Just say "MOOooooooooo"

Does a cow have horns or not? Because I thought this cow was a girl, hence "Betsy, rather than a boy "Benny. As I was stitching it, I realized this cow has near invisible horns (stitched in that beige again). Interesting. I thought (silly me) I would look in wikipedia for a quick answer. There is never anything 'quick' in wikipedia because it has more things than you ever thought possible to learn about the cow! 

Here's "the red beast" in Isabella Johnstone:

 

So happy to have gotten to this part! I am using Belle Soie silks - very yummy. The leaves on the trees / shrubs call for Wheatgrass but I found that too light so I used Scarecrow instead.  Isn't this a beautiful sampler? I just love it!


We've been having a very mix bag of Fall weather. Fortunately this weekend has been sunny so I've finally gotten out to do some garden clean-up.  As a result, I brought some flowers indoors. 

The yellow flower in the first photo is a dahlia. The pink flowers are schizostylis coccinea, or kaffir lily.  I love this fall-flowering beauty. It also comes in a medium red colour. One note of warning about planting these - they spread everywhere! As pretty as they are when in bloom, they can look messy (grassy) when they peek up out of other plants where they don't belong. So, I've dug them up and will put them in a big pot so they can grow happily "contained".





I'm keeping heads down these days. I think there are two more weeks to this "madness" at work then maybe I can breathe a sigh of relief! :-)


Thank you as always for visiting my little corner of the world. Take care!

A little bit more of Isabella

These days my mind is a bit scattered as work has taken over the little grey cells. With the long weekend, thankfully, I have been able to get past the beige-on-beige stitching that was so hard on my tired eyes in the evenings.  Here's my progress on Isabella.

See what I mean? 

Blink and you could miss all the beige lettering! I'm glad that part is done and I can start on the cow soon, which I will fondly call Betsy. 


I will also show you some stash I received last week from Wendy of Pineberry Lane. I really like her latest sampler, the Rising Harvest. It has a sweetness in its simplicity.

OK, that's all for today, short and sweet! (You can always tell when work has taken over my life as I don't have much to say!) 

Thanks for visiting, your comments and good vibes! I can always tell that too! Have a good week!

Winner of Giveaway

A quick post to tell you the winner of the Giveaway is:

Sylvia  of Running with Needles & Scissors!

Congratulations! And thank you to everyone who participated and also left comments on my last post. I loved reading about what you are doing! 

It's the start of a long weekend here - Canadian Thanksgiving.  I hope to get some R&R as well as some stitching in! Hopefully I will have something to show you by Monday. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Busy Busy Busy!!!

Well, it was bound to happen. Someone found out I've been having too much fun (e.g. stitching) and pressed the "Work" button so all of a sudden this past week I've been barely keeping my head above water. I'm ok - it's just like having had a relaxing vacation then returning to work trying to catch up. So, very little stitching this past week so I won't bother to show anything. However, keep reading because something good is coming.


First off, the winner of my Blogoversary giveaway is Lois - Congratulations! Lois has just finished a really cute Chartmaker design so go check out her blog.  She always has lovely things to show.


Now, since you were all so very kind with your comments on my blogoversary post, I thought I should have another giveaway. (Also because I have nothing stitchy to show at the moment!)

This is Mary's Best Handework, which I finished stitching in August. You can see it here.  The giveaway will contain my chart and I will include a piece of HDF 35 count linen. 


If you are interested in the giveaway, please leave a comment specifically saying you want a chance to win it. Please be sure I can contact you via email. 


If you are not interested in the giveaway, you can leave me a comment too!  I would love to know what October is like in your part of the world. Also, have you seen any new releases that you really must have? 


For me, I've mentioned a couple of designs in my previous posts (Boris & Jane Tindall). This past week I've also seen some really cute new charts by Chessie & Me.  Theresa of Shakespeare's Peddler has all three in her Basket so if you scroll down you can see them - so cute! I haven't bought them yet but I'm sure I will! 


September closed with fine weather (cool mornings and evenings, t-shirt weather during the day) which is continuing through the weekend. This means I will have to get out to the garden tomorrow to do clean-up and hopefully take some photos too.  To tell you the truth, I've felt exhausted this week but I think some sunshine, fresh air, and physical work will do me a world of good.

I just saw this cute new freebie today at gazette94.  I don't know the owner of the blog but she has some great designs on her site!


In closing I will show you a photo of my kitties. Daisy on the right is practicing her spooky Halloween cat look with her glowy eyes while Julius does what he loves to do at night, which is to crawl behind the curtains and look out the window. 

Thank you for stopping by. Big hugs to you for leaving me such great, supportive comments!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!