Garden Inchies

....and pretty maids, all in a row.

...a host of golden daffodils

...mille fiore

..pansies are for thoughts

Tulip

...inch by inch, row by row...

...cherry blossom

Imaginary bloom

... yet another thought

If there is one thing that competes with my love of quilting and drawing, it is my love of gardening. I was out there today, "liberating" my hellebores. They are all in bloom but mired under a tangled mess of last year's leaves and the detritus of winter. I am WHACKED now, but the hellebores no longer blush unseen. They ARE lovely and so much is starting to come up in our garden now after a week of very mild weather. As a parting shot on the subject of gardens, here is a garden of Garden Inchies. Enjoy!!Go out and see what is growing in YOUR part of the world.

Fini!!

The Reemay project- still seeking a title!

Well, I have finished it, all bound and with a hanging sleeve on the back. I finished the beading of the edges last night. This was a new venture and I learned a LOT. I even used my own hand dyed fabric to bind it. Quite a satisfying experience all round. Next? Well, I have some other things that need doing right now but my next step in THIS department, is to work on more subtle colours with the dyes and to really improve my hot knife cutting of the Reemay.

More close ups for the Sketchbook Challenge. I need better subjects and less wiggle in my pencil.

Part of a book cover. Look, Ma! No rulers!!

Still no ruler :-(

These are just done with pen and pencil crayon. Not sure how this little sketchbook would take paint - and I guess , now that I think on it, I have given my watercolours to my daughter - who will make much better use of them now.

Well, in theory, I should be getting dressed and getting on with my day.It is beautifully sunny and bright here and a walk beckons. Spring is upon us. I wonder how long this will last?

Reemay continued

Well, I have added a few more bits to this piece and have now backed it with batting and have begun quilting. It is very fiddly but I never mind fiddly! However, as you can see from the closeups, looking so closely at this while I quilt REALLY shows how hard it is to cut  smoothly and how much practice I need ! I did get better as time went on but I need to finish the two yards of Reemay I ordered and maybe I will BEGIN to smooth out my shaky cutting. I did it with a hot knife and a little round, pointy end on my soldering iron. Practice, they say, saves milking time! I hope it improves hot knife cutting too!

The whole piece as it now stands. I found my #80 Superior topstitch needle was making big holes in the Reemay, so I dropped down to a # 60 needle. MUCH better!

Not too bad from a distance

Now you see the shakies!

Now you REALLY see the shakies! Gotta get hold of this soon . This is too interesting and has too much potential to have it messed up by incompetence.

As an added bit, I bought myself three pots of yellow primula yesterday. I LOVE spring flowers and I LOVE spring! When I got them home , my dear Husband asked if this were " the flowers I bought you THIS week?" I looked him in the eye and said, " Harrumph!" Anyway, they are gorgeous and now sitting in the front window even as we experience an Alberta Clipper! It is VERY pretty outside too so maybe some more pics later.

Gorgeous, eh? AND, the deep golden one with the dark eye smells heavenly! Mmmm! Love it!

Promises

On my walk this morning ( 22 Dec 2011) I found a bush ready to pop into bloom!I THINK it is either a daphne or a viburnam - hard to tell in this state, but what a lovely promise on the first day of winter!!

How very beautiful! I do not generally hold with despoiling my neighbours' shrubbery, but really wanted to share this . I have two little twigs in a jug of water and we shall see what happens in a few days. Pretty, eh?