Happy Independence Day!!

Thank you to everyone who dedicates their time to keeping us safe and free! I promise there will be updates soon...work has been a bear!

Surprise Ornament

I finally finished my Surprise ornament for the exchange in July! It seems like it took FOR-EV-ER! First Snow
by The Drawn Thread
available here
This scan is just a bit washed out. The colors are still subtle, but a little more saturated than this. Michael said he really liked it when he saw it finished. I'm feeling rather uninspired about how to finish it. Any good ideas? I picked up a book on kumihimo at Stitches South. (Egad, I still need to blog about that!) How weird would it be to use an ancient Japanese braiding as a border for a primitive cross stitch design??

Ritzy Tea

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A couple weeks ago, Michael and I went to tea at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. This is actually where he proposed to me (at tea), after a morning of surprises (but that's another post for another day). The atmosphere would kind of remind you of an old English manor house. They currently serve Mighty Leaf (loose) tea. We're huge fans of their tea bags, since we are, as I may have mentioned, tea snobs and don't generally like bagged tea over loose.
The sandwiches were wonderful. From bottom to top, we had cucumber-cream cheese-topped pita with hummus and asparagus, a sun-dried tomato, feta and olive tart, salmon and egg on toast, a bacon and gruyere quiche and a dual-layer wheat sandwich filled with a pesto and curried chicken salad, separated by brioche. They were all good, but we raved over that last sandwich, so our server brought us each another! This may explain why we didn't quite make it through the pastry tower.... We had to take the entire bottom layer (all chocolate!) home! The best thing on that layer was the black forest cup: a chocolate cup filled with a brownie square and brandied cherries, topped with white chocolate mouse and chocolate shavings. *drool* I must also mention the seven-layer bars, because this is one of the places the Ritz goes above and beyond: You could tell the pecans in the bars were toasted. Sure, it might not make that much difference to some people, but I can totally taste the difference!

Even though the scones were not served warm (precious few tea rooms do this, although they should be served first, before the sandwich course, just out of the oven), they were very good. And the best part... The Ritz has Devonshire (clotted) cream!! When I was taking the half-jar that Michael left home with me (notice I did not have any left!), our server asked if I'd like a fresh jar (!!) to take with me. Yes, please! When she returned, she not only had a fresh jar of clotted cream, but also another jar of strawberry preserves...and another scone!! Yummmmmmm.....

JiffNotes
Even though the Ritz's tea service is somewhat pricey, it gives you a large volume of very, very good food. The strawberries and champagne add-on aren't worth it, in my opinion.

Ornamentified

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I hope you all had a good Easter! (This was my Luna bar Saturday morning before choir practice, visiting Michael's parents, architectural tour of Sovereign and running tons of errands.)

A couple weekend ago I was able to "ornamentify" my latest finished ornament.

Oriental Splendor
Cindy Valentine Designs, from JCS 2008 ornament issue
22 ct. Ariosa with Anchor #8 pearl cotton, Watercolors and Kreinik #4 braid

Stitching around all those corners was not exactly fun, but I love the result! Here's the copious back personalization again: Then I started thinking, Gee, could I have picked a more boring background? Surely I have something Asian I can photograph this next to? Aaahhh...we have a winner!

JiffNotes
One ornament down, three to go...before July!! Yikes!!

Who says...

...there's no wildlife in downtown Atlanta?? I wish you could've seen these guys dashing around. It was hard to get a decent picture of them because they were constantly in motion!