A progress report on both Spring and my first tea towel completed!

Spring is somewhat hesitant this year. Instead of bursting forth in a glorious display she is taking her sweet time. Frankly I don’t blame her. The weather has been a bit here and there. We’ve had rain, snow flurries, temps well below freezing at night and climbing only in to the 40’s during the day. Yesterday was a “nice” day; sunny and making it almost to 60 but the chilly wind made it feel colder. The forsythia hedge has a few bloomers but it mostly looks like this. Waiting. Afraid to bloom.

Things are popping out of the ground left and right. I can see that my foxglove have broken ground and here is my bleeding heart bush.

The bank of ferns are starting to show their heads as well, but they haven’t grown much in a week. Smart plants.

More rainy weather is on the way for later today and tomorrow. I know, I know. April showers bring May flowers. Maybe I am just expecting too much from April. It’s hard to get out and trim up the main flower bed with all this rain and wind. I could bundle up in warm clothes and gloves but that somehow just doesn’t feel right. Aren’t you supposed to be in the garden working with the sunshine streaming across your back instead of the wind whipping your hair around your face so that you can’t see and the cold turning your fingers blue?

I have only one hyacinth and I’ve been checking on it daily and watching its progress. Yesterday when I went out to get a photo of it this is all that was left. Bella strikes again!

And look at this poor daffodil bud. Nipped in the bud, so to speak. Even though I put the bulk of daffodils behind bars this poor bud must have been sticking out so it got chomped on. Darn dog! I may have to fence the whole flower bed off is she continues in this fashion. I certainly don’t want her ingesting the foxglove! Maybe it’s a stage she’ll grow out of. Personally l think she’s part truffle hound. Always digging and finding things in the woods that I didn’t know were there.

Behold the first completed tea towel! Ta-da!

These particular towels have a hanging hook at the top, so I placed the pattern in the corner at the bottom so if it was hanging on a hook the design would be right side up. I’m satisfied with the way it came out although I could nit-pick at several things. I would have been finished a lot sooner if I hadn’t had to rip out several things several times. My color scheme did not work once I got it all stitched—too blah. The pattern seemed to have the quality of disappearing ink as time went on because it got lighter and lighter until I could barely see it in spots. What’s with that? I was afraid to rip out the clothing stitches in case the pattern was too light so Rick had the brilliant idea of leaving the stitches in place and just working the new stitches right next to the old. It did work. I almost left it this way because I thought it was interesting, but in the end I ended up ripping them out. Then I ripped out the new stitches on the trousers ..... well, you might be getting the idea that parts of this fellow just weren’t working! What do you think, should I have left it double-stitched? Do you like that effect?

Also in the photo you can barely see the imprint for the scarf. That’s how light the pattern became, so at times I had to guess. Same with his shoes—the pattern was pretty much non-existent.

This towel was a learning curve since I have not done this particular kind of embroidery before and it’s been a loooong time. I learned a few neatness tricks as I went but the back is not exactly what I would hope for. Still, not too shabby. And it certainly kept me occupied. I was surprised how fast it went when things were going well. The cactus went without a hitch and was the most fun thing to stitch.

Now on to the next one: the señorita with the chicken on her head. Her skirt looks like it could pose a few problems, but maybe just a series of straight stitches? Here she is hot off the pressing.

I’m hoping she doesn’t start doing the disappearing act too.

More...

The day before yesterday was a bit like Christmas. I had ordered several things due to arrive in the mail and I assumed they would all arrive on different days having been sent from various parts of the country on various days. (1. a new, faster camera lens. 2. A guide book on San Miguel de Allende. 3. My iron-on embroidery transfer patterns and towels.) When Dennis (our mailman) drove in our driveway and up to the front door I knew he had a package for me. I walked out to greet him saying “I thought you might have a package for me today!” He responded with “Not just one, but THREE packages for you!” Like I said: Christmas!

Alas, trying out my new lens in the kind of weather we’ve been having is not much fun. After the rain stopped I snapped the photo above. I liked how the raindrops clung all glisten-y to the wind chime. (My other lens did not allow apertures below 5.6 even when completely in manual mode, so I wanted something faster so I could shoot in lower light situations. )

I was very excited about starting on the embroidery. In anticipation of their arrival I had purchased an assortment packet of floss at Michaels the day before, and since the surface of my iron was shot I also bought a cheap new one. I was ready to get this project started!

