Country Garden Stitchery

It's the season for cutting flowers from the garden and making bouquets. Kind of nice not to have to buy bouquets that other people make, I like to make my own. This is a watercolor of a larkspur bouquet I painted. I also like to collect vases, pitchers and such to put flowers in. Today I cut some deep red dianthus and put it into a canning jar which I thought suited the humble little bouquet. It's almost July so I thought I would put a little design for July on. I like the little red watering cans around the border. This is one in a set of twelve designs that are fun to stitch. I used Gentle Art Sampler flosses on all of them, they have great colors in their floss collection.

Anywhere in the world free shipping on fabric from Spoonflower on Monday June 20th only! Great time to buy some really unique art fabrics! Enjoy.

I finished my French Kitty embroidery pattern and it was fun to do. I'm thinking of designing some fabric on Spoonflower to finish it into a runner. I am wanting some red fabrics and then accents with medium blues. I used Gentle Art flosses and they have great subtle color changes in their hand dyed flosses. My butterflies cross stitch is coming along. I have been focusing more on my hand embroidery lately, but I stitch on this now and then. I like how the colors are working together. These colors are way out of my comfort zone (I like pink) so it is a little scary at first when I'm not sure if I like it or not but I don't want to quit because I've already invested time, then I decide I like it. This is a Thinking of You card I designed a while ago and made the design into fabric too which turned out great. I really liked it (not just because it is pink:) but because I was able to get the rows to match up nicely on a repeat.

I like to stitch small things and I've been stitching a lot of bookmarks , I really love to read too, so that is something I will use. I also like useful things. This is my newest collection featuring some different style flowers. I finished them in a shabby style with raw edges together and coordinating fabrics and ribbons. Fun and quick projects. My newest hand embroidery design featuring a french kitty. He's hard to see at this point as I've been working on the Eiffel tower and the flowers. Once I get a few flowers in there it makes it even more fun to work on. I love to eat outdoors. I made a notecard from this is a little scene I painted in watercolor from an outdoor cafe I visited in Oregon once. Great for summer. Summer seems to finally be here where I am with warm sun, kids playing outside and boats on the water. Looking forward to taking my kayak to the lake.

I've been painting different cards relating to the crafts I like to do and this one reminds me of an embroidered quilt or even a table runner with embroidered sections. Think I may have to make something like this for my house... This was my first attempt at a frame purse and I was nervous to make it because I really wanted it to turn out. It was really fun to make after relaxed a little and I want to make more now. I ordered some larger frames to make a wider purse and I have a selection of fabrics I'm wanting to use and eventually want to use some of my Spoonflower fabrics. This is my latest cross stitch adventure and I wanted to do some butterflies in bright colors. I'm using Gentle Art sampler flosses and some hand dyed fabric from Weeks Dye Works, I believe it is gold. I love their new hand dyed fabrics.