The Lord has gifted us with an amazingly beautiful spring this year. Our backyard is our refuge from the hustle and bustle of the world outside. Yesterday two women showed up at our threshold from the county assessor's office to verify information for taxation. They followed me thru the garden gate to measure our sunroom. Both were absolutely enchanted by our secret garden. It really is a place you can get away and dream. Orin and I love feeding the wild birds and watching them come and go. I saw a robin gathering grass for it's nest and laughed when the grass resembled a mustache on that sweet bird. Bear with me as I share a few pictures I took this morning. Pictures taken in the morning are so soft and stunning with the promise of a new day fresh after a good night's sleep.
Our willow tree looks so lovely against the blue sky.
The dogwood tree is filled with flowers that are just opening.
Lovely Paper Whites line our fence.
My beloved Lilacs! Some clusters are wide open, however you can see some clusters still have themselves tightly closed to the world. These cool nights will make the blooms last much longer and the scent, need I say more?
Not a lot of stitching going on here. Festive Feathers is coming along slowly. Leslie is much further along then I am. She is having knotting problems also, so I know it is just not me but it is the floss.
Below is Mary Mouse and Duncan Dog. Both are part of the Brooke's Books Advent Animals series. They are stitched on 28 count Reflection by Silkweaver in the color "Beach". They were two of the finishes I had in my depression buster project this past holiday season. They really are darling.
Next in the Depression Buster Project was the free design by iStitch called surprisingly enough "Christmas Greetings". I used 2 different colors of floss from two different defunct floss companies, Olde Willow Stitchery and The Dye is cast. I chose a 28 count Quaker linen in "natural".
I love the vintage look of this design.
"Thankful" was a free design offered by Hands On Design. I stitched it with the called for floss on a charcoal colored 28 count evenweave. It stitched up quickly, even for me. I love how it stitched up.
This free design is from Les Grilles de Maryse and is called Noel 2014 Medaillon. I used The Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors "Green Leaves" SNC 090 and Kreinik Silk Mori Milkpaint color 0116. It is stitched with some random vintage colored evenweave I had in my stash. I love how it turned out. I want to stitch it again in all blue and also want to stitch in all white.
This is the last finish in my Holiday Depression Buster parade. It is called Christmas 2017 Village in the Snow designed by a favorite French designer Les Grilles de Maryse. I wanted the snow to show up so I chose a grey 28 count evenweave in my stash. I stitched it with the called for DMC floss however I sparkled it up with a opalescent blending filament in random white stitches throughout the piece. The effect was just what I was looking for. I love this piece.
The weekend is almost here but then being retired every day is a weekend for me. I will continue to enjoy my beautiful Lilac Thicket, maybe do some reading or even baking. One thing I do know I will be doing is thanking the Lord for a life filled with peace, joy and happiness. God Bless you!
