Country Garden Stitchery

I've been working a lot on new needlework patterns lately for the Needlework Show next month. I've done a little bluebird cross stitch and I am looking forward to matching fabrics, but I'm not quite sure how I want to finish him yet. I think he'd look nice in a frame yet a little ornament sounds cute too. As it gets colder my interest in sewing increases so I've been taking inventory of my fabrics and sorting thinking of projects. I liked how all of these fabrics went together. I have a pattern for an easy wall quilt I'm thinking of doing. I finished this design this week. I used Weeks Dye Works flosses and 28 count linen. It is a small design that I want to surround with Christmas fabrics of the same color theme. I'm thinking of heading to Reno to the quilt shops this weekend to see what I can find.

I've been sewing up some autumn market and messenger and tote bags , all kinds of bags... Bags that can be folded up easily to take with you to the farmer's market or just to have near in case you need to use it. I like them on display in the house too, very colorful. Also some patchwork scarves . These are fun and easy to make with leftover fabrics. I sewed the fabrics together with a little soft chocolate brown flannel. They are decorative and soft and will keep you warm when the weather gets colder. This is a little felt bag made of handwoven wool fabric lined with some Royal Princess Mary Engelbriet fabric and fun fuzzy handles made with novelty yarns. Very cute.

I've been embroidering on some lovely organic cotton/linen towels and thought they could be used for basket liners or candle mats. I love the color and the feel of them. They have serged edges to prevent fraying and the edges have a lacy look from the serging. I was sorting through my growing stack of samples from Spoonflower and I liked the way this bunch went together. I really like to make runners for my buffet and china hutch and like to change them with the seasons. This colorway seems "wintery" to me so I think I will work on that soon. Our local art/craft group called "Sagebrush Sisters" had our first harvest fair ever and first show of the season. We usually always have a Christmas fair and wanted to see how a harvest fair would be. It was very fun and we decorated with corn stalks, bales of straw, baskets, gourds and other fall items. We hold the show every year in the old post office that the city has preserved nicely. It has great lighting with large...

I got a bunch more samples back last week and have been busy cutting and photographing them. Daisy Blue is a watercolor design fabric with shasta daisies and little yellow chamomile flowers. I like the blue and yellow together. Blue Roses and Berries is a barely blue background with blue roses and sprays of berries in different colors. Mauve pink and olive greens with little dragonflies buzzing about. Green Coneflower is a really light celery green background with echinacea flower sketches with some in white here and there. A nice combination of colors it turned out to be.

I finished my Little Witch hand embroidery pattern just in time for the onset of autumn. I used Gentle Art Sampler flosses on some light caramel colored quilting fabric with a swirl pattern. The ghosts look pretty happy and the little witch is ready to head out for trick-or-treat adventures. I was browsing the new cozy mystery book selection at my local Walgreens the other day and found this new-to-me series. This is the fifth orchard mystery and it is very good so far. The reason I bought it is because there is an antique cross stitched sampler that Meg (the protagonist) finds and she tries to find out more about it or if it is linked to her family history and maybe the mystery is entwined with it too. I've learned what a Thanatologist is too... people who study death and how cultures cope with it. Had never heard of that before and love to learn while I read. I've been sketching my cherry tomatoes and made a new card series out of part of a sketch. This is a mixed media tha...