Rain Rain Go Away...

There's not much I can do about the rain Outside, but thankfully I have my own Garden of Eden inside. Here it is - finished!

Garden of Eden

by The Goode Huswife

I used the recommended DMC floss, with a few additions of my own. Here are the other colours that I used - WDW Baked Apple, Celadon, Confederate Grey, Chestnut, Havana, Purple Haze, and DMC 3773 which I used for the center of the tulips. I stitched this 1 over 2 on 35 count WDW "Linen" linen.  I sprayed a bit of "Distress It" on the linen before I started stitching. 

I love how it turned out! I used the recommended DMC floss as the basic palette, but added my own colours here and there to just add a bit more brightness to the design.

I finished stitching it last Saturday and it took a few days to figure out what to stitch next. I will show you my current WIP, but first, a few other things. 

The next photo is art imitating life, or vice versa. I had snipped some astrantia flowers for the vase, then noticed how similar they seem to be to this Blackbird Design finish - the name escapes me at the moment. 

Here is another purple-y flower - a butterfly fly bush so aptly named as it attracts butterflies. Usually we don't get one as striking as this one that visited us last week (when the sun was out!).

Now, I have to show you this new acquisition - this wonderful bunny pincushion was made by the very talented Cathy at The Cheswick Company. When I saw this post from Margaret, I wanted a neat pincushion too! I love how this bunny turned out.

As I have said before it took me days to figure out what to stitch next. Then I remembered that I wanted to stitch designers I haven't stitch before, or for awhile, so I browsed through my Prairie Schooler and decided since I am in the Garden mood, there are a few band samplers I would love to stitch!

And Guess What? I am trying stitching on 40 ct! I can see why people would love it as the stitch comes out so delicate. However, my eyes are warning me this is not something they will allow me to keep doing!

This one is the Birdhouse sampler from the Garden Samplers book. If you have stitched this one, you'll notice that I have made a big boo-boo in the bottom right corner. However, instead of frogging I will somehow fudge-it!  We'll see how it turns out!

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post, and your helpful advice re planning the trip. I have gotten more information so we shall see how things end up! 

I hope you are having a good summer. I hear either it's dreadfully hot, or like here, too cloudy and wet! Whatever the weather, Daisy and Julius enjoy chilling out on their window seat! Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a good week ahead!

Look who's in my Garden!

Well, I thought I would try to go with the gardening theme that's running through my life right now and stitch something Garden-y.  Look who popped in!

I really like this funky tree!

 Here's my progress on the Garden of Eden, by The Goode Huswife.

I am using the recommended DMC floss on 35 ct WDW "Linen" linen.  I am also adding a few WDW floss here and there just to brighten up the whole picture. The original floss palette is very much beige, yellow, and browns with a splash of a brownish red. 

Now I will show you more photos from my real life garden. The first one is the David Austin rose called Abraham Darby.

 This is Purple Tiger (Jackson & Perkins) rose we purchased this year - so striking!

 This is the rose Double Delight, in the full bloom stage. When the bud first comes out, it's cream with edges of deep pink, then it opens and fades to this ruffled glory!

We have an old metal trellis in the backyard and there are all sorts of things growing over it. Some things survive from one year to the next, some not. We found this pretty pink clematis which we have never seen before! How lucky are we! 

 There are masses of honeysuckle over this trellis too. The honeysuckle is called Mandarin Lights.

Now here is a photo I am quite fond of. DH took it and I love how Julius is looking out into the back garden. There is a mesh screen over the window that's why it's so muted looking. 

Lastly, summertime always makes me want to find some good summery reads. This is my favourite one this year. (And yes, that's a little dried rose from my garden.)

Thank you for your visits! I haven't been very good with visiting and commenting. My head and my heart are all over the place right now! 

By the way, I have a question that may seem silly but I thought I would ask. It's been many, many years since we've traveled overseas. We would like to go visit Europe (especially Germany) in the fall, any advice on "how to plan your trip"?  The concept of a brick-and-mortar travel agent seems so extinct now! 


Thank you again. Have a wonderful week ahead. To my US friends, Happy Fourth!