Country Garden Stitchery

I have been feeling a bit of cabin fever lately so I wanted to stitch something spring-like and found some butterflies to do. Nice bright colors in orange, red and yellow from The Gentle Art. I bought a pack of precut Moda fabric squares and chose one of those to embroider the design on. I will make it into a little ornament when I'm done. I also embroidered another part of the design on a white linen towel. I bought the towels from an ebay seller last year and really like them. Hopefully I can find her again to buy some more. Tea towels are fun. This is my progress on my blue lilac design. I'm thinking I will sit down this weekend and watch a little Cleopatra (one of my favorite movies with Elizabeth Taylor in it) and stitch some more. I found a site where I can design my own fabrics with my art work so I plan on finishing this design with some of those fabrics, very excited about that. Will post about that soon!

I grew up on a farm for a lot of my childhood and enjoy animals, especially sheep and chickens. Black sheep are my favorite. Their faces so dark their eyes are hidden. Love their fluffy wool and passive way. And because spring is my favorite season. Driving past a green pasture and one day it is sprinkled with newborn lambs with pure white wool and I always see if there is a little black one in the flock. That was my inspiration for this pattern for whimsical sheep with pillow fluffy wool and the little black one almost hidden in the flowers.

This week I finished my Angel Friends embroidery pattern. Their dresses were my favorite part to embroider. I mixed the colors and patterns and stitches for interest. I think it is a cheerful pattern. I used some French General fabric to border the design and put it into a frame. It is kind of a country blue with little red flowers which went with the floss colors I chose very well.

Spring is my favorite time of year. I love the birds, trees being to leaf out, stays sunnier longer and the prettiest magazines are out on the news stands. The new Victoria issue takes readers to lovely Ireland and there are some lovely pictures. I read Country Gardens frequently. It has great photos and stories. This issue has a feature on Sharon Lovejoy and I like her too. I've been feeling the need to work on something for me lately so I got out my knitting. I've been working on this scarf for a while now and it is getting longer. Lace patterns are my favorite. This is a ball of yarn my sister gave me for my birthday last year. I think I should set a goal of having the scarf done by my birthday this year, which is in May. Don't have much time but I think I will try. This is my new embroidery design I've been working on, "Angel Friends". I've had a lot of fun designing their dresses with the floss colors. I'm starting to work on the flower border now...