Hide and Stitch

Tonight there isn't really a lot to show but a little to tell.

Mother is home from hospital - after two and a half weeks - minus what turned out to be a liver abscess ( and a learning opportunity for many medical students) and with an appetite for tasty food. So it was silverbeet and feta cheese frittata for lunch and homemade sushi for dinner. Now replete, she is snoozing in her chair - pretending to knit!!

I have been busy stitching on An Emblem of Love Round Robin - it is now time for part 2 - and thoroughly enjoying the beautiful silk thread. No photos of that tonight though but here is an update on ABeCeDaire and hiding behind it a little something I picked up to mail to an important somebody. What a tease uh? But I want it to be a surprise.

Have you seen that Edgar is having another Hobbit Birthday - he has 86 comments on his blog post - is that a record maybe! Do go check out his blog if you haven't visited - its amazing!

Well good night all. Have a happy weekend.

Not so red - Sew Pink

Sew Red has turned to Sew Pink at my house.

By now most of you will have seen the wonderful new chart that Carol has designed. She will send you a copy if you visit her blog and leave a message.

Over the past week I have made three attempts to start this but the gremlins interrupted each attempt but finally today it's on its way. I am stitching over one thread on 30 count pure linen with Needle Necessities number 1571. Many thanks Carol for this enjoyable chart.

Stitching time is really limited as I am still hospital visiting to my mother each day. The doctors have finally made a diagnosis and begun treatment so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

This morning I decided that a visit to the needlework store would be good therapy for me - in fact I went to two needlework stores and all I bought was two packets of needles!! Everything I saw that tempted me seemed to bring with a vision of my over-stuffed stash cupboard and the small gremlin sitting on my shoulder whispered in my ear - "you don't really need that. You have lots of projects still to do at home already". (Yes there are lots of gremlins at my house at the moment!) So the therapy session was a waste of time. I came home and made a batch of biscuits instead and now I am going to stop this and make the chocolate icing to go on top of them.

Good night everyone.

Spring Flowers in my garden

I have just been out and planted my two amarylis bulbs, liberally spread rich food around them and given them water. I hope they continue to grow!

And here are some of the flowers in my garden! Spring is here in New Zealand - the sun is shining and in the vein of my friend Anne of Green Gables "all is almost all right with the world"

And the August Christmas ornament is

Confession time - it is September and I have only just made a start on my August Christmas Ornament for the 2009 Christmas Challenge. This is a freebie from Victoria Samplers and I'm substituting just about every thread and using a piece of raw linen I had in my cupboard. I'm enjoying it and hopefully will finish this week.

Today is really cold but bright and sunny. I must get out to the garden and plant my Amarylis in the soil - I am sure they are tired of their pots and will do better in the garden.

Then its off to the hospital again with something to tempt my mother's appetite for dinner. Last night's hospital offering was a dismal failure: cabbage (Mother can't eat that) corn kernels (Mother can't eat corn), some sort of a quiche type thing heavy on onion (Mother can't eat onion) and mashed potato. I felt awful sitting there while she tried to be a real Pollyanna about the unappetising meal that was served. So tonight I will see what I can do. Fortunately the hospital is only about 10 minutes drive away - it probably takes as long to walk from the carpark to the ward as it does to drive from home to the car park!!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Talk to you again tomorrow may be.

By the way Coni's dog Stewey has a new hairstyle you can see here. Her blog will give you a laugh a minute! Do go visit.

A catch up

The ABECEDAIRE is coming along - although not in alphabetical order. I wanted to do the squirrel and the peacock so K L M come before D E F! Stitching time has been severely restricted this last little while what with one thing and another. Tonight I have just got home from hospital having spent the past five and a half hours there having my mother admitted. No definitive diagnosis yet.

I intend to put some stitches as relaxation therapy for 'moi' before going to bed. Might even indulge in a Japanese cracker or two as this package arrived from my dear friend Kazumi.

Night all

Some more photos of the exhibition

First the giant biscornu - I have never seen one this big. Imagine a cushion on the sofa - that size and made in a biscornu shape!! The top was all done in various pulled thread stitches and the base was wonderful surface stitchery. Joining two different types of fabric into a perfect biscornu shape is hugely difficult I know but even though I admire the stitching this biscornu was just gigantic!!

Second a gorgeous sewing box cover. I was really taken with this - all the little houses and buildings around the outside edge. Everything was so precise and the design fitted perfectly into what could have been an awkward shape.

Third a rather appealing needlework set in lovely shades of pale apple green, lavendar and a few touches of pink. A real sampler of pulled thread stitches and some bullion roses - I was rather taken with the riboon tie fastening the flannel needlebook pages into the spine. One day I may try and imitate this.

Have a good week everybody. I am stitching a squirrel tonight and at present he looks like a rat so I need to get his bushy tail on prompt smart.

Show and tell - one, two, three

I heard that the package I sent for the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club arrived safely and Laurie said she liked it- oh the relief!! Here's a photo - Laurie took this one as I forgot to take one of the contents. You might remember seeing the tin topper here and here it is with the initials uncovered.

Edgar also let me know the '200th post give away' had arrived safely so here's a photo of the contents of that one. I stitched the mini sampler in peacock coloured silk on 32 count pale blue linen and made it into the cover of a notebook. The manuka honey chocolates are supposed to be health giving - it was a New Zealand scientist who found the health giving properties of manuka honey so happy healthy days Edgar!

This afternoon I went to an embroidery exhibition and my friend Beth had this wonderful cushion in the display. You really need an upclose photo to see the exquisite finishing work and appreciate the skill that went in to this cushion. Well done Beth - its beautiful!

Well thats it folks I'm off to my chair for a stitching marathon to get some progress I can show on the ABECEDAIRE. See you tomorrow.