Bz..Bz...Busy!

Gosh, Life has fast-forwarded again to Busy but it's all in a good way. Gardening has taken the front seat, and stitching the back. On top of that, suprising to me, a job came calling one day and I went back to work a couple of weeks ago. It's just part time for now but I say that's a pretty good deal for the summer! 


So, I'll catch us up first with Gardening, then Stitching. Fast forward if you just want to see my latest finish.

In the second half of May we started doing some heavy duty garden renovations. Put it in a more humbling way - it was just a lot of weeding and cleaning up the garden beds. In the spring I had found that moss had taken over one bed so badly that it was choking out some of my plants! Henceforth, with lots of time on my hand, I got out there with the head gardener (DH) and we got down and dirty wrestling with moss, weeds and all sorts of lovely organic things!  Now, garden photos!

Let's start with a David Austin Rose, Golden Celebration. This bloom is about the size of my hand! And it is  so fragrant!

This is another David Austin Rose, Leander. It is very vigorous and full of blooms every year!

Hmmm, I guess I like David Austin Roses. Here's Pat Austin (named after his wife) - an absolutely stunning orange-coppery colour!

 Pink Peace. This bloom is about the size of my hand as well!

 The following is a shade loving plant with lovely blooms - Astrantia.

Here's a shot of the backyard from our deck. That bed you see was filled with moss and weeds and now looks very neat and serene. I must say that the plants have thrived since we did this work.  Not loving the ivy on the fence but it's from the neighbours - not much we can do except just to keep it under control! And those pots - they are still our work-in-progress.

And I tried my hand with potting a lot of newly purchased succulents.  Eventually they should grow and overflow out of the pot (or something like that!).

OK. That's probably enough garden shots, eh?  The garden obsession thing has got me this Spring!


Now, finally, stitching!  

The Pinkhouse Sampler

Designer = Little by Little

used recommended DMC floss on 35 ct WDW "Parchment" linen

This was a lovely, fun stitch! I think this is the first time I've stitched a "Little by Little" design even though I have quite a few of Cynthia's charts. One of my goals for stitching this year, it turns out, is to stitch designs by different designers and so far I've done eight! 

Before I forget - someone asked me in my last post how long it took me to stitch Ann Taylor. I never keep track of hours but I thought I would give it a guess. It took me about 23 days elapsed from start to finish but I know I did not stitch every day.  A good guess would be anywhere from 60 - 80 hours.  

I'm a bit hyper these days trying to fit so much fun into my day. I include work in that, believe it or not. I'm working with a bunch of nice people I knew from a few years ago so that's a bonus. Besides that I have a stack of library books to read! Yes, an embarassment of riches and a blessing indeed! 

Thank you all for visiting and as always, love your comments!  Hope the start of summer will treat you well. (Here we are waiting for some sunshine to return!) Take care!