The TAST stitch for Week 30 was the Oyster stitch.
I think that I eventually understood the stitch but it is not my favorite.
This lunch was for my 10 year old nephew. In my constant quest to find interesting backgrounds, I used caramel popcorn this time. I think it was my first and last time. It is not healthy and is a bumpy background. Also in this case the background is distracting. But my nephew loved it.
Rings: tortillas with blueberries, black raspberries, dried cherries, dried pineapple, and snow peas
Background for Rings: Crunch and Munch Caramel Popcorn
Torch: cheese quesadilla with flames drawn with Wilton Food Writer
Background for Torch: lettuce
Linking up at:
The TAST stitch for Week 29 was the Basque stitch.
This is another new stitch that I enjoyed learning. I can see myself using it for borders and other uses.
The city that never sleeps does not wake up early on Saturday morning. I had some time Saturday morning before leaving NYC for my Great Aunt’s 80th birthday party on Long Island. I decided to go to the Union Square Greenmarket.
Once again, I had fun walking around this market. It was plum season and many varieties were available. I bought many and enjoyed trying so many different types. I am sorry that I did not take any photos of plums.
It was summer so no dogs in clothing but I was interested to see a dog with pack bags carrying produce. I happened to take this photo when the owner was trying to prevent her dog from fighting with another dog.
Dog with pack bags
I enjoyed taste testing tea at the Tweefontein Herb Farm stall. It was 2$ a cup or 1$ if you have your own cup. The woman said taste as many as I like and then fill up with the one I wanted.
I sampled:
I decided on the Lavender and Applemint and loved it so much I later went back to buy another cup. The Ginger and Cayenne stung my throat. I thought about the time when my husband accidentally drank coffee with salt instead of sugar.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Carrots and Radishes
White and Purple Eggplant
Herbs
Flowers from The River Garden
Freekeh and Whole Spelt Berries from Pure Cayuga Pure Organics
Garlic
Sunflowers and Peaches
Hand dyed yarn from Catskill Merino Sheep Farm
Tomatoes
The TAST stitch for Week 28 was the Up and Down Buttonhole stitch.
I loved working with this stitch and expect to use it again in the future.
My 13 year old niece and I made this bento lunch. I used a cookie cutter to mold the sticky rice butterflies.
Linking up at:
The TAST stitch for Week 27 was the Bonnet stitch.
I experimented with this stitch and did not quite get it. I think that the top row is the furthest from being correct, but it is my favorite.
Many years ago, I found this idea from Be*mused for a care package gift certificate. It is a perfect gift for a high school graduate planning to attend college.
I first used the care package gift certificate a few years ago. I created a simple gift certificate and used cookie stickers to decorate. The recipient surprised me by redeeming the certificate only 2 days after arriving at college!
This year I attended a graduation party for a brother and sister. I could not find cookie stickers so I used brownie stickers. I put the certificates in graduation cards.
Front of certificate
Back of certificate
Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and for entering my first giveaway!
The winner of the napkins is #1 – Mary Lee.
The winner of the bento is #26 – Rina.
Mary Lee and Rina, I will be in contact to get your addresses so I can send your items to you.
The TAST stitch for Week 26 was the Palestrina stitch. I am very far behind. Hopefully I will complete some catch-up stitches this week.
I enjoyed working with this stitch.
Today is my blog’s 1 year anniversary. I started this blog as a class assignment for a masters course in Social Media. I went against advice to have a single topic blog because I wanted one place to document my interests. I hoped that others would be interested in what I wanted to show.
My blog has many focuses but this year embroidery and bento’s are important themes. So I decided to giveaway two items.
Embroidery: Martha Stewart Napkins for you to embroider with a monogram (alphabet chart included)
Bento: Large Lunch box Bento 2 tiered plastic lunch box set with 4 removable inner pieces. It is pink as pictured above.
Please indicate in the comments which item you would like to win (embroidery or bento). International entries are welcome. Please make sure that I have your email address so I can notify you if you win. One entry per email address.
Of course I would like more followers but personally I often don’t enter contests if there is a requirement to follow a blog or like in Facebook. If you want to become a follower of my blog I will be happy. But if you don’t, that is fine also.
The contest will end on Wednesday July 25 at 8 am EDT.
I created this for my nephew a few days before his 4th birthday. This bento lunch was themed to match the activity we did that day. We went to Hidden Valley Animal Adventure. They have trolley rides where visitors can feed animals such as zebras from a cup.
When I returned my nephew to his parents. They asked him what we did. He said, “I ate a zebra sandwich!”.
