  finishes since I started using this system at the beginning of the year.   I have seen some Flosstubers using an app, but my Mother and I thought that this would be much more fun after seeing Sitchin' Mommy use a similar system on her Flosstube channel for her Arbitrary August videos. The only day that I don't use the lottery is on Sunday. I stitch on whatever is calling to me on Sundays.   I used eight glass beads- the kind you buy at the dollar store- and labeled them A through H with a Sharpie. Then I...

Wip Rotation Report

Cross Stitch Update  Welcome back! This time, I'm going to talk about the progress I've made on my wip's.  So here is my progress from June 16th- June 26th  Since the 16th I stitched on: J is for Jack O Lantern Leilani Still Life with Tangerines  Paris Market  J is for Jack O Lantern    I am in the center of the pumpkin right now. The floss colors are so autumnal. Found the perfect needle minder! J is for Jack O Lantern   Leilani  I am always excited to draw Leilani in my lottery! She is my first Mirabilia and I absolutely love her. The first time I saw her was when I was watching a Flosstube video. I gasped she was so beautiful. When my Mother said she was a freebie, I was over the moon. The Caron Waterlillies are a joy to use. I made some substitutions here and there and this is not the called for fabric. Leilani Still Life with Tangerines    Luca S hits it outta the park ea...