Time for TUSAL again

Yes it's time to show my little ORT jar for May..... where does the time go?    Here it is..

Shall I ever see this jar full?   The pinky threads on the top are Dinky Dyes silk, lovely thread to stitch with. I'm using it on FS Dawn of Spring SAL designed by Mouse (see link to her blog at the side).  I've just finished part 3 which included some drawn thread work and bullion knots.  So I'm getting to do stitches I haven't tried before.  Can't wait for June and the next part to arrive.  Here's my progress so far..

I may have to take out the left hand side spider rose.... it's too high, didn't notice until I saw this photo, and some of the bullion knot leaves are a bit wayward.  I do hate it when I know its not right!!

Not much work done this month on my Mary Wigham sampler, because I have started something new.

  Rug hooking!!    Take a look at   http://gnomes-home.blogspot.co.uk/  for Barb's tutorials.

Here's my starting kit, isn't that wool a gorgeous colour.


and how far I have got..

 I'm just practising hooking straight lines at the moment.  I don't intend to make rugs for the floor, more wall hangings and table toppers.  I also want to dye my own wool, but can't seem to find a supplier in UK of wool fabric suitable for hooking.  Lots of  US sites which I may have to look into, but postage could be high.



I'll leave you with a photo of my Clivia,  it has 5 flower heads on which I haven't seen before, usually 2 or 3 at most.  It obviously likes being where it is, and had a good winter.  I think the secret is to keep them cool in winter, and it goes outside for the summer.

Happy stitching

First post of 2012

Firstly, A Very Happy New Year to all who read this new post of 2012.

I started the Crazy 15 Challenge on January 1st, if you would like to see my progress and what I decided to stitch, please click on the tab above.  That page is to show my progress until January 15th when I should have all projects started.  Progress and finishes thru the year will be posted here.  
January is always a hard month for me, the cold and dull days make me want to hibernate, and I get the 'winter blues'..... roll on spring!  I'm going to try and keep myself busy and hopefully get at least two finishes before the end of the month. 

I'll leave you with a lovely orchid I have on my kitchen window sill, this is its second flower stalk.

and Petra if your reading this .... yes, it is the one you gave me in the summer when you were over here.  Thank you, it gives me much pleasure.

Happy stitching

Where was I? - ' Downunder mate'

Did you guess where I was on holiday?  DH and I had a great time for just over 5 weeks.... here's another photo from that amazing country,   the beautiful city of Adelaide, SA..... shopping on the Rundle Mall

Rundle Street and Rundle Mall are named after John Rundle (1791- 1864), an original director and financier of the South Australia Company, which was formed in London in 1834 to promote settlement of the new colony of South Australia.

 The sheep were on the road to the small town of Melrose, in the Flinders Range.  It was a wonderful sight to see early that morning, a field of blue with sheep dotted about.  The plant they were grazing on is Echium plantagineum, commonly known as Purple Viper's Bugloss or as Paterson's Curse or Salvation Jane (particularly in South Australia). Other names are Blueweed, Lady Campbell Weed or Riverina Bluebell. The name Salvation Jane comes from South Australia. In times of drought, many of the states grazing pastures died. Due to its drought hardiness, Echium was a source of food to the grazing animals in the state, hence the name Salvation Jane.  I believe it is toxic to horses.

The beach ............ 'sigh'  was perfect.  If I won the lottery that is where you would find me, building a house overlooking that bay..... named Tumby Bay on the Eyre Peninsula.  There was  a quilting shop too,  what more could I ask for...... 

Now onto an update of my stitching this past week,  more stitching on LHN's Home of a Needleworker, and a small autumn piece for a small  hanging pillow, which I haven't got a photo of yet, so will wait till its finished. 

I am really enjoying stitching this one, I have got the feel of linen now and love the look.  I think I am completely mad, cos I have signed up for the Crazy 15 Challenge, info here

   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crazyjanuary2012 , 
so I have been browsing to find 15 projects I want to stitch next year.  I'm a very slow stitcher so it will be a challenge to finish 15 in a year.  Might have to choose mostly small ones, with a few medium, certainly no large projects.  My Mary Wigmore is the only big project I can concentrate on, maybe I can add that as one of my 15.  I know I shall be doing some LHN charts, one will be the 'Coffee Menu' as I love that and it will go great on my kitchen wall.   Also I have French Hen by JBW Designs to add.  I'll update next week on my 15 chosen ones.


happy stitching

Chillies and tomatoes!

I've not done much in the way of stitching this week, but did manage to  finished my exchange biscornu. Just need to post it off next week, but sorry no photo yet, but I will show you this what  I managed to finish off too.............   can you guess what's in here!

        ....something I love!  its so amazing!  and partly to blame for not a lot of stitching getting done!.....

                   
                 can you see it... just peeping out!  yes........ its my new Kindle.  Thought it deserved its own case so I found these charm squares in my stash and they seemed to fit the bill fine.  I love the lime and black together.

The title of this post does mention Chillies, so here's an update of how they are doing

                    and the tomatoes,  but I think I may need a recipe for green tomato chutney!

  and I'll leave you with a gorgeous fuchsia flower that's in one of my hanging baskets.

Spring has arrived at last!

It was a beautiful day yesterday and I couldn't settle into any needlework so I took my camera out into the garden.  I was really surprised how many flowers I had to capture.  More to come I hope, well there maybe, if I get my act together and plant the sunflower and morning glory seeds I have waiting.  I'm going to try some climbing french beans too! 
Must try and get motivated into finishing some of my UFO's.  I get so easily side-tracked ...... then another new project gets started.  Still, I have got my Snickerdoodle Dreams bag swap off across the pond, was really pleased with the way it turned out.  Can't show yet, have to wait til I know it has arrived, but with the 7 days of no flights I expect there will be some back-log to clear so it may take longer then usual.  Fingers crossed and wish it a speedy journey.

Snowdrops and Soup!

While I was waiting for my soup to cool ready for the freezer I took this photo of the first snowdrops out in my garden........

I love to see them, makes me think better weather is on the way. Well, we had snow and it went away fairly quickly only to come back again, and it is so cold now!

So here are the photos of my carrot soup and my snowdrops.... hope you like both!!