Zebra: Peanut butter sandwich cut with a horse cookie cutter. Eye: Wilton candy eye Stripes: Fruit by the foot
Cup: Starburst candy (softened a few seconds in the microwave and then shaped)
Background: celery sticks and snow peas (I know that this was wishful thinking that he would eat it all but I wanted a background)
Striped Cookies: I used these cookies.
Raspberries
Linking up at:
My sister-in-law held her son’s 4th birthday at her parent’s farm. The invitation for this party mentioned trains, cars, tractors, and trucks. This was a family party with about half adults and half young cousins in attendance.
My contributions to this party:
Watermelon: I used these directions from the National Watermelon Promotion Board.I decided to make the numbers out of card stock instead of watermelon. I was a little nervous since it was my first watermelon I carved. But I have plenty of pumpkin carving experience and I have carving tools so this was easy.
Race car watermelon
Train: I used this idea (scroll down) from ID Mommy. I changed the engine and added numbers. I could not find black card stock so I used a combination of construction paper and card stock. Since my nephew was celebrating his 4th birthday I created four cars and numbered them. We filled the train with cheese, crackers, trail mix, and pretzels.
Engine and first car of snack train
Entire train (before it was filled)
Tractor: My husband came up with the concept and created this vegetable tray tractor. We forgot to take a photo of the finished tractor. The dip container was in refrigerator when I took photo. We put the cherry tomatoes around the dip container to serve as the wagon.
Green Fendt vegetable tractor
Noodle Race track: I found the directions for the track here at My Little Gems. We just balanced the tracks on a chair. The kids enjoyed playing with this! I decided to keep the tracks separate to allow for flexibility of play. It was a cheap and easy party activity.
Race tracks balanced on a chair
Finish line
Contributions from others:
Car jello
Traffic light fruit on chocolate and cinnamon graham crackers
Traffic light celery
Flatbed truck cake (side)
Flatbed truck cake (back) The license plate has the birthday boy’s age and initials.
The stitch for week 25 of TAST is the Cable Chain Stitch.
While my version may not be as beautiful as more accomplished stitchers, I enjoyed playing with this stitch.
My 13 year old niece and I planned this bento. I am proud of her concept and planning. She even created a grocery list for me!
Picnic blanket: rice and red pepper
Grass: snow peas
Watermelon: red pepper, chocolate sprinkles, green bean (rind)
Blue Cooler: apple coated with lemon juice and blue sugar
Ants: chocolate sprinkles
Jam Tarts: raspberry and grape
I used a wooden berry basket and added a wooden cover (my husband cut some craft wood to fit). I took apart a dollar store basket to create a handle. My handle is temporary but you can add a staple to make it more permanent.
Linking up at:
When I found the Felt Road patrol kit post by Kristen at Make the Best of Everything, I knew it would be perfect for my nephew’s 4th birthday. I decided to keep my kit simple and did not add the road signs or instructions. I bought a plastic box to hold the kit but forgot to take a photo.
My husband and I made this kit together. He came up with the idea for drawing the templates. (see photo below). He taped two carpenter pencils to a paint stick. Our pencils are 5.25 inches apart from center to center.
Drawing a road piece template
Cutting out the felt road pieces
Painting lines
The entire kit
To make your own kit, see the Felt Road patrol kit post by Kristen at Make the Best of Everything.
This week the Bento of the Week (BOTW) theme at the Bento Blog Network is “Beach”.
My inspiration was Maine vacations my family took when I was a kid. I loved to walk the beach and find sand dollars. This is what the Maine sand dollar looks like.
Sand: Near East Parmesan Couscous
Sand Dollar: Monterey Jack Cheese and Wilton Food Marker
Ocean: Blueberries
Linking up at:
This week the Bento of the Week (BOTW) theme at the Bento Blog Network is “4th of July”.
My 11 year old nephew and I came up with this red, white and blue theme for this lunch. We worked together to make the lunch (my nephew made the sandwiches).
Linking up at:
This week the Bento of the Week (BOTW) theme at the Bento Blog Network is “Hot”.
While brainstorming the theme I thought about three interpretations for hot.
I decided to incorporate all three interpretations for hot in this bento.
Linking up at:
A few days ago my 11 year old nephew and I went hiking at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama, NY. We walked the Swallow Hollow and Onondaga trails. This was our second time visiting these trails. Our first time was in June, 2009. Both times the trails were abundant with wildlife. This visit we saw turtles, frogs, blue herons, many birds, dragonflies, deer, and a mouse. I highly recommend a visit to this wildlife refuge.
WARNING: Be careful walking the Onondaga trail. There are many animal made holes near the water section of the trail. Try not to step in a hole while enjoying the beautiful views and wildlife.
