A Time to Plant

That's what I did yesterday afternoon - planted some seeds. It was one of Queensland's magnificent end-of-winter days with a quite pleasant, sunny, warm day. To me, that says 'Spring'!  

One of our daughters gave me a number of packets of vegetable seeds for Mothers' Day. Amongst them are some different types of beans, zucchini and pumpkin that I have never grown before. They are not the normal ones that you buy in a supermarket, so I am excited to see how they turn out.

I love growing my own vegetables and have been doing it for many years whenever it's been possible. It gives me great delight to go and pick something for a meal, knowing that five minutes earlier it was still growing in the garden - can't get much fresher than that ... and I know exactly what has NOT been sprayed on them!

Some time ago, I designed a wall-hanging which I called "A Time to Plant". It combines quite a few of my craft loves - embroidery, felt, and applique ... and of course fits in with my love of gardening.

I have decided to now offer this pattern for sale in my store. You can find it here in my Wall Quilts and Hangings Section.

I chose to use some different stitches for this project. Felt lends itself to showing off embroidery, and Perle thread is the perfect match for working the stitches. 

I used Cast-on loops around the Irises:

Palestrina Knot highlights the Campanula flower, and I even made this one three-dimensional with the top petal floating above the lower one.

Palestrina is definitely one of my all-time favourite stitches so I also used it around and inside the turnip - here's a close-up:

The Capsicum is worked in Pekinese Stitch. I hadn't even heard of this one until a couple of years ago:

Bullion loops feature around the Potentilla:

Fly stitch gets a work-out around the pumpkin and I did Coral stitch around the leaves:

... and the lilies are also in Fly Stitch.

Tete de Boeuf stitch is a fun combination of fly stitch and lazy daisy stitch:

I hope you like this design. You can read details of the size etc in my store.

I'm happily typing this on my new computer which I've had for 5 days and it's working like a dream. I can't say the same about the broken blind!!! I have had the run-around from a local company which previously used to give good service. The guy came as planned to see what needed to be done, and that was the last I heard of it. I phoned a week later, thinking that maybe they had to get a part in - was told they would ring me back - but I never heard from them again. Waited another week and yes, they had forgotten all about me, with some pathetic excuse and very little apology. 'It's a part they have in stock, but the guy doesn't have one in his van today, so we will make an appointment for 3 pm Friday.' Good! 3 pm Friday turned up and no show. I waited till 4 pm to give him a chance to be late, then rang again, only to find that the shop was shut!!! I am still debating whether I forget this company entirely and try someone else. Problem is a new company may be busy and I may have to wait another couple of weeks! I'm thinking a firm phone call first thing Monday morning might be the way to go.

I'm not finding it so easy this week to be thankful!!!

Happy stitching,

Val

One of those weeks ... and a new stitching set

Yes, it's been one of those weeks!

I pulled up our very big 3 metre blind in the family room and it came straight back down again! I pulled it straight back up and yes, down it came, faster and faster. A few ideas later from Mr Google and I deduced the mechanism was broken, which the 'Blind' man confirmed and we are still waiting for the part. Our family room is large, light and airy with windows everywhere, but having 3 metres of windows blocked out makes me feel closed in and a bit depressed. Of course it really is a very small matter and nothing to complain about.

On Saturday, I went to close down my computer before going to bed only to be greeted with flashing lines all over the screen and a frozen computer. It had done a similar thing once or twice before but had always revived from its mini heart attack. Not this time!!! It has obviously had a full blown cardiac arrest and refuses to come to life, so I am without a computer. It is 6 years old and has had to have repairs done three times before, so I figure it would be just putting good money after bad to pay for it to be repaired again. Having survived the shock of finding out online how much a new one will cost, my plan was to contact our local Computer shop to talk business first thing today, Monday morning. That plan went down the drain when I discovered that it is actually a Public Holiday here today for the Annual Royal Queensland Show! Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Thankfully I have a Tablet on which I can do a bit of work, but it has only a mini keyboard so I am constantly hitting buttons that take me places I don't want to be, not to mention all the typos! Then of course there are fonts not available and programmes that I don't have access to.  I won't bore you with the bit about having to go to the optometrist to have my glasses fixed and the emotional traumas that were also part of my week, but just let's say I am learning to be thankful in all situations - it sure is better for the soul than complaining!

Now to some better news - This month's issue of Homespun magazine has my Thimble and Threads set in it. 

I love the delicate colours of the Margeaux fabric range by Robert Kaufman that I have used. I purchased quite a bit of the range so there is potential to make a number of other lovely accessories. 

The set consists of a pretty and practical sewing folder and pincushion. The folder has embroidered pockets, and bits and pieces for tape measure, pencils, needles, scissors etc:

I edged the pincushion centre with beads for a sweet finish.

In between all the dramas, I have managed to make progress on my Block of the Month which I plan to offer in 2020. The photos earlier in this post are bits and pieces from some of the blocks. I am really enjoying doing it, so I hope you like what you are seeing. This wall hanging is Jelly Roll friendly, so if you are interested in joining the BOM programme, you could start collecting your left-over Jelly Roll strips in readiness!

My Scripture verse for the week is 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - 

No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (Living Bible)

Happy stitching

Val