Showing posts with label DMC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DMC. Show all posts

Thursday, May 6, 2021

Spring!

Well, it finally moved from early spring to mid spring - I think! The spring weather here in Nova Scotia hasn't been as warm as last year and there have been lots of gray days. However, when the sun did shine, it was warm. On one of those sunny days, we made a trip to a couple of plant nurserys. 

Last fall, all the grass was stripped off the lawn between our two driveways  -  75' by 40' (and that doesn't include about another 40 feet on the other side of the driveways)! All the sod and a foot of clay was taken out and replaced with new topsoil and compost. There was also a layer of rocks put in front of the 'lawn' to keep the soil from running down the slope.

This year, the soil and compost were rotor-tilled together. We now have a two foot wide strip filled with ground cover plants across the front. I'm hoping these plants will spread down over the rocks. Of course, we get visits from deer and bunnies, so that determined the types of plants we used!

The next warm day, black ground cloth covered with mulch, will be installed around these plants. At the moment, we have no plans to replace any of the grass. I believe this endeavour will be a work in progress for the next couple of years. 

Four Gold Star Juniper - 3' x 6'

Five Blue Rug Juniper - Genevrier Wiltonii - 8" x 6'

Four 'Wiltonii' Juniper - 10 cm x 2.5 m

Twelve Periwinkle

Embroider a Garden:

Enjoy!!
Stay Safe 
 
Don't forget to check out my new website https://judycooper.ca  I've been adding photos, blog posts, etc. Take a look around!
 

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Book Review: Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery

I received Sharon Boggon's book, Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery, for Christmas. This book is a visual guide of 120 embroidery stitches. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced embroiderer, this book encourages you to create new patterns by playing with the stitches. For example, to manipulate the height and width of a stitch, to overlap and stack stitches, to combine laced and threaded stitches . . . Page 27 has a list of 21 questions to consider when using a particular stitch, such as

  • How does this stitch behave on a curve?
  • Can this stitch be laced with another thread?
  • What happens if I add beads?
Lots of stitch combinations to consider!

You won't be disappointed with the coloured photos throughout the book.


You are probably familiar with Sharon's website, Pintangle. If not, and you are interested in hand embroidery (beginner or experienced), please check it out. 

Another TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) challenge started today. So it's time to get your threads and doodle cloth ready for stitching!

More links about hand embroidery:

Enjoy!