Click on photos for a larger view.
Swallow Hollow Trail Sign
Entrance to Swallow Hollow Trail
Boardwalk section of trail
Empty shells
Green cattails
Turtle on log
Onondaga Trail Sign
View from Onondaga trail
Frog in water
Deer on trail
Frog (my nephew took this photo)
The stitch for week 24 of TAST is the Buttonhole Wheel. I tried the Buttonhole Wheel during week 2 Buttonhole stitch. Since I did not need to make a page for my sampler, I created a bookmark. It was a fun little project.
This week the Bento of the Week (BOTW) theme at the Bento Blog Network is Swimming. The only theme part of this is the bears swimming in blueberries. But it tasted great!
Close-up of bears in pool
Cold Peanut Noodles Recipe (4 servings, 1 cup pasta per serving, add cucumbers to each serving)
Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
Whisk together remaining ingredients except the cucumber.
Mix dressing and hot pasta.
Refrigerate pasta and cucumber separately for several hours.
Linking up at:
I created this bento lunch for my 11 year old nephew. He did not want a theme. Typically I like to make themed bentos but it was fun to try to make ordinary food interesting.
The stitch for week 22 of TAST is the Knotted Cretan stitch.
I was not good at Cretan (week 4) so I was not looking forward to working with the knotted Cretan stitch. I don’t think it is a stitch I will use often.
Week 23 was a catch-up week. I am looking forward to seeing what the stitch will be for week 24.
Maybe this should be called Sugar Bento. There are not as many M&M’s as there appear. They are not under the tree. But there are still more than I intended. My 10 year old nephew requested this theme and helped assemble this lunch.
The stitch for week 21 of TAST is the Butterfly Chain stitch. I had fun working with this stitch.
I created this basketball themed bento for my 15 year old nephew. I had thought that he would not want a themed bento but he did not care as long as it tasted good. I was happy to work with a theme.
Bottom tier
Linking up at:
The National Garden Club (NGC) convention was in Buffalo this year. My garden club attended their flower show. It was fun and educational to see entries in the various categories.
Apples are in the water
Bamboo and roses
Columbine
Cafe table setting
Another table setting
Hosta
Miniature arrangement with rose
Gourds painted as snakes
Terrarium
The stitch for week 20 of TAST is the Bullion Knot stitch.
I have wanted to try this stitch for a long time. One of the things I like about TAST is that it forces me to attempt new stitches. I enjoyed working with the Bullion Knot and look forward to trying it again.
This weeks theme for Bento of the Week (BOTW) at Bento Blog Network is kabobs. When brainstorming kabobs I came up with a Marionette.
I was aiming for clown but I think it looks more like a silly puppet.
Wood for Marionette holder: pretzel sticks
Strings: angel hair pasta
Hair: sun-dried tomato
Face: Wilton candy eyes, cinnamon imperial nose, Wilton food writer mouth
Arms: pimento stuffed green olives
Frill: red pepper cut with flower cookie cutter (used at neck and sleeves)
Body: baguette and cheddar cheese
Legs: cherry tomatoes
Background: spinach rice
Linking up at:
I helped my sister-in-law with my nephews 10th birthday party. They have family birthday parties with a mix of adults (Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents) and children (siblings and cousins). My nephew enjoys playing card games so this was the perfect theme. My sister-in-law did a great job with creating food in the black/red/white theme. My niece and nephews helped with the decorations.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Decorations
Party tables
Euchre centerpiece
Garland and table
Another card garland
Appetizers
Appetizer table
Cheese and crackers with playing card picks
Meal
I created playing card labels. I used 10’s because it was my nephews 10th birthday. I printed the labels on card stock and taped to skewers. Click here for free playing card food labels. (pictured below)
Left side of buffet
Right side of buffet
Drinks
My niece created a cute label for the root beer bottle.
Queen of Hearts Punch and the front of King of Spades Ale
Queen of Hearts Punch and the back of King of Spades Ale
Dessert
Dessert selection
Linking to: 
The stitch for week 19 of TAST is the Half Chevron stitch.
I liked working with the Chevron stitch but did not have fun with the Half Chevron. I think that I did the last part of the stitch wrong because I do not have a continuous line but when I tried it that way I had other problems. I could not find many online resources such as videos for this stitch and it was not in any of my books.
Anyway, I am glad that I was at least able to complete an attempt at this stitch.
This is my attempt at using a leftover stuffed shell to make an armadillo. I had to curve the tail to fit in the bento. The armadillo is on a bed of green beans. I used a slivered almond for the ear and piece of dried blueberry for the eye. The armadillo letters are from cheddar cheese.
