Daily Stitching and Hosta

 I did a variation on one of last weeks's squares and several versions of a new one, all from that book I mentioned last week, Zakka Embroidery.

This one took me the better part of an afternoon because I did the flowers all in satin stitch.  Too much time for a little square

                                   Same design but using just lazy daisy stitch for the flowers.

Lazy daisy stitch flowers filled in with two straight stitches. Much faster than the satin stitch and just as effective.

                              More of the same, but losing the stems and leaves and adding more flowers.

I live in a condo complex with town houses and stand-alone houses. I have a stand-alone, the best of both worlds because I can garden if I want to, but the association takes care of all the lawn work, hedge trimming etc. The houses come landscaped across the front and around the corners. I wanted the garden to extend along one side and around to the back where I have my deck and I do a lot of container gardening.

After I moved in 20 years ago I had someone put in a garden for me. For the first time ever, someone else did the digging and planting. It was great. However over the years most of the perennials petered out and for the last few years I kept saying that I wanted to do it over and this year I did. 

I planted a wide variety of Hosta, big ones, small ones, yellowish, blueish, green and striped. Wavy and smooth, cupped and flat.The variety in the nurseries is endless. I know that these will grow and spread and I will eventually have to do some dividing but for now they are quite carefree and I do like the look. They are candy for deer and I know I will have to spray them regularly. 

Hosta have long been a subject for fiber artist, Elaine Quehl, and I am lucky to own one of her pieces, a

 12" x 12" made for the SAQA auction several years ago. It resides happily in a hallway with other original art.

                                                                               Detail

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and a Book

 I did my usual 5 squares this week. That seems to be what I can fit in these days, altho I did stitch every day. My designs this week all came from a great little book of embroidery designs and projects. It gives designs that are "an elegant blend of Japanese and Scandinavian designs". I'm always looking for new round patterns and this one had a few. I was able to get two out of one by giving the design a quarter turn and using different colors and stitches. And there are enough for me to use next week, too.

Here using mostly running stitch.

A quarter turn and using one color and mostly chain stitch.

This one would not look any different turned so I just did one.

All one color, mostly outline stitch.

                                   A quarter turn and more French knots and some lazy daisy.

This was a GREAT  day. My FiberWorks group met in person inside for the first time in over a year. It was at my house, a good excuse to bake. It was so good to see everyone and show and tell is SO MUCH BETTER in person. We oohed and ahed and touched and felt. Alleluia to a new beginning. 

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and a Challenge

 I had a pretty good stitching week, 6 squares finished and my challenge page for the month of May completed. As in previous weeks, if I find a relatively easy pattern that I like, I will do it again in a different color way. 

This is a repeat from last week in a smaller size and enclosed in a circle.

I finished my page for May. My theme was Pocket.

A pocket with a removable tag. More lace, ribbon, button and yo-yos.

Last months page and this month's side by side. See how nicely they play together. I haven't decide what I will do for June, but I may introduce another color, maybe yellow.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and Organizing

 Although I stitched a little each day, I only completed five squares. Are you tired of snowflakes? I was, so I did some flowers and mandala and a sunburst. I may go back to snowflakes at another time. But some blocks take longer than others and I was busy, busy, busy in the garden....digging up old perennials that were not performing any more, planting new ones and lots of annuals for color. Gotta have my flowers! And getting all the deck furniture out of the garage. Whew! Busy week.

I love working with these size eight Perle cottons, but needed a better way to store them. I found these plastic lidded boxes at Joanne's. They have dividers, which I didn't use, but the square sections were the perfect size. They each have four rows, so I have room to grow. The three of them will stand on top of each other and it will make it so much easier to find the color I am looking for. 

Warm colors

Cool Colors

Neutrals

I mentioned several times how much I love the Spring weather in CT and here is one of the reasons. This dwarf Korean lilac does not look like a dwarf here, since the shrub has grown to about 5 feet, even with yearly pruning. Every year it is covered with flowers.

But the flowers are dwarf. Each leaf is about the size of my thumb nail and each panicle is about the length of my pointer finger. The fragrance is amazing.

And they make a sweet little bouquet on my kitchen table with some deutzia from my yard.

I will be linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and a Gallery Visit

It was still snowing in my studio all week, but now I'm ready to move on to something else.

I have made 121 squares so far. That leaves me short of my actual 7 squares a week, but I did stitch every day, which was my actual goal. I am also stitching on my fabric book and a lot of that is labor (and time) intensive. 

We went to visit Browngrotta Gallery this week. It is the premier source of textile, mixed media and dimensional art. Their work is sold internationally and most of it from a catalog. The gallery is also their home, an incredible repurposed and added onto barn. They only open their home and gallery twice a year for a week to the public. Reservations must be made and only 15 guests were allowed per hour. It was spectacular as always; I have been several times and am always in awe. Please go to the website and look around. I only took a few pictures and this one is the best. 

I am linking up to Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and Monthly Challenge

 I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here or learn a plethora of new stitches. I have learned some new ones and will continue to do so, but some do not adapt to a three inch circle. I do, however, want to make a pleasing design in each circle. So, I discovered snowflakes, an unending supply of composition. It's seems funny to think about snowflakes when all the world outside my window is that marvelous Spring lime green of new growth. It astounds me every year.

  Now to my fabric book and my page for April. My theme here is circles. I used yo-yos, sections of a vintage crocheted doily that I hand-dyed, a section of commercial lace trim, and buttons. That navy blue circle is cotton velveteen. a little hard to sew through all those layers. I edged the page with lace as I have with all the pages. Now I have to come up with a plan for the facing page on the right.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Daily Stitching and Home Again

 I did it again. I found something I loved on Pinterest and used it as inspiration for several variations. The video was not in English so I don't know what stitch she used but after close examination I could see that it is a form of buttonhole stitch.

Here you can see that it is basically three buttonhole stitches going to a point, each group going in opposite directions. I just added French Knots to this one.

I added some blooms.

French knots to look like grapes

Added some Lazy Daisies to look like flowers.

On this one and the next, I added one more Buttonhole stitch to each grouping and some Lazy daisies. I think they look like butterflies. 

              Same as the last one, but with some French knots thrown in for good measure. 

I arrived home yesterday from my winter stay in Florida. I was afraid that I would miss the flowering tress and I did miss most of them. Every house in my community has a flowering tree in the front yard, a lot of Bradford Pears, which I have and they are past their bloom. However, the flowering crab apples are in full glorious bloom and they surely make me smile. 

I loved my time in Florida. The weather was fabulous and I got in a lot of exercising. I walked for an hour every morning and most days I did pool noodle laps in the pool. We ate outside every night on the lanai, something we won't be doing here for awhile. But it's always good to get home. I'll be doing some spring planting soon and I love being in my studio again.

I was diligent with my daily stitching and made a total of 58 squares for a total of 110 finished. I plan to carry on.

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday.