BEST WISHES

I have been away for some time. Life has been hectic with house painting, family obligations and a few health problems around Christmas. I have been following your blogs though as I enjoy nothing more than a cup of tea and catching up.
I have managed to do a little stitching leading up to the Holidays and am also showing some Christmas stitching from previous years.

                                          Prairie Schooler Christmas Strawberry.

                                           St. Nicholas Needle roll.

                                          Cross Stitch Christmas Stocking 2001.

                                          Detail of Crazy Patchwork Stocking

  

                                          and more detail.

 My Crazy Patchwork Christmas Stocking from a class with J.Rofe in 2000. I think this is my favorite decoration, also a lovely size for filling with Xmas goodies!

And a gift for a special friend. Another Christmas Strawberry and a little tree decoration which was a free pattern from Threadwork Primitives.

I hope your Christmas holiday has been wonderful and that 2012 will be even better, full of lovely stitching and quilting if that is what you enjoy .A garden full of flowers if that is also your favorite occupation, but most of all happiness, good health and peace.

                                                          HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Sunny Days.

Red Geranium.

Native Hibiscus.

Cymbidium Orchid

Camelia.

Photos taken on a sunny day in our back garden. Now it is raining and predicted by the weather people to do so for almost the entire week. Oh well, more time to stitch.

Garden Rambling.

It is suppose to be Spring but with the rain during this past weekend I thought I would show you some pics from the previous weekends local Garden Ramble.
This is one special garden of the ten that were open to visit, then my camera batteries went flat. The temp. for the day was a very hot 32c. Not like the past few days at all.

The ramble is held to raise money for the sight impaired and attracts thousands of  visitor's each time it is held.

I am still here!

Hello to everyone in blog land, I am back. No excuses for such a long break, only I will admit I think I lost my blogging Mojo. It really is hard to keep up with all of the other wonderful blogs out there but I least I am willing to have another crack at it.
Now if Blogger will let me show some pics of what I have been up to, they should appear below. I have had issues with this before, so here goes!

 So, though I haven't blogged for a while I have been working with my silver needle and threads. I have finished the first Applique block of the small laptop quilt class I started earlier in the year and have done a lot of work to the other blocks, but have now put them away while other things need to be worked on.
The scissor fob is a Shepeherds Bush design and another little kit which is Keeping the Bees.  I have also finished my major project this year which is The Earth Gatherers. This is another one by my favorite designers, Sherpherds Bush. Yes, I have a slight addiction to their designs, I can't help myself! At least I cause no harm to any living creature with an addiction such as this, however, the homestead does suffer somewhat.
Next time I will show you some Spring pics of my garden or should that be Summer as the temps for the past few days in this area of the planet have been much warmer than normal (30c).
Now I am off to water the Orchids.

Hooked on Applique.

As your can see I have been working on the Applique block from the last post.  Please excuse the wrinkles but I have held this in my hand on and off all day as I start to apply the teeny tiny flowers. These are suppose to be Lilac blossom. Do you like the color?  I had a lot of fun going through my fabric stash to choose the right shade. I am enjoying this immensely and even though these flowers are so small, I think they look very effective when applied as a spray of Lilac.  The leaves have been attached with needle turn applique then the center vein  embroidered. The bow has also been embroidered with French Knots along the edge.
Now I should confess that The Earth Gatherers are having a little rest while I have been busy with the Applique block. I will return to it over the weekend when I have attached all  the Lilac flowers.

Now a confession. At times I have been tempted to look at Ebay, particularly the porcelain/china/glass section. Yes, I have even given in to the temptation. When I saw this sweet little cup and saucer, I had to place a bid and found that I was the lucky winner. It was only a few dollars, the postage cost more as it came from England. But I had to have it, I think it will be wonderful inspiration for an embroidery design. However, this will have to wait until I have completed The Earth Gatherers. Here is the saucer pictured under neath.

Do you think the design would be worthwhile embroidering? I love the Rose Topiary and Hollyhocks.
I would love to know what you think about it.