I chose the “Down Mexico Way” patterns with my mother-in-law in mind. Rick’s parents are in Mexico (hence our visit to San Miguel) for several months and I thought they would be cute in her kitchen. I don’t think she is reading the blog while she is there because she only gets online to read her email since she has to go to Rick’s cousin’s house to even do that. But in case she does read this: Surprise!

I had a false start with the transfer. I don’t know if the iron wasn’t hot enough or what, but it wasn’t transferring. And even though I had the pattern pinned, it slipped and left a double impression. If I looked at it with my eyes crossed it might have looked normal. sigh. Since the transfer was so light I decided to wash the towel and see if it would wash out. It did and I began again. This time I turned the iron temperature up one notch and instead of keeping the iron moving across the transfer I left it in one place for 5 seconds, then moved to another part of the pattern. It worked! Nice dark lines. See for yourself.

It was like magic! I have never done this before and after the fiasco with the first try at an impression I was very pleased.

Sometimes I have a hard time choosing colors for things. I am not an artist, so planning it out ahead of time always helps. I photocopied the pattern and tried different color combinations. I wanted to use as few colors as I could. After trying a few different ones I decided on this:

And here is the WIP:

It was fun and relaxing to do. A very different experience than knitting altogether, so it’s a nice change. I hope to get quite a bit more done today but it’s so dark (rainy) I will need to sit under a good light source instead of my usual spot in the sun room.

Also on my schedule today is a quick trip to the grocery for coffee, trying to keep the dogs entertained since they can’t go outside, and another Spanish lesson with the Rosetta Stone. Rainy days can be enjoyable as long as you have something entertaining to do!

It’s true you know. Old hobbies never die. They just lie dormant until they are poked and prodded back into active life again. For the last few years my hobby has become knitting, but in the before-time I did needlework of varying kinds. Now my embroidery passion is again coursing through my veins and itching to fly out through my fingers. More about why a little later in this post.

My first needle-y hobby was crewel work. [Crewel has most of the same stitches as embroidery but is done with yarn instead of floss.] Mostly I just bought small kits and did them for family members. This one I brought back from my mom’s house and I think it was one of the first ones I ever did. I think it was a kit by Sunset.

Bless mom’s heart. She had it framed and hanging on the wall.

This piece was also framed and hanging on her wall. A Christmas gift.

Whatever possessed me to take on such a big needlework project (20” x 15”) I can’t imagine!  The pansies were done in 1975 and this epic was worked in 1978. I was on a crewel roll!

Here are a few close-ups.

Maybe I got overwhelmed with that project, I don’t know, but I moved from crewel on to counted cross-stitch and stuck with it for many years. Mostly samplers.

This one I modified the real pattern of the cats to portray each of the cats we had had up to that time, so each one with a name embroidered underneath it has custom markings and coat color.

Why I chose this one I’m not quite sure but it was fun to work on.

I also liked to do flowers ...

None of these were ever framed. They just never seemed to fit into the decor of whatever house we were living in with the exception of “Home Sweet Home” at the very beginning of this post. That one, I’m sure you’ll agree, fits in most anywhere.

What followed was a big gap in my creativity with any kind of needle. The hobby then became dogs. Breeding dogs ... showing dogs ... collecting dogs. A truly all-consuming hobby.

Then knitting arrived on the scene and all the unfinished or never begun needlework projects got shoved further back in the closet.

About three or four months ago I started to get the urge again and bought a very small “Learn to Embroider” kit at Michaels just to remind me of the stitches and see if I really would enjoy doing it again. I did, but the design was boring and I really couldn’t see myself hanging anything on my wall that said “Believe in Yourself.”

What really jump-started this old-but-found-again passion is the fault of two blogging sisters. Becky (of the heirloom iris) blogged about some quilt squares her sister had embroidered for the new grandbaby’s quilt. They were absolutely adorable and beautifully stitched! Then most recently she blogged again about her sister’s prowess with a needle in the form of these gorgeous teapot tea towels. I was totally hooked.

