Heart: added SRE leaves

Well, I've gotten the leaves in now and I made a note of how long I was working, it took a total of 2 and a half hours. Very fun! I sat and stitched while talking with my sister-in-law, who is staying with us until my brother is though with his Air Force training.

Now off to finish it...Click Here to see!
To see previous progress Click Here

Heart: added SRE flowers

Here is the heart I'm making to swap with Debbie. I added the flowers and now I need to add the leaves. It took about 4 hours, more or less, I lose track of time so I'm not sure if that's completely accurate.
To see progress Click Here
To see previous progress Click Here

Time & Embroidery

For some reason I'm having trouble getting a photo to upload today. I was going to show the heart with the flowers embroidered.
I kind of lose track of time when I embroider but I just sat down for a few hours last night and embroidered them up. If I had to guess I'd say maybe 4 hours? I'll look at the clock tonight when I do the leaves.
When I did the button cover It probably took 2 hours total but that's a guess to. I'm not sure it may have only took 1 hour though. Like I said I really lose track of time! LOL
Thank you to everyone who left me comments, I really love reading them! You all are right it doesn't matter what flower it's supposed to be just that it's a flower.

Heart: mapped out and floss embroidered

Heart to swap with Debbie! Next I'll be filling in the flowers.
To see progress Click Here

Button Cover Contest

Hi All! In one of my SRE groups I'm in a button cover contest and I can make up to 3 buttons to enter. Here is my first button (2 inches diameter) I've made but I was wondering if it's any good. It's supposed to be a Peony Rose but I think it looks more like a water lily or a lotus blossom! The members of the group are the ones who will be voting on who wins the contest. Should I enter this one or try again?
To see the 2nd Button Cover Click Here
To see the 3rd Button Cover Click Here
Broach for a Friend Click Here

7 Year Anniversary

4 September 2006

Where There Is Love

Where there is love the heart is light,
Where there is love the day is bright.
Where there is love there is a song
To help when things are going wrong.
Where there is love there is a smile
To make all things seem more worthwhile.
Where there is love there's a quiet peace-
A tranquil place where turmoils cease.
Love changes darkness into light
And makes the heart take wingless flight.
Oh, blessed are those who walk in love-
They also walk with God above...
And when you walk with God each day
And kneel together when you pray,
Your marriage will be truly blessed
And God will be your daily guest,
And love that once seemed yours alone
God gently blends into His own.

By Helen Steiner Rice

Two Pink Roses

Now the climbing rose has two flowers blooming! I love flowers!

Hummingbird at Morning Glories

My Hubby took these photos, aren't they great! Click on them to see closer. The hummingbirds visit our garden all the time! We like to plant their favorite flowers so they will consider our garden a favorite place to stop by. We usually have feeders up too but lately have been lazy and haven't put them back up after cleaning them (which is every few days) but the hummingbirds don't seem to mind, we have enough flowers to satisfy them. Isn't it so cute that this little hummer stopped to rest on the morning glory vine? They sometimes perch on the trellis or on the Sweet Autumn Clematis too. These morning glories are the 'Heavenly Blue' variety and they sure are heavenly! God really is the best artist there is! I love to admire His handiwork.
"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:9

Container Garden Photo May 2006

Here is what the back container garden looked like in May. It has grown a TON since then.
It's been a beautiful journey this season, but I haven't been faithful in taking consistent photos every so often to show the progress. Here is a link to what my Container Courtyard looks like right now.
Honey Bee's Bliss: Container Garden Courtyard

I'm going to start posting about our garden journey in the front. That took a lot of work! We had to dig out Georgia clay and bring in top soil.

More Sweet Autumn Clematis

I keep posting photos of this clematis because it just gets more and more pretty everyday! I just love it when the flowers start to spill everywhere and it's beginning to! So I'm sure I'll keep taking photos as it progresses. Our front garden is looking a little sad, from all the heat but in a few weeks it should get that little fall-cooler-weather burst, so I'll take pics then. The little green fruits you see are from the Passion Flower Vine, they are edible but I haven't tried it...I'm not very venturous like that! LOL

How you pull the ribbon matters!

Here are some examples of how pulling the ribbon can make a difference in the behaviour of the ribbon when stitching. This is just some observations I've made while stitching that I wish I had known before...makes it a little easier to get the results I want. Click on the photos to see closer.

Pulling up, or in the direction of where the tip will be, as you bring the ribbon to the top for a ribbon stitch helps the stitch to be puffy instead of rolling up into it's self as it usually will if you pull it in the other direction.





For straight stitches pulling the ribbon in the direction it will go as you bring the ribbon to the top, and pulling back towards the bottom of the stitch as you bring the ribbon to the back will help the edges of the ribbon roll under making it look full instead of the edges rolling up.




See how pulling away rolles the edges upward intead of under?


I hope these little tips help! Practice makes perfect! Have fun! I used 7mm silk ribbon in the photos because I thought it might show up better.

Madie!