In keeping with the letter “A”, I also added almonds and apricots.
Linking up at:
The stitch for week 18 of TAST is the Crossed Buttonhole stitch. This was my first time working with the stitch.
You need an imagination for this one. My 7 year old nephew and I made this the same day we went to a movie at the planetarium.
Saturn: Clementine
Rings: Nutella bagel sandwich (homemade from bagel dough)
Sky: Wegmans blue tortilla chips (salsa served on the side)
Moon and stars: Cucumber
Sky with stars: Chocolate pudding with sprinkle stars
Linking up at:
The stitch for week 17 of TAST is the Wheatear stitch. This was my first time working with the stitch. I found it enjoyable.
I tried to stitch in a circle on Aida and picked it out. I did not yet try the circle again on a different cloth but I think that Wheatear circles are beautiful.
This bento was for my 13 year old niece. I decided on a fruit and vegetable theme to use some of the cute items my friend sent me from Japan.
Left: Strawberries and Blackberries
Middle: Salad with cucumber cut outs (fruit and vegetable shapes), Wegmans raspberry vinaigrette in strawberry containers, rice ball with peas and carrots in decorative sleeve
Right: Pistachios and chocolate covered pretzels
Strawberries and Blackberries
Closed bento containers
Rice ball packaging – front (click image for larger view)
Rice ball packaging – back (click image for larger view)
Linking up at:
The stitch for week 16 of TAST is the French Knot. Above is my sampler page for the French Knot.
Below are some French Knot examples I did years ago.
Sheep
Tree
French Knots with Antique Button
I enjoy trying new recipes so I do not have a lot of repeat recipes in a dinner rotation. This Zucchini and Cheese Pie is one recipe that has been in my menu rotation for many years. It is adapted from Cooking Light’s Roasted Vegetable-Cheese Pie. Before I married, I made the recipe as provided by Cooking Light. Since my husband does not like several ingredients in the original recipe I slightly changed this dish. My current version has only one vegetable (zucchini) and more cheese. It is not as healthy as the original but I recommend both recipes.
Adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine rice, egg whites and Parmesan cheese. Press evenly into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to 450°.
Combine zucchini, basil, oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl; stir to coat. Place zucchini mixture on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Remove zucchini mixture from oven.
Reduce oven temperature to 375°.
Sprinkle half of cheese (2 ounces) over rice crust. Top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with remaining half of cheese (2 ounces). Bake at 375° for about 25 – 30 minutes.
I like to serve it with fruit and milk.
Roasted Zucchini
Baked Rice Crust with Cheese
Completed Zucchini and Cheese Pie
The stitch for week 15 of TAST is the Stem stitch. I am still catching up as we are currently in week 16.
Top row: Stem stitch
Bottom row: Raised stem stitch
This is my Earth Day submission for Bento of the Week at Bento Blog Network.
I started planning this about a month ago when the theme was announced. I was happy when my husband came home with this container. His grandma packed macaroons in it for his birthday.
I had a lot of fun planning and creating this terrarium lunch. I admit that I thought more about looks than taste when designing this bento. But it tasted great!
Soil: wild rice
Toadstools: radishes
Bench: carrot
White stones under bench: Parmesan cheese
Rocks: pine nuts around pond
Stepping Stones: almond slivers
Duck: dried apricot
Plants: wilted spinach, micro greens, sugar snap peas, asparagus, cucumber (hidden under the rice)
Pond: blueberry vinaigrette in clear take out sauce container (I made the vinaigrette in a blender using frozen blueberries, olive oil, white wine vinegar and a little bit of sugar)
Closed bento
Duck near pond
Bench and Toadstools
Linking up at:
The stitch for week 14 of TAST is the Satin Stitch stitch. I have worked a little with satin stitch in the past but was not fond it it. This week was my first time to try padded satin. I think I was supposed to cover over the outline split stitch. But I am still happy with it. I like padded satin much more than normal satin stitch.
I allowed myself to get behind on stitching these last two weeks so I am catching up this week.
Row 1: Straight satin (vertical)
Row 2: Straight satin (horizontal)
Row 3: Padded with stitches
Row 4: Slanted satin
My 7 year old nephew helped design and style his lunch. He wanted a blue box and an American cheese sun (upper left corner).
The airplane is a peanut butter sandwich. The plane is flying in the clouds (popcorn) with some sky (blue M&M’s) showing through. I originally thought of using cotton candy for the clouds but was inspired by BentOnBetterLunches bento using popcorn clouds.
A giant strawberry and sliced green pepper round out the meal.
