Theme-a-licious October is...

...terribly, terribly LATE in being announced!!!!

I do apologize; I was out of town last week and thought I'd be able to get this post up before I left. Then, Michael sprained his ankle, a friend of his from high school called and wanted to drop by after dinner, and the painters, who we'd been trying to get to come for over six months, finally said they could come. As a result, we weren't home (and not cleaning) before 9pm any night that week. And I especially wanted this one to be posted early, since you might need to do some preparation...but hey, you've got a month! So without further ado, here's the theme for October...

Oft-Overlooked October

Find a new-to-you designer and start a new project this month! Or maybe two...or three...

This theme comes to you courtesy of Jo at Serendipitous Stitching! She actually suggested "Newbie November," for next year, but I loved the idea so much I spent an inordinate amount of time searching for synonyms until I could make it work for this year. I am going to send Jo a gift certificate to the online shop of her choosing so she can pick up something new to start. So Jo, please email me ASAP! =)

As for me, I already have a few new things to start. ;) But I need your help! I have seen a number of lovely finishes of Jardin Privé designs, so I finally picked up a couple...Christmas and Carré d'abeilles. I think I'm going to start Carré d'abeilles. Here are the flosses for both...

Christmas's flosses are on the left. Of course, I changed some of the colors for Carré d'abeilles. ;)

Now, here is where you come in. I have two wonderful designs all kitted up and ready to go, but I'm not sure which one to start. You must help me!

First of all, there is Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches...

Second, Plum Pudding by Glendon Place...

...only, I am going to do it in the colors of Baked Alaska!

Sooo, which should I start? Please cast a vote, even if you're not participating (or have never participated) in the themes!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Theme-a-licious August/September

Well, if I were an author, I'm afraid that I would barely have managed a short story this month!

I did some work on Spring Garden Gate, finishing the knotted stitch and another piece of the verse.

Here's a closeup of the knotted stitch:

Pretty cool, isn't it? It's not difficult; the only tricky part is maintaining an even tension.

Although I didn't get too much actual stitching done, I did finally graph out the verse for Castles by the Sea!

Now let's talk about THIS month, which is...

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Supersize September

Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!

Les Rubans needs some work for sure, and it's definitely my biggest project. I'll probably pull out Autumn Queen as well...it's been a while since I've worked on it.

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So how was Author! Author! August? Hopefully you "wrote" more than I did? What will you tackle for Supersize September? Please add your link below (to your latest Theme-a-licious post), and visit some other Themers if you can (everyone loves comments and encouragement!) Our next post will be on October 1st. Around the middle of the month, I'll announce the theme for October!

August Smalls SAL Check In

I'm up to the eighth day of Dragon Dreams's Twelve Dragonlets of Christmas. Instead of maids milking, though...

we have dragons crying over spilled milk. It's kind of hard to see what's going on, I think, but there are two dragons there...the spiller and the...spillee. Have you all heard the saying, "Don't cry over spilled milk"? I looked up the origin of the phrase, but no one is really sure where it started. One theory is that since fairies love milk, spilled milk was considered an offering to them. If you scolded someone for spilling the milk, you'd be seen by the fairies as stingy and bring bad luck on the house!

I personally think that the dragon on the bottom was just going to enjoy a nice milk bath a la Cleopatra and is holding his ears to try and block out the sobbing dragon on top. Way to ruin a relaxing bath with all that blubbing!

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Look what I received!

It's a lovely postcard from Deborah, of A Patchwork of Crafts. No idea what's going on? This is a blog hop sponsored by the witty and talented Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. (Click here to learn more about it!)

Deborah wrote,

The cross stitch is Nantucket Rose, one of the first patterns I ever finished. I like the idea of sitting peacefully, just smelling the roses and possibly contemplating my next project. I do have a garden, it is quite small, not small the way garden designers talk about small (you know still over half an acre) but small as in I can walk from one side to the other in about ten strides length ways and four widthways. With short legs at that! In it there are some roses, climbing roses, as evidenced by picture number two. I love the colour, they start out as very dark pink buds, as they unfurl they become lighter and the hint of yellow appears. Better than that though are the memories they invoke. These are my grandfather's roses, well cutting from them grown over the many years since we lost his company. He was the gardener, full of love of the green things of the earth having spend so much of his life working in the darkness below it.

So I sit in my little garden, with not nearly as many blooms as Nantucket (and considerably less pink and puffy sleeves may I add) and invite the memories to refresh me, the fresh air to invigorate me and plan how to squeeze more plants into an already overly full space.

And when the summer is over and winter takes away the outside roses, I look at Nantucket and remember they are coming back. and set stitches into cloth to capture more memories for me and the people I love.​

Oh my goodness, Deborah, I wish I had roses as beautiful as that! And your stitching is so lovely! My grandfather kept roses as well...in fact, my mother tells me that when my father showed up for their first date, he gave her a rose that my grandfather cut and told him to bring to her! =) Unfortunately, we don't have any cuttings of them, and that house is long gone. I think it's fantastic that you have a cutting of his. And it gives me hope, as someone who can only garden in containers at the moment, that a very small garden can produce such lovely things!

Orchid Daze: Lasting Impressions - Part 2!

Click now for JiffNotes

Part 1 was a long time ago, and these pretty orchid pictures have been sitting around for far too long without my showing them to you!

Orchid Daze happens at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens every year starting in February. The orchid house is always fabulous, but during Orchid Daze it is simply overflowing with orchids. If you plan your trip for March, you can also enjoy Atlanta Blooms!, where thousands of tulip and daffodil bulbs are added to the Garden landscape! Although I may be very late posting this, it's not to early to plan a trip for next year. ;)

Midway through Orchid Daze, there is an orchid show, but I always forget which weekend it is! And that's why I showed up for the show with only my wide-angle lens, because I thought I was only going to the Garden to look for early bulbs.

However, we were in for some extra treats!

There were many large, beautiful displays. But even though I only had the wide-angle lens, I was more interested in getting closeups of some of the orchids I'd never seen before.

These two bulbous beauties were just fascinating, and so PERFECT.

The color on this next orchid was simply fantastic. A deep, Deep, DEEP purple that eventually made its way to black.

The next week when we went back, I wasn't going to get caught without my lens again, so I took the macro lens and my awesome new tripod! (If you remember, part 1's pictures were taken with a sub-standard tripod.) As Orchid Days goes on, they replace some of the varieties with new ones, so I was anxious to subject some new specimens to my endless adjustments. Good thing the orchids are so patient. =)

Heather asks...how close can I get?? (You can click the pictures to embiggen.)

For perspective, here's an entire spray of the above orchids...each bloom is about 3-4 inches across.

I think this orchid did a good job trying to fit in with the Surrealist theme.

Hey, look...it's more bulbous orchids like in the show!

Well, not QUITE as bulbous as the ones in the show, but still very cool.

A lot of the new orchids they added had fantastic bright, saturated colors.

Others were more subtle, but still beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed part 2!

JiffNotes
Finally, more orchid pictures!