Banishing The Blues

Spring has finally sprung. The birds are singing, the grass is growing, the forget-me-nots are blooming and the leaves on my rowan tree are just about to open. 

Dora spends most of her day in the garden alternating between snoozing in the sun and doing her doggy aerobics on the lawn. I can´t say I feel fit enough yet to join her. I´m still supposed to be resting though a life of ease doesn´t really appeal to me any more so I take that as a sign that I´m beginning to recover from my recent ordeal in the clinic. Besides, sowing seeds and planting summer flowers don´t actually come under the heading of manual labour, more a labour of love and when I feel I´ve done enough there´s always my recliner to – literally – fall back on. Even then I´m not completely idle as I´ve always got some handwork project or other to keep me occupied. A while back I mentioned I intended to stitch an oriental cat. Well, that´s been finished for quite some time now. I just haven´t got around to framing it yet.

As you can see, I used variegated thread for the background and I´m quite pleased with the result though I couldn´t help wondering if it would have looked better if I´d used the same thread for both the motif and the background so I stitched another slightly smaller version in a different shade of blue....

….and I´m still not sure which I prefer. After that I went on to stitch some smaller oriental pictures just to get all that blue out of my thread box and my system before going on to something more challenging.

 

The next one was definitely challenging but, as you can see, I still haven´t managed to banish either the blues or the oriental theme.

Since then I´ve gone on to a more topical – and colourful – theme of apple blossoms. I think I´ve finally got over the blues in more senses than one!

Not Quite A New Woman

Well, I´m home again having spent three weeks in the orthopaedic clinic, not quite a new woman yet but gradually getting there. The treatment I received included, among others, hot baths with an electric current flowing through them, laser therapy and, most importantly, “Sklerosierung” (sorry, no translation available) which entails a course of glucose injections directly into the spinal ligaments causing them to become inflamed and eventually to tighten them in order to stabilise the spinal column. All this may sound horrific but it really isn´t. Well, the “Sklerosierung” procedure isn´t something to which I´d subject myself willingly if I didn´t know from experience that it would actually work. In fact it´s still working in that the inflammation has set in but the entire process won´t take effect for several weeks. In the meantime I have to take it easy and, believe me, that is not difficult under the present circumstances! 

The clinic stands close to a small lake in a public park where I used to take a walk most days, especially at the beginning when the weather was warm and sunny. Later it became cold and frosty and one memorable morning I awoke to a white winter landscape. Here are just a few of the many photos I took during those three long weeks.

We put our clocks forward last night but when I look out of the window at my snow covered garden I can only wish that the season had advanced accordingly. Still, this 3D card I made for a nature-loving friend reminds me that, to misquote Shelley´s Ode To The West Wind, If Easter comes can Spring be far behind? 

Longing For Spring

It´s been a long winter and it isn´t over yet. Yesterday it snowed again and it could well snow today too. I´m feeling depressed and Dora´s got cabin fever. Most of Dora´s antics take place outside in the garden. Running around the living room carrying 3 balls in her mouth is fun but it´s not the same as chasing them and scooping them up from the lawn. As for keeping fit, walks are fine and so is running around with her friends but there´s nothing like a real workout on grass. Still, spring is just around the corner and there are usually a few sunny days in March which provide the ideal opportunity for making a start on her keep fit regime which continues regularly until late autumn. Here are some typical doggy aerobic exercises framed by the Doggy Treats freebie QP...though no frame can contain Dora.

I´ll be sunning myself on the patio when she suddenly appears around the corner of the house and heads purposefully towards the lawn as if she´s late for an important appointment. Halfway down she stops suddenly and throws herself onto her back, legs going like pistons and jowls flapping. This is one of her few activities which doesn´t need my involvement but this spring I may surprise her. 

I finally have a date for entering the orthopaedic clinic and will be off next week. I can´t tell you how relieved I am as I know from experience that the treatment there will put me back on my feet again. I may even join Dora in trying to flatten the daisies on the lawn.

I´ll be back in a few weeks. Wish me luck!

With Love From Me To You

Before I take myself off to the clinic – which will be very soon I hope – I´d like to leave you a little freebie consisting of 12 valentine motifs.

I hope you´ll like it and add it to the others from previous years which you´ll find HERE.

And, no, I haven´t forgotten about the Doggy Treats freebie. I´ll post that too before I leave.

Doggy Treats

At Lajuana´s request, and with her assistance, Doggy Treats has recently been added to the kits in my store. Although not a recent kit, it´s one that´s dear to my heart because I made it with Dora in mind and anything tailored to fit Dotty Dora has got to be fun, not only to design but also to use. I particularly enjoyed creating all the crunchy frames and bits and pieces which I think add to its overall light-hearted effect. 