Tea towels! Now those I could use or give as useful gifts and how fun to create! With the help and advice of Becky’s sister Jan who pointed me in all the right directions, I purchased some iron-on transfer patterns on eBay and some flour sack cotton towels. Now I can hardly wait for them to arrive so I can get started!

I’ll be posting more on them when they arrive, but they are all designs of the vintage variety from the 1940’s and 50’s. And oh, by the way, If you think you might be a future recipient of some hand-embroidered tea towels and you really don’t think you’d want them, you’d better let me know.

Just look at my feet and tell me what you see. Anything wrong? Uhm, I didn’t realize I had put on two unmatched shoes this morning until I got to the grocery store and looked down. Good grief. One old Merrill yard shoe (complete with hole) and one newer Merrill. One grey and one brown. Such a class act. I hope no one noticed.

Even though my day started off on the wrong foot, it’s not going badly. I just got back from taking the two big dogs for a walk in the wintry white greyness that is hanging around outside today. It looks like winter and if feels like winter. The snowfall from the other day is staying solidly in place, probably because of the coating of ice on top that is like a layer of shellac. Crunchy stuff, that. It’s just above freezing and that’s a heat wave compared to the frigid cold moving our way. Friday’s high temperature is supposed to be 10 F. brrrrrrrrrrr. Even some snow here and there over the next few days. But we all know how well the weather can be predicted, especially snowfall. I am sceptically optimistic.

Even though it’s white and grey outside, look what I get to look at inside to brighten up my day.

Gorgeous, isn’t it? Neighbor Aileen gave me this lovely amaryllis bulb for Christmas and it’s just now starting to bloom. I took it outside for a photo shoot because I liked the contrast of winter and spring.

And, look what I kept alive since last year and managed to force it to bloom again this year! What green fingers I am acquiring here on the East Coast! I am thrilled!

All summer long it lived outside and thrived. I brought it in before the first hard frost and stopped watering it. About three weeks ago I started watering it again. The growth you see here has all taken place in about one week. Here is a link to what it looked like last year blooming.

Bringing in a little sunshine with its warm color, here is the first half of my scarf completed. I’ve now started on the other half. I am just loving this pattern!

and even more sunshine for the soul ...

I hope you find a little sunshine in your day today too!

The photo above is kind of like I’ve felt for the past week. A wavy and wobbly shadow of myself. I don’t get sick very often (once every 3 or 4 years) but when I do I really get sick. I think I’ve turned the corner for good now although it’s been a slow process. If I try to do too much during the day it sets me back a little. Easy does it—that’s the key to recovery. I did a lot of just lying about, taking naps and staring out the window. I never lay on the small wicker couch in the sun room, but when I did I this outline in the tree branches jumped out at me. Look closely and see if you can see what I saw from my reposing vantage point. (I’ll show you at the end of this post what I saw.)

Our snow is mostly gone now except for the patches were it was plowed and piled. I mourn its loss all the more since I only managed to get out in it that one time. The pool could be used for a skating rink if only I weren’t afraid of ripping the cover.

Sunday was my birthday (Happy Birthday to Me!) The weather was strange—in the 50’s! The sunset that night was stupendous though. The light outside was really odd and when Rick pointed the sunset out to me I had to go out and take a few photos. Doesn’t it look as if there is a forest fire behind this tree?

I took this sunset as an omen that I was on the mend. I’m still not 100%, but yesterday was a good day. At least my head wasn’t spinning and I could read and knit again.

I’m still working on Rick’s second mitten (remember the one that Bella ate?) and also on this scarf for myself. The lace pattern is both fun and beautiful at the same time but it does require some concentration.

And, I was able to make a start on this Christmas present.

Last year on our trip to Mexico I felt so stupid that I didn’t know the language. I probably won’t know much by our trip at the end of January but at least I’ll have a head start.

So, in the photo above—what did you see? I saw this Cardinal. The bunch of leaves made up its eye.

Hopefully I’ll be starting the new year with better health than I’ve had for the past two weeks or so! Onward to the flip side of sick!