Colonial Garden

 

Life is a garden, not a road We enter and exit through the same gate. 

Wandering, where we go matters less than what we notice.

                                               Kurt Vonnegut

****design comes from a vintage 1988 Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine. 

Titled "Colonial Garden" 

stitched this month on 18ct white Aida .  

Baskets of "Pretty"

 These early November days have me gathering my yarns  and heading out to the patio where the sun has just the right warmth and the day holds just the right light to work some crochet stitches with my hook.

Here,   I can linger and spend much time as I work the stitches, feeling the light breeze, watching the last of the butterflies and bees fluttering and buzzing in and out of the summer's remaining  flowers.   

They seem to know as well as I , that soon , these petals of beauty will be gone and there will be a long stretch of cold before they return.

 

The day ends in early darkness this time of year, and I spend the late afternoons inside my stitching nook,  turning bits of scrap fabric into little items for my vintage shop.  It never ceases to amaze me at what all can be created by one little scrap piece of fabric.  One only needs to research the internet these days to find a bounty of inspiration.

As I stitch, my thoughts are upon, the holidays , that ,although I have had a whole year to be prepared for, they seem to rush at me faster these short few weeks.  There are still outside things to be done, .........garden spaces to be cleared, seeds and bulbs to be planted, and the final things to do in the greenhouse. Best of all........it is the most wonderful weather to enjoy all of these things. 

Tell me, are you busy creating special gifts for loved ones for Christmas? , are you gathering ingredients for those wonderful family gathered meals?  In all of this busyness........are you taking time to enjoy these slowing down and lovely days?

Here's wishing for you pleasant and peaceful days.

Wishing you a happy Halloween

 

Gnome and elf and fairy,

Witch and ghost make merry

On this last of dear October’s days.

Lettie C. Van Derveer, Halloween Happenings, 1921

Sometimes I just want the color..........red

 I have been stitching on two different cross stitch pieces ........one on one week, one on the next week........and both are lovely.  One is not enough done yet to show.......but this is the beginning stages of my "red garden sampler"

I have a cross stitch book that I just love by a French needlework designer , Marjorie Massey.  Her motifs and designs are so pretty! 

I think I have shown this garden lady to you before.  I had cross stitched her on screen wire........but it proved to be very tedious and hard......but I knew I wanted to cross stitch her again.  So I chose her actually as the main theme for the sampler I wanted to create.  

I love this border and decided to cross stitch it for my surrounding border.  I had a garden poem picked out for the sampler, but I have always loved this quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  And right in the middle of stitching and getting ready to start the garden poem............ I had an idea for a butterfly that looks like it is flying "out " of the sampler.  So I cross stitched this quote instead

This is how it is looking at the moment and I am so happy with it.  This is the first time I have cross stitched a piece without a complete pattern to go by and with an idea of making it a "personal" sampler with the things I love about a garden.  I am not sure how much or what else I will add and I am not sure how large it will be.  I am just cross stitching what the day brings to my heart.

But I love the whole red floss look......do you?

Do you like one solid color embroidered samplers?  If so,

do you like red, or do you prefer black......or maybe a dark blue?

I would love to hear!

**** with it being October, I have a wonderful fall treat recipe.

For the recipe , just click onto this link:

Apple Crisp

Here's wishing you pleasant autumn days

Wool Felt Applique and Embroidery

 

I spent a little bit of time looking through some amazing books

that cover the art of wool felt applique and I just

had to try my hand (needle) at it. 

I have this design from a Trish Burr embroidery book and 

thought it would be great for a wool felt applique.

I love to do applique with regular cotton fabric, however, I

have never worked with wool felt........... have any of you?

One nice thing about the wool felt is that you do not have 

to turn under raw edges.  The wool felt does not ravel.

I was also a bit apprehensive about cutting out such small pieces 

and wondering how the wool felt would hold up to the floss and 

needle during embroidery.  

I managed to cut out the small pieces and after that,

the placement and the embroidery went well!  

There are many wonderful books and supplies available for this

fun kind of stitchery if you are wanting to get started with your

own project.  

Some craft stores have plenty of books and many online websites

have books and supplies needed. 

Your fun is only a click away! 

So tell me........do any of you work with wool felt applique 

and embroidery?  

I would love to hear........and see.

Suddenly it is September............

 

and although summer is almost at an end, the flowers 

are still vibrant, especially the morning glory 

and the wild aster.

Here the morning glory is just beginning to bloom at it's best

and the wild prairie aster grows and blooms in large clumps all 

along the garden fence. 

When I came upon the design in the first photo, I knew

it was perfect to embroider.  I also tinted it

to make it look more vibrant. This is a month by month design..........

I acquired years ago.......but can't remember from where.

I hope to embroidered each month starting with September.

Fittingly, this piece I just finished  is titled.....

"The Last Rose of Summer" 

This is a little motif design from Blackbird Designs

and  it seems to match my little rose bush blooming 

it's last blooms until the days grow cold. 

Fall is almost here and I am sure many of you are working

on projects that have pumpkins........maybe Halloween themed

designs on them?  I would love to hear!

A tribute........Blackbird Designs

 

As we  enter the new month of August, I cannot leave the month 

of July without a word , a tribute to Barb Adams of Blackbird Designs who 

passed away July 4th, 2021.

I felt the title of the sampler above fit for this sad time.

Barb Adams was part of the wonderful design company, Blackbird Designs,

 along with Alma Allen which started in 1999.

Over the years they have created designs for quilting and cross stitch

 loved by so many of us. 

For me, the ideas they created for all different kinds of samplers and the 

wonderful colors they chose for each pattern, is what drew me to their pattern company.

I have many of their patterns on my "stitch" bucket list waiting to be finished.

Many of you already know of this sad news.......but for those of you who do not,

here is a link with a  wonderful tribute post for Barb from her friend Alma, as 

well as a link for Barb's obituary .  This site also has links to Alma's and other Blackbird 

Design blogs for fans and information on charts and patterns.

Fans of Blackbird Designs

 If you search the internet

you will find many tributes to Barb and Blackbird Designs as well. 

My sincere condolences to Barb Adams family and to Alma Allen.