Flowers, garden... and weeds.

If only life were as simple as it is in movies, spending my day whiling away my hours stitching, trimming my garden and waiting for a rich man to come and ask for my hand... Yes. I have been daydreaming about life in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Needless to say my garden looks nothing like those in that fantasy world. I did however manage to grab a few pictures of some flowers in between rainstorms. It has rained 21 days straight and yesterday was our first dry day! I weeded will my arm was sunburned and my back ached, there is still a monster waiting for me but in a few short weeks I will have more time to spend making everything lovely.

My stitchy project is moving along quite nicely but I have to hold off on posting pictures as I don't want to spoil the surprise for my mother. :)

I actually managed to get to the garden center on their Fuschia sale and got this tiny variety. I think they are sweet.


With all the rain it is sort of amazing that these are going red, 5 years ago I has bunches of them at this time of the year. This year... not so much.


My garden has patches of forget-me-nots, I believe they are hitchhikers from my compost. I really don't mind them in the garden, I find that the bees love them too. :)


And the un-weeded zone. Aeahhhhh!! I must say clover has become the bane of my existence, creeping and twining in and out of the strawberry plants.
I will never again let me garden go for a year! Bad! Bad Mrs.Kitty!




Clamtis looking healthy this year.


I just adore Columbine I actually have a few other varieties but did not get pictures before they were all gone.








I just had to cut some of these and take them to the office, I wish that Ponies were not so temporary.


Just to add in... My neighbor loved these so much!


Keep stitching!
>^_^<

A Rooster and A Chicken and their Love

I apologize to my friends and readers for being so elusive in the recent months. As mentioned before I have been overly enamored with games and books and stitching has been going ever so slowly. My brother in-law came to live with us and I found that my routine was tossed into the air and nothing has been getting done the way I'm used to . Although in all fairness it took me quite a long time getting my pictures even taken. This poor couple has been done for almost a month.

My neighbors are the coolest people, they are fun and I love spending time with them. She had (at that time) recently re-done her kitchen and while I was over she proudly showed me this large glass rooster, the kind that has oil and beans and chick peas layered inside. Her curtains were these great vintage inspired chicken and rooster print in red and golden yellow and I knew that I had some perfect patterns to use for her new kitchen set up. I stitched these to match her color scheme and I still have not yet given them to her... I hope she loves them. Admittedly I have not done the last 2 patterns in the set but I may go back to do them for a Christmas gift perhaps or something for the summer.

Mr.Rooster looks so sharp with his hat and cane. I tried a few different ideas with his tail feathers but I kept feeling that it was over complicated. Simplify. That was what I chose to do and I like how they are colored but not over stitched in comparison to the other elements in the design.
Mrs.Hen Looks to me to be just a little snooty, with her delicate beak up in the air. I chose a lighter color for her bottom feathers and I just love how they turned out... fluffy. ( I know I have some "fluff" too) Hehe
I did all of the flowers in the set to match using 2 colors for the petals, they are brighter this way I think and I just really like them this round.

I used a teeny but of satin stitch on the hearts popping out of their heads.

Swoon...
Fluffy bottom again, just makes me giggle a little.

I started to feel like I was never going to stitch anything but chickens again and is really why I chose to stop at 4 rather then do 5 and 6. The next scene is them walking home from the market with a basket of food and flowers, followed by pattern 6 and is of them and their baby chicks.
I've moved onto another project and have the 1st in the set all done and am 3/4 done with the 2nd, they are for my mom though. And on occasion she checks this blog... I'll have to wait on those till I have them ready to give before I can post them. (Sorry mom... love you). The waiting will drive her crazy, my mom can not keep a surprise secret where as I can. I suppose I could hand them over as I complete them but I think it would be more fun to hand over all at once.

And lastly on a note of other news, I recently found out that my company will be closing it's doors. I have mixed feelings about this turn of events. On one side this is my chance to go back to school to get my Associates in Horticulture. On the other side I'm worried about us getting by, as my Husband worked for the same company and we are both out of work soon. I still have 30 days left so hopefully I can acquire a part time job at a nursery or a greenhouse to help while I return to school, he has 60 days before his final day too. If anyone is knowledgeable about Horticulture please feel free to share any thoughts on my diving into this field, I love to garden though you can hardly tell by my yard. I spend so much time at work and driving to and from that there just is not enough hours to spend outside to make it as beautiful as I would prefer.

I'm not afraid of this change just apprehensive, I don't know what to expect. Here I am 31 and starting all over again.

Sigh* Just keep stitching. Stitching, stitching, stitching...

>^_^<

Bad, Bad kitty!

It's has been entirely too long since I've posted anything on this poor neglected blog. The painting that I was working on came to a slow halt and now I am back to embroidery. I'm stitching up a set of kitchen towels for a neighbor, I hope she likes them. I'm on the 3rd of a set of 6 so will have pictures to post and share. It's nice to have a stitchy project to work on again.

Life has been a bit on the tough side and perhaps is the reason for my lethargy in wanting to post and blog. I've been horribly addicted to Facebook games and I'm trying to play a bit less.
*Play less stitch more.

That's hard when Farmville keeps adding new things to collect and participate in...

Oh, well. Off I go to put a movie on and finish my rooster.

Painting?!?

Can you believe that lately embroidery has taken a back seat? First reading like mad now this. I know, what the?! I've been getting back to some other hobbies that I've been grown away from and I just don't want to forget that I like to do other things too. While I to love work with embroidery. I also love to paint. So I have a little piece to share of the painting that I am working on, Painting is a little more "in the zone" for me. While embroidery I sit and enjoy in the front room watching TV.
Work goes slow but it's been so long I don't really worry about it. I'm just painting it for myself so... onto the Wip-

I have a vision in my mind that I'm working towards.

These pictures are a little light I had to use the flash to get them to show up enough. I look forward to showing more of it as I come closer to being finished. I was thinking that I might just sew it up too.

>^_^<

Long and short stitch catch up

Been stitching away but I just had not been able to really get any pictures of them until recently.
It has been a wonderful learning experience following along with this project. My mind is turning over how to finish it off as the lessons are almost complete. This is the lesson index with links sending you to each detailed lesson.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2009/08/long-and-short-stitch-lessons-index.html
Triangles
Circles

Ribbon

Flat leaf

Jagged leaf

Flower

Sampler almost finished

I have ideas on how to finish it out but nothing decided yet. I was thinking about a small and quick project to sink my teeth into. I really should get onto the holiday ornaments if I want any ready by the winter... so many things to work on.

>^_^<

Lookie what I made for work!

This was so tasty I had to share, it was such a people pleaser and so easy to make. There was quite a bit of prep time and the time to arrange everything but easy all the same.

My Berry Trifle:
Angel food cake (cubed)
Vanilla pudding (2 boxes)
Cool whip
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Bananas
Kiwi
Grapes (halved)

Then it is just a matter of layering everything in alternate layers as you like.

And it gave me a reason to use this pretty serving bowl from Goodwill. Yay!

Lazy, Busy and Distracted...

That about sums up my life lately, too lazy to turn on the computer, too busy to make the time to post anything and too distracted in reading a book series that I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I freaking love. Read those twice.

Onto the stitching!
I had been asked to create a name panel for a friend at work, for another friend from work that had recently had their first child. I think it turned out so very lovely. They changed their last name after I had stitched it up so they are going to cut off the bottom and make the top part into a pillow. I also think that is quite nice to make a keepsake from it. In total I spent 28 hours making it. Out of respect for their privacy I am only posting parts of it and will not show the entire name... you never know these days.

I have been making great progress on the Needle 'N Thread long and short stitch project but have not been able to get good pictures of it yet. I finally spent my Labor day stitching... All day long! I went from being 3 projects behind to being all caught up!

That was quite nice I must say since I had spent so much time buried in books.

I also have been painting again. That is a late in the evening activity for me after my child has been put to bed. After almost seven years it is nice to pick up a brush and create on canvas again. Needless to say there will be pictures as soon as I an confident enough to post them.

Happy stitching and painting and reading to you all!