Stitching and Flowers

It was a productive Saturday around here. I did some chores that badly needed doing, got Mount Laundry whittled down to size and even managed to get in a couple of hours on And They Sinned! Here is where I started at 7pm:

And here's how it looked when I put it down at 9:

I would have stitched a little longer but I wanted to go upstairs and have a good soak in the tub. I pulled something in my back today lifting a bag of papers to take to the recycling bin (and I know how I'm supposed to lift, but I didn't of course) so I thought a little time in some hot water would be good for it. It seems to have helped some, so I'll top it off with an Advil before bed.

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I finished reading Harry Potter 2 yesterday -- since the new movie has come out, it only seemed logical to re-read the books -- so now I can concentrate on In The Walled Gardens. The author is Iranian and the book is set in Iran in the late 70s, before the revolution. It's a good book and I'm sure that I'll enjoy it even more now that I can concentrate on it. I borrowed Twilight from my niece, so I should probably read that next and get it back to her.

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I'll leave you with a couple of flower pictures. This is called Bells of Ireland; I just kind of dumped the seeds in the flower box with the nasturtium seeds, so it's amazing that it actually came up and even more amazing that it bloomed. They can get to around 12 inches tall when properly grown and can be cut and dried and used in arrangements. Mine is maybe 7 inches tall and I don't think I'll cut it. I like it where it is.

What I Did this Weekend and Some Flowers, Too

Okay, so I didn't do all of this over the weekend; in fact, I didn't do most of it over the weekend! This was a class piece from the very first CATS festival in Minneapolis in, I think, 1997. Yes, it's been in the WIP basket that long! The class was taught by Eileen Bennett -- an excellent teacher and a very nice lady -- and I assume she is also the designer, though I can't find that documented in the chart pack anywhere. Anyhoo, this is stitched on some sort of linen of a count that I don't remember (28 I think) with Anchor threads and Mill Hill beads. The first picture is the outside of the needlecase. I love the lilies. There's a bit of the inside of the case on the right.



The second picture is the scissors case. The beads were the hold-up for the past few months. I started putting them on and they weren't lined up properly and looked awful, so after about 5 beads I said "okey-dokey, so much for that for now" and laid it aside. I finally picked it up on Saturday evening and took out what I had done and started over. This time I got them all on and it doesn't look too bad, if I do say so myself.

The outer borders of both pieces are Palestrina knots; not my favorite stitch but they turned out okay. There are bands between the body of each piece and the flap at the top (well, the bottom on the scissors case pic) and those are eyelet stitches. It really was a fun stitch and I absolutely love the design. The next step is to assemble them, and the fabric for that was included in the class kit. I'm thinking that I should have enough linen left over to do a matching fob.

More flowers!

The roses are miniatures but the bush is quite large. I didn't think miniature rose bushes got that big.

Nasturtiums again!

I've also been re-watching the Harry Potter movies, getting ready for the new one being released this week, and I started re-reading the books, although I certainly won't get them finished this week! I'll probably wait a couple of weeks before I go see the movie. I expect it'll be pretty crowded at first so if I wait, it'll give it time for the crowds to die down. I don't know if my sweetie will want to see it, so I may end up going by myself. That's okay; I've gone to movies by myself for years. It's still kind of novel -- but nice -- to have someone who might want to go along!

And speaking of my sweetie, he'll be in town tomorrow so I spent part of this evening making a Key lime pie -- yumm! It's in the fridge now and looks pretty good!

A Flower and a Finish

I sowed some nasturtium seeds in the flower box on the deck and I finally have a bloom! It's small but it's a bloom and I'll take it. I love nasturtiums; they're so colorful and cheerful. I remember seeing them all over Ireland.

I decided to call this ornament finished. I had ordered the Mill Hill treasures for it -- a bunny and a crescent moon -- but the more I looked at it and thought about it, the more I decided that I like it just the way it is.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Not a stitchy post tonight. I walked out on the deck this evening and looked and the flower box and the clematis and had to take a couple of pics to share! The flower box has nasturtiums and bells of Ireland in it. So far the nasturtiums are winning; you can't even see the bells in this picture. I sowed them from seed and I hope to get some flowers before too much longer!

The clematis is gorgeous! I don't know the name of it; it came with the house. I'd say the flowers are 4" - 6" across. I love it!

Here's another view of the clematis, from the ground looking at the deck. There's a pink rose behind it. You can't see it very well, but the flowers are miniature roses. The bush is good-sized and some of the flowers spill through the railing onto the deck. I didn't realize that miniature rose bushes would get that large; I always thought of them as more of a pot plant.