one flag and some insomnia

Here's my latest finish....One Flag



design by Hands to Work



stitched on 29 count Cottonfields Glenshee with DMC thread.

A very enjoyable stitch! Plans are to have it made into a pillow. It will look good beside this one, don't you think? And this one too, once they're both made into pillows that is ;-)



(I am changing how I post pictures, because blogger was driving me crazy since I changed it over to the "easier" version...anyway, you can still enlarge the pictures by clicking on them, it will take you to my Flickr page, and all the sizes are available for download there).

Lately I've had terrible bouts of insomnia. I'm a night owl anyway, but the past few weeks have been really worse, maybe it's just hormones, who knows. Anyway, I've been productive at least, as evidenced by these yummy garlic and onion croutons





I am probably the last person to catch on to the fact that homemade croutons are better and cheaper than store bought, but there it is. My oldest daughter calls these "crack-tons", so reckon that means they're pretty good. I just saved leftover buns, bread, misc. whatevers that were perfectly fine but going stale, kept collecting them in the freezer until there was enough (a lot). Cut it all up into cubes, sprinkled heavily with garlic and onion powders, then olive oil and baked them in a slow (250 or 275 degree) oven until they were crispy. Took about an hour I guess, stirring them every 20 minutes or so.

Then, I made these out of a free baguette that I'd gotten from Central Market:



Just sliced the baguette up, brushed with some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and baked them in the same oven until they were crispy. YUM-E! Also, the next evening, I made these:



Baker's Potatoes (second recipe on that page) in front, and a tomato pie in the back. We've eaten off of it all for two days :-) The potatoes are very good, however, if you bake them as directed, the tops don't get as tender as the bottoms. Next time, I'll either turn them as they cook, or put them in a deeper dish and cover them in the broth. Otherwise, very good. The tomato pie? Well, let's just say I have cash offers to make these for my hubby's coworkers, that's how tasty it is :-) (it's best when it's served cold)

Next bout of insomnia, I'm making DOGGIE BISCUITS!! Pugs will probably be all over that one ;-)