Green Acres revisited

Just call us Oliver and Lisa... last weekend we put in or first garden.
Let me put it this way...with the money we spent on wood for the frame, triple mix for the dirt and the numerous plants and seeds, there had better be an overabundance of tomatoes, peppers, beans , onions and whatever in August! Here is farmer Dan and his faithful helpers...now he wants a tractor!
This is more my idea of gardening!
Obviously with all this arduous physical labour, stitching has taken a bit of a back seat but I have been doing a bit..I am coming along nicely on Sunbathing (Bizzi Creations) and have even ventured back at Heart's Content's Splendor II. I will iron them and take some photos today for my next blog.

A great e-mail

I received this photo and the accompanying e-mail yesterday from a customer in New Zealand. I am so touched that Josie actually took the time to contact me and send a picture.

Dear Ann,

Thank you for the pattern you sent in2005.My daughter in law,then living in England, found it for me on your site.I had been searching for it everywhere.It took me awhile to start it, as i only do one at a time. When you sent it you asked for a photo, well here it is. I have also done her Traveller,Millenium and enchanter.I really enjoy Tereasa Wentzler patterns.I'm having a break at the moment,as i'm working on the Rainbow Forest bed quilt.Another pattern that took me eight years to find.
Greetings From New Zealand. josie

What a rewarding life I have found since retiring and starting the shop. I have so many stitching friends who love to get together and enable and stitch and laugh...do we ever laugh!!! It is so good for all of us . I have also made many friends who I have never met, like Josie and that is just plain heart warming.

Thank You all.

Christmas presents

I can't believe that I actually have a Christmas presnt made! Aren't they the cutest little things? This Fortune Teller , designed by Lynne Nicoletti was fun to make as well. She has a whole line of them. This is the original with flowers around the outside folds...others include the Fairy Tale Fortune teller, Cats Fortune Teller and the latest one is her Dogs Fortune Teller. I have plans for this one, which if they come to fruition I will share with you at a later date.

Although I have these pictures to share, all the stitching was completed last week.

I have nothing to show for the weekend except a great looking yard and numerous aching muscles. Dan and I rented a wood chipper and made short work of great piles of branches and wood that had been piling up around the property. He did go a little nuts with the chain saw a couple of weeks ago, but those pine trees really needed trimming! Anyway our back yard which has always been rather a mess is looking considerably better and with the trees thinned out we can actually see into the woods and we are very happy with our hard work. We also replaced a little fir tree that succumbed to the winter weather (and the salt I think), have the hanging baskets up and the planter full of petunias and geraniums and the front beds weeded and filled in with our very own home made wood chips! Nice to have the place looking good. Oh yes, the dandelions add that extra bit of colour!

After finishing Pretty Pumpkins a couple of weeks ago, I now feel ready to tackle another large project so I have put a few stitches into Bizzi Creation's Sunbathing...progress pics will follow once I make some progress!

Retirement

Beatrice officially retired from her job last week. Of course the Thursday stitchers could not let a significant event like that go unnoticed therefore we decided to celebrate with her.

Here is the happy retiree and her Mom Adriana celebrating...the cake says...Congratulations...More time to stitch! You can see where our priorities lie!This happy little snowman comes from a magazine, likely a Stoney Creek one judging from the amount of backstitching on him. In spite of that, he was fun to stitch and I will make a companion towel with a fat little Santa on it as well. Feels good to get some Christmas presents started!