In praise of potatoes

I seem to be going on and on about the garden...but really for a town kid who never had a garden before I must say I am in awe every time I go out there and actually pick food!
The other day I dug up these wonderful red potatoes. The whole experience has been great and while I enjoy the beans we've had and the loads of tomatoes that are slowly ripening, the vegetable that is impressing me the most is the potato! I can dig under the ground and find these nuggets and then we can actually eat them! It's magic. Lest you think my so called stitching blog will never go back to talking about stitching I will now set your mind at rest. I actually have not been stitching very much of late with the holidays and all but finally with a little encouragement from Dani who is visiting this week I have finally got back at some. Below is the beginnings of Stained Glass Landscape (Kappie Originals). It looks better when I get the back stitching done. This time around I will actually backstitch as I go, unlike my usual method of leaving it all till the end and then complaining loudly to anyone who'll listen about all the backstitching! While on vacation I did some work on Cirque des Cercles but at some point I stitched a row over 3 instead of over 2...and well you can imagine...when I found what I had done I was unimpressed that everything below it was now wrong. So a bit of counter stitching (love that term Kathy)
and of course then I put it back in the bag and it has not been out since except for this picture.
Yes I did stitch CDC before but when Barb and I were choosing fabric and colours we could not decide which we liked better so we both ended up starting two versions of CDC. Barb, I believe has finished both of hers..I haven't.

Recently I had two finishes framed...here is Molly from Carriage House Samplings' "The girls series" The other framed piece is Glendon House's "Pretty Pumpkins"...a photo of it will follow at a later date...perhaps when I take a picture of it.
Last item...but not least...yesterday was Beatrice's birthday and the Thursday stitchers enjoyed cake (courtesy of Adriana and Lisa) and rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to you. There is a picture on Dani's blog. I did not take one because we had 11 or 12 stitchers here and it was a little hectic!...not to mention a stressed out panting dog...there was thunder!

You know that commercial???

Do you know that commercial where a tour guide suggests to a group of insurance people that it will be fun for swim with the fish, as he throws more bait into the shark infested waters, or the one where he tells the insurance people to go "engage with the big cats"...everyone I know finds these commercials oddly funny...Insurance companies are no one's favourite, it seems.
I feel the same way. Yesterday the new insurer or my house told me I could no longer sell to the United States... apparently the Insurance company thinks Americans are too quick to sue and since I have a small business in the house (this appears to be a sticking point with them), they fear some stitcher will someday sue me.

For the life of me I have been racking my brain to come up with a scenario where a stitcher would sue me for anything I could have sent them in the mail.... for slipping on the driveway perhaps, or being licked excessively or drooled upon by my overfriendly dogs, or being hit by a gravel truck while exiting the driveway, or tripping on the rug in the shop...but for getting something like a chart or fabric in the mail...oh...maybe she could injure herself while opening a bubble pack of needles...but come on....get sued ...I don't think so.

At any rate I am not going to mess with the insurance company ...so if any American stitchers want something from my shop, they will have to get a Canadian friend to buy it for them...what a pain that will be...

However there has been a story in our local paper recently about a couple who lost their home to fire during the winter. I can only feel for them as watching your home burn to the ground must be a devastating experience but now they are being jerked around by their insurer because the fire burned so hot that they cannot determine the point of origin and all their insurance papers also burned so they are having to fight with the company to get the money to replace their house...after paying for years and years for protection..they are being screwed by the very people they were paying to protect them....

So I will not be doing anything to annoy my insurers and if that means putting American customers in touch with Canadian bloggers or friends who will purchase the merchandise for them, then so be it. Stitchers are very generous with their time that way.

On to a happier note...here is a pic taken last week with our first pepper and potatoes from the famous garden. I am so impressed with our success...we have been eating beans and peas galore and have had a few more peppers since this photo was taken but the thing that awes me the most is being able to dig into the soil and find potaotes. I find this miraculous.

Kaleidoscope Pillow

I finally sewed my Ink Circles Kaleidoscope into a pillow and I am very happy with the result.Back in April at the Cataraqui Guild Needle Arts Fair, Dani convinced me that my plan to back it with plain black was pretty boring so we found this great fabric for the back. It reminds me of the Northern Lights, although I don't know why because I have never seen the Northern Lights in colour but apparently, according to pictures I have seen, they do look like this. I have seen white Northern Lights dancing across the sky and can only imagine how fabulous the sight must be when they are coloured. Our garden continues to be a delight. We have peppers and tomatoes growing daily. I can hardly wait till they are ready to eat! The beans and peas have not sprouted into recognizable vegetables yet and of course I can't see the potatoes or onions but I have faith that they too will produce!

I have the new Lizzie Kate Christmas flip-its chart in...well the first two charts ...and the WDW thread that is called for...I am looking forward to starting it...perhaps with the Piecemaker needles that the shop also now has is stock...

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.