Works in Progress

We're finally getting a taste of summer here in the Canadian West - though at the moment our summer includes some sunshine during the earlier part of the day, followed by thunderstorms later on - I snapped this photo an hour or so ago, in bright sunshine, and now heavy rain is pouring from black clouds.  

Time for a short update  - I've been doing lots of stitching, including a couple that I can't show yet!  Two of my newer photos are of "stitch-a-longs" with the Yahoo "Sticklounge" group, an internet group based in Germany that provides original patterns shared with the permission of the designer.  Group members choose which projects we want to stitch, and when we post a photo of a completed section, we receive the chart for the next section.   There are 50 English-speaking and 50 German-speaking members - my high school and college German is being dredged from the back corners of my memory! 

The first is one from Gracewood Stitches, "Heart Note Alley" - it's being stitched from the bottom up.  I'm using DMC cotton threads from France on linen (I think it's an antique white Belfast, but I'm not quite sure of that).  

And my second "stitch-a-long" is a small pattern called "Sommerherz" (Summer Heart) - I'm using two DMC shades, 800 and 472 - I've finished Part 2 of 5.  The photo is a little pale - I'll try to get a clearer photo of the next section when it's completed. 

The photo at the top of this post shows some of my wild roses in the front flower bed - we love them, and the purple sage/salvia is just coming out as well - more pictures later of these native plants.  

I think that's enough for the moment - I'll be back before long to show more of a special project that I've just completed.  

Gingerbread Garden close up

I thought that some of you might like to have a closer look at the details in Gingerbread Garden - this is such a little piece, just over 2 inches wide and about 8 inches long, that it's hard to see the details in the original image I posted yesterday.  Some of the specialty stitches that Thea included in this design are Foursided Pulled Stitches, Sheaf Stitch, Half Rhodes Stitch, Satin Stitch, Drawn Thread with Hemstitching, Backstitches, French Knots, Cross Stitch over One, Kloster Blocks, and Plait Stitches. 

Now time to return to the fireside on this chilly spring night and continue stitching on Kathy's Heart Note Alley from Gracewood Stitches, a project I'm doing over a period of several months through the Sticklounge Yahoo group.

Is it Christmas yet?

In view of the hot weather in many parts of North America (although we're having cool rainy weather here in the west, interspersed with occasional bouts of sunshine), I thought I'd help you cool off by showing a recent finish of a Christmas-themed piece.  Besides which, as I was informed by a young man I know, Christmas is just over 6 months away :) 

Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler designed this piece, Gingerbread Garden - it's a tiny piece, but took a little longer than I thought it might, as it was full of specialty stitches and a few beads too.  It also has a companion pattern for a tree ornament, but I haven't started that one yet, although I have the linen and threads all set to go for it.   I think I may finish Gingerbread Garden as a little quilted bell-pull/banner, if I can find just the right fabric for it.  But at least I have a while to do this (remind me I said this when the December snows come!). 

I've just finished stitching a model of a new design for a friend, but I won't post a photo of it until she's done that herself, and now I'm getting back to working on two or three unfinished projects - a Monasterium design, an old Drawn Thread sampler, a Derwentwater farm picture, and a couple of Sticklounge undertakings - photos to come next week .....  In the meantime, stay cool :)