June WIPocalypse

Summer's here! With its arrival has come some lazy, hazy hot days, the finish of school for many, holidays and lots of outdoor stitching in the gazebo.Up until this week the days have been quite pleasant for outdoor stitching but this week's humidity will keep me stitching indoors in air conditioned comfort, at least until the evenings.

Here's a look at my stitching efforts over the past month. In celebration of our upcoming Canada Day, I stitched up a quick little patriotic design. This one was originally designed as a U.S. patriotic finish but I've adapted it for Canada Day. 

Tree of Life Samplings My Sweet Land

Next up is the new start I promised at the end of last month's WIPocalypse. As you may remember, I had a lot of charts to choose from and I went with Shakespeare's Peddler Weeds Make Haste.

  
I got a good start on this one and it has progressed fairly quickly throughout the month. It's a fun stitch and perfect for the summer. I think I'm about halfway through it at this point.

I put lots of quality time into Fruit of the Spirit this month. It's coming along nicely. I'm hoping to have either this one or Weeds completed by next month's WIPocalypse post.

Lots of fun colours in this one. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

I've also completed an ornament for my monthly SAL which will be revealed this coming Wednesday.

My summer vacation won't take place until the end of August this year. For those of you who know me well, you know that my summer is not complete without a visit to Muskoka. I hope that by the time we head there I will have another couple of new projects to stitch dockside. One piece I do hope to spend some time on will be last year's late Halloween start, A Wicked Plant, seen below.

Look for some updates on this one in the fall.

As we reach the halfway point of this year (can you believe it!), I hope you are all well on your way to achieving your WIPocalypse goals. I know that I haven't yet started some of the pieces that are on my list but I certainly have achieved many others. I never did like following rules!

Framed Finishes

As promised I have some pics for you of some previous finishes which I dropped off at the framer recently. When I went to pick them up they informed me that one of the frames I had chosen, which was for LHN Autumn Hill, was no longer available. That meant I had to pick another frame. You have no idea how long it took me to pick out the first one! I have never had as much trouble picking out a frame as I did for that piece. However as luck would have it, I found another frame within 5 minutes and made arrangements to pick it up at a later date. I can't believe we found one so easily!

In any case, they did have my Magic Garden ready and my friend's BBD Awake the Dawning Day. Pam had picked a frame out for this one which I'd stitched for her as a housewarming gift. Here's how her piece turned out.

Pam prefers glass on her framing so I had a bit of trouble getting a good photo. Finally I turned off my flash and set the camera for low light. That did the trick! She is very pleased with the results and I'm so happy she likes it.

Next up is my finish of Magic Garden. 

I love, love, love it!!! The frame works so well with this one. Here's a closeup so you can see it a little better.

The pictures really don't do it justice. I originally picked a black frame for this and then at the last minute we found this frame by accident when we were searching for one for Autumn Hill. As soon as Kelly put it next to the piece I knew that that was the one. On the edge of that first pic you can see a bit of my first peony blooms from the garden. Here they are in all their glory. They smell heavenly! In fact the whole gazebo smells of them.

This afternoon I headed out to my local Wednesday craft group and  I'm so glad I had my camera with me. Here's a taste of what some of the group accomplished recently.

Thea's table runner

Lois' afghan

Shirley's Canada tote bag

What could be more Canadian than beavers,
maple leaves and a Mountie?

Fabulous work ladies!! I mentioned how much I admired that tote bag and Thea is determined to get me doing one myself. I told her I didn't enjoy sewing but she is determined. We shall see!

While in Ottawa yesterday I dropped by my favourite store, Homesense . I believe the American equivalent is HomeGoods. I could spend eternity in that store, lol!

Lookie what I found waiting for a home.

This little fellow will make a fabulous companion to the bird planter I posted earlier. Now I just have to find something to plant in him.

Any suggestions?

A Fresh Start

After browsing through all my possible choices for a summer stitch countless times I finally made up my mind. Shakespeare's Peddler Weeds Make Haste was my final choice. I loved all the little motifs in this one, including the bee hive, birdhouse and the duck. Plus I had all the necessary supplies at hand. As it turned out,  I didn't go with the called for fabric of Tumbleweed Linen. I just thought it was too dark so I ended up choosing LSL Vintage Lentil which is closer to the colour on the chart's picture.  Here's the progress that I've made so far.

The colours are somewhat off in this picture. The camera's battery needed recharging and I just didn't have the proper light for a good picture. Hopefully my next update will be much better. The linen looks washed out and almost gray in this pic while it's actually more of a light sandy beige. I don't like the colour of the maiden's mouth so I'll be frogging that shortly. I don't know why they chose that particular colour. It makes her look somewhat sour and then it reminds me of the nursery rhyme Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow? However this garden won't have pretty maids all in a row!
I'm hoping this stitch doesn't take me all that long because I would still like to stitch another of the charts in the summer bunch. 

I visited my framer last week with my friend Pam and together we brought in 5 pieces for framing. I took in my SP Magic Garden and LHN Autumn Hill. Together we received 40% off of our total cost. The framer has various discounts depending on how many pieces you bring in at once. I did so well that I wish now that I had brought in another finish. It will have to wait now until the end of the summer or fall when we go back with our Halloween and autumn finishes. By then I should have A Wicked Plant finished up. I'll post pictures as soon as the current finishes return from the framer.

I took a walk around my meager garden last night to see how things were coming along. Several things have yet to bloom on account of the late spring I suspect. My peonies face north and are always late bloomers as are my irises. From these pictures you can see that it will be any time now.

Look at this patch of irises. I think I counted just over 20 buds ready to bloom.

A new variety of columbine in my garden this year:

More columbine:

The clematis bowed over with growth but still no blooms:

My new garden sentry:

A return visitor to the yard, anxious for berries that are not quite ripe yet!

And finally, Clarisse, patiently watching me from the gazebo and swiping at the screen each time I would walk by. She loves sitting on top of the bar fridge, watching those cedar waxwings.

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start. The weather is pleasant here - sunny but somewhat cool and a little breezy. I could live with this all summer!

Latest WIPocalypse update - a finish!

This WIPocalypse update is short and sweet. Summer travels mean less stitching time but nonetheless I managed to sneak in a finish. On our final day of our holidays I put in the last few stitches on Magic Garden Sampler. This was a real joy to stitch!

Shakespeare's Peddler Magic Garden Sampler
stitched on 32 ct PTP Mello
using the recommended GAST

The only other piece I've worked on over the past month is my Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler by With Thy Needle & Thread.
I haven't put in any more stitches since my last photo but here's another picture just the same.

Like I said, short, but sweet with that finish!

Could You Be Next?

To stitch the Travelling Pattern, that is! Once more it's ready to hit the road again. Last evening I put in the final stitches on Shakespeare's Peddler Count Your Blessings. 

This was a quick stitch. I didn't make any changes to the design and stitched it with the required DMC. I haven't decided yet just how I'll finish it off. I want to thank Ariadne for choosing me to stitch this and now I'm giving one of you the opportunity to stitch it next. If you would like to be the next member of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pattern just leave me a comment on this post indicating your wish. I'll choose the next stitcher on Wednesday, July 11th. 
I'll have another post up shortly with my WIPocalypse update.