Judge for yourself.

You´ll find larger previews of Doggy Treats in the store and among my other kits here, and if you too have a lovable pet who deserves a treat, keep an eye open for a crispy crunchy freebie QP which I´ll be adding soon. 

WOOF!

Reminders Of Happier Times

Contrary to appearances – or non-appearances – I´m still here though not necessarily chained to my computer these days. When our national poet, Robert Burns, said that “toothache´s the hell of all diseases” he´d obviously never suffered from sciatica. But enough of that.

I´ve received lots of lovely cards today and just had to show you a couple which mean a lot to me as they feature two of my very favourite creatures. This one from my husband reminds me of summer when this butterfly, along with its sisters and its cousins and its aunts, fluttered brilliantly among the buddleias on our patio.

This one also brings back many memories of summer, and to those of you who know me, requires no explanation at all.

Thank you, Herbert and Pauli, for cheering me up on a dreary January morning and reminding me that happier times are just around the corner.

Happy New Year

Wow, while this Christmas elf was having a late Christmas this weekend with her family, Helen and Dora have been busy decorating for the coming year.  I have always loved this extraction of Helen's very elegant aunt in this lovely setting.  Nice way to start 2013 when I opened the blog this morning.  And those gorgeous flowers remind me that Valentine's Day is just around the corner with spring to soon follow!  

Now, this elf is headed to take down the Christmas decorations at the store and make some room for more kits to be added to its shelves this coming year.  And then, I must download the Christmas Carol QP Freebie and scrap a few pictures taken of my grandchildren this past weekend.

Welcome to 2013.  Hope it is a wonderful year for all of you out there and so hope Helen's upcoming clinic stay will bring brighter days ahead for her.

Christmas In Bloom

All winter my living room looks like a small jungle as all the plants which spend the summer on my patio are hibernating there. Well, I thought they were all hibernating but it looks as though my giant – and normally very ugly – cactus which usually only earns its keep by flowering in the summer has decided to surprise me by suddenly bursting into bloom. It couldn´t have chosen a better time as I´m still suffering from severe backache and needed something other than my Christmas tree to cheer me up.

I created this page in honour of this lovely floral Christmas present using the Christmas Carol freebie QP which you´ll find here.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

A Feast For Everyone.

As some of you know already, I´ve been laid up for the past few weeks after I put my back out and I find it hard to sit at the computer for any length of time. It looks as if a stay in the orthopaedic clinic is on the cards for the new year. In the meantime I´ve been trying to keep my spirits up which isn´t always easy when the sky is leaden and my beloved garden is slumbering under several feet of snow and summer seems so far away. It´s then that I´m glad that I kept a record of how it looked when everything was blooming under a bluer sky.

Last spring Diane sent me a packet of sunflower seeds little knowing how much pleasure they would eventually give, not only to me, but also to some of the creatures which visit my garden. Most of the sunflowers “only” reached a height of about 6 feet but the ones I sowed in the fertile soil of my vegetable garden grew to an enormous height and seemed intent on proving that everything from Texas is bigger than elsewhere. Here´s a photo I took of them towering above my garden shed.

And this is a page I made using the Nature Notes freebie QP to remember them by on a dismal dreary day when winter seems unending. 

Journalling: “Sunflowers are a feast for everyone. In summer I feast my eyes on them while the bees and hover flies feast on their nectar. In autumn the sight of the birds feasting on their seeds gladdens my heart and makes me less sad to think that summer is over.”

The photo of the finch was a lucky shot taken through the screen on my kitchen window which is why it´s not as clear as it might be.

If you´d like to have the freebie QP, you´ll find it here.

Thanks again, Lajuana, for helping to make the blog look festive with A Christmas Carol...and if I´m not around for a while, I´m sure you´ll understand why.

Shhhh...Helen's Asleep and the Christmas Elf is decorating her Blog!

The store is all decorated and is now featuring Helen's Christmas kits.  My goodness, I had forgotten how gorgeous these kits are...you must click on the MY STORE sign and go take a look at these festive kits!

It's been awhile since I have played around in Helen's blog...but I couldn't resist surprising her by doing at least a little decorating here for Christmas.  I wanted to save some of the decorating for Helen and Dora.  So, they can add the jewelled Christmas tree to the table and replace the flowers on the shelf with some Christmas decorations and cards!  Oh, don't forget to hang the Christmas stocking, too!

Merry Christmas to my very special friend!