Linking up at:
When looking for something to make for my out of town nieces this year, I found this wonderful tutorial and pattern by Michael Ann Made.
These were fast and fun to make. It was a bit more complicated because her key chain option made me think of making clips for them. It was a little difficult to find the hardware and I had to be careful while stitching on the hardware. But I like the result and I hope that my nieces like them. My Mom requested one for herself!
Easter package 2012 (before wrapping)
My sister sent a photo of the peeps on my nieces bags
This year is my first time hanging eggs on an egg tree. My Mom helped me out by taking branches from my yard and spray painting them white.
There are two styles of eggs on this tree. My niece and I made both types. Several years ago we followed Martha Stewart’s directions to create the cut-out style Easter eggs. This year we mostly followed directions from Design Sponge to make a simple version of the Ukranian eggs. We created the eggs this year to complement the ones we made years ago.
I bought the kit to make the Ukranian eggs years ago but was not brave enough to try until I found the post on Design Sponge. We made a very easy version which was great for our first time. It still took a LOT of time to complete the project and the dye is messier than normal Easter egg dye. It was a fun project!
Heating Kistka (stylus)
Applying wax
Following directions
Eggs with wax – dye in progress (The egg’s holes are big)
Removing wax
Circle line egg
Flower egg
Crazy circles
Bunny Egg
Portion of eggs on tree
I made these felt bunnies for Easter in 2006. I used the directions and pattern from Woman’s Day magazine but I could not find the directions online anymore. I scanned my printed copy and you can see it here – Bunny Pattern
They were fun and easy to make. Once I started making them I could not stop. I made up my own patterns to decorate them with stitches. I can’t believe now how many that I made! These are the ones I did not give away.
Bunnies in Basket
Flaws obvious but still cute
My sheep embroidered on a felt bunny
Bunnies in Tree
I made this dump truck themed bento for my 3 year old nephew.
The dump truck is a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. I used Craisins for the tires and American cheese for the window. The truck is carrying blueberries.
Below the truck are two traffic signal signs made with cheddar cheese and mini M&M’s. (I did not realize until I uploaded the photos that my signs are upside down) My nephew ate the signs first.
Also pictured are mini saltines with cheddar slices and watermelon in the shape of stop signs.
A successful lunch!
Linking up at:
Sharon asked the TAST stitchers if they wanted a catch-up week. The majority voted yes. So Week 13 is a catch-up week. I did not vote as it did not matter to me.
This week Sharon provided two mini challenge options. I decided that I will tackle Mini Challenge 2 “Share a tip on how you manage your stitching time” and in addition I will discuss my experience so far.
Mini Challenge 2
I am new to most of the stitches covered so far in TAST. I decided to create a sampler book. I hope it will be a good resource for myself. Sometimes the fact I am making a sampler book restricts me because I feel I need to finish my page before doing a more creative piece. (I have yet to start to put my book together.)
TAST Sampler Pages in Hatbox
Currently I have a fairly flexible schedule but part of managing my time is to decide if I will only create a sampler page or also do something extra. The ease or difficulty of the stitch and my schedule for that week determine if I create an extra piece. It also determines how much time I put into my sampler. I have stitched late at night or early in the morning to keep on schedule. But out of the 12 weeks, I only created an extra item 3 weeks.
My materials and special lighting are organized and set up where I can have easy access but I can also put them away (when I expect visitors). I stitch in many places around my house.
A place where I often stitch
A place where I stash some supplies (outside of my craft room)
I am very deadline driven in general and enjoy completing the TAST task by Sunday afternoon at the latest every week. I prefer to complete by Wednesday or Thursday because I get more blog visitors from Pin Tangle. I enjoy seeing the spike in my visitor stats!
Things about TAST that I enjoy
Thanks Sharon and fellow TAST participants!
The inspiration for this theme was a set of flag picks a friend sent from Japan. The set did not have the Australian flag so I made this pick.
The kangaroo is a quesadilla with a cheddar cheese joey. The kangaroo and joey have chocolate chip features. They are held on with a little bit of Nutella.
The kangaroo is on a bed of celery sticks and spinach. The top right liner holds red grapes. The bottom left liner holds Japanese Koala cookies. The sheep are chocolates by Lindt.
My 13 year old niece helped me make this lunch. We had a great time!
Linking up at:
The stitch for week 12 of TAST is the Barred Chain and Alternating Barred Chain stitches.
This stitch was not in my pocket stitch guide or Embroidery Stitch Bible. I struggled a little with the stitch but I am glad that I completed my sampler page.
Eclectic Lamb 
You must be logged in to post a comment.