Hi there cloud friends! I have been a very bad blogger and just not kept up with posting. I have no real excuse! However, I have definitely done quite a bit of stitching. I have always stitched one thing at a time. That has changed for sure! I got the idea of decorating with my patriotic things from Memorial Day to the 4th of July. That way I will enjoy them longer. When I put things up for the 4th, they seemed to need to come down rather quickly and I love the patriotic colors. Well, I decided to make some little patriotic pillows for my antique wooden bowl. I have 5 finished or at least the stitching is finished. I ironed them all yesterday so now I need to get the real finishing done. I plan to add a few each year. That's not the big news! The big news is that I have finished the very big house on Plum Street's A Ghoultide Welcome. That vine on the left is really fun to stitch but I have to pay close attention!! I have also added a few pics from my garden. We have been quite busy with that as we failed to get a lot done last Fall with my accident. I hope all is well with you all and Spring is being kind. But from your posts, I know that is not true everywhere. We are having a very warm , dry Spring. We are already watering!
As I mentioned before, that house is 81 stitches wide! I am changing most of the colors in the big plant on the left. The chart calls for NPI silks. They are beautiful but have gotten very expensive. I did not like the DMC equivalents at all. So I'm going on my own. The main orange that I am using is Gingersnap by Gentle Arts. I am building all the other colors around that one. The greens are fine so far. The house is Onyx by WDW. All the little stars are done in the colors suggested on the chart.
I love this dainty little iris. I can't get any more of these as the nursery where I bought it has gone out of business.
A few years ago I saw this iris root at the local Fred Meyers( kind of like a Walmart). I bought it for 50% off. This is three years later. I finally saw these lovely blooms. Patience payed off!
This beauty is my favorite. Right now it has nine blooms with still more buds to come.
I hope you all have a terrific week-end! We are suppose to cool down and get some rain. That is good news! Thanks for joining me today.
That house is ginormous! The changes you've made in the floss is really working out well!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your cooler weekend - hope you get a rain shower! It's supposed to cool down over here too.
What a BIG house! And all those windows!! Great job finishing this part... as for your irises I am jealous. So pretty... I am partial to the yellow and blue/purple one but all of them are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat is a big house,I counted 24 windows!!
ReplyDeleteI like the vine,it looks pretty already.
Your Fred Meyer iris is gorgeous,never seen one like it before.
Your stitching is looking great. The iris is a lovely flower, I do like your lilac/blue and yellow one. Very pretty.
ReplyDeleteGreat progress on Ghoultide!
ReplyDeleteOMG, your Iris are sooooo pretty.
They are my favorite flower, love the yellow/lavender one.
I bought some new colors last Fall, hope they bloom soon.
I hope you get some needed rain soon, we have too much rain here right now.
Marilyn
Your house is huge in stitching terms, have fun playing with the vine colours. Hope you have your cooler weather, here it's a normal spring day, sunny but cool.
ReplyDeleteWhat neat stitching. Oh those irises!L♥VE!
ReplyDeleteThe irises are so beautiful. The bargain ones, in blue and yellow are really lovely, though I am partial to pink too!
ReplyDeleteUp here we are watering too - and already on restriction of odd and even days, depending on the side of the street.
I love samplers with houses, but stitching them is a real chore. That's a big one! I do like those colors. And your irises are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThose irises are very pretty. I'm beginning to fall in love with them again! It's a long story. Haha. Love building houses and yes, it's trying but so worth it. Enjoy your weekend, Barb!
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear from you. Great stitching progress; we all know how many stitches it takes to build a house! I really love the bargain iris. The blue and yellow combined are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThat house is awesome!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a beautiful stitching finish ~ and your irises look amazing!
ReplyDeleteOh Barb! What a beautiful stitching!! I just love those prim house stitchings! I had 2 small wooden prim houses that I got many, many years ago to my trip to Nova Scotia. One of them has disappeared only to reappear as a chewed up hunk of small wood!!! Our puppy loves to chew and I think one of the cats must have knocked it off its nest and she found it and thought that was the best day ever - a new thing to chew!! :) And the flowers - so lovely. We are slowly waking up, no flowers but buds on trees. My lilac is showing signs of life. We are to get fantastic temperatures this week so hopefully things will start the lovely flower show! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteWow, your Iris blooms are glorious Barb.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful they are.
Lovely stitching on the Plum Street piece.
I'm a hopeless blogger too. I try to do better but somehow I never seem to manage it.
81 - ahhhh!! Looks great!! Those flowers are lovely - I had one - only one the deer didn't eat!!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your bowl of patriotic finishes, Barb! I, too, put my patriotic things out for Memorial Day, but I leave them out until Labor Day :) Just too lazy to change my decorating, I guess...
ReplyDeleteThat is one big house--congratulations on finishing it. I'm sure your changes will be very nice to the flowers. Not as pretty as your real flowers, though--those irises are just about the prettiest I've seen! Things sure grow well in the northwest :)
Enjoy your day!
Your irises are a great, Barb. All these wonderful colours. If I had these in my garden I would look at them the whole day long :)
ReplyDeleteImpressive progress on your project. That house is definitely huge and I can understand that you are glad that it's finished. The flowers to the left have a wonderful colour. Great choice. Now I'm looking forward to seeing your new patriotic pieces.
What gorgeous Irises!! Wow! Congrats on completing the house on your WIP. The rest will be so easy for you! I look forward to seeing some patriotic finishes! Hugs!
ReplyDeleteHi Barb, I never used to change colours on a project - I slavishly followed whatever the designer suggested, whether I liked it or not but now after really getting back into cross stitch this past four years or so, I have so much more confidence in my own ability and my own style that I change things willy nilly - whatever suits me - a much better way to go, really! Your piece is looking stunning and my favourite Iris, the purple and yellow ones - stunning! Can't wait to see your patriotic bowl of finishes, too. hugs, Kaye
ReplyDeleteLovely stitching!! Your flowers are so beautiful!! And three years is a long wait.
ReplyDeleteGreat work on your sampler, the house is truly majestic! It's a great idea to choose your own colours too. They often look better than the charted ones.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see all your patriotic pieces Barb! Love all your iris! They are sure beautiful! Ghoultide welcome looks fabulous! Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDelete