Oh, give me the country! where grass is green;

      Where the roses bloom with satiny sheen;

      Where the modest violet lifts up its head,

      As on it the warmth of the sun is shed:

Give me the country! where all is serene;

      Where the air is pure and fragrant and clean,

      And noise of the city is far away;

      Where gaiety thrives through each night and day.

God made the country, so lovely and fair!,

      Its wide open spaces for all to share;

      Where joy and contentment each one may find

      If he, earnestly, seeks for peace of mind.

Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, "Give Me The Country!" (1940s)

Working With A Difficult Embroidery Transfer

I may stray from my needle once in a while to create something else in another medium, ............as in my last post......

but only for a short while...........

and then......I pick up my needle and do what I love the most.......

embroidery! 

This is a portion of a shirt that I am currently embroidering on for a dear friend.

I love the variety of butterflies

dragonflies

flowers, and leaves of this particular transfer. 

The fabric of this shirt is easy to embroider on............

This is also another shirt I am embroidering for my friend, but the print fabric is not so easy and not so cooperative. 

I wanted a particular rose transfer for this shirt, but because the transfer had black lines and the shirt itself is black plaid..........it was extremely hard for me to see the transfer.

If you have this same problem, but you still want to embroider a shirt ........or on fabric like this........

be very patient, sit in good light, and take a white or bright sewing thread and work a running stitch over the entire design.

( I have tried white transfer pencils, but the marks often fade away after much handling)

It takes longer to mark it with running thread, but you will then be able to see the transfer distinctly and it will stay while you handle it. 

You can then begin to work your embroidery

Depending on how you work your embroidery stitches.......you will not have to remove the running thread......as the floss will cover it........

however, if you do see the running thread through the embroidery,  carefully snip the running thread, avoiding the embroidery floss and pull out with tweezers. 

I think this came out very well 

and somewhat pretty

but as you can see, it is still not as vibrant and does not stand out as much as I would have liked it to.

In saying this.........make sure your floss colors do outshine the fabric pattern of the shirt.

So tell me.......have you ever had a difficult transfer or pattern to work with?

I have always loved rocks...............

we hardly went to the movies for entertainment, when I was young........drive in theaters were more popular than indoor theaters in the 70s for my family at that time.............

my mom and dad loved to go to lakes.........not just for fishing, but just to go and to enjoy the outdoors.

On various trips to the lakes.........or even days when they just wanted to " get away"

my brother and I would find ourselves in the back seat of the family car.......... traveling down some dusty

gravel laden back road while our mom and dad talked their usual chatter with each other,  enjoying the pleasant drive.

At least once on the back roads, the car would come to a halt and our dad would say

"let's go hunt for rocks"

This was one of my favorite times on these trips.. 

We would walk the barbed wire fenced,  hard packed road in search of  pretty and unusual  rocks,

sometimes running across a horned toad or lizard and taking time to pick a handful of blossoming wildflowers.

Once home, we would place the rocks into a flower bed/rock garden.

Those times have stayed in my heart and memory throughout all  of my years

and in different areas on the grounds here..........

there are rock gardens that I have made.........under a mesquite tree in the woods,

along a beautiful large cactus growing on the meadow........

and along the house flower beds.

I pick a few up at a time on my long walks with Sohpie ( my dog)

Sometimes I want to make things with them....

garden paths to my greenhouse and pond...........

sometimes I like to make pictures to place along the rock gardens

and lately........I have made wall hangings.

Mine.........are a little primitive.......but I don't want to copy others....

I want to make what I love......and what comes to mind. 

When I see different rocks, I start picturing in my mind, how they could be used.

You can find so many inspirational ideas on what they call

"rock art" on Pinterest or other websites.......

 and then go find your rocks........which are pretty and odd shaped 

or you can buy them, 

which have beautiful colors and uniform shapes for the perfect design

and then.......create you own things.

I love to find them, although they may not be the perfect shape for creations,

they work for what I want .

No matter on how you get your rocks...........take time to enjoy finding them and then take a really good look at their beauty.