Happy New Year to you all!!

Hello and Happy New year to you all! I'm sooo sorry it has been so long since my last blog--I have been up in Vermont with my folks-my dad was in the hospital over Christmas. He is home as of Tuesday-he has Pericarditis-an increased amount of fluid in the sac around the heart. It can be quite serious if not treated. Other symptoms can include extreme fatigue (yes), difficulty breathing especially when vertical (yes), swelling of the ankles and feet (yes), anxiety (yes)... the doctors at Dartmouth-Hitchcock are treating him with high doses of aspirin...needless to say the only and best gift I received was getting him home on Tuesday. I came home yesterday and sat on my kitchen floor for what seemed like an hour just loving on my pups!! They jumped all over me-my face is chapped with doggy kisses. I am here at work today (no snow was going to stop me!) and revelling in my routine!!

I apologize for not getting the new/the fun/the unusual up for you to see but with lots of prayers and TLC Dad will hopefully return to his old state!!

Have a very happy, healthy, joyous New Year and look for more new ASAP!! Love to you all--Molly

Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

After Beth's soo funny email newsletter, we received TONS of requests for the Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe- so I am posting it here...all questions/comments/suggestions are welcome...I merged it with the Candy Cane Chocolate recipe seen in this month's Cook's Baking issue...

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used just whole wheat flour)

1 cup all purpose unbleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup good cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain soymilk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup(not pancake syrup)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Sift together flours and baking powder and baking soda.

In a saucepan, heat the soymilk on low-medium heat. When it is slightly bubbling, add the cocoa powder and whisk well until it is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Combine the other liquid ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Add the cocoa mixture and combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 for 25 mins (mine took 40) until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely then frost.

To make a two layer cake (what I want to do Friday) multiply ingredients by one half and divide batter into 2 separate pans. ( so whole wheat flour would be 1 1/8th cup, all purpose flour 1 1/2 cup etc)

Frosting

4 sticks margarine (1 pound)

1 cup confectioners sugar (or more)

4 tablespoons plain soy creamer

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup finely ground peppermint candies to make "peppermint dust" plus some for garnish

Whip the margarine for ~30 seconds until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and whip about 1 minute. Add soy creamer and vanilla and again whip ~ 2 minutes. In another small bowl place 1/4 of the frosting and 1/4 cup "peppermint dust". Stir together. I split the cake and used the peppermint frosting as the filling in between the two layers. Then frost the rest of the cake with the "plain" frosting, press the rest of the "peppermint dust" on the sides. YUM!!

You can adapt to use the peppermint frosting for the entire cake-it goes really well with the dense chocolate-ness of this cake--ENJOY!!

Pear Ornament by Little House due in Wednesday

Happy Monday all! I hope you are not as frazzled as I am-trying to tie up loose ends....just found out that one gift is out of stock and so had to reorder and pay an exorbitant shipping fee...made a vegan chocolate cake last night-turned out great but unwrapping 48 candy canes and getting them down to a fine granule was very noisy ( just ask Mr. Miley-he vacated the kitchen until it was time to taste test the frosting..sorry buddy, no chocolate cake for you!!)...got my tree up and was thrilled that Miley actually loved it!! He was jumping around, racing to and fro...until the ornaments went on...then he looked sullen-not sure why!!
We had about 18 inches of snow on Saturday-dogs LOVED it! I had to make paths for them-Sammy stuck her head down under like a duck in water-she was looking for chipmunks!! Miley was "Tigger-hopping"-licking the snow!
Hope you all had a good weekend-won't it be nice when January comes and we can sit back and stitch??!! The above ornament should be here Wednesday--
Til tomorrow--Molly

Friday at TSS

Above are Friday's newbies from Hoffman that I haven't already posted--we already have the little tree by Heart in Hand in stock....the others will be here within the next two weeks. Also available from Hoffman will be Sabrina by Mirabilia and the two newest silk gauze designs from Erica Michaels...

Have a super weekend-hope you get lots of stitching done tomorrow-if you have to be out be safe!! Molly

Getting ready for the storm!

Afternoon, stitchers! Just talked to Eileen who said the grocery store is a free-for-all! Of course, I want to do a trial run of the vegan cake I'm making for next Saturday-I'm going to do a Candy Cane Icing (from Cook's Holiday Baking)-bringing it in to work on Monday (weather permitting!).So I think I'll wait til 9PM to go to Genuardi's...
Little House is releasing the Pear ornament soon and the above in January-note his body is a snowflake!! Love him!!
We are on a sugar-high here today-our favorite present came today-Kringle from Racine, WI. It is fabulous! Don't read the nutritional label-we have each eaten like 24 kabillion servings...www.ohdanishbakery.com Their kringle is THE BEST! Flaky, buttery, yummalicious!
Hope all is good with you all-I am trying to finish a few little stitcheries for Christmas.
Will hopefully post more new-stay safe tomorrow... Molly

Friday's stitching is cancelled

Good morning, all! I hope you're not too crazy with all of your holiday preparations. I have been nutty trying to get everything accomplished!!

We are sooo sad to say that we are cancelling Friday's stitching-we have has sooo many people that can't make it due to other obligations, activities, shopping, etc We hope we haven't disappointed too many of you-we will be having stitching again Friday, January 15th. 2010!! We will be putting notice on our website and will email the previous attendees. Please pass the word. We hope to see you before the holidays-if we don't please have a safe, joyous Christmas!! I'll be posting more info as the week progresses.