Isn't she soooooo cute?! This is a photo from a few days ago. Madie is a Mini-Schnauzer who is 1 year and 2 months. Whatever room I'm in doing whatever all her toys seem to migrate! I'll have to take a pic of the mess she makes! LOL When I go to vacuum I put all her toys in a basket and she goes after me and pulls every toy out as I put them in! "No Mom! The toys aren't supposed to be in the basket! They go on the floor!" So I've started giving her something to chew on to keep her busy while I vacuum. She also likes to pretend the vacuum is trying to steal her toys from her...she'll put a toy in the middle of the floor and if the vacuum points to it or goes near it she will swoop in and grab her toy away and put it somewhere else! She is a very entertaining puppy!

I Brake for Delphiniums

I Brake for Delphiniums
Hilarious Garden Cartoons!

Longwood Gardens - Home Page

Longwood Gardens - Home Page
A place I would love to visit!

It's Blooming!

Our Sweet Autumn Clematis is now blooming! I got up this morning and looked out the window and sure enough it was blooming nicely! I grabbed the camera and went outside to take some photos. It's a nice sunny day but step outside and the humidity clings to you...icky! I guess I will be enjoying my garden view from my window inside the air-conditioned house! Which is what I usually have to do since I am in the hot humid south!

Antique China...Silk Ribbon Inspiration

Here are photos of patterns on some of my Haviland Limoges antique china collection. I just love the beautiful roses and the layouts. Wouldn't they make awesome Silk Ribbon Embroideries? You can click on the photos to see a closer veiw. For anyone wanting to use them for personal embroidery inspiration I give you permission to print out the photos. I have more photos to show but I was having trouble adding more, so I'll add more later for more inspiration. Looking at these patterns help me because I have a tendency to want everything to be an identical repeating pattern but these patterns are different most of the way around which make it look more interesting.

We love because...

Our 6 year anniversary watercolor photo!
4 September 2005

We love because
God first loved us!
He claimed our lives
with the great love of Calvary.
From that awesome reality
comes a love eternally.

We love because
God first loved us!
He brought us together
to live under His Word
embraced with a passion
to know and serve the Lord.

We love because
God first loved us!
He linked our hearts in love
allowing us to show
abiding, growing devotion
regardless of life's flow.

We love because
God first loved us!
He called us to Himself
gave each to the other
His pleasure to treasure
His grace beyond measure.

That is why we love because
He first loved us.

By R.N. Hawkins

Have A Heart Swap

I wanted to show off a pretty heart I embroidered with silk ribbon for a swap going on at our Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group! I was inspired by some antique china I saw on e-bay and used what I had seen on the china to help me create a pattern. This was my first free hand design completely on my own.

1. I used a water erasable pen and drew on the fabric an outline of where I wanted the middle flowers and then drew in the vines extending out from it.
2. 
   
3. I then embroidered the vines in with 2 strands green cotton floss using the back stitch.
4. After that I embroidered the middle flowers using variegated 7mm Bucilla silk ribbon. I stitched a spider web rose with Japanese ribbon stitches on the sides and tacked loop stitches around one side. Also I made a decorative lazy daisy stitch flower with a colonial knot in the middle, and two colonial knot flowers.
   
5. Next I took the water erasable pen again and eyeballed where I thought flowers would look nice on the vines.
6. I embroidered the little flowers on the vine in 4mm Bucilla silk ribbon using the colonial knot stitch.
7. Then I took 4mm Bucilla silk ribbon using the Japanese ribbon stitch and placed leaves all around where it felt right.
8. Can you find my initials "MA"? I hid them on a vine near a flower with green floss. I'm thinking in the future I may start using a signature bee...but first I need to learn how to stitch a bee!

If you would like to see more of my Silk Ribbon Embroidery Click Here

Hidden Clematis

This clematis is only about 3-4 inches and is hidden in with the Fairy roses we have as a hedge along our driveway. We had planted it in with the hedge so it would intertwine and create more intrest. My hubby spotted it just today! I still need to post photo's of our front garden for you all to see. I love to take close-up photo's of flowers! So all these close-ups you see on my blog are all my own.

Tea Time! In Honor of Christina

Since talking about friends, and thinking of Christina, I've wanted to get out the fine china and have Tea! So I decided to have tea in honor of her. Since she can't be with me, and is deployed to Iraq for a year, I filled her cup with some delightful pink english roses. I filled the teapot with some Tazo Chai Tea, a mutual favorite of ours, brought in flowers from the garden and set things up. Now you can take tea in many different ways...but I prefer to pour my tea in my cup first, then add sweetener, and last the milk. Stir it up and enjoy! Repeat until teapot is empty!
In order to get these pictures, since I am right handed, I had to use my left had for tea and the right for photos! *giggle* I'm just glad the tea, sweetener and milk didn't end up all over the table!



















Christina, I love you and I am praying for you! I hope you enjoyed this time of tea!
"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you." 1 Corinthians 16:23