Saturday, September 28, 2013

crocheting for baby and a birthday

We've heard that there's a new baby boy on his way.  Since there
are really good quilters and knitters in his family
 I decided to crochet something.  This is what I've come up with
so far ... a fella can never have too many hats!

I do believe it took me as long to make the pompom and 
attach the ears as it did to crochet each hat. 

Little Dog is celebrating her 10th 
birthday today!  A long run and a special
treat are in the works for her.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Autumn and a finish ...


I turned one of my summer projects into a card
for a lady who is celebrating her
100th birthday - quite a milestone!  The
card is going all the way to France.
Happy Birthday Madame!


    
To celebrate the arrival of autumn I have something to give away.
There are for two x-stitch charts and a crazy quilt needle case kit.
If you'd like one or the other, leave a comment saying which one you'd like - the x-stitch charts or the needle case kit.  The contest will be open until September 25th.
   




 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

what a summer ..........

We spent the entire summer at the cottage coming home only long enough to cut grass, etc.  We've never been able to to this before and we've loved every minute of it!


Little Dog had a busy summer on squirrel patrol.  There is a chunk of bread on the branch behind Nigel (the squirrel) ... we were trying to get him to stay put long enough to get a good photo and it worked - usually he's darting about and teasing Little Dog.
Nigel is on a branch of the big oak tree by the water.  We spend a lot of time in this spot enjoying the shade as does Little Dog.  Old Dog used to spend most of her day here and to Little Dog's left you can see a flat limestone marker, which is where Old Dog's ashes are buried.

We discovered this sunflower, planted by the birds, growing in our garden at home .... four heads - those birds know how to grow a sunflower!  If you look closely you'll even see a bee on the top left flower.


Here is some of my summer stitching.  I expect I'll have a busy fall with the finishing - stay tuned.   
 Lavender Girl (centre) is from The Snowflower Diaries.
Cherry Time is from Le Chalet des Perelles.  
Lavender Honey is from  Madame la Fee.
The ladybugs design and wreath are from Luli  and the redwork is from  Val Laird

Below the lily of the valley is a Luli design and the parasols are from Lynn B

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

lucky me .....

A few weeks back I entered a giveaway on
Linda's blog
for this Just CrossStitch magazine and I won!
Linda also makes her own cards and I was
delighted that she included one - she's a talented lady.
Thank you, Linda.
  I shall be totally immersed in this magazine for the 
next little while so don't bother me.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Farmers' Market and chokecherries ....

Remember those 3 pails of chokecherries that I previously posted about - we now have 12 jars of jelly and 5 large jars of syrup minus a few that were given away.  It's so delicious.

Helen
posted a recipe for Courgette Flan (aka Zucchini Tarte) on her blog a while back that I had to try.  Oh my, it was so delicious.  Thanks, Helen, for sharing it.  I'd forgotten to save any of the zucchini for garnish so I had to raid the garden for a teeny one - looks pathetic, I know.  We served it with some pickled hot peppers that we'd picked up at a Farmer's Market in a small town,  Grandview,
halfway between home and the cottage.  

Saturday, September 7, 2013

four seasons ....

I stitched these from a design by The StitcherhoodPreviously, I'd shared the photos of Winter and Spring.  My favourite is 'winter' where  I used a variegated red thread and tea dyed the fabric.