Happy Easter

I received a sweet delivery from a busy Easter Bunny yesterday.  With 4 cute little ribboned boxes, there is a little surprise for each of us.

I have also been working on a little Easter gift to all of you.   Monika  is always anxious to stitch everything I design, so she was anxious to get it finished for Easter. 

This is as far as she got in one evening.  She'll have it stitched by tomorrow, and then it's back to me for the finishing.

Click here for the chart and colour key.  With only 3 thread colours and one bead colour, have some fun and choose some wonderful spring colours from your stash.  I have also made a few fabric and thread packs for $5.95, for any one wanting to stitch it in these colours.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Union Jack Pillow

Several months ago I had a customer wanting to stitch the US, Canadian, and Great Britain flags as pillows for her son's room.  I searched through many designer sites with little success.  Although there are charted flags, none were large enough for cushions.  So, I thought why not chart them myself.

And this week I had sewn the Union Jack cushion, that another customer had stitched.  It is stitched in needlepoint with Anchor wool, and it's completed size is 18" x 16".  I love the finished result, the gold trim (not my initial thought) looks great.

Clivia Update: the flower stem continues to grow taller.

But the most exciting confirmation to the wonders of rice water is the changes to my other Clivia plant.  This one is huge and very dense.  It  also has never flowered in all these years, but it's green leaves have always been lush and the plant constantly grows  new shoots.  Even though all my plants now received rice water, I was quite disappointing when this Clivia did not flower.






I thought it was all my fault, as I have been meaning to separate all the shoots and give them breathing room. So imagine my surprise this morning; as I was watering my plants (with rice water of course) I spotted these blossoms hiding among the cluster of leaves.

Not that I doubted it's benefits, I just don't know why rice water isn't common knowledge.
So spread the word!!

Follow-up: Scissor Fob & Pin Keep Finishing

In my December 14, 2012 blog, titled " A Surprise for Kathrin" I had posted Kim's Stitching Tools and Box set she had completed using the patterns from my 15 Sided Biscornu Pulled Thread SAL.

Kim has completed finishing instructions on how she completed the Pin Keep and Scissor Fob.   I wanted to share these with you.

Click Here for Pin Keep finishing instructions.
Click here for Scissor Fob finishing instructions.

Clivia Update for last weeks post:  More buds have opened and the stem is getting taller.  We had rice for dinner this week, so my plants have gotten another good dose.

The Miracles of Rice Water

I was given this plant 10 years ago.  It had belonged to a family friend, who had many of these in her sun room, and when she passed away they all found loving homes among family & friends.  I always remember them in full bloom, yet mine has never bloomed for me in all these years.  Not having a green thumb, I had tried many different locations in my house and plant food to no avail.

About a month ago, my Dad had told me to water my plants with rice water.  When washing your rice, keep the discarded water and use it to water your flowering plants.




Just look at mine. 
Above is the photo I took last Sunday, and the one on the right I took this morning.

Over the past week I have been sitting at my kitchen table enjoying these blooms in my bay window (north facing - go figure), and finalizing my workshop for our Stitchers' Retreat next month.  There is still room if any of you are still thinking of attending this all-inclusive luxurious weekend of fun, stitching, games, prizes, gourmet food,  and meeting other stitchers. Just visit the Gitta's Getaway blog for more information.

Designer of the Month - Carolyn Mitchell

March 2013 launches our "Designer of the Month" event at Gitta's.  Every month will feature a different Canadian Designer, with some of their models on display, workshops on their specific needleart techniques, and some "Meet the Designer" days.  To see the full line up of the participating designers visit Gitta's Event page.

Our first Designer is Carolyn Mitchell.  Carolyn's greatest talent is her extensive knowledge of threads – their uses and colour ranges; this is evident in her many designs.  She is a canvas work designer, but is equally creative with her hardanger designs.    All of her embroidery designs incorporate a variety of stitches and fibres; her charts are easy to follow with step by step instructions and clearly labelled stitch diagrams.

Carolyn is a certified teacher with both the NSCAE (the National Standard Council of American Embroiderers) and the EAC (Embroidery Association of Canada), and teachers both in the US and Canada.  She has even taught twice at Gitta's (see Kathrin's blogs for Sunday November 11, 2012 and Friday November 18, 2011)

Drop by the shop this month to view Carolyn's designs and receive a 10% discount on all her designs.  This special will also be extended to all web orders of Carolyn's designs during the month of March 2013.

 


By dropping by you will also be able to pick up Carolyn's FREE contribution pattern to the "Designer Collaboration Sampler". 

Carolyn's is the first design to be added to the sampler.  Here is how the sampler looks so far.  Can't wait to see it completed.

The FREE border pattern that unites all the designs can be found at Gitta's or 

on my Thursday February 7th, 2013 blog.