PUMPKINS FOR CATHEY

Everywhere one visits in blogland  at present there are pumpkins appearing, Bloggers have been asked by Daffy Cat see here to brighten up the day for Cathey of Pumpkin Patch and co her blog- is here.

 Cathey, I join my prayers with the many, many others who have you in their thoughts. May the Lord give you the strength you need to face each new day,

 

 

FROM A SECRET FRIEND

Friends fill your life with joy,

your soul with sunshine

and your heart with joy.

Our Stitching Friends Group has just had their Secret Friend gift exchange, and while I can't show you what I stitched , we don't reveal who we are till December and so to post it here would be a give away I am thrilled to share with you what I have received.

 

The theme for the exchange was "Pansy flowers" Here is what I received,  isn't this little brooch just exquisite, the stump work pansy  is just 2cm across ( three quarters of an inch) and the whole brooch 5cm (2 inches) The background appears to be deep purple in my photo is really black. If my secret friend reads my blog- know that I love it and say a big thank you to you for stitching such a beautiful piece for me.

I am off to Wellington this weekend Barryn is driving up to collect me, and he and Jackie have tickets to take me to the World of Wearable Art show next Tuesday night, I am really looking forward to that. Flying home on the Thursday so will blog all the news of the trip after that.

 

                                             Meanwhile Happy stitching everyone.

 

 

IHSW UPDATE



Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.

ECKHART TOLLE, The Power of Now

Yes I made progress on my planned piece this weekend but not sitting in the sunny corner in the unit but rather by the fire in the living room, weather forecast for the weekend was  heavy rain and thunder this is my favourite chair and as you can see there is plenty of clutter round it from where I have been working.

 

 

 and here is my progress........................

 

It would have been nice to have complete all the way round but time did not permit and now I must put it aside for a while and work on two pieces that cannot be shown yet but for which the deadlines are coming closer.

 

 I hope everyone who was IHSW stitching had a great weekend.

 

SUNSHINE ,STITCHING & IHSW

Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered

by imagination.

Voltaire



Yes I have been busy stitching and the disappointing thing is at this stage I cannot share any of it...... a gift for my secret friend who I hope will not guess who it is from all will be revealed in December.... ....a birthday gift that has yet to be finished and go in the post........ and my small entries for the Regional Embroiderers Exhibition... once the entries close I possible will share that one with you, so instead I am sharing with you the stitching spot I enjoy on sunny days. This lovely big window that catches the sun almost all day long is in the unit attached to the cottage I sit and stitch here on sunny days  enjoying the view at this time of the year of the Magnolia stellata which is in full bloom.

 

 

   the view of the magnolia from the garden.

 

 

 

 Another time I will show you my stitching corner in the ,living room where I stitch and enjoy the warmth of the fire.

 

 

 

 

This weekend is the next IHSW and I have signed up with the plans to work on My gift for Rachel's birthday at the end of October. I am stitching Strawberries So Faire by Ellen Chester of With my needle I have started and will be back after the weekend with my progress report.

 

 

 

 

Hope you have a happy weekend stitching.

 

MY PAGE FOR AUGUST.

Here is my page for August for Needlework masters Monthly stitch-a-long,  the panels in the fan are Wessex Stitchery, these were stitch as examples when I was teaching this technique. The little blue beetle was fun to stitch specially trying to make the two sides of him as close as possible.

 

For my second technique I have added a piece of surface stitchery ( bullion stitch roses) This is from last year's monthly project

 

 

 

A lovely surprise that arrived in the mail this week  was from Heather who made this delightful Kanzashi  flower. she saw them first on Lang's May page for Needlework Masters Monthly stitch a long and found the templates were available here in NZ  Thank you Heather, I will find somewhere special to hand the flower.

 

 

Now its back to the fireside and my stitching.

 

 

SPRING MORNING

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

Good morning... the sun is shining... and there are lots of signs that spring is here in my garden... AND at the moment I can sit comfortably, and I truly give thanks.  It has been a long winter not being able to do much  and I thank all my blogging friends for you messages specially during that time, and how when I could spend a little time at the computer I have enjoyed reading your postings and news.  I have finally managed to get Birthday Bunny chart on its was, Vicki it should be with you before long. Bea I know you were interested in stitching it too but My email to you has been unanswered, if you read this and are still interested send me your postal address and I will forward it to Vicki.

 I managed to

complete Beauty and Grace  in time for Caitlin's birthday,  and here are some photos.

 

Beauty and Grace by Ellen Chester of with my needle stitched on Silver Springs linen from Colour Cascade Australia. Threads were just what I had to hand.

 

a little change in the wording to suit the occasion

 

 

 I am not working on my monthly page for Needlework Masters Monthly stitch a long hope to get it posted this week.

 Meanwhile thank you for visiting .................enjoy your day.

IHSW UPDATE

Just a quick report on my progress after the weekends stitching.

 

 

 as you can see I managed to complete the front panel and the spine I am now working on the back panel with the plans to hopefully do the construction this coming weekend, as Caitlin's birthday is later next week.

