99 Bottles - Beer #5

One of my husband's buddies is being deployed, so there was a going-away get-together with a bunch of us giving him a good send-off. Since I was the one designated to drive home, I only had one beer that night, but I made sure to try another one from my list!

This time I tried Modelo Negra. On the menu, it was listed under Amber Ales and Lagers.

I really enjoyed this one from the start. Every time I would take a sip, the first half second, there was a hint of something that I couldn't quite identify at first, then the rest of the flavors would take over. After taking a drink, if you sit for a moment that hint of flavor comes back for a few seconds in the aftertaste. It was almost a dark honey flavor.

What I liked: This beer was great to sip and enjoy on its own. I had mine with some lime, which was an excellent choice. Taking a taste of the lime after a drink of the beer was amazing. The flavors set each other off nicely!

What I didn't like: Once our food arrived, it didn't have the same flavor or effect. It didn't really go well with what I ordered, either, so I ended up drinking water while I had my food.

Overall, I recommend drinking this beer slowly while hanging out with friends. I wouldn't recommend drinking it with food, because you would lose some of the subtle flavors like that honey flavor I found.

Here is my stitched version:

Here is all of them so far:

Color SAL - Orange

I have been flying along with my new kit of the Palace Garden. I had a SAL come up where you only stitch one color on your projects for that day. This month is orange.  I didn't want to put away my kit, and it just worked out that there is orange in it, as well, so I can use it for the SAL! (Besides, I don't think I have any orange in any of my other projects). I would have had more done, but I had to stitch up another beer (post upcoming).

Here is where I was when I started: 

Here is where I am now with all the orange work I did on the right side:

Week one of my Riolis kit, The Palace Garden

Well, I have a week's worth of progress to show, now, for my new Riolis kit, The Palace Garden.
I am still loving this kit, a lot! I am not a fan of all the scattered confetti stitches, but the end result is amazing, and I have projects that are even worse about it.

My favorite part about this kit is still the thread! I did have to take a little time off from working on this to stitch up the beer from my last post, and as I was stitching it, my thread got tangled. That made me realize that I haven't had any issues with the thread in the kit tangling up at all. No knots or anything! It has been a joy to work with.

Here is where I was on day 1:

Here is where I am after week 1:

99 Bottles - Beer #4

Last night the husband and I had a sudden invitation to meet some friends for dinner. So, I decided to try one of the beers from me list to have with dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't have the list with me, but I did remember a few beers on it, so this time I went with Stella Artois.



The menu describes this one as easy drinking, and it is! It seemed to me to be a pleasant medium strength beer that went well with the mac & cheese bites that I was eating!

What I liked: This was a nice, mild beer with just a tiny bit of bite to it, which made it fun to drink. I was only allowing myself one beer with dinner, so I had to pace myself.

What I didn't like: With all the commercials and advertising and everything being said about it lately, I expected a bit more. Don't get me wrong, I really liked this beer! I just wasn't as "wowed" as I was expecting.

Ultimately, this beer was enjoyable, and I wouldn't mind having it again anytime.

Here is my stitched version of this beer:

And all of them, so far:

I missed everyone!

I have been so behind on my stitching. While I was studying for my test, to keep myself motivated and away from the stitching, I stopped reading everyone's blogs, and I avoided most stitching things, in general. It is so easy for me to get sucked back in!
I have been trying to catch up, but that's why I haven't been commenting lately.
I realized that I missed keeping up with everyone. You guys are so awesome, and I wanted to let you all know it!
Even now, as I sit at work, my fingers are itching to pick up my kit and stitch on it some more. Just one more thread...

Day one thoughts on my Riolis kit

Thankfully with my test out of the way, I have time to stitch, again! Yay!

Previously I had posted about a Riolis kit that had been sent to me by the company. I finally got to start on it, and I wanted to post my initial thoughts on it. I have only had about one day to work on it so far, but wanted to share my thoughts and progress.

First, I have to admit that I love the way the thread was organized in the kit. If you don't remember from my previous post, here is that picture:

The thread itself isn't cotton, but rather a wool/acrylic blend. This makes it a little fluffier than normal DMC thread. Because of the fluffiness, it give great coverage on the fabric. Also, it's a little fuzzy once stitched, adding a little more texture to the project.
The only downside I have seen so far is that the ends of the thread fray a little. And by a little, I mean very little. It's slightly more than DMC, but not even anywhere near how bad metallic threads get. It's definitely easily usable and easy to manage. The fabric in the kit was just regular white aida, and the pattern came on 2 pages with colors and symbols.

Normally, I don't like having to deal with tweeding on a project (using 2 different colored threads as 1). So far, I haven't minded it so much with this one, which is good. I think almost half of the symbols are tweeded.
Here is my progress so far:

Ultimately, after one day I am still enjoying this project, and I can't wait to keep sharing my thoughts and progress on it.

All views expressed here are my own and are not influenced by the company at all. They wanted an honest review, so that is what I shall give! If you decide to check them out, their website is: http://www.riolis.com/.

A couple new needle minders

I passed my test! Woohoo! I now have yet another certification for the day job. I am hoping to get some stitchy time in and get started on my new kit!

After my test, I made a few more needle minders. Here they are:

 (Not sure why this picture ended up sideways, but I'm too lazy to change it)

Barely anything to post

I barely have anything to post today. In fact, I had started typing up a quick note stating that I don't have anything to post, but I remembered that I do!
My time has been spent studying (my test is next week), so I haven't had much chance to make much. I did get a chance to make a couple more needle minders, though.
Here they are:

Hopefully I will have a happy post for next week, with some crafty updates!

New necklace

I haven't done much crafting this week. I have been sick and have been studying in my spare time.
Today at work I managed to whip up something, though.

And here is a close-up: