Stitching Friends Forever

January Week one and two

Styling with Stitches - Week One
Free Pattern
Grab bag - Week Two
Recipe of the Month

Happy 2018' to all!   Hope everyone had wonderful holidays and are enjoying the new year.  Do you have lots of stitching plans?  We are so excited to be back and can't wait to share our new stitches with you.   

We still will aim to have four weekly posts a month with different themes.  You will find a few changes to the themes and posts on the sidebar.  Another goal is to have two topics to cover each week.  We hope you like the changes and additions.

Well we got a late start this month so we will be putting week one and two together.   So pull up a chair, a cup of coffee and enjoy a  jam packed post!

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Styling with Stitches
Week One

RJ's Journal -  The pattern Sewing Bird by With Thy Needle and Thread was my choice for the journal.   I love to make notes and plans for the blog so I thought the beginning of the new year would be perfect for a sewing journal.   I bought a book from Amazon and then stitched Sewing Bird to add to the front.   I finally made my first flat finish but still need lots of practice!  I added black rick rack around the stitch and a little black bow at the top.   As a little extra, I attached a ribbon to the book to act as a page marker and stitched a scissor charm to it. 

I made some changes to the stitch to make it longer. Where it was suppose to end I made a new design  by putting the top border together with the bottom border.   Then I added some words "Just One Stitch More" under the new design.   I'm always saying that to myself each night because I never want to stop stitching.  I ended it with more so it would rhyme with the 1 2 3 4 in the stitch.  And, then I added the original bottom border.    
  

Adding the black rick rack and bow grounded it 

Closeup of the new stitch and words I added

I pulled the bookmark out so you can see how the scissor charm was added at the bottom

Sewing Bird
by With Thy Needle and Thread
40 ct. flax linen
called for over dyed threads
vintage rick rack and ribbon
scissor charm from Bohemian Findings on Etsy

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Mary's Journal - My journal is for Hudson, my 4 year old grand nephew.  I’m hoping his mother will use it to journal his daily activities.  I stitched the train on 18 count country mocha Aida with 4 threads of assorted DMC for full coverage.   The most difficult part of finishing was trying to evenly place the rick rack, and I didn’t succeed so well at that!  On second thought,  the difficult part was trying to thread the needle with 4 threads!!!

Here is my journal for my sweet grand nephew 

H is for Hudson!

H is for Hudson
18 ct. Country Mocha Aida cloth
DMC threads in primary colors
black rick rack

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Free Pattern for you

Robin sent us this great free stitch that we thought you would really enjoy.   I know it is in our stitching plans.

You can find the chart at glorybeestitch

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Grab Bag Week Two 
Review of Styling with Stitches 17'
Our first grab bag of 18' is to review our Styling with Stitches from our first year of  blogging.  We thought this would give newcomers a way of getting acquainted with Styling with Stitches and a place for our early followers to find them all together. Our goal for Styling with Stitches is to find new ways to use our stitches.  They usually are our bigger projects of the month.   

April was our very first post and we made candle banners.  We were so afraid to hit the publish button that first day!   But we are so glad we did and got to meet so many wonderful people through this blog.   

May was a fun month and we still use these sewing machine covers every day. 





In June we made two cute pin cushions.   One in a tart tin and another on a wooden stand.





July was our patriotic month.   We made two projects - a flower bag and a paper weight.





August was our first pillow pinafore and word play combo.   You will see two of these each year.





September was our gift month.   We made a set of seasonal birds and a really pretty sewing set.




In October we made two projects.   One was a stand to hold a stitch waiting to be finished and the other a cloche tag. 





November was our fall month and we made two Fanci That angel hangings.





In December we ended our first year with our second pillow pinafore and word play combo.




It was a fun first year and we look forward to many more with all of you.

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Recipe of the Month

This is a new feature we will be adding every second post of the month.   We will share our favorite recipes and hope you will enjoy them.

Mary's Butternut Squash Chili:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large or 2 small jalepeno seeded and chopped

¼ cup tomato paste

3 large plum tomatoes, chopped (In off season, I substitute Hunts petite tomatoes)

1 cup apple cider

1 cup water

1 tsp cumin

3 Tablespoons chili powder (I start with 1 T and add more to taste)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into one inch cubes

3 cups black beans (I use three 15 oz cans drained)

¼ cup cilantro

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread butternut squash cubes on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake 12 mins or till tender to touch, remove and set aside.

Heat oil in large pot, add paste, garlic, jalepenos, cover and cook for 5 mins. Add beans, tomatoes, apple cider, water, spices and squash. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer till squash is very tender, about 20 mins. Add beans and simmer uncovered for additional 20 mins. Garnish with cilantro.

I prebake squash in microwave for a few minutes to make cutting easier.  I don’t add jalapeno as my husband does not like “hot” food. It’s good with and without jalapeno. I have even served this cold as a dip with tortilla chips.  

I am fortunate to have a local farm stand that sells the squash for 1$ each and load up on it in the fall. Squash stores very well in a cool spot. This is a healthy recipe to start off the New Year!! 

                   

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Thank you so much for your visit.   We really appreciate each and every one of you.  Next week will be our new "challenges" post.   Until then, we hope you get the time to do lots of stitching. 

                                                       RJ and Mary


                  Snowmen fall from heaven one flake at a time
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