Saturday 21 July 2012

Progress and a Pincushion

Slowly but surely this week has brought progress, both within the house and in my stitching. We have been undertaking a giant cleanup of our basement storage area which resulted in the recent garage sale. That was followed by a trip to the local church secondhand store with what remained from the sale. After all, someone might as well profit from what remained! Then a final trip to the dump got rid of what was of no use to anyone. All that remains now is a rearranging of what is left in the storeroom. That completed, we can finally tackle the spare bedroom which is to become my craft room at some point.

Although we were busy, I would often take a stitching break here and there since I still tend to tire since my bronchitis episode. I worked on nothing except BoaF. I'm just about finished with the tree and can now move on to stitch something other than leaves and branches. This weekend I added the birds to the tree. I really love the colours of these two. I even managed the over one on the beak and legs without too much trouble. Amazing!


I think I'll continue to stitch on this until my family arrive for their visit. Once they're gone again I'll get back to finishing up Magic Garden. I've already kitted up Plum Street Samplers Turkey Love as a possible new start. I say possible because I just got my hands on a copy of the JC Halloween special edition. There are several ornaments I'm just itching to stitch as well as several larger pieces. I love Ink CirclesWings and Things but I'm also sold on The Primitive Hare Halloween Town and Praiseworthy Stitches Trick or Treat. Decisions, decisions. What's a girl to do?!

The mail brought a special treat for me this week. Several times I had admired the tatting done by Cathy's mother which she displayed on her blog. Tatting is something which I had never seen until she brought it to my attention. Cathy takes some of her mom's tatting and turns it into the most adorable pincushions. Seeing these, I offered to purchase some of their work. However Cathy had a different idea and chose to gift me with one of their lovely creations. Here's what the mail held for me.




Aren't the colours gorgeous!!?  I couldn't be more thrilled with my gift! Thank you so very much Cathy. I'm off to write a note to your Mom to let her know just how much I admire her lovely work.

Mother Nature has seen fit to with hold the rain so the drought intensifies. I haven't been watering the lawn because of the conditions but we have been advised to water once or twice a week only for a short period of time and to give any trees that we have a short drink once a week. As I write this it's gotten quite overcast however there is only a brief shower forecast which is not nearly enough to help the farmers. I know that many of you in the U.S. are also suffering severe droughts and I pray that rain will arrive in time to save the crops. In the meantime, keep cool and keep stitching.

17 comments:

  1. I love the colors of the birds....very bright! :) Oh you're gift is beautiful! Again, the colors are very bright!

    ~McKenna

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  2. Love the tree & pretty birds! This is a lovely project so far.

    What. Darling Cathy was to send you a cupcake! Her mom's tatting is remarkable.

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  3. Lovely progress on you WIP--such pretty colors! And, your pincushion gift is absolutely beautiful!!

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  4. Sounds like you have made great progress cleaning your storeroom. Your mystery sampler looks great; I just took mine in to be framed today.

    So glad the pincushion arrived safely - and it made pretty good time too!

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  5. I know that you will really love having a craft room. I love mine, but right now I can't use it. It is above the garage and is only cooled by a window a/c and it is broken. Can hardly breathe up there. Bummmers You BoaF is coming along really well!

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  6. The pin cushion is stunning! The tatting is so beautiful. Your wip is coming along nicely.

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  7. Your BoaF looks fantastic!

    I am glad to hear your clean-up, yard sale and craftroom reno are progressing nicely.

    The tatting is gorgeous! I have some supplies, but I have just never got around to teaching myself how to be a tatter.... Too many things to learn, so little time.

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  8. Great stitching progress and what a beautiful rak! That tatting and finish is amazing!

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  9. I do love that piece you're working on, Lynn! Glad the over one parts worked out for you :)

    Lovely gift from Cathy, too--enjoy!

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  10. Hi Lynn,

    The joys of de cluttering the house. Now that
    we're done renovating the main floor of the
    house it's time to clear out the last of the stuff
    from the basement/library where we stuck the
    things we hoped to sell at an antique market
    or something. And the room became a catch-
    all for other stuff too during that time. Once
    that's done I can get in there and CLEAN because
    the room is covered in dust from the laying
    of the hardwood floors upstairs. What a mess!

    Your BoaF project is looking so pretty. Those
    colours are so delicate and pretty and the
    birds really are wonderful. Your friend is
    going to be thrilled with it when you're
    finished.

    Congrats on finishing Maisonnette aux
    Fraises. It's so sweet and I love those
    yummy pinks. Any ideas for your finish
    of this one??

    What a beautiful gift that tatted pincushion
    is. I love the colours of the thread Cathy's
    Mom used for the tatting part and the
    delicate lace pattern shows up nicely on
    the dark top of the "cupcake". Very nice.

    We keep hoping for rain too but there's
    hardly a drop in sight. Our front lawn
    has turned to straw and we're just
    concentrating on trying to keep the flower
    garden alive. I hate the heat an humidity
    which makes being outside an ordeal even
    during short trips.

    I'm eager to see that new JC Halloween issue
    and the Christmas ornie one as well.

    Cheers!

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  11. Nice progress on your WIP. I love what you're thinking about stitching next if you don't get distracted by the magasine! What a lovely gift from Cathy and well done on getting such a major clean-up done. We need to do that in our roofspace but keep putting it off!

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  12. Love your WIP, Lynn! I need to get started on my Halloween stitching, too. My daughter's college graduation will be in October and it'd be nice to put out a few pieces around the house for the aseason.

    What a great gift from Cathy! Love the bird photo, too.

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  13. Your BoaF piece is coming along nicely! I love the colors of the birds! Lovely gift from Cathy! Such tiny little stitches and the colors are so pretty too. :)

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  14. What's a girl to do? Start them all, I say ^.^ Love the colours on BoaF. So pretty. Beautiful pincushion too.

    Hugs,
    Veronica.

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  15. It must feel great to clear out a storage room Lynn. I love that feeling of clearing stuff out! Great progress so far and what a lovely pin cushion you received!

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