I had the bright idea last night, when there was nothing worth watching on television and the lighting was not bright enough (inspite of the LED magnifier) to work on the never-ending needlepoint project, to put together the gingerbread house I purchased in December ………… December of Last Year but never could fit into my schedule until now.
Didn’t take long to become frustrated with the royal icing included in the kit.
It wasn’t dry, just wasn’t of a smooth enough consistency to spread and wasn’t holding the walls together.
I was ready to quit when the first structure collapsed.
Remembering a hack I saw on TikTok of using sugar glue instead, I set about boiling sugar.
Takes a long time to melt sugar down into glue and I came too close to burning my fingers when dipping gingerbread pieces into the hot glue, not to mention it got sloppy at times with the glue leaving strings. I even dropped an entire gingerbread wall into the glue at one point.
Before I even got the walls of the first structure together, I lost my patience, abandoned the project, tossed the kit into the trash, disposed of the glue down the garbage disposal, telling myself ain’t nobody got time for this!
How interesting is it that I’ve the patience to stab aida cloth thousands of times to create needlepoint works of art, but not the patience to spend an hour or so building a gingerbread house.
Time really is relative.
I’ve been working on the never-ending needlepoint project practically every day since January of 2021, logging in upwards of 1,116 hours thus far and though not even halfway through have no problem with spending more hours, days, weeks, months, years to completion while I was pretty much over the gingerbread build in the first 15 minutes.
Inspired by Food Network’s Gingerbread Showdown, I still want to do a gingerbread house this season, so I’ll pick up something after this morning’s workout, maybe make my own royal icing and try again.
As for progress on the needlepoint project, though nowhere near completion I’m at least seeing a face appear.
Though my first gingerbread build of the season was an epic fail, I’ve been having great luck in finding My Hometown Elf in the market.
In previous years, our Hometown Elf was Cindy. This year it’s Zippy and he’s pictured holding a candy cane across his body.
I actually spotted what looked like it could be Zippy pretty quick. He was on a ledge nestled in with other holiday items but, inasmuch as there was no candy cane, I couldn’t be sure.
To make certain it wasn’t a decoy, I searched the store, saw nothing elsewhere and correctly announced to the cashier I’d found Zippy nestled and tucked away in a Christmas stocking.
I declined the little Candy Cane reward. I just enjoyed announcing I’d found it.
Next time at the market, I found Zippy with a fishing line hovering over the seafood station.
That was a cute and clever spot, obviously visible thought I.
Running into a 5K friend coming in to hunt as I was leaving, I didn't spoil her fun by telling her where the elf was located.
She later posted to facebook that she couldn't find it.
HOW could she have missed it?
That cross-stitch will be awesome when you finish it! Yes, it's funny how we can have patience for one thing but not another. You also have a keen eye for Zippy so far!
ReplyDeleteThe force is strong within me, insofar as finding the elf 🙂
DeleteFind the elf is a great idea. I wonder how many candy canes they give away. Your needlepoint looks beautiful. I have never made a ginger bread house, but I’m now craving ginger bread. The only place I’ve ever seen it here is at IKEA... pepparkaka.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Ikea Pepparkaka and looks like would be fun to make. There is a different version available now but no Ikea near me and they don't do online. Too bad.
DeleteI have no desire to put together a gingerbread house, but would be down for elf hunting. However, I haven't heard of a store around here that does anything like that.
ReplyDeleteAre there no Stater Bros Markets in your area?
DeleteGlad you didn't burn your kitchen down trying to make sugar glue! That looks like a HUGE needlepoint project! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteGood thing I've got renters insurance 🙂.
DeleteI love that Market's Hidden Elf On The Shelf Game for the Holidays. You are probably more Observant than most folk, you'd be Surprised how many people do lack Observation Skills Shirley. They walk around with Eyes Wide Shut regarding the World around them. As for Gingerbread building, Princess T does it every Year, I totally lack the Patience or Desire to assist her so am glad she's finally Old enuf not to request my participation. *Ha ha ha* Needlepoint is a Labor of Love, heavy on the Labor, people have no Idea how many Hours, Days, Months, Years go into completing a larger Masterpiece. I see fabulous Needlepoint in the Chazzas often, it grieves me that whoever they belonged to didn't fully appreciate the Labor involved, if in fact, they weren't the ones who Labored at it. I used to Collect finished Needlepoint Kit Christmas Stockings, the Craft Stores used to have completed Samples to Display above Kits and then when a Kit was discontinued they'd Sell the Sample... always pricy but a no brainer for someone like me that never could finish a big Project in YEARS. I once spent a Decade trying to finish one Needlepoint Stocking for The Daughter, she was damned near Grown when I gave up, and it was still only 1/4 completed, I kid you not. Yes, Time is Relative for sure, I can put in the Hours, Days, Months, Years on some shit, just not THAT shit. *LOL* So, I understand about Gingerbread construction Hell, 10 Minutes is all I can devote to Building one, but I can Appreciate the Masterful ones done by others with the Patience and Skills to do it properly. Good Luck with your replacement Gingerbread Project... you are Determined my Friend.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed you hung in there for a decade before calling quits on the needlepoint stocking. As for my current project, truth be told, I'd never have started it had I known it was this complicated, would take so long to finish.
DeleteWhen we made gingerbread houses we used a glue which was simply white of egg mixed with powdered sugar. Sets up super hard. Make it as dry as you can. JanF
ReplyDeleteSounds similar to royal icing recipe I plan to try, except recipe calls for only the egg whites. We'll see how it goes.
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