just an old-fashioned girl

Hello and welcome. I'm glad you dropped by. If you´re looking for something a little nostalgic of bygone eras with a timeless elegance and a little modern twist – in other words, something slightly “retro” – then you should feel right at home here in my shabby chic room. Month by month, there will always be something new to see so I hope you´ll enjoy your stay and come back again soon.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

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!

7 comments:

  1. I love all of your stitch work Helen, it's so beautiful. You did a wonderful job! :)

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  2. All I can say is WOW! You always do such amazing handwork. The blues are fabulous!

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  3. Awesome...having experience with cross stitch, I can fully appreciate the feat behind these beautiful projects. I love the color blue...seems to be such a peaceful and restful color. Hopefully you felt both as you worked on these. Glad you are starting to be drawn to your garden...a sign you are feeling better.

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  4. You know my love of blue, can never get enough of it, my favourites are your last 4 small projects, they are from the famous "Willow Pattrern" my all time favourite motifs, love them, we have this pattern on our dinner wear. Glad to hear you are starting to feel better.

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  5. Oops that should read dinner ware

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  6. Hi Friend, I'm so glad you're feeling more like your old self. Just minus the pain, I hope. With the rain we've had the last couple of weeks, your garden should be full of greens and blooms? Getting ready for Domburg, or is Scottland first on your "to do" list?

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  7. I do hope you are feeling better and have banished the blues to be able to enjoy summer. I sure miss seeing your posts and beautiful work.

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