Author: Christine

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Gloriosa Embroidered Pillowcases

Christine

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary, Dar and Rich! I hope you enjoy sleeping on these as much as I enjoyed stitching them for you.This is the Gloriosa pattern from Tobin, available from JoAnn Fabric and Crafts. The first time I saw this pattern I thought it was just stunning. I still think so. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately, my photography skills don’t do it justice.The giant center of French knots was fun, but I found it difficult to keep the edge rounded. I’ll have to keep practicing that. The texture of a big mound of French knots is wonderful.

The only other thing that gave me trouble was the color. Of course I didn’t use the recommended colors, I had to go with my own. I’m still trying to use some of the thread I inherited. I started with the medium pink, but in the end I had to buy more thread to get the right red and light pink, so I’m not sure it was worth it. I think if I had to do it again I would try to use the recommended colors.

I used DMC cotton perle #8 in these colors:
Medium Red #304
Medium Rose #899
Light Salmon #761
Medium Pistachio Green #320

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Swirl Flowers Stamped Kit

Christine
I had the three big tasks I wanted to get done: clean the garden window in the kitchen, weed the garden and tidy the porch. Yeah. Mostly I just hunkered down in the air conditioning and watched the last season of Six Feet Under on dvd. I sobbed during the finale. Sobbed, I mean great big gushing weeping. I’m really glad I was home alone.

I got some laundry done and keep up with the dishes. I did manage to get the garden window cleaned. It is quite the acrobatic feat to get up there, perch on the counter and windowsill beside the sink and not go out onto the overhang. I’m sure it looked lovely from the street. But it needs to be done once or twice a year. Usually I give it a thorough cleaning in the spring when I take the plants out to the porch- you wouldn’t believe all the dead leaves and plant litter that accumulates over the winter- and a quick wipe down before I bring all the plants back in late fall.

But I never got out to the garden, other than to water my plants. No weeding got done. And it really needs it. Nor did the porch get cleaned. I feel bad. I had such resolve; this was going to be the weekend I got that porch tidy. I kind of let things slip last July when I changed jobs. It looks awful. My ghetto porch. Okay, I’m trying to tell myself it has been bad for nearly a year, what is one more week?

So what did I do? Aside from the above mentioned general housekeeping, I started a new set of pillowcases. I’m really excited about this one. I don’t usually show you stuff before it is finished, but I’m curious what you’ll think.

I’ve had this kit for some time. It is Swirl Flowers from Bucilla. I like the design- it has lots of neat stitching, but I was never really wild about the color combination. I was flipping through google images the other day, looking for inspiration, and I saw a white skirt with a floral embroidery. Done in all black. And the design reminded me of this kit. Can you tell where I’m going with this?

I’m going to stitch the entire design in all black. I think that could be called blackwork. I’ve also seen whitework, redwork and bluework. I guess you could do any pattern all in one color and call it whatever that color is-work. Does anybody know?
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Overgrown Already!

Christine

Thanks to some volunteer tomato plants- around 15 I lost count- and some volunteer malva plants, my crescent bed is getting a bit unruly. I spent a few minutes yesterday pulling out some of the crabgrass and a few volunteer tomato plants that didn’t yet have fruit. I’m hoping this picture is going to become a “before” and that I will have a nice looking “after” to show next week.

This bed is in the sun until around 7:00, so it is nice to work on in the evening. I’m thinking of getting a bag of mulch to cover some of the black landscape fabric. By this time last year you couldn’t even see it, but the flowers I put out front haven’t spread out as much as expected. Maybe I should get a flat each of yellow marigolds and purple petunias instead. Yeah, that would be prettier. Hmm, I see a trip to Noggle’s nursery in my weekend plans…

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Quick Non-Progress Report

Christine

My little tomatoes still aren’t ready. I was away again for a couple of days, and was hoping for a pleasant surprise when I got home. The tomato plants have gotten taller, some of the flowers have filled out a bit, but I still have nothing to harvest. I know, I’m being impatient.

The bell peppers have sprouted more peppers, but none of those are ready yet, either. I’m really looking forward to my green beans. Mmm, mmm! Lightly steamed, salted and buttered. Nothing better.

I really need to get out there and weed- the crabgrass is taking over. It is just entirely too hot during the day. I need to wait until at least 7:00 in the evening to go out. Luckily, that still gives me two hours of daylight at this time of year.

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Blue Daisies Embroidered Pillowcases

Christine

This is the Blue Daisies pattern from Tobin.
I think this pattern is just so lovely. I am mostly happy with it, but I don’t care for the dark blue that I chose. Again, I was trying to use colors that I have on hand, but I think the dark blue called for in the pattern would have been better- more of a cornflower blue, not quite as dark. Oh, well. Next time.

I used DMC cotton perle #8 in these colors:
Royal Blue #797
Light Baby Blue #3325
Medium Yellow Green #3347
Light Topaz #726
and a white/cream that was probably bright white 60 years ago, but has aged to a soft, antique white by now