Take care-Molly

Sabrina

Howdy stitchers! I hope your weekend was good-I traveled up to visit a Shaker Village in New Hampshire-my sister is in charge of the volunteers there-it is The Canterbury Village and the first two Saturdays of December they have special Christmas events, they light the village with luminaries, and have actors portraying people from long ago-there are horse drawn rides, hot cider and demonstrations for adults and children. They also have events throughout the year...www.shakers.org is their website if you're interested...
The above is a new, gorgeous design from Mirabilia called Sabrina-reminds me of the movie-love both versions too!
Hope all is good with you all!! Molly

A Note to Reed and Jennifer

Dear Reed and Jennifer( at Ladybug Lane)-

Yesterday I went to the doggie hair-do place. My hair is all fluffy and soft and they sent me home with a snowman scarf...Molly took it off when my pal Sammy-G tried to tug on it. I have lots of great toys to play with but my favorite toys are socks, on or off feet. I also love to chew zipper pulls, pant strings, DMC floss, and oriental rug fringe. I loved the snow we had last week but it sticks to my legs-Molly had to use a hair dryer to melt it away. This will be my first Christmas so Molly will have to hang the ornaments high!

I send both of you my love and thank you for the hugs and kisses you send to me! Love in bunches--Mr. Miley Coyote

Friday's update

Happy Friday to you all! What a day it was for me yesterday--I went from one mall to another-I used to love to shop....no so much anymore! I would rather be at home stitching in my chair with my pups ...

Above are new designs from The Stitcherhood, PrimitveBetty, Milady's Needle and Val's Stuff.

Have a good weekend and don't get too exhausted shopping-enjoy some time with family and friends and a big dose of tome for yourself!! Molly

Last installment of Christmasland here

Good afternoon! Just in is the last installment of the Christmasland packs-Beth is stitching this and it is really sweet! Mary W told me about the upcoming silk gauze kit from Erica Michaels-cute for Valentine's!! She has seen it stitched and raved about it!

What a change this afternoon is from this morning-thought I would see Noah in my backyard-huge puddles. Dogs did not want to go out a second time this morning-they were a skanky mess after the first run, poor them. Mr Miley goes for a day o' beauty tomorrow...I will post pics of him when he gets home especially for Reed and Jennifer!!

Will be doing some shopping tomorrow-tried to go to KOP on Saturday but it was too mobbed! I left after 10 minutes...UGH!

Hope all is good with you-don't forget stitching is next Friday, the 18th!

Molly

Glory Bee

Well, it's high noon and I am even further behind (or just a behind!!) than when I first arrived-have days like this?? Good thing is that Catherine G. stopped by and showed me her finished Jenny Bean and her wedding sampler she designed-watch for that girl to be a great designer soon! She is very creative-very talented!!
Hope you're having a good day-another weather-day on the way tomorrow! The above is due out by Glory Bee soon---Have a good one! Molly

Monday afternoon

Greetings all-I hope you enjoyed the snow on Saturday-I still have a ton in my backyard...not as much down here at work. My Miley Coyote LOVES the snow-he hops around like a bunny and chases the little balls of snow that he creates. Unfortunately, when we went inside we spent a good 15 minutes with the hairdryer-he had big snowballs built-up on the backs of his legs and his belly. Sammy-Girl stayed with us (she takes such good care of him!) and got some warm air on her belly (even though she has not a flake on her! Her hair rejects it!!)...Beth and I are going to put together a display of gifty ideas for stitchers and their elves....also going to add more discontinued models for sale-just got notification that Dimensions has slimmed down their line...keep you eyes open for these...the above pic is to come from Victoria's Sampler...it is dedicated to all of the times we stitchers flock together for retreats, classes, meals, or just to be...Thea says that if you stitch this piece you too have become a stitching friend of hers...very sweet!...Take care and have a good night!! Molly

New from Bent Creek and Plum Pudding

Greetings citizens! Getting ready for our first snow of the season? It's a great time to pull out a fun project and watch the flakes fall tomorrow night-get your fuzzy slippers on, a blankie over your legs, a furry friend at your side and you're set! Have a super weekend and to Catherine G, I got your e-mail-I can't believe you're finished with Jenny Bean-stinker!! But I can't wait to see it! And I will get a new picture up next week of Miley Coyote for Reed and my buddy, Jennifer...

Have a good weekend and talk to you on Tuesday!! Molly

Stitching at the Ford pictures!!

Good morning, stitchers and friends!! I have finally posted the pictures from our last Friday night at the Ford-check out all of the stitching and chatting!! We had a blast and I'm now looking forward to our next session (Friday the 18th- 5:30PM-10PM)...am also awaiting Hoffman's "NEW" stuff to debut-not much new out there-understandably! Too much to do this time of year and way too little time! I will post some this afternoon-don't forget to take some time in there for yourselves, okay?!

Later-Molly

Samsarah 2010 free graphs

Good afternoon-Still can't believe it's December! WOW-where has the time gone?

The above picture is the prototype of the bee graphs that will be available next year with purchase of buttons...the three on the left will be the first three-January, February and March-you can stitch just one or as a row of twelve (or pick the ones you like best!) Let us know if you want to be on the automatic--

Hope you are staying warm-did I hear something about snow for Saturday???? Molly

PIne Mountain Pillows-great quickies!

Good morning, all! I have determined that without sunshine I am a mess! I don't care (well....) how cold it gets as long as there is sun...we have had a ton of grey weather and it makes me draggy! I never realized it until this year!!

I decided to post some pillow from Pine Mountain-we just got a shipment-they make for great, quick-stitching gifts-and no framing or finishing! We have lots to choose from-this is only a sampling. You can see all of their pillows at www.pinemtndesigns.com. The other design is a preview from Myrtle Grace-love her designs!! Hope all is good with you and that December brings you joy!! Molly