Monday 28 March 2011

Garden and Stitching




Spring is most definitely making herself felt. Our small garden has suddenly become a treat to see with buds bursting on the fruit trees and early flowering climbers are out as well. Must admit it makes me feel as though we live in the South of England when we really live in the North West. I have a soft spot for Pansies as they always look like 'Smiley Faces' bobbing in the light breeze. I have no idea what the name of this pansy is but I bought the original plant several years ago and since then it has gone through varying stages from looking lovely to a bit straggly but each year it comes up again a mass of flowers. I now have patches of this plant all over from where I have taken a piece off and planted it elsewhere and also from the myriad of baby plants it has had. I have other colours but this one just seems to be the one that really likes my soil.

My stitching has been coming along well again so my 'mojo' must be well charged. Last week I finished off the 'Country Cottage' part on 'Castles in the Air'. I did a mix of the speciality stitches and the straight cross stitch.



If I was starting this now I would have chosen greens with a greater shade difference between the two darker shades. One is 3362 rather like a moss green and the other is 937 which is a slightly 'yellower' green. When they were next to each other in the full skein they looked very different but now stitched up the difference is hard to see, particularly on the photos. But 'hey ho' you live and learn.
True to form just when I thought I was on my 'catch up' a new download arrived. I looked at the chart and must admit it took a while for me to realise what it was!! I quite surprised my self and have actually finished it


.
Again I have altered parts to suit me, this is from colours to stitches and also some positional adjustments. I gave the 'bunny' a small nose (1/4 stitch) as I thought it needed one and a lighter tail. I also changed the cross stitch eye to a french knot on both the bunny and the hedgehog. The full cross stitch to me didn't look right but as usual that's just my opinion.
I've just got one section to catch up now and that goes back a few downloads to No 17. It's a mermaid. Guess what I don't like it !! So this is a 'Watch This Spot' space at the moment.



I've done a little on my TLC Santa, not huge amounts but as this is my handbag stitch when grandchildren minding, I'm quite pleased. I must make the mustache for the one that all the cross stitch is completed on and then I can finish it off completely.



With Winter in Mind (Ho Ho Ho) I've been getting on with 'Warm Winter Wishes', my Waxing Moon Design. I was doing very well until I ran out of 'oatmeal' by Gentle Arts and also realised that I hadn't bought the 'Snowflake' Buttons by JABC.


This led me to a new discovery..... I have been given the name of a supplier, Mary Jane Collection . I haven't been to it in person but I do know someone who has. Apparently it's a bit in the wilds of Wales but they do post out to you. It could well be worth a visit to the web site, their prices seem very competitive.

Now to warm me up .....my second African themed piece, Kuihugura (Looking Back) I enjoy doing these as the colours are blended into each other in the back ground so well that sometimes you can hardly see the difference when you are sewing it, but when you hold it up the subtle difference adds just that extra 'little something'.



Well I'm off now, back to 'Castles' to make some decisions.

Once again many thanks for popping in and leaving a comment if you've time. Until next time 'May your Mojo be with you.'

14 comments:

Bekca said...

Your garden looks so pretty! It must look perfect in the height of summer :) Great progress on Castles in the Air, and I love the colours on your second African piece. Keep up the lovely stitching! Best wishes.

MarchAnn said...

Castles looks great so how about sending your MoJo towards Virgina and can't get back with my CITA.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Happy Stitching

Belinda said...

Your garden looks like it is blooming. :-) We just finished Summer over here in Australia.
I love 'warm winter wishes' it's so cute!

JessB said...

Wow- I love the flowers! How springy and bright. Your stitching is coming along well too.

Mylene said...

WIP's are coming along great. I love all your flowers, Beautiful!!

TammyK said...

The flowers are gorgeous :) Good progress on the wips...

Kathy Ellen said...

Your gardens are beautiful. Pansies are my favorite spring/summer flowers too because they do make me think of "smiling faces"!

"Castles in the Air" is beautiful...such a myriad of different designs and stitches. It must be quite a challenge. Your stitching is lovely.

grannyanne said...

Great pogress with all your stitching keep up the great work.

too_busy_to_stitch said...

Lovely stitching - love the flowers too - I think we have had Spring here - it's back to wet and windy the last few days :(

demeter83 said...

Hi,
Just to let you know that you've won the giveaway on my blog - please drop me a mail at kim . nield @ yahoo . co . uk

Kim said...

Thanks for visiting my blog :)

I love those plants. We used to have a garden bursting with lovely plants and flowers, but since living by the seas we are limited with what will grow there. I do love watching spring growth though.

Lovely work on Castles. I'm saving the parts of this design, but haven't started it yet. It's looking great, well done!

:)

Gillie said...

Thank you for the link to the place in Mold, not too far from me.........oh dear!

Love your Castles, I am pathetic, only on the first part :(

SoCal Debbie said...

I'm a new follower to your blog. Thank you for commenting on my blog. You certainly are very very busy on so many projects!

Ziggyeor said...

OH wow lovely garden and lovely progress pictures!