The Monday Blues... and Lavenders

Design - "Carrot Patch"

Designer - Fanci That

Fabric - 32 count Lilac Belfast linen

Fibers - GAST

Started - 20 August 2010

Completed - 21 August 2010

Well, this little cutie jumped to the head of the stitching project line.  I fell in love with the color of the linen and in rummaging around in my charts I came up with this seasonal stitch!

I had to frog out the GAST Apricot Blush and replaced it with Woodsmoke for a better effect on the bunny.  The Apricot Blush, at least my skein, was too close in color to Oatmeal and did not provide any noticeable contrast.  

Today seems to be a blue / lavender kind of a day...

Thunbergia

I sure hope these are beneficial insects!

Otherwise it's up to Froggy to polish them off for me!

Hope you are off to a great start to your week!!!

Sunflower Sunday Serendipity

Design - Sunflower

Chart - "A Prairie Garden" #35

Designer - Prairie Schooler

Fabric - 28 count Natural Pearl Zweigart

Floss - DMC

Started - 18 August 2010

Completed - 21 August 2010

This makes a nice companion piece to the P.S. ear of corn I stitched a few days ago.  Both use many of the same DMC colors so they "match up" very well.  The unanswerable question though would be why, why, why I stitched the center of the sunflower with Anchor 905 instead of DMC 801 as charted?  Don't know...but it required me to frog it all out and restitch it.  I always look upon those experiences as humbling...no matter how long I've cross stitched, or how complicated a piece I've tackled, many times it is the simplest of things - a miscount, a wrong color - that will trip me up, and make for a "do-over".   

This sunflower was stitched in honor of the massive volunteer sunflower which grew this summer in my sister's Kitchen Garden.

It got to be well over 10' tall before it broke off under its own weight.

It then made a very nice, summery bouquet.

Quiet Saturday Morning

If I posted a picture of my Prairie Schooler Sunflower progress, I'd have to type pages explaining everything that was wrong and needed to be frogged out...so instead, let's take a peak at my "next stitch". I'm looking forward to stitching "August" - it's quite charming with butterflies, a frog, snail, bird, bee, and flower.  I figure that I can whip it out before the month ends.

This morning I spent about an hour outside enjoying the quiet dawning of the day.  Even though it is mid-August, there are already signs of the changing seasons.

 

In the middle of this blurry picture, the cottonwood's leaves have begun to change color.

The goldfinches too have changed colors - no longer their brilliant summer yellow, they are quietly brown with just hints of their former primary color.

A hummingbird was hard at work this morning.

They enjoy this agastache

...and this lobelia.

I sat on the back patio steps, and watched the quail family come out of the brush and tall grass.

This young female hopped up to get a drink.

Several of the chicks looked for food...

while the Dads watched from atop a small Douglas fir.

Geraniums and Begonias

Design - "Geranium Sampler"

Magazine - "Cross Stitch Sampler" - April 1995 issue

Designer - Janelle Marie Designs

Fabric - 28 count ivory linen

Fibers - GAST

Started - 1 March 1995

Completed - 5 May 1995

Wow, I stitched this fifteen years ago and if I remember correctly, it was the first time I'd used GAST threads.  I didn't understand about completing each stitch one at a time for the best effect, so it was a "learning sampler" in many ways.

I'm only growing one geranium this year, but I do have several begonias to share...

No tag - mystery plant

 

"Panorama White"

"Million Kisses - Devotion"

"Panorama Yellow"

"Nightlife White"

"Nightlife White" in center - others no tags

Wednesday Observations on Thursday Morning and a Start

After a grey morning, we had a gloriously sunny afternoon...

My decorative birdbath has turned into a cat drinking fountain.

I've begun work on the Sunflower in "A Prairie Garden" by The Prairie Schooler.  I always think of sunflowers as a sign of the changing seasons.  They bloom at a time where they serve as a bridge between summer and autumn.  

My fuchsias are in fine form...

 

and I'm so pleased with my moss roses this year.

They are have filled their bowls to overflowing and are blooming profusely.

As is this penstemon - in the past I've managed to kill every penstemon I've purchased, so I'm especially pleased that this one is not only blooming, but thriving!

In the evening while sitting on the front porch, I got to watch my large  California Quail family on the move.  The covey is made up of four adults and ten babies.

On the left there are three or four having a dust bath.

They are such pretty birds and so much fun to observe.

Strawberries and Blackberries

Design - "Strawberry Patch"

Chart - "Garden Friends"

Designer - Designs by Charlotte

Fabric - 28 count Creme Brulee R & R linen

Floss - DMC

Started - 15 August 2010

Completed - 18 August 2010

A bright, cheerful stitch I think.  The pattern called for several black French Knots in each of the strawberries.  I stitched up two that way, examined the piece, and decided I preferred a "cleaner" look without the French Knots.

So here is my Outdoor Wednesday Report:

Boy the weather has changed!  After several days of +90F, last night the edge of a storm blew in, the temperature dropped, and this morning is cool - almost cold - grey, and dull.  In attempting to take pictures this morning, my flash kept going off in reaction to the low light - even at 8:00am.

We are adrift, awash, floating in clouds and seas of thistle seeds.

The tiny, tiny black dots are the actual seed which the goldfinches devour.

The white is just the parachute which allows the seed to drift in the wind.

In May we have clouds of Cottonwood duff, in August thistle seed.

I thought this lavender looked particularly lovely with a Pine tree backdrop.

And what is August without Blackberries?  Our wildings are just beginning to ripen.

The Queen Anne's Lace is the August star in the meadows.

The mullein dominate the front flowerbed.

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