 

LYING LOW

Time flies, but the memories collected along the way can never be replaced.

Ashley Tisdale

It is  over a month since I last posted on my blog... oh where has the time gone and what have I been doing ???  Truth is I have been lying low ....... how true I have been flat on my back for most of the past month, I am now up and moving around if a bit slowly!! and as sitting is far from comfortable for my back hence little time has been spent at the computer. I am trying to catch up with mail bit by bit..

Firstly a welcome to new followers, I have noticed while I have been absent the numbers have grown. I have  tried to keep up with everyone's blogs thanks to my laptop which I could have on the bed beside me.

\

 

Now a little to share my July page for Needle Masters Monthly  Stitch a long This was ready but not mounted. I had the lovely red and black beetle so it was a case of deciding what to put with it as you can see the choice finally was Quaker work in black and a piece of Battenberg Lace stitch some years ago. 

 

 

My only stitching for the past month has been this small hornbook for my Stitching Friends Challenge A Mon Ami Pierre design-  this is a design I have stitched before and is a favourite of mine, stitched this time on 40 count Permin linen with deep blue madeira Silk thread and sent to Ann, who has not let me know of its safe arrival

 

 

 

 

 
However I am hopeful of getting some stitching done this weekend at it is IHSW and I am planning to work on With my needle design "Beauty and Grace" this is what Caitlin has asked for her birthday I am stitching it on a piece of hand died linen from Colour Cascade Fabrics this one is called Silver Springs. As you can see I have only just started... back after the weekend to show my progress.

 

 

I'm now off back to enjoy the fireside and Tabitha's company

 

“Time spent with a cat is never wasted.”
― Colette

MEET TABITHA TWITCHETT

 

“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet

"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh”

― A.A. Milne

 

Meet Tabitha Twitchett, she is a stray that has lived in our yard sleeping under the house or under the old church next door, I remember her being there when we still had our cat Tippy ( who died 4 years ago) Tabitha is a very timid cat who would take off and hide as soon as she saw you...... this photo was taken with the zoom on my camera so she did not know I was near. I stopped feeding the sparrows when I realized I had a hunter on the property and as we have had no mice around the place I give her the credit.

 Tabitha's story takes a change this year, December was very dry and by late January we had drought conditions, I was very surprised when gardening that Tabitha came quite close to me crying and I realized  as I had not been able to water the garden there were no puddles anywhere for her to drink. We have always not feed stray cats leaving them to live off the land but as you can guess a few days after putting a water bowl out for her I weakened and left a little food, for this I was rewarded with her company when ever I worked in the garden close, but not too close.

To jump my story forward, Tabitha is now living with me, slowly she has let herself become friendly, she must at sometime been someones pet as she is  clean and house trained  and a very loving cat. She knew what the cat door was... tapping on it to have it unlocked when she was brave enough to venture in. Now she is here all the time never far away from me, although still very timid with visitors....... and my camera.    The lovely photo below was taken as you see when she was asleep on the chair by the fire.  And I am enjoying having her company in the house.

More embroidery news next time.

 Happy Independence day to all my American blogging friends.

IHSW UPDATE

 

 

 

Here is the result of my weekend's stitching. I hope all other Hermits had a good weekends stitching too

IHSW

I have a special project to stitch this weekend. I am designing a small mat for Caitlin to stitch. she is currently working on a piece for next years Embroiderers Guilds  National Exhibition, National exhibitions are held every two years and on the in between years we have a Regional one. Caitlin first exhibited nationally at the age of 6 years, (she is now 15) and has had something in every exhibition since. quite a record I think.

 We have a stitching session together most Friday afternoons after school and she planned and started her next major piece early as she was aware there would be more time needed for study this year with major exams looming and possibly less time for stitching hence her planned early start. Now that her big piece is underway she is hoping to manage a small piece for the regional exhibition later this year. the theme for this exhibition is Colour of the Seasons. Having discussed what she wanted to stitch it is now over to me to come up with a design something achievable in the time given and still leave plenty of time for her major work.

 so I started the weekend with a blank piece of fabric. and my progress so far is

 

I am stitching it on 32 count Belfast linen and just in one colour , Caitlin will choose her own linen and colours to stitch  her piece so the final result will look quite different

 

I will log in at the end of the weekend.

 happy stitching to all hermits.

 

MY PAGE FOR JUNE

The colour of springtime is in the flowers

the colour of winter is in the imagination.

 

The fire is burning brightly and the room is warm so it does not matter what the weather is outside, shortly I will go and enjoy the fire and sit and stitch, but first I want to share with you my journal  page for June I used a piece of Turkish embroidery, which had been my planning piece for a piece I stitched later for an exhibition..............

 

.............a small example of Punto Antico Embroidery ( Italian) This is taken from one of  Bruna Gubbini's  books on Antico Punto  but I cannot remember which one. and this time a bronze beetle.

 

 And as the month is going by quite quickly I am off to plan my next page.

Happy stitching everyone.