Playing in the garden and stitching

We had a fantastic weekend, the weather was great - a little rain yesterday but nothing to ruin the day as a whole, and we got lots of stuff done!


I thought I would share some garden pictures, some things are starting to bloom, but we're behind everyone else in the city as dad's yard gets a lot of shade so it take a little longer for things to actually grow and do anything!
















The first garden shot, is from our "gazebo" in the bottom part of the garden looking up towards the house(where the shady part on the right side in the second picture), the second one is looking down to the garden from the middle deck/balcony and the third shot is one of our irises in bloom. This one has bloomed already becuase its the newest addition to the yard, the ones from previous years haven't bloomed at all yet and we're still waiting to see if they will or not.


I also got quite a bit of stitching in this last week, I've made great (at least I think its great) progress on my peonies, as well as we had our canvas and beadwork class on Saturday, made a little progress there, and I managed to also start a new little project that was good for stitching on the deck with.


Here are my pictures of the peonies and my newest project - LHN/Crescent Colours - Strawberries - I'm doing it over 1 on 25ct ivory lugana. I'm going to stitch the series on the same piece of fabric for now, but I'm not sure what exactly I would do with them... I wouldn't mind little pillows or mattress type pin cushions, but that involes finishing and as we all know I'm not the greatest at that! 'Scuse the quality of the pictures, I'm still trying to figure out how to use the macro setting on the new camera properly!












I'm enjoying the over 1 on the 25ct much better than on the 28ct that I'm using for the Hungarian SAL, but live and learn! I'm not planning on redoing the whole SAL just to change the fabric! Over 1 on 28ct isn't bad, but I now prefer 25ct for it.

I haven't answered a SBQ in a while, so here is last Wednesday's question

Q: How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loadedup a
needle for every color? Do you use a new needle for everyproject or recycle your favorite needle?

A: I normally only ever use one needle per project, and they are my favourite needle - I know it sounds snobby, but I won't use anyother needle if I can help it. I get them whenever I go to Hungary. They are these fantastic needles that I think maybe used in huck embroidery but I'm not sure. They have a small ball on the end and I would say are a bit longer than a regular sized 28 needle, but not by much. All I know is that they are fantastic, and I've even managed to get several of my stitching friends hooked on them!

I also use the one needle until it tarnishes - though I've noticed that
with these needles, it takes a lot longer for them to actually tarnish, so I
definitely get more use out of them.

And last but not least, I just have to post a kitty picture, she is doing so much better since her surgery, and her fur has basically all grown back on her tummy, paw and neck where it was shaved. It just now has to grow in length, but that isn't as noticeable as the all white tummy was! She still doesn't have a collar, so she is still in stealth mode in the house, but we will be getting her a new one soon (her old one broke anyways, just after the surgery)