Finish to Scissors Case

This is my finish for the Quaker " Mes Ciseaux" pattern for a scissors case. I thought it was lacking when I had completed it, even though I lined it with a patterned silk; so have made a little scissors fob echoing part of the design on each side. I have finished the fob with a 2mm cream satin ribbon, attached to the fob on either side with a single Mill Hill glass seed bead ( no02068). The linen which I stitched the piece on is a 36 count off white linen. I cannot say what make the linen is, as it was part of a professional soft furnishing persons stash, which she kindly gave me.

The pattern once again was a freebie pattern from http://www.carinne.ht.st/ which was kindly offered back in 2006.

Going greener...Not only in stitching

Having had a' bit of a week' last week, it was nice to see the sunshine arrive in our little part of the world on Sunday. Although D husband had other ideas I was able to nudge him up the garden with me to clean out the greenhouse. In it we had a collection of Cacti which I had inherited from my D Daughter when she went to live in Goa, I am really not into Cacti even though some of them produced the most beautiful flowers for one day or so in the summer. I therefore had decided that they were taking up valuable space, and that they had to go in order that I could get my vegetable seeds under way, and in particular my tomatoes. This year I am going to grow them in the greenhouse, along with cucumbers, so that no matter what the British weather throws at us we will have luscious tomatoes all summer.

By the way don't be sad for the cacti all thirty odd of them. I listed them on http://freecycle.org/ and gave them away to a home, and to someone who would appreciate theThe rest of the garden is going to be redesigned this year. We have been here now for seven years this year, and after having to start my garden from scratch in the beginning as it was like a wilderness, I think it is time for a change. Not only that,but in England now the powers that be are encouraging people to try and grow their own Veggies and fruit. Well we already do that but not on a very large scale, so I have decided that the round lawn has to be moved, and the shrubs and put into either the front garden, or to be arranged somewhere else. That way where the lawn has been, and is virtually virgin soil can be my new vegetable patch.

These are some of the pics of the plants in my garden last year.

Clematis

Aquilegia

Spring.....Dutch Iris

Calla Lily

Rose: Dawn Chorus....has the most glorious scent

Voodoo Lily

Lavender

Australian Bottlebrush

Spring....everything not out yet.




Blue Angel Wings

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Still on a Green Note

I got to thinking last week apart from all that we have done to be "green with our electricity", I cast my mind back to when I was a child and thought about what my Mum used to have in her house that was different today which didn't use electricity but was so useful. Do you remember those carpet sweepers that you push along to pick up the bits? I really thought this would be a great idea to get one so that when I had finished stitching I wouldn't have to get the vacuum out just to pick up the ends of threads etc., and it would also be eco friendly. I hadn't got a great deal of money to spare this month, so I put a "Wanted" on http://freecycle.org/, and 'voila', some dear soul had one that I could have. So I am now saving money in electricity bills, and it takes less time to pick up bits.

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Stitchers Heaven Group SAL......Finished part three of Alla Turca

Stitched in French Navy DMC 311 on 28ct evenweave linen

My WIP at the moment

I have quite a few freebies stored in my stash on the PC and yesterday I wanted to do a small for me. I decided on this beautiful little Quaker Scissors Case pattern which was offered back in March of 2006 on http://www.carinne.ht.st/ for personal use only.

I have cross stitched it, and have decided to line it with some contrasting patterned silk that I had in my stash, yet to be finished, but here is the pic before finishing into the scissors case.

Eyelashes the Giraffe Ornament

I was so chuffed the other evening when my husband came home. Look what he brought me. I just love giraffes. Only on Sunday we were watching a programme on TV about Paignton Zoo, and how the zookeeper was having trouble trying to hand rear this baby giraffe when it was born, as its mother had rejected it and kept kicking it, and at the end of it all the baby giraffe died. I was so saddened, as the baby giraffe was so cute you just wanted to reach out and help it.



Animal Prints and Fabric and Crossstitchers.

I have a passion for animal prints in particular, zebra, and leopard imitations. However they have to be not garish, for me anyway. I really don't like these faux fur fabrics you see and the prints that the manufacturers put onto throws.

As I am in the theme of animal prints I though you may care to have a look at the link I have given, as there is a very nice scissors case, biscornu, scissors fob, and needle case, all stitched in cross-stitch. The pattern is by Sharon Manspeaker, and she is offering it as a freebie for personal use only. The link is:-
http://www.xstitchhappy.com/2008/10/cheetahleopard-needlework-set-scissors.html



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My Eldest Son Justins' Design & Finished Piece

Through the winter when the weather was bad, and when my son was feeling a bit poorly he decided that he was going to do his own design rather than using a chart made by someone else. He is a very fast stitcher, and completed it in about three days, I was amazed. This is the result.



He has always been artistic, mostly nudes, but he has recently started a new style of art, modern, clean curving lines that would fit in with the minimalistic style that a lot of people like today.

This is one of them painted in acrylic on canvas .